‘Pushing Daisies’ Creator Wants A New Star Trek on TV
Any fan of the ABC series Pushing Daisies is probably aware that creator Bryan Fuller was also the creative mind behind both critically acclaimed, yet short-lived series Wonderfalls and Dead Like Me, but it is not as well known that Fuller is also a full-on Star Trek fan, and in fact has even written 21 episodes for the lore: 2 for Deep Space Nine and 19 for Voyager. Fuller recently sounded off on J.J. Abrams’ new Trek film and his interest on taking the helm for a modern interpretation of the 1960’s hit.
I would love to do another Star Trek series, one where you could go back to the spirit and color of the original Star Trek, because somehow, it got cold over the years. I love Next Generation, but it’s a little cooler and calmer than the ones from the ‘60s, which were so dynamic and passionate. Star Trek has to recreate itself. Otherwise, all the characters start to feel the same. You always have a captain, a doctor, a security officer, and you have the same arguments based on those perspectives. It starts to feel too familiar. So all those paradigms where it takes place on a starship have to be shaken up.
After leaving Voyager, fuller went on to create the aforementioned shows, and also writing for a little show called Heroes. You can check out the full interview over here and fans of Fuller may have to wait to see how the film treats it’s legion of Trekkies before we see a televised revamp.
But until then, you can still enjoy his pie-making necromancer in Pushing Daisies returning to ABC on October 1st.
Shouldn't that be "Daisies"?
I just hope he's kept too busy with "Pushing Daisies" to worry about this. PD is my favorite current US show, so I'd like to see it lasting a lot longer than his previous shows.
I think, actually, the worst thing that could be done with a new Trek is to "shake it up". The formula objected to by Mr. Fuller – the captain/doctor/security officer format as he describes it, taking place on a ship, is how Trek is done. To change that format would be like trying to do CSI without a crime lab, or Monk without a genius detective with OCD. No, Star Trek is about Starfleet, the Federation, and the officers who crew the ships, or starbases of that Federation. It is a format that needs to be done right – Voyager dropped the ball several times -but it is the format Trek was designed for.
The original Star Trek seemed to have an adult sensibility whereas the later incarnations became increasingly cartoonish although each of the later series had flashes of brilliance and memorable episodes.The re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica showed the path to renewing the series: make the personal and political more realistic without easy resolutions and with fewer solutions that depend on realigning the flux capacitor.It would also be nice if nearly EVERY enemy didn't turn out to a misunderstood potential ally.A real opportunity was missed with ENTERPRISE when they invented new enemy races rather than going back to the Klingons and Romulans. They could have made the Klingons even more blood-thirsty, ruthless, and dangerous than the original series, which would have an ironic edge since fans would know they would eventually become our allies.