New Star Trek planned for TV, streaming

A new incarnation of the Star Trek franchise is headingback to television, with a producer behind the recent movie reboots enlisted to createa new version of the classic series.

Alex Kurtzman, the prolific producer whose TV credits include J.J. Abrams projects Alias and Fringe, as well as recent TV adaptations of Sleepy Hollow, Hawaii Five-O and Limitless, has signed on to develop a new take on Star Trek for CBS.

Kurtzman was also a co-writer and producer on 2009's revamped, Abrams-directedStar Trek and 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness.

CBS plans to premiere the first episode of thenewStar Trek series in January 2017, but the series will air the premiere and all subsequent episodesvia the network's digital and video-on-demand platform CBS All Access.

As with earlier series, "the brand new Star Trek will introduce new characters seeking imaginative new worlds and new civilizations, while exploring the dramatic contemporary themes that have been a signature of the franchise since its inception in 1966," according to a statement released by CBS Television Studios.

Created by Gene Roddenberry, the original Star Trek debuted on CBS on Sept. 8, 1966. Starring Canadian William Shatner as Capt. James T. Kirk, the series initially ran for just three seasons, but became a cult hit via syndication.

It was praisedfor progressive storylines tackling diversity, politics and the environment and influenced science and technological developmentwith its depictionof the future.

The show spawned an animated series and a feature film franchise, followed by four TV dramasthat continued the saga: Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek:Deep Space Nine,Star Trek:Voyager and Star Trek:Enterprise.

The lastincarnation, Enterprise, ended in 2005. The franchise is set to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2016.