2mo ago

Interview: Tawny Newsome On Finding The Sweet Spot For Her Star Trek Workplace Comedy

trekmovie.com

19 comments

At SDCC CBS sent us a synopsis, essentially a workplace comedy on a vacation planet – not Risa, not in the Federation. So are those fundamentals are still the same?
Those fundamentals are the same. But what I can tell you is what we’re really working on exploring, are the sort of overlooked sections of what happens when a world and a culture that is not that was not [sic] in the Federation. What happens when they decide to be?… So Federation outsiders and what’s kind of the nitty gritty involved with joining the Federation and involved with… yeah, I’m really struggling [to avoid spoilers]
That's an interesting adjustment...
- I don’t think you needed [sic], just the comma that StarTrek.com omitted.
  So, this is a big reveal - the scenario is a planet that has not been but now is a part of the Federation.
  The viewpoint is civilian.
  The resort workplace setting, like the old Loveboat or Fantasy Island, means that anyone can come by as the guest star.
  
  I don’t think you needed [sic]
  Just wanted to make sure - I stumbled over that sentence when reading it!
- Hopefully things go better than with Bajor.
  
  It's a comedy, so I hope so too! I imagine the planet, being a vacation/pleasure planet, will have a lot of kinks that are taboo to the Federation and that's where you will find the narrative tension as they apply for membership. The planet will have a constitution at odds with the Fed, full of kinks. They might welcome species that have kinks not outlined in said constitution. They might welcome federation citizens that are exploring their non-Fed kinks on this planet.
  We've seen plenty of criticism of the Federation's nanny-state. Lately, that criticism has come from the writers of the shows who seem to have lost the narrative that the Federation is our ideal. Sure, it has issues, but none of us should be ashamed of reaching for utopia. I hope the new show is a continuation of the SNW and Prodigy reboot of a less cynical Trek.
Mariner is one of my favorite Trek characters period. I'm happy they're letting Black women be in charge of their own stories.
I love Tawny.... but this is what they are doing instead of a 3rd season of PRODIGY? Or another season of LOWER DECKS???????
WTF?
- There's absolutely no reason to think any show is being made "instead of" another.
  Edit: And as Newsome herself stated, this series has not been greenlit. It may not get made at all.
We don’t really need a “Star Trek Workplace Comedy” do we?
- It's pretty hard to make the case that we "need" any work of fiction.
  
  I swear, I'm always baffled by the whole "did we NEED" this piece of media.
  I don't even know what they mean. Was the world in 1982 going "Oh, thank God, I had been looking for an ET everywhere".
  You don't know if you wanted to watch a thing until you watch it.
- Well, they did five years of Lower Decks. I would watch more Lower Decks. I'd say there's a need for that.
  So do I need more Twny Newsome Star Trek workplace comedy? I need it in my cardiovascular system this very minute, yes.
- Do you know where you are commenting? And surely you mean "another Star Trek work place comedy," because we already have DS9.
  
  I'd argue that large parts of Lower Decks is as well honestly. Especially episodes where the main characters are busy with ship duties while the senior officers are off doing typical Star Trek plot stuff.
  
  Don’t care. Like star trek, but this sounds like an awful idea and a flop that will just dilute the brand even further. The live version of her character and Quaid’s was great. I wish they would land back on SNW or something.
- Is that not what DS9 was?

19 comments