Thoughts about a TOS revival with AI technology

[trekfan_1]

The recent news about Shatner being ok with an AI version of himself after he passes got me thinking more about this. There may come a time when they can possibly, literally produce more "in the style of TOS" new episodes of the original show using AI.

I didn't start this thread to debate the technological feasibility of such a thing but moreso to discuss iF it can ever be done convincingly (and its well done) what would hardcore TOS fans feel about it? This would be assuming the actors estate would agree to it.

For me personally, I would be OK with it but only in a limited fashion. For example , using real actors and different characters set in the TOS era with some AI "cameo" appearances from TOS legacy characters in their original likeness. Or perhaps in a time travel type of storyline with a TOS character being in the mix. Similar to DS9's "Trials and Tribble-ations" but with newly created AI "footage " involving TOS characters.

I however would not want to see "new" episodes of TOS ( music, style and all) being AI manufactured just as if they continued on from Turnabout Intruder.

I would be interested in hearing what most hardcore "older generation " trek fans would feel about it. And If it would be a negative opinion , would you go as far as saying this would "tarnish" TOS in your eyes?

Would it harm/change/ have no effect/ enhance the legacy of classic trek for you or for future generations of fans?

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Well we have the fanmade stuff already, so I don't think it would tarnish TOS as such.

 

[evilchumlee]

I've thought they should a TOS-style show for like, 20 years.

I don't really think we need the original characters though. New ship, new situations, old school style.

 

[Noname Given]

I hope they never do. There's no way AI can do as good performance on the acting - it would be soulless.

If you need to relive your childhood because seeing someone who looks different takes you out of it, there are 80 existing filmed episodes 26 animated episodes and 6 feature films you can watch again and again WRT TOS.

 

[Dukhat]

I would rather have had AI TOS Continues instead of DSC. Or PIC, for that matter.

 

[evilchumlee]

Rather than AI, a TOS-era show could look great in computer animated form, akin to Prodigy.

I would love to see a kid-freindly but not neccesarilly aimed at kids CGI TOS-era show with a new ship/crew, being slightly tounge in cheek and going on wacky TOS-style adventures.

 

[1001001]

Hell no.

Every great franchise has new actors that inhabit old characters. How many people have played Batman or Superman? We're on our, what, 3rd adult Kirk now?

I say let each generation adapt the story themselves in new movies and television.

 

[BillJ]

No. Just no.

 

[Quinton]

Very few things in Star Trek's multigenerational history have struck me as downright fucking disgusting.

You know where this post is going.

 

[Metryq]

Yet Another™ formula approach to Star Trek, just newer VFX and technology. It's like the animation studios that dumped all their pen-and-ink artists after Pixar came along, all mistakenly assuming that CGI was the key to success. TOS was zeitgeist as well as casting, writing and production values. Audiences don't need more remakes and retcons. They want something new.

 

[Methuselah Flint]

Plus you can't replicate the style of TOS - that of a 60s lens - to modern sensibilities.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

FUCK no.

 

[BillJ]

Plus you can't replicate the style of TOS - that of a 60s lens - to modern sensibilities.

Same issue I have with Strange New Worlds.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

No. Hard pass.

 

[M'Sharak]

I would be interested in hearing what most hardcore "older generation " trek fans would feel about it. And If it would be a negative opinion , would you go as far as saying this would "tarnish" TOS in your eyes?

Would it tarnish TOS? No, not automatically.

Recasting the characters and doing modern storytelling in that setting could be fine, but I just don't think all-AI productions are either necessary or especially desirable.

The problem lies with the fact that, sure, there's a slim possibility of it being done well, but the odds are rather more heavily in favor of a hundred different iterations of Doing It Badly.

And no one wants to see that. the number of people who'd want to see that is very, very small.

 

[FederationHistorian]

I can see TAS episodes being remade into live action episodes, though I’m not sure how they would pad those episodes out to be extended to the length of an hour.

They might even make the abandoned Planet of the Titans tv movie, or try to make that abandoned idea for ENT where Archer meets mirror Kirk.

But I can’t really envision Kirk being used beyond some parallel multiverse thing, or for a cameo appearance.

It largely boils down to writing, and I don’t trust the current crop of writers to write Shatner’s portrayal of Kirk well. They would modernize Kirk too much.

 

[feek61]

You know, as a hard core TOS fan, I don't think it would bother me with the caveat that the stories were good. Hell, I would watch the new Trek shows if the stories were decent. I actually think it would be kind of cool to have technology create a show about the future from a show from the past. After all, we will always have TOS and nothing they can do will tarnish that, so what the hell!

 

[aridas sofia]

This is one of those threads that I feel sure will be revisited in three, five, and maybe, ten years (if we’re still here). One strength of AI as I, a mere layman, understand it, is in incredibly sophisticated pattern recognition. The distinctiveness of those 79 episodes we all know by heart and love so much, is found in patterns that we, as humans, recognize. But it’s tough for us to employ them to create new works. We get bits and pieces- some people might get whole chunks. But I strongly suspect that very shortly, there will be AI-generated episodes that get it very, very well, and will be indistinguishable (to humans) from the real thing. When that happens, I can’t say. But three years is my “soonest” estimate, while ten years is so far out that I suspect it will have already happened, been debated, the cultural impact felt like a body blow, and the fact there was ever a time when AI wasn’t giving you new episodes will be largely forgotten.

But as I say- I’m just a layman. But I have laid my prediction down for future TrekBBSers to see and say, “That aridas was a decent prognosticator”. Or not.

 

[wayne66]

I would like to see TAS and the computer games audio get some kind of new animated treatment. They could be seen as the 4th and 5th year. Still, if they do not have the voicework of the original actors, then they should have new actors doing new stories.

 

[Dr. K.R. Kollman hon.]

I've wanted to see 'Captain Sulu and the Adventures of the Excelsior' Computer Animated series. I think they should try a few out and see where they go.