BBC to Remake Star Trek
04-01-05, 05:17 PM
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BBC to Remake Star Trek
BBC to Remake Star Trek
Buoyed by the success of their most recent re-incarnation of the long-running Doctor Who television series, the normally cash-strapped BBC is close to reaching a deal with Paramount to purchase the rights to remake the original series of Star Trek.
This trend may surprise some, but according to a BBC executive, this is not all that unusual. "In America, NBC is running a show right now called 'The Office' which, in case people don't realize, is actually based on a show by the same name and is one of the BBC's most successful comedies ever," says executive producer Jean Enberryrod.
"Our Star Trek will be a complete remake," he continues. "We are inspired to go back and re-imagine the Original Series, recast it and take a slightly more modern — more British — approach in the look. We won't change the scripts in a big way; there will only be some slight character changes to fit our demographics better. For instance, Scotty may become Irish, or Mancunian, and since we really liked Jolene Blalock as a Vulcan on Enterprise, we're thinking about casting Spock as a female. Other than that, no real major changes are foreseen.
"The captain of a starship, we feel, should be a bit more of a gentleman when making first contact with other species, particularly the females. We see it as a bit of an anachronism to have the captain jumping into the sack with every female he meets. Literally, you don't know where they might have been, do you? Also, we need to come up with a catchphrase for the British Kirk, something totally original. We were thinking that when he hails people on the viewscreen, he turns and says: 'Kirk, James …T…Kirk.' Something like that.
"One thing we won't do," Jean joked, "is make the character of Captain Kirk a Frenchman, or an Earl Grey tea drinker. And Jude Law is, by U.K. legal requirements, our first choice as captain. We know he prefers to make movies, but he's getting to a point where he may want to consider a television show. One thing's for sure, though, if we can't get Jude Law, we won't wait — despite what Chris Rock says," concluded Enberryrod. "Besides, we've been told that Ricky Gervais is unavailable as he's working on copying another American series."
The BBC, and British television in general, is accustomed to making highly successful versions of American shows. Some examples of recent UK television smashes based entirely on their hit US counterparts include; The Fast Show (The Sketch Show), Little Britain (Little America), The Weakest Link (The Weakest Link), Brighton Belles (Golden Girls), The Kumars at No 42 (The Mike Douglas Show) and Coupling (Coupling).
Buoyed by the success of their most recent re-incarnation of the long-running Doctor Who television series, the normally cash-strapped BBC is close to reaching a deal with Paramount to purchase the rights to remake the original series of Star Trek.
This trend may surprise some, but according to a BBC executive, this is not all that unusual. "In America, NBC is running a show right now called 'The Office' which, in case people don't realize, is actually based on a show by the same name and is one of the BBC's most successful comedies ever," says executive producer Jean Enberryrod.
"Our Star Trek will be a complete remake," he continues. "We are inspired to go back and re-imagine the Original Series, recast it and take a slightly more modern — more British — approach in the look. We won't change the scripts in a big way; there will only be some slight character changes to fit our demographics better. For instance, Scotty may become Irish, or Mancunian, and since we really liked Jolene Blalock as a Vulcan on Enterprise, we're thinking about casting Spock as a female. Other than that, no real major changes are foreseen.
"The captain of a starship, we feel, should be a bit more of a gentleman when making first contact with other species, particularly the females. We see it as a bit of an anachronism to have the captain jumping into the sack with every female he meets. Literally, you don't know where they might have been, do you? Also, we need to come up with a catchphrase for the British Kirk, something totally original. We were thinking that when he hails people on the viewscreen, he turns and says: 'Kirk, James …T…Kirk.' Something like that.
"One thing we won't do," Jean joked, "is make the character of Captain Kirk a Frenchman, or an Earl Grey tea drinker. And Jude Law is, by U.K. legal requirements, our first choice as captain. We know he prefers to make movies, but he's getting to a point where he may want to consider a television show. One thing's for sure, though, if we can't get Jude Law, we won't wait — despite what Chris Rock says," concluded Enberryrod. "Besides, we've been told that Ricky Gervais is unavailable as he's working on copying another American series."
The BBC, and British television in general, is accustomed to making highly successful versions of American shows. Some examples of recent UK television smashes based entirely on their hit US counterparts include; The Fast Show (The Sketch Show), Little Britain (Little America), The Weakest Link (The Weakest Link), Brighton Belles (Golden Girls), The Kumars at No 42 (The Mike Douglas Show) and Coupling (Coupling).
