Last summer veteran Star Trek writer/director, and consulting producer on Star Trek: Discovery, Nicholas Meyer made news when he announced in an interview with TrekMovie that he was working on an undisclosed Star Trek project.
In that interview from last year about Star Trek II we briefly discussed Discovery when Meyer interjected with this tantalizing bit of info:
One thing that has nothing to do with Discovery is that I am working on another Star Trek project, but I can’t discuss that either.
Meyer’s secret project is for a CBS All Access trilogy
When pressed at the time, Meyer only obliquely hinted the project was for television and not feature films. Last night, he got more specific, speaking at an event about Star Trek and Shakespeare at UC Irvine, Meyer was asked about this other Star Trek project by a member of the audience, and he confirmed it was indeed a TV project.
TrekMovie has obtained a transcript of the exchange (courtesy of Hugo-nominated author Alvaro Zinos-Amaro who attended the event):
Question: A while back there were reports that you might be working on a Star Trek mini-series. Is there any truth to that? Are you allowed to say anything about that?
Nicholas Meyer: No, I can say something. I was hired to write a stand-alone Star Trek-related trilogy, which I can’t discuss or I’d have to kill you. And what’s happened is as I was I was writing it for CBS [All] Access … And at the moment CBS is at a war with Paramount/Viacom. Shari Redstone, who actually controls both companies, wants to re-merge them and they are in a power struggle, which turned really nasty this past week when CBS decided to sue Viacom.
So, I don’t think my project is going anywhere in a hurry. Because everything is being on hold, while they sort out this merger business. That’s my story, I’m sticking to it.
TrekMovie has also independently confirmed the transcript. However, CBS has not confirmed the existence of the project.
Meyer at UC Irvine Star Trek Shakespeare event (Photo: Julia Lupton)
What Khan can it be?
The CBS/Viacom merger talks have been a big topic all year, and as we have noted it would bring CBS and Paramount Pictures back together, reunifying all of Star Trek under one roof. This week hopes for a merger were dealt a major blow, as CBS launched a lawsuit to try to stop Shari Redstone from forcing a deal on terms CBS did not want.
Of course this isn’t stopping current plans the companies have, production of season two of Star Trek: Discovery is under way, and as we have been reporting, Paramount continues to move forward on not just one but two Star Trek feature film projects while merger discussions continue. So why would CBS hold up a new Trek TV series awaiting the outcome of those talks? One possible explanation could be that Meyer’s “stand-alone” trilogy involves characters or other story elements that are related to Paramount’s Star Trek feature films.
In a recent podcast interview, Star Trek: Discovery writer and executive story editor Bo Yeon Kim discussed how the writers on Discovery are limited in that they are not allowed to deal with characters and elements from the Star Trek feature films, saying:
Just because of the rights issue, we can’t use anything from the films, so that’s just something that we’re always aware of. ALL films, ’cause it’s a Paramount property, not CBS.
It has been rumored that the secret Meyer project is a prequel story to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, set on Ceti Alpha V. It would be a natural fit for him, as writer and director of Star Trek II and of course Khan is an iconic character. While the character of Khan was part of Star Trek: The Original Series which falls under CBS, other characters and elements of Khan’s story after the episode “Space Seed” were introduced in the motion picture The Wrath of Khan, which would fall under the purview of Paramount.
All that being said, Meyer first mentioned this project last year, well before the CBS and Viacom began discussing re-merging, so the nature of Meyer’s story may not be reason it awaits clarity on the CBS/Viacom situation.
Ceti Alpha V as seen in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Is CBS looking to add more Star Trek?
Even if this trilogy from Nicholas Meyer never sees the light of day, the revelation can still be significant. If CBS was open to commission Meyer to write this project, it could indicate they may be considering adding additional Star Trek content beyond Star Trek: Discovery. The launch of Discovery was a key element for the growth of CBS All Access, but executives for CBS have also talked about how important it is for there to be regular new original content to reduce churn.
The second season of Star Trek: Discovery is set to have 13 episodes, or around three months of content. Obviously CBS wants to keep fans subscribed all year. All Access has a number of additional original series lined up, including a reboot of The Twilight Zone and some other genre programming which could keep Trek fans interested, but nothing would interest them more than more Star Trek.
CBS may be looking for more original Star Trek content for All Access
TrekMovie will continue to monitor the story and provide any potential updates.
Thanks to Alvaro Zinos Amaro for providing us with the tip from the Meyer event. Amaro is the author of the Hugo-nominated book Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg.
If it is to be a Khan mini series please let it be about his raise and fall on Earth.
Absolutely, Meyer’s depiction of life on earth in the apocalyptic ’90s should be a real hoot. Can’t wait.
He already sorta did that movie. It was called The Day After.
For apocalyptically bad, look no further than Meyer’s VOLUNTEERS. Saw it on a triple bill for 99c and still felt ripped off.
As interesting as that sounds, I don’t think it would have any mass appeal.
There was a Eugenics War in the 90’s, and I missed it? Wait, I missed the DY-100’s, too?? Damn it, damn it, damn it…..
Phil,
Don’t be so hard on yourself. We all missed Wakanda too….
Wa-whata?? Damn it, damn it damn it….
Yes! This!
I’d guess their data shows that there are large numbers of people just like me who have zero interest in paying for the service if there isn’t a Trek series airing. If that’s the case, then they’d be nuts not to be considering more Trek shows. If I were them, I’d put enough into development so that something with “Star Trek” in the title was airing all year around.
Absolutely right. I signed up, binged Discovery, and dropped CBSAA after two weeks.
Except according to the financials, it’s actually just SMALL numbers of people like you.
I’d guess that you’d be very wrong. I’d rather pay to watch something commercial free than watch something for free and have 1/3 of the time spent turning down the volume on my TV because of obnoxious commercials.
Hell, Capt JWA, if I’m watching with someone who has a TV [not streaming], I hit the MUTE button. So much easier :^)
No Khan please. I don’t want Khan being seen as Star Trek’s version of the Joker, an adversairy to appear again and again. Star Trek is about discovery, not rehashing the same old “enemies”. While Khan worked well in Space Seed and was a great idea for a movie, his story is finished now. STID should have been proof enough that Khan is done. Give us something new and a hundred or so years in the future of what we have seen already instead.
Agreed.
Agreed!
Where do I sign?
Totally Wrong- 25th Century? are you kidding? It was hard enough to show a realistic future & keep it relatable in the 23rd Century, 24th was a stretch. keep to the 23rd Century, it’s a big universe.
Star Trek version of the 23rd century is realistic?
Nothing in tos was realistic from its gods and monsters to transporters, to faster than light travel, to communicators etc.
Discovery’s Instantaneous teleportation is realistic?
Or the 09 films with magic blood, red matter, super fast warp speed, to beaming on a moving ship traveling at wrap speed or on to an alien planet light years away, that’s realistic?
Isabella,
Suspension of disbelief works best when you’re limiting it to just a couple of things … and when you’re telling a good story — and doing it well. Just that second and third parts of that alone torpedo the Abrams films.
But about that first thing … when you accumulate these things that put you at a remove from what you’re watching, especially magic box tech where you get something for nothing, which is still the best simplification of replication as used in Trek storytelling I’ve heard, it’s very hard to hold any connection to now, REGARDLESS of what century you set the show. Personally I think end of cen23 is where Trek ought to live, because that is before you get into all that magic box tech and perfectability of man BS.
If you want to go to cent25, then show us the fall of the Fed and how it gets built back up again, the way ANDROMEDA was supposed to be if it had happened in the TREK universe instead of an alt-Hercules one. Not MORE tech, but more engaging stories about people making hard decisions and living with the consequences, often enduring personal loss while really demonstrating the kinds of ideals that make the concept of the UFP something that resonates instead of seeming like an impossible delusion. That means showing how there are always going to be the folks who favor scorched earth (and ‘verse) in order to make their own profit and niche, and how important it is to oppose those self-interests.
See, easy to make a good Trek. (now keeping it on the air is another thing altogether … )
What do you mean that the end of 23rd century is where Trek ought to live because that is before you get into all that magic box tech and pefectablity of man?
How is the 23rd century not filled with magic box tech?
From federation technology to alien technology including doorways that allowed you to travel into the past or other doorways that allowed you to travel both into the past and through space. To magic beings like gods or energy beings?
What episode of tos involved them actually running out of materials like food or medicine or fuel which was not just solved with a wave of the hand? Like in “Elaan of Troyius” when they ran out of fuel, what are the realistic chances that the necklace could be used for fuel? Slim to none. It’s not that much different from tng when they would just use the computer to solve their problem.
TOS was not the slighest bit more realistic than tng. In contrast TOS was less realistic, it was a show filled with actual magical beings.
How are humans any more perfect in the 24th century than they were in the 23rd century? Bar Picard who was portrayed as a paragon of virtue, as a super white hat. There were loads of flawed people in tng even in the first season when Roddenberry’s was more involved like “Too short a season”
What you described for a show in 25 century is not Star Trek. The federation is an impossible delusion as is the United Earth of Star Trek. It’s an idealistic tv show about utopia. Not a guidebook of how to get to utopia.
Keeping Star Trek on air is simple, make what people want. The two most people show by a wide wide margin are tos and tng, just make them again.
Well said!
I have no idea what 23rd century Trek they are watching. Especially today where both the Kelvin films and Discovery has tech far more advanced than what you saw in 24th century Trek.
I get so sick of hearing how more ‘realistic’ things were in 23rd century. As if transporters and warp drive wasnn’t considered pretty magical in itself at the time. We just had decades to be conditioned to the idea but it isn’t any less farsical than you see in any science fiction.
Most of stuff we see in Trek isn’t happening in 1,000 years much less 50 years (when warp drive is actually achived). So just have fun with it. That’s what I love about Trek, the possibility of it all.
And also good point about humans being less perfect in 24th century. Again what show were people watching? There were plenty of horrible humans in this century from causing genocide to to preemptive killings.
So you believe that if Star Trek goes 100 percent full fantasy with its science fiction people will not have the imagination to go with it? Most of Trek is already implausible, I think it could certainly work in a far far future setting. The only problem I can see with this is that it will start to hew much closer to Star Wars.
Actually Star Trek has always consulted with theoretical physicists and such to make sure what they portray on screen is at least plausible.
Take how they handle FTL travel. What they use is basically an Alcuebearrie Warp Drive. (I know I butchered his name.). Which is was theorized by the physicist of the same name. You don’t suffer from things like time dilation because the ship is actually moving slowly itself. That slow movement is inside of an area of expanding and contracting spacetime so cross superluminal distances.
We could in theory build one however we’d need roughly 9x the power output of the sun and/or a source of negative energy so it won’t happen anytime soon.
Same goes for teleporters. We know quantum teleportation works we’ve done it in a lab. Now you have to be willing to destroy the original atom by atom, and currently it would take over 600 years to teleport a tea cup but we can do it.
Yeah, Alcubierre. Fun part is: Miguel Alcubierre went on to study viability of the warp bubble not before Star Trek, but BECAUSE of Star Trek. :-)
So flying backwards around the sun to time travel is scientific plausible?
Or the doorway from city on the edge of tomorrow?
To point out a few examples.
Star Trek is totally unrealistic.
Isabella,
Re: flying backwards around the sun to time travel
No on screen evidence of that, and to be precise they were “warping” which even from the 1st pilot they established involved some time factor – presumably because time is one of the many dimensions of space being warped?.
Be that as it may, the sun rotates. In neither approach of the star they chose for time travel is this depicted as occurring on the Bounty’s screens or otherwise. There’s active eruptions on the star’s surface so time wasn’t frozen.
The only known way to approach a rotating body and have it appear to be stationary is to match its speed and direction of rotation. This means that in neither approach could they have been going “backwards” against our Sun’s rotation. The only explanation for why it appears as if a different approach was used in the second trajectory is that the ship itself must have been rotated 180 degrees from the orientation it had initially in the first approach. There being no “up” or “down” in space this would have had no bearing on the ship being able to achieve the desired same trajectory (On the second go Spock even says he’s trying to alter it so that’s as good an explanation for the ship flip as any.)
They flew around the sun to time travel, used the sun’s gravity to time travel.
Its even called the slingshot effect. They slingshotted around the sun to time travel.
It ain’t that different to Superman traveling backwards in time by flying super fast around the earth.
My point is tos was not realistic.
Isabella,
Re: They flew around the sun to time travel
Well, I do confess that since they can travel significantly close to the speed of light on impulse alone, it is a bit of a headscratcher as to why they feel that a slingshot trajectory aids the process of moving forward in time? But nothing about that would be unrealistic as in somehow such a trajectory could impede forward time travel.
As for time travel into the past, until such time as a theory of such makes a prediction that can be tested to confirm or deny it one way or the other, difficult to say what’s realistic or unrealistic in a story that begins with the premise that it is possible?
Because it’s fake, it’s a tv show not science.
Tos was not realistic.
Isabella,
Re: it’s a tv show not science.
You are confusing the adjective “realistic” with reality. And while it is most definitely science-“fiction”, of all the fictions it’s the only one that bothers with trying to be “scientific” which means its often more so than the others.
And with the popularity of denying science when it doesn’t confirm to the human mind’s biases in the majority of the planet’s billions of brains models of reality, I’m not sure the reality that you are conjuring up for most is any more realistic.
It must be really scary when these guys get an original idea… NO NO lets keep going back to what worked before , rather than forge ahead with original ideas…
Definitely. The best villains are the ones who’s backstory is left somewhat vague as it gives them an aura of mystery and allows the audience to use their own imagination in filling out their history.
When attempts are made to flesh the character out thru canon events, it inevitably suffers and loses some of its mystique. I’d argue Darth Vader is a good example of this.
Khan was a great character; he had two great appearances (sorry but STID is not one of them). Let’s leave it at that and go somewhere else.
Agreed. I would not tune in for any more of Khan’s story. That’s a done deal. Move on, create something new and compelling.
Khan seems to be more of a Darth Vader wanna-be. Still a really bad idea for the Trek creative team to keep returning to that well, though.
Thanks, now you have given me a mental image of a Young,whiny Khan riding pod racers :))
So CBS can’t use the likes of Carol Marcus,Savic,Sybock,General Chang etc.Yet Paramount can pull anybody from trek Canon?I still don’t get it.I thought CBS owns Trek.
It’s complicated.
CBS owns the tv rights to Star Trek.
Paramount owns the film rights.
So paramount owns the characters from the films.
CBS owns the tv characters.
Pike was a tv character and he showed up in Star Trek 2009 and Into Darkness so there must be some sort of flexibility.
I’d imagine they have to pay a licensing fee to use tos stuff.
Either that or like Batman 66 Star Trek rights are so complicated that no one actually knows who owns it. Hence since the split we have had nothing that actually looks like the original Star Trek.
CBS gets the characters from the TV shows. Paramount gets any characters that were created for the movies, then they have a license from CBS for the main characters from TOS and TNG since they were in feature films. CBS has a vast TV franchise open to them that Paramount does not.
Is this factual or conjectural, Matt?
Well only the lawyers know the exact terms, it’s a closely kept secret. So yes, it’s conjectural. It’s a best guess pieced together, both from chatting with a few folks who know more than the average fan and observing the behavior of CBS and Paramount.
Here’s a few sources:
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek_corporate_history
The last couple of paragraphs of this section also talk about the arrangements:
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Paramount_Pictures#Demise_of_.22The_Franchise.22_in_the_prime_universe
This is the infamous “JJ is pissed at being stuck answering to CBS so he killed further Kelvin-era merch” article:
https://www.thewrap.com/how-web-star-trek-rights-killed-jj-abrams-grand-ambitions-91766/
And in this forum post there’s a little bit about CBS ownership of all Trek, from Trek book author Christopher L. Bennet (so he’s in a position to know about the licensing issues more than the average fan):
https://www.trekbbs.com/threads/paramount-studios-struggling.279936/#post-11527786
The whole situation is awkward. While CBS basically calls the shots, and licenses the use of Trek back to Paramount, Paramount still physically owns the celluloid that the Trek movies were shot on. So they will always have ownership over the films, but then it seems to do anything with them outside of just holding on to them, they need to coordinate with CBS.
Yeah, it sounds about right.
What a mess.
@Walter — Paramount has a license from CBS to draw from canon, as well as to produce a Star Trek film at all. CBS owns the underlying rights to the characters in question as they are all derivative of the initial IP, but cannot use them in other productions without license from Paramount, and royalties paid, as they were created by and for Paramount, if however, under license from CBS (since the split).
Please No More KHAAANN! I KHAN’t take anymore. A Ceti Alpha V based show would be boring and non-Trek, and so not interested. Not really interested in his time on Earth either.
HAHAHAHA!!
Isn’t Meyer the one that had the idea for a Star Fleet Academy movie? I’d rather see something based on that or an new idea. If it’s related to STTWoK, then maybe Reliant, Terrell, and Chekov adventures, but post DS9/Voyager is really where they need to get to.
That was Harve Bennett actually.
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_First_Adventure
That’s the one, thanks!
Yeah, an Academy series or mini-series could be fun. It’s surprising Star Trek has yet to do that. Seems like an obvious choice. There’s so many storytelling possibilites with it. Plus it would be an easy introduction to the Trekverse for new fans.
A mini series with TNG/DS9/VOY characters would be interesting. It could set the stage for a new series.
There are any number of possibilities for Trek TV!
I guess this destroys any hope of Quinto appearing as Spock.
A spin off with Pike would be great, it seems like that may be the plan or the idea with an actor like Anson Mount. Maybe they are testing the waters. He seems like someone you would want for a long term thing, and especially since they came up with a with a gorgeous redesigned Enterprise. I think that the response was overwhelmingly positive at the Pike tease and the end of season one and the addition to season 2. If well done it could easily overshadow the discovery story so giving them a spin off would work for everyone!
I would watch that if done right.
Me, too, especially with a good actress as Number One!
@Corinthian7 — why? Unless Quinto has a clause in his contract specifically forbidding him from playing Spock for any other production, then there’s nothing preventing that.
This might not be a popular opinion but I never understood the appeal of Khan. He always seemed a cheesy, posturing, outdated idea of what a bad guy would be. Didn’t help he had a Middle Eastern name but was obviously Latino by appearance and accent. That just made him seem even more absurd.
No, I agree. His TOS episode is fine, nothing especially bad or good. Bringing him bad was a fun idea but I’ve never liked TWOK much (part of it was Khan, but also the whole David plot always seemed too out of character for Kirk in my opinion).
Really? I feel like Space Seed is an excellent episode, really compelling dialog between Kirk and Khan, just the ideas it espoused, all of it top-notch.
As a die hard fan of TWOK, I agree. I don’t think Khan himself was the appeal (though the faceoff between Ricardo and Shatner is fun). TWOK’s pleasures run so much deeper, and relate more to the nature of mortality, of the relationship between creation and destruction, life and death. Khan was just a great plot device in that context. But the legacy of that film for casual viewers seems to be that it was always about the villian, and the revenge narrative, etc.
I agree Khan was the main plot device in the film, I think you have to look at the underlying themes of the film to appreciate it more. Themes like friendship, getting old, losing a loved one, facing a trouble from the past. Khan was just the sauce on the top, you should taste what was below the surface of the film and then it becomes even better.
A low budget made for tv trilogy for all access. Would people have been content with that.
He directed two features before the budgets ballooned to 200 million dollars or more.
Would love to see more Trek written by Meyer. Too bad the writing staff of the travesty that is Discovery, didn’t keep him around.
Well, on the good side, we’re spared “Star Trek plays Shakespeare.” Or “Star Trek Quotes Moby-Dick.”
Not so fast. Trek has gone Shakespeare and Melville quite a few times outside of Meyer’s involvement, too. If you’re looking to avoid quotes from classic literature shoehorned into the story, this ain’t your franchise. ;-)
and what is exactly wrong with Shakespeare or Mellville?
So is a TV miniseries TV/streaming or movie? What’s the cut off? I mean, I’m pretty sure that’s the question. Boring one, but what else matters?
I hate to say it, but I lost some respect for Nick Meyer after he said that he regretted the scene in TUC where Spock extracts the information from Valeris, and that he basically wouldn’t have done it that way if he had it to do over again. That’s easily the most powerful scene in the movie, and if he’s lost the moral courage to stand by it, it’s hard to see it as anything but a bad sign with respect to his dramatic work going forward.
I didn’t know that but agree with you 100%.
When I got to meet Nick Meyer at Mission NY for the 50th I got to ask him about The Day After, and he says it’s the most important thing he ever did. I told him, gee, wouldn’t it be cool to do a Trek version of that idea, what it’s like to face an apocalypse of our own design, something like, oh I dunno, maybe CLIMATE CHANGE, i.e. today’s nuclear armageddon?! A large, complicated, intractable problem caused by human nature itself. I begged him to do something related to it, because young people like me are rightfully terrified of what it will do to us, and it is, as they say, the story of the century, which means it would make a perfect modern allegory. Whether he agreed with me on this point or not, I could easily see a Ceti Alpha based series directly confronting the theme of climate change — what happens when your planet gets decimated and you’re forced to survive an inhospitable world? That’s something we all need to be thinking about.
Agree that The Day After was important, politically in shifting the perspective of the US administration… but it’s not a patch on the UK equivalent, Threads.
Threads was, and remains, the most gut wrenchingly intense and bleak movies I’ve ever seen.
I recommend it highly!
I think THE DAY AFTER here should have been overshadowed by SPECIAL BULLETIN, another TV movie dealing with the nuke threat (dif was that BULLETIN didn’t really show much aftermath) that I found brilliant and compelling.
What WAS cool about AFTER was that when the film concluded, ABC had a 45 minute talk-about with politicians about nukes that was genuinely interesting and frightening, far more so than the film itself. I really truly think they needed to spend the money to make THE DAY AFTER unwatchably horrific in order to get the message across instead of just hinting at it — especially at that point in history with Reagan in the House, which was far scarier to me than even anything going on right now, except maybe the recent changes in court appointees, which we’ll all be living (or dying) with for our lifespans.
We had something very similar here in the UK around 1984-85, when I was young teen and it scared the living cr*p out of me. The BBC screened its infamous banned 1965 movie The War Game, along with the factual documentary QED, which examined the effects of heat and blast on everyday folk..
This was followed by the premier of Threads, from the recently-late Kes screenwriter Barry Hines. So, I was 13 when I saw Threads – it was burned into my mind then and when I’ve watched it recently it still manages to have me choked with tears. The full movie is on YouTube.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Game
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads
Would Benedict Cumberbatch even agree to this?
..discovery can ironically count its blessings that the war between cbs and paramount is happening thus nick’s project is on hold because his was about to be green-lighted to take discovery’s place. I’m thinking it’s the anthology type series set passed picard time with a fresh start, not go prequel or backwards yet again, as was originally rumored before they decided to do discovery and disappoint a lot of us.
But what does Simon Pegg think ?
Seems doubtful that they would develop a “trilogy” all taking place on Ceti Alpha. Whatever Mr. Meyer is working on, it can’t come soon enough. There is real danger of the soul of Star Trek being snuffed out, what with the mediocrity of Abrams Trek and the abominations of Kurtzman Trek (the woke aspect is fine, it’s the rest that is the problem- you know, the TV show part).
Cannot believe still no-one has asked him about the status of his ST2+ST6 4K UHD’s which he supervised & they were ready well over a year ago. Paramount are still releasing a lot of catalog UHD’s so they are not on hold at all!
Was it ever confirmed that ST6 received a fresh transfer at the same time 2 was done? I recall Nick mentioned he did “something” for a release of 6 in Japan!
Nick confirmed on his own Facebook he supervised the new release for Japan which was the same time he also did the UHD HDR pass for ST2. Both are ready to press to disc just needs someone in the industry to pester Paramount they are happily releasing lots of other old catalog release for 4K disc right now!
It’s not up to Nick, so asking him doesn’t really do anything. It’s up to Paramount and their Home Entertainment unit. The current trend for catalog releases is waiting until a sequel to a property is about to come out, and then releasing new home video versions shortly before the new theatrical film hits theaters.
Paramount is doing this for Mission Impossible. The entire MI film catalog will be released in new 4k UHD BD versions a few weeks before the new movie comes out in July.
As you said, TWOK was freshly scanned and cleaned up in 2016, and is ready to be released at UHD with HDR.
But of course there are six TOS movies, and only one is confirmed as 4k ready. The TUC thing is uncertain. The rest only have sad old HD transfers from the early-2000s.
Paramount hasn’t been willing to spend extra money in the last few years due to their financial situation. They’re only now turning things around. So if they finally have leadership that sees value in the back catalog of Trek, they might move on to restoring the others.
Unless I missed something more, the TUC project wasn’t made clear what it was. When he mentioned something about TUC last year to us in an interview, we went looking for the release he was talking about and couldn’t find it. It may not have been released yet. My hunch is it was simply a regional distributor doing some kind of new Blu-ray edition for double-dipping sake. For example, it’s not uncommon for a UK distributor to strike a different transfer of a catalog title from the main US version that’s distributed directly by the studio.
Here’s the quote from our interview where he mentioned the Japanese edition of TUC:
https://trekmovie.com/2017/05/30/interview-nicholas-meyer-on-why-star-trek-the-wrath-of-khan-endures-after-35-years/
What about Pike? He’s in both, Feature films of Paramount and Serie of CBS. Therefore IT is possible. I guess it’s – like always – just a manner of money, to make Things happen.
Suggested titles for a Khan trilogy:
The Rise of Khan.
The Reign of Khan.
The Ruin of Khan.
Why not ‘the vengeance of Khan’ – at least that one made it onto coming attractions posters.
They should definitely consider a prequel about Khan and the Eugenics Wars. Not sure how they could explain the fact that this stuff obviously didn’t happen in the 1990s, unless they went for Greg Cox’s excellent version. But I guess it could be hinted that there was some unexplained post-DS9 meddling (probably Section 31) involving time-travel that caused the creation of Khan, his fellow strongmen, and the Eugenics Wars to all happen decades later — merging with World War Three — but everything else played out exactly as before, including Space Seed and TWOK. Nothing changed except for the years mentioned.
There are ways to put an interesting spin on the Eugenics Wars/World War Three too. Think about it: In Trek canon, Earth’s unity doesn’t happen without WW3. The Federation itself doesn’t exist unless all of that has happened. Section 31’s priority is the existence and continued survival of the Federation, although it actually pre-dates the Federation’s foundation (so you could hint at global “deep state” origins, the “men in black” etc). So you could show that Section 31 either deliberately lets WW3 happen — including hundreds of millions of deaths — or they actually play a shadowy part in triggering/escalating it.
Khan somehow finds out about this, and decides to seize power for complicated reasons: He agrees that “bringing order” is the way to global peace and unity, but opposes the idea of a worldwide conflict to achieve it, especially one involving so many civilian deaths. Section 31 and its 21st century predecessors back Khan’s adversaries — you could introduce Colonel Green as Khan’s main geopolitical rival, for example — and events then play out as before (again merging the Eugenics Wars and WW3), culminating in the other tyrants declaring war against Khan, Earth tears itself apart, Khan becomes increasingly autocratic in an effort to maintain local stability while fighting back against a conspiracy from the future, Section 31 deliberately betray Green who is then overthrown and put on trial, Khan flees on the Botany Bay etc.
So there are interesting shades of grey on both sides: Khan trying to protect the present, prevent huge numbers of deaths (ultimately he fails), but aiming for world supremacy in order to enforce global peace under his rule; Section 31 and its predecessors deliberately trying (and ultimately succeeding) to create a massive global conflict in order to protect the future. And it would further explain Khan in Space Seed: Someone who is still the “honourable tyrant” that Kirk admired, but who also had valid reasons for paranoia about Starfleet and the Federation. You have elements of Yesterday’s Enterprise, TOS’s City on the Edge of Forever, VOY’s Timeless, plus conspiratorial Bourne stuff, a global war, conflicted audience sympathies, and complex moral dilemmas.
Get Hrithik Roshan to play Khan, Priyanka Chopra to play the ill-fated Mrs Khan, and there’s your show.
While I would follow this guy anywhere… I would REALLY like both Trek and Wars to break out of their temporal feedback loops. We’re getting better special effects, editing, production values, etc… to tell the SAME stories. PLEASE move forward with NEW stories.
I agree, I want this too, but unfortunately this doesn’t make money. Something unknown is too much of a risk for the pencil pushers and money guys. As a result everyone is content with taking the easy way out. I mean we still don’t have a show fully from the perspective of another species. Wouldn’t it be interesting to get the humans completely out of the picture of just make them small time guys and focus on one of the numerous alien species on Trek. Again, it will probably never happen because of too much risk.
Seems to me we’re going to be stuck in Prequel-Land for the forseeable future.
Khan is boring. Hopefully it will be about something else.
Why not something with new characters? To boldly go, etc.
Amen to that, Fabio.
For all the potential depth there is in the Trek universe, we’re stepping into the creative void with yet more Khan? At least Enterprise managed to flesh out the Andorians a bit…
Please no more prequels. Reboots or reimaginings. Please continue the legacy of 50 years of the rich Trek tapestry and look forward People who think ‘tech got too advanced’ to tell good stories post-Nemesis are misguided. It’s science fiction, it’s made-up, good writers find stories to tell. Stop urinating on the efforts of talented people in the past and take Trek forward!
I don’t buy the “tech gets too advanced” excuse either. There are plenty of ways to write around this:
The federation is crippled after a war or disease and everyone using a hodgepodge of old technology.
The federation has decided not to implent vastly new technology as they feel it is against their aims (like the cloaking device) and would lose the “human” aspect of exploration and first contact.
New technology requires rarer and rarer resources. When the main crew encounters ships with new technology they have to use their cunning to outsmart them (brains over brawn).
Or just don’t write anything in that will make too drastic a difference. People can suspend their expectations in technological advancement for the sake of good stories. I would happily see all holodecks ignored in future series to avoid anymore “holodeck gone wrong” plots, even if it is more believable that in 100 years every crew member now has a personal holodeck in their wardrobe.
I hope Meyers gets Tim Heidecker to play Khan.
I did not there is a “Star Trek” movie/mini-series trilogy that would serve as an interquel between “The Motion Picture” and “The Wrath of Khan.” I was hoping for the next “Star Trek” show after “Discovery” to be a post-“Nemesis” one that would air on either CBS or The CW.
I’m not interested in a Star Trek show without Starfleet.
I’d be SO interested in a Trek show minus Starfleet. It’s pretty much what I’ve envisioned ever since coming out of ST 3 in 84 and deciding that if the followup films were going to work for me, that the crew would need to stay renegade and serve out their golden years in space free from Federation oversight.
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Matt Wright,
If you note how Meyer carefully constructed this reply:
“So, I don’t think my project is going anywhere in a hurry. Because everything is being on hold, while they sort out this merger business. That’s my story, I’m sticking to it.” — Nicholas Meyer
He’s not saying he “knows” his project is on hold but is speculating that it isn’t going anywhere “Because everything [STAR TREK] is being on hold, while they sort out this merger business.”
Has TrekMovie’s other sources been able to confirm his speculation in regards to other Trek intellectual property developments such as film production, books, comics, etc. that are likewise not going anywhere fast while they sort out this merger?
I guess Paramount realizes that with everyone writing their own version of star Trek ruins the canon for the movies. Just look at Star Wars. The fans want the original version. Not a reboot of other timelines.