Star Trek—sequel and TV (spoilers inside!!)
First of all, the new Star Trek film was amazing. I cannot wait for the sequel. But what I want to talk about are three projects, one of which is already in the works, and two more which I think would make a lot of sense.
1. Star Trek 2 (2011)
The sequel to this year’s smash success, to be written again by Fringe showrunners Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci, with credited help this time by Lost showrunner Damon Lindelof, has huge amounts of potential. The changes they have thrown into the mix can really send this franchise into some crazy new directions. So, here’s my proposed plot for Trek 2:
“Vulcan and other Federation separatists, blaming the Romulan Star Empire for the destruction of Vulcan, commandeer a sizable number of Federation vessels and invade the Neutral Zone, set on a preemptive strike on the capital planet. Kirk is ordered to intercept, but his ship is taken over by a race of supermen led by Kahn Noonien Singh, who then joins the renegade fleet. Before the attack can begin, however, Kahn turns on the fleet, delivering them into the hands of the Empire. Kirk must defeat Kahn, and then, making first contact with the Romulan Empire, convince them to not attack the Federation in retaliation.”
There are other twists and turns in my full outline (Kahn at first befriends Kirk in what appears to be a very genuine way, Pike’s intended First Officer Number One is introduced), but this gives you a general sense of it. It’s a little fan-ficcy, sure, but I did a lot of thinking about what elements we’ve seen a lot of in previous Trek films (Klingons), what we saw in this film (futuristic evil Romulans with Borg tech), and what we really haven’t seen anything of anywhere (the Romulan Star Empire of the mid-23rd century). I also want to bring in Kahn because he’s an important part of the mythology, but shouldn’t really be given his own story in the reboot. And the franchise really needs to deal with the ramifications of Vulcan’s destruction in more than a passing way.
2. New Star Trek TV show
So Trek writer/’Heroes’ creator Brian Fuller wants to make a new Trek TV show. Let him. Plan its premiere on CBS for the 2010-2011 season, and give him information on the plotline of the new film so that the first season of his show can serve as an overall prequel for the movie. This will be the first time since 1994-1998 that a Trek movie series and Trek TV show have taken place concurrently. It worked fairly well then, but given the popularity of A. Trek, and B. serialized storylines on TV, I think this has a fairly powerful chance of being profitable. If nothing else, you’ve shot footage that serves as a sequel to the new film, and your sets, as with TNG, DS9, and Voyager, can be used for the higher-budget film series.
Now what should the show be about? Obviously Fuller has his ideas in mind, and I’d love to let him and a room go wild, but I’d recommend a show about explorers, as with the original show. It’s simply too expensive to set many shows past the pilot on Earth. It’d be important to find powerful actors, so the first thing I’d recommend is to try to get Bruce Greenwood to reprise his role of Captain Pike from the film. People loved his character, and I think with a good conversation, Greenwood could be convinced to do TV. Obviously Kirk is in command of the flagship and Pike is in a wheelchair, but there’s no reason he couldn’t still command a starship. As a Fleet Captain, he’d actually have his choice of commands.
It’s also important to cast his bridge properly: an absolute MUST is to bring on the woman intended to be his first officer, Number One, who was played by Majel Barret on the original Star Trek pilot. It’s easy enough to explain that she was supposed to be First Officer on the Enterprise, but during the rush that sent the flagship on her maiden voyage, she was simply off-world. We haven’t seen a female first officer (no, T’Pol doesn’t count), and such a strong female character could help fill the gap in sci-fi left by the departure of Battlestar Galactica.
3. Star Trek: Countdown: the film
My third suggestion is probably the least likely. The writers of the Star Trek reboot wrote the story to a prequel comic book, ‘Star Trek: Countdown,’ which is set in 2387 and sets up the backstory of villain Nero. What most people may not know is that it features the Next Generation cast in a storyline that’s honestly better than the past couple Next Gen movies.
If you already have some Trek sets built for the new show, it shouldn’t be terribly difficult to retrofit them to be Enterprise-E sets. Do it like the Battlestar Galactica TV-movies. 60-80 minutes. Plan it for inclusion on a Special Edition of the Star Trek DVD and Blu-Ray. It shouldn’t be hard to convince most of the main cast of Next Gen to come back—especially for what’s no more than a day or two of work—for a much better swan song for the main cast, and the future of the ‘Prime’ storyline than Star Trek Nemesis was. I think everyone can get behind that idea.