The Star Trek Film That Almost Was
Filed under: Action, Classics, RumorMonger, Celebrities and Controversy, Fandom, Scripts, Remakes and Sequels
This is a wacky one, but it's kinda fun. I'll stipulate up front that I'm only a mild Trekkie -- I dig the series but I'm unfortunately not a fanboy. Real fans, feel free to share your opinions on this one, I'm really anxious to hear what you've got to say. Here's the scoop: In 2004 there was much ballyhoo and rumor about a possible Trek film sequel, from producers J. Michael Straczynski and Bryce Zabel. Obviously, the sucker never got the green light, but for whatever reason the two have decided to share their dead-in-the-water concept with us now, to let us know what might have been.Straczynski and Zabel wanted to approach the Trek world with what I've taken to calling the "reset button" approach. That's right, the duo wanted to re-imagine the whole universe. They'd take the Big Three (McCoy, Spock and Kirk) and put them in a "Universe B," telling their story as it might have been in a slightly different parallel world. The primary mission of the Enterprise was to be a quest to discover knowledge about an ancient life-form that "had a hand in creating the numerous species throughout the universe." Zabel summed up the plans by saying: "We wanted to do what they do in the world of comics, create a separate universe so we could embrace the good stuff, banish the bad, and try some new things. We wanted to use Kirk, Spock and McCoy, but show them off as you'd never seen them before."










Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
6-20-2006 @ 1:33PM
Cath said...
I'm always leery about people "re-imagining" someone else's creation. Why not start from scratch? Oh, wait, you wouldn't have sufficient throw weight with the studios if you had your own ideas and characters. Might as well stand (and poop) on the shoulders of the real creative and daring types.
I'm not altogether wild about it in comic books but understand the huge output required and the need of corporations to keep their intellectual property protected. It's much easier to ignore it when they screw up your favorite characters and cheaper for someone else to come along and fix it later on. Since Straczynski has been one of my least favorite comic book writers (and SF TV writers), I do not hold out much promise. Besides, the idea sounds rather idiotic.
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6-20-2006 @ 1:36PM
Alex said...
Sounds quite bad, in my opinion. Resetting the whole universe is an interesting idea, if done properly, but then again, it doesnt need to be done. If they want to avoid the bulk of the hundreds of episodes, then place it farther in the future or, if they want to be daring, create a distaster or an epic change that will draw a line on old and new trek, for e.g. a galactic wide catastrpohy, or a ship set away from all we know of star trek in another galaxy/ part of the universe. Theres life in the old star trek yet, if the producers just think!
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6-20-2006 @ 3:25PM
Chris said...
I like the idea of branch universes used in comics and such sometimes. It gives you a certain familiarity with the general concepts or characters, but lets you try something new.
The "Ultimate' universe in Marvel is a good example. I think they have done some interesting things there with well established characters and stories, without having to bow down to 40 years of convoluted rewritten history.
As for Trek, I would rather just see them move on to new characters and tell that story. Why rewrite the world? From a studio standpoint I can understand it somewhat. Its easier to write a $100 million dollar check for a story about well established, money making characters in a universe with a fanatical fan base, than to throw that money at a fresh new idea, with a fresh new face, and an unproven track record.
As for Straczynski, I like some of the stuff he has done, and wouldn't mind him being given a new series to run with. I don't think the Star Trek baggage would help though. I wouldn't mind another visit to the 'Crusade' universe. The short synopsis felt more Babylon that Trek anyway.
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6-20-2006 @ 4:41PM
L. Leonard said...
Why not just tell a good story. You have the Star Trek Universe already created for you. Just have a new Enterprise ship and crew and go out there and find "stuff". It's not about the original stars or the ones that came after. It's about the concept of the "Star Trek" universe. Where good people work together for a common goal. We really need that kind of story now.
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6-21-2006 @ 7:33AM
Pete said...
I read their pitch and it does actually sound thesable - they focused and made me realise why I like the classic movies so much - because of Kirk, Spock and McCoy.
The story however sounds like the plot of a Next Generation episode - they revealed the story of why all the species in the galaxy were so similar and who 'created' them... I think it was a series 4/5 episode.
pete
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6-21-2006 @ 7:57AM
mike said...
Might that be "feasible?"
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6-21-2006 @ 12:21PM
Paul said...
Actually, I appreaciate anyone trying to get a Trek movie made. But, as a lifetime fan of all the shows (but TOS most of all) I think it's a mistake to try to portray Kirk, Spock or Bones without Shatner, Nimoy or Kelley (rip).
I would rather see a DS9 movie, or the suggested idea odf bringing in characters from TNG, DS9 and Voyager.
Star Trek Lives!
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