J.J. Abrams To Direct New 'Star Trek' Film 482
Tycoon Guy writes "TrekToday reports that Paramount has asked 'Lost' creator J.J. Abrams to direct a new 'Star Trek' film. The movie will be set at Starfleet Academy and will feature younger versions of James T. Kirk and Spock, chronicling their first meeting at the Academy and their first outer space mission. The movie is set for a 2008 release and will apparently be one of Paramount's biggest projects for the year."
Kirk and Spock, the steamy years.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeesh, talk about taking a good idea and turning it into a dogmatic commercial eggroll. Egads.
What's next? "Is that a phaser, or are you just happy to see me"? I'll pass.
I've got the title (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I've got the title (Score:3, Funny)
Re:I've got the title (Score:4, Funny)
R.C. ripoff (Score:3, Funny)
Here's the Movie Poster (Score:3, Funny)
http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b177/troyzilla/
Re:Kirk and Spock, the steamy years.... (Score:5, Interesting)
OK, that's _my_ opinion.
I grew up during the original TOS reruns and I loved it. The shows really sucked, most of them. What was cool was what it represented and the surounding environment. Phasers, transporters, warp speed, travel to other planets, aliens in cool makeup (at the time), hotties in William Ware Theiss outfits, Kirk was ruler of the universe and Mr. Spock was cool. Kirk was so cool that we forgave the Catspaw, Spocks Brain, Spectre of the Gun, Platos Stepchildren (hell- most of the 3rd season), the Abraham Lincoln episode, and the evil twin episode which really wasn't that bad of all the evil twin episodes that exist on television.
We got the movies and we thought that that's it. No more tv episodes then TNG happened.
OK, different, cool, different, not as cool as TOS because no Vulcan. The straight guy Data was alright, Number One (bozo) was annoying but Picard rocked. We forgave Whoopi Goldberg and the tar creature episode because we had the holodeck and some real baddies, the Borg and Q.
TNG wasn't as engaging to me but I wasn't a kid anymore.
Then we got DS9. WTF?!? Same universe, different point of view.
Very well written and a surprise all around. The tribble episode was neat and we got the Ferengi.
Voyager, no one really cared about it, at least people who liked the older series. Only die hards seemed to like it as they would like anything with "Star Trek" slapped on it. Mostly all female, doctor didn't exist in real space and they brought back a vulcan, as a black guy. Nothing wrong with that but it just seemed like they wanted a 'black' alien that wasn't a klingon.
Then we get Enterprise. OK, I'll bite. Pre TOS so they can't really screw up now or else the space time continuum will get messed up and the fans of Voyager will turn rabid and scream that Enterprise ruined Star Trek.
Don't really get anything new because anything new already existed. This time we get a female Vulcan that follows the Voyager steps of hotties in spandex. Hotties look better in William Ware Theiss outfits, not spandex.
Most of the crew is likable except I don't get the doctor character. Why make him an alien when aliens are new?
Enterprise sucks because it isn't bold and doesn't break new ground. All it is is Voyager with different people with limitations of what they can't or can do. It's like all of the tech in Enterprise "doesn't work well or isn't tested yet".
Voyager was TNG with different characters but without the drive.
TNG was TOS with different characters but it continued the "where no man has gone before" dream. Voyager just placed them farther out.
It seems like they're trying to return to the roots which made TOS good which was Kirk but William Shatner is responsible for us liking Kirk, not the writers.
I say let it rest for another 5 years at least and if they're going to do a series, do another starship becaue Enterprise will always be about Kirk, no matter who is in the captains chair.
Most of the movies suck, they even had an evil twin movie.
How is it that in TOS, we can see on the view screen people on a planet surface in detail but in Generations there are annoying reportes with huge cameras mounted on their eyes?
Give it a rest. Fire Berman and Braga and remove them at least 1000 miles from any star trek property, they're only in it for a paycheck.
Re:Kirk and Spock, the steamy years.... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Kirk and Spock, the steamy years.... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Kirk and Spock, the steamy years.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Who knows, they fucked with it so much.
Eh. (Score:3, Interesting)
That said, this is a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE idea. Who gives a shit about Kirk and Spock's academy years?
Give us the adventures of the Enterprise-B or -C. Give us a COMPLETELY NEW STORY - something that can stand on its own as Star Trek. How about a story about the frontier - that's only been briefly explored with the Maquis. Something going on
Sooooo.... (Score:5, Funny)
Desperation (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Desperation (Score:2, Insightful)
Just gimme back my TNG, and I'll be happy. The actors are willing, I'm sure; even LeVar would be willing to step to the other side of the camera (not that directing precludes you from acting in an episode).
Re:Desperation (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Desperation (Score:5, Informative)
-Eric
Re:Desperation (Score:4, Informative)
ttyl
Farrell
Re:Desperation (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Desperation (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Desperation (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Desperation (Score:3, Insightful)
Indeed. I look back at BoBW, and I keep thinking, "Now this is how you build up the suspense!"
Can you even imagine seeing a quiet but tense moment in a new series where you see a Borg cube in the distance, and the Captain merely states, "Contact Starfleet... (dramatic pause) We have engaged, The Borg."
It would never happen today. The writers and producers see it as "not enough action". Which is stupid, because action doesn't mean anything if you don't care abo
I like this idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I like this idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I like this idea (Score:3, Funny)
-Eric
Re:I like this idea (Score:3, Informative)
From IMDB.com:
# Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
# The Scorpion King (2002) (story)
# The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Tales of Innocence (1999) (V)
# The Adventures of Young Indiana Jones: Spring Break Adventure (1999) (V)
# Young Indiana Jones: Travels with Father (1996) (TV)
# Kazan (1995/I) (TV)
# Baree (1994) (TV)
# Young Indiana Jones and the Hollywood Folli
Re:I like this idea (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I like this idea (Score:2)
I like the idea of reviving the original characters in some way. That was what was really lacking from the later iterations of Star Trek, was the strength of characters. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy were the perfect balance of differing personalities, one of the best sets of characters ever in TV or film.
I also like this idea.
However, given Paramount's history with Trek movies (I only say the last few in the theater out of loyalty to the franchise), I hope the get some of the people that worked on Star Trek [wikipedia.org]
Re:I like this idea (Score:5, Funny)
next year we will have "startrek kids" and then Startrek babies"
Spock,Kirk and Kaahn ride their hover-tricycles around the neighborhood going where "no 4 year old has gone before"
It will be "rugrats" set in the Star Trek universe.
I can hear sci-fi fans puking all across the country at that thought.
Not enough time has passed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Not enough time has passed (Score:3, Funny)
Not enough time has passed since the last movie. They need a bigger break because they will still have the same people who have been dragging down the movies for a while.
Didn't they try this with the Crocodile Dundee franchise?
Starfleet Academy? (Score:5, Insightful)
1. The Star Trek equivalent of Animal House. Crazy co-eds, the antics of Star Fleet Academy's most crazy frat house
2. Cadets save the world.
I know which one is more likely, and it pains me to say it, I don't want to watch movie #2, but #1 would be awesome.
Seriously, who actually thinks a movie based in Starfleet academy is a good idea? Obviously the unimaginative producers think its an "angle" of Starfleet that hasn't been covered, and an excuse to "sex up" the franchise by having a bunch of 20-somethings in the roles.
I especially cringe at the thought of "young Kirk" and "young Spock". Face it, Muppet Babies was terrible, Star Trek babies will be too.
Option 3 - Star Trek ala Harry Potter (Score:3, Interesting)
The story of a tallented student (Potter/Kirk) who breaks all the school rules to save his friend and is rewarded for his creative thinking.
Re:Option 3 - Star Trek ala Harry Potter (Score:2)
Re:Actually option 3 is more Kirk like.. (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Starfleet Academy? (Score:2)
Ten or so years ago when I first heard the rumors about a "Starfleet Academy" movie, the frat house comedy was exactly what I didn't want to see. But that was back when there was still some Star Trek that didn't suck. Now that Paramount has sucked all the life out of the franchise, cadets saving the world would be such a cliche. I probably wouldn't watch either movie (I didn't watch Nem
my favorite scene from Animal House (Score:2)
Could you imagine that set at Starfleet Academy? There's Spock plucking some Vulcan lute in the dorm while Kirk comes along and slams it against the wall, then walks away with the two green chicks listening nearby. But Spock doesn't pout. Nope. Spock doesn't pout.
Re:my favorite scene from Animal House (Score:2)
Re:Starfleet Academy? (Score:2)
Imagine Khan if it was intentionally stripped of everything that made it great, directed by Michael Bay, and written by the "special" student in your 6th-grade class. That's Nemesis.
-Eric
Forget the movie (Score:2)
That sounds like a plotline for an award winning TV Series!
Re:Starfleet Academy? (Score:2)
Space Bluto:Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Klingons attacked Khittomer? Hell no!
Space Otter: Klingons?
Space Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
Re:Starfleet Academy? (Score:5, Funny)
Sounds more like a series of videos. Star Fleet Academy Girls Gone Wild.
I'd rather have... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:2)
So there is nothing wrong with prequel stories per se, they just have to be strongly plotted.
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:2)
for about 4 or 5 seasons of TNG, the Borg seemed like the ultimate, unstoppable and unhuman enemy.
This movie exposed them to be just an enemy like any other. Toss in the time-fuckery, and you have the makings of a turd.
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:2)
An ultimate, unstoppable enemy doesn't make for a very exciting (or long-lived) series.
But anyway, what you're looking for was already done in the Parallels episode, where the alternate universe enterprises start appearing. One of the Captain Rikers screams "No, we don't go back! The Borg is everywhere!"
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:5, Insightful)
1. Wrath of Kahn
2. Voyage Home
3. Undiscovered Country
4. Generations
5. Search for Spock
6. First Contact
7. Motion Picture
8. Nemesis
9. Final Frontier
10. Insurrection
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:2)
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:3, Insightful)
First of all, you just can't have Doc Brown as a Klingon. I know Search came before Back to the Future, but it just doesn't work after seeing both.
Second, Generations was just...rough. I admit it has been a while, but I remember being fairly dissatisfied with it. Shatner was forced obviously forced into the plot, and it didn't work. I also remember being unimpressed with the "crash landing" scene.
And I would also move Final Frontier down
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:4, Informative)
Here'a a list adjusted for inflation (in 2005 dollars):
1. Wrath of Kahn $158M
2. Voyage Home $186M
3. Undiscovered Country $104M
4. Generations $95M
5. Search for Spock $140M
6. First Contact $111M
7. Motion Picture $232M
8. Nemesis $45M
9. Final Frontier $81M
10. Insurrection $81M
Old Crew: $133M per movie (not counting TMP since that's kind of unfair)
New Crew: Not a single movie that hit's the old crew's average though First Contact only missed the average by $22M. FC did commendably beat out the Undiscovered Country.
Now that's not even adjusting for ticket prices that have outpaced inflation so the older movies will probably have even more of an edge is you adjust for that too. I just used an inflation calculator.
Hollywood Trek (Score:2)
Ah, but from a Hollywood studio's perspective, that would be a vastly inferior choice (regardless of whether Trekkers would prefer it). This way they can cast young, "attractive" actors in popular, established rol
Re:Hollywood Trek (Score:2)
Enterpise Babies would have to be set in the TNG era because of the extensive use of the holodeck.
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:I'd rather have... (Score:2)
You don't. Story is more important than cannon. That doesn't mean you can just urinate all over cannon to make something interesting but as long as you're keeping withing established characterizations and more or less keeping the appropriate chain of events in place, overlooking Kelley's cameo in TNG is far less a crime than introducing the Borg to the Bakula Enterprise crew. I'd take the continuity hit in exchange for seeing Kirk and Spock dealing with the death of McCoy. At th
Sounds like a winner. (Score:3, Interesting)
Yousa sayin wesa gonna die? (Score:5, Funny)
The big scene: (Score:3, Insightful)
A good diversion from the usual fare (Score:2)
I'm thinking college-like situations - Kirk in panty raids! Kirk and Scotty drinking contests! Keg parties, the occasional world-threatening alien encounter etc.
Might be fu
Bones! Tell ME about the NEW _Star_ _Trek__ movie! (Score:5, Funny)
Spock: I concur with the doctor. There is a 97% probability that this movie will suck.
Scotty: If ah tol' ya one I tol' ya a shoushand times, I'm not a miracle worker. Jus' let 'er rest in peace!
ugh (Score:5, Insightful)
Die in a Fire Rick Berman (Score:4, Funny)
Those who don't learn from history..now write Trek (Score:3, Insightful)
Hear, hear!
I was going to say something similar, that is, that the only real way out is to pull a Dallas [ultimatedallas.com].
Star Trek's big contribution to the world is not about space stuff, it's about humanity:
It's not just the little morality plays of the first series. When they went to the big screen, they made the huge mistake of assuming we just all wanted to see a rehash of the same old faces, without the substance. The result was a seriously bad movie, unquestiona
Finally... (Score:2)
Star Trek Babies! [tv.com]
Re:Finally... (Score:2)
Star Trek Babies, in their junior year,
Star Trek Babies, it's the final frontier!
KIRK: When the ship looks kinda weird, and you want to get some kicks,
Just close your eyes and make believe, you're with green alien chicks!
KIRK: I like adventure!
SULU: I am so slim!
CHEKOV: De nuclear wessels!
MCCOY: He's dead, Baby Jim!
UHURA: I listen to the radio!
SCOTTY: I'm givin it all she's got!
SPOCK: Is everything efficient here?
EVERYONE: Yes, Nanny Spock!
Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Trek, Star Trek,
Bay-ay-bieeeee
As a former Trekkie, PLEASE JUST LET IT DIE!! (Score:5, Insightful)
-Eric
Re:As a former Trekkie, PLEASE JUST LET IT DIE!! (Score:4, Insightful)
Battlestar Galactica. An excellent point of comparison. Graphics aren't fantastic, but they're good. What SFX shots are shown seem to appear to have some realism. Writing is interesting, although certain episodes stick out as forced. Certain SciFi appeal -- which limits the audience. While it's setting records fro the SciFi channel, it's not being bought out by bigger networks.
Firefly. My personal favorite of recent fare. The SFX are a notch below Battlestar Galactica, but the writing makes up for it. There are some inconsistencies which as of yet stand to be reasoned away (like why Zoe really respects Mal). Certain SciFi appeal, although the movie performed like "a below average genre picture" [boxofficemojo.com] if I recall correctly. The show couldn't sustain the audience to pay the production costs.
You've chosen to compare a hypothetical Star Trek prequel to modern underperforming SciFi. Nemesis, arguably the worst Star Trek movie, required back story and had trouble standing on its own. The appeal to the mass market was zilch, and the appeal to those who watched ST:TNG when it was first run was mediocre, because it seemed to imply that we'd never stopped watching reruns on TNT/Spike. I believe that movies can be an escape from realism. I think that's partially why Star Wars did so well in the face of terrible acting, groundbreaking but horrible SFX and wooden writing -- it was during the cold war. There was an epic story.
How about a Star Trek that stands on its own? A few references here and there for the fans, but largely something that doesn't require a huge back story? Don't make me need to know why it's significant Riker and Troi are marrying (and don't make me remove myself from the story for a reality check, "What happend to Troi and Warf?"). There's no problem with a Kahn tossed in -- a minor character from a single episode to act as a nod to the fanatics -- as long as the movie briefly summarizes in all the right places the gist of the conflict.
Re:As a former Trekkie, PLEASE JUST LET IT DIE!! (Score:4, Funny)
You used "realistic" and "Battlestar Galactica" in the same sentence... and weren't being ironic?
Okay, Firefly I can almost see; interplanetary rather than interstellar, and in the recent movie version (Serenity) they actually had a silent space encounter, but BG is only as realistic as the next space opera.
As for the movie, go Animal House version! Owen Wilson as Kirk, Vince Vaughn as Spock, Ben Stiller as Bones, Amanda Bynes as Nurse Chapell, and throw in Craig T. Nelson as Dean Wormer and Jim Carrey as Kahn (because a consistent timeline hasn't seemed to matter since Enterprise), and you've got a movie that might make back its production cost after a few years of DVD downloading--I mean, sales.
Re:As a former Trekkie, PLEASE JUST LET IT DIE!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:As a former Trekkie, PLEASE JUST LET IT DIE!! (Score:3, Insightful)
It was all they could do just to get DS9 made, much less something even FURTHER away from the "Goody-two-shoes, happy-go-lucky-perfect-communist-state, Federation-always-right, let's-make-a-self-righteous-speech-now" mentality of traditional Trek.
There was a
Young Versions (Score:2)
I can't think of anybody better to direct one big flashback than the director of LOST.
At least there's that.
Who are they making this for? (Score:2)
All the people that are too young to know the subtelties of Kirk, Spock, Jones, Scotty, Sulu and Uhura (did I miss anyone?)
Or all the fans that are screaming for a well thought out strongly scripted story?
Because on the last few tries, they've been failing all of the aforementioned groups. (Well, except for the first one, naturally.)
Re:Who are they making this for? (Score:2)
Is he the guy in the red shirt who gets killed every episode?
Sounds fine to me (Score:4, Insightful)
It's an odd number... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It's an odd number... (Score:2)
Old Star Trek Tech vs. New Gagdetry (Score:5, Interesting)
Or will it be super sophisticated and electronically dazzling, or will it look like it does in the TV series era, cheap sets with cardboard controls and hand-painted view screens?
Fascinating.
what about a DS9 movie? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:what about a DS9 movie? (Score:4, Funny)
Seriously? You think so?
Jake: (turns a corner in a hallway sees his father standing in front of him) "Dad! What? How?"
Sisco: "The profits, Jake...my path with them has brought me back here to you because..." (and thus the movie/adventure begins)
Not being a reader of ST books... (Score:2)
My guess is that this film will probably do poorly either way. I'll still probably see it, but I don't think it's going to get any real praise out of me unless they really break from the Hollywood/ST film formula.
Star Trek meets Revenge of the Nerds (Score:5, Funny)
Cadet Kirk: Cadet Scott, how long until you tap into the visual sensors in the women's shower?
Cadet Scott: It'll be at least an hour. I can nay change the laws of physics.
Cadet Kirk: That hot freshman, Janice Rand is due in the showers in 5 minutes.
Cadet Scott: Janice Rand!!! I'll have it done with 2 seconds to spare or I'm not a half-sloshed stereotype.
Cadet Kirk: Good man! Do it and you can have any job you want when I'm captain of the fleet flagship.
Cadet Spock: Normally I would point out that the risks do not justify these actions... but that Janice Rand would bring on Ponn Farr in an Andorian. Perhaps you should try cross circuiting to B, Cadet Scott.
Cadet McCoy: Can you tie in my medical tricorder so I have a record for future... umm, anatomy study?
Cadet Scott: Do it yourself, pervert.
Cadet McCoy: I'm a medical student not a pornographer!!!
Cadet Scott: All right, all right.
Re:Yeoman? (Score:4, Funny)
NEEEEERRRRRRRDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!
You know .... (Score:5, Interesting)
Spock had served with Christopher Pike before Kirk, and I don't recall much in the way of explaination of how they met each other. Given the relative life-spans of Vulcans and Humans, I had assumed Spock had served in Star Fleet for quite a while.
Add this in with it being a prequel of a bunch of well known characters, I have fears this will turn into a Star-Trek Troopers meets Wesley Crusher Episode. They'll either have some fantastic adventure thrown in the middle, or it won't have any action and it'll be about Kirk reprogramming the Kobiashi Maru (or, well get an alternate explaination for it as opposed to it being a planned exam).
But the actors will either have to completely re-interpret the characters, and piss people off -- or they'll act as charicatures, and really piss people off.
Nothing good can come of this; and I'm not sure I'd watch this. It scares me.
Re:You know .... (Score:4, Informative)
My first reaction was to ask Abrams whether he knew who Christopher Pike was. My second reaction was that the Trek franchise thinks that the hardcore fans have either died off already or won't make a big stink (because they've become so disillusioned about the whole franchise) about the fact that Tiberius and Spock could in no way have overlapped at the Academy.
What a crock this movie will be--built on a premise inconsistent with the origins. But since when did that stop anyone...
Alternate Story (Score:2, Interesting)
I don't know about you... (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe I'm just too much of a TNG fan, but I've never seen an episode I haven't liked, nor changed the channel because I've already seen this one. IMO TNG was the pinnacle of Roddenberry's works, to go back and make a kind of spinoff/prequel of the original j
Yeesh (Score:2)
Kobayashi Maru (Score:2)
What was it Dax said? (Score:3, Funny)
*tap* "Is this thing on?" (Score:5, Funny)
Nemesis killed it for good (Score:3, Interesting)
The first three add up to a ridiculously bad story, and the last is more or less a betrayal. I mean, think about it: they cap off a rotten story not worthy of a mediocre television episode by killing Data. This is a problem in a lot of ways. For one, there is a lot of "future history" that says Data lives a long, long time -- longer than any of the other characters by far. Completely ignoring previous canon, to Star Trek fans, feels like...well, a betrayal. That's why they hated Enterprise and its freewheeling attitude toward canon. If you're going to do Star Trek, you really have to stick to the existing facts.
The other problem with killing Data is that, because he was supposed to be the longest-lived of all the main TNG characters, his death feels like all their stories are done. Put another way, as long as they aren't shown meeting their ends, they continue to be alive in the fans' minds. Having them die makes fans' interest in the entire thing drop off. It makes it hard to work up interest in any Star Trek.
Brokeback Star Fleet Academy (Score:3, Funny)
Jim Abrahams and David Zucker? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Jim Abrahams and David Zucker? (Score:3, Funny)
Spock: I'm very serious, Captain. And don't call my Shirley.
Bones: It's just like that time over Camp Khittomer!
Kirk: I'll... never be over Camp Khittomer.
Announcer: The white zone is for immediate shuttle embarking and disembarking only. There is no starship berthing in the white zone...
I'd trade it all for Serenity II / Firefly seasons (Score:5, Insightful)
I was thinking bout this... (Score:3, Interesting)
but as long as Berman isn't involved i'm intrigued.
At least Paramount hasn't given up Star Trek for dead yet.
Re:They won't learn (Score:3, Funny)
Hello? Anyone there?
(insert crickets chirping.wav here)
Re:How to Tag? (Score:2)
Re:I know where I'd like to stick a tentpole... (Score:2)
Wouldn't they have to reverse the polarity of the neutron flow first? Geez, Variety's [TECH] jargon is every bit as bad as the worst Star Trek [TECH] jargon.
Re:Ok, on one condition. (Score:2)
ffs man, i'm no racist but if the bitch is green
Re:Ok, on one condition. (Score:4, Funny)