Berman Confirms Star Trek Prequel Film Project

Steve Krutzler writes "TrekWeb can break the news STAR TREK producer Rick Berman has confirmed that work on a new STAR TREK feature film project has begun. Speaking in the new Dreamwatch magazine, Berman describes it cryptically as a "prequel" and says he's working with two other producers on the project."

Comments

Prequel? Oh boy...

[jrj102]

While the typos and spelling errors in the article were entertaining ("STAR TRKE" and "the future of their first series remains in limo") I'm not sure what to make of this. When they talk "prequel" are they talking about Pre-Enterprise? It seems like any earlier and there wouldn't be much opportunity to explore other species, etc. Can a Star Trek movie without existing characters/actors be successful? I mean Nemesis, which was based on the much-loved TNG crew, made about $53 at the box office. (OK, that might be a slightly low estimate.)

I think a Starfleet Academy movie (mentioned in the article) could be compelling, but I'm losing interest in the whole franchise. I'd like to see another season of Enterprise despite the fact that it's a fairly weak show (in my opinion) but I think that Gene Roddenberry's vision is running out of gas without his input. I have mixed feelings: on one hand, Trek has gotten pretty lame, and it is probably time for them to stop producing it for a while, but on the other hand I'd miss even bad Trek... Is bad Trek better than no Trek at all? Am I even making any sense? :)

Drooling fanboys will be happy to read this line from the article, though:

"...insiders suggest Berman and/or Braga might take a reduced role in a fourth season of ENTERPRISE, though this is entirely speculation."

--- JRJ

NCC-1701C

[DamienNightbane]

I'd hope that it's a prequel to TNG. Rachel Garret needs her own series and movies.

Enterprise (as a series) and the recent movies.

[LithiumX]

All the best ST movies have (with one exception) been their darkest - and even Voyage Home had a pretty bleak undertone (goodbye Earth). On the other hand, their "cute" movies have also been their worst - and Nemesis proves they shouldn't try for a core bad guy until they can give us a good one (I was not impressed with Nemesis, but at least it helped drive away the bad taste of Insurrection's diarrhetic implosion).

As for Enterprise, regardless of it's ratings I think it's the best effort they've made since TNG's final season. It has the best characters (all have distinct flaws that aren't cute, which makes their finer aspects shine a little more). It has a dark and slightly twisted sense of humor I like. They do not always make the moral choice in the end, instead of always figuring out what's right by the end of the show. Their doctor is the first alien ST crewmember who seems to fit in as a castmember instead of the token alien.

And... it brings back some of the Blood, Booze, and Babes element that made the original last so long. When they fight, they fight like they mean it. Bodies fly out of gaping holes in the ship, there are redshirts all over the place, and sometimes they have to be cold and brutal just to survive, not to make a highhanded point.

I want to see a Star Trek movie that makes your brain twist... something approaching hard sci-fi, but not enough to drive people away. I want Arthur C Clarke to make me a Star Trek. Or, if they can ever get him to talk to them again, Harlan Ellison (who wrote their best episode, period). Something dark and bleak, where instead of being preachy, they tear their entire world apart and let them climb out of the wreckage.

I don't want a happy Star Trek movie. I don't want to hear Picard soliliquizing on philosophical matters like it was a pleasant tea party, or Riker worrying about his love life, or La Forge being bored with his job. I want to see all hell break loose, and characters who ACT like they're not having fun. And if the TNG guys get one more go, kill some of them off in acts of violence, not dramatic self-sacrifice. I want Shakespearean Tragedy, not As The Federation Turns.

Or maybe... just maybe... I'll be impressed if I see a title like "Star Trek: Holy War" or "Star Trek: Apocalypse"... not "Star Trek: Earl Grey, Hot".

Re:To TNG or not to TNG?

[Shakrai]

Only Star Trek's continuity was always wretched. Roddenberry is no better than Berman, he couldn't be bothered to come up with a decent backstory either, so the continuity in TOS was even worse than in TNG.

TOS get's a free pass because it was in the 60s. What more do you want? You don't watch TOS for the continuity (there was none until the movies) -- you watch TOS for the window on the world that was the 1960s -- the Hippies, the racial issues and the storylines. Individual TOS episodes are still compelling to this day.

TNG had excellent continuity with storyline. The characters progressed and grew the show had excellent storylines and like TOS it was another issues based show (terrorism, drugs, war, religion, friendship, homosexuality, veterans rights, human rights, freedom/self-determination and many others). TNG had the ability to take an issue and boil it down to a compelling storyline that fit into a one-hour timeslot. And somehow they managed to do it while keeping the show more or less G-rated (the only really bad scene I can think of is the First-Season episode with the body-snatching aliens) and keeping the T&A (compared to Voyager and Enterprise) to an absolute minimum (and towards the end they finally got Troi out of her bunny-suit and into a real uniform).

Now if you want to talk about technical continuity then TNG (all the Star Trek's for that matter) was horrible -- panels that would appear in turbolifts if the episode required it, phasers that could be remotely deactivated (unless being used by terrorists when we need plot drama), etc etc, but who cares about that? As a whole TNG was one of the best TV shows there ever was. Probably Seasons 3, 4 and 5 were the best -- when Gene was still actively involved in running things. Towards the end (Season 7) it started to show Voyager-like traits (technobabble replacing storyline) which in hindsight makes me glad they ended it the way they did -- on a highnote. "All Good Things" was probably the best series-finale for any show I've ever watched. As far as the movies go I liked Generations and I try to pretend that the others don't exist.

DS9 shared many of the same qualities that made TNG so great -- compelling storylines and characters that evolved. I was initially somehow leery of the war arc but I think it worked in the context of DS9 (whereas it probably wouldn't have in TNG). The last two seasons of DS9 was basically TNG from "Yesterday's Enterprise" over the course of an entire season -- very dark yet very compelling story material. DS9 also suffered from a lack of technical continuity but again, who the hell cares? The point of Star Trek is to tell a story.

Don't get me started on Voyager. The first two seasons I had high hopes and it went down the toilet after that. It became one massive technobabble episode after another (was there anything that T&A of Borg's nanoprobes couldn't do? -- "And look -- it'll still slice this tomato!") with far too much violence for the Trek universe (at least the violence in TNG and DS9 served a purpose) and no storyline continuity whatsoever. Welsey Crusher's character (most people's favorite character to hate) evolved more over the years then Harry Kim did.

And don't even get me started on Enterprise. A complete rape of every established (canon and non-canon) piece of Star Trek history. A wussified Captain (at least Picard could win fights when he was forced to get into them -- Kirk and Sisko would pick them and always win -- Archer picks them and almost always gets his ass kicked), completely out-of-character Vulcans (whatever happened to IDIC?), hostile aliens that we never knew existed, too much T&A for the tastes of anyone not in the 15-20 male demographic (if your going to have sexuality on a TV show could you at least be mature about it? Decontamination scenes? Gimme a friggen break), etc etc etc.

TNG was probably the best overall television show ever imho. TOS had excellent individual episodes (and kick ass movies) and stands the test of time. DS9 was a compelling series too. The rest of them I try hard to forget about ever watching.