Earlier this week, we shared the exclusive news about writer/director Nicholas Meyer’s pitch for a new Star Trek movie at Paramount Pictures. But his extended TrekMovie interview included an update on another Star Trek project he has been hoping to get going: the Ceti Alpha V television mini-series, which he believes is not dormant.
Ceti Alpha V may be too mini for Paramount+
Decades after acclaim for his work on Star Trek II, Star Trek IV, and Star Trek VI, in 2016 Nicholas Meyer was brought on as a consulting producer for the first season of Star Trek: Discovery, and in a 2017 TrekMovie.com interview he first revealed that he was also working on a separate Trek project. This turned out to be a 3-part mini-series titled Ceti Alpha V, which would tell the story of Khan Noonien Singh in exile before the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
In the last few years, Meyer has periodically spoken about the Ceti Alpha V project, confirming he completed a script for all three parts but the project had been put on hold. Meyer suggested one issue for the hold was related to the splitting of rights between the Trek films and TV shows, and would be resolved by the re-merger of Viacom and CBS, which was completed in late 2019.
Now in his new TrekMovie.com interview, Meyer can’t say for certain why the project hasn’t moved forward at the remerged ViacomCBS, but he believes in part it has to do with how streaming has changed things:
Well, I don’t consider it dormant because I think it’s it’s a terrific project. I think what happened, or up to a point what happened, was that the business model for streaming was changing really fast. And what was originally commissioned as a three-hour or three-night event, by the time I finished writing it, three hours was not enough. They wanted longer stuff. And somewhere between those two imperatives, the thing sort of fell between two stools. And I still don’t know why they’re not doing it, even if it’s to say, ‘give us ten episodes instead of three or whatever.’ I don’t know why.
It is certainly the case that executives from CBS as well as Alex Kurtzman, the executive producer in charge of the Star Trek Universe, used to talk about limited series being part of the mix of their streaming plans for Star Trek. In fact, when Star Trek: Picard was initially announced, it was reported to be a limited series (or a “10-part movie”).
Meyer revealed to TrekMovie that it was Alex Kurtzman who originally proposed the idea of the Khan miniseries:
The whole idea of it was Alex’s idea. He came to me and said, ‘What do you think about this?,’ and I was over the moon about it. I just thought it was such a great idea. And couldn’t wait to do it.
In the years following Meyer writing the Ceti Alpha V script, Kurtzman and CBS have moved away from talking about limited Trek series, and by late 2018 Kurtzman confirmed with TrekMovie they were planning for Star Trek: Picard to be an ongoing series. Even though CBS All Access did recently air a 9-part mini-series based on Stephen King’s The Stand, the plans for Star Trek as outlined last month by Kurtzman and Paramount+ executives focused on ongoing series.
Nicholas Meyer on Star Trek II set with the original Khan (Ricardo Montalban)
Meyer’s Gilligan paradox
When asked by TrekMovie if he believes the Ceti Alpha V project could be expanded beyond his 3-episode plan and possibly turned into an ongoing series, Meyer was skeptical:
Well, that may be a defect of imagination on my part. I think if it went on and on and on about Khan and Ceti Alpha V it risks becoming a kind of Gilligan’s Island. Which I think is a wrong idea… It was commissioned as a three-hour thing and there were certain parameters that were put down, to which I adhered. And they’re all fungible.
The dilemma appears to be about finding a way to spread costs and maximize revenue by extending beyond just three episodes, while still making the story work without repeating itself. A longer series would also have to fit with Star Trek canon, which established the genetically enhanced crew of the Botany Bay remained in exile and the Federation was unaware of the explosion of Ceti Alpha VI.
Of course, there could also be other reasons why Kurtzman and Paramount+ have chosen not to move forward—at least not yet—with this project. While Meyer still feels strongly that the Ceti Alpha V project is a good idea, he confirmed that he still has not heard anything about the status of it.
Khan and his followers on Ceti Alpha V, from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Listen to excerpts from the interview
This week, the All Access Star Trek podcast discussed featured clips from Meyer’s interview. Listen to the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
More to come from Meyer
There is much more to come from TrekMovie’s chat with Nick Meyer, including a discussion about the new audiobook release of his memoir The View from the Bridge, his reflections on his time with Star Trek, and more.
Find more news and analysis on upcoming Star Trek feature films.
Not happening and I can’t say that I feel like we’re missing much. However I do hope that we get a Nicholas Meyer helmed, written, or otherwise sanctioned, project moving into production someday. I was disappointed that he ended up not actually being a part of Discovery. The early seasons could have really used more of him.
On the one hand I think it’s stupid to expect every (mini)-series to go at least 10 hours. Lots of screentime is wasted in most serialized projects, turning them into a drag and not accessible for repeated viewing.
On the other hand, this project is far too interesting to be left alone. I think it would be easy to turn this into a 10+ hour-project without turning it into Gilligan’s Island.
If anything, it should be “Lost” in space… Those flashbacks are the key! It would be even more important to get an impression of Khan’s rule on Earth in those flashbacks than the actual exil on Ceti Alpha.
Whatever they do with this. If it’s ever done, please cast Zahn MacClarnon as Khan… ZAHHHN!
Hmmm never seen him act but Zahn MacClarnon fits the bill appearance wise.
I’m glad Meyer is excited about this and I hope it eventually gets filmed and released. With him at the helm, it could be something special.
But to be honest, I don’t feel like the premise itself is anything to write home about at all.
I’m kind of with you on that I think if they really have to do Khan then the Eugenics Wars seems to be the more interesting aspect of his life. That being said it would be great to see a Meyer Trek project again a 3-4 hour mini about Cetin Alpha V could still be interesting.
Why not both? A “Lost” style series with the present story taking place on Ceti Alpha V and the Flashbacks going back to the Eugenics Wars… It’s a very popular format these days…
You’re the first person to sell me on a Khan series Garth. Well done.
Except that “Lost” ended very, very poorly.
I can live with the ending, Lost isn’t the first and it certainly won’t be the last hugely popular show to underwhelm at the final hurdle.
…which, of course, has no bearing at all on this discussion since this isn’t Lost.
Except it does, because at least one of the folks who would be overseeing this is a longtime Abrams collaborator and likely puzzle-box acolyte or aficionado. If you’re used to building foundations out of a deck of cards, and manage to get out of the houses before they fall in on you, there’s a certain mindset … let’s call it ‘current Republicanism’ … that says keep doing what works, even if it didn’t really work, except to make you money.
That’s an alright idea, I’d give it a chance.
It would be very tough to do a Eugenics Wars series as that war was in the 1990s. And while they could certainly fictionalize that time period, I don’t think a Trek series set in 1995 is really that appealing… unless it’s about a 24th century crew visiting that time period, and then it’s not really a Khan show, is it?
Ugh, please move on to something new! We don’t need to regurgitate the past over and over again, especially with a character we pretty much know everything about already.
Of all the ideas that we’ve heard this is absolutely the LEAST interesting to me.
I’ve been brought around to cautious enthusiasm about a vehicle for Michelle Yeoh’s Georgiou, but this one is really hashing over ground that is only compelling to a subniche of long-time fans (and not all of us).
And it’s khan stuck on a planet with nowhere to go.
The franchise is called “Star Trek”. It treks though stars. It’s kinda the brand.
Three episodes of the Khan augments getting picked off by earwigs with attitude. I’m in….
Hahahahahaha!!
This is exactly why we won’t see Trek TV movies on Plus, only in theaters. Not enough bang for the streaming buck, they can’t even weasel out two months of fees out of the subscribe and dump crowd. I seriously doubt we’ll ever see mini series of less than 6 episodes, but remain hopeful that’s a sweet spot for something like more niche like a DS9 or Enterprise revisit.
It’d be absolutely BRILLIANT to do a 10-episode campy 1960s “Gilligan’s Island” series with this idea. “Khan’s Planet” and they almost escape in every episode until one of the genetic supermen bungles it.
That would really reach, man!
A shorter form of storytelling limited to a few hours, eh? We used to call those things “movies.” And some of them were talkies. It was neat.
Ok. You just got a good laugh out of me. thanks for that! I completely agree. I prefer limited series to have each episode be a good 80-90 minutes each so it doesn’t feel like it’s just a chopped-up movie or truncated tv show. The BBC Sherlock for example. This? I can see why they’re not bothering.
Nick Meyer has made three very solid Trek films and yet there seems to be a decided lukewarm reponse to a story for which he has alot of enthusiasm. It is a shame as his track record suggests he could produce something memorable.
What’s his track record in the last twenty years though?
Oh for two decades. And TUC really hasn’t aged well.
Don’t worry TUC has aged just fine for many of us.
It’s my least favorite Star Trek movie by a considerable margin.
I think you are in the minority. I’m going by the general consensus that 2,4,6, and 8 are home runs and the rest are less so.
6 Brilliant film, we are very lucky to have it.
And now wonderful to see Chris Plummer put in a fantastic performance
I understand. And hey, if you love VI, that’s great. I used to love it, too. But it’s got Kirk being a bigot, which is antithetical to everything I love about Kirk, so no can do for me.
Kirk realized his shortcomings at the end of the movie and changed for the better.
Let me see if I understand why that’s being pitched as a virtue for the movie. Its writers decided to turn Kirk into a racist — not a guy who has a problem with a specific Klingon, like he does in III, mind you, but an actual across-the-board racist — and then let him repent. It was so invested in the notion of a redemption arc for Kirk that it had to first break him in order to provide an arc that could allow him to be redeemed? In other words, it needed redemption for a thing Kirk had never actually been guilty of? That’s what we’re holding up as a virtue for this movie?
I’ll pass, thanks.
Yeah, but I thought Kirk became much more intolerant towards the klingons after they killed his son in Star Trek 3. I always thought his attitude and bigotry in Star Trek 6 was as a result of this.
It’s possible to look at it that way, certainly. But let’s ask two questions about that.
First, does the evidence actually support it? Is Kirk raging against Klingons in IV or V? Does he seem like a guy who is nursing a worldview-altering grudge — not against Klingons, per se, but just in general — during those movies? It’s a no from me.
Second, let’s say that he is. Is that consistent with who we know Kirk to be from the movies and tv shows that came before? Again, it’s a no from me.
Add on to that the fact that others on the crew seem suddenly to be fully anti-Klingon bigots, and it seems to me like a case of a guy having miswritten the characters. It’s a very well-made movie, and it has great entertainment value; I just can’t get past these core issues.
I agree with you on this odd turn to extreme Klingon bigotry, and ramped up to the level that it was artificially induced in DAY OF THE DOVE. How could people who went through DOTD ever let whatever bits of bigotry they have in FINAL FRONTIER get to that level in TUC? And for that matter, where was that level in FF, where they had Klingons attending a peace conference too?
I got to agree that 6 has aged the least well of TOS movies. What’s weird is how TMP seems to have aged the least, even though it is the oldest.
I agree, TMP has somehow managed to age very gracefully. It’s my favorite of the movies; it’s some of my favorite Trek of all, actually.
And to be clear, I also adore both Wrath of Khan and The Voyage Home. So I’m by no means totally anti Nicholas Meyer. He’s two for three in my book, and that’s pretty dang good.
I feel the same way. One thing that may have been working against TMP in the decades after, is it was obviously visually and sonicly composed as a Wise movie spectacular.
It has never translated well down to the limitations of the various small screens, as did his THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL which is not to say TDTESS isn’t, itself, something to be beheld on the big screen in its own right.
I suspect, for whatever practical or studio reasons, this was what he ended up trying to address in his TMP Director’s Cut DVD. And, on the limited small screens, I find that version easier to enjoy. But, I still prefer the original on its intended big screen.
About the only thing I could further wish for Paramount’s future presentation of TMP, is they hire an Indiana Jones of film archivists to somehow find/dig up the elements they let slip through their fingers to do a proper restoration before I die.
We can hope!
Died in corporate restructuring and doesn’t fit the current model. Multiple seasons mean more bang for their buck, and justifies the heavy start up investments.
The Stand is an exception because Steven King’s name carries weight.
And The Stand was so bad that I don’t think that will encourage that model.
Stephen King’s carries even more. And that version of “The Stand” suuuuuucked.
I hope someday CBS’s The Stand gets the Blade Runner or Justice League treatment. There were some good ideas in this version, but overall it just reeks of corporate meddling because of fears of a COVID backlash.
Exactly. The decision to not follow the linear storyline was just dumbass — it kind of defeats the whole dramatic effect of the plotlines.
Was that not one of the absolute worst decisions you’ve ever seen made on an adaptation? From interviews with the producers, I gather that their intent was to try to distinguish this version from the one made in 1994. Which is cutting off your nose to … avoid spiting your face, I guess? Just a disaster of a decision.
I understand why you’d think that, but production on it was almost entirely finished before COVID-19 even existed. So I don’t think most of the decisions regarding the actual content had anything to do with that.
Netflix was very successful recently with The Queen’s Gambit and previously with Godless, though. A miniseries of six to eight episodes can certainly work if it is done right.
Great guy, but this rings like a last gasp career thing like the Captain Sulu proposed project.
I agree. No idea way fans are so obsessed with Khan and Nick Meyer. The dude’s done enough, we all thank him and are grateful for his contribution. Let someone else have a go at it now.
If they want to revisit Khan, I think they should get Meyer and Greg Cox in a room to hash out a treatment for The Eugenics Wars. That resulting miniseries or movie would actually be a lot more like Meyer’s The Day After than Wrath of Khan.
So, an alternate reality ofsomething that happened in the 1990’s? Genetic engineering, that Spock spoke of with some level of disgust? Which also happens to be a growing field of research a couple of decades into the 21st century, without having created the Master Race just yet?
Unfortunately, allowing others to have a go at it has proven to fail countless times. You’ve heard the saying “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. Well, its broke and bringing Nick Myer on board could potentially be beneficial.
They are having a go. And it’s mostly bad.
I can’t imagine an interesting story there. They’re stranded on this planet, with no other people to interact with, and we know how it all ends. Maybe there could be some interpersonal drama, but it’s hard to root for these characters, knowing that they’re all war criminals (well, except for Khan’s wife). But it would be nice to get some cool surprise.
I’ll take a stab at that. Uh, a Klingon ship crash lands on Ceti Alpha V, and drama ensues.
Oh, and it’s like a Flight of the Phoenix situation, with our Klingon heroes trying to get their Bird of Prey to fly again while fending off attacks from Khan and his people.
So the point of “Space Seed” was for them to be marooned and not have contact with anyone else, and your solution of how to write a story set in the years between that and WoK is to immediately put them in contact with someone else? Terrible idea.
Of course, that was just a pitched idea on a comment board. Some wrinkles would have to be ironed out, like any other idea.
But yes, putting Khan and his people in brief contact with someone whose language and culture they don’t understand, other than the violent part. And failing to make peace with the Klingons and ultimately seeing the sight of a ship taking off could make their being marooned all the more agonizing.
Sort of like what you’re doing here. Instead of using these boards for amiable conversations with fellow fans and possibly making new friends, like real life friends you can have a beer with some day when you’re old enough, you’ve chosen to be yet another internet jerk.
Goodbye and good luck.
Apologies. Evidence of genuinely terrible ideas tends to turn me into a jerk, it is true. Good luck right back atcha!
I like it, if the Klingons or third party don’t succeed, Kahn is unleashed on the universe too early! This gives you the opportunity to combine the tragedy of Kahn with something new.
Alternative concept – take Kahn out of the equation, set it with a Federation prison starship that ends up lost in space and crashes on a Ceti Alpha V type world.
To be fair, they can space it out with flashbacks to his rule. They could do some rise and fall contrast.
Think about it. We have never gotten na explanation of how Khan got his hands on movie era Starfleet belt buckle. Or how he and his people are seemingly so adept at using the Reliant – Khan studied Enterprise, but that was decades earlier technology. Perhaps Starfleet officers did visit Ceti Alpha V before Reliant but didn’t live long enough to tell the story? Also – you have a tragic zombie apocalypse story thrown into the mix courtesy the eel creature.
Knowing the outcome doesn’t necesarily invalidate the point of telling a story. The journey might still be fascinating.
Re: Khan studied Enterprise
And he was a quick study too. Unless, your point is his age and harsh existence should significantly slow down his study of Reliant? But wouldn’t the fact that he has numerous younger members in his crew negate any problems introduced by his slowing down?
They should just keep it at 3 hours, or expand it to 4 hours. No need to go beyond that. I have no doubt that they could reuse the Botany Bay sets for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds with some simple redressing, so they would get their dollar’s worth out of it.
The one thing that this project has going for it, that Star Trek has never really done before, is that it would essentially be a “disaster film” set on another world. An M-Class planet being turned into a living hell. Star Trek 6 teased at this a little, but we never saw the aftermath on Praxis. If they gave this project an actual budget, it could be Star Trek’s version of “Deep Impact” or “Meteor”. It’s an end-of-days tale, with only a few of Khan’s crew surviving. Seeing something like the Botany Bay try to leave the planet, but then come crashing back down, could be epic.
Praxis was a moon with an energy production facility, not an M-Class planet. (I think.)
I was referring to the Klingon homeworld, which is an M-Class planet. The moon’s explosion caused a powerful subspace shock wave and deadly pollution of Qo’noS’ ozone, threatening the depletion of the oxygen in that planet’s atmosphere within approximately fifty years.
Trek has also never really done the colonization part either outside some TOS episodes showing some far off mining colonies off on their own. Back then it was due to budget constraints I believe, but now…
I think if the most exciting elements are the script are the colonization/disaster aspects consider taking Kahn out of the equation and have it where a civilian ship or a prison ship ends up being pulled into a wormhole and crashing far from Federation Space. Then you can do Space Seed open ended and unleash your new civilization on the galaxy (whatever galaxy you end up in).
Yeah, what’s the hold up?? After Solo became the most successful Star Wars movie ever, the public has been clamoring for the Khan origon story…
Oh, wait. We aren’t.
Ceti Alpha V wouldn’t really be an origin story. For that, they’d have to do something along the lines of Greg Cox’s “Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan” books.
That could be an interesting miniseries project for Paramount+. It would be alternate history, but we’ve seen that recently in “Man in the High Castle” and “For All Mankind”. It just wouldn’t look very much like Star Trek.
There is another solution to this. I’ve suggested some of the following on Trekmovie before a couple of times, but here are more details:
+ Move Khan’s birth and the eventual Eugenics Wars forward to the 21st century. Specifically, merge the Eugenics Wars with World War 3 (as described in Trek canon).
+ Explain the changes by showing (or strongly hinting) on-screen that Section 31 in the early 25th century (PIC-era) used time-travel to tamper with the 21st century timeline in an effort to pre-emptively “toughen up” the Federation, possibly in reaction to the Borg invasion or the devastating Dominion War.
+ Remember that a united Earth and the Federation can’t exist unless World War 3 happens first. So Section 31 would believe they’re “doing the wrong things for the right reasons”. You could even hint that they’ve been inciting some major political problems/military conflicts on Earth during the past 20 years, for example.
+ World War 3 plays out as before, except the main antagonists are the genetically-augmented tyrants, Section 31 are in the shadows deliberately fanning the flames in the decades leading up to the conflict and especially during the global war itself, and the main villain is Colonel Green.
+ At some point, Khan realises what’s really going on, either because he becomes aware of Section 31’s existance after they (unsuccessfully) try to manipulate him too or because he simply notices the patterns and correctly figures things out.
+ Khan is horrified at the notion of people from the future deliberately trying to incite a global nuclear war that will kill tens (hundreds?) of millions. However, Khan being Khan, he does exploit the situation by pushing forward his own agenda for global unity under his rule, even while he’s simultaneously trying to pre-emptively stop a nuclear conflagration. Bottom line: He agrees that a peaceful united Earth is the way forward — he just thinks it should be “peaceful and united” under *him*, preferably in a way that hasn’t killed huge numbers of people around the world beforehand.
+ So you have an interesting moral dilemma involving the future Federation versus Khan. Who does the audience side with? Characters from our “utopian” Federation deliberately poisoning 21st century events because they already know there will (eventually) be light at the end of the tunnel? Or the 21st century character trying to fight against this but also exploiting the situation due to his own ambitions?
(More details)
+ Khan is eventually overthrown (as are the other genetically-augmented tyrants, plus Colonel Green) and escapes on the Botany Bay, but it may-or-may-not be a result of further Section 31 meddling. Remember that the specific reasons for Khan being overthrown have never been explained in Trek canon. Why would the general population want to remove Khan as a ruler, given that he’s described as effectively a “benevolent autocrat” who was markedly different to the other global tyrants in the worldwide chaos and carnage of the Eugenics Wars, he never attacked anyone unless he was attacked first (ie. he fought a defensive war, not a war of aggression), and there were no massacres under his rule?
+ Khan is supposed to be more-or-less from “our time”. His knowledge of some of the future would explain why he was surprisingly laidback when he discovered in “Space Seed” that 23rd century humans were now an interstellar civilisation and freakin’ aliens were real. If he had bad experiences with Section 31-from-the-future as suggested above, it could also be shown as a credible explanation for Khan’s lack of trust towards the Enterprise crew, Starfleet and the Federation in general.
+ This kind of show would obviously need a pretty big budget. I agree with commenters’ suggestions about getting Greg Cox involved too, if possible. But it’s a good opportunity to fill in some blanks about Earth history in Trek canon and perhaps also demonstrate that things in the 21st century were a bit more complicated/controversial/different than what we’ve heard so far on-screen. I think it would also be interesting to show “near future” history on Earth a couple of decades ahead of us, as it could be extrapolations of some important present-day real-life issues — and the Section 31 angle is a link to the Federation, Starfleet and Star Trek that we recognise.
+ This also solves the issue of the Eugenics Wars not actually having happened in real life and it aligns the Prime Universe timeline with our real-world timeline (for a few more decades, anyway).
+ They should try to get the Indian actor Hrithik Roshan for Khan. Might be tricky, since he’s the Indian equivalent of Tom Cruise or George Clooney. But he’s mentioned being interested in a Hollywood role as long as it was the right part, a number of big-name Bollywood film stars (eg. Saif Ali Khan) are already involved in acclaimed Netflix tv shows, and Hrithik himself is probably the closest — and most charismatic — match anyone would find for Space Seed-era Khan.
+ This would definitely need the right showrunners and writers involved (it could easily go wrong), but I think it’s potentially a better idea than the Ceti Alpha V thing.
There is no “we” since no one has has any idea what the majority of fans want or don’t want.
I’d be surprised if, by now, TPTB don’t have some polling agency feeding them data that feeds their “delusions” that they “know” what the fans or the public wants from Trek. Most likely skewed toward the mainland China market?
Certainly nobody writing for Discovery or Picard.
I suggest altering the script, make it a movie era prison ship sent to do colonization work (with a very limited Starfleet staff). Then have it go missing never to return. Then you get that Space Seed unleashed you can’t have with Kahn.
Alternative is reboot though ignore ID (poor Kahn, big mean Starfleet took his family, should have been Starfleet unleashed Kahn and he takes over).
I bet he has a great script – Star Trek colonization in the face of catastrophe combined with the Sopranos. Only problem is that you already know the end in a meeting with Admiral James T Kirk.
Instead of a miniseries or 10part series why not make it into a movie? Written and directed by Meyer
Ceti Alpha V: Dawn of Wrath: A Star Trek II Story
(and make the Tarantino and Hemsworth movies as well)
“Ceti Alpha V: Dawn of Wrath: A Star Trek II Story”
Apologies for the offense, but that is one of the worst titles I have ever heard.
The book about Khan on Ceti Alpha V was called To Reign in Hell.
I never read that, but would like to someday.
Why not simply: “KHAN”? just like “Solo”.
No. It should be KAHN. Because some fans can’t be bothered to spell it correctly.
In my head canon, fans who consistently spell it Kahn are referring to mirror Khan.
I’m probably more tolerant of it than most because of my family’s dyslexia, I’ve long suspected my skill at word jumbles stems from what is probably automatic in reading letters and notes from my kin. Something like I only noticed my father’s English is heavily accented when getting landline phone calls from him. Something about those old phones changed the tonal quality of his voice such that my internal universal translator failed to engage.
“The dilemma appears to be about finding a way to spread costs and maximize revenue by extending beyond just three episodes, while still making the story work without repeating itself.”
Sounds like greed plus Kurtzman’s ego which has pretty much taken over the Trekverse. Kurtzman’s product has been repetitive drivel with plot holes the size of Nebraska that’s long past reached any shot of redemption. He needs to be swept away and I’d welcome the return of Meyer to the franchise full-time. This does NOT need to be another milked out series, Worst comes to worst, just make this a 2:30:00 movie and release it in theaters. It’ll be the Trek version of Rogue One.
Rogue One had an estimated budget of $200 million and made more than a billion at the global boxoffice. Trek has come close to that budget but has never even come anywhere near that boxoffice.
The closest example in budget is Mission Impossible which makes far more for Paramount. Star Trek is a niche at best, a lose lose for the studio if they spend more than a hundred and fifty million dollars on a film. Beyond never broke even because of the 185 million dollar budget and advertising budget, plus box office split. Not even close even after video sales. It was a bigger flop per dollar than Nemesis.
Thanks to Sherry Lansing’s creative financing Paramount never lost a dime on NEMESIS.
I’d watch it, but I can’t honestly say that that’s a thing I need to see get made.
Can the poster here who said Meyer was a one trick pony and is sad because he now only tries to milk TWOK eat his hat, please? It turns out it was Kurtzman who asked Meyer to do this Ceti series, not the other way around.
To play devil’s advocate here for a moment, it is possible that Kurtzman wanted to give Meyer something to do (they had hired him as a consulting producer after all) and he thought that this was the only project Meyer could handle.
Obviously, I don’t know if that’s what happened. We only know that either Fuller or Kurtzman hired Meyer as a consulting producer on Discovery. However, everything we’ve heard suggests that Meyer wasn’t really involved in Discovery, and he lost the consulting producer title after season 1.
Even if what you wrote on the 1st para would be true – still that’s Kurtzman coming to Meyer and not the other way around. So – changes nothing when it comes to the point of that “Meyer is lazy and can only do TWOK over and over again” bs that this poster wrote on the previous news coverage article.
It’s just not that interesting of an Idea. We know, what happened. Sure, there could be some interesting drama and good characters in it but in the end we know, that ultimatly nothing will matter, since they all die in Star Trek II anyways … if it isn’t that great, all it’ll do is retroactivly making that movie worse. Threre’s planty of examples of this happening in the last 10 years … Discovery is probably the prime example, if you actually take that show seriously …
On the other hand: If Kurtzman doesn’t like it, it’s probably good :-D
I still don’t get, why it’s so hard for Star Trek to move forward since 2005 … it’s a Science Ficion Show after all.
I feel like they’re gonna have to bring back the Chrysler Cordoba.. because if Kahn can`t pitch that rich Corinthian leather on the weekends, then it’s just not gonna work out.
Why here lately has Nicholas Meyer all of a sudden become a topic of regular discussion??? Either somebody knows some “real” knowledge of recent goings on with Paramount actually considering some tangible deal, or somebody has a real fascination with the idea of bringing him aboard on a fanboy level. Know what I mean???
Presumably during this mini-series Khan will encounter Klingons and learn of their proverbs.
Can’t be any worse than how we saw Han Solo get his name in Solo.
What? You don’t think he studied the Reliant’s database as he did Enterprise?
Oooohhh that would be a good tie in.
Never had any interest in this idea whatsoever. The Khan character has been fleshed out enough, and ruined in STID, imo. Time to move on.
Exactly my sentiments Danpaine.
I’m add that if that concept can’t get resounding support on this board, it’s essentially not got much of a possible market niche.
This would be very exciting to see. I read the books about Khan by Greg Cox and those were fantastic!. They filled out a lot of the questions but seeing a TV series, even a short one would be nice. we can only hope.
I’m not really interested in a Khan inter-quel, but if Nick Meyer is behind it i’m all for it. And i’m sad to hear the studio wants “more episodes” because one of the advantages of streaming if you ask me, is you’re not bound by traditional metrics, and new content, no matter how long or how short, has value as long as the budget isn’t crazy.
Cut the budget, do the three episodes, I say.
..not happening cause all controlling, all god-like kurtzman probably won’t allow nick to produce anything thus showing up his own failures of trying to bring real trek back to tv
Greg Cox once wrote a novel called “To Reign in Hell” which is pretty much what Nicholas Meyer is pitching here as it told the story of Khan from his exile on Ceti Alpha V at the end of Space Seed up until Terrel and Chekov’s arrival in TWOK. It was actually a pretty good read but also an incredibly bleak and often downright depressing story given the hopelessness of their situation. Still it could make for an interesting 3-4 hour mini-series and I wonder if Meyer is even aware that someone else already wrote a published story about what he is trying to get made.
You’d have thought that he’d have been pre – approved.
Maybe they are worried he’ll show the rest of their Trek product up. Which he would.
Pre-approved because he did a few decent Trek things in the distant past? The most recent of which was literally three decades ago? You are kidding, right?
When three decades go by and no one else has made a Trek movie that compares with your work despite many attempts, your kidding that you think your credibility should go down versus up, right?
What should be and what is are two very different things. Meyer hasn’t directed a feature film in thirty years and he hasn’t written a screenplay of note in nearly as long. Nobody at Paramount is eager to work with someone who’s been fallow for that long. Hollywood is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately business; always has been, always will be. Those of you holding onto the idea that *anyone* who could finance it cares about a Nicholas Meyer Star Trek project are living in a delusion.
Have you factored in Kickstarter type funding in your naysaying?
Not until you mentioned it, but now that you have, yes, and I remain unchanged in my opinion. Trekkies could finance a fan film; they could not finance this.
Apparently, the largest sum a movie campaign ever collected on Kickstarter was about $11 million. The largest one I could find on Indiegogo was less than 5 million. Meyer may have made Wrath of Khan for 11 million but that was almost 40 years ago. Factoring in inflation, those $11 million would be about $30 million today. And Wrath of Khan re-used a lot of assets from TMP to save costs.
So it seems dubious that any Kickstarter-type campaign would be able to collect enough money to make a Trek movie at studio-level quality. Fan films, sure, but not a professional production.
Also, I kind of doubt that CBS/Paramount would ever allow such a low-budget project to “tarnish” the reputation of one of their crown jewel franchises.
Well, before the “rejoining” CBS did have a budget (50M?) Motion Picture effort. And they didn’t have problems releasing footage for RODDENBERRY’S VAULT and the documentaries. They’re even letting the docs convert old fx to hi-def. So there’s probably more to play with for a new Meyer project than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
Maybe, I’m overestimating Meyer’s cachet that he could bring to fundraising, but I think he could pull it off, i.e. a Trek movie that would satisfy him on the cheap as he did before “Renember.” And this time, it would be his cut released.
Well, by all means keep on dreaming.
“A dream is a wish your heart makes, when you’re fast asleep…”
I believe the chance of great art emerging without it, is zilch. But these corporate AIs may eventually disprove this contention. But who knows? Maybe androids DO dream … of electric sheep?
Nicholas Meyer would make a great Sarek. He looks like he could be Mark Leonard’s son.
Sooner give the money to Noah Hawley to adapt his movie into a ten episode series. At least it would be a new ship and crew.
I Think that Para Plus will eventually do a mini-series since it does make a lot of sense. They could do it on the cheap as well. I am just not sure that a Khan on Ceti Alpha 6 has enough appeal, but I would not bet against Meyer.
I would love a mini-series based on Surak on Vulcan. It could also have the how the Romulans left Vulcan, etc.
That was pretty cool the little glimpse we got on Enterprise. My head canon is that the Qowat Milat was one of a pre Surak Vulcan religions and that left with the Romulans. But what stayed was the Absolute Candor part so that is where the “Vulcans Don’t Lie” came from.
Great head-canon. I also liked the glimpse seen on Enterprise, but I think a pre-logic society Vulcan show would be great. Spock often stated how Vulcans were more barbaric than humans prior to their logic philosophy. But other than Surak, I would not want any other known characters. In my head canon, I think of pre-logic Vulcan as like a post apocalyptical world, but some larger tribes have nuclear warheads and pre-warp space-flight.
Maybe the only other character than Surak is T’Plana-Hath. The matron of Vulcan Philosophy. Discovery had a ship named after her.
Lol we should collaborate! Yes, a matron of Vulcan Philosophy would be great. She should have similar costume to T’Pau from Amok Time. Also, Surak is the only Vulcan to have the typical bowl-cut hair style, all the other characters have a variety of hair styles. The reason modern-day Vulcans have their hair bowel-cut is due to Surak starting it.
Perhaps Surak knows of the tribe of Vulcans that reject his teachings on logic and they fight against it and want to maintain their current and conservative way of living (allegory to current politics). These would become the Romulans and they leave Vulcan at the end of the series, but in secret. They then maintain this philosophy of secrecy for all time.
“This turned out to be a 3-part mini-series titled Ceti Alpha V, which would tell the story of Khan Noonien Singh in exile before the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.”
What if there are four sequels? Will the last one be called “Ceti Alpha V V”?
Nobody seems to be talking about the biggest issue, recasting Khan for the prime Star Trek universe. Ricardo Montalban was Khan. I cannot see anyone else as Khan. It would take some convincing and great casting to pull it off.
I think Kahn would have worked reboot in Into Darkness had he been Kahn. Had Kahn been brought out of cyrogenic sleep by Starfleet to strategize how to save the Federation with the destruction of Vulcan only for him to outsmart everyone and end up running the joint… that would have been KHAN.
Also as a eugenics soldier you’d think the guy would have some muscle. I’d aim for someone that looks like Montalban as well for good measure.
What we got was some poor poor dude who was used by Starfleet, just trying to get his family back. Sniffles. And we he can’t he snaps. Poor guy.
Poor guy = not KHAN.
In my experience this was so terrible, along with the big E lasting 20 seconds in combat like some POS from TNG, that despite waiting 20 years from ST:TUC for more TOS Trek, I was totally put off the Kelvin universe that almost did not watch Beyond.
The Indian actor Hrithik Roshan, as I mentioned upthread.
That’s a great idea. And I also think the actor should be of Indian descent. The casting of Ben Cumberbatch, while a great actor, was absolutely wrong.
Pretty much a non issue. Anyone younger then 30 isn’t likely going to know who Ricardo Montalban is at all. Sure, recast him.
How can this project not happen?
Maybe I’m lacking imagination, but… honestly… it kinda sounds like quite a boring concept to me.
I think a lot of people would agree with you. Of all the things you could do with Star Trek this would not even be on my list. Sooner give Micheal Dorn the money for his Worf/Klingon story idea. It would probably tie into the current state of the Beta Quadrant on Picard nicely.
I have zero interest in a Star Trek show without Starfleet.
Um…no mass appeal?
ST II and ST IV had mass appeal in my opinion.
So did TMP. There’s no way Paramount would have made a II if TMP hadn’t demonstrated that.
I would love to see this 3 part series assuming they don’t stretch it out. If anyone from CBS or Paramount is reading this know that I’d sign up for a subscription for this mini series. Out of all the Star Trek prequel stuff they’ve been doing (Or discussing) this is the most interesting for me.
on earth…200 years ago..i was a prince.. with *power* over *millions*..