Jared AxelrodWriter of Adventure

There’s been alot of talk recently (and by “recently,” I mean “Back when the film came out in May, and I haven’t had a change to write about it until now”) about STAR TREK’s reboot, the appeal of space opera (also the story implications of the reboot itself, which I’ll get to, probably in another 3 months). The appeal of space opera, essentially, is that it is a workplace drama filled with things we never experience in our own workplace. This is the same appeal of hospital dramas and cop dramas: people doing their jobs in ways we can relate to and at the same time cannot fathom. There’s been a lot made about the loose, handheld camerawork in BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, but it’s really not that different to ER and THE WEST WING.

BSG has much better dramatic lighting than either show, though. Plus robots.

The point is, space opera is compelling for the same reasons ER, THE WEST WING, THE DEADLIEST CATCH and THE WIRE are compelling. We love seeing people do their jobs, especially if those jobs involve a crisis every twenty minutes or so. It’s really too bad that the success of BGS has not lead to more space opera shows. We’ve got DEFYING GRAVITY right now, but that show seems to want to be LOST more than it wants to be ER.  Which is a waste of opportunity, in my opinion, but I’m not a television executive.

But what if I was? What if I could create a whole new workplace drama in space from scratch. Naturally, this has led to a small amount of dream-casting, of who would be in my own tv space opera

Captain: Micheal K. Williams

First Officer: Michelle Rodriguez 

Medic: Gina Torres

Engineer: Wes Studi

Security: Kristen Bell

Helm: Gabrielle Union

Gunner: Rick Yune

Naturally, this sort of cast is about as likely, as well, a workplace drama set in space. But a boy can dream…