TrekMove.com, a site I can only assume was founded to unearth information about the still hazy JJ Abrams movie, has some news on a possible new animated (!) internet(!!) series.

Under the headline “CBS Considering New Animated Trek Series For The Web” Trek Movie reports:

The idea for a new animated Trek started back around the time that Star Trek Enterprise was cancelled. David Rossi and his partners didn’t buy into the notion that Star Trek ‘needed a rest’. “We wanted to spark a little life into Star Trek and to keep it alive in people’s eyes,” explains Rossi. They knew CBS and Paramount weren’t going to be keen on a new (and very expensive) live action show so they decided that animation was the way to go. Their first notion was to do a show set in the Original Series era (but not on the Enterprise), however that notion didn’t sit well with the people at CBS. Rossi then took the advice he got from LeVar Burton on how ‘Star Trek should always be about moving forward and what is next in the human adventure.’ So the team came up with the notion of taking a big leap forward and setting a show 150 years after the time of Picard and Star Trek Nemesis, but in a very different and somewhat dark Trek universe. CBS were more open to that idea and over the last year and a half have asked the team (now formed into Zero Room Productions) to flesh out their idea. Although CBS have not committed to the series, they have asked the team to develop test artwork and scripts for 5 mini episodes.

I always liked LeVar Burton.

No more prequels, no ancient history, no revamps. Taking a big leap into a “Next Next Generation” will give them lots of room to play around while not abandoning the races and planets we know.

So I’m firmly in the camp that loves the concept. Why am I nervous? Because they’re going for “mini-episodes” meaning all stories will have to be low character development but high action. This is not Trek’s strong point. At the risk of comparing to Star Wars (cue groaning), All the characters there were defined by actions and broad dialog, where as I didn’t feel like I knew a character like Picard until the show had been on for years, and they still managed to surprise me for years afterwards. Star Trek may be overshadowed by Battlestar, Stargate, and other sci-fi series these days, but lets not forget that the character based sci-fi drama began with Trek and its only fair that Trek come back to reclaim it. I don’t think they’ll do it with cartoons for the YouTube audience.

Best case scenario: The ‘toons take off and a real new series is developed to flesh out the new timeline. Worst Case scenario: we’re pretty much already living it, so we’ve got nothing to lose.

Thanks Shiv’Kala

To quickly sum up, John Woo came up with the concept for a comic, called 7 Brothers, and Garth Ennis got tagged to write it. What exactly does that mean for Woo’s involvement? Well, as Ennis has said, “I got a two-paragraph outline of the original Chinese legend and the broad strokes of the characters, and after that it was up to me.” Amusingly, it speaks volumes that the actual press release from Virgin Comics has one of Woo’s people saying, “We see creating SEVEN BROTHERS as a comic book first, which is in turn the perfect springboard to take this title into films and games.” Might want to try a little less corporate planning, and a litte more heart, guys.

But, despite the snide comments, I really do hope for the best for the book. Garth Ennis is a solid writer, and John Woo’s name should be something that brings legitimacy to the table. You never want a quality names like those being associated with crap. So here’s the news – If you missed the book when it first came out, today Virgin handed over the entire issue to Newsarama. And I’m definitely one of those that missed it, as I never even saw the first two issues show up at my local comic shop. Seriously, if even Virgin can’t buy any rack time at the comic shop, it’s time to ask – Has the buy-in to this industry gotten a little too high?

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