Generally speaking, when an artist or entertainer says in an interview that they want or would like to do something, it is the very definition of non-news. Tom Jane told everyone and anyone who would listen that he’d love to play Jonah Hex. We all know how that turned out. Though things take on a slightly different flavor when the person waxing fancifully is someone like Seth MacFarlane. The schlubby frat-reject who created Family Guy and has since transformed himself into the swaggering and affably smug one-man Rat Pack at the center of the $200 million TV empire that produces Family Guy, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, and will be rebooting both The Flintstones and the classic Carl Sagan series Cosmos (settle down, it’ll be hosted by Daily Show/Colbert fav Neil deGrasse Tyson, not MacFarlane). This is a guy who is gettin’ shit done, and regardless of what you personally think of his creations, the bigwigs clearly want to work with him. So when MacFarlane says something like this to THR…
“MacFarlane is particularly eager to reboot one of his favorite franchises, Star Trek, for TV. “I don’t know who would give me the keys to that car,” he jokes, acknowledging that the films have been so profitable for Paramount that he isn’t so sure they have a lot of interest in getting back into the TV business. “But I’d love to see that franchise revived for television in the way that it was in the 1990s: very thoughtful, smartly written stories that transcend the science fiction audience.”
…I take a little more notice. I’ll also just give him the benefit of the doubt that he’s referring to Next Generation, even though it started in the 80’s. I’m not a big fan of MacFarlane’s, but there is no way he likes Voyager. No one smart enough to get that rich possibly could.
Anyway, as he himself notes, this is a fairly unlikely possibility. Paramount has JJ Abrams and they have the movies. But…as I was saying…if someone who isn’t Abrams is going to be given a shot at relaunching Trek on the ol’ boobular tube – and it has to come back to the small screen sooner or later – the fact that MacFarlane is throwing his hat in the ring like this isn’t inconsequential. If MacFarlane truly wants this, and isn’t just sayin’ shit for funzies, I’d imagine he only needs to make a single call to sit down with the right people and become a serious contender.
Which leads one to wonder — what would his Star Trek be? Could he pull it off? Is it too far outside his wheelhouse? Would he be the voice of the ship’s computer? Or maybe take on Deep Space Nine‘s holographic lounge singer, Vic Fontaine; he did just release a big band album (Music Is Better Than Words).
You guys surely have some feelings about this hypothetical. Thoughts, Chewers?