Star Trek 4 Reportedly Shelved

I think what I struggle with most, with the news of the cancellation of Trek 4, is that for me, I still feel like the best was yet to come (in saying this I’ve absolutely loved all three previous Kelvinverse movies and count them as my favourite Trek movies of all time) - but I still feel there was more potential for this series to be realised (despite the lag between movie releases).

It feels like it’s ended all too soon, IMO - especially with the cast they had.

TBH: I’m not sure what stage of grief I’m at in regards to this news: possibly still in denial!

 

All because of that GOT article saying 'shelved' it caused all this grief/discussion. thought it was shelved before anyway with the Chris&Chris pay dispute. They weren't having the paycuts so it was shelved. So Paramount now have to sort that out and they need another director (McQuairre?) or they just wait for QT

 

From the looks of it, I always assumed the series would be about 6 to 8 movies where we would see things like Kirk and Carol have a relationship, see the conflict with the Klingons, Romulans, see the crew grow into their roles etc.

And become more familiar with the Enterprise. There wasn't any real familiarity because there wasn't any real time spent with it. From a movie-goer point of view, it was a just newer model version we had yet to get used to. So when it was destroyed it didn't have the same shock value, especially since we've seen it nearly trashed so many times.


So the way it's being shelved (for now at least) makes the whole franchise seem incomplete and choppy. Just a weird way to go out on a franchise.

 

If this is the end of the Abramsverse, I think Paramount's best bet is to try a movie only cast that portray new characters. With thought out arcs for each character that way you can replace them on the fly if they grow to expensive for what they want to accomplish.

 

I don’t think cancellation was certain, in regards to the Chris’s pay issues (which is totally Paramount’s own fault) - but yes, perhaps the writing has indeed been on the wall, ever since the pay issue with Pine and Hemsworth, and also with the passage of time elapsed between Clarkson being announced as director, and no real news. So for me, this announcement is effectively official confirmation of what I already feared would happen (I’d absolutely relish being wrong about this - and you never know: Paramount could surprise us and announce Trek 4 is still going ahead).

Has there been any official confirmation from Paramount that Trek 4 has been cancelled, or are we all just reading between the lines?

Otherwise, hope springs eternal! (See I’m definitely in denial!)

 

I hope this isn't the end for the Kelvin timeline, I also felt the best was yet to come, and just as the series gave us a decent outing with Beyond.

 

End of Paramount movies doesn't mean the end of the Kelvin timeline.

CBS is already making new Kelvin stuff, like the Fleet Command game and new comics, and they could hypothetically make TV that includes it too. The Kelvin timeline is no different to the Mirror universe, so can easily be included in an episode of Discovery and/or Short Treks, or another series.

 

So, CBS are allowed to use the Kelvinverse if they wish to? Maybe we will get a Kelvin TV series, with the occasional guest appearance of actors from the films. Or a crossover with Disco.

I too enjoyed them , especially Beyond, and hope this isn't the total end of the road. I never thought we'd see Patrick Stewart in Trek again, so you never know what could happen.

I am hoping this is a knee jerk article , taken out of context, and 'shelved' doesn't mean permanently .

 

I had different expectations. I didn't see it going much beyond three films. Four was pushing it. In part I felt they had already run out of stories, a lack on the creative/studio side more so than a genuine lack of potential for the alternate reality. I think the demands and pretensions of a blockbuster franchise-of the need to go big-also hurt them. About the only places to go would be something big like the Borg, Q, or a Klingon War which they undermined in Into Darkness with the poor showing of the Klingons there (it made no sense that the Klingons wouldn't have pursued Kirk and crew off Kronos, or that the Enterprise even got that close to the Klingon homeworld unimpeded. I think it would have at least been better if the Klingons had been chasing Kirk, etc. back to the Enterprise and that's when Vengeance shows up and easily dispatches them. It would have added a bit more ambiguity about Admiral Marcus's real motives and also demonstrated the power of the Vengeance. Granted, the size of the ship and the menacing music did that in the film itself, but still, seeing it in action against the Klingons would've been cool.

If the reboot had been a television series, then yes, I could see them delving more into many of the things you described. The films could at least have developed the Kirk and Carol relationship, though I don't know if it was a scheduling thing, money thing, or on the creative side that they wanted to keep Kirk unattached for Beyond. It did add to his sense of melancholy in that film.

 

This got me thinking about some of the internet speculation before the reboot and as the TNG film franchise was dwindling down. Until the Picard show was announced it seemed like there was studio opposition to a film set further into the future of Trek. Even ENT was a step back and then the film reboot of the TOS era, and Discovery takes place before TOS. I wonder how well a Trek movie without familiar characters and set in an unfamiliar time period would work? Since we've explored an alternate TOS reality and gotten two prequel series, perhaps there is an appetite out there to see the 25th century or beyond. I still think Trek works best on the small screen, but the idea of a pretty new Trek series, perhaps with a mix of major stars and unknowns would be interesting. Though I think today it would run into some of the same issues that the Kelvin films did, that desire to put action and thrills at the forefront, which makes sense to appeal to a mass audience, but at the same time might result in a film/film series that doesn't always explore science and other issues as deeply as the Trek television shows have done.

 

...where are you even reading this???

 

I'm not going to find again old interviews of people I'm not even a fan of, but maybe you didn't read the infamous interview by Lin where he was reported saying they'd ignore stid? And then Pegg who, when he was just an actor of the cast defended stid even to the point of getting over the top (eg he told the haters to 'f*ck off' and that trek fanboys who hated the movie were just jealous it was successful) but, of course, when it comes to promoting Beyond he suddenly started agreeing with stid haters and said he had issues with the movie too. There also was a more recent interview from him where he seems to blame stid, and bad promotion, for beyond's 'flop'.
I said passive aggressive for a reason. It was a vibe I certaintly got by reading some of their comments before and after Beyond was released.

In general, my impression was they seemed to believe their movie would save us from what the other team did and thus give us something that was more 'trek'. But really, nothing makes beyond more 'trek' than the first two, unless you believe that tos nostalgia is what makes a movie more 'trek'. In the end, a lot of people overrate this movie and give it a pass on stuff they vehemently criticized the first two for just because, I suspect, this movie has old school dynamics that align with tos better. In short, it is far more safe for original series fans who don't like change and find comfort in the illusion lin&Co finally restored the white guys status quo from tos (especially those who complained about stupid things like 'Uhura replaced Mccoy! '), no matter if that fact itself may be true only in appearance.

 

I just thought it was better written, not that it makes it "more Trek" than other movies or whatever, though it was nice to see Pine's Kirk act like a fucking adult.

 

I didn't expect this cast to go on forever. I mean, they're young actors, who are hungry for other roles. But at the same time, I didn't expect it to end this quickly, either. It's been nearly a decade since ST09 came out, and it doesn't seem that long. Hard to believe this crew is all over, already.

I am confident there will be another Trek film eventually. If this is the end of the Kelvin crew, at least we got three fun, entertaining films which generated new interest in the brand, and it gave us Disco

 

I honestly did not particularly enjoy ST09 and STID. The movies were well made, but I got the feeling that action scene after action scene after action scene was more important than developing the plot - this goes for both movies. Sure, there were moments of pure genius, pure unadulterated Trek, but those moments were few and far between. STB actually made far more sense, overall, at least to me, but I had to run after watching half and never got around to finishing it.

TL;DR, fun popcorn movies but no repeat watching power, IMO.

 

At first I expected 3 films. Then they had trouble getting 3 made so that became a victory in itself, but before 3 even hit screens JJ announced 4 and then the Tarantino Trek 5 was announced and we were all giddy with the prospect of 2 Trek movies happening.

But then it fell apart. At the last fucking minute. They had a cast, director, locations. It was all set and would have been shooting right now. But Paramount pulled the plug by refusing to pay what was previously agreed upon.

So it really sucks because we had our hopes raised for not just one but TWO more movies and then it was all taken away.

It reminds me a little of Tron 3, which was similarly all set and weeks from production when the plug was pulled.

 

they got our hopes up for Kelvin 4 and 5, and then just as suddenly pulled those hopes right down

 

Agree with this. The number of times someone is hanging off a cliff, the number of explosions, ships being damaged or crashing into something, and characters racing frantically to do something was way too much. You do have to wonder if that in part was what could have killed interest in the series.

I'm not into slow, talky movies like TMP either (I thought it was too slow and boring) but too much action makes a movie look hyperactive. I like action scenes, just when they're interesting.

The movies didn't have a backup TV show to provide filler material for it, so it had to tell as much story as it could in those first 2 movies. And it really didn't get to IMO. It had to skip and jump speed and compressed everything into 09 and ITD.

So I wonder what it would have been like if they used most that filler to show the interactions between the crew, the Klingons, the idea that crew was promoted to fast, Carol and Kirk, etc.

 

If nothing else, I hope we get to see some unused concept art from Trek 4. And from Orci's Trek 3 for that matter.

 

Here's a little bit of concept art for Orci's unmade Star Trek 3. A baddie ship piloted from futuristic lawn chairs and a spinning top Vulcan ship.