An archive of Star Trek News
The Hollywood Reporter is claiming that two new writers will be working with Roberto Orci on Star Trek 3.
For the last two Trek movies, Orci wrote the script along with Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof.
The two new writers are J.D. Payne, and Patrick McKay.
Both writers have worked with J.J. Abrams before, on Boilerplate, which was produced by Abrams.
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two gone, one to go !!!!!!
A John Doe team, recipe for a disaster
Why not just have a different writing team? Is it because they have a contract? Fresh blood can do wonders.
So out of now 5 writers, 6 if you count JJ’s input, we couldn’t have had at least 1 woman or person of color? I’m not saying it has to be that way, but that would have been nice. Even TOS had D.C. Fontana, and they were better for it. Oh, well, this bunch has made it abundantly clear that all they care about is white and male.
It’s almost over, it’s almost over!
I would really encourage these guys to start reading on actual historical exploration, on actual naval history, on actual aviation history, on maritime history. TWOK was great in part because it got right the feel for the small details of actually being in a military organization, and contra Nichelle Nichols Starfleet would be a hierarchical organization, the way the Coast Guard is, the way even airlines are (flight ops standardization, etc.) It would also allow the writers to study decision making under stress, etc.
The goal is not to be a documentary–just that Battlestar Galactica had an incredible richness in part because they (Ron Moore, I suppose) got the “navy carrier” side of it basically right. That then allows for suspension of disbelief.
I would honestly recommend these writers go hang out with the Royal Navy for a week or so, because I hear their surface officers do it right. With the actors they have, I really think the current cast could give a great *realistic* portrayal of a ship’s crew in space to rival that of such movies as “Master and Commander”, or TOS episodes such as “Balance of Terror”, because they are already very close. But in “STID”, my feel was that it was more of Hollywood stereotyped view of a military organization owing more to movies than any first hand knowledge.
It doesn’t have to be blatant nautical–subtle is better, and TOS Kirk in the first season was clearly a subdued naval captain. But the nautical and nautical organization was there, does need to come back in in a way where the characters are part of the system and subordinate to it, vice superheroes on the set who just happen to wear gold, blue, and red.
There supposed to be off on a five-year mission. What would Captain Cook be doing, if he was Kirk? What are the responsibilities of detached command? I mean, what are they really? The writers need to know
I’m going to give an example of what I mean about STID deviating too much from what reality would require, and that is the Klingon homeworld chase scene, where our intrepid captain (Federation hero, in charge of a ship longer than a carrier with hundreds of crewmembers), a science officer of presumably over a decade of service and senior rank, and a female Academy-trained officer, presumably one who has successfully passed simulation after simulation, as well as the test of combat–all three space qualified, all three trained to react well under moments of stress, have a discussion during a combat situation about….
A relationship. Yup, they do that all the time now off of Iran on the carriers. Nothing but gossip while the nuke reactor is melting down.
Well, the TOS Writer’s Guide actually addressed this sort of thing (either that or David Gerrold in his book on the Making of Trek), and it relates to the time Kirk grabbed Rand in “Balance of Terror”, and it’s good reading/advice. In STID, Pine’s Kirk in that scene is just some hapless frat boy driving the spring break car, the guy his friends think is sorta a screwup. Now imagine Shatner’s Kirk, esp. from the first season–there would have been a dressing down later. A short and sharp one, with “shape up or I’ll ship you out” as the message. Pine needs to develop that command distance. He’s the man in charge. He just about got everybody killed in STID. He needs to stop being the playboy and start being young Shatner. Calm, cool, in command.
I think Star Trek of the 60s was more in tune with what real military/naval ops were like, because many of the people who made the show (or watched it) had either been in the Navy just two decades before, or knew someone who had been, or were able to pick up enough of the zeitgeist from the air. Well, those times no longer exist, but that doesn’t mean Star Trek needs to become College Times in Space, and right now it is a little bit too much. There is a different between hooking a fish and reeling it in
If it makes you feel any better, when it comes time to recruit a new director they’ll be trolling the DGA for the first gay black Latino Icelandic left-handed visually-impaired ambiguously-gendered three-foot-tall transitioning female candidate they can find.
No. Since you haven’t been paying attention, they’re only looking at white male directors for the next film. Looks like that Cornish guy will get it. Oh, and way to troll diversity.
Let me get this straight… You are demanding that the job NOT be given to a white male? And you don’t think that’s racist?
You’re right, I haven’t been paying attention to the skin color of each new person Paramount hires for their TREK movies. A terrible character flaw, I know, but whatchagonnado.
And of course I was wrong in my earlier post; they’ve obviously already hired visually-impaired people to make JJTrek.
Surely after the 3rd film they will be done with Trek on the big screen for a while. Trek does not do well just on the big screen, it needs that tie in with a television show. I loved the prime universe but we just needed a break from it at the time.
The only richness the Battlestar Galactica remake had was one equated with the texture of fecal matter.
All that aside, it will be interesting to see what the new writers will come up with for the third and final prequel/reboot film.
As far as the new movies are concerned, I almost wish Abrams could partner with Rick Berman. Abrams could bring the fun, popcorn movie action-oriented aspect, while Berman/Ronald Moore/Ira Steven Behr could bring some badly needed high-brow intellect.
Such a partnership could fill gaps/shortcomings that each man has and would totally balance these movies out.
(I’m disappointed TPTB didn’t hire Ray Liotta to play Pike. The man looks like a clone of Jeffrey Hunter.)
I think you mean Stephen Whitfield’s book “Making of Star Trek” but I definitely recall the section you mention. It was called out as something that Kirk would not do.
As opposed to the proven disaster of Orci, Kurtzman and Lindehof?
Indeed! The Great Bird himself characterized Star Trek as “Horatio Hornblower in space” as well as “Wagon Train to the stars”. Having been a decorated World War II B-17 pilot as well as an airline pilot and police officer, Gene Roddenberry well understood the importance of heirarchy and discipline in a non-military organization such as a long-distance, independent exploratory team. His objection to the militarization of Starfleet in Wrath of The One And Only Genuine Khan was to the trappings, manners and traditions, which he felt was fetishising the military.
As for Pine-Fresh Kirk, it really got on my tits that he seemed to have finally gotten that sense of command responsibility at the end of the 2009 film, and then went right back to spring-break beer-bonging and yiffing in Star Trek Into Oh Joy More Beastie Boys.
But completely ignoring Klingons! I demand equal representation for people with craniums that are ribbed for her pleasure.
(Yes he does, but if you put him in a wet paper bag he’d be stuck there past the end of the film.)
As much as I slammed Rick Berman at the time, which was not entirely undeserved, he did have a much better grasp of how to make Star Trek and how to assemble a writing team that were not assh– ok, not ENTIRELY asshats.
However he and anyone associated with “mere television” Trek were just not high-profile and high-dollar enough for Paraquat Pictures and the JJ Dildo Express. These walking buttplugs have no interest in filling gaps or bridging shortcomings because how could there be shortcomings when the heavens open up and crap money all over them?
Before you ask, yes, Kang has had his meds this morning, and yes, Kang offers no apologies.
I wouldn’t mind seeing the new timeline on television; it would give them time to actually oh I don’t know, develop the characters back to where they were before STiD, explore some of the throwaway concepts (or even better, get rid of them entirely), and in general get people used to seeing the Cockthrust Seashell-o-prise as something other than a flying frat house.
Indeed, especially if it is Damon Lindehof’s.