10 Scrapped Star Trek Releases You Never Got To See
5. Star Trek: Excelsior
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds marks, if were being technical about this, the first proper Star Trek spin-off show. Previous to this, every new series has either been a revival, a reboot, or just an expansion of the franchise, with nothing taking an already established character and building a new show around them. Star Trek had, up until now, never had a Frasier... it had never even had a Joey!
However it should have, because following the universal delight from fans at Captain Sulu's brief appearances as captain of the USS Excelsior (that opening scene in the Undiscovered Country is as good as the entire Voyager episode), George Takei lobbied hard to give the ship and its crew their own show.
The idea got to Paramount, who suggested that Sulu instead be given command of the Enterprise-B and his daughter Demora be written into the cast. Thus enabling them to still use the Excelsior-class sets and props, but retaining the brand familiarity of the Enterprise as a ship. Takei agreed, only for Paramount to change their mind again and dismiss the project entirely. Oh well.