BREAKING: Paramount Sets Top Secret Star Trek Movie For Summer 2023; To Be Produced By J.J. Abrams

[Richard S. Ta]

...and then they didn't

I do wonder why not? It didn’t seem to be a lack of desire on Tarantino’s part.

It’s one of the great lost Star Trek productions now I guess. I would also have loved to have seen Noah Hawley have a swing at it but that also wasn’t to be.

 

[plynch]

It’s hard to know how serious it really was. “I’d like to do a Star Trek movie” or was their story/preproduction thoughts, etc. Might have just been a director/fan musing. Many of you wil remember better than I.

 

[johnjm22]

I'm not so sure. If he was told they wanted to take it away from the current model (which would please me greatly) and do a movie in his ballpark that captures something of the grandeur and the futuristic feel of TMP he might bite.

There's probably zero chance of him wanting to make anything stylistically similar to the last few movies.

Denis likes for his science fiction to be very grounded. He likes to bring a sense of realism to it. And I would LOVE that for ST. One of my biggest issues with modern Trek is that it's not grounded at all.

But Paramount wants Star Trek to be like Marvel. I don't think that will change.

And as much as I love Denis, I think he's too pretentious for Star Trek.

 

[johnjm22]

You just know it's going to be Christmas 2023 or Summer 2024 instead. Assuming they started production any time now...

Unless there's recent news I'm unaware of it, I doubt this movie is going to happen at all.

Seems like another false announcement by Paramount. They've been extremely unprofessional IMO.

 

[fireproof78]

Denis likes for his science fiction to be very grounded. He likes to bring a sense of realism to it. And I would LOVE that for ST. One of my biggest issues with modern Trek is that it's not grounded at all.

But Paramount wants Star Trek to be like Marvel. I don't think that will change.

And as much as I love Denis, I think he's too pretentious for Star Trek.

If Dune does well enough then an argument could be made for it. That's the point. Paramount wants it to be like Marvel because that makes money. And thus far audiences have demonstrated a willingness, fans and nonfans alike, demonstrate that by paying money. If Dune can make money and draw in audiences for non SF fans, like my dad, then there is potential there.

 

[johnjm22]

If Dune does well enough then an argument could be made for it. That's the point. Paramount wants it to be like Marvel because that makes money. And thus far audiences have demonstrated a willingness, fans and nonfans alike, demonstrate that by paying money. If Dune can make money and draw in audiences for non SF fans, like my dad, then there is potential there.

I agree; Paramount/CBS doesn't care as long as it makes money. They'd turn ST into a rom com if that's what brought in the numbers.

But Dune didn't do anywhere near as well as Marvel. None of Denis Villeneuve's movies do.

All Paramount knows is that comic book movies, Fast & Furious movies and Star Wars movies have hit the billion mark, so that's what they're going to ape.

You just have to wonder how many times it has to fail before they'll change their approach.

 

[fireproof78]

agree; Paramount/CBS doesn't care as long as it makes money. They'd turn ST into a rom com if that's what brought in the numbers.

Yes, and that's fine. But, they're also exploring new formats allowing for more variety. When you have consistent revenue it's easier to experiment.

 

[Ovation]

New people are in charge at Paramount. No idea if that’s better or worse for Trek movie potential but it at least suggests the possibility of a recalibration of expectations re: money and style.

 

[M'Sharak]

They'd turn ST into a rom com if that's what brought in the numbers.

 

[johnjm22]

New people are in charge at Paramount. No idea if that’s better or worse for Trek movie potential but it at least suggests the possibility of a recalibration of expectations re: money and style.

New people in charge at Paramount, but JJ and Bad Robot still obviously heavily influential and involved, and as long as they are, I can't see much changing.

 

[at Quark's]

'Top Secret' huh. Apparently not that secret if they have managed to report it.

 

[Kor]

"Groundedness" is rather subjective, I suppose. But I got the sense that they were going for somewhat of a gritty and grounded kind of 'feel' with the JJTrek movies, at least to a certain degree. I mean, people still ride motorcycles and get into bar brawls while drinking Michelob, and they have these petty distinctions between service members and "townies." Earth cities don't look too far removed from what we see today in well developed areas. And starships are full of mechanical stuff that looks like it came from a 20th century brewery or something.

Kor

 

[fireproof78]

"Groundedness" is rather subjective, I suppose. But I got the sense that they were going for somewhat of a gritty and grounded kind of 'feel' with the JJTrek movies, at least to a certain degree. I mean, people still ride motorcycles and get into bar brawls while drinking Michelob, and they have these petty distinctions between service members and "townies." Earth cities don't look too far removed from what we see today in well developed areas. And starships are full of mechanical stuff that looks like it came from a 20th century brewery or something.

Kor

Which makes it way more fun. Like an environment I could actually work in.

 

[Mudd]

IOW, they looked at the original series and tried to roll back toward that.

There's nothing futuristic about human beings in TOS. The values of Our People are more humane and less superstitious - sometimes - than 1966 humanity. The heavies and villains? Not so much, and they exist in most TOS stories. There's nothing "evolved" about those people, any more than the crew of C-57D was "a better type of human."

The idea was, and should be, to erase the distance between the Trek protagonists and the audience as much as possible, wherever possible.

I very much liked visual notions such as that shuttles used as shuttles - frequent short trips back and forth with people and cargo - would be beat all to hell and often look outdated.

 

[cooleddie74]

One thing TOS didn't shy away from was depicting human beings of the 23rd century as being susceptible to the same criminal impulses and shady behavior as people when the series was being produced. Harry Mudd was a man who preyed on people for profit and sometimes hurt them, Cyrano Jones was an unrepentant shill and salesman looking to make credits wherever he could get them and Dr. Tristan Adams was a dangerous tyrant who inflicted pain to keep his patients under control.

The "humans have evolved beyond this kind of behavior" view of our species was more of a TOS Movie and TNG Era development.

 

[Kor]

...
I very much liked visual notions such as that shuttles used as shuttles - frequent short trips back and forth with people and cargo - would be beat all to hell and often look outdated.

Yes, details like that gave the setting a more "lived in" feel, unlike the overly sterile depictions in some other iterations of Trek.

The teaser trailer with the welder working on the Enterprise was a similar touch. I wish that had made it into the movie somehow.

Kor

 

[M'Sharak]

The teaser trailer with the welder working on the Enterprise was a similar touch. I wish that had made it into the movie somehow.

Kind of a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment, but at least one of them did. If you squint.

 

[Greg Cox]

One thing TOS didn't shy away from was depicting human beings of the 23rd century as being susceptible to the same criminal impulses and shady behavior as people when the series was being produced. Harry Mudd was a man who preyed on people for profit and sometimes hurt them, Cyrano Jones was an unrepentant shill and salesman looking to make credits wherever he could get them and Dr. Tristan Adams was a dangerous tyrant who inflicted pain to keep his patients under control.

The "humans have evolved beyond this kind of behavior" view of our species was more of a TOS Movie and TNG Era development.

Amen. And Ben Finney was warped by bitterness over a stalled career. And Laurence Marvick was driven to attempted homicide by unrequited love. And Dr. Daystrom was desperate to prove that his best days weren't behind him. And Finnegan bullied young Jim Kirk at the Academy. For all its idealism and optimism, TOS was not blind to human weaknesses and frailties. As god-like aliens reminded us all the time, humanity was still a half-savage child race with a long way to go.

To my mind, STAR TREK is at its best when its essential optimism is still "grounded" in the harsher realities of human nature, warts and all. As with TOS, DS9, DISCO, etc.

 

[dupersuper]

Which makes it way more fun. Like an environment I could actually work in.

I work in an environment I could work in. It sucks. I want to work in a spaceship.

 

[fireproof78]

I work in an environment I could work in. It sucks. I want to work in a spaceship.

Ok.