Berman Confirms Star Trek Prequel Film Project 554
Steve Krutzler writes "TrekWeb can break the news STAR TREK producer Rick Berman has confirmed that work on a new STAR TREK feature film project has begun. Speaking in the new Dreamwatch magazine, Berman describes it cryptically as a "prequel" and says he's working with two other producers on the project."
Prequel? Oh boy... (Score:5, Interesting)
I think a Starfleet Academy movie (mentioned in the article) could be compelling, but I'm losing interest in the whole franchise. I'd like to see another season of Enterprise despite the fact that it's a fairly weak show (in my opinion) but I think that Gene Roddenberry's vision is running out of gas without his input. I have mixed feelings: on one hand, Trek has gotten pretty lame, and it is probably time for them to stop producing it for a while, but on the other hand I'd miss even bad Trek... Is bad Trek better than no Trek at all? Am I even making any sense?
Drooling fanboys will be happy to read this line from the article, though:
"...insiders suggest Berman and/or Braga might take a reduced role in a fourth season of ENTERPRISE, though this is entirely speculation."
--- JRJ
NCC-1701C (Score:5, Interesting)
Even/Odd (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh great, a PREQUEL! (Score:3, Interesting)
Pre? (Score:4, Interesting)
The only result is that they can show *less* technological tricks, *less* alien species, and, importantly, *less* developed Star Trek ideals and moral conflicts.
No Prime Directive? No teleporting?
I would find much more appealing a series or a movie some two-hundred years *after* TNG, instead...
Kzinti first contact (Score:3, Interesting)
Prolly Not TNG (Score:4, Interesting)
Before Kirk there were 2 wars they might cover. One with the Klingons and one with the Romulins. This could provide for some action
Another scenario they had talked about was doing a movie of the Excelusier and Chekov (yes I know I butchered the name)
Enterprise C (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:3, Interesting)
-nod- Besides, much of the crew was meeting for the first time in Encounter at Farpoint, so it would be tough to do anything with all the familiar characters together that was set earlier than that.
The Prequel I'd like to see... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:sorry to say this, but... (Score:3, Interesting)
You are terribly wrong. It's one thing to say that Star Trek is out of ideas... I agree completely. It's another thing to say that there's no creativity out there. To defend pop culture, I'd say there's lots of great material out there even in media. I think we've practically escaped the decline in the late 90's when pure crap was getting mainstream attention.
I'll avoid naming specifics, but say that hollywood directors are taking more chances, are more daring and creative than ever before. I think we're going to see a lot more good stuff at the theatre.
Lots of great music out there right now, you just have to know where to look - even if it's on the radio. In my hometown, most of the radio stations that played crap like the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears have gone out of business and been replaced by stations with a wider range of taste.
Writers are also exploring topics and issues. I find scientists, engineers and physicists, while grounded in their discipline, are venturing into the world of fiction and taking creativity to a new level. This should be no surprise as the audience is generally more informed and knowledgeable than ever before.
It all comes down to knowing what you want and knowing where to find it.
Re:Quit starving the horse.. (Score:3, Interesting)
I have watched all of ToS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager. EVEN though, I hated 60% of DS9 (the first 60%) and 99% of Voyager.
The point is, the quality of the episode obviously went down-hill. All Series had fantastic episodes and crappy ones too.
TNG (if you go back & watch it) had a very bad 1st season. It got much better very quickly after that. BUT it was still good at that time.
I have watched the first season and half of the second season of Enterprise; IMHO I felt that it stayed sucky and second rate. Enterprise never felt like it filled it's own shoes.
In the years that I started watching ST, I have grown up a lot. TNG was a must-watch during my teen-age years. I have been open to watching other Sci-Fi shows, and completely impressed with how-good they have been. Going back, it now feels like I have been stuck with a Two Dollar hooker all these years. ST: Just Stop
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:In other news (Score:3, Interesting)
Same idea goes for replicators, holodecks, whatever. Star Trek just usually cops out and gives us "regular life surrounded by cool toys." The advances they have almost never change their lives the way they would change our own.
Re:Prolly Not TNG (Score:2, Interesting)
I agree with your points -- the standard TNG plotlines have been beaten to death, the writers suck, the actors suck, and the producers can't decide if they are making soapopera for middle-aged nerds or an action series.
Re:How about Star Trek: Borg War (Score:2, Interesting)
Have Q bring together the crews of all the Enterprises, DS9, Voyager, and the entire Federation; plus the Klingon Empire, Romulan Empire, the Borg, and Species 8472 -- then let them all obliterate each other (including Q) in one epic, cataclysmic final act for the Trek franchise.
I'd go see it.
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:5, Interesting)
You mean, other then Star Trek 4, Star Trek: Generations, and Star Trek: First Contact? And pretty much the entire run of Voyager?
"Time Warping" is the worst problem with Star Trek. You can't build drama because nothing is ever at stake that won't be wiped away by next week's time travel episode or movie. That problem alone is enough to sink the series; the entire concept has devolved into some of the worst "collaborative writing" I've ever seen. (Ever done a "collaborative novel" online? The resulting continuity trainwreck bears an uncomfortable resemblence to Star Trek now...)
It's most likely Cap'n Archer's Enterprise movie (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:In other news (Score:3, Interesting)
Since I have all the TNG DVDs, I picked up Nemesis when it was in the cheapo bin. It still hurt, but at least it has Wil's cameo.
I watched the interviews on the DVD (I couldn't bear to watch the movie again). They told the script writer wasn't really into Star Trek, and had only seen a few episodes, but, oh yeah, he could write a killer script based on his movie experience.
So we've seen what that has come to. Laser shows, space battles, cheap rip-offs of good movies (it has scenes from Star Wars, Mad Max, Excalibur and even Ben Hur), and definitely uninteresting characterisation.
And the killer joke was Gates McFadden saying she liked the script because it really did justice to the character of Beverly Crusher. Sorry Gates, Bev ended up on the cutting room floor.
So who expects anything good from Berman?
Hello? Anyone?
Enterprise (as a series) and the recent movies. (Score:5, Interesting)
As for Enterprise, regardless of it's ratings I think it's the best effort they've made since TNG's final season. It has the best characters (all have distinct flaws that aren't cute, which makes their finer aspects shine a little more). It has a dark and slightly twisted sense of humor I like. They do not always make the moral choice in the end, instead of always figuring out what's right by the end of the show. Their doctor is the first alien ST crewmember who seems to fit in as a castmember instead of the token alien.
And... it brings back some of the Blood, Booze, and Babes element that made the original last so long. When they fight, they fight like they mean it. Bodies fly out of gaping holes in the ship, there are redshirts all over the place, and sometimes they have to be cold and brutal just to survive, not to make a highhanded point.
I want to see a Star Trek movie that makes your brain twist... something approaching hard sci-fi, but not enough to drive people away. I want Arthur C Clarke to make me a Star Trek. Or, if they can ever get him to talk to them again, Harlan Ellison (who wrote their best episode, period). Something dark and bleak, where instead of being preachy, they tear their entire world apart and let them climb out of the wreckage.
I don't want a happy Star Trek movie. I don't want to hear Picard soliliquizing on philosophical matters like it was a pleasant tea party, or Riker worrying about his love life, or La Forge being bored with his job. I want to see all hell break loose, and characters who ACT like they're not having fun. And if the TNG guys get one more go, kill some of them off in acts of violence, not dramatic self-sacrifice. I want Shakespearean Tragedy, not As The Federation Turns.
Or maybe... just maybe... I'll be impressed if I see a title like "Star Trek: Holy War" or "Star Trek: Apocalypse"... not "Star Trek: Earl Grey, Hot".
Re:Prequel? Oh boy... (Score:4, Interesting)
Trek needs a series that tells stories in the Trek universe. It takes as many or as few episodes as it needs to tell the story the way the story should be told. When the story is done, they come up with another one. Switch casts for each story, maybe keep around a few actors who can play different parts, or occasionaly the same character in different stories.
Tell stories set entirely on Romulus, or in the Klingon empire, or even throw in a few about the early Cardassian move to a military state that leads to the conquest of bajor (not necessary to actually show the conquest, we know it happened from DS9, we'll figure it out).
We can see some more about Q and the other Q-like entities, we can tell stores in the far future or far past without invoking time travel. The possibilities are endless if the writers are good.
Take fan suggestions for stories, or suggestions on which series to expand on, possibly spinning off new dedicated series. Use guest writers for stories, take ideas from the books, hell, use fan donations as long as they sign over the rights.
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:2, Interesting)
On a high level, there'd be suspense in breaking into a facility without getting caught. (That'd be serious trouble.)
On a low level, it would showcase Kirk's ingenuity. Or, rather, his lack of belief in a no-win scenario. So much so that he'd risk the consequences of breaking and entering.
I agree but... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:4, Interesting)
Actually, I think you may be closer than you think. According to timelines I heard when enterprise was coming out, they said the first Romulan war should take place about seasons 4-6 of Enterprise. Well, we're at the end of season 3.
It's possible that, if Enterprise actually does get canned (nothing final on that yet, although very heavy speculation), they may make the Romulan war the prequel movie. That, and it'll almost fit in with Nemesis and its heavy Romulan themes.
Speaking of other species... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:5, Interesting)
TOS get's a free pass because it was in the 60s. What more do you want? You don't watch TOS for the continuity (there was none until the movies) -- you watch TOS for the window on the world that was the 1960s -- the Hippies, the racial issues and the storylines. Individual TOS episodes are still compelling to this day.
TNG had excellent continuity with storyline. The characters progressed and grew the show had excellent storylines and like TOS it was another issues based show (terrorism, drugs, war, religion, friendship, homosexuality, veterans rights, human rights, freedom/self-determination and many others). TNG had the ability to take an issue and boil it down to a compelling storyline that fit into a one-hour timeslot. And somehow they managed to do it while keeping the show more or less G-rated (the only really bad scene I can think of is the First-Season episode with the body-snatching aliens) and keeping the T&A (compared to Voyager and Enterprise) to an absolute minimum (and towards the end they finally got Troi out of her bunny-suit and into a real uniform).
Now if you want to talk about technical continuity then TNG (all the Star Trek's for that matter) was horrible -- panels that would appear in turbolifts if the episode required it, phasers that could be remotely deactivated (unless being used by terrorists when we need plot drama), etc etc, but who cares about that? As a whole TNG was one of the best TV shows there ever was. Probably Seasons 3, 4 and 5 were the best -- when Gene was still actively involved in running things. Towards the end (Season 7) it started to show Voyager-like traits (technobabble replacing storyline) which in hindsight makes me glad they ended it the way they did -- on a highnote. "All Good Things" was probably the best series-finale for any show I've ever watched. As far as the movies go I liked Generations and I try to pretend that the others don't exist.
DS9 shared many of the same qualities that made TNG so great -- compelling storylines and characters that evolved. I was initially somehow leery of the war arc but I think it worked in the context of DS9 (whereas it probably wouldn't have in TNG). The last two seasons of DS9 was basically TNG from "Yesterday's Enterprise" over the course of an entire season -- very dark yet very compelling story material. DS9 also suffered from a lack of technical continuity but again, who the hell cares? The point of Star Trek is to tell a story.
Don't get me started on Voyager. The first two seasons I had high hopes and it went down the toilet after that. It became one massive technobabble episode after another (was there anything that T&A of Borg's nanoprobes couldn't do? -- "And look -- it'll still slice this tomato!") with far too much violence for the Trek universe (at least the violence in TNG and DS9 served a purpose) and no storyline continuity whatsoever. Welsey Crusher's character (most people's favorite character to hate) evolved more over the years then Harry Kim did.
And don't even get me started on Enterprise. A complete rape of every established (canon and non-canon) piece of Star Trek history. A wussified Captain (at least Picard could win fights when he was forced to get into them -- Kirk and Sisko would pick them and always win -- Archer picks them and almost always gets his ass kicked), completely out-of-character Vulcans (whatever happened to IDIC?), hostile aliens that we never knew existed, too much T&A for the tastes of anyone not in the 15-20 male demographic (if your going to have sexuality on a TV show could you at least be mature about it? Decontamination scenes? Gimme a friggen break), etc etc etc.
TNG was probably the best overall television show ever imho. TOS had excellent individual episodes (and kick ass movies) and stands the test of time. DS9 was a compelling series too. The rest of them I try hard to forget about ever watching.
Re:To TNG or not to TNG? (Score:5, Interesting)
IDIC (Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations) was a product of Gene's disenfranchisement with the show on season 3. According to Shatner's book on TOS [barnesandnoble.com]. The budget for the show had steadily trickled down to a near halt over the span of 3 seasons. By the 3rd season, Roddenberry was so fed up with the studio's budget cuts that he said "HERE" with arms extended to Justman and essentially gave him the show to run. Roddenberry even moved his offices off the Desilu lot and to (I believe it was) Universal to devote all his time to a non sci-fi movie that was to star (again, I think, I read it about 10 years ago) Burt Reynolds. That movie never made it out of pre-production and was never made.
At some point during that 3rd season, realizing the rise in popularity of Sci-Fi cons he decided on a brazen marketing ploy: the IDIC. It was a schlocky imitation gold pin. When Roddenberry suddenly appeared on the set with this item (after having been AWOL all season) the actors realized what he was doing an initially refused to wear it. Roddenberry never liked Nimoy much to begin with, and threatened to fire him when Nimoy threatened to walk off the set before he wore it. Roddenberry thought he might have an easier time with Shatner (they were on slightly more friendlier terms...according to Shatner
It's quite simply WHY Star Trek isn't what it was (Score:2, Interesting)
Oh yes, and the typical knowitall Captain who sometimes is okay, but usually requires the council of the Spock-type figure.
SO DAMN TRUE! (Score:3, Interesting)
Write a book! (Score:1, Interesting)
Point to ponder: Could the elusive source of the cosmological constant be what permits warp to occur?
Note to those who suggest waiting a few years: This idea would probobally take a long time to develop.
Of course, we could just write a book about writing a Star Trek novel. What is the name of that Mars colony, anyway?
Re:Enterprise (Score:3, Interesting)
Okay, so a few episodes have sucked pretty bad, but all in all it's a pretty entertaining show. Decent actors, nice sets and effects, some good stories.
I'm a pretty keen Trek fan, and I don't really care about the inconsistencies with other series: I just what to be entertained for an hour, and Enterprise usually manages to do that.
Now, Voyager, on the other hand. THAT sucked total ass...
Re:To NOT TNG. Or DS9. Or ST:V. Or... (Score:4, Interesting)
Says who? Sisko's actions during the war didn't affect downline events? The events of his forced assimilation and being used as a tool to murder 11,000 fellow officers had no impact on Picard? How about the impact of his torture by Cardassians? Or the impact on his character from the probe that captured him so he could live a lifetime in another culture? (Quite possibly the best episode of Trek ever -- either that episode or Darmok -- both Picard centered shows)
Troi's character didn't grow? She certinaly wasn't the same "Captain I sense a strong life presense here... my god it's in pain! Horrible pain! Oh the pain!" piece of eyecandy in Season 7 that she was in Season 1.
How about Data? You want to talk about the Doctor from Voyager? Fine -- he was probably the only Voyager character that did grow any. But he was modeled after Data -- Data's character had tremendous growth over the years. Some of the best episodes (Measure of a Man) centered around his character.
What about Worf? His character grew over the years. Worf would probably be the Spock of TNG -- in Season 1 he was completely Klingon ("For battle come to me!") -- by Season 7 he had incorporated the best of both the Klingon and Human/Federation cultures.
All of these events lasted much longer then just one episode. TNG didn't do the "plot-arc" like Voyager or Enterprise did -- they didn't need it. TNG invented (or at least brought it out of hiatus?) the cliffhanger concept in modern television with "Best of Both Worlds" -- Voyager made it a tired old cliche.
And as much as you malign Voyager (rightfully so n some cases) it probably had the most character development I've ever seen in a Trek series and the most reactive plot to boot
Is that why Harry Kim never stopped being the naive Ensign or got a promotion? Is that why they invented a love-interest between Chokotay (probably my favorite Voyager character) and Seven that didn't seem to exist before they pulled it out of thin air? How about other character traits pulled out of thin air and invented for the sake of one episode then quickly forgotten? Like Janeway's depression or the fact that she talks to her ship? The love story between Tom (the Riker character of Voyager) and B'leanna (another of my Voyager favorites) was believable and well done -- B'leanna's character had some decent growth over the years. But other stuff (like the Maquis subplot) was forgotten about in favor of technobabble (Voyager made it a cliche) and showing off Seven's Tits & Ass whenever the opportunity presented itself. For God sakes Jeri Ryan is a beautiful woman in normal attire (recall Seven's character in the dream sequences of Unimatrix Zero) -- why the hell did she need to be in that bunny suit for any other reason then appealing to the horny teenage demographic? Seven could have been an interesting character -- instead they decided to focus on her T&A and magical nanoprobes that could do anything from defeat unstoppable aliens, cut 10,000 lightyears off our trip, and warm up Janeway's coffee after a hard day's work on an away team. And they still slice that tomato!
Frankly, I'm tired of trek in general. Most of the plot is self contained and most of the characters are static. You can only do it so many times before it gets stale. At least do it right.
I'm not disagreeing with you. Voyager and Enterprise ruined it for me. It needs another 25 year hiatus before they try to do anything else with it.
Troi? (Score:3, Interesting)
Yes. By that time, she had moved up to having headaches due to ghosts in the bulkhead. She was even a cake in one show.
But other [Voyager] stuff (like the Maquis subplot) was forgotten about in favor of technobabble
I think you missed the two- or three-hundred TNG episodes about Data and Geordi teaming up to track down mysterious //jargon// emmisions/particles/etc penetrating the ships hull or emitting from the ambassador's temporary quarters. After this, they solved the problem by redirecting the //jargon// output from the //jargon// manifold (which typically involved crouching down for a half hour in front of an open wall panel and pulling at glowing blue plastic tubes).