The Sci-Fi Star Trek Comedy Series From It’s Always Sunny Trio That Didn’t Happen, Watch The Only Episode
Boldly Going Nowhere, a proposed comedy science fiction series based on Star Trek ultimately went nowhere, but the original pilot episode can now be seen below. The series came from the showrunners, stars and co-creators of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, and Rob McElhenney, with Adam Stein, who pitched the idea to the trio. Stein was a writer’s assistant on the series at the time.
Boldly Going Nowhere is essentially a workplace comedy in space and lets viewers know right away that things on this ship are not like they are on Star Trek.
Originally set to be aired on the Fox network, Boldly Going Nowhere followed Captain Ron Teague and the crew of the RC-7, a rock-collecting spaceship in the private sector that is tasked with collecting and delivering moon rocks. Teague, however, would rather be an explorer and shirks his rock-collecting duties to try to pursue that life. But the incompetence of his crew and their overall lack of moral fortitude, along with the persistent nagging of angry company execs, keep him from realizing that dream.
Boldly Going Nowhere is essentially a workplace comedy in space and lets viewers know right away that things on this ship are not like they are on Star Trek. The first scene focuses on a discussion of members using the holographic training rooms for adult recreational purposes. Though it lacks sound effects and much of the music that would have appeared in its finished version, the pilot shows the style of writing, production values, and humor of the series that never was.
Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton and Rob McElhenney began seriously discussing Boldly Going Nowhere during the previous writer’s strike, which took place between 2007 and 2008, working on ideas with Adam Stein as soon as the strike ended.
The new version of the series was supposed to have more aliens and science fiction elements, though the pilot shot in 2008 was the only one that was ever completed.
In March of 2009, RCG Productions had a pilot order from 20th Century Fox TV based on their script, plus an order for five more episodes, as well as an overall two-year deal. Day, Howerton, McElhenney, and their managers were signed on as executive producers for the series, which they announced at San Diego Comic-Con in 2008 while promoting the fourth season of Always Sunny.
Boldly Going Nowhere seemed to be going somewhere for a while, until August of 2009 when it was announced that the series pilot was being reworked by Larry Charles, famous for his work as a writer on Seinfeld. The new version of the series was supposed to have more aliens and science fiction elements, though the pilot shot in 2008 was the only one that was ever completed. In May of 2011, Howard announced that the series had been shelved, at least for the time being, though in the 12 years since, nothing has happened that demonstrates any forward momentum for the project.
Boldly Going Nowhere makes clever use of its science fiction environment while keeping its characters relatable and grounded in everyday workplace activities and humor.
But the pilot episode for Boldly Going Nowhere has not been lost forever. The episode was uploaded to YouTube in September of 2022, meaning fans can now see what the series might have been like. Conceived years before the debut of The Orville, another sci-fi comedy series that some consider as good as Star Trek itself, Boldly Going Nowhere makes clever use of its science fiction environment while keeping its characters relatable and grounded in everyday workplace activities and humor.
Fans of The Orville, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and It’s Always Sunny in Phildadelphia will likely want to check out the pilot episode of Boldly Going Nowhere above.
