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CBS has announced that the upcoming Star Expedition Tv set show will be helmed by Brian Fuller, creator of Wonderfalls, Pushing Daisies, and Hannibal. Earlier he created these shows, Fuller was a writer on both Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Voyager, and has talked near the idea of bringing the series back to television for nearly a decade.

Fuller, who has been a Star Trek fan since he was a kid, has pitched multiple ideas effectually a new series since 2008, when he told IF Magazine: "I would love to return to the spirit of the old serial with the colors and attitude. I loved Voyager and Deep Infinite Ix, but they seem to have lost the '60s fun and I would love to take it dorsum to its origin."

More recently, Fuller has speculated nearly setting a Star Expedition TV show on the USS Reliant rather than the USS Enterprise, or rebooting the TNG universe within the Abrams timeline rather than returning to the original timeline in which all of the previous television shows took identify.

Watching Brian Fuller

I'grand not familiar with Fuller'due south later television shows, merely it just so happens that I've been re-watching all of the Star Trek spin-offs. Fuller wrote just two DS9 episodes, "The Darkness and the Low-cal," and "Empok Nor." Both are solid, though I'd argue "Empok Nor" is the better of the 2.

BryanFuller

Bryan Fuller. I have no caption for the pull a fast one on.

His Voyager repertoire is more extensive, at xx episodes. My initial stance of Voyager when it aired wasn't very positive, only I've really warmed to the show more now that I'yard watching information technology again. It'southward withal my third-favorite behind DS9 and TNG, but it deserved more credit than I initially gave information technology. Now that I've seen which episodes Fuller wrote, I call back some of that credit belongs to him.

The vast majority of Fuller'south work on Voyager is on episodes that focus on character development through adversity. Voyager'south after seasons were often criticized for focusing well-nigh exclusively on Seven of Nine, the Physician, and Captain Janeway. Fuller was often the exception to that tendency. Not all of his stories work ("Retrospect," which focuses on sexual assail, is downright painful to scout), simply he frequently pushes the envelope in interesting ways, even if the final effort doesn't gel completely.

"Mortal Coil" was one of a handful of episodes that gave Ethan Phillips (Neelix) something to practise likewise human action ingratiatingly cheerful. "Gravity" delved into Tuvok's childhood and how Vulcan'south experience emotion. "Clomp of the Dead" examined Klingon beliefs near the afterlife.

Many of Fuller'southward episodes have issues that go on them from landing on Voyager's Top 10 list, but nearly all of them prove a willingness to grapple with difficult questions and the nature of humanity that'due south been sorely lacking in the JJ Abrams reboot.

The Abrams trap

I absolutely agree with Fuller that the later on Star Trek spin-offs weren't as lighthearted as the archetype bear witness. On DS9, that was intentional; the show'southward decision to focus on a war and to tell that story more honestly than Star Trek'south previous sunny disposition would allow was a deliberate choice. Voyager, in contrast, is often weighed down by techno-babble and condom plot decisions. Had Voyager jumped a few years into the futurity and taken some queues from Battlestar Galactica, it would take been a better show.

With that said, I dearly promise that Fuller avoids the temptation to simply reboot previous storylines or characters. JJ Abrams' first moving-picture show worked because it told an entirely new story with a fresh cast. Star Trek Into Darkness started to fall apart as soon every bit it began relentlessly aping The Wrath of Khan. Star Expedition Beyond'south offset trailer appears set to continue this trend, though Simon Pegg, co-writer of the script, also criticized the trailer as inaccurately portraying the picture show.

Star Trek: Lt Commander Data

The original Information. No substitutes accustomed

Information technology made sense to reboot classic Star Trek, particularly now that Leonard Nimoy has passed and even George Takei is 78. It makes much less sense to exercise the same in the TNG era. I don't want to watch a revamped TNG coiffure have on old plots; I'd much rather see new ones.

The CBS All Admission Anchor

Currently, CBS intends to circulate the new Star Trek merely via CBS All-Admission, which currently costs $6 a month. Since I'yard not paying $72 a year for a single television prove when Netflix exists, all of this is somewhat bookish. While I don't recommend people pirate content, CBS is bravado their own foot off with this 1. Fuller seems like a solid choice to captain the revamped testify; hopefully CBS won't destroy its chances by tying it to their graveyard content service.