12 Star Trek Films And Series You Won't Believe Were Almost Made

The Lwaxana sitcom anyone?

For almost half a century Star Trek has endured as a franchise. It might have suffered cancellation twice - Star Trek: The Original Series in 1969 and Star Trek: Enterprise in in 2005 - but it always came back. The idea of Star Trek is an enduring one; humanity successfully voyaging across the galaxy, exploring new worlds, new civilisations and surviving insurmountable odds. It suggests a better future, one where humanity is a force of good across the galaxy. There have been numerous incarnations of Star Trek over the years. Captain Kirk and the original crew first on TV, then an animated series and finally across a series of successful films. Captain Picard headlined Star Trek: The Next Generation on TV and film, followed by Captain Sisko's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Captain Janeway's Star Trek: Voyager. Trek on television ended with Captain Archer and the crew of Star Trek: Enterprise before the franchise returned to its roots with a sequel/prequel/reboot of the original Star Trek crew on the big screen. But these incarnations of Star Trek are just a few of the proposed films and TV shows that have done the rounds. Some never came to fruition because of the lack of success of those that proceeded it - a fifth season of Enterprise and an eleventh Star Trek film featuring the Next Generation cast for example - but there are many that didn't even make it past the ideas stage. Star Trek Phase II is widely known as the proposed Star Trek series that would have reunited Kirk and crew on the small screen. But with the success of Star Wars it was scrapped in favour of a big screen adventure. Star Trek: The Motion Picture came out of the planned Phase II pilot, while other episode ideas found themselves rewritten into episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation, like season two's The Child and season four's Devil's Due. This article looks at those proposed Star Trek spin-offs that were never publicly known. Some would have been very intriguing while others were frankly just bizarre; from reboots and medical dramas to an actual sitcom, it gets pretty out there.
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A writer for Whatculture since May 2013, I also write for TheRichest.com and am the TV editor and writer for Thedigitalfix.com . I wrote two plays for the Greater Manchester Horror Fringe in 2013, the first an adaption of Simon Clark's 'Swallowing A Dirty Seed' and my own original sci-fi horror play 'Centurion', which had an 8/10* review from Starburst magazine! (http://www.starburstmagazine.com/reviews/eventsupcoming-genre-events/6960-event-review-centurion) I also wrote an episode for online comedy series Supermarket Matters in 2012. I aim to achieve my goal for writing for television (and get my novels published) but in the meantime I'll continue to write about those TV shows I love! Follow me on Twitter @BazGreenland and like my Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/BazGreenlandWriter