Viacom and CBS Merge Once Again

Its now official, Star Trek is under one roof once again as CBS and Viacom are merging to form ViacomCBS Inc, for a net value of around $30 billion. Bob Bakish, Viacom CEO, will retain CEO of the merged entity. CBS CEO Joe Ianniello will retain control of all things CBS including CBS Television Studios, CBS Interactive and CBS All Access. He will lose control of Showtime, Pop TV, Smithsonian Channel and publisher Simon & Shuster as those will go under Viacom's Bakish. Those channels will join BET, MTV, and Comedy Central. In short, CBS stays under CBS, cable stuff and movie stuff (Paramount) will be with Viacom with both entities reporting to now corporate parent ViacomCBS.

Time for some background. Shortly after Star Trek: Enterprise went off the air in 2005, CBS was split off from Viacom to eliminate what Viacom thought was an unhealthy company. The move was spearheaded by National Amusements (a company that owns stock in other companies), then owned by Sumner Redstone, as at the time CBS was considered very un-healthy and a drag on Viacom's value. This split also gave National Amusement a significant ownership in CBS too. This ownership stake is why you have never heard reports of Viacom or CBS ever considering merging with any other media company.

The result of the split is the movie rights to Star Trek remained with Viacom owned Paramount while the TV rights remained with CBS. A side effect of that move was apparently a moratorium on making TV shows as long as Paramount intended to move forward with movies which eventually did in the 2009 reboot movie. In that time the once unhealthy CBS became a TV force to be reckoned with growing in value to $18 billion that exceeds $12 billion value for Viacom. In the last 10 years with merging all media companies into mega-corporations (Disney/Fox/ABC, AT&T/NBC) it made sense for CBS and Viacom to re-merge. In addition, Sumner died leaving National Amusements to his daughter Shari Redstone. Once she gained ownership, she started pushing for a merger.

However, those talks stalled for 4 or so year not because no one thought the merger was a bad idea but because of clash of personalities. Shari Redstone wanted her choice to run the merged company and that choice was not then CBS CEO Les Moonves. Moonves was considered a natural choice considered he spearheaded CBS's turnaround that turned Viacom's divesting of CBS into a mistake. As a result, he was able to successfully block the merger with CBS board support since Viacom would have been a drag on CBS' value (oh the irony). That all changed last year when Moonves was fired from his position as multiple reports of sexual harassment emerged and he was replaced with a Redstone approved choice. While many think the #MeToo movement was why the reports came forward, the timing is just wonky enough that my general advice is don't mess with Shari Redstone. Advice others have taken as she clearly dictated this merger as CBS conceded ground on all fronts (even the name!) despite their superior market value.

This then leads to the question of "what does this mean for Star Trek now that is under one company again?" Short answer is nothing right now. The TV side is full steam ahead with four shows in the pipeline for next year. On the movie front still has Paramount sitting on two scripts. One based on a concept from Quentin Tarantino but not written by him. The only way it will be made is if he is willing to direct. Problem is Tarantino long promised to direct only 10 films and he just released his 9th film. I would be truly shocked if he decided his final film would be a Star Trek film. I suspect he is shooting for executive producer credit but avoid directing it. The other script is a non-starter as the cost to produce is too high as currently written to cast.

Its unlikely a real movie decision will be made by Paramount until after the merger completes at the end of the year. After that they will force Tarantino to make his directing decision. Assuming he bows out, the smart decision is to streamline the executive org chart for all things Star Trek. One of the reasons Marvel TV and movie output works so well is the executive hierarchy is incredibly streamlined. There is whoever is in charge of the movie/TV project who reports to Kevin Feige who in turns reports to Disney CEO Robert Iger. If $130 billion Disney can have that kind of a streamlined process, there is absolutely no reason that ViacomCBS cannot (and yeah I am looking at you too Warner Bros.). To many executive cooks in the kitchen just means they all want to add their (mostly) worthless two cents to everything, muddying the waters, so when things succeed they can all take credit and when it fails they can point fingers at everyone but themselves.

CBS started the process by creating the Star Trek Global Franchise Group with all Star Trek TV executive producer Alex Kurtzman* reporting to CBS Executive VP Veronica Hart who reports to CBS Television Studios President David Staph who reports to... So probably compared to how it use to be, its streamlined but still about five executives too deep and its about the same on the movie side. Hopefully part of the plans will include making that two prong (one for TV, one for movies) into a much more concise org chart to the top. If it occurs a natural choice will be to anoint Alex Kurtzman as Trek's "Kevin Feige". Not sure how I feel about that particular possibility but to be fair he seems to be learning and getting better at all things Trek.

In the long term, merging Star Trek was one of the strategic reasons behind the merger. The goal is clearly to make Star Trek a worldwide franchise with marketing power equal to or greater then Marvel. Paramount has tried to do that with the films to little success and that failure is part of the reason why they are so slow to pull the trigger on a 4th movie as potential international success for a film is now more important then how it will do stateside. Instead (as the group name indicates) the goal is to let the TV side lead the way. My understanding is Star Trek: Discovery is doing decently internationally with its presence on Netflix around the world. The new Trek shows will also appear worldwide. Worldwide penetration will take time and money but hopefully the newly merged company will be willing to risk the money where Viacom alone was not. Too early to say.


*Side thought - People forget that Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci where long time working partners. Orci was the deep Trek fan while calling Kurtzman a casual fan would be an exaggeration. What in the world happened that got Roberto Orci ousted from...well all of Hollywood?!?.

Trek Against Trump Gets Over 100 Cast and Crew Endorsements

Normally I try to stay away from politics on my blogs but in this case the two have converged. A post on the Facebook group Trek Against Trump has received over 100 endorsements from previous cast and crew of the various iterations of Star Trek. Highlights include JJ Abrams (Kelvinverse), Scott Bakula (ENT), Peter David (books, comics), Bryan Fuller (DIS), Kate Mulgrew (VOY), Chris Pine (Kelvinverse), Brent Spinder (TNG) and a whole lot more. The wave of support should not be a surprise to most Star Trek fans.

I honestly cannot see how it is possible to be a supporter of Donald Trump while also being a fan of Star Trek. As the letter puts it "Star Trek has always offered a positive vision of the future, a vision of hope and optimism, and most importantly, a vision of inclusion, where people of all races are accorded equal respect and dignity, where individual beliefs and lifestyles are respected so long as they pose no threat to others." Trump is the the walking, talking anti-Trek. Give him a planet or two too destroy and he would make for a great future villain. Everything we love Star Trek for attempting to teach (IDIC) is something he is fundamentally and proudly against. Something his white supremacists supporters love him for.

A solution to this is pretty easy - vote. But vote logically. As the post says "We have heard people say they will vote Green or Libertarian or not at all because the two major candidates are equally flawed. That is both illogical and inaccurate. Either Secretary Clinton or Mr. Trump will occupy the White House. One is an amateur with a contemptuous ignorance of national laws and international realities, while the other has devoted her life to public service, and has deep and valuable experience with the proven ability to work with Congress to pass desperately needed legislation. If, as some say, the government is broken, a protest vote will not fix it."

The only thing a "protest vote" does is change the answer for a future jeopardy question. Right now we are a two party system. You don’t have to like it but you can’t pretend other options currently exist either. Or to put it another way, voting 3rd party is like donating a penny to your favorite charity. Technically you did something and can claim “I donated” but deep down you know you didn’t do anything at all. Don't be like that. Take responsibility to make a real, meaningful choice even if one may regret later. And when you vote, vote the Star Trek way - logically.

Week Three To Boldy Go Charity Video

It is Zachary Quinto and Karl Urban's turn to promote the Star Trek: To Boldy Go Omaze charity that gives you an opportunity to win a tour of the Star Trek set.

Star Trek Lit-Verse Reading Order Chart and Trek Personality Analysis

Below are links for two not really related topics of note. The first one provides a rather massive chart that can help new readers to the Star Trek "lit-verse" figure out a good starting point and then what order to read from there. It seems intimidating but just pick your favorite type of Trek, go to that column and follow the arrows forward or backwards until hit an interesting sounding title. Then search Amazon.com to learn more about that book. If want self contained and off beat, the New Frontier books are excellent reads. Except for The Original Series, most of the books for the last 5-10 years take place in a post Star Trek movie-verse continuity so it continues the sagas of the TNG, DS9 and Voyager crew, with those characters often crossing over. If interested in that, a good place to start is Star Trek: Destiny which features the origin of the Borg in a war to save what remains of the Federation. The full chart and other details can be found here.

In regards to choosing your favorite Star Trek that covers the series, movies and various book series, i09.com has posted a tongue in cheek "guide" to show what your favorite might say about your personality. That can be found here.

Star Trek iPhone Case

From Lazerwood Industries is a unique approach to the iPhone case. Well case is a strong word. Its really a beautifully laser etched piece of wood that you attack to the back of the iPhone and can be customized with an image of your choice or from pre-existing ones. The result, as the picture shows, is a way to make the iPhone your own. If head over to Lazerwood Industries you can see additional products including wood pieces for Beats headphones, Mac keyboards and more. If a fan of the wood grain look, definitely worth checking out.

Vulcan Wins Online Vote to Name a Moon

The currently not a planet Pluto turns out to have five moons thanks to the discovery of the additional ones by Dr. Mark Showalter and his team. From this discovery (one in 2011, other in 2012) he decided to hold an online contest to give the internet an opportunity to name the moons. As is the traditional for naming large bodies like moons, the names have to have a strong basis in Greek or Roman mythology. This gave rise to the name Vulcan being suggested as he is the blacksmith god of fire and volcanoes in Roman mythology. Of course to Star Trek fans, Vulcan really refers to the home planet of Spock, last seen getting blown up in Star Trek (2009). The push to name one of the moons Vulcan received a boost when William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy used their twitter accounts to occasionally remind their fans to vote for the name. The result is the name won by a 50,000 margin with Cerberus (three headed dog that guards the gates to the underworld) coming in second. Now the online victory isn't actually the final leg in its journey. The actual naming of the moon has to be approved by the International Astronomical Union and they were pretty clear that astronomers, not Star Trek fans, would make the naming decision. Since Astronomers and Trekkie seems to have a high overlap, well...

Starship Enterprise-D Bridge Restoration Project

A Star Trek fan named Huston Huddleston has started a project to restore the Starship Enterprise-D bridge from Star Trek: The Next Generation. This bridge was from Star Trek: The Experience (I assume the now closed Vegas one). The grand plan is to restore the bridge with interactive elements and possible put in tour for conventions and charities. The estimated cost of the project is $240,000. As a result, the cost is being crowd sourced via IndieGoGo. If you are interested in donating and learning more go to NewStarship.com. Note this is a fan project, not part of Paramount.

Borg Cake and Non Canon Books

News on the Star Trek sequel front remains slow but here are two Trek things that grab my interest this weekend. The first is a post of a Borg wedding cake, complete with attacking Federation ships. Just have the one pic but it’s a cool one.

The second item is from long time Star Trek writer Dayton Ward who picked around 10 Star Trek novels that should be part of canon but are not. His list can be found here. Of the list I highly recommend reading Strangers from the Sky, Dark Mirror, and Federation. Along those lines I also submit Enterprise (first voyage of the Enterprise), Prime Directive (crew violates directive to save a civilization from nuclear annihilation) and William Shatner's Trek (mostly cause clever ideas on Trek stuff).

Sir Patrick Stewart Carries the Olympic Torch

Monday was an eventful day for Sir Patrick Stewart as he carried the Olympic torch through parts of Croydon, South London. The Olympics start this Friday. Below is a video of "Captain Picard" as he runs with the torch and after that is a BCC interview as he comments on the honor. For more videos, head over to TrekMovie. Congrats to all bearers, good luck London and this years Olympians.

Redshirts

The standard Star Trek trope, the sacrificial Redshirt, has getting a new life with some new products. For those not familiar, in The Original Series, being a red shirt (for security) was a guarantee that characters was going to bite it at some point in the episode. The now pop culture joke was used in the last Trek movie when the red shirted engineer died while attempting to jump on the laser platform. Now you can (unofficially) celebrate the Redshirt with a new card game from ThinkGeek, an actual redshirt, and a new spook book that takes place on an Enterprise analog as the red shirted crewman start to get suspicious of the frequent deaths that occur on away missions.

USS Enterprise CVN-65 Being Decommissioned

While in the Star Trek universe, the Enterprise tends to go out in a blaze of glory that rarely takes all hands with it, its naval equivalent gets to go out with dignity after 51 years of service. The Navy's first-ever nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the USS Enterprise CVN-65 if officially being deactivated on December 1st after its final deployment in the Middle East. According to StarTrek.com, the ship's career highlights include being a "spotter ship for John Glenn’s Project Mercury space capsule in 1962 after Glenn made the first American orbital spaceflight; supported the U.S. blockade during the Cuban Missile Crisis; and scenes for the blockbuster Tom Cruise film Top Gun were shot aboard the ship." George Takei also visited the ship in 2003 while a flag from the ship was presented to the Enterprise cast a few years later. More details here.

Two Bryans for Star Trek TV Series?

AICN is reporting that Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer are considering developing a new Star Trek TV series. They wrote, "Fuller tells AICN exclusively that the two Bryans, who have long (but separately) contemplated new “Star Trek” TV series, have discussed the possibility of pooling their resources to take a new corner of Gene Roddenberry’s multiverse to the small screen." The two are currently working together for a remake of The Munsters called "Mockingbird Lane". The pair's sci-fi credentials are pretty extensive and they have a good track record for television.

Fuller's previous credentials include Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager and creating of critically acclaimed shows Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls, and Pushing Daisies. If you were a fan of the first season of Heroes, you can also thank him as his leaving after the first season is the primary reason the show turned to crap. As for Singer, he was the director of The Usual Suspects, X-Men 1 & 2, and executive produces House.

Obviously I love the idea but I suspect Paramount is not that interested as they will want to remain focused on the movies. I think they need to give it serious thought as getting the cast together for Star Trek 13 will be difficult and expensive as the cast all continue to enjoy success outside the franchise. Forget about them coming back for Star Trek 14 once their three movie contract expires.

Lego USS Reliant NCC-1864

The USS Reliant (NCC-1864) recieves a nice homage care of Legomanica Christer Nyberg. The Reliant is the star ship that Khan hijacks in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in his effort to destroy Kirk and the Enterprise. The ship was built from more than 10 thousand bricks. The full gallery can be found here. More of Christer's creations can be found here. (via Brothers Brick)

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all
For the holidays's below is a promo video for the annual East Peoria Festival of Lights that was held several weeks ago. What makes it Star Trek related is very awesome USS Enterprise float that is 57 feet long, 22 feet wide, 14 feet tall and made of 52,000 lights. The Enterprise float appears at the 1:36 point. Click here for more images.

QMX's Enterprise Replica Model

If you have $5000 and love the 2009 version of the Enterprise, then QMX may have the item for you. The company has created the Artisan Refit Replica of NCC-1701 Enterprise that looks like it came out of the movie. The model comes with lighting effects, glass stand and is 34" long and stands 7.5" high. Pre-orders start on October 31st at a price of $4,995.00. More details and images can be found here.

New Star Trek Series in Works? Nope

An article from TrekWeb proposes the possibility of a new Star Trek television series that not only would take place in the original "Prime" universe but take place after Voyager. The story is from David Foster and his 1947 Entertainment. To start, let’s just put this idea to bed. Don't get me wrong, I would love the idea of a new TV series in the Prime Universe but it is not happening, at least right now.

There are several reasons not to believe it. One, the news would not come from someone who has produced nothing mainstream and is most likely telling this story hoping to gain interest in his company. Another is the focus by Paramount and the main players that would decide the franchises future is on the next movie. Their approach to Trek and its possible TV future is going to be tabled until after the sequel if not longer. In short, a TV series is probably five years or more. I am not entirely convinced that the long term plan is to abandon the Prime universe entirely outside of selling streaming video and home video discs. Hopefully I am wrong on that.

SDCC Sings Happy Birthday to Patrick Stewart

Part of the reason that so many celebs show up to the San Diego Comic-Con can be summarized in the video below when a room full of people happily sang "Happy Birthday" to Sir Patrick Stewart (turned 71 on July 13th). That kind of admiration and hero worship simply can't be bought but just enjoyed. (via TrekMovie)

Star Trek Sequel Set Visit Raffle Prize

JJ Abrams has offered the ultimate prize for Star Trek fans to help victims of the Japan earthquake and tsunami. Abrams has offered as part of the UNICEF raffle the prize of a visit to the set of Star Trek 2. The raffle starts essentially now with tickets costing $10 each. There are also other prizes available like artwork, DVD box sets and more. Click here to go to GiantRobot to learn more and purchase the raffle tickets. (via TrekMovie)

Star Trek Comes to Netflix Streaming

CBS Corporation and Netflix issues a press release announcing a two year agreement to allow for instant streaming of CBS owned television shows and movies. The shows will become available in early April for the usual $7.99 per month plan.

For Star Trek fans, there is a key part that makes this news exciting (especially considering the cost of season sets), and that is "all generations of the definitive sci-fi series, "Star Trek" will be available. This means Star Trek: The Original Series. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Enterprise, and even the cartoon series.

Other television shows that will be available include Cheers, Frasier, Medium, Flashpoint, original Hawaii Five-O, Twin Peaks and many more. The idea of being able to create a kind of "best of" and themed play lists from all of Star Trek is very cool; I can't help but feel slightly annoyed considering the massive amount of money I spent on many of the box sets I currently own.

Bruce Greenwood, Auction Results, and a Review

On the Star Trek sequel front, there really isn't much to talk about. The script is in the works but it is unlikely that a draft will be completed until the end of the year. In the meantime, here are three links that you might find interesting.

Bruce Greenwood on Sequel
In various interviews to promote Dinner for Schmucks, Bruce Greenwood talked about what he would like in the Star Trek sequel for Captain Pike. "I think with the latitude of the parallel universe I might be able to get out of the chair, and I’m hoping the mentorship between myself and Kirk (Chris Pine) continues." He also mentioned "I gather January 2011 is when they’re going to roll cameras." I wouldn't hold my breath on that. If a draft of the script is approved by the end of the year, I could see pre-production starting in January but cameras will probably not actually roll until the summer. Honestly, I think Bruce Greenwood has too high expectations for Pike. The story is likely to be very Enterprise centric, especially on the Trinity of McCoy-Kirk-Spock. Pike, at most, will have a cameo appearance to issue orders for the mission or deny permission for something that Kirk will do anyway.

Star Trek Live Review
TrekMovie.com has posted their review of the Star Trek themed, NASA sponsored, educational stage show that runs at the Kennedy Space Center until September. A longer version is also touring the country. Hit the link for a detailed description and review. To sum, it’s an all ages show that has a basic set, makeup that needs improvement and well informed actors with strong improvisational skills that handle the unpredictableness of audience participation while successfully remaining in character creating an entertaining and educational show.

The Heritage Auction Gallery Results
Last is news that another Star Trek auction was held last weekend and the results were excellent. The most successful sale was the Kirk's Star Trek II jacket which sold for $37,500. Much of the auction was for costumes across all eras of Star Trek production with most selling for several thousands of dollars a piece.