An Animated Star Trek CG Show Or Film?

Geek alert!

So why not create a CG show or film that featured the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation? It’s not the first time Star Trek has appeared in cartoon form. With today’s CG, you’d be able to recreate the look of the show and it’s characters - at least in a stylized form. Avatar-like production costs would negate a dead-on facsimile, at least for now.

I got this idea a few years back when I saw the Family Guy episode ‘Not All Dogs Go To Heaven’, where Stewie kidnaps the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The whole cast lent their voices to the episode, even Denise Crosby and Wil Wheaton got in the act. It was absolutely hilarious, even if it was relegated to the B-plot of the episode.

There are many reasons a CG show or film would be so ideal. Some of the cast, particularly Brent Spiner (Data), felt he was getting too old to reprise his role. Spiner even opted to appear in voice only for the Enterprise finale in 2007 - a wise move (that episode was awful).

I believe the whole cast is more than able to reprise their roles in voice-over for a number of years. A lot of the TNG actors have excellent voice acting chops, Michael Dorn practically does voice acting full-time for shows and video games.

Also, JJ Abrams has signed a deal of exclusivity with Paramount, barring any Star Trek TV shows until the film run is complete. I think a CG outing in the form of a show or direct-to-DVD film(s) would side-step that clause. Plus making the show CG would ensure no comparisons to the films, ensuring that brand partition.

Plus CG is getting relatively cheaper to produce with each passing year, and the production standards are also getting better. Star Wars: The Clone Wars is a great example of a large-scale CG show made for the small screen.

I think the only decision would be whether to make such an endeavor a TV series or a couple of movies. I think Paramount/Viacom should not only look at Star Trek, but a number of other franchises they have in the stable, such as Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, Jack Ryan, and so on.

I’m almost tempted to do a CG demo of TNG myself. Hmmmm.