New Abrams interview about the next Trek movie...

[Vigilance]

If they decide to do Khan they'll have succeeded in riling up teh Intarnets for another two years - this could be bigger than "Shatner's not in the movie?!!" And all of that after having basically pleased about 90% of the established fan base with the first movie. They'd have to be gluttons for abuse (or just not care much).

There's a third option though:

If you have the keys to a toybox, why play with only some of the toys?

I mean, having successfully got the TOS crew off the ground, why should they then put this artificial barrier of not using Kang, Khan, Doomsday Machine, Guardian of Forever, etc etc etc.

If ST XI had failed, they wouldn't get to make another one. They earned the right to have the keys to the toybox.

Trek fans are an odd bunch, and not prone to being pleased anyway.

The internets will get riled over SOMETHING they do, so I say F it, go big.

 

[caisson2delta]

The turmoil, or antagonist, for the new film could be something simple. It can be the struggle that a fledgling captain has with his new command, himself, and the animosity from other officers around him, in the fleet. I am sure that his lightning fast promotion stirred the proverbial "pot" in and amongst the fleet. It could be written as some sort of hatred amongst a group of officers that wish to see him fail and set him, and the crew, as well as Admiral Pike up.

A sort of sub plot could be thrown in that involves an alien plot to take advantage of the situation. No major named villain but a group type action. Who knows, they can even throw in the Section 31 angle as a bad guy group.

 

[Borgminister]

One wonders if the brain trust has what it takes to craft an entirely new villain, accessible to fans and public alike, yet different.

Hey, but if I have to, I'll take Khan...

 

[SalvorHardin]

Since we are talking Khan I don't want to see them use him. It's not the direction I wish to see the sequel go.

That said, since I'm not one of those who gets his panties in a bunch and goes on rants and hate campaigns, I'll surely give them a chance to do their thing and see how it goes.
They've earned that much and more.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

One wonders if the brain trust has what it takes to craft an entirely new villain, accessible to fans and public alike, yet different.

Of course they do.

That doesn't mean that such a character would translate into the box office draw and marketability that Khan has. And yeah, that's the name of the game from now on.

 

[indranee]

So Star Trek movies need villains because you think those which don't are "lame"? How is that not subjective?

I'm sorry, did you think I was attempting to speak for anyone but myself?

In case its not clear, I am not advocating military action nor threatening to launch a boycott if the next film doesn't have a villain.

Everything I say is my own personal, SUBJECTIVE opinion unless I say otherwise.

Not sure why everyone is assumed to be speaking their opinion here but me in your eyes.

It's my opinion. When I speak IRREFUTABLE TRUTH I'll let you know mmmkay?

Only two of eleven ST films haven't had someone acting as a villain: TMP and TVH.

Guess what? After ST'09, TMP and TVH are the highest grossing and most attended Trek films.

So that means they have to be my favorites?

And are you saying that TFF is better than TVH just because it has Sybok and NotGod? I hope not. TVH is better than TFF for many reasons other than that.

You're right it is.

Having a villain doesn't magically make a bad movie good. Again, I never said that and why you felt the need to imply that I did is beyond me.

I liked a lot of things about The Voyage Home and consider it a good movie overall.

Kirk and Spock are at their best in TVH, showing great chemistry and comic timing.

The conclusion of the Spock character arc also awesome.

It is possible for me to think Trek movies are better with personified villains and not automatically hate every movie that didn't have them.

One final point: I actually think TMP had a personified villain. They brought in a new character and VGer takes control over her, allowing the villain to talk to the crew.

VGer clearly has an agenda and a goal and a reason for what it's doing.

It's not the Doomsday Machine nor is it mindless.

VGer is a villain.

Now I still don't care for TMP, which has a villain (in case you think I am again speaking IRREFUTABLE TRUTH this is just my opinion) and I like TVH, which doesn't.

So clearly, it isn't a make or break thing.

I have an opinion and I stated it without equivocation.

Apparently you and indranee have a problem with me not pussy footing around the issue.

I think Trek movies need villains. I think it makes it much easier to pull off a good movie.

That doesn't make me dumb, as you seem to think, since you tried to make it imply that it meant I automatically checked off "has villain" on some master list and made myself like Nemesis and Insurrection, just because they had villains.

actually, I don't have a problem with you not pussy-footing. I'm not the mod around here and you haven't done anything horrific.

I just don't agree with you.

 

[indranee]

One wonders if the brain trust has what it takes to craft an entirely new villain, accessible to fans and public alike, yet different.

Hey, but if I have to, I'll take Khan...

this is EXACTLY how I feel, emphasis mine.

thanks, dude

 

[M'Sharak]

Fight evil wind? The villains of the next movie are ... trolls?!?!?!?

^ Or the result of some really bad tacos?

Star Trek: The Wrath of Juan

 

[pork3]

What the next Star Trek movie needs in terms of a villian is a celestial being trying to hump a black hole causing space-time distortions throughout the universe.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is gold.

-Jamman

 

[Borgminister]

What the next Star Trek movie needs in terms of a villian is a celestial being trying to hump a black hole causing space-time distortions throughout the universe.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is gold.

-Jamman

We've already had the Big Bang...

 

[Praetor]

Why remake "Space Seed"/TWOK? If you're going to remake something, remake "The Doomsday Machine."

 

[Borgminister]

One wonders if the brain trust has what it takes to craft an entirely new villain, accessible to fans and public alike, yet different.

Of course they do.

That doesn't mean that such a character would translate into the box office draw and marketability that Khan has. And yeah, that's the name of the game from now on.

I understand that, but TWOK made less than TMP. Not sure how engrained Khan is in the public's mind at this time what with battling robots being the flavor of the day...

 

[trevanian]

Simple, make him RoboKhan.

 

[mredom]

I've thought about this way too much honestly, I keep coming back to this:

There is no treaty at this point between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. The Organians would be at this point thought to be a developmentally stunted race living peacefully on a planet adjacent to both Klingon and Federation space. What if the conflict was the spectre of galactic warfare, the 22nd century equivalent of WWI...and the events leading to a peace treaty solidifying the political structure of the this area of the galaxy. It could be huge in scope, and put James Kirk in the hotseat as the flashpoint for Galactic peace.

This could draw parallels with our own world situation, but in a way which would be again uniquely ST. Done right, it could still be an entertaining popcorn movie, with the shades of gray some people seem to desire.

As far as shades of gray not working in a "summer blockbuster" I would say that TDK has many shades of gray, with an interesting well organized story. Shades of gray don't mean no compelling story, or lack of conflict. This could be a smart, yet entertaining summer film.

I'm sure that some will see this as "too complex" to fly and too much detail the new fan won't want. I still think it could work.

MRE

 

[Aragorn]

Would Megatron be a worthy opponent?

 

[darkshadow0001]

New Abrams interview about the next Trek movie...

http://www.collider.com/2009/06/25/...equel-on-the-red-carpet-of-the-saturn-awards/

He was asked about Orci and Kurtzmans idea of using the unknown and nature itself as somehow being the villain. The idea seems quite popular on here, especially with a minor bad guy thrown in, and although Abrams said he was open to any idea, im worried that he'll reject any such storyline after he said something like "Well you have to kind of personify what your up against, its tricky to fugre out how to like, fight evil wind".

Expect the studio to reject any proposed storyline that doesn't contain any moustache twirling villain. The mainstream public just aren't interested in any story which contains shades of grey and an underyling message, they want cookie cutter evil villains. For that reason, i think they will go with a good guy vs bad guy storyline to make more money.

That might work, it's kind of nice we are getting a new villain in the sequal.

 

[BolianAuthor]

Well, Star Trek does have an entire UNIVERSE that is evil, so you can't get much more natural than that.

 

[Vigilance]

I understand that, but TWOK made less than TMP. Not sure how engrained Khan is in the public's mind at this time what with battling robots being the flavor of the day...

I think Khan is a simple concept and someone who would be easy to sell.

Others have mentioned Doomsday Machine and Klingons, I'd be all for that as well.

Matter of fact, Klingons probably have the most name and face recognition with non-fans. My freaking 10 yo knows who Klingons are and will sit down to watch anytime THEY are on screen and immediately leave when the plot turns back to Kira and Sisko arguing about stuff.

And again, I am not really saying they must do X, Y or Z, I just don't think they should limit themselves from using any toys in the toybox because it might incite nerdrage.

 

[DevilEyes]

I understand that, but TWOK made less than TMP. Not sure how engrained Khan is in the public's mind at this time what with battling robots being the flavor of the day...

I think Khan is a simple concept and someone who would be easy to sell.

Others have mentioned Doomsday Machine and Klingons, I'd be all for that as well.

Matter of fact, Klingons probably have the most name and face recognition with non-fans. My freaking 10 yo knows who Klingons are and will sit down to watch anytime THEY are on screen and immediately leave when the plot turns back to Kira and Sisko arguing about stuff.

And again, I am not really saying they must do X, Y or Z, I just don't think they should limit themselves from using any toys in the toybox because it might incite nerdrage.

Funny, I usually had the opposite reaction when I first watched DS9. Enjoyed whenever Kira, Sisko or the Cardassians and Bajorans were on screen, rolled my eyes and lost interest whenever a bunch of Klingons would be there talking about honor and acting like neanderthals. It took me a while to get interested in Klingons, once I realized that there were actually interesting storylines about their politics involved, rather than just "let's drink bloodwine, yell and fight and utter the word honor 100 times", but for some time, I hated their episodes almost as much as I hated the Ferengi ones.

I don't really have that problem with TOS villain-Klingons, though. They only started to annoy me once they became the darlings of Trek.

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I've posted this before, but I would laugh my ass of, if they actually cast someone as Khan, leak a lot of images from shooting his scenes, do official promotional photos and have a teaser trailer with him.
And then, when the movie finally arrives we get our dreaded Khan story...


... as the opening act of the whole thing. Just jump right into the climax of Space Seed, maybe with a twist. let Kirk an Khan finish their struggle for control of the ship. No introduction to it except the name Khan.
Kirk wins of course just as we saw in the TOS episode.
Then the Enterprise immediately receives orders for their next mission.
just before they go to warp we see them marooning Khan an co as before.
Only this time it's Ceti Alpha SIX instead. Khan stands on the planet's surface watches the sky and shakes his fists at a tiny warp flash.
He swears bloody revenge when the surface begins to tremble.
Khan: "What the f...!"

Then we get the title sequence and off we go boldly where no one has gone before with an original story.