Details Revealed On “Star Trek The Beginning”

After the failure of Star Trek Nemesis and Before JJ Abrams came along, there was a project in development at Paramount called “Star Trek The Beginning.” It was written by Band of Brothers producer/writer Erik Jendresen and was being shepherded through the system by producer Jordon Kerner (although Rick Berman was reportedly involved, he actually had very little to do with the project beyond being contractually attached to any Trek project at the time). The story covered the events of the Romulan War and was set shortly after Star Trek Enterprise, but without using the Enterprise cast. In 2005 the project stalled for a variety of reasons and then Abrams and his team came along and that was that. Now AICN has revealed details of the first draft of the script…CLICK HERE to read a Star Trek that never was.

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We are getting too exited. Transformers was a teen movie. Hope the writers get the Star Trek feeling. BTW, do you know where is the NEW animated series? Has it died?

Oh my god.. It has space nazis.

I don’t know if Jendresen has given any thought to turning his scripts into a trilogy of novels, but I bet they’d be an interesting read.

Some of the details of the film are a bit sketchy and WTF-inducing, but — in general — the concept seems pretty cool.

I don’t know if it would have worked, though.

THANK GOD Star Trek: The beginning was never made!

This sounds like it could have made an interesting film. The emphasis on a highly military tone would have been an unusual departure, but it demonstrates that there was a growing internal awareness at Paramount that a break from Bermaga-as-usual was necessary.

Dosnt sound that bad actually – then again with Berman involved I imagine it’d have the same ‘feel’ as TNG/DS9/Voyager/Ent….

Wonder who they would have got to direct? Ridley Scott? James Cameron? ok maybe not …..maybe Nick Meyer?

i seem to remember that AICN had details about it all a couple of years back before JJ etc….and it said there were to be 3 films in ‘The Beginning’ (like the SW prequels i guess) with the last one introducing us to ‘Ensign’ Kirk

It seems interesting but one of the first things I thought of for this was that Gene Roddenberry would have been on the phone to his lawyers right away after seeing this.

Sounds like some of the worst crap ever suggested under the “Trek” name. As skeptical (yet hopeful) as I am about the Abrams’ project, this “Beginning” would have been the end for Trek for many, many years.

#4

I wholeheartedly agree. Doesn’t sound like Star Trek AT ALL.

“And…oh, yeah! There’s that mammoth Romulan attack fleet approaching Earth using a trajectory which conceals it behind Earth’s moon.”

…because sensors only work in a line-of-sight manner and are only based in Gwinnett County, GA. And we all know the moon never moves. ??? WTF indeed.

I’m still reading, but it sounds sketchy so far. Would make a great action flick, but please don’t put the ST brand on it.

They got the date of the Romulan War wrong. It started in 2156 and lasted until 2160. Was the Romulan War only going to be one year?

Does anybody know the name of the project that Brent Spiner was involved in?

“Earth won’t surrender its Vulcan population (a defiance for which the Romulans were thoroughly unprepared”
…canon buster

“wreck havoc”
…yeah, I know — my spelling sukks, to

“Terran isolationists, who’ve fashioned a cult-like community in the Muhlig-Hoffman Mountains in Antarctica. They found a place once used by Nazis who escaped to the remote locale after World War II. There is Nazi tech around them – like prototype aircraft shaped like saucers.” — …which are just sitting around after two centuries all impressive and stuff, despite the fact they never worked in the first place

I would like to see the actual 121 page script. I’m more curious what level of skill it takes to get even as far as this guy did with Paramount.

Maybe there is a book or three here, but not a movie.

I had a chance to read both ‘prequel’ concepts, and despite a few fan-boy knee jerk reactions I read on AICN, both were quite good.

Star Trek: the Beginning was the most unique trek proposal. It read more like an action adventure movie, ending with a step towards the classic trek we all love. There were flaws (#10 hit it in the head), but ultimately is sounds like a good adventure.

Star Trek: Academy was the most maligned of the two prequel ideas, but the one I enjoyed the most. It gave life and depth to the origin stories behind our favorite characters. The one lame concept was Scotty and his collection of dilithium crystals, which of course would come in handy later on.

Awful, awful, awful. Would have been a Mega-Flop and killed off Trek for ever. Thank the Maker it got shit-canned.

i dunno, maybe would make a good novel or two. who knows, if ST 08 does well this could be like a sci-fi mini-series or somethin

Got to admit I like the Beginning idea, and would to see it turned into a movie or a series showing the Romulan wars. People remember this is the FIRST draft, no one can expect perfection at go one, some of it sounds lame and predicatable, but I realy think a good TV series or movie could come of it some day.

This doesn’t sound like a TERRIBLE idea (and it’s certainly better than some of the fanboy ideas I’ve heard), but I’m just not really interested in seeing a dark and gritty Trek war movie.

I want a Trek movie that’s fun and majestic and full of wonder, and hopefully that’s what Abrams has come up with…

Hm, fascinating. Nice find, Anthony!

The absolute coolest thing with the AICN link was the teaser for Star Trek-the new adult science fiction show airing on NBC. Never saw that before. How friggin’ cool is that?

Full marks for trying to write something different. Nil points for making it sound so terrible.

Its only an outline I know, but it sounds so ponderous.

I like it… Definitely a good read! Thanks for the article.

Man oh man.

That’s everything Star Trek isn’t. If you have to change it SO much that it doesn’t even resemble it’s namesake anymore, don’t even bother.

Based on the available description the story isn’t interesting enough to be successful as a non-Trek movie, and the Trek setting isn’t utilized in any way that makes it any more interesting as “Star Trek.”

Whoever said that the studio was probably just marking time with this until they could replace Berman probably has it right.

It does explain a few things – like why Humans a century later would still get all upset about the Romulan wars. If the fighting had taken place a years travel away (at Warp 5), then no more than a few ships could be destroyed – net loss approximatly 400 humans – and humanity would not have won the decisive victory necessary to pin the Romulans up behind the neutral zone.

This way, you get all of the damage everyone’s so grumpy about in the early days of the war and then a group of Humans, Andorians and Tellerites take the fight to the Romulans and do something or other to force them to agree to a treaty. Given the numerical superiority of Romulan forces, they probably use some good old-fashioned human cleverness coupled with a long string of techno-babble to disable the Romulan’s defences and then threaten to render the surface of Romulus uninhabitable.

The basic concept is quite good. The execution of it needed a lot of work. I agree with #3 and #16 – I’d consider reading this if it were a novel, and I can see it as a possible Sci-Fi Channel mini-series. It wouldn’t work as a feature film, though. The possibility of seeing James T. Kirk’s probable maternal grandparents is very intriguing, though.

That’s quite a dramatic story, could have been just the kick in the pants that Star Trek needed. I was glad when it was canned. Now I’m sad.

But nobody would have gone and seen it. Trek fans would have found it alienatingly non Trek and mainstream fans would have found it incomprehensibly locked into Trek-lore. Worst of both worlds.

Great God, this would gave easily become the best film of the franchise!

I cannot believe Paramount has given this promising concept up for something as boring as a TOS remake…. :O

Did you guys click the acin link….. cartoon spock looks exactly like quinto on that video

I had to LoL!

As much as I love TOS, remaking it just doesn’t seem as interesting as going off in a bold, new direction. This could have been it.

A militaristic Star Trek focusing on a hero associated with xenophobic paramilitarist roots? I resist being critical but they were wise not to go in that direction.

interesting first draft i would have liked to have read the entire screenplay
I hope its online someday along with the academy script if its out there

for #33-

Part of the Academy idea from ’88-’89

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/22789

seem familiar?

Anyhow “Star Trek the beginning” was interesting… Veerhoven meets Roddenberry meets Manny Coto. Perhaps, though too many visions in one movie.

All I can say is that Abrams better handle Trek better than he planned to handle Superman some years back:

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=13350

more poopey bad from the former regime

Fascinating. However, it sounds too close to Starship Troopers. Tiberius Chase could very well have been played by Casper Van Dien.
Although it sounds quite interesting at first glance, I sense a formulaic aspect to it that makes me say negatory.

I do love that the teaser calls it “the first adult space adventure.” I wonder if Roddenberry helped with that idea, while he was still probably smarting after pitching Trek to CBS and then use his ideas (badly) for “Lost In Space” instead.

Good Lord thank you for J.J. Abrams, if anything than just to have prevented that clump of stupidity from seeing the light of day. Not in any one part of that is it Science Fiction. That sounds like a Wing Commander video game. Star Trek is not about war.

Yeah, that clip from YouTube was pretty cool. I kinda liked this draft, but it needs some tweaking. One day I’m sure we’ll get a new series, and I wonder when it should take place?????

#28 :”But nobody would have gone and seen it. Trek fans would have found it alienatingly non Trek and mainstream fans would have found it incomprehensibly locked into Trek-lore.”

Beyond which, it’s not a story that – based on the synopsis – could stand on its own. There’s nothing clever about it, nor is it particularly engaging as war stories go. It does, in fact, seem to trade on the assumption that Trek fans are pretty naive about such things and will swallow anything if it’s tied into some bit of Trek lore.

The Earth Romulan war could have been interesting. But that script sounded like “GI Joe in Space”. I beg to remind all that Starship Troopers was in fact a comedy, black albeit, but a comedy.

The only way the ER war could be done effectively from a Star Trek perspective would be to cover the Romulan side of the conflict as well ie Balance of Terror. Juvenile Chuck Norris scripts written for contempoary teen audiences we dont need in this franchise.

Well, amazingly, I think that compared with this, Star Trek XI sounds like a great idea.

I think Star Trek: The Beginning would have been good as long as some of the bugs were gotten rid. For one thing, the militarism would have to have been toned down. Now, the movie is about a war so some militarism would be necessary but the first draft goes way, way overboard with it. Also, the draft seems to contradict canon in that there’s a warp 8 starship when in Enterprise’s last episode which took place in 2161 there was talk only of new warp 7 starships. Another thing is that in that same episode is the founding of the Coalition of Planets thus contradicting the first draft. One thing I did find intriguing, however, is the rebelling against a xenophobic family aspect of the Tiberius Chase story. I also think it would also be interesting to see in a movie how this fact about his ancestors would have helped to mold Captain Kirk if Star Trek: The Beginning is ever made. One last thing, I agree with #41 Prem that the Romulan side should be shown as well to give a more balanced and 3 dimensional feel to the movie. All in all, I hope that this is made into a tv miniseries, as long as the bugs are worked out.

42. Stanky McFibberich – October 31, 2007 – I agree with you. Although I still look forward to Trek 2008, like some have said maybe going back to the TOS era is not the best way to re-invigorate the franchise it may even limit the ability to tell new stories set before this time or in the TNG era, maybe The Beginning is a better way to show both the Romulan War and introduce our hero’s in a later movie, all be it with the militarism toned down a bit, but remember it was a first draft, maybe one day it will be made into a movie or series, I for one hope so.

Wow. That would of sucked. I’m glad Tiberius Chase and the United Earth Stellar Navy never happened.

Well, I think there’s a good story in there somewhere…I’m just not sure its a Star Trek story…

Good plot….but it felt like it would have been as bad as Nemesis.

I think it would have been a cool film. For a long time I’ve been wanting to see a War movie set in the Trek universe.

This would have been good, I think.

#42

You mean in terms of “the lesser of two evils”…?

Wow.

I’m undecided on the storyline, but… BERMAN agreed with this?

My whole idea of the man just changed. Also, the line “…I will still, and forever, wonder how one can go boldly and follow at the same time?” is a definite forum sig.