State of Trek according to Entertainment Weekly

[bullethead]

I seem to remember a report that JJ wanted to do a new TV series that would run alongside the movies, but that the studio said no. I'm not sure if that's true, but it sounds like something that JJ would do.

It was a video game.

I think he was referring to that article that came out a few months ago about how Trek is currently licensed and (IIRC) said that there would be no Abrams Trek show due to Abrams wanting CBS to stop merchandising the prime universe stuff.

As for the game, it did come out, but it was totally irrelevant and pretty crappy.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I seem to remember a report that JJ wanted to do a new TV series that would run alongside the movies, but that the studio said no. I'm not sure if that's true, but it sounds like something that JJ would do.

It was a video game.

I think he was referring to that article that came out a few months ago about how Trek is currently licensed and (IIRC) said that there would be no Abrams Trek show due to Abrams wanting CBS to stop merchandising the prime universe stuff.

I thought that article was debunked as internet gossip because of how many errors it had regarding who actually controlled Trek (Paramount, nor Abrams, were never in any position to tell CBS what to do with Trek).

 

[Harvey]

TrekMovie said the report was bunk, if that's an help.

 

[Yanks]

IMO the reason Star Trek will never make a successful return to TV in the near future is because of the rabid fanbase, it can make your project a success but its too dam hard to please.

I've got to agree with you there.

A movie blockbuster can happen even if the hardcore minority of Trek's fans are pissed. STiD is proof of that.

But a TV show can only survive if it has a fanbase that is loyal. Trek fans are so splintered, they couldn't even agree on...

... Hell! They couldn't agree on a damn thing...

So - New movie in 2016, but no chance of a new series within the next decade I'd say.

In the vein of Kirk and Spock screaming for no apparent reason...

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!

I want a new trek series beginning the fall of 2016!!!!

 

[Shazam!]

But Harve Bennett didn't write Star Trek II : /

Last time I checked, the writing credits of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were:

Story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards
Screenplay by Jack B. Sowards

Thanks for confirming what I said

 

[Yanks]

The thing is, there would be NO Star Trek right now if it weren't for JJ. Enterprise was the first TV series since TOS to be cancelled, and Nemesis bombed critically and financially. The franchise was DEAD, no one wanted to greenlight Star Trek projects for a decade. JJ not only resurrected the franchise, but made millions of NEW people into Star Trek fans. That is an accomplishment worthy of note.

This trekkie is most appreciative.

 

[Harvey]

But Harve Bennett didn't write Star Trek II : /

Last time I checked, the writing credits of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were:

Story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards
Screenplay by Jack B. Sowards

Thanks for confirming what I said

Yes, because story credit has nothing to do with writing a movie.

 

[SeerSGB]

The creators started that divide with all their bashing against old Trek. "Not you father's Trek", those "Nacelles Monthly subscriber" remarks, the constant justifications for the fast paced style with "old Trek was lame and boring", and all that shit.

Sometimes I think some people here live in an alternate reality? Or maybe it's just that I do.

When Bad Robot said "This is not your father's 'Star Trek'", they weren't dissing the old one. They were telling the new demographic that the new films would have something for them, as well as their Dads.

Yes, Orci & Kurtzman are self-proclaimed TNG fans, but they spent months reading TOS novels - and even made a list of the ones they loved ("Spock's World", "Final Frontier", "Best Destiny", "Ex Machina", etc), several of which became influential in their writing of the 2009 film.

And I don't recall any of the Bad Robot gang describing "old Trek" as "lame and boring". JJ Abrams explained that he found ST:TMP disappointingly boring, because he was an enthusiastic little kid at the Smithsonian premiere and he was expecting a SF film just like the "Star Wars" film he'd seen two years earlier.

I was a ST newbie in 1980 and had just started substitute teaching in the years between TMP and ST II - and all the kids I tried to chat Star Trek with thought that TMP was boring. Most adult fans I met agreed with them.

So what other "bashing" did I miss, or misunderstand?

Been a while, but isn't Best Destiny the one that gave us a young James Kirk being a total smart ass prick, and his father dragged him on a mission about the Enterprise to teach him a lesson?

And while we're on the topic of writers: Anyone take a guess who this ideal is from and when it was pitched?

, he drew enthousiastic applause when he told a rapt audience his plans for filming a prequel to the series, telling the story of how Kirk and his crew had met at Starfleet Academy

 

[BillJ]

Last time I checked, the writing credits of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were:

Story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards
Screenplay by Jack B. Sowards

Thanks for confirming what I said

Yes, because story credit has nothing to do with writing a movie.

 

[Therin of Andor]

But it's kinda the course for all Trek productions with both fans and vocal detractors.

Indeed. When I go back through back issues of our now-defunct club newsletter, there are scathingly negative comments about TAS, the very idea of "Phase II", TMP, ST II ("Spock's death hits the Wall Street Journal!"), and on through the 50/50 feelings on ST IV ("the dumbing down of the franchise for the masses") and TNG and "Starfleet Academy", plus everyone piling on to the announcement of Shatner as director of ST V. As it turned out, the directing of ST V was arguably one of that film's strengths, but it was the factoid causing the most trepidation at the time.

Been a while, but isn't Best Destiny the one that gave us a young James Kirk being a total smart ass prick, and his father dragged him on a mission about the Enterprise to teach him a lesson?

Precisely.

And while we're on the topic of writers: Anyone take a guess who this ideal is from and when it was pitched?

, he drew enthousiastic applause when he told a rapt audience his plans for filming a prequel to the series, telling the story of how Kirk and his crew had met at Starfleet Academy

Harve Bennett? He tried pitching the concept to Paramount for both ST V and ST VI.

He copped a lot of negativity from Doohan, Takei, Nichols and Koenig, who openly admitted at conventions that they were concerned about younger actors taking on their roles (and convention spots) while the originals were still healthy enough to play their own characters.

The veteran actors also managed to suggest that a "Starfleet Academy" would have to be akin to the "Police Academy" franchise, with everything being played for laughs.

I had assumed it might be more like "The Paper Chase".

 

[SeerSGB]

But it's kinda the course for all Trek productions with both fans and vocal detractors.

Indeed. When I go back through back issues of our now-defunct club newsletter, there are scathingly negative comments about TAS, the very idea of "Phase II", TMP, ST II ("Spock's death hits the Wall Street Journal!"), and on through the 50/50 feelings on ST IV ("the dumbing down of the franchise for the masses") and TNG and "Starfleet Academy", plus everyone piling on to the announcement of Shatner as director of ST V. As it turned out, the directing of ST V was arguably one of that film's strengths, but it was the factoid causing the most trepidation at the time.

Been a while, but isn't Best Destiny the one that gave us a young James Kirk being a total smart ass prick, and his father dragged him on a mission about the Enterprise to teach him a lesson?

Precisely.

And while we're on the topic of writers: Anyone take a guess who this ideal is from and when it was pitched?

, he drew enthousiastic applause when he told a rapt audience his plans for filming a prequel to the series, telling the story of how Kirk and his crew had met at Starfleet Academy

Harve Bennett? He tried pitching the concept to Paramount for both ST V and ST VI.

He copped a lot of negativity from Doohan, Takei, Nichols and Koenig, who openly admitted at conventions that they were concerned about younger actors taking on their roles (and convention spots) while the originals were still healthy enough to play their own characters.

The veteran actors also managed to suggest that a "Starfleet Academy" would have to be akin to the "Police Academy" franchise, with everything being played for laughs.

I had assumed it might be more like "The Paper Chase".

Try Gene, it was one of his Phase II ideas:

As early as the original series’ third season, Gene Roddenberry had spoken of making a Star Trek motion picture. At the 1968 World Science Fiction Convention held over the Labor Day weekend in Oakland, California, he drew enthousiastic applause when he told a rapt audience his plans for filming a prequel to the series, telling the story of how Kirk and his crew had met at Starfleet Academy. For that weekend at least, Star Trek was on a roll. But the Tuesday after Labor Day, the real world intruded and kept the opening of the first Star Trek movie at bay for more than a decade.

So when we talking about the new movies being closer to TOS than TNG, we're not far off the mark.

And it looks like we've got the origin for Kirk being a smartass punk: the novel verse, just add father dying heroic death.

 

[ComicGuy89]

I seem to remember a report that JJ wanted to do a new TV series that would run alongside the movies, but that the studio said no. I'm not sure if that's true, but it sounds like something that JJ would do.

Kurtzman and/or Orci have mentioned wanting to do a Series, but, no rejection or approval (Or for that matter a Solid pitch) has been confirmed by anyone

Many of us have theorized that the most likely scenario, would be after STiD proved to be a success (Which it now has), that a Series (Probably animated, not Live Action) would be greenlighted, so that it would be able to premiere shortly after the next movie premieres. No indication that this is going forward at this point, though. (Which would also be a 50th Anniversary Celebration, as well, hopefully)

Goodness I hope you are right! A CG animated show would be a great idea, Star Wars: The Clone Wars has shown how potent this medium could be. Make it so!

 

[Therin of Andor]

And it looks like we've got the origin for Kirk being a smartass punk: the novel verse, just add father dying heroic death.

But that's never been a secret. Orci & Kurtzman told us they were reading specific novels.

And George Kirk Sr died a heroic death in the novels, too, but it was offscreen and shrouded in mystery. Jim was just a lot older when it happened.

 

[Shazam!]

Last time I checked, the writing credits of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan were:

Story by Harve Bennett and Jack B. Sowards
Screenplay by Jack B. Sowards

Thanks for confirming what I said

Yes, because story credit has nothing to do with writing a movie.

It has plenty to do with it but it doesn't make you the writer of the movie. Directors are often very hands-on with editing a movie but that doesn't make them the editor.

I'll tell you what, let's argue about it and see how far we can escalate the pedantry.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Thanks for confirming what I said

Yes, because story credit has nothing to do with writing a movie.

It has plenty to do with it but it doesn't make you the writer of the movie. Directors are often very hands-on with editing a movie but that doesn't make them the editor.

I'll tell you what, let's argue about it and see how far we can escalate the pedantry.

Are the directors listed as editors in the credits?

 

[Franklin]

In the "For What It's Worth" column: As some here have posted, who's responsible for the script of TWOK is far more complicated than just arguing about Bennett and Sowards.

The evolution of the story as it's related in Memory Alpha is interesting for those who weren't aware of it (or those who need their memories jogged).

Bennett came up with the original idea for the story and wrote a treatment that he gave to Sowards to turn into a screenplay. After the first draft, many people contributed criticisms and ideas in moving towards the final script, even though Sowards remained the sole credited screenwriter. Samuel Peeples and Nicholas Meyer had especially strong influences on the final screenplay, though they were uncredited.

Link to story (scroll about half-way down the page to the heading, "Background Information"):
http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Star_Trek_II:_The_Wrath_of_Khan

 

[SeerSGB]

And it looks like we've got the origin for Kirk being a smartass punk: the novel verse, just add father dying heroic death.

But that's never been a secret. Orci & Kurtzman told us they were reading specific novels.

And George Kirk Sr died a heroic death in the novels, too, but it was offscreen and shrouded in mystery. Jim was just a lot older when it happened.

So, basically, they're actually being respectful of a lot of the details that were for Kirk by the authors of the books. Details that have more or less fallen into accepted fanon.

Why do those bastards hate Trek Fans!

 

[Harvey]

Forget it. I really can't be bothered. Harve Bennett wrote Star Trek II. Congrats.

Also, Philip Kaufman wrote Raiders of the Lost Ark. I guess Lawrence Kasden will have to give back that Saturn Award.

When the "story" and "screenplay" credits are shared by a single writer (or writing team) the credit is "written by."

Or, to crib from Wikipedia:

There is a common misconception that a "story by" credit may be given to a person who simply has the story idea for a film or television program. This is never the case, as all writing credits are for actual writing; a written story document or treatment, or in some cases, a complete script. In such cases, a screenwriter produces an original screenplay that subsequently undergoes a "page one rewrite" by a different writer or writers that produces a new and significantly different draft, as determined by the WGA. In many such cases, the original author receives the "story by" rather than "screenplay by" credit. This is known as the Irreducible Story Minimum.

Also, the Saturn Awards are nice, but the AMPAS awards screenwriting Oscars to anyone receiving "story" or "screenplay" credit.

 

[Kabraxal]

I'm sure they are confused and "hurt" at first, then they see the box office returns and blu ray sales and realise "o, just some few vocal idiots that will never be happy". At least I hope so... I was one skeptical ID would be a good ST film after finding 09 to be somewhat disappointing for me. But now, ID is one of my favourite Trek films and 09 has been elevated because of it. I want more of what ID has shown Trek can be.

 

[Kruezerman]

Trek is doing pretty fucking good. It's ahead of Iron Man 3 for God's sake!
http://www.thehdroom.com/news/Iron-...tar-Trek-Into-Darkness-Ahead-of-Release/13152