ROTTEN TOMATOES: Future Star Trek Sequels Seem Dead in the Water

Future Star Trek Sequels Seem Dead in the Water

by Scott Weinberg | April 14, 2006

IGN FilmForce and Sy Fy Portal bring us a little teaser on what the next Star Trek trilogy could have been like ... if Paramount didn't recently decide to stick the series into mothballs for an undetermined period of time. (But not forever. That'd be just silly.)

"It's a grand story that could have been the next three Star Trek films: Tiberius Chase, ancestor of James T. Kirk, helps lead the charge in a bloody and violent war against the Romulans, and the United Federation of Planets — led by Earth — coalesces out of the midst of that struggle. So says Erik Jendresen, who wrote the screenplay for the first part of a Star Trek prequel trilogy last year.

"We wanted to reveal the actual cause of [the Romulan War], which was surprising to all involved at the time," Jendresen explained to Sy Fy Portal. "We simply wanted to reveal the truth behind that startling incident. …We [had] a chance here to fill in the canon, and to create a continuum ostensibly from the beginning from Enterprise all the way out to the future.

It should also be indicated that the ultimate intention here was to craft a story that would not only completely satisfy the fans, but just as importantly, bring new people into the franchise."

One of the people pushing Star Trek to re-discover its past was Paramount's then-co-president, David DeLine; but by the time the script draft was completed, the personnel at the top of the studio had shifted. DeLine was no longer involved, and Star Trek: The Beginning was moved to "inactive" status: not officially dead, but not going anywhere either."

Click here for the rest of the story on the Trek trilogy that could have been.

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(1-20 of 23 posts) | Reply

BetrNBlackNWhite writes:
on Apr 14 2006 07:13 AM

I'm not much of a Star Trek person but that sounds like it would have been a cool storyline.

(Reply to this)

pota1967 writes:
on Apr 14 2006 07:50 AM

[b]enough of war and gloom and doom[/b]
The best Star Trek movie was The Voyage Home

(Reply to this)

Blue Arc writes:
on Apr 14 2006 08:44 AM

I liked First Contact.

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ninjaandy writes:
on Apr 14 2006 08:52 AM

At this point Star Trek may simply need a reinvent, which will of course piss off all the fans. But the timeline is so filled up already, unless one wants to start a series past Voyager, we already know the important facts about the future of Star Trek world. That was part of Enterprise's problem: we already knew how things would end up, despite all the time travel nonsense.

But with holodecks, transporters, starships being able to travel through solid objects, and other ultratechnology, where else in the future can the series go?

If they still want to maintain continuity, all that's left is some kind of major setback to reset things to a time when humanity isn't basically godlike in its abilities. Find some way to erase much of the knowledge of technological advantages, but leave the space travel.

(Reply to this)

Gareth writes:
on Apr 14 2006 08:56 AM

Best bet for Trek is to clear alot of the dead weight and have Braga, Berman and others gone. A fresh take is best but I would not be above having Manny Cotto or Ira S Behr back as they seemed to really grasp it. When Cotto took over Enterprise, we had the best episodes of the series.

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LampEft writes:
on Apr 14 2006 09:52 AM

Sounds like a pretty cool idea. I hope it sees the light of day at some time in the future, and that Braga and Berman are let no where near it. As long as those two have no hand in it, I can see this as being very good indeed. But, I also think Pramount is being very wise in letting the series rest for a while. Vacations are a good thing. :)

(Reply to this)

dylan21484nj writes:
on Apr 14 2006 10:35 AM

unlike a lot of you, i'm so sick of Star Trek and hope this Star Trek hiatus goes on forever. i never could get into any of the Star Trek shows, i don't think i've been able to sit through any of the shows or the movies without getting so bored that i had to change the channel. everything about Star Trek seemed so bland - the one-piece uniforms, how "official" (in order words, dry and robotic) everyone acts and speaks, how just about every single episode seems to involve some huge problem that conveniently gets solved by the end of the episode with no real resolution, it just feels so... dull. they already tried "reinventing" Star Trek with Enterprise, but it became the same ol' bullshit all over again (what would be a fresh take on Star Trek, another crew on yet another ship?). so i'm glad they're shelving Star Trek. good riddance to that boring dreck.

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rockstarfrank writes:
on Apr 14 2006 10:37 AM

[b]Booo, Booo, Boooo![/b]
Thank God they shot this idea down.

We all want Kirk and Picard buddy movies where they fly around the Universe solving mysteries and saving civilizations. You want it and I want it...you know you do. Paramount should just give us what we all want (I would also pay to see Mr. T as a Klingon). C'mon there was a reason the 1st series is still the best...it was the most fun.

(Reply to this)

dracus writes:
on Apr 14 2006 10:37 AM

I was never a fan of the television shows, but I actually enjoyed the movies and will miss them. I guess it's due to the fact that since I hardly watch television anymore I never got tired of seeing the same ideas and characters repeated over and over each week.

(Reply to this)

mstiefan writes:
on Apr 14 2006 11:42 AM

[b]Too little, too late[/b]
THis was the plot that Star Trek Ten should have been. Instead of the whole clone thing, they should have had an all out war with the romulans. They could have either tied the story to the end of deep space nine, when the romulans helped to defeat the dominion, but maybe they refuse to give up power, and the federation must battle back, OR!!!!! They could have taken the plot from Nimoy's SNG episode, creating a civil war within the romulan empire between those that want to stay romulan and those who want to reunite with the vulcans. Spock could return, just throw a s%$t load of money at Nimoy for him to return, and then, as so many star trek shows have done, it could have been symbolic of civil wars throughout the world, such as Iraq is becoming. That would be a kick ass plot.

Not sure about the Tiberius Chase/Kirk tie in. Grasping at straws, I think.

Wars, and comedy make star trek good. NOt preachy love stories as in 9, or preachy ideal world stories as in 7, or preachy cloning ethics stories as in 10. JUst shoot, be shot at, crash, live again, and laugh while doing it.

(Reply to this)

Ssillississ writes:
on Apr 14 2006 04:06 PM

In reply to this comment (#833718)
[b]Try the New Battlestar Galacitca[/b]
If you don't already you should watch Battlestar Galactica. Much better blend of character and continuous plot and action than most of the Star Trek drek.

(Reply to this)

Fangmeier69 writes:
on Apr 15 2006 11:00 AM

[b]Time to move on?[/b]
Paramount would be making more Trek TV & films - if anyone was watching them anymore. Enterprise was cancelled very early; the last two films did abysmal box-office. It seems to have been squeezed dry. Maybe people have moved on to other things; and Star Wars is bigger than ever!

(Reply to this)

reindeer_jumper writes:
on Apr 15 2006 01:36 PM

[b]I'd like to see the next movie or show based on...[/b]
Peter David's New Frontier Series. Lots of possibilities there.

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Prosper761 writes:
on Apr 15 2006 07:56 PM

If Paramount is smart, they'll wait five years or so and resurrect the franchise from an alien POV. It should tell the story of an alien civilization that feels threatened by the Federation, and how they must fight to remain autonomous. The Federation is the invading enemy, with the audience's sympathies lying with the alien resistance. Now there's a Star Trek movie I'd like to see.

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LaputanMachine writes:
on Apr 16 2006 05:31 PM

The movies are too violent, which is the only way to get people into the theaters to see them. This alienates the TV fans, since Star Trek is about peace and drama. So making Star Trek movies never made much sense.

They should just make TV movies or straight to DVD movies. That way, TV fans will flock to own the film.

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sokiveta.com writes:
on Apr 16 2006 10:37 PM

[b]new people[/b]
The prequel idea worked well for Star Wars because everyone knew what Anakin Skywalker turned into. The first scene was Obi Wan as a young man. And regardless of how bad Episode 1 was as a movie, it had characters that we already wanted to see.

An ancester of Capt. Kirk would be cool, but not as fun as watching Anakin turn into Darth Vadar -- everyone was dying to see that before those movies were even made.

The problem with the most recent Star Trek movies is that they were worse than any of the regular season TV shows. I mean, any one of the story lines from the series would have made a better movie. That said, I still liked the movies that they have made and if they continue making more, then I'll continue going to the theater to watch them.

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knowingtoast85 writes:
on Apr 17 2006 04:37 AM

In reply to this comment (#833722)
I tried "Battlestar Galactica" myself, albeit jumping into the first season less than halfway through. I thought the cinematography and acting were aces, but the usage of "frak" to replace "f***" in the dialogue was so hilarious and unbelievably distracting that, when it popped up more than three times in a minute, my friends and I dissolved into laughter. It's one of those curious shows that's both good and inspires unintentional gut-busting.

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proptart writes:
on Apr 18 2006 07:37 AM

Ninjaandy...uh...wouldn't your idea just turn Star Trek into Star Wars? In other words, another "space fantasy," rather than hard science fiction. It's the difference between Bradbury and Asimov. Both are great, but very different, and I'd rather not see the line blurred, personally.

I rather like the prequel idea, but I think it's too soon after the Star Wars prequels. Too many comparisons will be drawn. Thankfully, I don't think they actually CAN make a worse movie than Phantom Menace, so at least the comparisons would probably be fairly kind.

As for Galactica...knowingtoast85, it's not unintentionally funny. It's intentionally funny. Or it was, until it started to take itself too seriously.

(Reply to this)

Tivian writes:
on Apr 19 2006 03:50 AM

I have been a major Star Trek fan all of my life. I have seen every movie every episode of the original series and all of DS9, Voyager, Next Generation. I watched 1 complete episode of Enterprise, and I tried to watch others...but quite frankly IT SUCKED!!! I have read soo many books on what Gene Roddenbury described the pre-Federation universe. And it was NOTHING like what Enterprise portrayed.

Paramount thinks that people have had their fill of too much Trek. Braga and Burman said that the reason Enterprise failed was that every one got sick of Star Trek on TV.

WRONG! The reason it failed was that Burman and Braga pissed off all the true hardcore Trekies....THEY failed because they didn't want to do the pre-Kirk universe the way that Gene Roddenbury had visioned it. They fully admitted as much when they introduced Enterprise and said Trekies should not be disappointed because they wanted to do their OWN version.

Star Trek is NOT overdone. I am not bloated or bored with Trek. I am SICK of corprate yahoos trying to make money off of lame story lines. If they had not alienated true Trek fans and stuck to the vision Gene Roddenbury had they would have been fine.

Burman and Braga need to take some responsability for their failer and quit blaming fans!

(Reply to this)

necron91 writes:
on Apr 20 2006 06:48 AM

Star Trek X should have had the Borg in it, nothing beats the Borg..... or maybe Species 8472 aswell....

(Reply to this)

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