Well THAT would be refreshing for XII!

[TrickyDickie]

I was idly browsing through the latest issue of Star Trek: The Magazine yesterday when I found an interesting little tidbit: the team behind XII says they are accepting fan input ideas for the script! If they are really serious, that would be a first, wouldn't it? Back in the day, after TSFS came out, I tried everything I could think of to approach The Great Bird et al with some ideas, but fan input just didn't really seem to be wanted.

I was just at the edge of sleep in the car last night when an idea blossomed out of the blue that I believe would appeal to fans and non-fans alike and also be timely and relevant.

So....how does someone go about making a pitch?

 

[LOKAI of CHERON]

I'm not certain, but I think Abrams, Orci & Kurtzman stated they were receptive to fan opinion - but I don't think they're interested in unsolicited script/pitch ideas. I think they monitor fan reaction through reveiwing sites such as the Trek BBS!

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Robert Orci is well-documented in his occasional posts on TrekMovie.com, too. I've seen him there several times, and he's reiterated this subject once or twice, himself. He's really quite serious about it -- I think the main function is gauging overall fan opinions about big deal-breaker questions like recasting Khan or leaving him in '82, etc.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

Didn't Ron Moore begin his Star Trek career by submitting scripts/ideas as a fan?

I'm pretty sure that he did. And if that is the case, then no, this would not be a 'first'.

 

[M'Sharak]

Didn't Ron Moore begin his Star Trek career by submitting scripts/ideas as a fan?

I'm pretty sure that he did.

I'm pretty sure you're right. Several writers of TV Trek got their start as a result of Michael Piller's open-door script-submission policy.

 

[Wynterhawk]

Didn't Ron Moore begin his Star Trek career by submitting scripts/ideas as a fan?

I'm pretty sure that he did.

I'm pretty sure you're right. Several writers of TV Trek got their start as a result of Michael Piller's open-door script-submission policy.

Excellent idea. So I really have a chance.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Didn't Ron Moore begin his Star Trek career by submitting scripts/ideas as a fan?

I'm pretty sure that he did. And if that is the case, then no, this would not be a 'first'.

David Gerrold wrote for TOS while still in college. Howard Weinstein did it for TAS while still in college. Michael Pillar set up a scheme for TNG whereby fan script submissions could be accepted, and Ron Moore was one of several successful fan submitters. They also had an internship program, which gave us Brannon Braga, among others. IIRC, Lolita Fatjo worked at Paramount wrangling all the fan submissions (as assistant to the Executive Producer for two years and then pre-production coordinator and script coordinator). ENT did not allow fan submissions.

But... movie scripts are a very different animal. Fan submissions are not sought for these. As a previous poster suggested, the writers are open to fan opinion, not fans submitting their own scripts. In any case, I'd expect the sequel script is already further along than JJ's team is letting on.

 

[JarodRussell]

Wondering how that would work. You cannot ever write a single line of a story idea in the Trek literature section because otherwise it would cause trouble, but the feature film writers can do that?

 

[M'Sharak]

Didn't Ron Moore begin his Star Trek career by submitting scripts/ideas as a fan?

I'm pretty sure that he did.

I'm pretty sure you're right. Several writers of TV Trek got their start as a result of Michael Piller's open-door script-submission policy.

Excellent idea. So I really have a chance.

Well, two small problems: Piller is no longer with us and that policy for the TV shows ended some time during Voyager's run, iirc.

What I think Orci is doing here is the same kind of thing he and Kurtzman have been doing almost since the last movie opened: making themselves available for Q&A sessions and keeping a channel open for people to tell what they'd like to see--characters, planets, races, everything and anything. I don't know what's in the latest Star Trek: The Magazine (it has no online edition, as far as I know) but TrekToday recently quoted from an IO9 interview with Orci in which he was asked about whether Khan will figure in the story:

Regarding the debate over whether to have Khan in the story or not, Orci encouraged those online to weigh in with their opinions on the matter. “We’ll see what happens,” he said. “Log in, vote, speak up, we’ll listen.”

He's not making any promises about using any idea submitted; he's just saying he'll listen to it, which, realistically speaking, is just about the best thing any fan ought to be able to expect. And before it gets to him, I don't doubt that any such submissions are going to be sifted and sorted by staffers, and organized by category so that Orci & Co. will first see a summary which goes something like:

855 - want Khan to be the main villain/adversary
1576- want no Khan
34 - want Andorian group sex to figure prominently
599 - want to see Klingons
802 - don't want Klingons
2050 - want to see Spock in pon farr
125 - think it crucial that Gary Mitchell be in the next one, and that Kirk must be seen as a stack of books with legs
14 - want a complete redesign of the Enterprise, so that it exactly matches the one seen in TOS

(Note: the actual number of Enterprise-redesign submissions was in the billions, but it was determined that two people used zombies to spam to suggestion box with identical requests, so duplicates have been discarded.)
​

1783 - think Kirk should be seen shirtless more than once
71 - think that Chekov was cute and should be the star of the next movie
29 - want to see Yeoman Rand
4 - would like to see the planet killer destroy the Enterprise

(et cetera, and so forth, und so weiter... )

 

[FarStrider]

As a previous poster suggested, the writers are open to fan opinion, not fans submitting their own scripts. In any case, I'd expect the sequel script is already further along than JJ's team is letting on.

What I think Orci is doing here is the same kind of thing he and Kurtzman have been doing almost since the last movie opened: making themselves available for Q&A sessions and keeping a channel open for people to tell what they'd like to see--characters, planets, races, everything and anything. . . He's not making any promises about using any idea submitted; he's just saying he'll listen to it, which, realistically speaking, is just about the best thing any fan ought to be able to expect. And before it gets to him, I don't doubt that any such submissions are going to be sifted and sorted by staffers, and organized by category so that Orci & Co. will first see a summary which goes something like:

855 - want Khan to be the main villain/adversary
1576- want no Khan
34 - want Andorian group sex to figure prominently
599 - want to see Klingons
802 - don't want Klingons
2050 - want to see Spock in pon farr
125 - think it crucial that Gary Mitchell be in the next one, and that Kirk must be seen as a stack of books with legs
14 - want a complete redesign of the Enterprise, so that it exactly matches the one seen in TOS

(Note: the actual number of Enterprise-redesign submissions was in the billions, but it was determined that two people used zombies to spam to suggestion box with identical requests, so duplicates have been discarded.)
​

1783 - think Kirk should be seen shirtless more than once
71 - think that Chekov was cute and should be the star of the next movie
29 - want to see Yeoman Rand
4 - would like to see the planet killer destroy the Enterprise

(et cetera, and so forth, und so weiter... )

And I bet they know exactly who those two are! BTW, I love your numbers, M'Sharak.


My guess is that Therin and M'Sharak are correct, they'll listen to fan input, but they probably have a really good idea where they are going with the story by now, and it would take near unanimous fan support of something to get them to change directions. . . (and we all know getting Trek fans to unanimously support anything is like herding cats) . . .


~FS

 

[M'Sharak]

And I bet they know exactly who those two are!

No names, please - this was strictly for fun.

BTW, I love your numbers, M'Sharak.

I tried to make some at least borderline plausible, but they're pretty much pulled out of thin air to illustrate the idea of how the input might be collected and presented.

(and we all know getting Trek fans to unanimously support anything is like herding cats) . . .

Worse, if anything.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Wondering how that would work. You cannot ever write a single line of a story idea in the Trek literature section because otherwise it would cause trouble, but the feature film writers can do that?

But over in TrekLit you can certainly say, "I wish the next novel would feature Andorians seeking out new colony worlds" - but you can't say, "Here's a story idea for free. Shran's nephew has gathered together fellow angry Andorians and they steal an old Constitution Class vessel from Starfleet to investigate new planets for emergency Andorian colonization after the Borg attack. I promise I won't sue if you use this idea, but please name one of the colony worlds after my dog." (Deliberately bizarre example.)

There is absolutely nothing to prevent writers of screenplays and/or novels (or songs, short stories, plays, poems, articles) from scouring the Internet searching for random story ideas. They also scour shopping malls (to watch people interacting), events in their own past lives, real news events of the past and present, etc. Story ideas aren't able to be protected by copyright. The story developed from that idea is.

The screenwriters on JJ's team are seemingly tossing out seeds all the time (ie. the Khan rumour) and canvassing fan reactions from various sources. They can then choose to react, or ignore those fan reactions, from what is a very small minority of the general audience who saw the first film.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

M'Sharak, that was an awesome post. You really had me going for a moment because I glanced at the 'poll' before the words preceding it. I was like, 'oh no, if that many people want Pon Farr...'

 

[TrickyDickie]

Yes, I knew that the various series were open at times to fan scripts. It was the movies that I was hoping fans would finally catch a break with.

Okay, let's see if I can phrase the following in such a way that it won't cause any trouble: How cool might the idea be to take two classic Trek episodes that were basically unrelated to each other and fuse them together into a new and updated single story? If done right, there would be the opportunity to break some new ground while at the same time exploring old favorite stories from a new slant in the Abrams reimagined universe.

No, you can not drag it out of me which episodes I have in mind.

 

[Shatnertage]

--M'Sharak, great poll--hysterical.

As others have said, I'm sure it's more "we'll listen to fan reaction to ideas" rather than "what should we write about?"

And I think I know exactly which episodes Trickie Dickie is talking about--"And the Children Shall Lead" and "Spock's Brain," obviously.

 

[TrickyDickie]

And I think I know exactly which episodes Trickie Dickie is talking about--"And the Children Shall Lead" and "Spock's Brain," obviously.

Oh, HELL NO!

 

[Vurok]

I think they monitor fan reaction through reveiwing sites such as the Trek BBS!

We could really mess with them...

Who thinks the Borg should take up flower arranging and stamp collecting, rather than assimilation of alien species?
Gay Klingons?
A new threat to the Federation - a race of killer zombie aliens who never die?!
Or a movie version of "Threshold"?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

How cool might the idea be to take two classic Trek episodes that were basically unrelated to each other and fuse them together into a new and updated single story?

"City on the Edge of Forever" and "Mirror, Mirror"?

 

[Captrek]

“Because the growing pacifist movement delayed American entry into the war, the tribbles conquered the globe.”

Can your beer do this?

 

[Captain Rob]

I think they monitor fan reaction through reveiwing sites such as the Trek BBS!

We could really mess with them...

Who thinks the Borg should take up flower arranging and stamp collecting, rather than assimilation of alien species?
Gay Klingons?
A new threat to the Federation - a race of killer zombie aliens who never die?!
Or a movie version of "Threshold"?

How about the Borg meet up with Nomad and get a spelling error introduced into their Prime Directive: Assimilation of alien feces. The Borg invade the Federation boarding ships and stealing their poo.