Nimoy: Impossible for Trek to go back to TV

[Captaindemotion]

North Pole-aris said:

Captaindemotion said:
To be fair to TMP, the idea of it being the most expensive movie ever at the time is somewhat misleading. That budget was not all spent on TMP - it wasn't a money gobbler the way that Waterworld or Titanic was. Rather, for complicated accounting reasons, all the money which had been expended on previous abortive Trek movies (Planet of the Titans etc) and on Phase II were laid to the movie. Only a portion of it was actually spent on TMP itself. Similarly, the ridiculous $250m budget for Superman Returns incorporates monies spent on abortive Superman projects over the previous decade, not simply on Bryan Singer's movie.

Exactly - the "creative accounting" employed on TMP wasn't and isn't unusual, so we can't go into special pleading on its behalf.

It's not special pleading (I'm not very fond of the movie!), simply giving the bigger picture, as no-one had pointed out this factor beforehand. The accounting system in question isn't unusual in Hollywood, but TMP is the only Trek movie to have 'enjoyed' it, so I do think some acknowledgment of that should be made.

TMP is a pretty spectacular looking movie, for all its flaws (bland uniforms aside) but as I say, it's not like they threw money at the screen the way, say, James Cameron does in his movies.

 

[ClayinCA]

Going back to the Fred Freiberger thing for just a moment, let's not forget another all-time TV classic he produced: The Adventures of Superboy!

 

[JacksonArcher]

Kegek Kringle said:

North Pole-aris said:
I was far more interested in what this implies about the designs and production values of the new Trek movie, given that Nimoy has worked on and closely observed the production of six of them with budgets ranging from TV-level to ridiculously high.

Quite. In a backhanded way, this is the most ringing endorsement of the film's visuals I've heard so far. Clearly, the unprecedented budget is being used wisely.

But as to the issue at hand, I'm fine if Star Trek is now just a movie series. It milked the TV idea for way too long anyway.

Exactly. I'd much rather have new Star Trek every few years. It creates much more excitment that way. I think we were all flooded with Star Trek for years and the sense of excitment soon evaporated after that, especially after the creative decline.

If Abrams and Co. manage to keep the quality-level high, then let's just focus on a series of films, and I think that is the best way to perserve the quality of Trek for some time.

 

[Vektor]

DarthTom said:
I think you under estimate the universal popularity of Wars versus the cult following of Trek.

I would hardly call Star Wars’ popularity “universal,” especially when the prequels are included as part of the whole. Regardless, I don’t think the live-action Wars series is any more of a guaranteed success than a new Trek series would be, but I do think it has the potential to create a shift in audience preferences as has been known to happen from time to time.

BTW, the hottest toy this year for Christmas is from the film Transformers and while not Trek like sci-fi, still sci-fi. Do you think if Transformers was on the air again it wouldn't be popular?

I think it would probably be hugely popular in amongst other Saturday morning cartoon fare, but that it would fail miserably if they tried to make a prime-time network television show out of it. The simple fact is, movies and TV shows are entirely different animals, People tend to watch them for different reasons and with entirely different sets of expectations. As I said before, scif-fi/fantasy is HUGE on the big screen, usually commanding the highest budgets and the biggest box office returns, but on television it is relegated to low-budget cable channels and relatively tiny niche audiences. As with any trend, that could change in time, but it usually requires a catalyst of some sort to make it happen. I don’t really think the new Trek film will do it because movie popularity and success has so little to do with TV show popularity and success, but the live-action Wars series in 2009 just might.

Assuming it doesn’t suck.

 

[Kryton]

Now that Nimoy has ventured out of his retirement, maybe he could reprise the role of Paris in the next MISSION: Impossible! film.

 

[TJinPgh]

While his comments are interesting, it may be worth pointing out that Nimoy hasn't done a big budget film production in nearly 15 years.

You probably could have shown a SciFi network low budget film to Cecil B. DeMille and he would likely have marveled at the technologiy and produciton quality, even if he thought the movie was trash.

Given that nobody cast in this film is capable of demanding a big paycheck, one would hope that it would look visually stunning for the absurd budget this thing is getting.

It says very little about whether the story is any good or if anybody will care enough to go see it.

Compared to the six films Nimoy appeared in, First Contact was visually phenomenal with a budget 50% higher than Undiscovered Country. They managed to use a great deal of the things they aquired for that film for use in Voyager, and even Enterprise to a much lesser extent.

I, personally, think the need to triple First Contact's budget to make this film is absurd. But, if they can't use any of it for future productions, whether on the big screen or small, it would only be because there wouldn't be any more.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

middyseafort said:

Plum said:
...just film it in Vancouver. Planet Canada returns!

I can see it now:

Dr. McCoy

Damnit, Jim, why does ever planet we visit look like a forest outside of Vancouver!

The Canadian locations are quickly disappearing, as the Stargate production teams have learned. An increasing amount of time and money is going into post production to remove houses and fences and other stuff that has spoiled many of their "wilderness" exterior settings.

Be that as it may, I agree that the budget of the movie has little bearing on whether or not they could do Trek on TV again if they really wanted to.

 

[IJD GAF]

Perhaps a dumb question:

A poster mentioned TMP's budget including phase II and other aborted Trek follow-ups. And Superman Returns' budget including several forgotten Superman film attempts.

Is there any possibility that XI's budget might be including the Jenderson (sic) script which he and Berman were working on just a few years ago, post-ENT?

 

[number6]

That never went beyond the basic outline/first draft phase.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

IJD GAF said:
Perhaps a dumb question:

A poster mentioned TMP's budget including phase II and other aborted Trek follow-ups. And Superman Returns' budget including several forgotten Superman film attempts.

Is there any possibility that XI's budget might be including the Jenderson (sic) script which he and Berman were working on just a few years ago, post-ENT?

That's a good question...

 

[Jon1701]

^ Probably, but I dont think they spent that much on that script, short of paying the writer.

I dont know if they spent any development money.

 

[SlyCardie]

When I read the first post I originally thought Nimoy said that because he thought the movie would fail. I'm getting cynical in my old age. >_>