Berman: Trek XI In 'Very Early Stages'

A day after rumours emerged that Paramount had shelved Trek XI, a new magazine interview appeared in which Trek executive producer Rick Berman confirmed his idea for a new Trek film was still in a very rudimentary phase.

"We are continuing to develop a project that is in the very early stages," Berman told Dan Madsen for issue 154 of the Star Trek Communicator (via TrekWeb), in an interview that was conducted sometime in December 2004. "It is in a little less of an early stage than it was the last time we spoke, but it is still too early to discuss it. I think there will be some discussion about it in the next couple of months. There is movement."

Yesterday, several online sources suggested that these discussions had already taken place, and that Paramount wanted the idea for the film to be "reworked" as they were "not happy with the direction that the story was headed" (story).

For now still in full production is Star Trek: Enterprise, although Berman indicated he was worried about the show's declining viewership. "The fans have spoken highly of the show this season, which is very encouraging to us, but the ratings don't reflect that, unfortunately," he said. "As to whether UPN is going to be interested in doing the fifth season -- that is something we will find out about in the spring."

However the fate of Enterprise will turn out, Berman said he expected a decision to be made before production begins on the final episodes of the season, allowing the producers to come up with a fitting finale in case of cancellation.

In the full interview, Berman discussed to what extent he and Brannon Braga are still involved with Enterprise, and talked about some upcoming changes for the character of Malcolm Reed. The full interview can be found in the new issue of the Star Trek Communicator, featuring Brent Spiner (Data/Arik Soong) on the cover, while a few more excerpts are available here at TrekWeb.

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