Nicholas Meyer Named To ‘Star Trek All Access’ Writing Staff

According to Entertainment Weekly, Nicholas Meyer, best known to Star Trek fans for his work on The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, and The Undiscovered Country, has been named a consulting producer and staff writer for the new CBS digital series, set to debut in 2017.

The news was announced today by showrunner Bryan Fuller:

Nicholas Meyer chased Kirk and Khan ‘round the Mutara Nebula and ‘round Genesis’ flames, he saved the whales with the Enterprise and its crew, and waged war and peace between Klingons and the Federation.  We are thrilled to announce that one of Star Trek’s greatest storytellers will be boldly returning as Nicholas Meyer beams aboard the new Trek writing staff.

We’ll post updates as more information becomes available.

 

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Wow. Three writers from three generations of Star Trek working on the same show. Alex Kurtzman from the recent JJ-era Trek movies, Bryan Fuller from the 1990s Berman-era Trek, and now Nicholas Meyer from the 1980s Bennett-era Trek. This is shaping up to be an interesting show….

Hopefully they can all work together.

Hopefully they don’t pander.

Maybe they should see what DC Fontana is up to. That way, they’d have all eras covered.

@Hubcap Dave, That would be EXCELLENT.

And David Gerrold!

God no.

Yeah, she would be a great choice.
BTW: What would you consider to be the various “eras” of Star Trek? For me, it would be 1960s Roddenberry-created two pilots and three seasons. But I am not sure how to break up the 1970s, if even to call it an era. In that decade, you have the animated series in 1972-1974, but then the motion picture in 1979. All of that was also produced by Roddenberry and different enough from the 1960s series to consider it another era. Should it be enough to be called an era?
Once Harve Bennett was brought on board in the early 1980s, you have the five film series produced by him.
And should we consider the Berman-era from 1987 to 2005? I mean, Roddenberry started TNG, and it could be different enough to break those spin-offs into other eras. But then it was all produced with Berman’s name.
The JJ-era is easy to distinguish, being different enough in style and scope. And are we starting another era with this new show? A Fuller-era? Fullera? And I would be surprised if anyone found this post interesting enough to read it to this end. Dang Daniel. Back at it agai

Dorothy is getting up there in age now and probably wouldn’t want to work the killer hours a show like this requires but it would be a nice gesture if they went to her for some feedback.

Far more excited about Fuller and Meyer than Kurtzman so 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

I was coming to write the same thing. This is truly remarkable. They got someone from every generation of Trek so far. Each with strong reputations (yeah I know not everyone loves Kurtzman but I still think he’s a good writer in general) and cover basically all the main areas of Trek from past to present. If they can get Manny Coto to produce and DC Fontana as someone mentioned then they will cover TOS and Enterprise as well.

Anyway everyone was so worried this was just going to be a show done for a quick buck and bring in people who write Hawaii 5-0 or something. The fact they are bringing in so much of the old guard who not only hold up Trek in a special but actually are GOOD writers, directors and producers bolds well for this show.

I’m getting waaaaaay more excited about than I am with Beyond.

I’m excited…

Kurtzman as storyteller (by himself) makes me nervous. (remember “Tomorrowland… even the ending credits sequence was exactly the same as JJ Trek)

However- teamed with two writing powerhouses? I’ll pay. Take my money, CBS (and lets hope those storytellin’ egos can work together)

Would like to see Manny Coto involved. He worked miracles as showrunner on Enterprise’s fourth and final season.

Yes!!!! Now I am really getting excited.

This is great news!!

Great news. Wrote 2 of my 3 fav movies.

The man who penned Khan. This is friggin’ AWESOME!!!!!

Sorry to nitpick, but Carey Wilber and Gene L. Coon wrote “Space Seed”, the episode which Khan sprung from. An urban legend has it that the Khan character was initially a Scandinavian named Harold Ericcson.

“An urban legend has it that the Khan character was initially a Scandinavian named Harold Ericcson.” — Adam Bomb 1701

Not an urban legend according to CBS Entertainment:

http://www.startrek.com/article/khan-was-almost-harald-ericsson

“For the past five years, we have had the happy privilege of being able to study the archives of both writer/director Nicholas Meyer at the University of Iowa and those of Star Trek creator and visionary Gene Roddenberry at UCLA.

Khan was actually born Harald Ericsson in an 18-page outline dated August 29, 1966 by journalist turned television writer Carey Wilber. Wilber is familiar to genre fans for his work on Lost in Space and had written for such TV classics as Bonanza.” — ‘Khan Was Almost… Harald Ericsson’; Maria Jose and John Tenuto; STARTREK.com; July 16, 2013

AWESOME! Best News EVER!

Oh, yes. Star Trek written by, well, WRITERS. Wow.

I’d love to know wonder what Nicholas Meyer thought of Into Darkness.

I was just thinking that awkward moment when Kurtzman and Meyer meet and someone brings up that who WOK-STID bit. ;)

Meyer: “So, you um, wrote the ending your movie to match the ending from my iconic movie even using some of the same dialogue huh?”

Kurtzman: “Uh, yeah.”

Meyer: “So how did that go?”

Kurtzman: “You know what Trek fans are like.”

Meyer: “That bad huh?”

Kurtzman: “Yeah we’re never doing anything like that again.”

WOW! Another good decision by Kurtzman?! I had no faith in his ability to put a good staff together, but he has now repeatedly proven me wrong.

This show might actually be good!

Now this is really great news if true. LLAP

If they let Meyer participate, then yes. Just like there is stunt casting for actors, there is similar for producers, etc. They give him a big fat title, throw some money at him to say how great this new show is publicly to placate all of us. I hope not, but still a possibility.

He IS 70 frakin years old… is he up to the daily grind? All good questions.

Wow….they are trying to cover all generations of Trek shows/movies here. This is brilliant!

Hopefully “the show-bitcher” can just keep his trap shut on this positive news for once?

Was that last bit necessary?

No, you are right, it wasn’t. I can just him though deflating all of this great news into another negative…sigh. Sorry

@Prodigal Son,

You really can’t help yourself, can you? We don’t need this crap, take your issue to the chat room & have at it all day if you want.

Oh, thank goodness you stepped in here, because Brian and I really needed your help to cover this.

Thank you so much!

And Brian stepped in only because you can’t help yourself with your continuous whining about Cygnus-X1. Him having a different opinion than you is NOT the end of world.

Dude, please see Brian’s post above. Enough already!

Let’s be positive now, please. Even Cygnus is trying.

No, he’s not. The show could be a smash success, and he’ll find a way to pee on the parade.

Introspection from Prodigal Son? Made my day. :)

Well, the negativity seems to be seeping back into the village cranks comments, so I guess the answer to the question is yes. It’s positive news, and he’s found a way to bitch about it.

C’mon gang, let’s move on. This is great news!

Great news! I’m actually excited to watch this one.

Haven’t been excited about a Star Trek series since DS9.

DC Fontana. David Gerrold. Make it so, CBS!

You are absolutely correct. After sailing through 50 years of Star Trek, the time is right to pull all generations together and move forward into the next 50 years.

Regards.

Well, they were both on the first season of TNG – along with a bunch of other TOS folks, and look how that turned out.

I worry that looking to the past has repeatedly proven not to work for Trek.

That’s because Roddenberry’s lawyer hamstrung them, and neither Fontana nor Gerrold were allowed to do their best work for TNG.

I’d love to see D. C. Fontana on the staff of the new show! The one who gave us “Journey to Babel” and “The Enterprise Incident” would be a great addition.

Gerrold’s a pompous hack.

Wow, I’m shocked. This was actually an unmitigated good decision. Now all Kurtzman has to do is basically stay out of the way, and this could turn out to be great show.

Pigs are flying and the A/C is on in hell right now.

LOL — well done, for a change, Cygus. Thanks

Or he’s been hacked….

On the other hand, you don’t get any atta boys for offering up a backhanded compliment. Kurtzman IS hiring these guys, he is going his job by bringing people who have a reasonable shot at making this show a success…and the best you can offer is some tripe that if he doesn’t do WHAT HE IS DOING, somehow the show might be a success. Go take a walk, find some baby kittens to stomp on to make you feel better, and you’ll have that old negative vibe flowing again in no time.

Phil, please never use that phrase again, my cats are upset. Okay, it’s me.

” Nicholas Meyer named to ‘Star Trek All Access’ writing staff ”

That’s what I’ve been saying! But so have many others.

The Voyage Home! The only Star Trek Film that had a real impact on the world.

Great news! Unlike Michael Giacchino who uses music from one movie 99% the same for the next!
I wish Jerry was around, the best movie composer of all time.

Have to agree with you about Jerry – his score for STTMP was my very first vinyl album purchase as a kid. In his absence, I would put Bear McCreary at the top of the list. He’s highly versatile, prolific, and in my opinion the best current television composer – and one of the very few who records with a real orchestra.

There are many new composers out there that would do Trek good

On the other hand Roddenberry hated Wrath of Khan. So i dont know if his involvement is good or not.

GR hated everything from time to time. WOK is still held in high esteem by a good portion of the fan base….

Roddenberry kept trying to plug his President Kennedy time-travel story back then.

Roddenberry was responsible for TMP which the studio thought was an over bloated bore fest that was the most expensive film at the time and barely made much of a profit because of it. Roddenberry got kicked off his own franchise because he was too difficult to work with, stubborn and demanded the franchise be taken a completely different way before.

Paramount brought in new guys for the sequel including Meyer and history was changed for the better. TWOK was classic Star Trek again and fans loved. it.

The last time Roddenberry was involved with Trek was the first two seasons of TNG which people consider the worse of the series and didn’t get great until Rick Berman took over.

I wish people stopped acting like Roddenberry is some Christ like figure. He created a good concept but most people around here knows it was the talent of others that made the shows and later films what they became famous for.

TMP may have been a “bore fest” to most ‘Trek fans, but it is the most “sci-fi” film out of the entire franchise. And don’t get me wrong. I think TWOK was the best film out of the franchise, but the film set the tone for future ‘Trek films for over using the “revenge trope” a bit too much, IMO.

So Star Trek 3 ,4 5,and 6 were about revenge?? If your talking about NU trek OK.

Having just read Bob Justman and Herb Solow’s book about the origins of Star Trek I have to say I completelt agree. The irony is that Rodenberry (like the rest of us) was simply a flawed human being who made mistakes and didn’t always do the best by others. To revere him as a God like figure is just silly. Ultimately he gave us Star Trek but plenty of other people contributed to weave the richer tapestry that it has become over the last half century.

Roddenberry took a lot of heat over the years for the budget of “TMP” going out of control, which I think is unfair. I don’t know how much he had to do with hiring (and firing) Robert Abel for a job for which Abel was clearly in way over his head; I think that the Paramount suits had more to do with that.

Adam Bomb 1701,

Now you want to talk about your Urban Legends.

Paramount, and a lot of other studios back then, had in place a little thing known as “blind bidding” where they made the theater owners bid in an auction to earn the right to screen their TREK motion picture and Paramount guaranteed they’d have a picture completed by the agreed upon release date or they’d return all the auction money. They raised $35 million according Douglas Trumbull. The National Theater Owners estimated more like $50 million. They were cash rich even before the cameras started rolling as Paramount had already lined up the funds to begin production before the bid. But that make or break release date was the cause of most of the production’s woes when Paramount insisted on keeping Wise straddled with the not delivering Abel.

You have correctly identified the source of the budget problems as the suits themselves. Their constant waffling between motion picture, TV movie, TV pilot, and total series commitment to launch a new network, before finally settling on theatrical release wasn’t a financial asset either.

As it turns out Roddenberry wasn’t so much the great bird of the galaxy as we thought. Roddenberry wasn’t a very nice guy and I can see why after STTMP HE WAS REDUCED to a producer in name only.What made Star trek after was all the great writers on all the shows and films. I wouldn’t have wanted to work for him Star Trek or not.

Excellent news!

Oh, no!! Not Nick Meyer!!
There, now that we got that out of the way for the naysayers, this seems to be a positive development for the rest of us. I might just pony up the money to watch this…..

Now this is a Dream Team of trek royalty. I can’t wait I am very excited.

Great news, IMO. Also, is that sweater around his shoulders the one he put on Merritt Buttrick during ST2 filming?

It is very very cold….in space.

@ quarkpt & fred
L O L

2 points:

First, in regards to Mr. Meyer: Epic Win!

Second, in regards to the streaming issue, see this quote:

“The new series will launch with a special preview broadcast on CBS in early 2017, with all subsequent first-run episodes then bowing exclusively on CBS All Access, the network’s digital SVOD and live streaming service. The series is the first original show developed for CBS All Access”

*First* *Run* are the key words, IMO. If you want to see it *first*, you have to subscribe. But re-runs will be on regular TV. And yes, I saw the word “exclusively”, but that means the same thing as when a news site gets an “exclusive”; they are the *first* ones to release the news, but that does *not* mean others can’t report it afterwards.

Oh My…..looks like I’ll be buying into that CBS streaming service after all….

This is very interesting. I really hope they stay in the Prime universe.

I predict this new universe will be the best one yet!

Made tweak to article to mention that Nick will also be serving as a consulting producer in addition to writing.

Even better news….

Fantastic Brian, – LLAP.

This is incredible news!!!!

Great news! Really, really looking forward to this. Solid storytelling, great characterisation and beat perfect dialogue.

Lest we forget, Harve Bennett had a wee bit to do with TWOK &c.

Harve had a lot to do with 2 thru 6

Yes! There is a god…. and he needs a starship!

Fantastic news! I half expect Leap Day to become something special throughout Trekdom as well. Lest some forget: Meyer wasn’t just a giant in Trek film production history, he also made a name for himself on television withe impactful, THE DAY AFTER, in 1983.

Great great news! Awesome!

I’m less excited about this than other people are. I didn’t like the Star Trek movies as much as I liked the TOS television episodes; I thought the tone of the movies was different, in a way I found less appealing. Meyer thought of Starfleet as “the Navy in space” and added some militaristic touches to the movies that weren’t present in the TV show (such as people shouting “Captain on the bridge,” which was not present in any of the 79 episodes of TOS). He also changed the characters somewhat.

So, yeah, the guy does have talent and skill, but I don’t feel as if he ever understood the magic of TV-era TOS, and I was hoping for an optimistic Starfleet, not the kind of show where Kirk could say, of the Klingons, “Let them die,” as he did in TUC. In “Day of the Dove,” it took an alien entity to make Kirk behave that way; when not being mind-controlled, Kirk mostly tried to work out differences. One of my favorite Kirk moments is in “By Any Other Name,” where he and Rojan are having a fist fight, and in the middle of the fist fight, Kirk is still trying to talk Rojan into approaching the Federation as friends instead of would-be conquerors. I also loved his, “We’re not going to kill TODAY” in “A Taste of Armageddon.”

It’s not clear to me that Meyer understands that Kirk or that Meyer understands the kind of Starfleet or the kind of Federation that could have produced that Kirk. And that’s the Starfleet and the Federation that I was hoping to see.

Yeah. His dialogue also was often very stilted — and sometimes a bit too heavy on the literary references. It became a Star Trek cliche — and, along with technobabble, a filler. Would that work now in a 2017 show? I hope so.

@ Jack, Indeed; my nickname for STVI is “Star Trek: Klingons Quote Shakespeare”

Well, I guess this goes to show, you can’t please everybody.

You can’t. It was great 34 years ago. I still love TWOK and VI — but I watched Khan in a theatre a few weeks back, and it was a bit startling (I watch it every year or so but somehow it was more noticeable on a movie screen) to realize oddly constructed some of the dialogue was. It was a historical adventure set in the future. It worked beautifully then, I think.

And who knows, maybe Meyer’s writing has changed or he’ll tackle it differently now. His recent comments are reassuring. We’ve all changed — and so has TV. I’m sure he has too.

I’m not bashing Meyer or Khan. It’s just that repeating itself has never worked well for Trek.

I worry whenever anyone thinks they’ve figured out the formula for Trek. The results (Trek V, Nemesis, Voyager, Enterprise, Into Darkness) usually aren’t great Trek.

“All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by” – I love the nautical references in Trek.

But were not getting a Kirk era Trek this time around, I’m sick of the TOS, let’s move on. With something brand new Meyer is best suited for the job.

I actually only like the movies part of TOS of the original series I only like a few episodes.

Unbelievable news! Nick Meyer is responsible for some of the finest Star Trek productions that have ever happened. And, most important, he understands that good Star Trek should have a THEME! This new series keeps looking better and better. Wonderful news!

Truly great news. My anticipation for this new series has increased considerably.

This is great news!! Love this, Meyer is a very well read individual, who understands the Horatio Hornblower aspect of Trek because he has actually read the books….now, if they can get him to stay true to the source of TOS and not let him run too wild with his own ideas ( he hated the design of the bridge lol) he will be a marvelous asset. But I have to temper my excitement with caution, lest I forget TNG started with Gene Roddenberry, DC Fontana and David Gerrold! But I’m liking everything I’m seeing…now if they can just resist the urge to jump on the the serialized bandwagon…

Wait who said this new show has anything to do with the TOS in anyway. This is suppose to be a new show ,no Kirk & Spock. Star Trek must move away from that era to be successful. They did it before with next gen DS9 and others. The only thing that was the same was the century.

Is this real? Sounds like the biggest nerd dream come true. ;)

So it will be literate then.

Sounds like I might finally be getting the Star Trek sequel series I’ve always hoped for. Very pleased.

I’m thinking that this could be shaping up to be a Klingon-centric series. Star Trek: Empire anyone?

Now we just need the Reeves-stevens and the Okudas onboard!

Need gas money will reach climax if Ron D. Moore comes on board.

Dang autospell.. meant to say Nerdgasm will reach climax.

That’s one of the best autospell mistakes I’ve ever seen! Im literally lol-ing

My wife and son are wondering why I am laughing so much….that was AWESOME! !!!!! Thank you

Please, Cdreed, no meter violations now.

I don’t ever want to run into you at the gas station. Probably the best autospell mistake I’ve seen…..classic!!!!!!

My wife and son are wondering why I am laughing so much….that was AWESOME! !!!!! Thank you

#gasmoneyfortrekkers

Star Trek 2, 4 and 6 are among the best Star Trek movies, so I approve this choice.

Just in case he or anyone else of importance is reading this, please don’t forget to add a proper amount of female characters to the new series. In all the Star Trek series and movies so far, female characters were always in the clear minority. This should finally change. At least 50% female characters would be nice and innovative for the Star Trek franchise.

Honestly they bring in DC Fontana, Ronald D. Moore, Manny Coto and Ira Steven Behr to come in and write some episodes if nothing else that would be a dream. The best of TOS, TNG, DS9 and Enterprise would make me a happy camper.

But having Meyer is a big catch. He gets all the Trek nerds excited and telegraphs if nothing else they are taking this revival seriously.

At this point I can even see them asking Johnathan Frakes to direct a few episodes as well. Yeah I know I’m having a nerdgasm lol but once they got Meyer for this show who has never worked on a Trek show before all bets are off now. Kurtzman is clearly trying to get as many Trek vets involved in this as possible and that bolds well. Thats what so many of us wanted for the reboot films but now it looks like thats what they are doing for the show.

Make Star Trek GREAT again! (Yeah I kind of stole that)

Nicholas Meyer and Co will make a good job of Star Trek Series Six.
I can see CBS and Secret Hideout working together to make Star Trek Series Six a 7-season show.
I can also see Paramount Pictures making 11 more Abramsverse movies after Star Trek Beyond.

Nah. Nobody really cares about the Abramsverse any more and Beyond has zero hype or buzz going for it. They’ll take the franchise out back to be shot after it underperforms and it’ll be down to trek on teevee — where it should be!

“I can also see Paramount Pictures making 11 more Abramsverse movies after Star Trek Beyond.”

Boo! *throwing tomatoes and eggs*

If that happens we may all need gas money …… see above post

#gasmoneyfortrekkers

That would be really amazing. I’m getting really excited with every new thing we hear about the series. They are assembling the best Trek talents out there, first they brought in Fuller, then the Tony Todd rumor & NOW Nicholas Meyer!

I NEED GAS MONEY.
Lol.

Star Trek should be YOOOGE! It’s BEEYOOOTIFUL!

Still not clear but I guess we might see the new series on TV up here in Canada.

From startrek.com

“In the U.S., a special premiere episode will air on the CBS Television Network and all subsequent first-run episodes will be available exclusively on CBS All Access. The series will also be available on television stations and platforms in other countries around the world.

http://www.startrek.com/article/nicholas-meyer-joins-new-star-trek-series

I may have missed where it’s going to be made, with the exchange rates what they are, I’d be surprised if they weren’t making up there, too

Ahmed Today 1:18 pm

Check this Trekmovie interview with Meyer about that & other

That’s exactly where my mind went when I read the news. If Kurtzman doesn’t interfere with the creative side of things, then Meyer’s influence can really shine through in the series. The K/O style of creative vision is very different from, and I’d say at odds with, what a thoughtful, mature writer like Nick Meyer is going to produce. Fuller being the showrunner, I’d expect him to be more involved in the day-to-day creative vision for the show than Kurtzman. At least, that’s my hope.

Cygnus –

Remember what I said to you a few months ago when this was announced? CBS is going to do their damnedest to make this show incredibly appealing to the fanbase, because they need all of us to make the whole streaming venture viable.

@Brian, It sure looks that way.

Not to pee on the wedding cake, but Meyer cowrote TUC, which is pretty amazingly godawful in most ways. Doesn’t overshadow his work on TWOK, but is something to consider. Also figuring out who is making the calls is important, as Fuller answering to K might be as bad as Fuller answering to Braga. I will happily withdraw all complaints as soon as the open submission policy returns, however (not holding breath on that.)

I thought Bryan Fuller is the lead guy with Krutzman serving as oversight?

The official Trek site described Fuller’s roles as follow:

“Bryan Fuller, who will co-create, produce and serve as showrunner of the upcoming Star Trek series”

http://www.startrek.com/article/nicholas-meyer-joins-new-star-trek-series

He is. Didn’t I say that?

Cyg, just stop. This is Kurtzmans baby, he’s bringing the talent together, and when these creative people KURTZMAN have assembled sit down for their periodic meetings, it’s KURTZMAN who will be approving the concepts and directions for HIS SHOW. As much as you desperately need people to believe Alex is the hack you’ve been proclaiming him to be, hinting around that CBS tossed him the show on the provision that he get no where near it is just stupid, even by your standards.

It’s about time one of Trek’s all-time greatest talents was invited back into the game. I think this is a great sign that Fuller isn’t worried about egos and is focused on putting together a diverse creative staff (old and new talent) that will give this show the best chance of succeeding.

Immensely satisfying to see this decision, and an interesting contrast between Paramount/ movie and CBS/TV decision-making regarding staff.

Also the difference between network and streaming, I would imagine. If he wasn’t promised freedom, do you think Meyer would have signed on? My guess is no.

Trekmovie, please disable the upvote/downvote feature. No good will come of it.

It doesn’t even work properly, separating people who like a comment from those who do not like it into two groups so that you can see how many liked it vs. how many did not like it.

No, instead, if you downvote a comment that has 5 likes, it subtracts a like vote from the total, so that it becomes 4 likes, which is NOT the same thing as measuring how many likes vs. dislikes a given comment obtains.

Please disable the feature. It works stupidly and it will encourage groupthink, both positive and negative.

Agree, I hit a couple of likes above and noted the same. Didn’t feel fair to the comment, and likewise concerned about a pile-on effect.

Apart from that, like the new board!

Thank you, dmduncan. I agree with your comment above. I have been saying this all along.

I could not agree more!!!