The new Star Trek reboot is a hit! So what if it doesn’t come out for a month and a half? Paramount is already planning for the future by commissioning a sequel to be written by a trio with some genre pedigree and a good familiarity with the franchise.
As Matt reported on the front page, according to the beautifully-last-named writer at Variety.com, the writers who worked on the first are now working on the second: Robert Orci, (Transformers, Star Trek, and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen), Alex Kurtzman (ditto), and they’re joined by some dude named Damon Lindeloff (some weird island TV show).
They’re also getting Producer credits on the sequel, giving me even less of an idea of what “Producer” actually means in Hollywood.
The three writers said they’re waiting for “fan reaction” to decide what direction to take the franchise, which could either be a really good move or a completely moronic one. Either way, it’s clear that Paramount hasn’t given up on Star Trek at all yet, and in fact want it brought back to prominence for the next generation.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:56 am
Too bad they feel the need to go backwards with the franchise instead of moving forward.
March 31st, 2009 at 11:02 am
Agreed, jedifish… It kills me to see what great potential Paramount had on its hands when TNG went off to the movies and DS9 was just starting to really hit its stride (though I’d argue that show was great from the get-go) on TV. But the studio paid little to no attention to DS9, and they let a couple of twits run both Voyager and Enterprise into the ground (not to mention how weak all of the TNG films were, First Contact excepted).
They blew it, and now the only way they can think of to revive their neglected cash cow is to look backwards, and to scrap 40-odd years of history of continuity in favor of some reboot/reimagning that recasts beloved characters with a mostly puzzling selection of actors.
Top it off with a director who seems to go out of his way to tell people he never even liked Star Trek and wants to make it more like Star Wars, and then add two writers whom most people seem to seriously dislike (I never saw Transformers, but then I have no interest in it either), and I really can’t see how this movie could be any good.
My family and I have been watching ST II-IV over the past few days and it reminded (esp. while watching ST III) just how small a budget the classic Trek films were generally given, so it’s kinda upsetting to see what Abrams is being given to work with for his movie. Makes me wonder what Trek could’ve been had the studio given a rip in the past.
Maybe I’ll be wrong, but I think this movie could end up being this year’s Superman Returns: Big budget, loads of hype, but little to no understanding of the characters and a deeply disappointing movie.