TrekWeb.com - Babylon 5 Producer J. Michael Straczynski on His Unproduced Star Trek Reboot
source: http://trekweb.com/articles/2008/10/13/Babylon-5-Producer-J-Michael-Straczynski-on-His-Unpro...
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- dankitti
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Sci Fi Scanner posted a new interview with Babylon 5 producer J. Michael Straczynski, in which he talks about his proposed Star Trek reboot TV Series which was rejected by Paramount. Here are few excerpts.
Q: You once wrote a treatment for a Star Trek reboot very similar to the one J.J. Abrams is now completing.
A: Yeah Bryce Zabel and I -- another television writer -- were huge fans of the original Star Trek, and felt that it had gotten sort of diminished over the years. And we thought, "How would we do it if it was our option to do it?" So we wrote out a treatment similar to how you would reboot characters in the Marvel universe and we got it to Paramount, but at that point Paramount wasn't even williing to talk about Star Trek. Now that J.J. is doing his thing, that'll push everything further back. We just wanted to show a way to break free some of the log jam of thinking about how you do a Star Trek series.
Q: Did doing Babylon 5 foster that perspective?
A: It certainly didn't hurt, because it does take you outside the box, and lets you approach a Science Fiction concept with a more realistic perspective, which B5 was. It hewed pretty closely to what real science is, which made it a favorite of NASA astronauts and scientists and engineers. In fact there was a bulletin board at NASA that for many years had a big sign on it that said, "Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem."
Q: Did it feel like J.J. Abrams had stolen your wind?
A: My wind doesn't move that easily... I don't know J.J. personally, but I know his talent. And I have every confidence that he can pull this off. So I'm just very content to sit back and see what he does.
[more at the website]
Q: You once wrote a treatment for a Star Trek reboot very similar to the one J.J. Abrams is now completing.
A: Yeah Bryce Zabel and I -- another television writer -- were huge fans of the original Star Trek, and felt that it had gotten sort of diminished over the years. And we thought, "How would we do it if it was our option to do it?" So we wrote out a treatment similar to how you would reboot characters in the Marvel universe and we got it to Paramount, but at that point Paramount wasn't even williing to talk about Star Trek. Now that J.J. is doing his thing, that'll push everything further back. We just wanted to show a way to break free some of the log jam of thinking about how you do a Star Trek series.
Q: Did doing Babylon 5 foster that perspective?
A: It certainly didn't hurt, because it does take you outside the box, and lets you approach a Science Fiction concept with a more realistic perspective, which B5 was. It hewed pretty closely to what real science is, which made it a favorite of NASA astronauts and scientists and engineers. In fact there was a bulletin board at NASA that for many years had a big sign on it that said, "Never apply a Star Trek solution to a Babylon 5 problem."
Q: Did it feel like J.J. Abrams had stolen your wind?
A: My wind doesn't move that easily... I don't know J.J. personally, but I know his talent. And I have every confidence that he can pull this off. So I'm just very content to sit back and see what he does.
[more at the website]
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sallymae_hogsby
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June Lockhart (Timmy & Lassie's mom) guest starred on B5. Maybe she would have been on the Straczynski Star Trek too!
- 3 years ago
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sallymae_hogsby
