A lot has happened in Star Trek since the release of Star Trek Beyond eight years ago; despite launching several live-action and animated Trek television series (and even a streaming movie), a new feature film has yet to materialize. This doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any activity on the movie side, as several projects have been developed (and shelved) over the years, both directly tied into the three J. J. Abrams-produced Kelvin movies and beyond. All the stops and starts can appear confusing, leaving many fans to conclude that Star Trek is simply no longer a franchise that can produce theatrical films. But now an executive from Roddenberry Entertainment is offering a glimmer of hope.
There is a plan…
Trevor Roth is the COO and head of development for Roddenberry Entertainment. The company, owned by Eugene “Rod” Roddenberry, maintains good relations with Paramount, with the stated goal of helping future Star Trek productions preserve the intent and legacy of Gene Roddenberry. Along with Rod Roddenberry, Roth is credited as executive producer on all the current Paramount+ Star Trek series. He attended the Discovery season 5 premiere at SXSW in Austin, TX earlier in the week, where he talked to ScreenRant about the current state of Trek feature films:
“I am not able to say much, but I can say that it is Paramount’s intent to figure out the Star Trek side of movies and what’s going on there. There’s every intent of a new movie coming out in the very near future. There’s a lot of secrecy around what’s going to happen there. But there is a plan getting into place. And we’re very excited to see it return to the big screen.”
Karl Urban and Zachary Quinto in Star Trek Beyond
… but it’s complicated
Getting another Star Trek movie off the ground has proven difficult, and while stories of changing directors and script revisions have surfaced, it is likely that bigger complications exist. In his discussion with ScreenRant, Trevor Roth acknowledges that it’s simply not an easy process:
“And I will tell you that you want to do it the right way. And yet, practical things get in [the way]. People a lot of times are like, ‘Oh, why isn’t this happening or that happening?’ And sometimes those questions are really good questions. And other times, there’s a lot you don’t know that is happening behind the scenes that can make things more difficult than you would think. So all in all, we’re getting there to my understanding, and we’re excited, and plans are being put in place. And I know that from the standpoint of the studio, there is no lack of recognition of wanting and needing a Star Trek film coming out.”
As of January, Paramount indicated it was looking to develop an “origin” movie directed by Black Mirror and Andor veteran Tobey Haynes. The movie would be set before the events of the 2009 Star Trek movie and reportedly “expands on the Star Trek universe.” Paramount is also still developing the “Star Trek 4” direct sequel to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond, now reported to be the final chapter for the USS Enterprise cast of Chris Pine (Kirk), Zoe Saldaña (Uhura), Karl Urban (McCoy), Simon Pegg (Scotty), and Zachary Quinto (Spock). Roth’s interview at SXSW did not specify which Star Trek films in development he was referring to, but his comments, along with recent reporting, could suggest that Paramount is looking to wrap up the story of the Kelvin Universe’s USS Enterprise crew with a fourth movie while developing this new one that will expand on the Trek universe, giving them a fresh start to tell more stories on the big screen.
Trevor Roth with the cast of Discovery at SXSW
Keep up with all the news on Star Trek 4 and upcoming Trek films at TrekMovie.com.
I’m totally fine if they take all their theatrical release origin story money and give it to Terry Matalas. I haven’t enjoyed any Trek movie as much as I’ve enjoyed Picard 3 or Strange New Worlds.
Agreed. At this point a movie with Jeri Ryan written by Matalas seems to me the best bet to get an ambitious movie and still rake in a lot of money. It seems financially safe with quality not being sidelined.
A 7 of 9 movie sounds fabulous. And maybe bring Q to the big screen. It’s long overdue.
While both ideas sound awesome, I would prob bet against it in Vegas.
God that would bomb so hard. What a terrible idea.
Can’t be worse than the 3 Kelvin movies Guardians of the Galaxy like drivel. Trek movies stink and they have since First Contact.
Agreed. Paramount spent hundreds of millions on these drivel movies and then let them die out because they knew not enough people cared about that universe anymore. Instead they concentrated on the prime universe and golden era of Trek again.
I can not disagree more, quite a large group of fans enjoyed the Kelvin timeline movies
Ok, so what is your idea? Or do you just want to judge everyone else’s?
Star Trek + Fear and loathing in Las Vegas + Blackadder starring Taylor Swift.
Billions 💰💰💰💰💰💰
To be fair anything with Swift will make that money. Just good luck convincing her to do it.
No.
That is a terrible idea.
OMG, what a mistake that would be.
The reason you get Matalas to do it, is his approach to the material. His respect for Trek anits history, and his ability to work within a budget. He can write if he wants to, but he directs and produces. Give him carte blanche, but it doesn’t need to be (and probably shouldn’t be) Legacy. Trek can work on the big screen in a similar fashion to how it did back in the 80’s and 90’s. B movies made economically. Just tell good stories and embrace the audience. It’s not international blockbuster material and probably never will be, so quit chasing it. The risk is in lack of feature film experience, but if there is a calculated risk to take, it has tremendous up side, and keeping the budget low, limits the financial exposure. The important thing that people who rail against Matalas forget.. is his approach. People who call themselves fans, put their fandom before servicing the story. That’s how we get Gorn that defy what we know about them, how we get descendants of Khan in love with Kirk, Spock with a learning disability, and Vulcans that are genetically tied to a lack of emotion. The list goes on.
I agree with everything you said! Matalas has the fanbase he has because he gave Star Trek gravitas again, respected canon and really understood all the legacy characters. He even made Raffie likable.
I think most fans would be more interested in a lower budget Legacy movie instead of more big budget JJ verse. The same clowns who gave us fratboy Kirk and white Khan. It had its time but it’s over. Paramount can’t afford to make more $200 million Star Trek movies that can bomb..If that was the case they would’ve made another one years ago.
Stop chasing non fans, they are never going to care about Star Trek no matter how many explosions you throw in it. Make a movie for the FANS again! Matalas would get it done.
Matalas doesn’t have an original idea in his head. Sad really.
You’re confusing him with JJ Abrams lol.
12 Monkies proved he has plenty of original and creative ideas and why I want the Legacy show.
Nope I’m talking about Matalas, the guy that just recycled old TNG episodes and passed them off a new. The old tops love his Dribble because they love watching reruns.
JJ Abrams literally copied TWOK down to the same lines from the movie lol. The same movie you said multiple times was your favorite lol. So please stop acting like a hypocrite.
You can certainly not like Picard season 3 but I’m not trying to convince you to like it. But it’s hypocritical to pretend you want something new but then love JJ verse lol.
JJ didn’t copy Star Trek 2. He made it better. Into Darkness is the best trek movie ever made in my opinion.
😂
So did JJ come up with that cringe worthy KHAAAAN moment all by himself? No copying from TWOK at all. And you think that movie is better is better than TWOK??? The one it stole from?
Talk about denial. I rest my case. But this gave me a good laugh, thanks.
No, it was really Orca’s doing. He defended that choice and talked to some guys on a podcast about it. I came away with a new appreciation for his intent, but it just wasn’t a good idea, and I’m not sure anyone really thought it did.
Orci wasn’t the director though. It doesn’t matter what he wrote, JJ was the one who ultimately approved everything and had the final decision.
Obviously he gets the blame with the others for writing a bad movie but Abrams could’ve asked to rewrite anything he didn’t like or wasn’t happy with.
But since Abrams isn’t a Trek fan who clearly just wanted spectacle over substance, logic or basic science he didn’t care. Plus he was the genius who casted white Khan because he really wanted Cumberbatch in the movie. And he’s the same guy who had starships coming out of the water just like he had star destroyers coming out of the ice or planets so ridiculously close to each other you can literally see them from eye level in both his Star Trek and Star Wars films which means these are things he personally wanted or suggested.
And of course we saw how much worse it could get when he writes something on his own and you basically get a complete rehash of A New Hope in the Force Awakens or somehow Palpatine has returned. TROS makes STID looks like a good film.
I have no doubt he loved the idea of rehashing parts of WOK because that’s probably the only Trek movie he ever watched and knew how popular it was with fans.
True, but JJ admitted himself he didn’t know really know Trek. He was fine with those guys calling those shots. I’m not saying you can’t blame JJ, but Orci was supposed to be a fan like us, so I honestly blame him more.
Which only proves what a h.a.c.k Abrams ultimately was. He didn’t spend any time understanding the show himself and just left it up to his writers because he personally didn’t care.
And I will at least give them credit and say they didn’t write in Khan had to suddenly be white and British. Abrams just really wanted Cumberbatch and just stuck him a role he had no business playing. On top of that if he wanted him that badly then just have him play another role since most people didn’t even want Khan.
So he still made a big decision that helped destroy the movie because he didn’t think enough about the fanbase or the importance of a 40 year old iconic character.
It’s still just utterly tone deaf how this guy couldn’t understand that and why he should never be near directing a Trek movie again.
And yeah Orci proves what a h.a.c.k he was as well. All those guys wanted to be the ‘stewards’ of Star Trek but proves just being a fan doesn’t make a better show or movie when they are just bad ideas.
Star Trek Into Disaster is just an awful movie on every level starting with the first scene and managed to only get worse with bad science, ridiculous plot elements and cringy fan service. It’s still amazing they turned in that script and everybody was onboard with it.
Do you ever actually provide any support for your more off-the-wall proclamations? I mean, when I say I like TFF, I actually cite reasons for that unpopular view. An example of clever plotting or staging, perhaps? Anything even remotely as clever in ID as TWOK’s nicely subtle ‘Captain Spock, damage report?’ indicating he is talking in code?
Yeah, and that’s a big problem once he removed the cushion of a fan service reunion season
No one currently involved in Star Trek does, either. No One.
And Matalas gives us, amongst much else, a Starfleet ensign serving aboard a ship that presumably has food replicators, whose sole qualification for the role seems to be that he once managed his brother’s deli. All in service of a lame joke. The list goes on. Please.
Lol, I hadn’t considered how lame that actually is — you’re right.
Picard season 3 for me actually illustrated a severe lack of understanding and respect for TNG. Instead of getting a story where we have more mature humans in the 25th century working together to solve problems and avoid conflict, we get a Star Wars-like season, with characters having force like powers, zombie movie elements, and the great Captain Picard all of a sudden becoming a selfish old man regarding an unconvincing son with a British accent who looks nothing like him.
And If all that wasn’t a big enough departure from Star Trek, we have Data Calrissian piloting the Millennium Enterprise into the heart of the Death Cube, while Borg Palpatine is defeated on the Death Cube due to the emotional rejoining to the bright side of son/father Darth Crusher and John “Luke” Picard…while meanwhile the supporting mission by Han Seven and company in the area of a nearby planet is successful. Matalas totally ripped off Return of the Jedi.
And I haven’t even started on Starfleet crew instant zombies and cadavers with magical powers yet, nor have I talked about the crack addict-looking baddie with the pirate scar yet, who I still have no clue what the point was for that character…lol
And you’re complaining about the Gorns? Seriously? Man, I get some perspective — Picard season 3 was a nice fan service closure, character ride for the crew we love, but it was not Star Trek, not even close.
I don’t even want Matalas on the same continent the next time there’s a new Star Trek series to be made. He doesn’t know how to do Star Trek — especially the more thoughtful TNG. Let him make his Witch Mountain show — he’s much more comfortable when he’s got the lazy plot device of characters with super powers, cardboard baddies, and cheap VFX.
lol ST09 ripped off A New Hope. Picard s3 ripped off Return of the Jedi.
what Trek ripped off Empire Strikes Back?
Lol, exactly!
Final Chapter for Kelvin crew. Star Trek Endgame. Have fun bring in the Legacy characters from different series. Release it for 60th Anniversary.
It’s already too late for the 60th. Stupid Paramount messed up the 50th and now the 60th. They deserve to be sold off in parts and quickly forgotten.
atm it looks like 3 Trek movies happening in the next few years
-ST4 – Final Kelvin movie. (maybe Treks No Way Home? i.e. something to do with multiverse Kelvin meets Prime. maybe based on Orcis ST3? otherwise what be the point in doing another Beyond style standalone adventure)
-S31 P+ movie
-ST09 prequel movie
its kind of like a few years back when there was supposed to be the Hemsworth ST4 (to be directed by the Madame Web director!), Tarantinos Trek film, and Hawleys standalone movie (space pandemic? with Cate Blancett and Rami Malek?) ..
Well, there’s only one Trek movie happening, S31 for P+. The others are still mired in the “we have a plan” stage…..
a prequel to a prequel? Jesus.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Section 31 ends up getting a theatrical release. It seems a waste to lock a Michelle Yeoh vehicle behind a paywall on a streaming service that isn’t exactly popular.
I’d be surprised if it doesn’t at least get a limited release.
But then why not just make a real movie and put it in theaters then?
It doesn’t have to be a $200 million movie but what’s wrong with an $80 million starring an Academy award winner and have fans go watch it?
To me that seem like the more obvious thing to do, especially since JJ verse is all but dead for now. Paramount could’ve finally put out something beyond just a streaming movie.
Hey bud. To honestly answer this without being in the industry my guess is that it means releasing in theaters means giving a 50% cut to the theaters but if you release it on your own then you keep everything. If you are going to share the wealth then you have to make sure it’s gonna make lots of money which Trek never does.
Yeah you’re probably right but if they are saying another movie is coming (hahaha) then make it this one. You know how much I loathe Adolf but if it’s good I would go see it. Just keep the budget down and don’t play it in the summer with heavy competition but I guess it’s still seems too big of a risk.
LOL that’s only if you believe this person making the comments. He works for the company so of course he’s not going to come out and be like, “oh yeah, it’s all BS, no Trek movie is coming!” HAHAHA
Yeah of course. Everyone knows it’s just more BS and why this comment section is hilarious. People are tired of hearing this crap.
Just make a movie, any movie. That’s the only way most people will believe them at this point.
S31 is a real movie. With a real live Oscar winner in the lead role. Made for the Streaming service, and a possible limited release in select theaters.
Will repeat it again, why not just put it in theaters instead of just streaming?
This sounds like a bare bones TV movie. Why not strike while the iron is hot and make a full theatrical movie with Yeoh?
My point is instead of wasting people’s time with these insane movie announcements that goes nowhere they finally made an actual movie, so go full blast with it, really market it to the masses and put it on screens worldwide.
Limited release sounds like it will be in a few major cities in America for a week and just geared to hardcore Trekkies.
Assuming we even get that.
Honestly, they should just take the Amazon/Apple route. Whatever money they can make in 2-3 weeks before they stream it is just found money.
Oh lord please don’t give them ideas!
Isn’t the cinema also a paywall? It isn’t exactly for free, right… ?
Star Trek has never been “for free.” Since the airing of the very first episode, there has been some monetary investment by the fans in order to see it. Nothing put out by Hollywood is completely free to the general public.
P+ likely won’t even be a thing in a year or two anyway.
Halo is currently getting Top 10 streaming series numbers, and both SNW and Picard got Top 10 numbers last year.
Halo is awesome. Never played the game and I don’t want to, but the show is great.
Paramount waited too long. If they are having this much trouble continuing the Kelvin movies, then maybe that is a sign it is time to move on to something else. They were always a “What if” version of Trek anyway. They don’t need closure, IMHO.
It seems financially risky to me to restart the movies with a crew that never gained much momentum to begin with.
They had momentum but lost it by allowing four years to lapse between the 2009 film and Into Darkness to accommodate Abrams.
‘Beyond’ was just not good enough to attract general audience as well as paramount dropping the ball on promoting the 50th anniversary that year.
Beyond came out at the end of a summer which had been plagued by one bad sequel after another, and the trailers for it made it look very much like another bad sequel. In fact, it was one of the best movies that came out that summer, but by then audiences were exhausted by bad movies and it never had a chance due to the Guardians of the Fast and Furious promotion campaign.
Ikr, just what was it about that summer of 2016 just a deluge of meh sequel or remake movies aside Cap America 3 (which was only good if you love MCU), Batman v Superman (although that was march), ID4:R (waited 20y for that), Suicide Squad (which was apparently totally recut/hacked to pieces by the studio) , Bourne4 (or 5 if you count Legacy), Xmen Apocalypse (after the excellent last Xmen, the best of the franchise), Tarzan (dullest version ever), and most of all the Ghostbusters remake (so bad they had to go back to the OG GB) and (imo) Trek Beyond (which gutted me to think we came ‘this’ close to getting the return of Shatner as Kirk in a time travel or timeline epic for the 50th anniversary, instead of the Guardians of the Fast and Furious)
The Ghostbusters 2016 remake was not bad at all – it was just ruined by gatekeeping fans that never wanted to give it a fair shake. It’s pretty funny (it’s not original GB genius, but it’s on par w/ GB2) and it’s a shame they probably won’t get a chance to revisit it. They setup a multiverse that would have been fun to explore that would have let them sync up with the OG crew
a crossover GB film might still happen if they keep doing them
I thought it was pretty bad myself. Not Fantastic Four or Jupiter Ascending bad, but not good, either. Melissa McCarthy movies just got progressively worse throughout the 2010s. And Ghostbusters II was just plain terrible. Comparing the 2016 movie to it does it no favors. Ghostbusters Afterlife is what the third movie should have bene.
I love Melissa McCarthy.
I loved her on Gilmore Girls, and Mike and Molly was okay. But her roles have gotten more and more annoying ever since.
I never cared much for Ghostbusters, but the 2016 movie looks like real fun. I need to watch one day. I haven’t gotten a chance to yet.
May as well have gone with Orci’s ST3. at least it’d have had Bill Shatner to entice audiences, audiences who like very much to be entertained when going to the theatre! (something Shatner excels at)
Into Darkness killed everything. It was such a BAD movie. Beyond wasn’t horrible but it could never recover from STID
‘Beyond’ was not promoted properly but more importantly it messing up with idris Elba as the villain.
Not just hiding him in make up but lying about the real nature of his character
Ya true but they did the exact same thing with Cumberbatch “Khan” and that movie made a ton of money before people realized it sucked. That’s the thing with blockbuster failures. They make a lot of money because of the good word of mouth of the previous movie but then after the first 2 weekends they tank. And the studio falsely believes they had a hit on their hands and make more of the same and then franchises die because Hollywood is stupid.
‘Trek’ fans may have rejected ‘darkness’ but it got the general audience at box office.
‘Beyond’ got fan approval but not with the larger general audience this time
Yeah exactly. May as well have continued with a ‘proper’ ID sequel: war with the klingons (Idris as a Klingon warlord, Michael Fassbender as Commander Chang, and Michael Dorn as the Worf ancestor from Trek VI), Alice Eve, maybe even defrost Khan!
Into Darkness was a better movie.
They are supposedly moving on to that prequel idea no one seems remotely excited for.
But they squandered JJ verse badly. They should’ve been on the fifth movie by now if the films were a real hit. Instead they know the enthusiasm died out for these movies long long ago now. I doubt we’ll ever see another one but maybe if they can get the budget down to a $100 million or something it will actually happen.
In the meantime we have more sound bites like this telling us the next movie will happen any year now. Giddy.
Ya know,m I don’t have a problem with prequels per se. Like I would love to see one that took place in between ST VI and TNG. The problem is that when you go back instead of forward there are SOOOOO many opportunities to screw up canon. And the lazy writers are like, “oh it’s just too hard to adhere to 60 years of canon” when in fact it isn’t and they are just making excuses. Take SNW for example. Tell the EXACT same story but just name the Gorn something else. DONE! Too hard my ass.
Exactly bro. It’s not that hard but NuTrek just doesn’t care. I would be open to a movie set after TUC actually but you know they will screw it up.
Just go forward and you got no problems.
Ha I wish that were true but Discovery proved you can break canon even when you move forward in time. :(
That’s because Discovery sucks in any century. 😉
We were supposed to get ST4 for summer 2019 (with Hemsworth) and then closely followed by the Tarantino Trek film for probably 2020/21. Of course we all know how that worked out ..
Not losing sleep those didn’t happen because they all sounded terrible. And another reason Paramount wasn’t exactly moving heaven and earth to make them.
You know, the David Lynch Dune movie bombed, and the ScyFi mini-series was lame. And now they’ve waited too long to try it again — this is all a sign that they should just move on from Dune.
So I would not recommend greenlighting this well meaning Denis Villeneuve dude to try his hand at Dune — nobody really wants or needs that today.
DV’s Dune has succeeded imo because he’s been (mostly) faithful to the source. Doing so engenders good will from original fans of the material but also brings in new fans because – wouldn’t you know it – if a story / premise has worked for over 50 years…maybe you don’t need to monkey with it.
Classics are classics for a reason. You don’t need to change it much to attract people that are unfamiliar with it because it’s already good – let the work that the genius before you accomplished do the heavy lifting.
Well said!
Oh please most people who watched the new Dune probably never read the book. I read the book and literally have no interest in watching the movie. The book bored me. It was on Netflix for a few months and I never bothered.
Most people moved on over 10 years ago already.. No one cares about these movies anymore.
The minute ‘Khan’ showed up in that terrible Into Darkness movie it automatically became a what if and a very bad one at that.
Please stop the gatekeeping with presuming to speak for all star trek fans.
Mods, please review this.
Agreed! 👍
Star Trek Intro Dumbness is what killed off these movies and new fans didn’t care about Beyond at all, probably because it was too Trek-y for them.
And once Star Wars entered the picture again it threw JJ verse in a large shadow.
My daughter actually likes those movies but even she didn’t bother to watch Beyond in the theaters because she said it looked too generic. But when she saw it later she liked it. I still thought it was bad but the best one I guess.
And I’m really hoping they move on to something more Star Trek and lees Guardian of the Galaxy or Star Wars.
I actually like Beyond too but it’s still nothing amazing. But it did feel a lot more like a TOS story and less dumb.
We don’t need another origin story. There are plenty of areas of canon that can be filled without revisiting Kirk, Spock, etc…. Do a movie about the Enterprise B or C. In the century between TOS and TNG.
Amen to that. Totally agree with you.
That actually sounds interesting…and why they will never do it. 😂🙄
If they do another origin story, maybe they can work in how the Waynes get killed because I’ve always been fuzzy on that and it just wasn’t covered enough in the Batman reboots. /s
And how did Peter Parker become Spider-man? I don’t remember seeing that in a movie…
Agreed! I want Star Trek in the 25th century. It doesn’t have to be legacy, but I do consider that period to be modern day trek. That’s where they can continue the Star Trek universe.
Amen
A much more interesting timeline, pre Kirk as been done to death now.
You beat me to it. Let’s see the Enterprise B being anything other than a joke.
Been saying this for nearly 30 years now. E-B has super potential, being a very retro-interesting time in Trek history given the ample political paranoia evident in TSFS and TUC.
Star Trek in all the series is best as a tv series not big screen movie, I could care less for the movies, TWOK being the exception
Just give us ‘The Tribble’ movie.
An underdog story about a middle-aged Tribble entering Starfleet Academy amongst young Humans, Vulcans, Andorians, etc, who is told by his wife and 10,000 offspring that he, as a past-it Tribble will never sit in the captain’s chair. But this ain’t no ordinary Tribble. He gave up his dreams to raise a (large) family, now he will stop at nothing to achieve his goal and prove the galaxy wrong.
Spoiler Alert: In the climax, The Tribble rides a Genesis torpedo into the 4th planet of an star system whose sun is going supernova after he threw some red matter into it, to destroy a secret fleet of species 8472 ships who were planning to invade the Alpha Quadrant after they masqueraded as Tribbles to infiltrate the major powers.
But just when you think The Tribble has nobly sacrificed himself to save civilization as we know it, we see him inject himself with Khan’s blood, riding the genesis wave to gather enough speed to propel him out of the star system at warp 9 just before the sun goes nova. He returns to Starfleet triumphantly and is given command of the Enterprise-T (they jumped ahead in the alphabet because he’s just that awesome).
A mid-credit scene shows S31 receive a message from the greatest threat the Federation has ever faced….An assimilated tribble.
‘Cuteness is irrelevant. You will be assimilated’.
Do not go near Secret Hideout with this idea
If you can get Jodorowsky, I am in.
If I may build on this:
Enterprises K, L, M, N, O, P, * R, and S are each given exactly 47 seconds of screen time in a fast-paced montage—just enough time for us to see a succession of semi-memorable guest characters from TNG / DS9 / VOY each proudly take command of the next Enterprise and suddenly die in a fireball explosion. Because what audiences really want from Star Trek is Characters We Remember dying dramatically while simultaneously destroying Yet Another Enterprise. Now, that’s a Star Trek!
* There is no Enterprise Q, because the army of Producers is saving that for a never-to-be-filmed concept involving John DeLancie and Nicholas Cage as a mysterious new character named “Q3.” Trust me, we’re dodging a bullet there.
—just enough time for us to see a succession of semi-memorable guest characters from TNG / DS9 / VOY each proudly take command of the next Enterprise and suddenly die in a fireball explosion.
Like Spinal Tap drummers…
Can I always and shall be your friend?
Is that you, Mike McMahan?
I hope Dune has demonstrated that there is an appetite for sci-fi epics. I would like to see silver screen Star Trek be truly epic, about culture and adventure and exploration. Show me new worlds in a movie with international scope with one or two big stars. Go big without being a mindless popcorn movie.
Bro it’s going to be another revenge movie of a villain trying to blow up solar systems and you’re going to like it dammit!
That’s too Star Trek. We can’t do that. Lol…..unfortunately, that’s how they think.
They tried with 2 big stars. Chris Pine and Zoe Saldana. It still didn’t work. Star Trek is not Star Wars. It will never make big money in theaters. It needs to remain on TV where it belongs.
It got a bigger box office than the OS, TNG films , especially worldwide.
The first two films did quite nicely. Not Star Wars-level profit, but they made than covered production and marketing costs in their initial releases, and in every format and service release of those two films since the profit levels are probably at 90% profit — and that keeps trickling in annually.
It worked.
Pine and Saldana were not big stars when they booked Star Trek.
I hope the origin movie is the Romulan War & the ST4 is a bridge movie to a TNG movie series reboot set in the Kelvin timeline with Tom Hardy as Capt Picard
If they want a movie in theaters for the 60th anniversary (2026), it would have to at least be in preproduction by the end of the year.
It would have to be in preproduction now.
I guess they could do one for the winter of 2026 like what they did for most of the movies like TIC and FC during those anniversaries.
So that would give them over two and a half years right now.
We have a plan. Seriously, we do. Stop laughing at us, we. Have. A. Plan, damnit!! It’s a good plan, too…
Awesome! When I saw the headline I immediately scrolled for your comment on this!
They have a plan to get Quentin Tarantino to make a Star Trek movie! No, wait…
It’s a plan to have Noah Hawley make a Star Trek movie! Hmmmm, wait…
Now the plan is to make another Kelvin movie about Kirk meeting his dad! That will be on screens near you in 2023…hold it a second, the plan is now…
They should just dust off and proceed with the QT-Trek movie — let QT hand pick the director.
I guarantee you it would make $$.
Scrolling through the thread, seeing all those who can barely contain their erections at the thought of giving TM 200MM to make a movie, I’d be completely on board bringing QT in at this point. Either way you’ll end up with a clusterf**k of a Trek movie. At least QT would have a shot at making money.
Just throwing crap at the wall since 2016. These clowns are clueless.
Make a serious hard Sci Fi film. Like TMP, but with a better premise.
But Star Trek has never been hard sci fi, it is not the Expanse or dare I say it Battlestar Galactica reboot but I would love to see more serious Trek.
Back to problem solving, like with ‘voyage home’ which was the biggest hit of the OS movies.
Now that is a really good idea!
IMHO the premise of TMP was never the problem. The issue was the movie just went way to slow paced and it came out at the exact wrong time because of pew pew Star Wars (even though Star Wars is the reason the movie was made to begin with)
But it was still a hit at the time.
The new version awesomely fixes all that.
Umm … you’re talking about TMP? And you’re talking about the version where S&M look (more than ever) like postage stamps stuck up against the officer’s lounge window and vger’s exterior looks like a psychedelic xmas tree? And with a sound mix that actually makes things sound less interesting while working against Wise’s low-key procedural approach?
That’s a ‘fix’ too much like what happens when you get a dog from the shelter, only minus the anesthesia that the dog would receive beforehand.
To each his own, I love the new version, and I’m not alone.
Aside from a few unnecessary and uncalled-for (“Viewer off!”) edits I like the new version better myself, sorry.
Nothing to apologize for — differing ops make for better horseracing. (though on this one, I firmly embrace Newman’s BUTCH CASSIDY line, “I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.” I’d only ever be fully satisfied with an edit-your-own version of TMP where I could put the original completed-but-never-used matte painting of Vulcan back in, along with McCoy’s ‘all us machines’ line in sickbay.)
I still hope to see my preferred edit of APOCALYPSE NOW, which dumps most of the REDUX/FINAL CUT footage (but retains the bit with Kilgore shouting at his men to medivac a wounded Vietnamese child and her mother after the napalm strike), and restores the Palme D’or finale with Willard on the temple steps. I kept pressing FFC about this, but he threatened a restraining order, so I’ve backed-off for now.
You want to omit footage of Colleen Camp in her most curvaceous prime, in service merely to High Art? Sir, I am dismayed and outraged!
I’ve seen big chunks of the REDUX version (in the main I just remember the plantation scene, which is fascinating but hardly necessary), but never sat down and watched that version on disc all the way through, though I’ve seen the theatrical version countless times. It’s odd, too, because for years I used to bid on a workprint of the movie on ebay that was like 5+ hours whenever it showed up on auction, but was always outbid, so I guess my interest in seeing everything tapered down this century.
I remember Elenor Coppola’s very readable “Notes,” her diary about the making of the film. One day Francis, in the manic phase of his manic-depressive cycle, bursts in and says it’s all going to be fine: of the trillions of feet of footage they shot in the Philippines, all they have to do is carve away the parts that are not APOCALYPSE NOW and there the film will be! That simple!
And the funny thing is, that’s pretty much what happened. I just wish that the director had stuck by the vision of his younger self instead of giving us two bloated director’s cuts when in fact the theatrical version was already a director’s cut. If he wanted to do something special for the the fortieth anniversary, including the version that won the Grand Prize at Cannes that concluded with Willard on the temple steps would have been more than enough.
Or, if I can’t have the Mike Hall version of APOCALYPSE (i.e. the perfect version, even without Ms. Camp’s notable assets), or a restored THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS, can I at least get a theatrical cut of AMADEUS, so I can toss that entirely unnecessary director’s cut? Pretty please?
You know i generally dislike Digital noise reduction but i think it was a well done new version, the Atmos mix was great. It brought new fidelity to Goldsmith’s score. I thought i’d balk at the new cgi, because i hate the Lucasized redoes of Star Wars, but the only thing i hated was the new credits.
I don’t mind another Star Trek movie, to be honest, as long as it’s with neither Alex Kurtzman’s involvement nor Secret Hideout’s. #TerryMatalas4StarTrek! #RMB4StarTrek!
GIVE US A LEGACY MOVIE PARAMOUNT!!!
You know something fans will actually get excited for instead of more prequels or JJ verse.
No
YES!!!!
No
100%
We love mediocrity and juvenile plots! Give us more MatalasTrek now, so we can go back to hiding in our safe space, and not worrying that Trek might do something that makes us Gen Xers uncomfortable!
Bro you just described JJ verse lol.
LOL, right bud?
And these comparisons fits — both dudes above are 100% correct, I know the second dude above thinks he was joking but he gets a Gold Star for Unintentionally pointing out the exact problem with Picard season three — it’s a lot like Star Wars and JJ Abrams-Trek, and bears very little resemblance to the types of stories, problem solving and thought the make the next generation great.
The amazing thing is JJ was wrong for Star Wars as well, he messed it up royally. And everyone kept saying he would be good because at least he has a good visual sense, and can string together exciting action scenes.
There is never going to be another good Star Wars film, i’ve come to accept that. Empire was the last really excellent film. Jedi was the last worth seeing at all, ever since the prequel Star Wars has been garbage. Did i kind of like the Pod race and duel of the fates, yes but a couple of fun things doesn’t change how awful the overall story was.
Force Awakens was the most amount of fun i had since Return of the Jedi, even if it was a pale remake of Star Wars. Still Last Jedi killed the series dead with the death of Skywalker. And it was the most novel of the sequels, great cinematography, art design, score. Great standalone movie bad 8th film in a Saga. Rian Johnson is a true auteur i just totally disagree with how he saw Luke.
Rise of Skywalker was a bad remake of Return of the Jedi and the Dark Empire comic book, i rate it worse than Attack of the Clones.
Yep! 😉
The cancelled series Discovery says hi. Complain all you want, what works, works. And if no one ever cared about nostalgia, Star Trek The Motion Picture would never had been a thing and there would never have been a TNG or any series or movies that came after. Your black and white argument is ridiculous.
Discovery was canceled because it ran five seasons on a streaming service — That’s very long and is a success by any stretch of the imagination for streaming.
Get back to me when any of the other Trek live action series stream more than five seasons. And I will also point out that there was a logical follow on to Picard that was never greenlighted, despite The show Runner and all the actors campaigning for it, so one might argue that the ‘TNG 2.0 Initiative” ended after three seasons because the studio refused to fund it’s easily set up continuation into Legacy— so basically a cancellation.
You can still do the Legacy series, but if there is a plan to continue SNW with Kirk replacing Pike, then wouldn’t remaking “The Menagerie” be a perfect swan song for Pike as a motion picture?
Wow, yes, I like that idea!!!
Like Mark Trabalus in the 1970s, Paramount execs from any generation would say, “it’s not big enough.”
TMP is by far my favorite Star Trek movie, its quality of wonder and awe. It isn’t a submarine shoot em up. It was about our place in the universe and where are we going, exploration. It was more like 2001 than Star Wars, though no way near as sublime
I agree with the other dude who said you just described the JJ verse because there are a lot of similarities. The only difference is that some fans will adore TNG crew and fan service in Pic S3 so much, that they can’t see the forest through the trees — that Picard season three is much more like Star Wars/JJ Abrams than classic TNG where more mature humans solved problems with their brains, avoided war and behaved better than we were in our society today.
Kurtzman not only hired Matalas, but made the decision to let Matalas take the lead on Pic S3. Kappish, Einstein? :-))
Fair point!
Just out of curiosity, who do you think Terry Matalas was working for?
To me it sounds like they have 12% of a plan.
They know the next movie is coming on Tuesday, they just don’t which decade.
Century is more like it. By the time they make a 23rd century movie it will actually BE the 23rd century.
I just turned 60. I’m hoping to see one more on the big screen before I die.
I’m 6 be happy to see one or two more on the big-screen myself, assuming I ever find it safe to go out, but I’d settle for it being film-projected versions of TFF or TMP or TWOK. It feels weird that the last Trek film I saw in the theater was an Abramsverse movie, even if I did actually very much enjoy a few stretches of BEYOND.
Cinematic Star Trek Infrastructure Week!
It’s going to be big!
,😂
The origin movie idea seems like a marketing-driven attempt to “reintroduce” this universe to a new audience. Berman tried to develop an “origin” movie after NEMESIS too. But the 2009 movie showed that known characters have appeal as well. Go do an origin limited series on streaming. The movies should be special.
”There’s every intent of a new movie coming out in the very near future.” Please define : very near future.
Sounds like Winter…of 2031 possibly.
Hey people laugh but if someone told everyone in 2016 the next movie wouldn’t be out until 2024 people would’ve snickered and laughed.
It’s now 2024 and still no movie anywhere lol.
Sometime before the sun goes out and burns up the Earth.
In movies stuck in development hell near futures, 2037.
Should be a film focused on combat. Hard R too
If they did a ‘man vs. the elements’ thing, like the Meyer Khan marooned thing, you could market it as TREK meets TWISTER … instead of cows floating by, they could be ceta alpha eels’ big brothers, the sandworms. (ignoring the story point that the eels are the only indigenous life form, that is, which seems weird, given that if they nobody to burrow into, what is the point of their existence?)
If they did a Kelvin movie, I’d like to see Prime Directive adapted as the fourth film. It’s my favorite trek novel.
PD has nearly always been in my top 5 trek novels, along with THE FINAL REFLECTION,
THE WOUNDED SKY, FEDERATION and A STITCH IN TIME. Ending is not entirely satisfying, but it succeeds so well through the rest of the story (must be one of the only times a book made me tear up in the first chapter, when ‘let me help’ is invoked.)
But doing it with the Kelvin bunch … I dunno, that’d be like getting kissed over a telephone line, because the faces and the voices of these folks just don’t resonate with me like the originals.
The Reese-Stevens’ were so good at writing Trek novels that I could hardly believe they were responsible for the dreadful Vulcan arc in the fourth season of “Enterprise.”
Haven’t read “Prime Directive” in decades, and can still vividly remember the initial disaster that cripples the Enterprise and prompts a nuclear exchange on an alien planet. Or Kirk’s slow adjustment to life as a pilot on a civilian freighter. Or Spock’s bemused reaction to apartment life in 23rd century San Francisco. Or a no-nonsense Starfleet Admiral’s warning to McCoy that the swing he took at him had best be the last. And that final, moving scene with “Let me help.” It’s a great book.
There’s also a great bit where McCoy meets a little girl who he later hopes will wind up running Starfleet in 50 years.
I have vague memories of reading Prime Directive and thinking it was awesome, the Ent destruction in Beyond seemed to have been swiped from the novel?
No. The Enterprise in PD had one of its warp nacelles trashed and had to be ignominiously towed home, but didn’t suffer anywhere near the destruction of its namesake in BEYOND. (Of course, since the latter had essentially the same design as that in Trek 2009, it wasn’t much of a loss. Even nu-Kirk didn’t seem all that put out by it.)
I often wonder if the ramming in NEM was inspired by an infinitely cooler ramming in FEDERATION (one of the best Worf laughs ever after the ramming, when Picard asked for a damage report and is told, ‘it is difficult to know where to begin.’)
The R-S folk really came up with ingenious action set-pieces … in one of their ShatnerVerse books, they had the good guys in a DEFIANT-style craft that manages to decloak while inside the open area of a Rom WarBird. The ship then just sits and spins while firing to take out the Rom vessel surrounding it.
Regarding BEYOND … Lin really did seem like a genuine TOS fan. I interviewed him and he was all about the Kirk speech to the crew concerning the unknown that he gives via intercom in CORBOMITE, and that is why the movie has got a similar bit.
Didn’t they write Shatner’s Kirk books?
That was always my understanding, yes.
Sure the next JJ movie which hasn’t happened since 2016 is just going to materialize. Haven’t we done this go round like a dozen times.
Bloody Hell, it’s like Groundhog Day.
There are always plans, scripts, directors, and announcements.
I won’t believe there is another film until the day it is released.
FYI: George Cheeks, the president and CEO of CBS and chief content officer for news and sports at Paramount+ was interviewed recently by New York Magazine’s Vulture.com website, where the following exchange occurred:
Interviewer: One of the other big things under your purview is the Star Trek franchise. Discovery is about to start its final season; you have Starfleet Academy in the works and the upcoming Section 31 movie, in addition to Strange New Worlds. But a lot of fans, myself included, are trying to understand why there’s been no greenlight for Legacy, the proposed spin off built from characters introduced in Picard. Is Trek still a priority for the company?
Cheeks: Star Trek remains one of the most important franchises for Paramount Global, and Paramount+ specifically. There’s so much great opportunity with the franchise, and it’s really about the cadence and the timeline of it. We don’t want to offer up all these amazing premium drama series at once. We want to time it out appropriately. Luckily, we have this incredible partner in Alex Kurtzman, and we all work together to sort of manage long-range planning across many years, to figure out what’s the right cadence for dropping new Star Trek series. So there’s a lot we’re focused on, but it should not suggest to you [a scaling back]. There is a tremendous amount of focus and prioritizing of the Star Trek franchise.
The above is kind of vague, it’s true, but if taken at face value further confirms that some kind of future Trek plans are afoot, at least for TV if not film.
and they have no plans on getting rid of kurtzman and secret hidehout which i am happy about cause they have made the best star trek shows they blow tos and tng to bits which was needed and a good thing and have made each show different from each other in tone and story which is another good thing as the berman years was just rinse and repeat story plots with different casts in each show he oversaw and had a hand in aka tng,voy and ent
and kurtzman and his team have done a amzing job visually updating the mid 23rd century visual designs to fit way better between ent era visual designs and tmp era visual designs
i don’t go to see films in theaters it is boring lame and dated i wait to see films on physical media way better experiance and i can watch the movies as many times as i want for just one initial payment and i do not have to leave my house
Wow … I’m the last person on this board to defend Berman, but … wow (as in, no! with respect to design and story and pretty much every creative decision made by the Kurtzenjammer kids.)
This reminds me of a lady who used to post on these boards some years ago. She was very nice, hailed from some Northern European country if memory serves, and insisted that the third season of TOS was in fact the best season. Sometimes the best thing to do is to nod respectfully — IDIC and all that — and move on.
s3 had the least diffusion on the lens, that’s about the most respectful nod I can make on that. But I see your point.
Al Francis was no Jerry Finnerman, alas.
I really actually like the sharpness/contrast of DAY OF THE DOVE, esp on the bridge after things get dark and moody.
Perhaps because her child became a leader, but didn’t have much of a brain?
Some minders do consider turnabout to be fair play, after all.
it is true so many tng plots were reused in voy and ent either cause they did well the first time berman decided to reuse them to see if lighting would strike a 2nd and third time or cause the the plot did not work the first time with the tng cast that he thought it would for for voy and then again for ent if it did not do well with voyager cast and if it he would still reuse it for a enterprise episode it is like a cover of a cover of a cover with a song i is not surprising i only like a hadfull of tng episodes most of which are q and borg episodes the others are yesterdays enterprise and cause and effect and genesis and next phase and timescape the rest of tng was boring all talk no do aka barely any action and the characters were way to perfect no conflicts between them was also un realistic at least the rest of the berman era shows ds9 ,voy,ent and the tng films fixed that and fixed the all talk and no do that tng suffered from
Not trying to get on your case, but punctuation exists for a reason. Be nice to use some occasionally.
not good with puncuation as i generally do not know where to use it
You learn this in primary school. Not getting on your case and don’t know how old you are but it’s good to know the fundamentals for at least getting work or career.
But I think you know this so I’ll move on.
I like Kurtzman and the new Trek, but let’s not get carried away here — that’s so over the top that it strains credibility and comes off as silly, no offense.
I’m happy you are enjoying the new shows dear!
I truthfully have the opposite view but that’s my opinion only. I really love TOS and TNG the most but I know others hate them. I can’t get my own daughter to watch TOS to save my life lol. She thinks it’s too outdated and sexist. But she loves mostly everything else.
Fans should just like what they like. I always believed that.
It *is* outdated and sexist. Been a fan since ‘72, and have no problem acknowledging the obvious. Hell, Roddenberry acknowledged it himself by the early Seventies, which just goes to show how rapidly attitudes were changing back then. But at its best there are aspects to those old shows that are truly timeless, and it’d be a real shame if it turned out that younger people won’t be able to appreciate them in context.
Me either. I completely understand why it’s not for younger people today. Us old farts grew up in a different time. It’s still a good show but it’s very much a show for it’s time.
I think for younger fans like my daughter the other shows are easier to watch. And she loves TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT and the reboot movies which she prefers over TOS. She’s a proud Trekkie! 🙂
That’s where I always been with TOS. I like it and I know older fans who grew up with it are special for them. But it’s just too outdated for me to like it on the level of the other shows.
But there is enough Star Trek for everyone to go around these days. I have all my 24th and 25th century shows and that’s enough for me for a lifetime at this point.
Nothing of substance there. And we don’t really need another Kelvin movie just say goodbye to that series.
At the rate things are going, that is likely what will happen. It sees increasingly unlikely that they will ever get the Kelvin cast back together for another movie, and that there is nothing beyond Beyond.
So this basically tells us nothing
I’m sure they want to create the next MCU, so playing around with current “Legacy” and JJ-verse iterations are probably getting in the way of that. Closure for the latter would be nice if there were a guaranteed net profit, but JJ just could never take it to that level.
Beyond sequel with the same cast who I think did an ok job is the only viable movie that’s getting made anytime some! Otherwise kiss the movies goodbye too expensive to launch a new cast & ship! Might as well stay on streaming!
The current cast is too expensive and their last movie bombed. That’s part of the problem lol.
The prequel movie is probably much cheaper and why they are ‘making’ that one instead now.
I have every intent of getting Salma Hayek to swap me for her billionaire husband. All that remains is conceiving an action plan and putting it into place.
Tell her you got a lead role in mind for her on the next Dexter reboot. If she says she doesn’t recognize you, quickly flash her your drivers license (so she can’t see the middle name), and mention that you have to spend two hours in make up a day to do that character, say: ‘I’m one of those chameleon type of actors that can play any part. You know, I was supposed to get the role of Feyd on Dune 2, but Austin Butler has a better agent than I do.”
There was a guy on these very forums who insisted on calling me “Dexter,” repeatedly. I’m still trying to track the MF’er down.
(Not to disparage my namesake, who I thought was awesome in “Six Feet Under.” But I could never manage to get into a show about a sympathetic serial killer, however much I tried.)
LOL. Yeah, good actor, but that show was not my cup of tea, either.
I thought DEXTER ran out of gas in the last season, but when they did the reboot, we went back and rewatched the full run, and this time we enjoyed pretty much the whole thing, with only minor caveats. There are definitely debatable/discussable elements, esp in the first few seasons.
I might do that too. You know, it’s probably not a great reflection of our society today when shows from decades past that I recall shocked me or bothered me, seem tamer/less bothersome today when I watch them again.
I didn’t ever have a problem with that aspect on DEXTER, because while I’m liberal/radical in my outlook on most things, I’m probably as hawkish as they come when it concerns violent felons, who I think deserve nothing except to expiate their actions by being disassembled for organ banks and then thrown away.
What if the party in question turns out to be innocent after disassembly? What does a society’s willingness to take that risk say about that society? Finally, per Larry Niven — no one’s idea of a woke liberal — what kind of incentive structure does an organ bank economy create for the imposition of the death penalty?
Those are all very valid questions, and I’ve actually reread some of the GIL THE ARM Niven stories recently, which really get into the organ bank dilemma (do you go into the banks if you’re caught jaywalking?) I mean, I love a Peter Hyams movie called THE STAR CHAMBER where judges re-try problem cases and issue new more correct verdicts accompanied by death sentences… and when they get it wrong, they kind of shrug and figure ‘it happens.’ I’m totally with them up to a certain point in the story, and then I’m still quasi-with them afterward, because in the main they are dealing with injustice and taking repeat offenders out of the loop.
I seriously don’t believe in rehabilitation or expiation — those things work to terrific dramatic effect in movies, but I’ve never thought they work in real life, or seen any evidence of it personally. And I really don’t think there’s any system in this country that begins to address the immense pain inflicted on a victim and the victim’s family and friends by a violent attack or killing. The very least punishment should be at least on the level of the crime itself, and that is never the case — because it somehow lowers the goodies down to the level of the baddies. Trevanian writes in THE MAIN about how rape might be the greatest crime of all because it is a destroyer of love and the ability to love, and yet the way perps get away with it or with literal slaps on the wrist is enough to make my blood boil any time I make the mistake of reading a story about such a trial.
You need a genuine prosecution system that works without corruption to make any of this possible, and given how many cops seem to be prejudiced, that would invalidate a lot of what I propose. But even though I’ve only had a couple incidents in my life that would qualify as being tangentially involved with such folks, I can say that I have a 44 year and 1 month old memory of my best friend from childhood shot and killed in cold blood as part of a flubbed arson by somebody who apparently only served a few years for it once it was pled down, that that ain’t right. (or as Niven characters would say, TANJ! [There Ain’t No Justice.]
It was in Niven’s story “The Jigsaw Man” where the protagonist is sentenced to having his organs harvested after running a couple of traffic lights, though the concept was carried over in “Gil the Arm” stories and one of his later novels. I think Harlan Ellison was the original publisher, in the first “Dangerous Visions” book.
Well, we’ll have to agree to disagree on this one, as I’ve always been very much opposed to the death penalty and have been given little cause to change my mind aside from the truly horrific details of what individual humans are capable of, which doesn’t meet the minimum standard of counterbalancing the certainty that innocent people will inevitably be condemned even in a justice system free of corruption. One thing that has changed, however, is my newfound relative lack of self-righteousness on the issue. I long ago came to understand that I’ve been fortunate never to have been the victim or even been close to the victim of a violent crime, and that it’s presumptuous for me to harshly judge the opinions of anyone who has. I very much appreciated that DEAD MAN WALKING gave a sympathetic voice to R. Lee Ermey’s grieving father, who wanted nothing more in life than to see his daughter’s killer receive just retribution, even though the film’s director and star are staunch opponents of capital punishment. My sincere sympathies over your friend.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 1,879,452 times… won’t get fooled again.
In the boy who cried wolf, the wolf did eventually show up
Its hi time there was a DS9 Movie that could tie in with Voyager and Picard!
Year: 2063
Old TG1701 is walking up the stairs carrying his granddaughter Annika to bed
TG1701: Goodnight darling. Have a good sleep.
Annika: But I’m not sleepy yet grandpa. Can you tell me a story please?
TG1701: OK! What would you like to hear?
Annika: Tell me the one about Paramount’s constant failures to relaunch the Star Trek movie franchise grandpa.
TG1701 (chuckles): You really like that one, huh?
( Annika nods profusely)
TG701: Weeeeell, it goes back decades ago now all the way to 2016. When they thought people actually wanted to see more Star Trek movies. It was an interesting time. Every year or so after that they would announce a movie just to be forgotten a year or so later. The several thousand Trek fans who still cared about the movies were hoping upon hope maybe this is finally their time…but it never came sadly.
Annika: That was before the AI war, right grandpa?
TG1701: That’s right that’s right. Most of Asia wasn’t the same after that war. But this was doing a much more innocent time then. But they would try many times after that. It looked like around 2033 they announced another movie and they wanted to dedicate it to Simon Pegg who like your grandmother may he rest in peace. But it died quickly.
Annika: But grandma isn’t dead grandpa.
TG1701: Yeah not yet…. unfortunately. Anywho, there were lots of different announcements with a lot of fanfare. In 2036 Christopher Nolans nephew was attached to one. That lasted for a few years. Then around 2041…or was it 2042…anyway another one was announced to be a total reboot and takes place in the 38th century. Something about a villain coming from the 39th century to destroy the Federation for revenge and wanted to kill Captain Sarah Janeway for reasons. Sounded pretty original.
Annika: What happened?
TG1701: Paramount ran into financial problems again and this time were bought out by Empire which was formerly known as X which was formerly known as Twitter which by then had 90% of the media and Internet market share; after it bought Google, Apple and Disney. People mocked President Musk at the time but he was indeed a visionary. Anyway that movie was cancelled for another Fantastic Four movie and Scream 22.
Annika: Did they try to make another one?
TG1701: The last time was back in 2054. This time they decided to bring back the Kelvin actors again. The whole cast was back minus Pegg of course and John Cho already had his new bionic legs so he could participate too. There was rumors they would even shoot some of it on the moon at Musk colony. It would’ve been a massive tax write off.
Karl Urban even came out of retirement to be in it after serving as New Zealand Prime Minister. But that was before all his war crimes came to light. He ended up incarcerated in the same prison President Trump served in. The PR was pretty messy after that.
Annika: Prime Minister Urban was a traitor to democracy aligning with the AI’s and his death sentence is well deserved.
TG1701: Indeed. New Zealand still has a lot to answer for. And then when Zoe Saldana dropped out after being offered $200 million dollars to appear in the final Avatar movie the idea once again died. And it’s been a quiet ever since.
Annika: That was a great story grandpa. You tell it well. I’m ready to go to sleep now.
TG1701: OK kiddo. Nighty night! (Kisses her on the forehead.)
Before he turns out the light Annika has a final question.
Annika: Grandpa with Star Trek 100th anniversary approaching soon, do you think maybe… just maybe there will make another movie for it?
TG1701 (Throws her a smile): According to Chris Pine on his 80th birthday, he said he read they were writing another script or something. He’s says he’s somewhat hopeful it will get made. Wouldn’t that be something? But don’t worry sweetie, we will always have Star Trek in our hearts. And a new season of Lower Decks starts this week!!
Annika: Can’t wait grandpa! Admiral Tendi is the greatest! Cerritos strong!
TG1701: Cerritos strong! Good night baby girl. Sweet dreams. Second star to the right and resistance is futile!
TG1701 turns out the light and closes the door.
lol
I laughed so hard over this. Too funny.
Well done. And I liked your grand daughter name. Clever.
Glad you enjoyed it! And yes the name is on purpose.😉
Ah! Fan fiction! Well done!
Thank you! They are fun to write lol.
Well-played, sir. Though I don’t think “somewhat hopeful” means what the octogenarian Chris Pine thinks it means.
Well Pine is forever the optimist but maybe doubt is finally starting to set in lol! And appreciate the response man. 😀
In my opinion they should put Jonathan Frakes in charge of the Star Trek franchise.
has he written anything worthy of that opinion? Direct – sure. Storycraft….?
How about tapping any of the dozen actual Trek writers who have shown they can craft both one-off and multi-book arcs? But that’s crazy talk….
The Destiny trilogy, Cold Equations, the Fall, heck, even the Prey series was fun. It would make far too much sense to turn those into multiple episode shows. Cast might be starting to age out so make them animes and watch the Legacy fan crowd tune in
I don’t get Paramount. It makes no sense. Why are you overthinking this? The Paramount+ team has it figured out. So defer to them. Release Section 31 in theaters and cancel whatever this next movie is trying to be. JJ-Trek had a decent run, but the need for it is over. Why is there still separation between the TV and movie division?
Team up with Fathom Events on Section 31 and look at the box office results. Trek fans will turn out.
Tangential to a new trek, but THR has a new Shatner interview discussing his career including Trek. He sounds pretty lucid throughout, and his explanation for missing Nimoy’s funeral actually makes sense. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/william-shatner-interview-star-trek-career-1235851602/
Interesting interview. For all his faults, real and perceived, I wish I had half the man’s energy, and I’m almost thirty years his junior. He’s had quite the life, that’s for certain.
Agreed that his explanation for missing Nimoy’s funeral seems reasonable, but given his reputation it was still a pretty bad look. And while I know you have a soft spot for THE FINAL FRONTIER, I remain awestruck at Shatner’s apparently sincere belief that any number of rock suits would have improved it.
It’s not just Shatner drinking his own kool-aid. For all his obvious genius, Doug Trumbull was occasionally the same way with respect to thinking he could ‘glow’ his way over weak story points with a flashy visual. When he was attached to director what wound up being called MILLENNIUM, long before Cheryl Ladd or the atrocious Michael Anderson were involved, he pooh-poohed the weak ending that always plagued that adaptation of John Varley’s short-short story AIR RAID by saying he’d put on a light-show to distract the audience from the shortcomings. Even his original version of SILENT RUNNING, which involved first contact with ExtraTerrestrials, had huge holes in it (receiving and replying in real-time to a video message from outside the galaxy) that he thought everybody would overlook because of the ‘super electric man’ alien he was going to cook up as a climactic visual.
Part of this is filmmakers having to really believe in the story they’re telling, to the point that they trust their logic-jumps aren’t going to spoil the ride. The cut in NORTH BY NORTHWEST that takes Grant and his lady from hanging off Mt. Rushmore to an upper berth bed in a train shouldn’t work IMO — but it does. Indy hanging onto the sub for thousands of miles in RAIDERS … best not think about that one too long.
I get why they felt you needed to see a big shot or two of the main plane crashing at the end of AIR FORCE ONE, but geez, it looked like crap! You could have ‘kept’ the audience by staying with the hero prez as he swung through the air on the rope and just saw the plane auger in from a distance with a shot that didn’t induce cringing.
If TFF had a RAIDERS-sized ending with a squad of fire-breathing rockmen and tons of phaser fire, it would have probably made a lot of filmgoers feel a bit more entertained overall, even if those aspects didn’t really change anything storywise.
I think one of the biggest problems with TFF budgetwise, outside of the obvious ones like picking the wrong vfx house, is that various departments got him to spend money up front on things that weren’t essential (like the wonderfully mega-retro phasers with ammo clips) when he needed that money later to support his ‘vision’ for the film. Some people probably needed to be fired, like whoever kept using film magazines that caused the celluloid to get scratched, so he probably needed to be a little James Cameron-like (god it galls me to say that), or have a producer who would do this.
I’ve talked with Ralph Winter a couple times and he still admitted in the last decade that the team let Shatner down on TFF, but he hasn’t said exactly WHY that happened, and I keep thinking the only way we’d ever see the answer would be to look at the unpublished early version of the MAKING OF TFF book, by the original author before Shatner’s kid was brought in to fix/finish it. I didn’t even know of this till a trekbbs bud admitted having tracked the original author down, but found she was not allowed to talk about the experience let alone circulate the manuscript. Since the published version actually feels kind of warts-and-all at times, it makes me wonder just how much worse the original, presumably truer version would read.
Given how wonderful the film is in so many ways, the depth of scientific illiteracy in SILENT RUNNING is just astonishing. I know that Steve Bochco and Michael Cimino worked on the screenplay, but Trumbull directed the thing and I hold him responsible. That said, he’s not entirely wrong about the ability of genuine awe to paper-over story elements that were perhaps not so well thought out. His revised version of the Spock spacewalk/V’Ger meld is one of the high points of TMP as far as I’m concerned, and well worth whatever ridiculous amount of money it was that they ended up paying him. But would rock suits in TFF have generated awe, or even audience excitement — or just more derision?
I think that the rock folk might well have courted laughter, but with the right bombastic Goldsmith score (another example of another Trumbull like genius, who was well used to being relied upon to spend more than half his life papering over weak movies with his inventive hardworking brilliance) it could have worked better than the almost-not-even-there post-torpedo God presence.
From the point of view of how films were being made even 5 years later, TFF could have benefited from the APOLLO 13 approach, where you shoot a physical object but then enhace it with CG. In this case, you shoot the guy in the suit and capture as much smoke/fire as you can on the day, but then enhance or replace those atmospheric elements with CG particulates. I’m sure if you looked at the APOLLO 13 liftoff sans ice crystals coming off the rocket, it would have been a howler as well. I bring this up because the idea of Shat ‘fixing’ the movie has come up now for half my life, and they could have done it by using the limited live-action as a basis.
But I think TFF was sabotaged by a lot of impractical thinking. Paramount had miles of TMP cloud footage that could have been color-altered and speed-ramped economically to use for The Great Barrier, but apparently nobody even gave that a thought, or repurposing distorted versions of Mutara for that matter. I actually first got that idea about the barrier a month or two after TFF came out, when I saw THE ABYSS and described to a friend the film’s climax when Bud is led into the NTI ship as looking like a speed-ramped version of the TMP cloud passage.
I think a LOT of Trumbull’s thinking came about as a result of the extended Kubrick exposure, and given that he seemed to think that film was in no small part assembled in an eccentric manner by the master, he probably always started off thinking about problems in what I think of as THE MAN FROM UNCLE manner (this is something I remember reading in an interview with the writer on the RETURN OF uncle film), where you start off with a thought and then immediately invert it (Bennett took this approach, emphasizing surprise over suspense, to less successful effect on TFF.) Trumbull himself preferred a ‘negative’ version of the wormhole that appeared on the cover of an issue of ENTERPRISE INCIDENTS, which even in still form looks tons better to me than the ‘flying into an oscilloscope’ version in all cuts of TMP. He even tried a ‘black beam’ for the gun used at the start of BLADE RUNNER just to be different (and in fact, now that I think of it, the CINEFEX story on that film is where he mentions this ‘do the opposite’ idea originating with Kubrick.)
Much like the low-tech space fx in THE RIGHT STUFF the APOLLO 13 visuals work well enough me on an impressionistic level. And even if they had been terrible I’d still like the movie overall.
I will always cut RIGHT STUFF slack for any imperfections in the visuals, just cuz I admire the approach so much. It’s sort of like when you see some ingenious shot done by the Skotak Brothers in ALIENS or ABYSS or several other lower forms, it isn’t exactly ILM but it was done for nothing at all and you can’t help but applaud.
His comments about being in Trek again so long as its meaningful and added to the Trek lore , I think thats what Orci’s Trek 3 would’ve been, Prime Kirk saving Pine Kirk and the kelvinverse from destruction..