Star Trek executive producer wants more Strange New Worlds episodes, and I’m nervous

Strange New Worlds has been my favorite Trek since Next Generation, and if the quality continues, could easily be my favorite Trek ever. But with the e.p. wishing for more episodes per season, there’s a danger of diluting the show by adding weak episodes that would have never made it in a 10 episode season.

One of the things I’ve long admired with BBC shows is their normally low-episode seasons, which kept out a lot of filler that normally made it in to the broadcast shows from the states. But streaming (and before that, cable) changed things. Finally US based shows were able to create much lower episode seasons, allowing the creators to tell more of the story they wanted to tell, without stretching things out (too much), or being forced to add stories they weren’t thrilled with in order to fill the season. (Though, even with shorter runs, shows are still doing this. Picard season 2, for example, could have used some trimming. So, yeah, show runners are still being forced to fill seasons where X number of episodes were ordered before the story was fleshed out. Maybe it just seems more evident in serialized shows.)

I can’t help but think a longer season of SNW would be a “more is less” scenario. I’d much rather see Paramount create another Trek show that’s mainly episodic, that’s been shown the same attention to quality that SNW has received.

skellener,
@skellener@kbin.social avatar

Pay the writers, pay the actors, sign the contract order more episodes! ✊It’s a great show!

gogreenranger,

I’ve been rewatching TNG and it has become very, very apparent to me how much of the charm of the show was due to two things:

  1. The sheer chemistry of the cast. Since really learning how much they all loved each other, it really just feels like a ship of joy.
  2. The filler episodes let you spend time with the cast. I mean, you rarely get something like a whole scene about Data painting, or stroking a fake beard, or Geordi striking out with multiple women, or Troi extolling the virtues of chocolate sundaes.

I’ve been really impressed by how much SNW has been able to do with the ensemble, it really feels like the cast have relationships, so if we can get more of that, yes please!

I almost want to believe that they’re cancelling Discovery to give more resources to SNW’s production schedule. ;)

xusontha,

I would enjoy having more episodes, and I (hopefully) don’t think that enough people would approve anything that would compromise the quality, given how they clearly know what they’re doing

Infinity187,

I’m down for more episodes per season, granted they have a good crew. It means more work for screenwriters and a potential for some amazing episodes. Let’s give it a shot!

downpunxx,
@downpunxx@kbin.social avatar

I know it's an incredibly unpopular opinion but my least favorite SNW show to date has been the musical, it was kitchy and waaaay too annoying to follow along with the story when they just kept singing all the time, it pleased the theater kids to no end, but I couldn't even make it through the episode, having said that, SNW is far and away the best Trek in the entire P+ batch yet, and I'm glad it's getting shown the love it deserves for being my sort of Trek. Looks like we got a runner, boys, long may she run.

stargazingpenguin,

I would be very happy to see 15 episodes a year, I think their current cast is great. They’ve expanded the story of some of the characters in season 2, but I feel they could easily add a few more spotlight episodes a year.

maegul,
@maegul@lemmy.ml avatar

My feeling watching SNW is that it isn’t getting enough space to breath more and chew on its subject matter more. I’d bet the writers and show runners are voicing the same thing … if they had more episodes they’d totally be able to fill them out with good stuff. In a way, organically growing from short episode counts into greater seasons might be a good way to go. Lots of comparisons to TNG etc here, and in those cases, maybe a shorter first season might have actually worked well.

StillPaisleyCat,
@StillPaisleyCat@startrek.website avatar

20 seems unrealistic given the longer shooting time per episode and actors’ wanting flexibility to be able to work on more than one project.

12-15 however seems very possible especially with the episodic format. Producing a longer season after the strike especially would seem wise. It would also allow Paramount to take a brief hiatus midseason (the way Discovery did originally) to stretch out the schedule.

SNW has already demonstrated that it is an ensemble show with a full cast that can basically carry or star in their own episodes. Not every main cast member needs to be on set every production day, and even the principal character, Pike, can step back in some episodes.

Vordus,

Honestly, I think SNW is in a pretty decent position for a larger episode order. Heck, having more episodes to create more space between TOS character guest appearances would probably do the series good.

fartsparkles, (edited )

I see it as something exciting. There are countless incredible science fiction writers out there and a longer season could mean more opportunities for their stories to reach the screen.

Rewatching TNG recently, I’ve relished the longer seasons with loads of interesting stories. And with things being episodic, a weaker episode doesn’t ruin everything (unlike Discovery and Picard).

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