CBS All Access ‘Star Trek’ Series Can’t Air Until 6 Months Beyond ‘Beyond’ Movie

The CBS All Access Star Trek series is said to debut in 2017. However, there is a divide between Paramount and the CBS network. The former owns the movie rights while the latter owns the TV franchise. According to Collider, this will cause the TV version on CBS to only be allowed to air six months after Star Trek Beyond’s release in movie theaters.

CBS' #StarTrek series won't air until 6 months after the new @StarTrekMovie for "reasons": https://t.co/w0s2ocq9bF pic.twitter.com/BOhOq5XRyp

— Collider (@Collider) March 10, 2016

Apparently, Star Trek has a “business side” to all of this, according to Trek Core, and particulars had been clarified via Les Moonves, the CBS corporate president. The particulars entail the divide between the two. Considering it was mentioned in the past that the 2017 Star Trek TV series would have no connection to that of the movie franchise, it would seem this is the part where the line splits the two.

“When [CBS] split from Viacom ten years ago, January 1, 2006, one of the big sticking points, as you can imagine, was Star Trek. You know, we both wanted it.”

There was a debated mentionable situation deciphering which Star Trek was a TV show and which one was a movie.

“They said ‘It’s a movie!’ and I said, ‘No, no, no, it’s a TV show.’ Actually, we’re both right. So they kept the feature film rights, we kept the television rights; they have [Star Trek Beyond] coming out July 22.”

The purpose for all this? To make sure that audiences and fans would understand that the “TV” Star Trek and “movie” Star Trek have no shared universe in a world where other franchises are actually crossing over into their corresponding TV/movie domains. So it would seem to make sense to run them both asynchronously, but never the twain shall meet.

Glen Geller, CBS Entertainment’s new president, did mention how there will be no connection to the movie versions, but he did talk about how “it may be inspired tonally by that franchise,” according to Screen Rant. As of now he doesn’t even know how the plot will unfold with the series as it could move in any direction, but it does look to hold to the old series mantra of “exploring imaginative new worlds and new civilizations.”

Star Trek: Wrath of Khan and Undiscovered Country‘s Nicholas Meyer is set to write the All Access series, and interestingly enough, the 2009 Star Trek and Into Darkness producer Alex Kurtzman is also set to work on the TV show. It will be interesting to see how Kurtzman will use his producing magic to offset the two platforms.

It’s also interesting that Meyer was said to be the reason the 2009 movie came into being via the whole Khan shtick. Den of Geek did an interview with Meyer and when they probed for how he’ll write for the Star Trek CBS series, they mentioned a reference to literary works like Moby-Dick in the movies. Den of Geek was wondering if any kind of similar references may be introduced in the new series. Meyer said that his intention wasn’t completely “premeditated” as he considered himself more “free-associating” if anything.

“What people take to be my penchant for “literary references,” is just me free-associating. It isn’t as premeditated, or as thematically bound-up as I think people might think. If it’s trademark you can blame my high school and the University of Iowa. It’s just sort of how I think.”

Star Trek Beyond is set to be released this July, honoring the 50th Anniversary of the existence of the franchise, according to Screen Rant. The CBS series is set to be released in January, according to the information on IMDB. So it does look to meet the six-month mark. This will be the sixth Star Trek TV series.

Ricardo Montalban is a legend! ?#startrek #wrathofkahn pic.twitter.com/5DM16wkC5d

— Quantum Sheep (@Quantum_Sheep) March 10, 2016

Gene Roddenberry’s son, Rod Roddenberry, has been selected to executive produce the show along with COO of Roddenberry Entertainment, Trevor Roth.

The new All Access Star Trek TV series is indeed something to look forward to and the price for the streaming service runs at $5.99 per month. This includes every previous Star Trek episodes.

[Photo by Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images]