Tim Russ Envisions Reunion Star Trek Movie + Talks Possible Star Trek TV Pitches

In addition to playing Star Trek: Voyager’s Tuvok, Tim Russ has always been a big fan of Star Trek. In a new interview the actor outlined what he saw as the future of Star Trek on film, and also alluded to possible pitches for a new Star Trek TV series.

 

Russ talks future of Trek

While promoting his appearance at the Starbase Indy convention in Indianapolis over the weekend, Star Trek Voyager actor Tim Russ talked to IndyStar about his role on Star Trek and on the future of Star Trek.

Regarding how he would approach a new Star Trek movie, Russ talked about going back to crews of the previous Trek shows:

You play director/producer. What approach would you take for the next Star Trek feature film?

"I would do a parallel timeline, go forward, not backward in sort of a renegade style. I would bring in a number of characters from the each of the other series, as long as the timeline is consistent. I would rather do something like that than a prequel (like the last Star Trek movie). That way you could bring in characters from (Star Trek: The) “Next Generation,” like (actor) Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard). There would be Kate Mulgrew (Capt. Katherine Janeway) from (Star Trek:) “Voyager,” any number of crew members from “Voyager.” I would bring in (Star Trek:) “Deep Space Nine” characters, too. Any one of (those characters) would be a kick for the fans. They all have their favorites and each has its fan base. I’ve certainly learned that.”

Russ also talked about Star Trek’s future on TV (and his possible role), and hinted that there are already people pitching TV shows to CBS:

Star Trek’s been around 40 years, spun off 6 series and 11 movies. Is it time to give the Trek franchise a rest?

“In a sense it is in hiatus right now, because there’s nothing on. "(Star Trek) Enterprise" was the last series, and that’s been off several years. They’re discussing other Star Trek projects, other series. I think there’s still a loyal audience out there that would love to have something to watch that’s Star Trek-related.”

If you were approached for another Star Trek role, would you do it?

“It depends on what kind of role it is. It’s certainly possible that if it was offered I certainly would consider it, given it’s work. … I don’t have any large projects right now. They’re pitching a new Trek series, so I could possibly wind up as a cast member on that. … Currently, I’m doing voiceovers for the Cartoon Network series, “Sym-Bionic Titan” (Russ portrays Solomon on the show, which debuted in September). Russ added that a former series cast member is actively pursuing a Trek project, but wouldn’t publicly disclose who it is."

TrekMovie checked with Mr. Russ to get more details on they "they" he is talking about with regards to pitching. Russ would not reveal all the people he knew were pitching Star Trek ideas, but he did reveal one of the pitches has come from Sky Conway, who produced the indie project Star Trek: Of Gods and Men, which Russ directed. 

124 Comments
oldest
newest
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments

If they keep doing the alternate time lines it will have to be called “Time Trek.” I’ve had enough of all that since ST: Enterprise.

I’m game for this as long as nobody from Voyager is attached to the project.

pitching a new Star Trek series? YES! At least SOMEBODY out there is making headway for ST to return to where it belongs!

“Goldsmith’s Star Trek V Soundtrack gets extended”

Mistake.

As for Tim Russ, I hope no one is listening to his “ideas”. This is classic fanboy wank being cranked out by yet another actor who feels entitled to do Star Trek again. Give me a break. Let’s have the new cast stand on their own. The only CAMEOS that would make sense would be either Scott Bakula or William Shater. Maybe Leonard Nimoy.

I really hope CBS ignores these pitches being made.

I’ve heard two interesting ideas tossed around in the last three or four years that would make for interesting ventures back into the Trek universe:

1. An animated series that took place in the 25th or 26th century.
2. A “Next Gen” type show 50-70 years after Nemesis.

Both would be interesting but in the era of Galactica-type scifi, it would have to be pretty compelling and original to make it. Enterprise really killed it for Trek as a regular series.

The last time Tim Russ had anything to do with trying to make a Star Trek story … I vomited in my mouth.

Keep him the hell away from the camera.

I respect Tim Russ’ ideas, but I wouldn’t care too much for watching such a TV show. I think such a format would very soon become very lame after an initial flare of “Hey, cool! Picard commanding a mission together with Admiral Janeway and Scotty’s their chief engineer!!”

Cameos by Scott Bakula, William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy make sense for different reasons. Though it would be hard to bring back Kirk Prime. And the writers have indicated already that they aren’t planning on a Shatner appearance.

And a lot of these former Trek actors like Tim Russ and Kate Mulgrew haven’t thought things through when they express their desire to be in the sequel. I mean, how would they appear? And if Shatner can’t be included, why would they be?

Some of these actors have to move on. Seriously.

NO new Trek TV show, please, until at least the end of the Abrams Trilogy. Before JJ, the market was completely saturated with Star Trek: for a time, we had two shows (TWO) running at the same time; and it was one show being made after another: TNG-DS9-VGR-ENT. Each time, the quality got worse: recycled plots, characters, features, etc. We must be patient. After the JJ Trilogy, there will be a huge market for Star Trek on TV. Until then, they should plan carefully: when is it going to take place; where and in which time-line; how can we make it fresh and exciting; etc….there’s lots to do. They’ll make more money, and, more importantly for me, make a better show, if they take their time. The fans will wait; and JJ is creating some more…

8. Red Dead Ryan – November 30, 2010

JJ’s new crew need to go off on their own now exploring(or shooting). The Nimoy role was essential (and welcome) to the first film; but, after that, it should be about this crew, not past stars. The time to introduce Shatner and Co. is when they’re out of ideas completely…There’s so much more to do.

PS. There are only a few actors/characters in Star Trek that have any real chance of making a cameo in the films: the big stars; the captains. I can’t see VGR’s third in command, or whatever he was, appearing; anymore than I can see Riker or co. Basically, it’s Nimoy, Shatner, or Stewart: no-one else is famous enough or sufficiently connected to the Star Trek brand. Harsh, perhaps. But true.

I completely disagree with the “no new trek show until the end of Abrams’ Trilogy” sentiment.

We’re still over a year away from the second movie. It’s unlikely the trilogy will be complete by 2015.

I really do not want to wait that long for new trek on TV. I’m not getting any younger.

2. GaryP – November 30, 2010

I’ll second that. Let’s add ENT to that list of restrictions as well.

TOS was revolutionary; a show far, far ahead of anything before in story, setting, technology, fan following, etc. TNG was a really good show, whose episodes, in my opinion, were on average better than those from TOS; though, perhaps not in outright quality over a few episodes. DS9 was fresh; a new idea. It also predicted terrorism and was quite ahead of the times in that respect. Characters were starting to become recycled a bit (e.g., Guinan/Dax; Data/Bashir) but the war was new and overall I really liked this show. VGR was really bad imo. Pretty much all the characters were recycled: throw in the standard Vulcan and Klingon etc. What I was most annoyed by was that it became far less about human solutions to human problems (i.e., good Trek, imo) and far more about technological solutions replete with copious technobable: terrible. True, VGR did have a female Captain. I’m sure this helped it in the ratings. But I don’t accept sexism; so that fact was irrelevant to me. With ENT, they’d finaly reached the end. There was nothing new. It was just so tired; so rehashed. It’s little surprise it was cancelled. Even the faithful (some say obsessive) Trekkies couldn’t stand to watch it….

They need to wait, and think carefully, before Trek returns to TV.

11. CFLTrekFan – November 30, 2010
I think that Star Trek on TV hurt Star Trek on film. I would rather not have them going at the same time; at least, not until Star Trek is well and truly ‘back’. We mustn’t forget that Star Trek has not yet become the huge hit that it can be; has not yet fully enticed the mainstream. If we wait a few years, there will be a true hunger for more Star Trek.

IMO, Russ’s mentioning of bringing characters like Picard, Janeway, DS9 characters, etc. to a new Star Trek film AND not mentioning characters from TOS is clearly an indication that he is biased toward all Trek AFTER TOS. Obviously a greater fan of Berman-era Trek, he seems oblivious to the huge success of Trek09.
Why did the producers and writers of Trek09 go back to the roots of Star Trek with Kirk, Spock and McCoy? They could easily have done something like what Russ is talking about. They could easily have invented all new characters. So why did they choose to “Get Back?”
I may be off-base, but I believe it is because the original concept of Star Trek, with those original characters, had the most heart and soul. In its simplicity, TOS was the most raw version of Trek, while the other series were more “spit and polished.”
When Star Trek returns to television — as it eventually will — it should not take any cues from Berman-era Trek (no offense intended), not should it take any cues from shows like “Galactica” just because “Galactica” had a cool, heavy vibe, or whatever (no offense intended). A new series should take its cues from TOS, whether it is about Kirk, Spock and McCoy or not, because there lies the core of what Star Trek is all about.
Just my 2c, of course.

ST09 was a flash in the pan! I want REAL Star Trek (on TV)!! NOW!!!

Renegade style?? When were the Star Trek shows after TOS ever renegade? (With the exception maybe of later seasons of DS9.)

A Star Trek movie with Captain Picard and an appearance by Janeway? Already been done. It was called Nemesis. Nobody cared. Not even the hardcore fan base.

JJ Abrams and team seem to have cracked the code with Star Trek ’09. Let’s let that voyage play out and see what happens.

I’m firmly on the side of a news Trek series BEFORE the end of JJ Trek. It’s taking too damn long. You kids can wait but I’m not getting any younger either. I don’t care what timeline it is in. I just want it to be good and in the spirit of Star Trek.

I say give the past show actors an animated series to reprise their characters on, something like a Titan show.

I agree with #18. No new live-action shows until after 2015, after Abrams’ trilogy. For now, an animated series would be the oerfect way to go…

“They’re pitching a new Trek series…”

O.O Need more info! I hope something comes of this, I’m so sick of there not being any Trek on TV!

Less is more. No TV show for a while. Let the franchise heal herself.

Thanks for posting about the tip I gave ya about Tim Russ, but I am sure you probably knew about it before I mentioned it to you.

Still with the ignorant ENTERPRISE bashing?

The first 2 seasons were “blah” but the third really picked up and the fourth was crackling.

Need I remind you people that by and large the first 2 seasons of TNG were pretty poor with a handful of classic episodes between them. If the snobs that make up TREK fandom today were the base back in 1987-1988 TNG would have been canceled and THE FINAL FRONTIER would have been the last TREK film.

Do it.

#23

Well put!

I think they should do a Trek Series after Enterprise and have it set at the start of the Romulan War and the Founding of the Federation. That would be the best way to go. Drama and action and Intrique and lots of Space battles.

Reunion, wishful thinking. These actors never give up. Its over folks you guys had your day.

I’m sure Russ would flip if they recast his role of Tuvok to a younger actor. These guys just want the money.

Btw, who said it was only a Trilogy? There better be more than three with this cast.

The “Destiny” trilogy would make a pretty good film series. I just finished the trilogy and it basically restored my faith in Trek novels — I had given up after the mess that the TNG relaunch was after “Death in Winter” when every single damn novel HAD to be about the Borg. Granted, “Destiny” is about the Borg in a big way, but it closes the chapter. I’m reading “Losing the Peace” and it’s political and about the characters again. I’m liking it.

I still honestly prefer TOS-era Trek fiction — where there was one Trek and the universe was a little easier to follow w/o all the crossovers and back-histories. One of the most unexplored eras is the post TMP / pre TWOK era; if I remember my canon right, there’s about 10 years between the stories — so, arguably, two five year missions. That’s a lot of Trek.

#23 — right on the money.

I still pine for the lost fifth season, where the Kzinti (sp?) were rumored to come into play, along with the beginnings of the Romulan War.

@21

I agree.

Give it some time, and then go forth with another show.

If I were directing/producing, my show would take place further on down the timeline on a Federation ship, with an alien Captain, at least one LGBT crew-member and some interesting new races.

Star Trek (2009) was, Mediocre, at best. I mean, it was just another terrible reboot of an old and loved franchise. I place Transformers, and Superman Returns on the table. Transformers, was good, it told the story well, and I enjoyed it. Transformers 2 was TERRIBLE. (put your pitchforks down, and think for a minute, there, see, I AM right!) Superman Returns was, TERRIBLE. (again, Think hard about it. I am right) Trek (2009) is on the rim. I mean, it used an overplayed, and stretched plot device just to give JJ Abrams Et. Al. an excuse to throw Canon out of the window. (Again, I am right about time Travel/Alternate universes. The only difference between this, and an episode of TNG, DS9 ETC, is that at the end, the universe did not get fixed. it was left to exist, and fester, like a splinter.) If they make another Trek movie, its just going to be another big show of special effects, and sophomoric humor. This is what happens when you have a universe where Kirk was SO not ready for command. Seriously. after all of that, they would have placed him as some sort of Second in command. Sure, you stopped the destruction of earth, Great! but, your life previous to star fleet was full of bar fights, and alcoholism. There was NO commanding there. he got LUCKY, and left his ship, to go run off and play hero. More a show of his impatience than his ability to command.

TL;DR? Batman Begins/The Dark Night, are the ONLY two movies in recent history to get a reboot right.

One thing to note is that CBS and Paramount are separate entities, and CBS has the TV rights. Furthermore, I’m not so sure Paramount can simply veto anything that CBS decides to do.

Lets have a nude Trek series!

As in any business, the complaints come from a small minority, the bashers here have a soapbox to stand on (thanks trekmovie.com), and the people that appreciate Trek get to use it too. Sadly the last few trek films and series did not entice the fans to watch, but I bet most of them have the DVDs of those show. (or on VHS)… It only takes one or two flamers to ruin someones day.

I would go with ST:ONLINE era for the series – that way there could be no crossovers, or guest spots. That being said, you can always get some of the old actors to play new aliens with enough makeup to disguise them completely. And an alien captain is an excellent idea. Not human, but not an amorphous blob like Chode in Tripping the Rift. Stephen Root sounds like a good idea for a cast member too, eh?

Blech. Tim Russ is a nice guy, but he comes off as the worst sort of fanboy with his ideas. Thankfully, no one at Paramount or CBS is likely to listen to him, not after the success of ST09.

As much as i would like a new star trek series back on tv, i agree to waiting after the jj abrams trilogy and bring a new trek show back when the frenchise reaches its 50TH aniversary in 2016.

it could take place in 2409 in the star trek online era with many guest stars from TNG,DS9 and VOYAGER!.

#33

Transformers wasn’t a reboot. There was nothing to reboot! Other than a cartoon, which was pretty 50/50 in quality to begin with. Superman Returns also was not a reboot, but rather a continuation of the first 2 Superman movies. I think it’s a lot better than people allow for (Kate Bosworth was miscast as Lois Lane, but everyone else was quite good). Both Transformers movies were stupid, but we are talking about robots than turn into cars, stereos and airplanes. So I’d say they were no more stupid than the basic concept.

Tims idea sounds similar to something Logan and Brent Spiner penned as a possible sequel to Nemisis. Someone or several people have described it as a “Justice League” of Star Trek. (All the Captains joining forces to battle a common enemy) and that may be close to what it was.

I tried several tumes to Twitter Brent to see if I could take a look at it, but no reply. But a friend of his Twitted me and said Patrick Stewart thought the story/script was brilliant.

As far as a new Star Trek series, my vote is yes why not. But no Enterprise sequel stuff and no Star Trek: 3898.9. Reimagined TOS all the way gets my vote, similar to JJs version.

TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT are dead and should stay dead. I hope they don’t make a new big movie based on those series. It would be a very stupid idea. Only Star Trek fans are still interested in those series, the general public not. Those series just don’t have the same cult status like TOS. A movie based on those series wouldn’t reach a big audience.

They should continue with making movies in the new timeline. The last movie was a big success. The next movies should play in that new universe, too.

I think a new series should play shortly after the new movies in the new timeline. They should make a new series about the Enterprise (with other actors, if the movie actors don’t want to be part of it) or another similar Federation starship.

Tim’s a nice guy but honestly I have no interest in seeing more Voyager adventures. Name 10 classic episodes from that series or even one that comes close to a classic TOS or TNG show. Though of course not as terrible as most of ENT…

#12 please don’t put words in my mouth, I very much enjoyed Enterprise (as well as voyager). If you didn’t that’s fine, but don’t claim that all Trekkies couldn’t stand to watch it because that’s simply not true.

Whatever a new Trek series will be, it better NOT have all this endless emotionally unstable characters and personal drama crap that all new shows seem to adopt as a rule…

Some personal conflict is fine, but pros who are crying all the time? dear god!

#43 –
Basics Parts 1 & 2
The Year of Hell
Dark Frontier
One
Scorpion Pts 1 & 2
Before and After
Timeless
Message In A Bottle
Hope and Fear
Endgame

Many more there in that show.

The ideas Tim Russ threw out were pure crap. I’m pretty certain CBS will not listen. Nothing against Tim Russ, but he’s an actor, not a writer.

I wouldn’t mind a “Stargazer” series. And have a younger Captain Picard start off as a Lieutenant and eventually take command. It wouldn’t feature the Borg or Romulans, but could involve the Cardassians and Ferengi.
There’d be plenty of opportunity for exploration and archaeology, something that was hinted at during TNG.

PS: #43 – See my post #23 for your ENT comment.

You obviously didn’t watch more than a couple. It’s like someone going “Hey man, I watched that original Star Trek…space hippies, someone stole Dr Spock’s brain, some real life lawyer dude and some kids…Man that show SUCKED!”

The Next Gen time-line could use a three part miniseries to wrap everything up. Throw a few Voyager people on the Titan and have something happen with the DS9 wormhole starting with the return of Sisko. Voilà.

Throw in an intrigue concerning the rebuilding of Cardassia and you’ve got something that would close that whole chapter in a nice way.

Possibilities:

– Sisko is expelled from prophetland prematurely and reaches Odo – they both go back to check on the wormhole, which is messed up
– Starfleet is concerned and Janeway is the admiral in charge of whatever is happening
– The Titan is overseeing stuff around Cardassia Prime – it’s routed to DS9
– B’Elanna is the Titan’s chief engineer
– Paris is first officer
– Quark is Quark

Somebody could write something with that.

You know, for a while now, I’ve been saying that the TNG-era series (and let’s include Enterprise too) could’ve benefited from taking on sort of an “ER” approach …

A show that, yes, has a continuing arc to it – which was done brilliantly in DS9 – but one that also REALLY keeps the audience guessing about the future of characters … we always knew, at the end of the day, that Riker, O’Brien, Paris, Sato, etc were all going to survive, no matter what kind of trouble they got into …. but it seems to me the way to captivate a TV audience was to have not only great, honest, real, gritty writing, but to have an element of true surprise there, where a character could be seriously wounded, killed or even just make the decision to move on with life and transfer to another ship. The universe isn’t a static place and one thing always sort of missing from all TV trek (again, possibly excepting DS9) was the danger … the realities of life and the very transient nature of existence … traumas were always happening to someone else, some other crew, some other planet, and I think that REALLY inhibited character development and contributed to disinterest, especially in the last two Trek TV series.