Should people worry really about Hollywood retrofitting on TV Shows

[roadman65]

Yeah Harris was supposed to be for a few episodes, and then his character of Dr. Smith was to be killed off.  The Robot too was not to be a main character either, in fact in the original pilot neither Smith or The Robot were featured in it.

[Pete from Boston]

A great example: Fairuza Balk appeared briefly in the last episode of a season of The Sopranos as a setup to a large role in the following season.  Then, for whatever reason, she had to drop out, and was replaced going forward.  The one already-shown scene with Fairuza Balk was then re-shot with the replacement actress for all re-run showings.

[roadman65]

Joan Collins also stole the show in Dynasty.  She was not a cast member at all the first season, then after the second season became the point of focus as now the show became the war between Blake Carrington and then Alexis Carrington later becoming Alexis Colby, and then finally Alexis Dexter.  She even married again, but that one did not count as he was a retrofitted character as the original butler who only had a daughter all of a sudden had a vengeful son which was her last husband.

[GCrites]

I always forget that Family Matters isn't called "Urkel"

[US71]

I always forget that Family Matters isn't called "Urkel"

He almost got his own show when FM ended.

[ARMOURERERIC]

Did you know that My Three Sons was supposed to continue only rebooted as Robbie/Wife and his triplets, several episodes were shot, but it did not test well with focus groups so it was dropped

[GCrites]

I always forget that Family Matters isn't called "Urkel"

He almost got his own show when FM ended.

Yeah, that's right... when it went to CBS I remember people leaving the show.

[Stephane Dumas]

In Dallas, during the old series, Barbara Bel Googles was replaced by Donna Reed during the 1984-85 season, Donna forced to leave when Barbara Bel Googles came back. And should I mention the season where Bobby Ewing was killed but get ressurected in a way where Pam get a bad dream and as this website mentionned, a sci-fi soap. http://www.kevinmccorrytv.ca/dallas.html

The 3rd Fairly Oddparents live-action movie "Fairly Odd Summer" ending contradicted the ending of "Channel chasers" from what I saw on this review.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QiAorbWXc8

[roadman65]

The whole new series technically is retrofitted from the original series as the producers were looking for an alternate timeline on purpose because of those two made for TV movies that were made to wind up all the stories within the time frame of the movies themselves had no real way to make another series of stories.  So the new Dallas would be based on the original show, with the same characters but using an alternate universe.

Sad about how they made that one season a bad dream of Pam, as the new retrofitted continuation of the previous years storylines did not match up!  Dusty, who was again in Sue Ellen's life, was gone like Chuck Cunningham, JR was hating his cousin Jack for coning him out of 10 percent of Ewing Oil where in the dream and just before it started JR was grateful he handed over some shares of Ewing Oil to his cousin, then there was the baby of Bobby and Jenna considering just before the dream Bobby was not that all into being romantic with Jenna due to his torn feelings toward Pam, and then Wes Parmalee the fake Jock who was another character in Pam's dream.

Plus we all got to see the wonderful things that evolved in the dream season that never continued in the new time line.  Ray and Donna never got to adopt the Downs Syndrome child.  Jack and Ray never remained good friends.  That whole thing with Mark Grayson never continued so we all really do not know who was in that hospital in Hong Kong sending Pam away from finding her former boyfriend.  However, some bad things happening in that shower episode where Bobby's return took place would have happened though that never took place such as Sue Ellen getting blown up in JR's Office from a bomb planted by Angelica Nero, and Jaimiee Barnes, happily married now with Cliff, also getting blown up in a car by Angelica Nero as well.

However, one may argue that Jock having a brother was retrofitted.  In addition later on JR's older son James was retrofitted and again retrofitted back as his name never mentioned again in both the movies and the new version.


Moving along to another subject, the Andy Griffith Show.  Floyd The Barber was another one who not only disappeared without explanation, but his replacement Emmet came into Mayberry without an explanation.  It was like Emmet was always in Mayberry and that the town never had a barber named Floyd.  Even Emmet's fix it shop was where Floyd's Barber Shop was next to Andy's office on the main street.

How about Opie's little brother who was born on Mayberry RFD which was never explained on the 1986 reunion movie when Andy and Helen moved back to Mayberry?

Matlock, Andy's alter ego, also had one daughter in Season One, but had another one written in later on in the series.

[roadman65]

How about Gilligan's Island???  First of all where did Mr. Howell get his tuxedo when the nature of them being on the island was part of a three hour sightseeing tour.  Does anyone take a full wardrobe when they go sightseeing?

Also the biggest question is why the Professor could not fix the hole in the boat, but he could invent a lot of stuff and even perform surgery. 

I can name a whole list of stuff that is retrofitted like today on Me TV, Gilligan cut his long pants into shorts, yet later episodes had his pants the way they originally are.

The list is endless.  Its like a real life cartoon where people get into compromising situations, namely the man without a first name Gilligan because of his clumsiness and the Skipper bullying him around because the fat Captain is so lazy to work.  Then everything is honky doory just like Elmer Fudd after being shot by his own rifle.

[Darkchylde]

Wasn't Star Trek Enterprise was cut short, too? I didn't receive UPN, so I never watched much of it.

It was, although they knew a little ahead of time in Enterprise's case, which was why Season 4 was so crammed with origin stories for a lot of things that happened in later series, instead of introducing them at a more natural clip like they did during the first and second seasons.

[triplemultiplex]

Wasn't Star Trek Enterprise was cut short, too? I didn't receive UPN, so I never watched much of it.

It was, although they knew a little ahead of time in Enterprise's case, which was why Season 4 was so crammed with origin stories for a lot of things that happened in later series, instead of introducing them at a more natural clip like they did during the first and second seasons.

Yeah, death by canon.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

I'm going to take a wild guess that the novel that you speak of was written well after 1982 (the year Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan first came out). 

If the answer to my question is "Yes"; such proves my earlier point moreso that the off-screen Khan-Chekov meeting was indeed a retrofit (some would say correcting an Oops.).

2005.  The other two books in the trilogy dealt with trying to explain the Eugenics Wars with respect to what actually happened in the 90s.  Still, is it really a retrofit if it doesn't require a continuity rewrite?  I don't recall any scene in TOS where Chekov stated he wasn't on the Enterprise in season 1.  The idea that Chekov was not on the ship before season 2 is pure fanon (though Star Trek fans are well known for treating fanon as canon).

I know I'm a few weeks late to this, but one of the popularly amusing fan anecdotes regarding Khan-Chekov was that Chekov went through the last of the toilet paper right before Khan used the restroom, and that was how Khan "met" and subsequently "remembered" him.

[TheHighwayMan3561]

Wasn't Star Trek Enterprise was cut short, too? I didn't receive UPN, so I never watched much of it.

It was, although they knew a little ahead of time in Enterprise's case, which was why Season 4 was so crammed with origin stories for a lot of things that happened in later series, instead of introducing them at a more natural clip like they did during the first and second seasons.

Yeah. I think the one origin story that really rankled people was "retconning" the Borg. Apparently in First Contact after Worf blew up the Borg transmitter that they had tried to construct on the Enterprise-E deflector ("Assimilate THIS!"), the debris landed in Antarctica and managed to regenerate to cause havoc. When Archer's Enterprise encountered the Borg, they never introduced themselves, preserving the mystery until Q's "introduction" of Picard and the Enterprise-D to the Borg in The Next Generation. It seemed like a tacky way to shoehorn the Borg into the show, and I think people were still sort of on a Borg hangover from the second half of Voyager where it felt like they were the villains in every other episode starting mid-season 3.

[triplemultiplex]

Yeah. I think the one origin story that really rankled people was "retconning" the Borg. Apparently in First Contact after Worf blew up the Borg transmitter that they had tried to construct on the Enterprise-E deflector ("Assimilate THIS!"), the debris landed in Antarctica and managed to regenerate to cause havoc. When Archer's Enterprise encountered the Borg, they never introduced themselves, preserving the mystery until Q's "introduction" of Picard and the Enterprise-D to the Borg in The Next Generation. It seemed like a tacky way to shoehorn the Borg into the show, and I think people were still sort of on a Borg hangover from the second half of Voyager where it felt like they were the villains in every other episode starting mid-season 3.

Star Trek needs to come back to television in some form. The JJ Abrams movies were fun action films, but this franchise is made for episodic television.  The movies generally get away from the themes of the overall positive future for humanity Roddenberry created.
Every action series on TV nowadays is all doom and gloom.  There's terrorists and zombies and organized crime and endless scheming; all that negative, dystopian stuff is dragging down the medium.  Star Trek returning to television would be a refreshing break from the constant drumbeat of "we're all screwed".

[vtk]

... one of the popularly amusing fan anecdotes regarding Khan-Chekov was that Chekov went through the last of the toilet paper right before Khan used the restroom, and that was how Khan "met" and subsequently "remembered" him.

Toilet paper? So they don't use the Three Seashells on the Enterprise?

Star Trek needs to come back to television in some form. The JJ Abrams movies were fun action films, but this franchise is made for episodic television.  The movies generally get away from the themes of the overall positive future for humanity Roddenberry created.
Every action series on TV nowadays is all doom and gloom.  There's terrorists and zombies and organized crime and endless scheming; all that negative, dystopian stuff is dragging down the medium.  Star Trek returning to television would be a refreshing break from the constant drumbeat of "we're all screwed".

Well said.

[kendancy66]

This last post remined me of a star trek joke

What do the star ship enterprise and toilet paper have in common?

They both circle uranus (your anus) in search of Klingons (cling ons)

[triplemultiplex]

Star Trek needs to come back to television in some form. The JJ Abrams movies were fun action films, but this franchise is made for episodic television.  The movies generally get away from the themes of the overall positive future for humanity Roddenberry created.
Every action series on TV nowadays is all doom and gloom.  There's terrorists and zombies and organized crime and endless scheming; all that negative, dystopian stuff is dragging down the medium.  Star Trek returning to television would be a refreshing break from the constant drumbeat of "we're all screwed".

Somebody was listening to me.  Star Trek is coming back to television January 2017.
http://www.startrek.com/article/new-star-trek-series-premieres-january-2017

You're welcome, Earth!

[kkt]

will it be real Star Trek, or JJ Abrams high budget fan fic?

[triplemultiplex]

Too early to know.  They don't even know if the new show will be in the original universe or the one created by Abrams; nor is there any mention of what era they will set it in.

Whatever it ends up being, I'll be watching.  I came to Star Trek too late to catch any series on TV, save for a handful of Enterprise episodes.  But that aired on a network that doesn't exist anymore.  The new show will be on CBS.

[Mr_Northside]

The new show will be on CBS.

Yeah... but except for the premier, it's going to be on their online for-pay streaming service.

[Pete from Boston]

Star Trek needs to come back to television in some form. The JJ Abrams movies were fun action films, but this franchise is made for episodic television.  The movies generally get away from the themes of the overall positive future for humanity Roddenberry created.
Every action series on TV nowadays is all doom and gloom.  There's terrorists and zombies and organized crime and endless scheming; all that negative, dystopian stuff is dragging down the medium.  Star Trek returning to television would be a refreshing break from the constant drumbeat of "we're all screwed".

Somebody was listening to me.  Star Trek is coming back to television January 2017.
http://www.startrek.com/article/new-star-trek-series-premieres-january-2017

You're welcome, Earth!

Wow, that was an incredibly uninformative press release unless you're someone that needs an explanation of what "Star Trek" is.

[jwolfer]

Star Trek needs to come back to television in some form. The JJ Abrams movies were fun action films, but this franchise is made for episodic television.  The movies generally get away from the themes of the overall positive future for humanity Roddenberry created.
Every action series on TV nowadays is all doom and gloom.  There's terrorists and zombies and organized crime and endless scheming; all that negative, dystopian stuff is dragging down the medium.  Star Trek returning to television would be a refreshing break from the constant drumbeat of "we're all screwed".

Somebody was listening to me.  Star Trek is coming back to television January 2017.
http://www.startrek.com/article/new-star-trek-series-premieres-january-2017

You're welcome, Earth!

Wow, that was an incredibly uninformative press release unless you're someone that needs an explanation of what "Star Trek" is.

I agree. Is it pre-Kirk post Archer picking up from Enterprise. Or is it after ds9 ended..

[english si]

The movies generally get away from the themes of the overall positive future for humanity Roddenberry created.

Mostly because Roddenberry's future wasn't not positive for humanity:
- Spock (the creator surrogate) is treated by the show as brilliant for actively suppressing his humanity.
- Roddenberry needed hugely destructive wars in the 1990-2040 period in his timeline to kill enough people to create the 'utopia': for Roddenberry, salvation is through nuclear war and eugenic genocides.

Oh, and the modernist metanarrative driving Roddenberry's glorious utopia sterile dystopia was discredited as old hat around the time TOS aired and was positively dinosauric when TNG came out. The future had to adapt to the present or would look more and more like it was stuck in the past.

[vdeane]

The new show will be on CBS.

Yeah... but except for the premier, it's going to be on their online for-pay streaming service.

And they STILL have ads even though people are paying for it.  New episodes of everything else are on their free streaming service, and the older stuff is on Netflix, so basically "All Access" is just a ploy for people to shell out cash for content they can already get essentially for free (since nobody is going to drop Netflix simply because All Access arrived).

So basically one is paying close to the same price as Netflix for a tiny fraction of the content and has to sit through ads for recent stuff... that's why they're making the new Star Trek exclusive to it.  It's the only way they can get anybody in their right mind to use All Access at all.  It's UPN all over again.