Spock season 2 opener - “Return to Forever”

[Khan 2.0]

https://trekmovie.com/2018/09/16/re...utline-featuring-the-guardian-and-two-spocks/
bit like Time Squared/Cause&Effect/end of ST09 (plus the 2 Spock/Guardian novels)

78y prior to s2 would mean 'young' Spock would be from 2287 (Trek V/1988 era)

 

[Allyn Gibson]

This is just an outline, so there was still a great deal of development ahead, development that didn't happen because Nimoy wasn't interested, but even so, this isn't very good.

The TNG crew is very ill-served by this outline. This story does not require them. They exist so another story can happen -- Spock vs. the time-travelling boy. At no point do the TNG characters do anything that's uniquely "them," nor do they contribute in any meaningful way to the conclusion. They are guest-stars in their own series.

For that matter, Spock seems ill-served by this story as well. This role doesn't seem to be uniquely Spock, either; you could just as easily plug a generic "time police"-type character into the role and it would work just as well.

Overall, the feeling of the outline is of an early TNG story. Stylistically, this does feel very "season two" to me. But, had this been made, there isn't much here to remember other than Spock's (dual) appearance, and while I suspect the emergence of Past Spock from the Guardian was meant to be the episode 1 cliffhanger, I don't see any reason why this needed to be a two-parter; there's simply not enough there.

 

[Armus]

There was potential in that outline, it certainly has a more engaging premise, and more dramatic twists, than Unification, which was dull. I agree that the TNG characters needed to be involved more in the story but that would have been developed as the script was fleshed out. A wasted opportunity for sure.

 

[Christopher]

I can see why they rejected it, even aside from Nimoy turning it down. It would've needed a better, bigger justification than "some kid causes random problems somehow." And the ending -- "I knew how to beat him because I already saw my future self do it" -- is a bit obvious. (It worked in Doctor Who: Time Crash, but that was an 8-minute short.)

Still, imagine if they had done it. Between "Yesteryear," this, and ST '09, we'd have three times that Spock met his younger self.

 

[F. King Daniel]

Interesting that, free of requiring Nimoy's involvement, Discovery is also featuring Spock in their second season.

 

[JesterFace]

Might the writer's strike that cut season 2 into just 22 episodes affected this idea in some way?

 

[Armus]

Might the writer's strike that cut season 2 into just 22 episodes affected this idea in some way?

I believe it did, and negotiations with Nimoy fell apart. I really wish they tried to produce Torme's story; I like the idea, and I think Nimoy would have given a better perfomance than he did in Unification, which he probably viewed as a plug for Star Trek VI.