Breaking: Star Trek XI: The Inevitable

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.tgdaily.com/2006/04/21/star_trek_xi_the_inevitable/

Hollywood (CA) - Paramount Pictures made it official this morning: J. J. Abrams, the director of popular television series such as Lost and Alias, and most recently the director of Mission: Impossible III, has been signed on as the lead producer - probably the executive producer - of that last great certainty in the entertainment business, the next Star Trek feature film sequel. No, it's not dead, Jim; to borrow the timeless words of Michael Palin, it was "just resting."

Joining Abrams on the venture, Paramount told Variety Weekly, will be two other producers who currently work with him on Lost. No other crew members were named, and no cast has yet been chosen. Abrams is known among sci-fi and fantasy genre fans as one of the multitude of people serially hired to resurrect the script and production for the next Superman film, only to have the project ripped out of his hands and handed to another director. Reportedly, Abrams would have worked with former rock video director and current director of the TV series Supernatural, McG (a.k.a., Joseph Nichol), to have mildly "rebooted" Superman in the spirit of the original comic book, but with a twist.


A similar "rebooting" has often been suggested for Star Trek throughout the past several years, sometimes with the boot taking on more of the shape of a photon torpedo.

For over a year, fans have held onto a rumor propagated by the screenwriter for the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers, Eric Jendresen, that he was signed on by Paramount to write and perhaps produce the next Trek film. That film would have centered around a new and not previously introduced set of characters, situated in a timeframe prior to that of the last (failed) Trek TV series, Enterprise.

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[mikeytherat]

1. Star Trek XII: So Very Tired

http://centerclick.org:81/previews/archive/simpsons/p.star_trek_XII_so_very_tired.mov.jpg

Captain's Log Stardate 6051: Had trouble sleeping last night, my hiatal hernia is acting up again. The ship is drafty and damp; I complain, but nobody listens.

"Captain! Klingons off the starboard bow!"

"Oy. Again with the Klingons."

mikey_the_rat

[LeftyMom]

2. Why do another prequel when Enterprise bombed?

All it does is set up continuity errors that piss off the fan base, while limiting possibilities since everybody knows where the general storyline is headed.

I still want to see a storyline that isn't centered on the Federation, but I'd settle for good writing, which Nemesis and the latest last two television incarnations have lacked entirely. Oh, and good acting is a must. First Contact was pretty iffy writing-wise (it has really good scenes and painfully bad ones, and the deflector dish scene which reads like an Arnie movie in slo-mo, complete with cheesy line for the hero) but the thing that saved it is that a great deal of the screen time is taken up by Stewart, Krige and Woodard, all of who are superb even when the writing hits rough patches.

[philosophie_en_rose]

3. And when they have at least three casts of actors to play with?

Seriously, all it will take is the right story. There are plenty of characters and actors to fill that story.

[LeftyMom]

6. I think they can't get all the next gen actors back

After Nemesis I can't say I'd answer the phone for Paramount either if I had any other prospect for work. I can't imagine who the other two casts would be- they can't do another TOS movie since half the cast is deceased and they killed off the Kirk character in Generations, DS9 won't work as a movie (and Avery Brooks won't do a movie and Rene Aberjonois has plenty of other work and a host of other reasons) Voyager's plotline wrapped up (and the series spluttered to a close on fumes) and Enterprise was canceled due to lack of viewership so there's no economic incentive to make a movie of it.

If they do another movie they really do have to start with something new, I just hate the prequel idea. I really liked the rumor of something centered on the Klingons. They could do something action-filled but with funny moments and it would be new and interesting. But that's probably not mass market appealing enough.

[philosophie_en_rose]

7. I think there's some potential.

If the story was compelling enough and the production values were higher, I think much of the casts would come back.

But you're right they do need something new. I don't think the story has to focus on the series' cast, but why waste the potential?

I think that many fans go to Star Trek movies, because they've watched the shows. I doubt they'll be able to develop support for random new characters without a show.

[WildEyedLiberal]

5. Yes, it should be set in the TNG/DS9/Voyager time span

And it should include at least one or two familiar faces. Trek, to me, will ALWAYS be TNG and DS9, which is the reason I never felt overly compelled to watch Enterprise. I don't know that I could summon up a motivation to see a Trek movie that wasn't at least set in the post-Dominion War universe.

[Broken_Hero]

4. well well well...

They can make another damn Star Trek movie, and yet they ignore all my countless emails/complaints about when they are going to make "Space Balls II: The Search for more Money"...Dark Helmet deserves his revenge!....:)