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Why can't these people make up their minds? https://trekmovie.com/2018/01/12/report ... e-company/

Olorin wrote: Fri Jan 12, 2018 12:49 pm Why can't these people make up their minds? https://trekmovie.com/2018/01/12/report ... e-company/

Kind of indifferent to the news, to be honest. However, if this is the kick in the butt that Paramount needs in order to bring Trek movies back in line with the Prime universe of TV Trek, then I'm all for it. Problem is, the only Trek currently on TV is Discovery, and despite multiple assertions by the writers, it's anyone's guess as to whether we are actually witnessing a third timeline of some kind.

https://trekmovie.com/2018/02/24/reveal ... he-action/

Michael Piller wanted TNG to do a sequel to "A Piece of the Action." I am glad they did not do this. "A Piece of the Action" was one of my least favorite non-3rd season episodes of TOS. Still, I think it would be interesting to know all the story ideas that got pitched and never made.

Olorin wrote: Sat Feb 24, 2018 12:46 pm https://trekmovie.com/2018/02/24/reveal ... he-action/

Michael Piller wanted TNG to do a sequel to "A Piece of the Action." I am glad they did not do this. "A Piece of the Action" was one of my least favorite non-3rd season episodes of TOS. Still, I think it would be interesting to know all the story ideas that got pitched and never made.

There were two brief scenes from that episode that I will always remember because I thought that they were kind of clever.
One was after the Captain et al no longer made any attempt to conceal their hi-tech comings and goings, such that one gangster says to his buddy (as they are watching the crew again beam down ) "They can't do nuthin' till they're through sparklin'."

The second is when Scotty says something to the effect that one of the mob may end up wearing "concrete galoshes".
He was corrected by a gangster: " You mean cement overshoes?"

https://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/celebrity/ ... li=BBnbfcL

Very sad

That is sad... she seemed so vibrant and personable, I have seen her at quite a few conventions even recently.

https://trekmovie.com/2018/08/06/cbs-wa ... ll-access/

This seems very risky. To have that much content would seem to require churning out a fair amount of crap. Also I'm not sure how such ambitious plans may be revised after the presumed imminent departure of CBS head Les Moonves who's currently embroiled in a sexual harrassment scandal.

Too much of a good thing can be really really bad... we went from Trek burnout to no Trek to potential Trek burnout again.

This is going to backfire in a major way. Everyone in the entertainment business is suffering from Marvel-Game of Thrones induced delusion, and figure that just because they have one thing that is mildly well received, that it suddenly equates to a green light to churn out 10 other shows, spinoffs, and spinoffs of spinoffs in a frantic and cynical dash for cash. In the end, they end up with half a dozen cancelled shows and the fans receiving the blame along the lines of" "They wanted more Trek! We gave them more Trek, and they turned their nose up at us, so now we're taking our ball and going home! Hmmph!"

How about this? Continue with a few more seasons of Discovery, build up your fanbase a bit more, and treat them to a well-crafted and well-written show that leaves people wanting more. Then try one more. Not three. Not four. Not 10. Quantity has never equalled quality. Ever.

Yes, indeed-y, those CBS shareholders can be an impatient lot when it comes to ROI.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat- ... ll-1133802

In short, the Chrises claimed they signed deals for the next movie and now Paramount is trying to cut their salaries. They've walked way from the bargaining table for the moment.

This doesn't really surprise me. In 2009 both of them were essentially unknowns. Now Hemsworth is a key part of the hugest franchise out there. I was wwondering whether Paramount would be willing to pay him the kind of money he can now demand. Pine was also in the big hit Wonder Woman, and apparently that ups his asking price too. So not to hard to imagine both would be rankled by having agreed-upon numbers cut.

I was just reading about this. I wonder if they are going to cough up money or lose this timeline's Capt. Kirk.

IMHO Chris Pine is the best thing about this incarnation of Star Trek, so hopefully they cough up the money.

I'm hoping they don't so that this alternate timeline gets sunk and goes away once and for all. I honestly thought Beyond was their last movie but now comes this. Knowing Paramount though, they'll either cave in, recast, or write him out.

You may get your wish. Entertainment media are reporting both Chrises have exited the production. We’ll see who caves first.

https://trekmovie.com/2018/08/30/7-thin ... -long-and/

Tidbits from Shatner’snupcoming memoir.

Something very sad...he says the real reason he didn’t go to Nimoy’s funeral was that he was told he was not welcome there. He claims not to know why Nimoy quit being his friend in his later years (and he strikes me as so tone deaf about relationships that it might just be true). But this is even sadder...told to stay away when the man was dead.

Went to Alamo City Comic Con in San Antonio Texas and met this guy He was super nice and friendly and we chatted for a couple minutes about the Riker character and I asked him if we were every going to see Riker on TV again and he said "I hope so." Then I talked to him about the Star Trek Titan books and how much I wished they were a TV series and he said that he thought so too and he and Mirina would have loved to have done it. Then I mentioned "well, Patrick Stewart's new show..." and he said he is hoping for a call and can't imagine them doing a Picard show without visiting some of the backstory of what's been going on and including some of the former cast.

Surprised Olorin didn't post about these fairly big news: http://www.darkhorizons.com/star-trek-4 ... paramount/

Can't say I'll shed a single tear. First movie was ok (if filled with irritating ST continuity errors,) second film was an utter abomination, and the third one was a sure-fire cure for insomnia,

Abramsverse, you will be missed... said no one ever!

This movie has been dead before. If Pine came back they’d probably start shooting tomorrow.

But mostly I’m sad because if nothing else the Kelvinverse represented a time when Paramount actually treated Star Trek like its crown jewel instead of a red headed step child. Also they had a great cast, which I would be sorry to see dissolve now.

I think casting of the Abramsverse was very good, just the movie plots were "eh." They were ok, I think I liked them more than Val did, but I hated the rehashed Wrath of Khan, although I loved Benedict's performance, they could have named him ANY other name and he would have been fantastic.

Can we move back to the prime Universe now?

Olorin wrote: Fri Jan 11, 2019 2:33 am the Kelvinverse represented a time when Paramount actually treated Star Trek like its crown jewel instead of a red headed step child. Also they had a great cast, which I would be sorry to see dissolve now.

I have to disagree here, and you only have to look at Pine's reason for walking away to understand why. After all the good will and excitement built up by the first movie, Paramount squandered it all by green-lighting an extremely subpar sequel and awful rehash of an older movie that every ST fan considers the holy grail of the franchise. They should have left Wrath of Khan well enough alone, but instead succumbed to hubris and tried to remake a classic. After the critical drubbing and fan contempt that Into Darkness received, they follow it up with a snooze-fest of a movie with a boring villain and uninteresting plot. You know ST is in trouble when they have to throw in motorcycles and rock n' roll music to spice things up. Predictably, the box office returns declined with each subsequent outing, and it's easy to see why.

The point here is, Paramount was already treating ST poorly again by not exercising better control over the writing and story decisions being made for this franchise. If you put out crap, you can't expect people to continue turning out in droves to see it. Well, you can... (ahem... Transformers) but you're taking an awfully big chance. So, after Beyond failed to make the kinds of spectacular money they expected, they decided to cut the budget for the next outing, and went after one of the obvious targets: cast salaries. When you are cutting the budget on your supposed 'crown jewel', that tells me they were already looking at it as if it were heavily tarnished and not worthy of further effort.

I don't blame Pine from walking away as he clearly saw the writing on the wall. Yeah, he could accept less money if he had the feeling they could still make a great movie, but where else were the cuts going to be made? Nope, I don't think Paramount much cared about Star Trek anymore, and their actions were evidence of this.

As for losing the current cast... meh. I liked Pine, Urban, Cho, and Yelchin. Quinto just never understood Spock, and Saldana never felt quite right either, mostly because of her forced romance with the former. As for Pegg, love the guy, but he couldn't be further from the Montgomery Scott that we knew. Alternate universe or not, these characters should behave and sound the same as their original counterparts. As a whole, I never saw the old cast, only actors trying to play them, and badly in some instances. Besides, with Yelchin gone and ten years on, it's time they found a new premise.

What I meant by treating it like the crown jewel was that at least initially, they really poured the money into them, $150M for the first one and $190M into the second one. That's a wholly different universe, an alternate universe, from the $60M for Nemesis (of which $13M was reported Stewart's salary). And at least initially, that paid off: $386M worldwide for the first and $467M for the second. Those are more than double what First Contact did, a previous highly successful entry. Of course, you'd need to adjust for inflation, but still it brought people into the theater that had never gone to see a Star Trek movie before, many of whom were probably Star Wars fans, or I should say people who loved Star Wars that previously considered Star Trek unappealing. So, the Abrams movies pumped new life into Star Trek after it had been moribund for 4 years (Enterprise) or 7 years (Nemesis). I'll always respect it for that.

Of course, after Into Darkness, The Force Awakens came along and I suspect a lot of them went home to Star Wars. Also, while these first two Star Treks did well, I'm sure Paramount was expecting Avengers-type box office, and of course they did not get that. So it was only natural they started cutting back on the budget, especially when you consider things like studio heads changing.

As to the cast, I liked Quinto but he was never really Spock for me. In a way, anybody could ape Spock, but I think only Leonard Nimoy could be Spock. We'll see how the new one in Discovery does. I also felt the romance between Spock nad Uhura was forced, to the detriment of both characters. But at the end of the day, how much any of them could be reasonable expected to embody the character in exactly the same way the old cast did is debatable. They are playing these characters at a point in their lives 10 years earlier than we've ever seen them before, and in an alternate timeline with drastically altered circumstances, to boot.

I think Paramount would be quite happy continuing to make Star Trek movies, as long as they could swing the cost/return ratio more to their liking. Pine's absence really throws up a roadblock, though. I don't think anybody can see using the current cast without Kirk, or with a different actor playing Kirk. But there's still that putative Tarantino Star Trek movie floating around. He's never said what cast he'd want to use (even assuming he went with existing characters and didn't invent new ones).

Now, none of the above is to say I had no misgivings about the Abrams movies. I felt and still feel it was a cop-out to create an alternate timeline, and some of the humor in the movies was just too slapstick for Star Trek (the ghost of Star Trek V just cannot be exorcised). But they were entertaining and I will never dance on their graves, if this iteration is indeed dead.

BTW, I don't agree that "every" ST fan considers ST:II the holy grail of the franchise. It's a great movie but personally I prefer ST:IV, and I know there are at least some others out there that do also.

Olorin wrote: Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:47 am I will never dance on their graves, if this iteration is indeed dead.

That's ok... I'll dance a jig for you.

Olorin wrote: Sat Jan 12, 2019 6:47 amBTW, I don't agree that "every" ST fan considers ST:II the holy grail of the franchise. It's a great movie but personally I prefer ST:IV, and I know there are at least some others out there that do also.

Yes, you're right, and I was speaking in general terms in that ST 2 is usually regarded as the high-water mark of Trek movies. Like you though, many feel that Voyage Home, Undiscovered Country, and First Contact are their favourites. For me, all of those come a very close second to Wrath of Khan, although I know you have a fair number of issues with 6. I've never really considered the Abrams movies as real Star Trek anyway, so no loss for me here, and I don't count them as being contenders for favourites. I did enjoy a fair bit of the first one, but the other two didn't need to exist (in my opinion.)

Just ever so grateful that the new Picard series is doing its small part to right this wrong, which was the foray into an alternate universe. Trek has done that plenty of times, yet at the end of the episode/movie, they always came back to where they belonged.

Valkrist wrote: Sat Jan 12, 2019 2:04 pm Yes, you're right, and I was speaking in general terms in that ST 2 is usually regarded as the high-water mark of Trek movies. Like you though, many feel that Voyage Home, Undiscovered Country, and First Contact are their favourites. For me, all of those come a very close second to Wrath of Khan, although I know you have a fair number of issues with 6. I've never really considered the Abrams movies as real Star Trek anyway, so no loss for me here, and I don't count them as being contenders for favourites. I did enjoy a fair bit of the first one, but the other two didn't need to exist (in my opinion.)

Just ever so grateful that the new Picard series is doing its small part to right this wrong, which was the foray into an alternate universe. Trek has done that plenty of times, yet at the end of the episode/movie, they always came back to where they belonged.

Actually in my mind whenever I think of which ST movies are my favorites, I always make a mental separation between the TOS movies and the TNG movies. But I would definitely put First Contact neck-and-neck with II and IV. Those are hands-down the three best Star Trek movies.

Well I hope the Picard series is everything we could want it to be and not a crushing disappointment. I'm guardedly optimistic, as I liked Discovery very much in spite of a few missteps. The problem with the Picard series is that everyone's expectations are just so high, I don't see how they can be met. I mean, Kirk vs. Picard quandaries aside, Picard is one of the very best loved characters in all of Star Trek, and very rightly so. But at least they've hired a Pulitzer-winning author, Michael Chabon, to work on the series. Hopefully they don't turn around and fire him later! But the "Short Trek" he wrote was very well-received, so that bodes well. Plus, Stewart himself is very invested in the show, as by his own admission Picard is essentially his alter-ego. So there are some talented people who are committed to doing right. So, we shall see!

https://trekmovie.com/2019/01/26/jonath ... is-regret/

I didn't watch any of the video clips but the textual excerpts were interesting.

Very interesting indeed. Riker was always my TNG favorite and meeting him for a few minutes a few months ago, he was a really nice guy, even with me containing my inner fan-boy Trek-nerd

https://trekmovie.com/2019/04/09/watch- ... ips-in-hd/

Oh, to have the whole series remastered for Blu-ray...

Olorin wrote: Tue Apr 09, 2019 1:34 pm https://trekmovie.com/2019/04/09/watch- ... ips-in-hd/

Oh, to have the whole series remastered for Blu-ray...

That would be quite fantastic!

I don't know about you guys, but I got my tickets today... and for free, to boot!

Cool. I guess I’m just gonna wait for the Blu-ray .

I often forget that you have quite a drive ahead any time you want to see something in a movie theatre that's not showing in your local area, and this is a very limited release.

Actually it will be on at our IMAX; I don’t live in a total cow town, you know. It’s just that I’d be going by myself, plus this is probably something just as well seen on a Blu-ray vs going to a theater for.

Closest to me is a couple hours away

Just got home from the DS9 movie doco.

Man... what a ride. All I can say is that the nostalgia was so strong that I really felt transported back to that golden era... you know? When there was good Star Trek on tv?

So great to see all those ladies and guys together again, having so much fun, remembering and sharing so many moments and tidbits of knowledge with the fans. Some poignant moments too, recalling how much criticism the show got in its early years, and how badly that hurt the actors and writers. Everyone from the cast was interviewed, and man, are they ever funny and able to look back and laugh at themselves. Just genuine warmth and friendship on display. Also some poignant moments, especially when Terry Farrell talks about her exit from the show. A lot of pain and resentment still there after all these years. Can't say I blame her.

Three things I'll note here:

1) The writers room discussion and brainstorming session for the first episode of Season 8 was simply awesome. They have all the guys in the room and they sit down to come up with the concept for the episode, which takes place 20 years after the series finale. Everything they come up with is then shown through animated storyboards. It's all very cool and I won't spoil the story because I know you guys will watch this one day. The episode is titled "What We Leave Behind", of course, and ends in a cliffhanger… of course! It would be so awesome if this could become a reality, but let's not kid ourselves. They even joked about remembering when a season meant 26 episodes. Man, how television has changed since!

2) The 22 minutes of footage from the various episodes that are shown throughout the documentary are all remastered in HD, except for a few additional instances where the image we are seeing is on an actual television screen, in which case it is the old SD version. Let me tell you, it looks as gorgeous as you would expect. So clear and sharp, and the highlight is a long space battle sequence from "Sacrifice of Angels" with all remastered and reworked CGI. Just jaw-dropping, especially on a big screen with big sound. The Discovery dummies should watch and take a lesson on how a proper Trek battle is done, not the seizure-inducing drone vs. shuttle fest we got in the finale of Disco.

3) Following from point 2, after the end credits, there is a round table discussion on the amount of effort, patience, and money that it took to even get those 22 minutes done. From genesis to execution, it took them five years, and it only became possible because of crowdfunding, which only underscored how unlikely it is that we will ever see the whole series get the treatment that TOS and TNG did. They said it is possible, as their efforts proved, and all the negatives are still preserved in a salt mine and were shot widescreen-ready. Sadly, as we already know from various articles, they concluded by telling us that it is cost-prohibitive and that CBS would never make its money back. Ergo, it will never happen.

I look forward to the doco hitting Blu-ray. I’ve heard nothing but good about it.

Oh to have DS9 remastered! In some ways, it was the best Star Ttek series and it deserves far better than the rather crummy looking DVDs.

My objective opinion is that DS9 is the best Trek series, but subjectively it's TNG for me, since it's my first and all that nostalgia crap :p

But yes, a remastered DS9 would be awesome!

I was about to get up and go watch it before I got kinda lazy lol. Looked really good. Definitely going to watch it when it comes out.

I didn't watch DS9 when it originally aired. I was one of those fans they mentioned that didn't think the show would be good because it took place in one location instead of cruising around the universe. Then when it was in syndication, I happen to catch it one night and I got hooked.

I miss 80's and 90's TV . Heck, I miss the 80's and 90's haha.

Two of my favorite tv worlds collide: Star Trek and Survivor. Tonight on the finale Probst mentioned that David Wright from this season and John Cochran from previous seasons are writers for Star Trek. He didn’t say which show but it must be Picard because IMDB doesn’t list either for Discovery.

http://www.darkhorizons.com/star-trek-d ... ort-treks/

Some jaw droppers in here too. Looks like they’re not done smashing canon.

So there are going to be 6 short treks this time around: 3 Pike/Spock/#1, 2 animated, and a Picard prequel set 15 years before the new show (which I'm guessing is going to be around the time he left Starfleet).

https://trekmovie.com/2019/07/21/sdcc19 ... es-teased/

You know, I never even watched the original four shorts. Where does one find these? YouTube?

I confess I'm very close to ditching Discovery altogether. The sheer idiocy, non-sensicality, and flash over substance of the last finale really soured me on the series to the point that I'm only braving Season 3 out of morbid curiosity to see how badly they muck up the future.

You should be able to find them wherever you watch Discovery; for me that’s on CBS All Access. Is that how you see Discovery in Canada or is it on Netflix?

Neither.

In Canada, Discovery plays on the Space Channel, which is our offshoot of your Sci-Fi Channel.

https://trekmovie.com/2019/07/23/quenti ... k-project/

JJ: “Nobody likes them.”

Somehow I doubt he said precisely that.

My two takeaways from that article:

1 - This movie is never going to happen.

2 - Tarantino is nuts, but gets a by due to his love for The Shat.

It might not happen, but the prospect of Tarantino’s involvement might be the one thing that could successfully bring Pine and Paramount back to the table and into agreement.

Tarantino is a bit nutty but not sure he’s actually nuts. I will say he must not be very bright if he can’t grasp the concept of an alternate timeline that doesn’t overwrite the original. It’s onkh the prevailing concept of the multiverse these days.

I found it odd that he thinks Pine so perfectly captures Shatner because the consensus seemed to be that Pine successfully created an interpretation of Kirk that wasn’t a slavish imitation of Shatner. Same sentiment to a lesser extent on Quinto/Nimoy. To me the only one who really slavishly imitates the original, occasionally to the extent of caricature, is Urban.

It sure how I feel about Tarantino messing with Star Trek. A visionary writer/director might just be the thing it needs, but I sure as hell don’t want pulp fiction in space.

Now that I bought a 4K TV, you can colour me excited at these news. This movie is long overdue for a gorgeous transfer: http://www.darkhorizons.com/star-trek-m ... e-release/

I hope they do remaster the directors cut. But I won’t believe it until I watch it on my own TV. Paramount has been an absolutely terrible custodian of Star Trek, doing always the bare minimum to milk a little more money out of it. Witness the 40th anniversary BD of TMP recently, which was just a reissue of the same sad content. The only movie they’ve done right by is TWOK. It’s high time they released restored deluxe editions of all the movies. But in these deaths of the death throes of physical media, I don’t hold out much hope.

I am still a supporter of physical media!!! I just can't bring myself to move over to digital only. Might be the collector in me, I feel the NEED to own the movies in physical format.

BladeCollector wrote: Wed Aug 07, 2019 3:21 am I am still a supporter of physical media!!! I just can't bring myself to move over to digital only. Might be the collector in me, I feel the NEED to own the movies in physical format.

I agree with BC....I prefer OWNING the movies I like.
There is absolutely no guarantee that all movies ever made will always be available by streaming etc., especially if there is something in it (actor(s), plot, director, music ) that offends the SJW snowflakes such that they start whining and hyperventilating, demanding that the movie be banned from any form of showing and/or distribution.
"To Kill a Mockingbird" anyone?