DST3: Urban: Star Trek 2016 Concept Is ‘Phenomenal’ + Montgomery: ENT S5 ‘Not Going To Happen’ + more

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During Friday night’s opening ceremony for Destination Star Trek there were a few interesting tidbits about the future of Star Trek during some of the brief stage appearances of William Shatner, Karl Urban and Anthony Montgomery. Get the details below. 

On Friday night Destination Star Trek 3 held an opening ceremony hosted by Jonathan Ross. The event had a number of the celebrities come out one at a time for Ross to ask them some brief questions, below are some of the highlights. Note that the DST PR staff were not allowing the press to take photographs for the opening ceremony, but our friends from the Trekkie Girls podcast and blog did get some phone shots which they shared with us (thanks girls).

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Destination Star Trek 3 Opening Ceremony host Jonathan Ross with Jeri Ryan (photo: The Trekkie Girls)

Karl Urban: Star Trek 2016 Concept is Phenomenal + Shatner Sees CGI In His Future

Ross asked Karl Urban about the script for the new Star Trek movie and Urban said he had not read it, but he had heard some things. Here is what he said:

"I’m am going to meet with JJ [Abrams] in a couple of days and I’m looking forward to that. And the important thing is that it is going to be phenomenal. Based on what I hear of the concept, it’s going to rock and you guys are going to love it. "

Being that Karl Urban is probably the biggest Trek fan on the cast (with the possible exception of Simon Pegg) that news was met with thunderous applause by the crowd.

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Karl Urban and Bruce Greenwood at Destination Star Trek 3 (Photo: The Trekkie Girls)

Another guest who was asked about the new movie was William Shatner, however as we reported earlier, Bill is now complying with the Bad Robot gag order. Ross prodded and prodded and Shatner shouted out “My lips are sealed!” He then joked a bit about the secrecy and Internet reports, saying:

I received a communication from JJ Abrams and he said "don’t tell anybody!" and I said "I won’t tell anybody." And the next day it was all over Twitter. And then he emailed me and said "thanks a lot!" and I said "It was the director [Roberto Orci] of the movie!" He said "we’ll fire the director." OK, no, no, no, he didn’t say that.

So it appears that even though it was Shatner who confirmed what was only an unsourced rumor at the time, he still seems to think that it was actually Roberto Orci who started it all.

Shatner then pondered the question "What are you going to do with Captain Kirk fifty years later?" And answering his own question a bit later he exclaimed "CGI! CGI"

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Ross and William Shatner at DST3 opening ceremony (Photo: The Trekkie Girls)

Montgomery: Enterprise Season 5 Not Going To Happen

During his short time on stage, Ross asked Star Trek: Enterprise’s Anthony Montgomery about the notion of the show (cancelled after four seasons in 2005) returning in some form, possibly on Netflix. Montgomery said:

I keep hearing these stories about how a lot of you guys are trying to raise money to bring Enterprise back for Season 5. But, realistically, it’s never going to happen, as much as we would like it to…Paramount would have to say they made a mistake by taking it off the air. No one as part of a company has ever said to the world, they had made a mistake.

Quick on his feet, Ross actually cited Fox (presumably referring to bringing back Family Guy after it was cancelled). Montgomery stuck to his guns saying he wouldn’t hold his breath.

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Jonathan Ross and Anthony Montgomery at Destination Star Trek 3 (Photo: The Trekkie Girls)

Much more to come

The opening ceremony was just a series of quick teases from the celebrities, who will be appearing at panels all weekend long. TrekMovie will be bringing highlights of those plus other reports and photos from around the con all weekend so stay tuned.

Our coverage so far:

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Boy, all these conventions…we really analyze the shit out of this TV series, don’t we?

Darn, I thought another season of Enterprise was just as certain as the prime universe coming back after Star Trek 3.

please let enterprise rest in peace, the show wasnt that good, the concept was bad, and the execution was poor.

but however did Bob Orci Really leak the shatner thing then?

maybe Enterprise can at lest get one more show to sign off on,,they needed a better send off than what they got.

Im sooooo looking forward to the next Star Trek movie,, :)
Im like so many other fans out there, that wanted to see a better “Kirk” send off too.

With due respect to Anthony Montgomery, and contrary to folk wisdom, people in business admit that they make mistakes *all the time*. It’s called “pivoting.”

Great coverage, TrekMovie. Looks like Destination Star Trek will be a treasure trove of new info, insights, and entertainment for Trek fans the world over. I certainly hope it will, especially regarding the next Trek movie.

I would pass ST3 for an Enterprise S5 telling the founding history of the Federation. Probably ST1+2, too :D

Actors sure talk a lot (er, at conventions where they’re paid to talk a lot).

I’m happy Montgomery lives in reality. And he looks damned good with a beard.

all enterprise fans out there dont listen to what Montgomery says networks have admitted there mistake many times before. 2 examples are Family Guy and Futurama. There are others thats just the 1st 2 to come to mind. Never give up

I hope Urban is right about the next film’s premise, but there’s no way to know until I sneak into a theater in 2016 to see it.

“Paramount would have to say they made a mistake by taking it off the air. No one as part of a company has ever said to the world, they had made a mistake.”

WRONG, WRONG, WRONG…
First of all it’s CBS, not Paramount who are in charge of bringing back ENT one way or another.
Second, it was the old UPN network that played an important role in ending the series. UPN ceased to exist the year after and has been part of the CW, a network that is known for series such as late Smalleville and Arrow which draw in a lot LESS viewers than ENT ever did!
Third, TOS is the most famous example of a show revived (on the big screen)…
Fourth, nobody wants a Season 5 as in fifth year of the original ENT series. It would be a complete reboot… NX-01 refit, new uniforms, new sets… for a new era closer to both TOS and the reboot movies that HAVE proven THAT Star Trek has still an audience…
Fifth, the 50th anniversary is upon us and with no recent TV show around, ENT or any sort of NextGen reunion would be the ONLY way to celebrate the anniversary for CBS…
Sixth, people HAVE admitted they were wrong. We had Brannon Braga apologizing for the finale and some other mistakes. We had Les Moonves himself praising the ongoing interest in Star Trek on DVD and streaming portals…

All in all, some sort of TV / netbased Trek has to happen pretty soon and it will… Good god man, we’re talking EIGHT DC / Marvel TV shows running simultaneously on various networks as of 2015, plus an additional five Marvel Netflix miniseries… Arrow, Flash, Gotham, Constantine, Supergirl, Titans, Agents of SHIELD, Agent Carter + 5 Defenders Netflix events!

There has to be space for one tiny little Trek revival SOMEWHERE!

Being at conventions makes me happy. It’s a great filler in between movies, for example. However, that said, I haven’t been at a Trek convention in a while.

Nevertheless, the good feelings from my convention visits linger on.

For those who haven’t yet visited one, please note: You don’t have to dress up in constume, you don’t have to be a stereotypical fan — all you need to do is enjoy good science fiction fun. Fans are there of all ages — from young children to senior citizens. And they are generally of good humor and disposition, and happy to be part of the whole scene.

I rarely spend money for autographs — although I did get one from Gary Lockhart that I remember — and you don’t have to spend much money at all as long as you are selective.

I’m glad this convention seems to be attracting talent and interest and hope to visit one again soon.

^^ Sorry, I meant “Gary Lockwood,” of “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (TOS), and 2001: A Space Odyssey.

@9 Chaz: Don’t forget “Arrested Development”… while it’s easy to bring back cartoons such as Futurama, bringing back live-action projects is tougher due to the troubles bring all the actors back together. Building the sets would be an extra issue but after TWO successful BLOCKBUSTERS, the first ones in Trek’s entire history, how can there be any doubt Trek is a viable brand?

I know it’s difficult to compare comic-based shows and movies to Trek but there isn’t SUCH a huge difference. Comic-book based TV and cinema has been around since the 50s and 60s, as have space-based TV shows and movies. There was generation one (old Supes, Batman, WonderWoman stuff until 1980 for comics and TOS / Lost in Space / Space 1999 / Galactica etc for sci fi), there was generation two (original Supes and Batman movies, Lois & Clark for comics and TNG / DS9 / VOY / ENT / B5 / FSCP / ANDR / SG1 / SGA etc. for space opera)…. Now there is generation three… comics are HUGE on the bigscreen but also thrieve on TV… so far Trek is only back on the big screen, Wars will be shortly, accompanied by Avatar and Space-based comic stuff such as GOTG… Trek’ return to TV is inevitable…

14. smike –
“Trek’ return to TV is inevitable…”

Yeah smike. I call it TINTS – the inevitable new Trek show.

Folks, Enterprise is NOT coming back. You guys are holding onto a pipe dream. There is zero chance of that show returning. None.

And someone really needs to tell Shatner that Orci didn’t leak the rumor of his being in the film. He sounds like an idiot every time he says that.

ENT coming back on Netflix, while a Grand Idea, won’t Happen CBS would have to let Netflix buy the Right to Produce ENT, and that might mean giving Netflix the Rights to Produce any Future Star Trek, which CBS isn’t Going to do it isn’t going to give it Right to Star Trek a major holding it has that it isn’t using at this time.

I chalk the Hole Shatner thing up to Shatner being Shatner…

@9. chaz,
“all enterprise fans out there dont listen to what Montgomery says”

I would say that’s good advice in general. Montgomery is the Chekov of TAS. They’re gonna have to cut the money somewhere and they might as well start with the “token” actor who had less to do in most episodes than some extras. He’s one of the many mistakes they made with Enterprise that any smart producer would seek to remedy.

I would have loved to see the Romulan Earth War..and had they actually got there I think ENT would have Survived to a 5th Season…We never got there…I love to see it come back, doubt it will in any form but Book form but I also like JJ Trek and what it has done for Star Trek…If Season 3 had been Season 2 of ENT, and Season 4 been Season 3 of Ent and Season 4 of Ent been the Romulan Earth War…it would probably had a good run…

…yeah, yeah …i’ll believe it when i see it =P (phenomenal concept)

(fool me twice, shame on YOU!) (nu-trek sucks)

Re: Enterprise: Keep Hope ALIVE! =)

# 16. BatlethInTheGroin – October 4, 2014

” And someone really needs to tell Shatner that Orci didn’t leak the rumor of his being in the film. He sounds like an idiot every time he says that.” — BatlethInTheGroin

Rarely are Hollywood “leaks” sourced. However, it is known that Grey, the head of Paramount, in the past has carefully managed his leaks and even supplied Nikki Finke with memos that made it fairly clear that he was the source. Given that, it wouldn’t be that surprising to discover that Orci was indeed managing leaks. Carefully done it is the linchpin of managing pr for a project such as this.

So while the likelihood is high that Bill is simply mistaken, I doubt very seriously that in the circles in which he circulates he comes off sounding idiotic, more likely he’s suspected of having well placed sources at Paramount that gives more import to what he claims than might be warranted as it is all part of the game.

# 17. Bill Peters – October 4, 2014

” ENT coming back on Netflix, while a Grand Idea, won’t Happen CBS would have to let Netflix buy the Right to Produce ENT…” — Bill Peters

Buy? There is no buy. CBS is a licensing machine when it comes to Trek.

I was at the Vegas con and Urban got thunderous applause there, too.

An admission from Bill there I think, that he’s going to need a far bit of CGI assistance in reprising Kirk.

I’d love Anthony to be wrong, and continue to support the Netflix campaign for some kind, any kind of Enterprise resurrection. Season 5, in terms of 20 episodes ain’t gonna happen I’d agree.

I wonder if with the 50th Anniversary is going to be as big of a deal for Star Trek, as it was for Doctor Who? In which case, a multi-cast adventure ought to be going down big time. If not on the big screen, then on not-so small ones we have at home these days.

correction – *fair* bit of CGI assistance

People, a little Trek production history 101:

1. 1969 first series is cancelled. Fans were told that was it. NBC is never going bring it back as that would involve admitting they made a mistake.

2. 1973 NBC brings STAR TREK back as an animated series. Wins an Emmy. Cancelled after 1 and a fractional season. Fans told to give it up as this was the final nail in the coffin; it ain’t coming back.

3. 1979 Paramount launches STAR TREK as a motion picture. Franchise lasts to this day.

Lesson: if you never try, failure is absolutely guaranteed.

Since VERONICA MARS, ENTERPRISE’S fellow “dead” UPN series was revived as a movie, it is a brave new world as to what might be possible.

As the Trek parodist, David Howard, wrote “NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER!”

Oh and BTW even though its series is entirely fictional, GALAXY QUEST, is another “resurrection” series that wouldn’t surprise me in this brave new world of episodic tv production.

When are they going to make the sequel to Galaxy Quest, anyway? Anyone have the latest news? ;)

Blimey, those Londoners are as thunderous for Star Trek 3 as we all are!

@26 Disinvited,

Agree there’s no reason not to try, but trying with Enterprise would be a waste of resources. Veronica Mars had a substantially different demographic and much larger fan base, with specific relevance to today’s markets. If you’re citing that as a successful model for reviving Enterprise, then it’s colossal failure at the box office have surely put the final nail in Enterprise’s coffin.

My favorite part about Orci introducing QM MWI in the Trek universe is that we can dismiss the entire series of ENT as happening in an alternate universe and change the entire origin story with that one seminal event of the Klingon crash landing on Earth. I didn’t hate Enterprise, but I did hate a lot of what they did, and in was never fond of the casting. Continuing on with an original cast that’s now past it’s prime is not the way go. They did that with TOS, so we know how that works out — and we put up with that because we loved that cast. The ENT cast is a mixed bag at best for most, so a reboot makes the most sense of that concept. I’d like to see the story of that original starship blazing the trail of first contact with Earth, out of touch with the Federation, having to survive mostly on their own. Get rid of Archer right away, maybe a death leaving a young untrained crew cut off from Earth, gaining experience on the job. Make it more like the NASA Space program of the 60s, where there were no veterans, and there was a heavy price to pay for the smallest mistakes. Take the Enterprise to planets and spend three episodes on those planets exploring them and dealing with problems encountered there.

These conventions prove that there is a large minority of Trekkies out there who are complete morons.

“Enterprise” is never coming back, neither is “The Next Generation”. That era of Trek is long over.

Neither George Takei nor Michael Dorn will be getting their own series, either.

Time to move on….the nu-universe is where it’s at. The Prime Universe is done.

By phenomenal he means the crew of the Enterprise encounter the Nexus and pull out Shatner’s fat ass. Next… just kidding. :)

Enterprise was a great concept. It was the concept that could have revitalized star trek. I could envision the show going seven years and launching into a film franchise while spinning off into another show. Lots to explore in the “past”. I could have seen it eventually leading to the young Kirk era too.

But the execution was horrendous and the creative minds behind it had no vision whatsoever. They wanted voyager in the past. Vanilla show. Vanill characters. Make money but fly under the radar.

Just awful.

Its rad that Urban goes to a lot of Stark Trek conventions and stuff. He’s definitely a big fan. Can’t wait to hear more stuff on Trek 3. Its geting closer!

I have to say Anthony also did say with regards to Enterprise if it did come back that hour would be there back in the pilot seat to be fair to him.

And for those of you saying there is zero chance that enterprise is not coming back it’s not impossible just extremely difficult and CBS has been following the Netflix campaign and has sparked discussion within the corporation. Plus the prime universe is by no means finished as CBS is not happy with the direction Paramount has taken the franchise creatively. If there’s any doubt with what I’m saying see the Netflix campaign site.

#34 wrote: “I have to say Anthony also did say with regards to Enterprise if it did come back that hour would be there back in the pilot seat to be fair to him.”

Um…. what?

#34 wrote: “And for those of you saying there is zero chance that enterprise is not coming back it’s not impossible just extremely difficult”

Wow… that’s some seriously mangled language, dude.

And CBS has never indicated it isn’t happy with the direction Paramount has taken the franchise. That’s bunk.

Like I said read the Netflix campaign page and see what’s been said there.

It’s great to dream about Enterprise S5. But it is just that.

I never liked Enterprise and I never will.

@20. Is it possible for you to post anything at all without the ‘nuTrek sucks’ moniker?

#39 AP

Definitely a much far better way of expressing that sentiment than declaring those that hold a dream “a large minority of …”

Never had my fingers crossed for the return of Enterprise.

29… “Veronica Mars” was not a “colossal failure” at the Box Office. It was only released to 291 theaters, all AMC, if there wasn’t an AMC Theater in your area, you were out of luck (compare that to “Gone Girl” this week released to over 3,000 theaters) and it was released to On Demand TV the same day as it hit theaters. Theatrical release was never anything more than a marketing gimmick, VM was a Direct to DVD release for all intents and purposes. It was never given a serious chance to thrive or fail at the box office.

io9 did a ranking of the best 100 Trek episodes drawn from all 5 series: http://io9.com/the-top-100-star-trek-episodes-of-all-time-1641565699

Granted, the lion’s share of the episodes come from TOS, TNG & DS9, but there are some noteworthy Voyager and Enterprise episodes included. And I would have included at least a few more Enterprise episodes on this list—Similitude, for example. This was a Season 3 sleeper about a Trip clone that lives out an entire human lifespan in 15 days that was grown for the purpose of harvesting its brain tissue in order to heal brain damage suffered by the real Trip. It’s a touching episode that explores nothing less than the meaning and value of human life. It’s not a perfect episode, and it could have delved much deeper into its theme, but I find it notable.

And as…”inconsistent” as Voyager was, I was pleasantly surprised at the episodes from that series that made the list. If the best from all seven seasons of Voyager were distilled into a single season, that season might well be better than Seasons 1 & 2 of TNG and DS9 and Season 3 of TOS. Or, maybe not, but it would be a contender. Perhaps even more so, the best of Enterprise.

P.S.

Not that I agree with io9’s ranking more than probably 50% of it, but I find it interesting to see the argument, succinctly as it is, made for each episode on the list.

My God, I would HATE to be the actors who go to all these conventions…what the hell do they come up with time after time after time after time??? I guess they get a boatload of money for doing it….

Would anybody bother to tell Travis if the show was coming back. They could bring the show back without him, and nobody would notice. After almost ten years, I doubt Enterprise is ever coming back, but it would be awesome if it did. Nobody had to admit they made a mistake. They just have to say something like “the market wasn’t right for Star Trek at the time, no matter how good it was, but today the show will have a bigger audience.”

Karl is hardly going to get up there and say the concept sucks, is he. However, i’m willing to believe him! Despite the same predictions being trotted out about STiD!

40 Phil, I think Herbert should just change his posting name.

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Here are a few series totally unrelated to Trek that I would bring back if I could:
– “Terriers” [bad name for a private eye show] — great characters, great actors with mutual chemistry and some really good scripts
– The Good Guys — great satire of ’80s cop movies and generally hilarious — Colin Hanks and Brad Whitford have great chemistry, and I love Dan Ryan talking about “smarty phones” and “computer machines.” And listening to FOGHAT ;-)
– ALMOST HUMAN — Ealy and Urban have great chemistry and god what a pleasure to see Karl Urban 13 weeks in a row. Or, Ummm, 13 times on my special TV access channel …
————————————————————————————-
– And WHY NOT, “THE ROMULAN WARS” …? Wouldn’t need to be “Enterprise” crew in there although it’d be fun to see a few of them promoted and back onscreen, with more minority actors included.

The show could feature both sides of the war … the Romulan POV [done so well in “Balance of Terror” and the Starfleet POV. But for HEAVEN’S SAKE change the Romulan uniforms to be more like the original TOS ones [except with longer skirts for the women,,, I’m always saying that]. UGH, those TNG, ENT, VOY and ENT Romulan uniforms looked RIDEEEEKULOUS.

And could they ditch the weird foreheads? How does a race from Vulcan develop such physical differences over a mere 5,000 years?
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44 Cygnus, ENT “Similitude” was an excellent episode that brought me to tears. here were a number of good ENT episodes. I was surprised by the number of VOY episodes iO9 put on the list, perhaps I’ll try watching those to see if I can deal. I hated VOY’s technobabble and ticking-clock scenarios so very much I quit watching by the end of Season 2. I did look up “Bride of Chaotica” on NETFLIX and it was funny, but nearly so great as I’d been led to believe.
———————————————————————————-
46 Mateo, I think it’s the same thing for them as doing a publicity tour for an upcoming movie, but they can opt to do conventions [for some extra bucks or fun with fans] or not. “I loved acting with the whole cast / NAME / in X episode” …” I’m excited about” … “We had one day on the set when [fill in amusing story]” … Once in awhile they get an interesting question, and most Trek actors seem to love interacting with the fans.

I went to a lot of conventions in the ’80s and ’90s, and may I say, of all the actors I saw, Jimmy Doohan was the loveliest personality [and Dee Kelley, whom I only got to see once] Patrick Stewart the most serious and seriously engaged with questions, Marina Sirtis full of fun, and Michael Dorn … Dorn was dead sexy. He doesn’t speak in the same deep range as Worf, but his voice is “like buttah.” And that presence. Lawdy.

Mmm…lets see, the last time Carl Urban said something about Star Trek it was that Benedict Cumberbatch
was going to make a great Gary Mitchell, instead we got a literally visual pale out on a limb Khan. I suppose what Carl’s latest statement means this concept sucks worst then Star Trek Into Darkness.
Please pass the lube, Happy Anniversary Everyone!

#50 – Urban’s name is spelled K for Karl Urban.

It was fairly obvious he was quipping when he spoke about Benedict Cumberbatch playing Gary Mitchell. I think that when Karl was saying this stuff, he might have been windsurfing off Waiheke Island. He posted a video of it and was clearly spouting nonsense, or that is how it seemed to me…I found it hard to take him seriously.

Benedict Cumberbatch could have been an excellent Gary Mitchell, btw.