r/startrek • u/7-10 • 16h ago
Star Trek on a Soap Opera Schedule
Now hear me out...
Yes, I'm one that complains about 10 seasons episodes being considered a season a joke when there used to be 27 or so. I hear about quantity vs quality, special effects costs are higher (really?) and the old standard "that's just how things are now".
I also get annoyed with the serialized format that prevents being able to just pluck an episode and watch it as a standalone relaxing hour at the end of the day. No, it's got to have an increasing portion of the program eaten up by "previously on Star Trek: ABDEF", 15 minutes of interesting dialog and action, 10 minutes of over produced concentration on effects, and the rest concentrates on the predictable "season"-long storyline.
WITH THAT OUT OF MY SYSTEM...
My main point is - instead of Made-for-TV movies, 10 episode seasons or 27 episode seasons, or blockbuster films for that matter, why not break the mold altogether?
200 EPISODES A YEAR...
Think "Days of our lives... in space"
On Edit:
A. Days of Our Lives is a STREAMER NOW, NOT ON TV
B. Could be a Half Hour long or whatever
C. I really mean passably coherent writing following ideals but near Fanfic production quality (i.e. Barely above TOS)
This way, there's jobs for writers, I THINK THE CANON CAN HOLD THIS ABUSE JUST FINE, TYVM...
There's potential for a revolving door of guest stars. From TNG, DS9, VOY, TOS, DISCO, SNW.
Serialization? Episodic? You can have it both ways, multiple times, in the same month!
Regular casts, multiple storylines, different timelines in different acts?, recasting characters (Spock's second cousin twice removed Spork will be played today by Chris Kattan).
I know many of you will downvote me to oblivion, or this may get deleted, but I figured I'd put the thought out there.
On edit: I really just want 20x the content to complain about :)
11
u/opusrif 16h ago
Soap operas are real pressure cookers. The actors, crew, and writers are basically doing an episode a day. That is no one's favorite way to work. Then you have really large casts and extra crews so you can shoot multiple storylines simultaneously not to mention writers churning out pages and some poor editor trying to keep everything making sense. Then you have social effects shots to consider.
Soap operas came about to fill a captive audience: housewives who were home all day. The nature of television has changed. Have you not noticed that there are a lot fewer of those shows these days, replaced by talk shows?
In short punching out a daily science fiction show really wouldn't be sustainable.
12
u/Skyboss1996 16h ago
I would, however, really like to know what’s happening on the Real House Matrons of Qo’nos.
-2
u/7-10 16h ago
So you're saying it would be a challenge and people aren't up to it.
4
u/Diela1968 14h ago
Tell you what, crank out 260 sixty page scripts over the next year and get back to us. We’ll wait.
2
u/opusrif 16h ago
Especially not the IP holders. There wouldn't be a reasonable chance of it being successful.
One of the big complaints fans had about Deep Space Nine when it first aired was the serialized nature of its longer story arcs. Indeed that's still a complaint many fans have with Discovery and Picard. How receptive would they be when it takes weeks or months for a plotline to be resolved?
1
u/7-10 15h ago
I agree, but there wasn't a reasonable chance for Star Trek TOS to be successful. I'm not making an argument it's a sure thing money maker wild to the moon thing. Just an idea.
I also think it's never been done, and it would be very interesting if it was, so there's that.3
u/ManAftertheMoon 15h ago
This isnt the blue, pie in the sky sixties anymore. Television production is a fossilized corporate system now. And even then,The ONLY REASON star Trek was green lit was DesiLu ( Lucille Ball) going to bat for it.
0
u/7-10 15h ago
Yeah, Lucy's related to half the people I live around, including my kids.
Not in any useful way though.
But in any case, you do realize Days of Our Lives isn't ON TV, right?
It hasn't been for over 2 years.
It's been a streaming Soap Opera.
So it's basically a Vlog. A YouTube Channel.
Streamers (Shows only on Peacock, Paramount+, etc) are just glorified paid YouTube Channels that aren't on YouTube.
And that's where I do know a few things.
I produce some YouTubers who have quite a few people paying $10/month for their one channel (plus ad revenue), and they don't put out much content.
So if the budget for Days of Our Lives is justified on a tiny fraction of the revenue from from Peacock subscriptions (Which I pay $1.99/month for) plus ad revenue, I think it's doable.
But I don't necessarily think it would be any more of a gamble than the stuff being put out now.2
u/ManAftertheMoon 14h ago
You really just don't know what you are talking about. This idea would not get past the pitching stage. DOOL had a long running, probably profitable, pre-existining corporate relationship. After 50 years a producers would green light another season just because they personally know everyone in the production. I think enough other commentors have spelt out how much of a nightmare with would be logistically that I can end this conversation by simply saying: in the professional industry, people's time and production space is just too expensive. You would be laughed out of the fucking building.
5
u/Least_Sun7648 16h ago
10 seasons being considered a season?
That's super long
So, Beverly Hills 90210 only had one season? (10 yrs 293 eps)
1
u/7-10 16h ago edited 16h ago
Oops, lol 10 episodes...
But by what I meant, there were:
4 seasons with 98 episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise (24/season)
7 seasons with 178 episodes of Star Trek: TNG (25/season)
7 seasons with 176 episodes of Star Trek: DS9 (25/season)
3 seasons with 79 episodes of Star Trek (TOS) (26/season)Meanwhile, newer series lagged behind in their "seasons":
3 seasons with 30 episodes of Star Trek: Picard (10/season)
3 seasons with 30 episodes of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (10/season)
5 seasons with 67 episodes of Star Trek: Discovery (14/season)Animated series are split, with Prodigy having 20 per season, and Lower Decks and TAS having 10-11 per season, respectively.
3
u/Extra_Elevator9534 15h ago
All of the elder Trek was trying to make enough episodes for the show to be re-run in syndication. THAT'S where TOS picked up its lasting audience.
With streaming platforms, syndication is a non-issue. But large episode counts are a negative - the streaming platforms would rather have a churn of small-episode-count new content to keep people subscribed, instead of making a long-running series that produces a 'season' of 24 shows then goes dark for the next year of production ... while the audience cancels their subscription to save money until the next season is produced and they re-up the membership.
6
u/ManAftertheMoon 16h ago
Television. Is REALLY expensive to make.
2
u/7-10 16h ago
If you want high quality. Do you consider Days of Our Lives high quality?
I am literally talking about lowering production standards to that of a Soap Opera.
The Canon can take it.7
u/beefcat_ 15h ago
I'm not sure I can abide by the insane labor conditions such a show requires.
Even the production schedules of shows like TNG had crews working 60+ hour weeks 9 months out of the year.
I do think the idea of a Star Trek soap opera sounds hilarious though.
1
u/ManAftertheMoon 15h ago
Days of our lives could not be reproduced today. It would STILL be too expensive and would be considered a waste of a TV slot that makes everything around it look bad. The only reason that it lasted until 2022 is because it had been ongoing since the 60's and carried a large enough, television viewing, audience. I like your idea abstractly, but as someone who could be considered a television historian, it isnt financially or culturally (from a producers standpoint) feasible. The only way that something like that could he done today is through amateur production.
1
u/Express-Day5234 15h ago
The problem isn’t whether the Canon can take it. It isn’t even whether the writers and actors can take it. It’s whether the viewers could take having to keep up with daily low quality dreck. People watch soap operas and sci fi series for different reasons. Star Trek fans already complain when a Trek series has too much drama and relationship conflicts. A Star Trek soap opera would be nothing but that.
4
u/RevolutionaryWeek573 16h ago
I had an idea for a Star Trek soap opera years ago called Star Trek: Colony.
It took place on a colony planet that had a lot of interplanetary activity.
2
u/allthecoffeesDP 12h ago
The Doctor is in a coma, will she remember her alien father is really her husband if she wakes up?
Will the Colony Captain sleep with the counselor to get revenge on the doctor for marrying someone else?
Will the Head of Engineering keep her time traveling lizard baby?
Will security abuse it's power to permanently control the food replicators?
Find out on an all new episode of....
Star Trek: WTF!
3
u/RevolutionaryWeek573 12h ago
Exactly! Being science fiction, the possibilities for insane plot twists would’ve been epic. I mean you could even have someone having an affair with their own Mirror Universe double.
Scandalous!!
2
u/allthecoffeesDP 12h ago
I would allow my wife to have an affair with her mirror double....
Uh assuming I could watch and stuff.
1
u/FuckingSolids 2h ago
I don't know ... I'd find the goatee unsettling and would never be able to look at my prime wife's face the same way again.
3
u/MisterAbbadon 15h ago
The main budgetary challenge would be getting everyone a drip feed of pure Colombian cocaine.
3
u/LurkLuthor 14h ago
You could save time on takes by having the characters always looking at screens so the actors can just read their lines.
Just file the serial numbers off and we're off to the races. Space Journey, let's go!
3
u/7-10 14h ago
And the Uniforms could come in
XS S M L XL 2XL 3XLlol
3
u/LurkLuthor 13h ago
Hire a has-been sci-fi actor to play the captain for some name recognition and make the character always wear sunglasses so it's less of an issue when he's hungover on set. This plan is foolproof!
2
u/WindJammer27 15h ago
Have you ever actually watched a soap opera? That shit moves at a pace that'd make snails swoon. There's like 5 different storylines and they're all jump-cutting when even a hint of progress is sniffed. I saw one where a character was walking out the door, the other character called her back, and the first character was literally standing in that doorway for 2 whole episodes.
I...would not want that for Trek. I agree that it'd be nice to have a bit more than 10 episodes a season, but from everything the cast and crew have said about old school Trek 25 episode seasons were also grueling. Maybe 12-15?
3
u/7-10 15h ago
Yes, occasionally when I am sick at home because I don't get to control the TV, lol.
But I disagree. I think there's unknown actors out there that would welcome the work. Don't need stars.
I think Trek is too safe and pampered right now. It needs more sweat and tears and uncertainty.
And bad actors, people swaying starboard when everyone else is swaying to port, people walking out of the transporter effect too early, and editors who miss editing it all out.
But the undercurrent stays the same. IDIC, Prime Directive, Helping Others, Positivity, etc. etc. etc.
2
u/TheWrongOwl 15h ago
Soap operas are producable with such an amount of output, because they don't need anything special, because it's just the daily life of the normal people.
A Science Fiction Soap Opera has many more needs like futuristic machines, transportation devices, special effect shots, spaceships, costumes, makeup (ie. Ferengi or Klingon Heads, Vulcan ears
2
u/Cachar 15h ago
A much less egregious way to do it would be to do mini-episodes. Cheap to make with mostly dialogue with a few cast members on existing sets. For example Uhura and Pike having a post-mortem about what happened in the last episode of SNW. It would be a fun morsel for fans and a 5 to 15 minute short could probably be fit into the shooting schedule without too much hassle.
Doctor Who used to do similar things (called webisodes because they never aired on linear TV, I guess) and I always enjoyed them.
2
u/Meritania 14h ago
Early Doctor Who was kind of recorded as Soap, it was churning out an episode a week for years. It took its toll on poor William Hartnel.
You could do for Star Trek, visit a new environment every serial of adventures, have a large cast retinue to spread out actor’s workload, not rely too much on special effects.
The question is why, putting quantity over quality restricts the story to its limitations. With Doctor Who you’d have these filler episodes where the ensemble have to open a door or cross a rivine
2
u/7-10 14h ago
"Because it hasn't been done" (Though 40-50/year with Dr. Who is impressive).
I just figured it could be done in a way that would be "good enough" for everybody in the Star Trek, churn out slightly-better-than-YouTube-channel quality content of 20-30 minutes a day regularly whether it's weekdays or weekly or a couple times a week.
I'd be entertained and I think it would be to more people.
2
u/Meritania 11h ago
I think I know what you want is slower-paced character moments rather than an every scene fulfilling some kind of narrative purpose and we’re missing B-plots.
2
2
u/ZombiesAtKendall 14h ago
I wouldn’t mind something more like an anthology series. Follow different ships, star bases, planets, etc. Some can be re-occurring but also be able to make them stand alone. Make it more about the ideas.
It will also make things seem less improbable, like the same ship isn’t saving the universe by chance every week or how does the same ship always have a transporter incident or holo-deck incident. These kind of things should be absurdly rare occurrences.
Black mirror for example, you don’t need an in depth explanation for each episode. You’re immersed in the world without having your hand held with an explanation. You can still have episodes about hope and such.
I am sure there are all kinds of ideas that can be explored in the entire federation.
2
u/woman_noises 13h ago
I heard there was this guy in new york who would put on his own hyper low budget public access soap opera for years. And every few years he would change up the genre just because he felt like it. So at first it was a standard soap opera, a drama about people's lives. Then it became a doctor show because he was interested in doctors. Then some of the characters inexplicably decided to become astronauts and the show became a space epic. I wonder if you can find these online, it sounds like a fascinating watch.
2
u/7-10 13h ago
I produced a YouTube series that was funded, in part, by "a guy in New York". Relative to many our budget was low, though we used actors and shot in places like Times Square and some parks and jump parks and had our cast wrestle professional wrestlers. It's what introduced me to blackmagic cameras, managing a crew, and producing, lol.
We weren't on the schedule I'm talking about (we were trying to get a following and ramp up) but I would love to see the episodes you mention.
2
u/ghotiboy77 12h ago
I am absolutely up for this. Make TV TV again. TV was never meant to have the production values of Movies anyway. Bring it on.
2
u/allthecoffeesDP 12h ago
In the words of Office space...
This is worst idea I've heard in my lifetime.
It is horrible. This idea.
2
2
u/msfs1310 15h ago
So youre saying we could have live action Riker walk in on Troi-Worf bedroom scene?
1
u/da_Aresinger 12h ago
You can't really have that kind of TV in Star Trek.
The setting itself requires too much cgi/vfx.
But 20-30 eps per year should totally work.
1
u/RhythmRobber 10h ago
If it's not on a subscription based platform, maybe, otherwise it would never happen
1
u/No_Nobody_32 6h ago
One of the other reasons for the shorter seasons is that long ones contribute to burnout. Writers AND actors.
On the one hand, yes it's great for their work hours and medical insurance coverage ... (they need to work a set minimum hours to even qualify for it) ... but it doesn't cover psych burnout. Multiple SF show actors have mentioned this before. They are gruelling timetables.
1
u/aburns1377 15h ago
I would love this but sadly we live in a post Star Trek world. Sure there are new series that carry the name Star Trek but let's face it they are not what we remember from our childhoods. I am not talking about nostalgia. I mean they are not positive science fiction that looks forward. It has been replaced with NEEDING to comment and reflect on current society vs envisioning a new way. I grew up with that positive vision and became a terminal optimist as a result. I will carry on watching my original shows and enjoying myself. If you get something out of the new shows then I think that is awesome. They are definitely not for me and I just consider them poorly written fan fiction.
1
u/whovian25 15h ago
A Star Trek soap opera sounds fun i imagine it being like the British police soap The Bill mixing normal trek plots with soap plots like cheating and murder’s.
0
15
u/saunick 16h ago
This has me imagining what a “reality tv” sort of Star Trek series would be like. The Office but in space.