As per our favorite Vulcan's de facto catchphrase, it looks like Star Trek will too live long and prosper -- as a television series, that is. CBS has announced that Star Trek will be coming back to the small screen, via the network's online streaming service, CBS All Access, after years of false starts and rumors.
News of the reboot comes after years of failed bids dating back from the mid-2000s to bring the show back for another trip on the U.S.S. Enterprise, mostly due to rights issues between film studio Paramount Pictures and CBS, which made it more or less immovable. The split over the care and custody of the show is almost as old as the franchise itself.
Originally, Star Trek was owned by Lucille Ball's Desilu Productions, which sold the rights to Paramount in the 1960s. In the mid-90s, Paramount merged with Viacom -- the former name of the present day CBS corporation -- and subsequently a split between Paramount and CBS in 2006 divvied up ownership between the two conglomerates; while CBS retains show rights, Paramount has the rights to characters and merchandising.
The complicated nature of these proprietary rights curtailed the thought of a new Star Trek for years, but now, it looks like the two corporations have proffered the olive branch (so far, no statement has been made concerning how this was accomplished).
New #StarTrek TV series premiering January 2017. Details at https://t.co/hN8urQiCEG pic.twitter.com/rOHNdLKO8M
— Star Trek (@StarTrek) November 2, 2015
The series is set to be helmed by executive producer Alex Kurtzman, whose past experience includes credits as co-writer and producer of the J.J. Abrams-directed blockbuster iterations of Star Trek, giving Kurtzman an adequate amount of trekkie cred.
According to a press release issued by the network, the show will also be the first developed exclusively for CBS' online platform, CBS All Access, and will feature an entirely new cast of characters:
"The new program will be the first original series developed specifically for U.S. audiences for CBS All Access, a cross-platform streaming service that brings viewers thousands of episodes from CBS's current and past seasons on demand, plus the ability to stream their local CBS Television station live for $5.99 per month. CBS All Access already offers every episode of all previous "Star Trek" television series. [...] The brand-new "Star Trek" will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966."
As per the same release, the TV reboot will bear no relation to the upcoming Star Trek Beyond, set to be released in 2016, or any of its other contemporary cinema counterparts. The actual Star Trek show itself will air sometime in January 2017.
Via: Comic Book Resources
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