Would STAR TREK: PHASE II have stunk ?

[Captain]

I've been studying the Phase II period since way back when. I personally think it would have worked. It might have been rough at the start, but I think the series would have quickly found its legs. People often think Xon would have just slipped into the Spock position with Kirk and McCoy, but I disagree. The way the stories were starting to slant things, I think Jon Povill and the others were realising a whole new dynamic forming between Decker, Ilea and Xon. The scripts being worked on also had way more for chekov and Scotty to do. Sulu and Uhura were still being ignored, but I think things would have improved for them.

The only intangible in my mind is Shatner. If I'm right and the stories started slanting towards the new crew members, I dont know if he would have went along with it, or pulled some classic Shat-shenanigans. I think the producers were aware of this too, as there were contingency plans to move Decker into the chair if Shatner got too big for his britches.

Worst case, in my opinion, if the first season underperformed, Paramount and Roddenberry would have grovelled at Nimoys feet, and Spock would return for season two.

The new show would run for probably three or four seasons (maybe more?) and then Trek would have gone silent for a short time. Frankly, the remaking of classic TV into films has been around for a long time, and I think a new Trek film series with a new cast playing the familiar crew would have happened in the nineties.

[Nostalgiabuff]

you might be right captain, but they reworked so many classic TV shows into horrible movies in the 90's that I am not sure Trek would have been given the respect it deserved, had it only become phase 2 for a few seasons and then went away again. we might have ended up with something more like Galaxy Quest but it would have been a more direct goof set directly in the Trek universe.

[Captain]

Thats a possibility ....never thought of that? Jim Carrey as a "wacky" Spock and David Spade as Kirk?......I may have nightmares over even the thought of it!!!

[wyldpny]

I agree with those who think it would have done well, as I think the time was right for it and it would have done very well on TV and launched Trek into the eighties even as a series and sadly even without Nimoy. Though I think at some point Nimoy would have done a guest spot or two that may have even then turned into a recurring role.
The only reasons they changed and went with the movie was one, because of the popularity of Star Wars and two, their attempting to launch a new network and have Trek be the flagship. Every studio suddenly wanted to do their own Star Wars type movie and Paramount already had a jump on everyone else with their Phase II already deep in pre-production. So they decided to scrap the series and do a movie instead, especially since their launching a new network idea was also pretty much dead.

[Mikey]

Regardless of the already written scripts here's how I think it would have played out...

Phase II would last only 1 season ......

People say Next Gen did well because it had no competition --- which is true.
But, Next Gen also had a free clean Sci Fi slate (on TV) to experiment with - again no competition.

Gene Roddenberry has admited Next Gen was based more on his original Star Trek dream aka Captain Pike (The Cage).
This idea was dropped by the network because it's competition was Lost In Space and Voyage To The Bottom of the Sea ..... Compared to both, The Cage was rather dull.

If this "Cage" Trek was introduced in the late 70's it's competition would have been Buck Rogers, Battlestar and Star Wars ....

Does anyone else see a pattern here ?

The late 70's was not a good time to release a new Trek series on TV --- especially if it was helmed by Roddenberry with the idea he wanted to make the show more Cage-ish --- ie Next Generation.

[johnmiic]

I think it would have crashed and burned. First off Rodenberry was in charge. Rodenberry was happy to take the money every time Paramount wanted a new ST movie or series but he never could re-capture the magic of the classic series. I say that's mostly because Gene Coon had passed away. Both franchises did better when Rodenberry was out of the way. Trek II was better than TMP with Harve Bennett producing. Next Gen got better after Rodeberry became to ill to interfere with the new series and the spin-offs. There are many people who wrote episodes which built Trek up and in truth Rodenberry didn't contribute as much as he is credited for. He fought the network to keep it on the air but was not as visonary as ther writers he employed. I have also read brief synopsis of the scripts that were being commissioned for Phase II and they were just God-awful! Some of the worst written garbage like the one where Spock has to re-assassinate JFK to correct the timeline. Pitifully bad stuff.

The look of the new Star Trek was still not as finalized as the look of it in Star Trek - The Motion Picture. They still had some refining to do on the models, the sets, the costumes, etc. I have seen the test footage from Phase II on the ST-TMP Special Edition and I still wonder why are Enterprise crew-persons, men and women, dressed in skimpy, wimpy, pansy, jumpers like Logan's Run rejects? Where are the Starfleet Uniforms? I think if the show had re-launched it would have looked too casual and underdeveloped. The models and sets would have looked too cheap. The movie benefitted from a lot of things being thrown out due to the SPFX house being fired and Andrew Probert & Doug Trumbull being brought in. It looked more realistic when it was made into a feature film.