If Sal Lagonia, president and producer of Project: Cardinal, a whole new concept in Trek lore, has his way that possiblity seems promising with “Star Trek: Cardinal.” While Lagonia admits to having no prior experience as a producer, he does claim to be a semi-professional screenwriter, having “done a great deal of production work for various series and movies, as well as owning a film degree,” according to the project’s creator.
I am hoping to make further contact with him to verify what other projects he has worked on in the past.
His attempt at revitalizing the 40 year franchise back on to the small screen will concentrate on the crew of the USS Cardinal, a small vessel which is charged with the unglorified job of maintaining the Ferengi border, a small rectangle that also happens to connect the Romulans to the Cardassians in a smugglers corridor. The crew would be charged with chasing criminals and would-be invaders.
If this were the be all and end all to the series, some Trek fans might burn the studio down in protest. However, it is not the be all and end all. The creator of this unique concept is not just giving the crew a mission and leaving it to the writers to decide what random aliens they will encounter every week. Instead, the crew of the Cardinal is inadvertently placed in the center of events that will change the entire galaxy.
From the very beginning, the crew is faced with mysteries that don’t have solutions, mysteries that are causing powers to challenge other powers. The Federation Starship USS Cardinal is placed in the unenviable position of stopping a war, something that becomes increasingly harder until they are no longer able to accomplish that particular mission and war becomes inevitiable.
The show’s creator promises a series with a beginning, middle and end stating that a definite plan for seven seasons of storylines, with the plots changing direction from time to time leading in alternate routes. “Instead of blindly moving forward, we have a definite plan that is brought to a logical conclusion at the end of Season Seven,” stated Lagonia.
Basic Seven Season Outline
Season One would involve introduction of themes and include increasing tension on a weekly basis.
Season Two would begin a small, localized war with an old familiar race. But even as the war is waged, the mysteries only increase until a new enemy is introduced.
Season Three continues with the war growing in scope and begins a massive story arch that will truly be the hallmark of the series.
Season Four is something never seen before in Star Trek – It’s the USS Cardinal and its crew who breaks a cease fire, and becomes stuck behind enemy lines, with a government unwilling to help them.
Season Five begins a more character driven look into the war, and how it is effecting the lives of the show’s heroes.
Seasons Six and Seven begin to close the concepts that were opened and carried through the first five season in a proper fashion, without just throwing something together at the last minute (which seemed to occur far too much with the last series “Enterprise”).
“While the external factors remain planned, internal factors must not be forgotten,” explained Lagonia. “It is easy to attempt a grab at ratings by creating a spontaneous romance, or a random attitude shift in the crew, but it alienates fans in the long-run. Instead, character interaction must be well planned, especially in a series so focused on character.”
For the crew of the USS Cardinal, this will involve a more realistic view of family than we are used to. Longoria’s contention is that one of the largest complaints about “Star Trek: The Next Generation” was the lack of conflict among the crew. The crew of a starship is a family, but families will hardly come together instantly after being placed in a difficult situation.
On the USS Cardinal the crew is filled with characters that are constantly in conflict. Family is not chosen, after all, it is thrust upon you, and you need to make good with what you have. With each character in direct conflict with at least one other character, and a ship that forces interaction among the crew, we are left with a crew that must work past its problems with each other to solve the external problems facing the ship. As old conflicts are closed and forgotten, new ones arise to take their place. There will never be a lack of character conflict with a crew of this nature.
The crew in question is also not the best and the brightest we are used to seeing. Instead, they are those who could be the best and the brightest, if only they were given the chance. There are those plagued by their past, or fearful of their future, or perhaps even fearful of themselves. They are from different cultures, ages and sexes, and many of their differences cause a great deal of friction among other members of the crew.
The ship serves as an analogy of the crew. It is also a ship that simply was never given a chance; a cramped, glitchy ship that was not deemed worthy enough to serve as a front-line vessel. It is a mix of different technologies that were never designed to work together, and without much effort, considered irreparable.
The more the crew learns to work together, the better the ship begins to perform. Troubles set aside between crew mates coincide with mechanical problems being fixed on the ship.
Creative Plan
Longoria has plans to pitch the idea for a CBS weekly series that will begin with a two-hour pilot episode which will introduce a number of mysteries and deal with tension growing between powers. Surrounded by warships, the crew must stop one power from invading another. The stakes are high, any mistake could lead to war. The USS Cardinal is out-gunned and has almost no hope of succeeding, and can only rely on the wit of its crew to succeed.
The action-oriented pilot will bring characters and concepts together in a way that will grab the attention of the fans and hold them for the coming episodes. With well-defined, “fan-inspired story archs” following, the enormous base of Trek fans will gladly spend an hour every week watching CBS.
yep that right the writers should get back to the basics, the origanal idia that made voyeger dare i say the best trek
There are both good and bad points being made about creating seven seasons for a T.V. series. Right now, SMALLVILLE is in it's ninth season, and seems to still have a good following with it's fans. STAR TREK- THE NEXT GENERATION was so successful in seven seasons, that when the show ended, people asked "why end now? The show is doing so well, why not go another season or two?" It seem that Rick Berman was determined to kill the franchise off by creating GENERATIONS, then came the BEST S.T. movie- FIRST CONTACT. The next movie, to me, should have had a perfect story setup for it- the DOMINION WAR. So did Rick create another action-pack space movie?
No.
The next two movies were not bad, and had action, but the story just didn't go anywhere. Data dies, to be replaced by....Data? And then, that's it.
And then, the whole storyline circles around into the NEW STAR TREK FILM. A young Kirk and Spock to meet the old Spock (played by Nimoy), and there by CHANGING the timeline for NEW series to come-
STAR TREK- A NEW GENERATION.
STAR TREK- QUADRANT WARS (DS9 Reboot).
STAR TREK- MILLENNIUM (Voyager as a warship from the new DOMINION WAR that quickly ends when the BORG attack).
Just some ideas.
Star trek is starting to get lame, they dont have any fantasie left , i lost all hope for star trek when i wathed DS9....They cant even invent some good alien races, all they do is take a human face, give it a rimpeld nose and suddenly its "bajoran"
Or give it some dots in the neck and face and its a Thrill........
sorry to hear that, but thier is only so far tou can go with making alien races. due to the very real laws of evalution the huminoid basics.i.e hand, feet fingers and one head are all you really need to survive most places that can sustain life. oh yer why are you commenting on this page
was i something i said? ? ?
Put a cork in it you guys. There's never enough S.T.
Hell, make it a 77 seasoner. Just keep 'em comming.
And please, cast Jeri again.
seiously is there any hope? has anythin been set in motion?
they should make a whole new time line like they did with vengeance on enterprise. I'd watch that, you could recycle the entire franchise and make it more war based.
Just keep things the same. Have a cool starship and decent characters and continue in the universe.
have a look at darker projects websites they have created a preety good star treck spin off aout section 31. section 31 is mentioned in ds9 and tng. much darker side of the trek world.
i agree with steph a good bit up ahead i dont think seven series is to much look at voyager for example that was seven series and was excellent if it was any less then i think i would be extremly depressed i love star trek especially voyager i was so sad when i saw the last episode of star trek voyager!!!!
there hasnt been a proper star trek series for 5 years the last one was enterprise but they cut it short because there wasnt enough viewers!!!!
i wonder how many years ago they came up with the idea of cardinal???? some of the first comments were left in 2007 so it most have been a while back in 2009 they made the new star trek movie but its time for a new television series we trekkies cant be watching re-runs for the rest of our lives i hope they persue the cardinal idea although they need to change the name cardinal isnt so good!!!
by the way im only 14 years old and a major star trek fan thanks to my father!!!
live long and prosper my fellow trekkies and i hope by 2011 we will all be watching a new amazing star trek series!!!!
i dont like the sound of this sounds better than enterprise but not good. ok in my opinion it should be in the star trek online or there abouts years. theres already a story. or more into the future, id also just like to say no ds9 did not suck it was great the 3rd best after tng and the original. there was always several stories going on in each episode and it was interesting. I how ever did not like voyager and the only thing to come out of that series was 7-9 and the conflicts with the borg. The rest was rubish. Good to see another series and i will watch it but its not gunna be as good as i should have been imo.
Listen guys, frankly I'm craving a Star Trek series again. I don't care if it's 10 seasons long. I loved Voyager and DS9 and even TNG back in the day when I was about 6 years old. I just want them to produce another Star Trek series. Everyone has their own opinion of what it should be like but I don't care. I love the S.T universe and I'm not going to be fussy like the rest of you. Whatever they make, I'm sure I'll love it. Let's just support people who want to give a new series a try instead of pitching in a million ideas of how it should be and how it shouldn't be.
I'm down for anything Star Trek but please no F'ing Ferengi. Put the conflict somewhere else. How about Xindi? And yeah B5 has done that already..How about a section 31 agent posing as an ambassador at Romulus and she makes an amazing discovery that could destabilize the federation...Take it from there. Make her a futuristic James Bond type. And I think she has to be a Vulcan that was rescued from the borg so she can have a bunch of advanced tech and cool implants. I already wrote a book about it so hit me up if you want some more ideas.
I have been wondering if there was going to be another series. I just decided to check around. The article is dated Apr. 07. Has anyone heard anymore,anywhere? And I agree,there's no such thing as too much Star Trek,seven seasons is not too much. I am watching as many reruns as I can find now. Whatever it is,I hope it's real Star Trek. I am tired of hearing how Star Trek is outdated. I plan on watching whatever Star Trek is there to watch for as long as I can watch it.
Well i don't know anything about a new TV series, but to Eric if you ever check this board, there are two more Star Trek movies confirmed with the 2009 Star Trek cast and development team
This can only be good, Mr Abrams made a fantastic reboot no doubt!!!
This was posted in 2007, maybe it's time to stop trolling?
WE NEED A NEW STAR TREK SERIES!!!
It needs to feel like ST. I just read over half of these posts. wow thats alot, bring in a very advanced ship that is in our quadrent but able to get around very quick a transwarp capable ship that uses the new tech from voyager. The show focus' on loose ends. deals with the borg, the romulans(they were never given enough attention, they are just a distant maybe enemy).
Connect the show with old characters. Wesley, Worfs Son, etc. include a few guest star apperences to give it a kick. Picard, Janeway, Worf, Crusher.
make sure to include picard in the pilot to give it a great kick similar to SGU using oneil. and Janeway is an admiral. She could Direct Wesley on his mission. He can run into Capt. Riker. Stop by at DS9. Its ok to use the lore that we have grown up with. I have never seen the Original ST im from TNG on and would love to see something like this.
Reality is a Star Trek series on a Good channel would be a hit and pull in ratings.
DO IT!!!
I agree!! There is no issue with going back to the good old days. Wesly and worfs son kind of just fell off the face of the earth. What about Jake and Nog from DS9? Two more people who just started their impressions in the ST universe.
I think there could be something threatening earth. Making the show more of a double setting. In space and on different planets around the different quadrents...all of them! Maybe something involving an all out war of the quadrents. TNG, DSN, Voyager, made enough enemies in their times to show themselves as one as a threat to the classic allies of the Federation.
I think bringing in any people from the past shows, Leonard Nemoy being the first that comes to mind, would help in giving the writers and producers of a new series a prospective of the past and would be a huge mentor to the actors to make sure that the acting isnt...well...awful and the script and story line make sense as it relates to keeping in touch with the things that people love about Star Trek.
Cardinal........meh...lets try to be a little mopre innovative. I mean the flagship Enterpries, the on that took a trip to the Delta Quadrent Voyager, and....the hunk of crap that patrols the border with the ferengi.....Cardinal....i hope if that the rout they take they have a ship design and other incredible changes to the technological side of Star Trek that blows us out of the water. The USS Cardinal is just not gonna cut it.
There is some positives going forward with this type of show now. Two long playing shows in "24" and "LOST" will be finishing for good very soon which leaves spots on two networks that I feel need some sort of replacement to keep me interested. Its very easy to throw something like this on TV...but to get the ratings and keep a decent time slot is very much another thing.
Executives are going to have to make sure that Star Trek which is in my view...dying off in its following can relate to new people by giving a young but talented cast, innovative improvements to the universe and an attractive story line that people can follow...end of the world seems to be big these days with 2012 and all that crap.
Go for it! Make it awesome! And give the people who have followed this cultural phenomenon something to be proud of and something that can carry the Star Trek brand into the future with an ability for further expansion and improvements!!
I wouldn't mind five seasons instead of seven.
All Trek needed is to bring it into the real world sort of feeling but I'm game for what they might do in the future.
With every episode I've seen from Next Generation to Voyager, there have been loop holes and some unfinished stories.
Creatures that haven't been seen, all the Federation's enemies with more screen time.
Doctor Who has his enemies that come back to haunt him, why can't Trek do this as well. I just don't want to see a new threat.
Star Gate makes fun of it self, but Trek never did and I think a bit of that could work.
Worf's son is called Alex.
Ronald D Moore got his start on ST:NG and much later in life he turned BSG into one of the best drama series on TV. if the new Trek series comes one day, it must have a mixture of hard boiled drama, excellent writing, and no bad actors.
I bet you that it would help change the face of TV once again.
Try something new the plot you just givin is a wash up you need to start on something the fan never seen before that no one expects for one thing the Romulan home world blew up vulcans are an indangered race just this for once have someone who has betrayed the federation that might just start a civil war on earth since it hasn't war on it self for over 350 years this crew of a new ship must find a way to stop it before United Earth destorys the federation and this time it's someone in the concuil not an alien who thinks the federation has gotten to powerful !
i think the concept of the show is good, and i also think that seven seasons is a bit much considering that three series have seven seasons. i also want them to be in a different place. like the beta quadrant, i have seen enough of the alpha quadrant. but i like the fact that people are thinking about making a knew series. i will watch as much as i can...
A thought came to me while reading through the comments above regarding "Boldly going where no one has gone before". What if we utilized some of the base premise in Voyager, but placed the original ship in a completely different galaxy? There is no way home, there is no help coming, and there is no communications. Now, give the ship the capabilities of the NCC-1701D in a galaxy where the most advanced races are barely at the NCC-1701A stage - i.e. the ship has superior technology, shields, weapons, etc.
Keep the captain true to the principles and tenants of the federation and have them begin to build the next federation. Now fast-forward say 100 years and set the story here, a "new federation", a small fleet of starships (can't give the technology away - prime directive????), things not 100% pristine and perfect, but very functional, a reputation for fairness and openness, a need by the federation crews to acquire "compatible" equipment - probably only one secret space dock and colony for building/ repairing the ships, everyone has become a large extended family with ability to trace roots back to the original crew, etc. And an interesting hook on why the federation ship and crew have not just assimilated...
Pilot - galaxy class ship off to explore strange energy readings and unusual activites in a normally "empty" area, few solar systems, no life, when the ship is ripped from this galaxy into the middle of a war. Two races, equally matched, have been fighting for generations. Strong lines are drawn and neither side can make any real advances (think trench warfare from WWI) when the federation ship materializes into the no-mans-land between the two... These two races, with multi-generational hatred for the other, form the core of the new federation. Obviously, peace ensues whenever the ship (or ships) are present, but feelings die hard, so both sides are constantly looking to one-up the other, possibly through acquisition of some starfleet technology? So the captain must closely guard his technologies and continue to advance them to stay in the position of peacekeeper and arbiter, while establishing and nurturing a federation general assembly, an academy, etc.
Just a thought, but I would enjoy it, if it ever could be made.
Star Trek was and is an amazing show which show;s man at his best,man overcame their differences;s and worked together as one race,Humanity!.On the bridge of the Enterprise you had a daring Captain Kirk,who was not afraid to act like a cowboy to get done whatever task they had taken on and by his side was a Vulcan,man's best friend on a alien status,Spock was his name and he and Kirk were a almost invincible team at times.Then you had a Japanese and a Russian at the helm of the Star ship,this was a time of great distrust of nations and people on earth (in real life ) .Star Trek show that men of different nations could live and trust each other with their lives,there was even a beautiful black woman at the communication station on the bridge as well.ALL this during a time in our history when the cold war was raging on and black and white predigest that was in the USA at the time.At a time of all this Captain Kirk kissed the beautiful black lady in one of the episodes and it was the first inter racial kiss on TV.I really do hope their is another Star Trek series on TV I would watch in faithfully,I love to watch the friendships that develops between the bridges personnel and how they look out for each other,they almost become family and would nt be nice if all off us treated each other on this planet with the same respect that is show on the Star Trek family..............
I think that the series should be another 100 years after TNG. because Kirk is 100 yrs after Archer, Picard 100 yrs after Kirk so why should this be different ( not that I don't like change but it just seems logical
LOL! This thread has a longer lifespan than your average Star Trek TV series. Just dreading the second installment of the movie reboot ... Khan!!!
that would be a waste of time!!!!! and energy!!!! to make a lame star trek series based on a ferengi loser alien that is the most undesirable of all the aliens in the Star Trek series i would never watch it! i think they need to go back to the days of exploring the unknown and meeting new aliens and new strange star trek stuff that made the series so good not this dumb "oh we need to keep the peace and patrol the ferengi border bullshit! i think as soon as Gene passed away all you dumb ass hollywood assholes think they all have it down on how to make it better! you can't get better than what Gene first had F the ferengi space is a big place but you dumb asses don't have brains big enough to realize that.
************READ THIS******************
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We have all seen that you CAN "re-skin" something and people will love it.
Ok. Go with me for a sec. What made shows like Star Trek great was as people have said, "The exploration of the human spirit". Now main characters and plot devices like 7of9 and DATA and The Doc. from Voyager, all were Human but NOT. This aloud the show to explore what it meant to be human, and introduced ALLOT of cool ideas and twists. The best episodes were ones that tackled spiritual questions, Philosophical questions, moral questions, the Borg and Q. As I read this thread last night in bed, I came up with an idea that should be at least considered. (I'm a writer so I can't help but create new ideas
(I'm just going to use some of the idea backdrops people have talked about in this thread)
Intro to the USS "Titan". Exploring into the BETA quadrant 100 years after voyager. New tech, New aliens, gives the viewer the exploration of space they want. First episode opens with a BANG. Titan is on the "OMEGA" alert and trying to stop Romulans from retrieving the powerful OMEGA molecule. The molecule has somehow began to stabilize inside of a broken space station inside of a nebula. The captain sends an away team including his First Mate.
The away team arrives, something happens and they all end up touching the nebula after securing the Romulans. They are all Beamed back to the Titan, and all but the First mate die from something crazy like liquidation.
The First mate (we'll call him Onan) Onan has no personal memories, but has all the memories of history and Star fleet. The Doctor writes him off with a weird case of amnesia and notes that his physical composition is Human, but his atomic structure resembles that of an OMEGA molecule. He is ordered to return to duty.
HE IS THE MAIN PLOT MOVER of this series. As the series progresses he explores what it is to be human. The crew and his friends try to help him regain his memory only to find out that he IS NOT the First mate. HE IS A strange "OMEGA being" that the nebula and molecule created. there are 3 groups that want this OMEGA man (Onan) for themselves, The Q (since they can't seem to effect him with thier powers), The BORG (for obvious reasons) and a Beta Quadrant native race.
Onan learns how amazing the human race is. He is tempted by all of the other races to join them, BORG, Q and the like and turns them down.
With a Character like Onan, you can literally go ANYWHERE with him, create anything, give him any power and move any ship and star system. Give him time travel ability, give him planet destroying ability, give him mind control. ANYTHING you wan't. And at that SAME TIME explore what it is to be human, to be vulnerable and peacfeul. With an "Onan" on your show, you can't go wrong. all the other elements of a good show will emerge, romance, morality, exploration.....
sounds good for a change instead of the flag ship a small unimpressive ship that does good
Star trek DS9 in my opinion was one the best sci series, and yes I loved TNG, What i would to see is more breen and borg involved. I think a story about a ship that explores only a small area of space is a waste. The reason why DS9 was my favorite was because it had good character development, it tied into TNG. The dominion was a kick butt bad guy.
The last idea sounds good as long as its not about DNA and more about native spiritual ability that can tie in with human spiritual ability. Perhaps even linking to powerful spirits in humans past. The ferengies are annoying and already enough in DS9. DS9 is the only series I never wanted to finish.
The new series should tie in with recent knowledge of UFO styles and technologies. Perhaps even going to the known locations of real ufo homes planets. At lest getting closer to the reality of ufo's then spaceships that look nothing like them.
Also perhaps include the concept of a body is just a shell to new races and they move on to other bodies when they die.
I also think it should be based further into the future about another 100 years from TNG.
I really dont like the idea of an internal drama in the ship between crew. TNG was good because it minimized this and showed that the human race had "grown up". I wont watch some constant drama of people conflicting all the time. Human race needs to grow up and if it doesnt happen 200-400 years in the future whats the point? Im not interested in that kind of future for mankind.
So make the show giving mankind a future worth having as was done in TNG
something needs to happen leading after voyager i mean Wat happens after that please come up with something like that
Dark, action, and character development. These things are okay in moderation, but they're killing Stargate: Universe, and it was too much of these why I never liked Battlestar: Galactica. I want Star Trek, so let's keep it a little simple, okay?
i like all of the STAR TREK series, but the best ones was TOS & ENTERPRISE. i would like to see a new STAR TREK series. the last movie was ok, but i just thought they could had did a better job concidering the "hipe."
I'd like to see a hero more independent from star fleet. Perhaps he is ex-star fleet, but is still contacted by headquarters in times of need.
Also, the best sf right now realizes the capacities of the computer/human mind connection. Older sf saw the possibilities, but fell short. We are very close to having sf that is surpassed by reality, at least in some ways.
There are usually 2 issues in life: Form and Substance.
Enterprise didnt even get the superficial level of Form correct, e.g. not even a hint of the Star Trek french horn in the title music and the uniforms didn't follow the foundational colors...essential pre-requisites for real Trekkers.
A good start on the substance front might be to re-enlist another British trained male actor as Captain. The Capt. in Enterprise sounded like a farmer.
Let's do better with the next one.