Star Trek 4 Reportedly Shelved

I was more than happy to reunite with old friends every few years. I think I'm simply over Star Trek on TV.

 

Internationally yeah, but Into Darkness dropped domestically from $257 million to $228 million without even adjusting for inflation. Money is money, but I seriously doubt that Paramount saw the drop in the domestic market as a good sign. They attempted to course correct with Beyond, but that obviously didn't work. Neither of the sequels were able to build on the framework that '09 built.

 

Let me rephrase that for the pedantic...the movies showed that Star Trek was still popular and could make money, and CBS noticed.

 

Yes, the marketing for Beyond wasn't good at all, and almost non-existent for a long part of the year. They did very little to promote the 50th anniversary of Trek that year and tie it into Beyond. (Why not release Beyond in theaters on the date that TOS premiered for example? It might have helped the Beyond box office a little). I do think Paramount got bitten by the blockbuster bug when it came to Trek and for a brief period of time, Abrams was able to make it happen. But with Into Darkness they flew too close to the sun.

And after Beyond, the Tarantino stuff, that just felt desperate. Also, when both Hemsworth and Pine dropped out of Star Trek 4, the writing was on the wall. (Though when it comes to Pine, I thought about how Into Darkness didn't make the bold creative choice to actually be a different timeline and actually kill off Kirk, and have Spock as the captain from now on. I like Pine a lot as Kirk, and part of me would've not liked for him to go, but there's another side that though from a creative standpoint it would shake things up and show the audience this is a different timeline and there are real consequences. That the studio will take risks and not play it safe. If they had done that, then Pine wouldn't have been a part of Star Trek 4 necessarily to back out off anyway.).

 

Star Trek TV and movies have been mismanaged for as long as I've been a fan, you can see certain things coming a mile off but the people in charge don't seem able to - like Beyond not doing as well as it could have, I loved it, I think it is in my top 3 Trek movies but I didn't even see the thing until three or four weeks after release.

The Trek brand is strong, but it isn't like Star Wars where people will continue to eat shit as long as it is branded, the fans will turn off quickly if it doesn't feel like Trek.

 

Yeah...I'm going to give the STD premiere a free try-out next week(?), but unless it's something more than a slightly spiffed-up version of what they were doing last year - "same old same old" Star Trek - I'm done for now. There's too much stuff that's more interesting these days.

 

You know what I always felt would be a good TOS episode to remake as a Kelvin film?

The Ultimate Computer.

You get a name star to play Daystrom-- Jamie Foxx perhaps-- and have a Die-Hard-esque thriller play out on the Enterprise as the crew are forced to go low-tech and use their wits to outsmart the upgraded computer that has taken control of the ship. Given that they just got a new Enterprise, it's a perfect opportunity for them to be testing out a new, upgraded main computer.

It would cut down on necessary sets and effects, keeping the budget down. With the current rise in digital assistants (Siri, Google, Alexa), there's potentially even some social commentary that can be made.

 

Yeah, I liked Beyond a lot as well. I remember a review saying it was the first movie in a while that felt like an episode of the series, but in a good way. I liked the crew being more experienced and being away from Earth for once. And while it too had some TWOK elements, it felt like a lot less the previous 3 films.

And even at the time I remember the lack of marketing. I think I remember seeing one ad on TV and I don't recall seeing any previews in theaters (though in full disclosure I don't go to the movies a whole lot).

And yeah, Trekkies are a bit more, um, sophisticated in their tastes. If they don't like something they'll tell you.

 

"Sophisticated' is not the term that describes this.

Not really so.

 

I'm personally disappointed.. I think they purposely didn't show us detailed shots of Ent-A at the end of Beyond fully expecting there to be a 4th movie.. and now that cliffhanger of a sort is left unfulfilled. It's not just the ship though, there were some character set ups that would lead into some new developments and crew interactions for a 4th movie.. now not going to happen.

The bolded part there... I disagree.. I'm sure you are aware of the controversy surrounding what is all of Star Wars: Episode VII The Last Jedi.

 

Well, this is a disappointment. I was hoping this series would at least go out with a bang.

Kor

 

Instead it went out with a "We're off on another adventure you'll never get to see in a ship you'll never get to see...lol"

I would love for them to at the very least bring back the Kelvin Timeline comics and continue the adventures of the 1701-A there.

 

They made such a big point about Discovery being prime that I seriously do not see them retconning the show to be Kelvin. It's Prime in Kelvin drag and that's that.

 

I see Discovery as its own thing, inspired by different variations of Trek. If the Discovery folks ever come up with some compelling writing, they might get me to watch.

 

To be fair, BEYOND sent the series out on a high note, if it is the last one with this cast. Easily the best of the trilogy, and the one that felt closest to TV trek. There were a couple of moments that Pine even reminded me of Shatner's Kirk.

 

I like that it went off like that. It showcases the fact that the crew continues on, rather retiring or whatnot. It's open ended and optimistic. To me that's quintessential Star Trek.

 

Also allows a reboot at some point with a whole new cast and crew (ie: not Kirk & Spock) aboard the ENTERPRISE-A.

 

I am happy we got the j.j. trilogy, especially STID. If the kelvin films are truly done, then let's get a motion picture set after Nemesis like the Picard series in the prime.

 

I have the same opinions. I will never forget how the news he was directing star wars 7 overshadowed into darkness and to make it worse into darkness had a lot of backlash. the combination of both factors really damaged thisnew movie series.

oh well. we have the 3 films to still enjoy.

 

My wife: "What's the point in Star Trek movies? It's better on Netflix."