Star Trek XI: The New Movie

[zepplin]

yeh the 25ht century is the way, and it should be another 75 years ahead... so maybe the 2460s

[Captain Alexander Kynes]

Yepo!

[zepplin]

and ofcourse they need to sort of make it appeal to everyone of the trekkies, or as many as possible, maybe if they threw in some lines like "Condition Alert! Sound Battlestations!, This is NO drill I repeat this is NO drill." Along with some dramatic music, it should kick off with a bang! IF the movie helps it out...

[Lt Matina Jade]

"Trek XI" Writers Talk, Drop Hints

The title of the eleventh film in the Star Trek franchise may simply be "Star Trek," and it's being considered more a reimagining than a prequel, the writers of the project revealed in an interview posted today on MTV.com. They also promised that the story will be a starship-based adventure with more action and a bigger budget than any previous "Trek" film.

Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci — the two screenwriters who also serve as executive producers — told MTV that "Star Trek" by itself is their intended title. "I don't think we want to put any colons or anything on it," Orci said. This detail about the "Star Trek XI" project is still up in the air, though, where the studio is concerned, and likely to be subject to change until the last minute.

The article contends that Kurtzman and Orci described the film as "not in any way a prequel but a reimagining of the franchise," without quoting them directly saying that. The article does quote Orci as saying, "We're not going to start totally from scratch." But, "We want it to feel like it's updated and of the now. That's actually the discussions we're having now: how to keep the look of the universe yet have it not look like nothing's new. It's tricky."

The writers did promise that this movie will contain more action than any "Trek" film that has preceded it, and said it will have the biggest budget. Apparently Paramount gave them no stipulations and no limits. "They were just like, what would you do with 'Star Trek'?" Orci recalled. "We've been watching [Trek] all our lives. I've even read the books. It was all about, what have I always wanted to see in Trek?"

Orci also said, "The economic models of the other [films] were very much based on the fans out there and their purchasing power. With this one we're going for the broad audience to bring people into Trek for the first time."

Kurtzman added, "The challenge of the movie is to be 100 percent true to the fanbase but also to bring in a whole new group of people who've never seen Trek before."

But they were still mum on the details of the story, or which characters will appear in it, deflecting such questions from the interviewer with a persistent "Who can say?" But they did allow that it will be a starship-based adventure. "I don't know how you make Star Trek without a starship," Orci laughed. "You have to trek through the stars, so you need a ship for that. There, you got something out of us!"

Kurtzman said the same thing about the oft-maligned "technobabble" staple of Trek scripts. "I actually love the technobabble!" Kurtzman said. "I don't think you can do Trek without technobabble."

Without discussing why, Kurtzman and Orci revealed that they and producer J.J. Abrams did recently visit with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy. "It was pretty much the most stressful thing ever, but it was wonderful," Kurtzman said. "They were amazing."

While apparently describing the film as a "reimagining," the writers do believe their script adheres to the original vision of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. "Trek, more than anything, has always been about the human interactions," Orci said. "It's all about the human soul."

"And the friendships," Kurtzman added. "And everyone being a family. Whatever the story was, we always knew what it had to feel like."

The pair expressed relief that Abrams decided to direct the movie after reading the very first draft. "When we finally turned in the script I started lining up other directors, and that really got [Abrams] going," Orci joked.

As for other crew members, the article cited Scott Chambliss as production designer and Daniel Mindel as director of photography, who worked with Kurtzman, Orci and Abrams on Alias and "Mission: Impossible III."

On recent rumors regarding casting of key roles, the writer/producers were very coy, only saying things like, "We never said Bones was in it." Kurtzman did admit, "I'm the hugest Matt Damon fan ever. If he became [Kirk], great."

In the full article, Kurtzman and Orci also talk a little about Star Trek: The Next Generation, and what "crazy" fans they are. Read it at this MTV.com link.



03.12.2007
Abrams Talks about Directorial Decision

J.J. Abrams, the producer of "Star Trek XI" who recently signed with Paramount to also direct, has been talking about the project in a variety of forums, basically saying that after he read the completed script by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, it was so outstanding he couldn't not direct it.

Abrams spoke March 2 at the Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, Calif., and then last Friday, March 9, at the Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) Conference in Monterey, Calif. He also visited with Wired magazine for an interview that was published last week.

In each case his talks encompassed a range of topics, and the "Star Trek" project was only a small part of each one, if mentioned at all. The reason: "If I talk about this movie, everyone else who is involved with it knows where I live and will use that and, er, kill me," he joked at Cinequest.

However, he told the festival audience, "I can say that when the script came in it was so well written, it was so emotional, it was fun, and big and I found myself unable to not direct it!"

Double negatives notwithstanding, he continued, "I couldn't give it up. I think it's going to be great. If in my gut I felt there was nothing else to offer, I wouldn't do it. It's not a business decision, I would rather take no money and do something inspiring. I hope it ends up being both a really cool, original, emotional ride and comes from something that we're familiar with."

In the Wired article Abrams said something similar: "I'd feel like an idiot if I let someone else (direct) it." He also reiterated, "It's a little too early to talk about Star Trek, but I can't tell you how excited I am to do that (project). I'm thrilled."

He said the script is "clearly a fun, emotional and wild adventure," and he couldn't turn down the chance to take the helm. "This is going to be an incredibly fun movie. I can't believe that they're letting us do this," he exclaimed.

He also mentioned, without being specific, that he is getting input for the project from the "science/geek community," as the magazine put it. "I get the use of brilliant minds and futurists and people who are thinking these things through," Abrams said vaguely. "We'd be crazy not to take advantage of the information coming to us."

Also, he hopes to help Star Trek gaming reach its potential. "I love good games," he said, but added that games based on existing properties typically "falter because they're relying on the title and the name recognition instead of relying on game-play and story and content. So I feel like the ideal ... is when form and function come together. We definitely have the form, and the function needs to be better."

He's also supportive of the "fan film" phenomenon in the Star Trek community, and has viewed some of the made-for-the-Web productions. "I've seen some that are done with incredible passion and are really impressive. I love seeing anything that is created by anyone who is not doing it in a pre-existing system where resources and tools are available — the idea that someone is out there using off-the-shelf 3D software or, especially, software that is made by the entrepreneurial coder, who's out there creating their own software. I'm always making stuff, so the idea of people doing that is my favorite thing in the world. I love it."

At the TED Conference, Abrams apparently did not talk about "Star Trek" directly (per the blogs we've seen), but discoursed more generally about "mystery" in storytelling. In his presentation, he brought to the stage a wooden "Mystery Box" that he bought as a kid from a magic store in New York, a box with a big question mark printed on it. He has never opened that box and said he never will. "What I love about this box is that I find myself drawn to infinite possibility. Mystery is the catalyst for imagination. In my work, mystery boxes are everywhere." To illustrate his point, he said that "Jaws" and "Alien" were more compelling by the fact that we hardly ever saw the creature in each case.

To see the full reports/articles, follow the links below.

[Captain Alexander Kynes]

Well they are never going to appeal both to the fans and non-trek fans. That is a recipe for disaster. And they should have a colon in it. Star Trek : The Final Fuck-Up.

[Lt Matina Jade]

IMo a reboot will either be a big success or a big faliure

[Captain Alexander Kynes]

I totally agree with you there..

[zepplin]

LMAO... I am really laughing! The Final Fuck up, oh thats priceless.

[Lt Matina Jade]

Imo Star Trek should be left alone awhile. Give the fans chane to watch replys and dvds and say "man I miss that, even Enterprise was good at times" then bring it back with a bang in the 25th century. Adding to the history rather than taking away from it.

[zepplin]

The pre-quel idea was a stupid one, even Voyager somewhat, I mean when you mess with the rules, if they just kept the 21 year cycle going (1965, 1986, 2007, huh? yeah? see the pattern there?) we would expect to have a new 'SEIRES' starting next year, like a series, not a gay movie done where its a bunch of secret rooms going to no where, or McBeal Trek, or some stupid combo, it needs to go back to basics, and fufil the fans first, screw everyone else, the franchise has made a profit every year regardless of low ratings and low sales, so screw the newbies! if they don't like it, hit th highway and go back to your backwater star wars films or something.

[Captain Alexander Kynes]

Well depending on how this movie goes, it will either open up the possibility of another series, or kill trek forever.

[Beathan MacAinmire]

Nothing could Kill Trek. Some thot Enterprise would kill trek and look, it creeated more fans. Some even thot Voy and DS9 would kill Trek. But Its still kiking. Its more then 40 years old and it can't die. Unlike Star Wars. It was nolonger good when the 4th movie came out. At that point it was a monie maker, thats it. Trek unfortunatly, has always been canseld cause it was low in ratings. What killed Enterprise was that it was a crappy prequil that had beter technologie then TOS and it was relesed too close from the canselation of Voyager.

[Will Litchfield]

I think that if they go with a new series it would be good for paramount and for star trek, but paramount say the new star trek film is the beginning of their facelift, i can honestly say i can't think of a worse way to start a facelift with than Star Trek, it opens on christmas day, no cinemas open on christas day, they could have used much better films for their facelift this year,
An Inconveniant Truth ect ect
But hey! ;D

[Commander Vorak]

Voyager wasn't canceled it ended as planned. Enterprise was good, mainly at the last two seasons. Just wish the ship had looked less like the akira and wasn't called Enterprise. Also I wish they had not met up with species not ment to be sceen for 200 years.

[Beathan MacAinmire]

I wish they didnt do that think with the...Damn I forgot the name...the ones that destroyed part of earth. And that stupid Time war idea!