ST: XI - The Menagerie

[Dave]

The latest reports -- Trek Today/Slashdot/Bureau 42 -- are based upon an interview Rick Berman has done for Star Trek Communicator (Star Trek fan club newsletter)

http://www.trektoday.com/news/090704_04.shtml

Apparently, 'Enterprise' will not be going near the Earth-Romulan Wars because that will be featured in the next film.

I've read a lot of discussion on how this is the work of Paramount Executives. I have to agree that making a Romulan Wars film with a cast of unknowns would generate a lot more profit than getting TNG/DS9/VOY actors to reprise their TV roles. But that would show a complete disregard for the fans.

So, what is new?

BTW: dvo47p -- 'Flux Capacitors' were the invention of Doc Brown in 'Back to the Future'. 'Star Trek' just borrowed them (presumably as a joke.)

[Dave]

There is an interesting interview with Rick Berman here:
http://www.iesb.net/movies/movie91304b.htm

As well as posing the question of appearances by 'Stargate' actors in 'Star Trek' he is asked about the next 'Star Trek' film and confirms the rumour about the cast of new characters.

Rick Berman: The rumors are not very accurate, we are in very early stages and we are not sure what we will see at the end. A few things that I can share is that the movie will be a prequel and probably after Enterprise. It will be like nothing we have ever seen on Star Trek and it will be based on all new characters.

[Jax]

Originally posted by Dave

BTW: dvo47p -- 'Flux Capacitors' were the invention of Doc Brown in 'Back to the Future'. 'Star Trek' just borrowed them (presumably as a joke.)

Just to change the subject slightly, aparently the object used for the Flux Capacitor in Back to the future is a bit of an in-house gag.

The Mysterious Object Strange stuff indeed.:laugh:

On a serious note, this is great news if they are still planning to do another film, despite Enterprise's ups and downs.

[Dave]

Originally posted by Jax
Just to change the subject slightly, aparently the object used for the Flux Capacitor in Back to the future is a bit of an in-house gag.

A few of the TNG effects and promotional staff (including Denise Okuda) worked on The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai: Across the Eighth Dimension. It was a cult film on set. I can't remember which one now, but one Starship even has Wherever You Go, There You Are on it's nameplate -- taken directly from that film, though actually a Zen Buddist ideal.

I didn't know about all those appearances of the Overthruster though. Personally, I don't really rate that film.

[Dave]

from sciFi Wire

New Trek Movie Shelved?

Paramount has reportedly shelved a proposed Star Trek prequel film under development by producer Rick Berman, as he told SCI FI Wire last July. The Trek Today Web site and others are reporting that Paramount wanted the idea for the film to be "reworked" as they were "not happy with the direction that the story was headed."

Berman told SCI FI Wire last summer that he was in the early stages of development on a Trek feature film that "would have nothing to do with any of the characters that have ever existed on any of the Star Trek series. It would be an entirely new setting and an entirely new set of characters, and it would take place prior to any of the series, including [UPN's Star Trek:] Enterprise."

But various Web sites, citing anonymous sources at Paramount, suggest that it's back to the drawing board.

The most recent Trek movie, Star Trek: Nemesis, fared poorly at the box office. The only Trek series still in production, Enterprise, has drawn kudos for revitalized storylines this season, but the ratings continue to lag, throwing into question the franchise's fate. Word on whether UPN will pick up a fifth season of Enterprise likely won't come until spring.

I'm not sure about this report: It can't be 'back to the drawing board' for the film, since as far as I read from Rick Berman, it hadn't ever left the drawing board yet. 'Nemesis' didn't do as well as they hoped, but it made money didn't it. Compared to something like 'Alexander' it was a box office smash! And 'Enterprise' would be a top show if it was networked, as it is, it is still one of the best rated shows on UPN. Some of what dvo47p said earlier about the Paramount-UPN-Viacom internal politics and the number of episodes needed for syndication might be true, but they deny that is the case.

Obviously, someone at Paramount doesn't like the film plot, but since it hasn't been revealed, we can't really comment if they are right or not. But Rick Berman said it was set between 'Enterprise' and 'TOS', not before 'Enterprise' as stated here. That was the reason for the Romulan Wars rumour mill.

[ray gower]

Perhaps somebody ought to stand back and look at what made the Trek films popular?

They take a group that are well known and loved by audiences through out the world, fed them with a slightly expanded but familiar story as seen every week and dropped in a little more money for a few additional effects.
That was the formula for Treks 1 to 9

Nemesis, they blew all that by trying to make it too much like all the other Sci/Fi films. Lots of running around, lots of big bangs, but not a whole lot of anything that made Trek popular for 40 years.

Although Season 3 Enterprise tried hard to be bigger and different (in Trek terms). Enterprise has still got a long way to find a character of its own in comparison to TNG or the vaunted TOS. Infact it is decidedly indecisive- Three years, three different styles and a fourth coming up!
I am still far from having any form of sympathy or empathy with Captain Leap or the rest of his ignoble crew, which cuts out the draw of a popular crew.
So I cannot see them risking millions on a film version of Enterprise.

So if they are to make Star Trek XI, it will have to be something totally new and totally different.
Perhaps to introduce us to the next generation Trek?

[Dave]

Originally posted by Dave
I can't remember which one now, but one Starship even has Wherever You Go, There You Are on it's nameplate.

It's actually the USS Excelsior NX-2000

Go here: http://www.ridgecrest.ca.us/~curtdan...ior/Plaque.jpg

RE: Captain Leap on the screen.

Now that 'Enterprise' has been cancelled, I would say chances of an 'Enterprise' Film are zero. A 'TNG' film is unlikely since 'Nemesis' was deemed unsuccessful.

Personally, I would like to see a 'DS9' film, but I have to accept that I am in a minority, and that most fans did not like DS9.

That leaves either a 'Voyager' film, a film with a combination of series cast, or with a cast of unknowns.

This could, of course, be the final end of 'Star Trek'. I find that possibility the most unlikely of all. It has made too much money. Even 'Nemesis' made a lot of money, just not as much as they would like.

[ray gower]

Which leaves a film to introduce a new and improved Star Trek.

Enter stage right a TV film?

[Dave]

Originally posted by ray gower
Which leaves a film to introduce a new and improved Star Trek.

I do hope you are right that it will be 'new and improved' because a cast of new unknowns looks like what we will get...

from Trek Today

A former head of Paramount Television, a producer of Disney's Inspector Gadget movies and a screenwriter new to the franchise are working with longtime Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman to develop the eleventh Star Trek feature film, a trade newspaper has revealed.

"You can only squeeze so many eggs out of a golden goose," Berman told Variety, stating that the concept of Star Trek has been overexposed and needs to be reinvented. Berman told reporter Dave McNary that another Star Trek television series is at least three years away, and that, if the proposal for the eleventh film goes forward, it will not focus on already-established TV characters.

Berman's partners in development are said to be Jordan Kerner, a producer of over 30 films who has not previously worked on Star Trek; former Paramount Television president Kerry McCluggage, who has been cited by many Star Trek actors and producers as a strong supporter of the franchise; and a screenwriter named Eric Genderson.

"Each time we started something else, we were competing against the previous shows so as the number started to accumulate, we started to see franchise fatigue," Berman admitted. "You could see it with the performance of the last film, which was a wonderful movie." Variety noted that the studio is in "a time of uncertainty" with two new execs, Viacom co-president Tom Freston and Paramount head Brad Grey, more focused on developing films for younger audiences than long-time Star Trek fans.

Director Roger Nygard of the Trekkies documentaries noted that he believes a hiatus is logical, "like after you've eaten Thanksgiving dinner, you really don't want any more turkey", but he was confident that, as fans predicted in Trekkies 2, Star Trek would still be around in another 50 years. He added, "It's worth noting that Star Trek didn't really begin toflourish until it had been off the air for awhile the first time."

Maybe it will be "new and improved" but I don't much like the sound of "developing films for younger audiences [rather] than long-time Star Trek fans".

[ray gower]

No objection to a cast of unknowns, they won't be carrying baggage from Quantum Freak for instance. Just as long as they have a story to engage the audience. Besides, very few people had heard of Patrick Stewart until he took the helm of Enterprise.

A younger audience?
Hmmm!
It is the younger generation that has always been the market for Science Fiction, not us more mature gentlemen.
If it means they can come up with something that no longer offends the intelligence of a 9 year old?

[Dave]

Originally posted by ray gower
It is the younger generation that has always been the market for Science Fiction, not us more mature gentlemen.

I'm not sure I agree with that, not totally anyway. The population (in Europe anyhow) is an aging one. The birth rate and death rate have been low for some time, and without immigration the population in the UK would be falling now (as it is in Italy and Spain.) So for a start, the audience is older than it was anyway.

Secondly, I like hot babes, car chases and action fights as much as anyone - that isn't only the perogative of the young '20-something' male - but I also want decent storytelling with the 'science' put back in my science fiction. I'm also sure that the '20-something' male does too. It is only because advertisers perceive these people as having the greatest disposable income, and that ratings show they like that kind of TV and film, that the studios are forced to make it. But, at least in the UK, the home-owning early-retirement 50 and 60-somethings seem to have the most disposable income to me. Saga Holidays doesn't just do coach trips any longer, it does bungee jumping and white water rafting. While 20 year olds cannot afford to rent in London, let alone start saving for a mortgage deposit.

Thirdly, you are forgetting a good half of the science fiction audience. It was fan campaigns driven mostly by Women that got Farscape and Firefly brought back. While women writers once existed on the fringes of science fiction, now they are some of the most prolific and popular writers of science fiction.

Anyway, more on the shape of the next incarnation of Trek...

from Trek Today
Erik Jendresen, who has been commissioned to write the screenplay for the eleventh Star Trek feature film with an all-new set of characters, said that the original series borrowed "in an often elegant way" from mythology and that he would like to return to a grittier type of emotion for the franchise.

"There's an old tradition in space films, if you think about it, where war and conflict are very sterile," Jendresen told SyFy Portal. "Death doesn't hurt, it's not really ugly. You can get killed by a phaser and just...disintegrate."

For the new film, whose story concept he called "pretty damn big," Jendresen said that he wanted to take an audience into an era before Kirk is born, where things aren't tied up comfortably at the end. "By the end of this story, everyone isn't fine," he explained. "I can safely say as a storyteller with certain standards...my intention is literally as a writer, as a storyteller, as a filmmaker, to go boldly where no one has gone before."

An Emmy-award winning writer and producer for HBO's Band of Brothers, Jendresen recently wrote Journey to thte Center of the Earth for 20th Century Fox but had no great desire to be involved with more science fiction. "I was not a diehard Star Trek fan," he said. "When they first approached me, I wasn't really interested. But they said, 'What if we could approach this as a blank slate, and here's a notion.'" He began to develop a story, "and it's a pretty good one."

The eleventh Star Trek film remains in very early stages at Paramount, and no director has been suggested.

I'm happy for a grittier storyline, but I don't like the constant retconning of Trek history and lore. Star Trek has worked for 37 years because it had a utopian dream of a future which people wanted to aspire to. I like my dystopian future fiction too, but quite frankly it has never quite worked when done in Star Trek because it doesn't fit with Roddenberry's vision.

Also they are working against the odd numbered curse with this film - it would be number 11.

[ray gower]

I've not forgotten that Oldies like big bangs, car chases and hot babes too!
But, as Dave observed, we want more, vis strong stories, drama, acting etc.- e.g. Something to think about!

While it is possible to write a show to give something to everybody, it is most certainly beyond the wit of any of the current creative committee.
If they give us older Trek fans what we want (and with its history, Trek needs), it will be too much for the majority.
So it is written for a lower standard in the general belief that those who want more will only complain after they have watched.


Less worried by another Retro-Trek than I am about them leaving the concept of Trek behind and becoming just another shootem up Sci Fi film. Nemesis was bad enough for that and ultimately it was not an interesting or popular film

[Dave]

So, what do you think -- is it time now to create a new forum here for Star Trek XI?

I've just re-read thread, and it certainly will have had a torturous route to the screen, but with the demise of 'Star Trek: Enterprise' I'm also fairly certain that we will get a new film before we ever see a new TV series. Anyone disagree?

[ray gower]

Perhaps a Future Trek forum, rather than limit it to ST XI?

Although ST XI is the flavour of the day, I suspect it is more because the lid is still being nailed onto the Enterprise coffin then because of any serious moves towards a new film. Not polite to talk about who gets the nice nic-naks until after the final rites

Fot the next year or two the speculation is going to be rife, it would be nice to disect some of them.

[Dave]

But this film is in development, albeit at some very early stage (apparently Rick Berman [in Star Trek Magazine] says that any rumours are "more than I know" and "totally fictious, totally fictious".)

He then goes on to say:

It's going to be a huge, sweeping story dealing with all-new characters and dealing with a very specific incident and period of time. It will entail a big budget and a great sense of scope, and I'm hoping that this project will come to fruition.

Which exactly fits the rumours of what Erik Jendresen said, though the interview with Rick Berman was probably earlier.