Star Trek XIV: What do you want?

G. All of the Above

 

Specifically:
1. Paramount+ tie-in - Easy. Air it on Paramount+ first (movie theaters are dead). Maybe behind a second paywall.
2. Kelvin continuation - Like above. Set it in the Kelvin timeline, but *end* the timeline via shenanigans with the Primetime players.
3. New crew - Like was planned with the last go-around, a film-only crew seems a good bet.
4. TNG Reboot - ...but tie it in with continuity. If set in Kelvin 2350s, you can have Kelvin Picard and Kelvin TNGers along for the ride.
5. Prime continuation - ...but it all ends in the Primetime with our favorite characters in an epic crossover (including Paramount Plussers prominently) across space and time.
6. New TOS Reboot - ...and maybe end it in 2265, with the launch of the USS Enterprise and current actors. Not really a reboot, except sorta-stylistically and a continuation of the Discoverse.

 

Honestly, I love Star Trek movies and I enjoyed the Kelvinverse films immensely, but I think it’s time to put the concept of Trek movies on the shelf for a while.

I’d rather they do special projects on Paramount + than do another big budget theatrical release.

Paramount Pictures so horribly mismanaged the franchise after all the incredible momentum they built in 2009, I think they need a hiatus and they need to put a full blown strategic plan in place before they do anything.

 

I wouldn't mind another JJTrek movie with Abrams directing; it seems those movies are aging faster than TOS movies did. I hated what was done in Beyond, I'm not sure the studio would go back to what Abrams did in the 1st 2 movies: I thought the world was so cool looking and I appreciated his version of the big 3 Spock, Kirk and Uhura. Still would like to see a movie about the development or threat from New Vulcan, a Spock narrative and maybe exploring Vulcanian mysticism.

 

A new crew in the 2420s. Against the Breen, the Romulan Republic and State, new species, new quarrels. Nothing too fancy tech wise - no to holograms, no to even the weird bulky okulagrams and LCARs - but just a ship, going out there, exploring both local space (Can we finally see Alpha Centauri and Tau Ceti? Even the rest of Sol System? Even Earth outside of Western Europe and the USA?) and space further beyond.

If we have to spice it up, have a Federation Civil War. Have expeditions into the Delta Quadrant via the wormhole. Expeditions through and outside Romulan space.

 

Creative stuff....but that seems like an awful lot to fit into a 2-hour action / adventure movie.

When I think about the most successful and entertaining Trek films, they've always done a great job of telling a simple story that just so happens to use the Trek characters and settings. I'm not sure this would fly with general audiences. I think even seasoned fans would be overwhelmed by this.

 

Amusing…but no.

 

I think they need a long-term plan, inclusive of, but not limited to the following:

1. A consistent lead who will be in charge of the direction of the franchise
2. A general idea of what the storyline will be- how do they wish these movies to flow and progress
3. A clear financial plan- how much do we spend and how much do we expect to make
4. A well-developed marketing and advertisement campaign strategy
5. A strategy to tie-in with what is happening on the Paramount + platform

If they can't get all that nailed down...I'd rather they let it go. The last crack they took at it started out really well...and they just let it fizzle out almost completely without any effort whatsoever. It was, quite honestly, really disheartening.

I'd almost rather have things "end" the way NEM ended up...which was at least an attempt to do something bold that ended up almost universally failing...than just to fade away without so much as a whimper, which is what BEY flet like (and I liked BEY, but I don't think many people even knew it was out there).

 

Honestly, it should have been this way from the start. The Kelvin universe had the potential to be ing amazing and it definitely went out with a whimper. Like, it could have been marketed to high heaven, done phase 2 of the toys, comic book tie ins, etc. The four year wait, as well as the lack of someone overseeing this new direction was highly problematic, resulting in way too much inconsistency.

If nothing else a Robau comic would have been appropriate!

 

I agree, however I think I must point out to you that there is NOTHING comical about Captain Robau.

Nothing.

 

If ST XIV comes out in 2023, it will have been seven years since the last movie. That, IMO, is too long of a gap to get a younger audience. If you're 21, then seven years is a third of your life.

"NuTrek" might as well be "OldTrek" to a 20-year-old. It's best to just recast again, start a new series of films, and this time don't take forever for them to come out. Waiting four years between the 2009 Film and Into Darkness was itself a huge mistake.

I'd like to see a new cast myself, to be honest. JJ Abrams, even though he's producing, probably doesn't feel a need to do more films with TOS characters -- because they've already done them -- and he probably doesn't want to do a reboot of his own films. That's why I think they'll move on to TNG. Plus that's probably the Star Trek whoever they got to write this movie grew up on.

Unless it's the film Kalinda Vasquez is writing or was writing. Then it could be anything, including something that ties back to Streaming Trek but can also stand on its own. I'd be interested in something like that too.

 

I'm Paramount. I want to invest over 100 million into a project and get several hundred million back at the box office. Honestly, is there anywhere else to turn except Kirk and Spock?

At this juncture, I'd favor either another Kelvin or a hard reboot. I'd be keen to see a new crew but I can understand Paramount wouldn't want to go down that track.

 

Yeah I guess when you put it like that you can see their dilemma, the first and most important element of any film is to make money. As much as possible. A new crew is a very risky proposition unless its going to be a 50m budget or unless its Tom Cruise headlining (which is why Hawleys film was shelved). That leaves going back to either TOS (i.e. Kelvin part 4/digging out the Hemsworth draft.. or a 'prime version' TOS set after SNW) or TNG (currently on TV.. which leaves doing a kelvin style reboot which could be another ST09 event) or there's doing a Star Trek Avengers Endgame type thing (but there'd have to be some kind of build up which wouldn't be easy in one movie so would have to be the tv shows leading into it which is also a risky thing unless its going to be a Paramount+ film like 'Infinite'.. which its possible the Discovery writer is doing??)

 

Actually, both of you are on to something here.

Expanding on the idea of the Kelvinverse coming to the 24th century, if they use the current cast, a “Yesterday’s Enterprise” movie could work. Although it would be more “Tomorrow’s Enterprise”, and maybe “Tomorrow’s Excelsior” too.

Revolve the plot around the Kelvinverse version of the Romulan supernova. Except its now Borg space under the control of Locutus (the plan to clone Picard went awry), and the Borg are in the process of assimilating the Klingon Empire. The Federation, Bajor and Cardassia have fallen to the Dominion, leaving behind a coalition of Maquis, Bajorian, and Cardassian resistance to oppose them. Species 8472 is alluded to wreaking havoc in the Delta Quadrant.

Then bring back Khan & Carol Marcus to work with Kirk to stop the supernova. Allow for a cameo of an older Chekov, as he’d be 137 by the time of the supernova event. Have the crew torn between going back to the late-2260s/early-2270s, or going thrown the red matter-created black hole to prevent the Narada from attacking the Kelvin again and dissolve the timeline altogether.

And then we can put the Kelvinverse (and dystopia Trek as a whole) to bed as it’s been given a conclusion. Afterwords, the franchise can be rebooted with a new crew and new adventures for Trek XV, with whatever Paramount + comes up with. In a passing the torch kind of moment.

 

New crew .
It's been 12 years since the 2009 movie, trek movies should be an entry level to trek, some Easter eggs but completely open to new people.
Kelvin is to old now. They messed up that series.

New crew, set in prime. Maybe cameo from pike or Spock to tie in the current series but all new on its own.
But at the moment of prefer some tv\P+ movies

 

Picard and Data.

Or, rather, NuPicard and NuData.

 

Here's what I think...

"New Crew" Ideas = television
"Kirk/Spock, Picard/Data" = major motion pictures

Putting Captain Darius Dinglehopper and First Officer Xasheron on the big screen with $150M budget and the "Star Trek" name attached to it is a massive, absolutely unacceptable risk that no studio will take.

And, frankly, they shouldn't. Even with a stellar cast, playing iconic world-renowned characters...the Kelvin films did "pretty good." There's very little chance that Star Trek: New Crew would have a chance of success. I don't even think they could get away with established characters from DS9 or VOY...let alone a totally new deal. It's not fair....but it's absolutely NOT where I would put my money if I were a studio exec.

 

I want SF films by independent filmmakers who’d be given total creative freedom to do whatever they care to do with the property: reboot it, tie into existing continuity, doesn’t matter. Why not “Star Trek: Gravity” or “Star Trek: Interstellar”? Make money that way, simply by making good movies.

 

Because, for the most part (and it saddens me to say this more than you know)...nobody cares about those kinds of movies anymore. Interstellar and Gravity were outliers, not trends. And if you slap the name "Star Trek" on it, it's likely to do WORSE, not better.

People go to the movies to see comic book stuff, reboots of popular old franchises, and...well....not much else.

It's a total bummer. But, if you tried to make a 2021 version of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture," that would never work as a wide-release major motion picture. Something special on Paramount+? Sure...that might work. Something that would put drooling masses into theater seats? Not a chance.

 

So how does Nolan do it? He delivers spectacle after spectacle the way he likes it, the films make money and studios ask for more. You don’t need a programmed franchise, just a way of attracting talent. Even something controlled like the MCU is evidence that it’s all about the execution, not just a few well-known characters. Marvel Studios made a whole bunch of them famous.