One of the fanboy wet dreams for Star Trek XI is to have a single film with every single TV Trek Captain, something never done on big or small screen or even in book form. It appears JJ Abrams isn’t going to provide that wish fulfillment for the Trek’s return ot the big screen, but Bethesda Softworks is going to do it for Trek’s return to gaming this fall. Bethesda just announced:
Surrounding the 40th Anniversary of STAR TREK,
William Shatner, Patrick Stewart, Scott Bakula, Avery Brooks, and Kate Mulgrew to Reprise Captain Roles for STAR TREK: Legacy™
The Shat isn’t ready to give up Kirk yet
William Shatner spoke to Reuters on the state of the Trek franchise and the game’s possible impact:
The interest in ‘Star Trek’ has waned in the last couple years…It’s been around a long time, it’s a staple of American life and I think we need something new and different in ‘Star Trek.’…If it’s a good game, keeping true to the characters the best they can and having an interesting story that branches, I think a game can bring a freshness to a franchise like ‘Star Trek’
Although the Shat recently told the USA Today that he thinks Matt Damon ‘would be great’ for the role of Kirk in JJ Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek XI, it appears he has some mixed feelings about a new actor stepping into his old space boots, saying:
I couldn’t imagine someone else playing Captain Kirk, even in a video game, so I kind of got a little territorial.
Legacy is Trek’s big comeback for gaming
The history of Trek gaming (like the movies and TV series) has been a mixed bag at best. Until recently it appeared that Trek gaming was as dead as the movie and TV series after Activision sued to get out of its deal with Paramount. Although Bethesda has announced 3 Trek games (ST: Legacy, ST: Encounters, and ST: Tactical Assault), Legacy is the one that will most indicate if Trek gaming can live long and prosper. One can only hope that any possible game tied to Star Trek XI is better than previous Trek movie tie-ins.
Where’s Captain Sulu?
The bigggest ‘first’ for Legacy is the inclusion of what they call ‘all 5 Trek Captains’, but it appears they drew the line at ‘TV Captains’. So George Takei who appeared as ‘Captain Sulu’ in the 1991 film Star Trek VI didnt make the cut. This is also the first game to feature Star Trek: Enterprise and Scott Bakula. Legacy will be the second Trek game for both Mulgrew and Brooks. Shatner and Stewart have done many Trek games in the past, even working together on the (mediocre) game adaptation of Star Trek: Generations in 1997. This will be Stewart’s second appearence in a Bethesda game this year; he received top billing in their megahit ‘The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion’.
Old News?
This may not be a surprise to astute gamers who noticed that last week Bethesda added the line to the Legacy website:
The quintessential Trek Experience.
Legacy covers all 40 years of Trek, the first game ever to do this: The Original Series, Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise. Storyline by renowned Star Trek writer D.C. Fontana with her partner Derek Chester. Voiceover provided by all five captains.
While promoting the involvement of 2 named veteran Trek writers Behtesda ‘slipped in’ a mention of ‘All 5 Captains’, but didnt mention them by name on the site or in their official announcements. Before this morning’s announcement, Bethesda wouldn’t comment on who they had secured for voicework. Now it appears they haved pulled off quite the coup by getting all 5 captains.
And 2 years later… the game sucked, it died down, and has a barely alive modding community. They’re lucky they made it moddable.