Ultimate Geek Fu

The traditional 2009 - 2010 TV season is winding down and science fiction hasn't exactly set the small screen on fire. Heroes, Flash Forward, and Seeker have all been canceled (though Seeker fans are mounting a drive to save the show). Conversely, after narrowly avoiding cancellation after season two, Chuck has proven to be a minor lifeline for NBC and has already been renewed for a fourth season. Fringe continues to do well enough to earn a third season and, despite a several month break between episodes four and five, V will also be back next season. And, of course, Lost has two more episodes before it's gone for good.

Are we gaining anything to replace those shows that have been canceled or completed their run? Um, not a lot. Fox has Terra Nova as a midseason replacement. It's an adventure show about a family that settles prehistoric Earth. It features dinosaurs and is being produced by Stephen Speilberg.

Most intriguing, though not for the upcoming TV season, is that two former Star Trek writers are interested in bringing Star Trek back to the small screen. Bryan Fuller, known for many quirky shows including Pushing Daisies (an entertaining, off-beat show I didn't discover until it had already been canceled), has spoken for years about his interest in bringing back Trek. As he is more of a fan of the original series, he says he would be most interested in producing a series that had the same sense of fun and adventure as the original, rather than continuing with the staid and somewhat cold Next Gen approach.

The other former writer who would be interested in doing a new Star Trek show is Ron Moore, best known for revamping Battlestar Galactica. He also said he thought J.J. Abrams had a very good handle on the show, leading me to believe he's much less likely to push for the new series.

The biggest stumbling block to a new Star Trek series is the rights. Over the years, the rights to certain parts of the Star Trek continuity have been spread amongst two or three different production companies. Paramount still holds a lot of the rights, but not all of them. Lawyers will have to be involved, so Roddenberry only knows how long it will take before a new series can air.

But let's pretend we've killed all the lawyers and the Trekkers and Trekkies have finally convinced someone to produce a brand new Star Trek series. What should the setting be? Should it take place in the same time as the original series, perhaps on a different ship? Should the series use last year's movie as a jumping off point? Should it continue from either Next Gen or DS9? Or should it go somewhere else entirely?

Let the arguments begin!