Got it Pegged

At least this one has foundation.

Unlike Riker directing and the CW network wanting to air a non-existent new Star Trek show,  the news that Simon Pegg will be penning Star Trek 3 with Doug Jong is true.

Yes,  true. I repeat -  True.

A lot of news focus has gone on his work with the Cornetto Trilogy of Shaun of the Dead,  Hot Fuzz and The World's End but his sci-fi credentials are much stronger. Aside from his obvious appearances as Scotty in the two reboots, he's taken to the screen in Doctor Who during its first year return to TV in 2005 but his earlier work on the brilliant Spaced shows the depth of his knowledge in the genre. That show was heavily peppered with geek references and themes all the way through its two seasons (deserved a third) and those familiar with that as well as his other works will be nodding in approval I'm sure.

It would be easy to say that the best films were penned by those not familiar with the genre a la Nicolas Meyer but Nimoy had more than a hand in both The Voyage Home and The Undiscovered Country.  Pegg will have a challenge ahead and this is very much sticking his neck on the train tracks after two big money spinning but critically average movies. I believe that Pegg will understand exactly what fans want from the franchise and where it's gone both right and wrong.  Most difficult to do will be balancing the direction in which JJ took the franchise as well as drawing on its rich 50 year history. Question here is whether or not we've gone too far down the reboot path to start fixing any of the issues fans might well have.

And what of his co-writer Doug Jong?

IMDB lists just seven entries for this guy, none of which I can admit to having seen let alone heard of although a lot of sites seem to be noting Dark Blue and Confidence: After Dark as two of his key works to date. Notably I don't see anything that would scream at him being the ideal candidate to co-write the third Star Trek reboot - but then the same could have been said of a certain Nicholas Meyer in the early 1980's.... Perhaps having that mix of Nerd royalty and non-descript Star Trek newcomer will be a perfect formula for the future with each balancing the other's weaknesses.

This move also indicates to me that Orci, while still producing, will have minimal involvement with the writing process and that the script he contributed to was not anywhere near the standard it needed to be.  Pegg's experience within the franchise as well as his Nerd (K)nowledge will be priceless to ensure that it is both a financial and critical success avoiding the repetitive errors of Into Darkness.

I would suspect that the Powers are starting to get sweaty palms over the movie too since a while back we were gearing up to start filming only now to find that the brakes have been firmly slammed and we're back to square one writing the script.  My faith in the project has been knocked by the wranglings we've openly seen around directing,  producing and writing virtually from the moment Into Darkness premiered but the acquisition of Simon Pegg to the third movie is a move which has eased some of that feeling. 

The timescale is now the challenge to ensure its written, filmed and premieres on that July date which has already been confirmed. How silly does that look now that Paramount are pretty much admitting that the story was pap as was rumoured? In a word; very.  My only fear now is a potential overfamiliarity with the material that could come from Pegg's love but when you compare his inevitable excitement and thrill to work on such a project against Abrams' lightning quick jump to his preferred works in a galaxy far, far away I feel confident that the 50th anniversary will be well served with a fresh outlook to drive the franchise into the next half-century.

How do you feel about the announcement that Simon Pegg will co-write Star Trek 3?

Drop a comment below or chat to us on one of our media platforms!

Like our page on Facebook 

Follow us on Twitter

+1 us on Google+

Add us on Tumblr

Pick us out on Pinterest
Add to to conversation on Star Trek: Risa

Trek Three Seeks Alternative Direction

Orci Out.

According to a few sites (Entertainment Weekly, Deadline, Slashfilm, TrekMovie....etc etc etc) he has left the building and that this is music to fans ears but I'm not so sure.

Orci's career has had a fair few twists over the last few years; helping to revitalise the Star Trek franchise being (to us) the most important, turned down the high profile Mighty Morphin Power Rangers reboot to stay with the USS Enterprise and stopped working with Alec Kurtzman on movie projects which made it clear he had very easily made his bed.

At the moment there hasn't been any reason forthcoming for his lightning-quick departure from the project slated for a 2016 release but why would fans, as suggested elsewhere,  be rejoicing at this news?

It might be through dissatisfaction with the way in which Abrams and those associated have taken the franchise since it's 2009 return to cinemas, choosing to slide into an alternative universe and take some, erm, liberties with the source material. The 2013 sequel wasn't exactly what a lot of people were hoping for with its retreading of the Khan story but having Orci step down might initially seem great news but it does suggest there's more going on behind the scenes than we are being told. From what we can gather it appears that the production is in some of Development Hell with the team working on it being let go last month as issues over the screenplay continued to rage (more on that in a bit).

Loosing a director and someone who has been onboard since the reboot launched under Abrams  throws everything into the air once again since it can't be too long until shooting is due to begin. It doesn't fill me with faith that the vision for the third movie is in steady hands ar any level. Orci had, at the least, some idea of where the new take on the franchise was going and that could (for better or worse) be lost in the ether. Is it that perhaps with Abrams departure/defection over to the Dark Side activate alarms that Star Trek isn't the hot property that it was seen as five years ago? One to step away from now it's lost it's figurehead and chosen another path because he openly admits he prefers Star Wars? All I can say is that I hope it's his own choice and not a big kick out of the door.

Doesn't fill you with hope for the future of the movie series though and I seem to recall Robert Orci wanted the director's chair for Star Trek 3 when JJ vacated it so either he's been forced to go or there's greener grass somewhere else (the Dark Side perhaps with his former master?). Rumour is that there would have been some time travel element to Orci's third take in order to bring Shatner and Pine together (possibly) as the Vulcans attempt to change history and restore Vulcan to the timeline (Dark Horizons) however I was more inclined to believe stories of the Klingon war. If it is the case that they are looking to edge into temporal territory is this some sort of admission that blowing up Vulcan, while visually stunning and a proper mid-digit salute to the Prime Universe - was something of a short-sighted error?

For now we can only speculate over the news which broke yesterday. Edgar Wright, who visited the set of Star Trek Into Darkness and got to direct a teeny tiny piece of it is being touted as the potential replacement. When I heard this I was filled with excitement but then does he have a good enough understanding of the franchise? His directorial credits are immense including the brilliant series Spaced as well as turns with reboot Scotty actor Simon Pegg in the Cornetto trilogy (most recently The World's End). You can't deny he has the talent but would he be a good fit for such a high profile movie. I remain unsure even though I was impressed with Scott Pilgrim Versus the World however that's not even in the same high stakes league in my eyes.

If Orci has been forced out it's a shame for the writer/director although in a few weeks or months we'll be rejoicing or berating the choice of his replacement and in a year and a bit we'll get to see just what their labours have produced - and rejoice or berate that as well.

For now there's a vacant chair and a ticking clock. Star Trek 3 has to - HAS TO - be ready for 2016. I suspect a replacement will be rapidly placed to ensure this happens.

Which side do you ally to? Happy he's gone or concerned where the franchise could now go? Let us know below.

Final Five for Three?

So that whole hashtag campaign to get Jonathan Frakes in the director's seat for Star Trek 3 seems to have amounted to nothing.

Frakes apparently wanted to direct the third movie from the alternative universe. To be fair, I would want to direct it but no-one got round to asking me. I can see what and why fans wanted the former Enterprise first officer to get the gig but the studio stood firm and while the publicity won't have done them any harm, they seem to have chosen another path.

Thing is the #bringinriker campaign didn't even see the seasoned director make the supposed final five.. Not only did Frakes not make the list but neither did rumoured Shaun of the Dead helmer Edgar Wright who was right in centre frame less than four weeks ago. God bless social media.

For those who haven't see the list, it supposedly contains Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes), Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game), Daniel Espinosa (Safe House), Justin Lin (Fast & Furious), and Duncan Jones (Source Code). OK, so actually the last one has already been fairly vocal in ruling himself out because he has other personal projects he wants to focus on and complete in the next few years which really leave four. I guess if we wait a few more weeks someone will leak the proper list and if we're really lucky, the whole script. Do I actually believe this is the list? Not a jot to be honest. Hey, all rumours are good rumours in the media frenzy.

So where am I going here? Well I think that the choice to ignore the Frakes campaign is a bold and sensible move on the part of Paramount. His record is excellent and certainly when it comes to Star Trek he took charge on the brilliant First Contact but we seem to ignore that he also ran the show on Insurrection (bit harsh as I like it) and Thunderbirds. If the script is total guff it doesn't matter who directs it - my near-three year old son might as well have a go - because there's only so much a director can do if he's handed a story that doesn't work. Insurrection is a good example of that. Frakes does a solid job and makes it look great but the story is still average, two-part episode fare. 

Look at Nemesis. John Lagan admitted he was a massive Star Trek fan (and it overpowered him) as is Robert Orci and,  by association so is Jonathan Frakes.  Does over familiarity cause an issue?  I think so. JJ might not have dealt what we expected but at least his Star Trek was fresh and unhindered by the previous 40-odd years. I suspect Frakes could be too attached to the vision of the Prime Universe and cause more issues with what is allegedly an already unwieldy project. Get some fresh eyes and a fresh perspective which will move Trek forward and avoid stagnation. We love Frakes but I'm,  for one,  happy he's not on the list and fans haven't been listened to in this case. 

Having Frakes on board would, for the older fans be great, the comfortable duvet of familiarity, the comfort blanket of the 90's Star Trek but that can't happen. A new director may better understand the way to gel the new and original more than Abrams and will have Orci on hand as producer (he'll have the time since he's also dropped involvement with Power Rangers) but if that story isn't sorted then it's a losing battle from the beginning. However, with all the media furore around the production and it's still 18 months from release, it's sure to be a big summer blockbuster if only for people wanting to see what the result is of all this turmoil.  

Of course all these suggestions could be a brilliant bit of misdirection by Paramount/Bad Robot to get us off the scent and then we'll find out that Frakes has been helming for about six weeks. If this is the case, you can say you heard about it here first. 

One thing I don't agree with is the rumour that the film-makers are envisaging that the franchise can survive without catering for the original fans. That rumour does seem utterly, UTTERLY ridiculous as these are the core who provide a sizeable portion of the viewing market and constitute the majority who are buying the DVDs, blu-rays and other assorted merchandising before, during and after release. The average filmgoer will more than likely know that the third reboot movie marks the 50th anniversary of Star Trek unless they live under a massive rock but they aren't going to be doing much more than seeing the cinematic 3D experience. We're not saying that you have to retreat back to familiar ground but there has to be some tip of the hat to the original show. You owe it for giving you a box office success and also to me as I have hugely overused "seem", "apparently" and "supposed" far too much in this article.

The other rumour about the studio wanting Star Trek 3 to be more like Guardians of the Galaxy nearly made me cry. Jeez people, let Star Trek be Star Trek!!! Update and reboot yes, make it more accessible to a new fanbase; yes but don't plagurise others work. Let Star Trek be Star Trek and let Marvel do what Marvel do. I get that you want to replicate it's success and you do have Zoe Saldana but let that be as close as it gets please. I can't and don't want to imagine Kirk whacking on his mixtape of Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill as he blows up a squadron of D-4s. Star Trek doesn't need that kind of edge,  more action less thinking. It has its own identity and doesn't need to copy another for success. 

What's you take on the web of movements and words around the Star Trek 3 production? Still care...? Drop your thoughts below!

No Trek to Netflix - Is it Time to Get Real?

Even now the internet never ceases to amaze me with it's ability to blow things into ridiculously big proportions.

While I've taken the decision to stop the end of month round-ups on news because they're pointless (and you're going to be reading startrek.com for that stuff anyway), I do love a good misquoted rumour but they are taking the spotlight away from more worthy stories.

Sadly the mouth from which it wasn't uttered and was allegedly wrongly understood was Star Trek afficionado +Larry Nemecek. Quite rightly, Larry quickly dropped a post on Trekland to refute the claim and very well played there, sir. Recently on the Starfleet Escape Podcast I pretty much said the same thing - a Star Trek show is unlikely to end up on Netflix. Sorry to those of you who might be following the superb Enterprise fifth season campaign but I just don't see it being a feasible idea unless it's backed by a network and right now I seem to get the feeling CBS, Paramount et al are backing another movie-making horse right now. To ensure the maximum audience, to get the biggest revenue this will have to be a network-based series; in fact the costs of producing such a show now would virtually ensure that is the only way to proceed. 

2016

For another thing, how many column inches were given over to talking about one line on a studio press release confirming Star Trek 3 for 2016? I think we'd gathered it was going to be on the 50th anniversary but seriously, it was dragged out a lot more than it needed to be. That said, I have noted one or two stories in the last couple of days declaring that Robert Orci has said he will be taking the franchise back to the feel of The Original Series more than the 2009 and Into Darkness managed. 

This sounds like good news but is he just setting himself up for a massive fall when it turns out to be much in the same line as JJ's two blockbuster movies and his statement is more about easing fans concerns before a single roll of film has been shot? The frenzy around Into Darkness was nuclear and a superb marketing campaign that failed to deliver as a lot of fans would have hoped. In fact after all the hype there was probably no way on Earth or Quo'noS that it could have. 

Declaring this so early on as well as reinforcing the ending of Into Darkness with the announcement that we will be in deep space on the five year mission could be a masterstroke of course, perhaps that Orci is trying to distance himself from the Abrams vision of the alternative timeline and restore at least some sort of "normality" to the Star Trek franchise. Defining that will be the challenge and let's hope it involves something deeper than a few explosions and some nifty CGI. Also let's just accept that the Abrams universe does exist. It happened, it's alternative and at least it got a few more rears on seats - and thanks for finally getting round to releasing a decent blu-ray.

I digress. What annoys me about these rumours is that they ended up detracting from some of the much more newsworthy items about Star Trek that were around at the time. For one, Star Trek Continues' brilliant third episode was released but found itself in the shadows a bit over the overblown Netflix story as did the news that Phase II have begun shooting Mind-Sifter after a lengthy delay then there's Nestle who are supposedly looking to build a working replicator! These are some great articles, superb media creations that lost the limelight because of a "might be". Usually when we get some good fan-produced material the internet lights up and my news alerts shine brightly with reviews and opinion on the latest episode - this month it was severely underwhelming.

Distractions

I suppose what I'm trying to say here is that we have to be on the button with Star Trek at the moment. There really isn't a lot out there and it seems we're clawing at every word just to find something to talk about. There is a lot to talk about but clammering at throwaway lines just won't sustain the franchise and we need to be looking at the fan productions, the official novels, Destination Star Trek and the tangible things that are out there right now for us in Trekdom. I might add that these rumours could have been thrown in for exactly the reason to detract from the offerings of Mignogna and the Continues cast and crew.

We keep drifting back to a land of eternal hope and if I read one more line about that Captain Worf or Captain Sulu series I swear I'll begin sharpening my bat'leth - let's stop living the fantasy (ironic line) and check in to the JJ Reality. Any new show will be in his universe but if Orci keeps to his word then we might see a show that will make us think for a bit more than the closing credits.

We've also had those great The Next Generation season six blu-rays this month including Chain of Command in movie form and while all the upgrades are stunning, we still appear happy to dwell on material from the mid-1990's and churning over old news instead of grabbing the wealth of new Star Trek episodes, movies and materials being produced across the worlds by passionate fans.

Yes, they are great episodes and the only Prime Star Trek we can get is that - now firmly restricted to the years 1966 to 2005 so we have to make do with whatever we can get in that form. However, those fan films are in a sense sticking to the old (mainly due to cost) but they are importantly expanding the stories, using affordable new technologies to do amazing things and being original. If we keep looking over our shoulder we'll miss some great stuff that's coming soon - Axanar, Horizon, Futures, Equinox, Ambush and a whole host of others that offer great promise as potential webseries such as the Tim Russ/Walter Koenig led Renegades. In that respect, who out there hasn't heard of Farragut and or the tragedy that Starship Exeter took a while to get the final act of its second and final episode finally online. I'm gutted we won't get to see any more of that show and we need to keep them alive if we do care as much about the Prime Universe as we do. 

The imagination used for these shows is boggling and instead we choose to pick out literally one liners in the news. Are we hanging on to hope or keeping up the level of anticipation to see some new, big budget Star Trek? Let's remember that while movies are sporadic and incredible sights, the show was designed for TV and that's it's true home.

With all these stories flying around and being debunked in hours it reminds me that back in the 1990's we had to rely on magazines and TV entertainment spots to get some news on what we could expect - if at all. Those rumours could take weeks to solve and there was no chance to discuss because, well, the internet didn't exist in anything like the form it does today.

Seems like an eternity ago but it did happen and I remember getting very excited over the upcoming Voyager series and the possibility of Riker turning up in Deep Space Nine's third season and no-one apart from my dad and a couple of friends to discuss it with. Now those stories would be across the internet in seconds and have been refuted by teatime however now we seem to drag even the smallest one line rumour out.

But these were always stories worth hearing and there was always a decent amount of evidence behind them before they went to print. Now one throwaway line becomes the next big thing. Let's wait until we get some more substance on these Star Trek 3 stories and see what Orci has in store for fans before we get too worked up. For now look to YouTube and the fan communities - there's enough there to keep us all interested for a long time coming.

So are we looking at the wrong parts of the Star Trek universe? Are we ranting about the parts we hate but might as well accept rather than giving more time to the good work of the fan community? Let us know your thoughts....

Did you know you can now join up with us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter or even +1 us on Google+? If you didn't why not drop over there now!

May Round Up: The Blagger's Top Six

May was a quiet month on the news front with only a few bits to choose from - but having said that, there were some strong contenders.

Orci Goes Alone for Star Tr3k

The top story of the month has to be that Robert Orci was confirmed as the director (and writer) of the third Star Trek outing based around JJ Abrams reboot vision. While there was much rejoicing on the announcement that Abrams would no longer be involved in the director's chair at least, opinions were muted when it came to the untried Orci calling the shots for what could be the 50th anniversary movie.

I think we have genuine concerns that now JJ has defected to Star Wars he has no thoughts about what will happen to the franchise he leaves behind. These may not be any safer hands and while Orci's credentials are decent (and much better with Kurtzman), this will be a big challenge and perhaps not the one to be playing with at the start of your directorial career.

Phase II and Continues

The two big hitters in the world of fan films both made announcements this month and neither was what we at SKoST expected.

Firstly Phase II was asking for more money to complete (yes, complete) The Holiest Thing which was supposed to have premiered in February and was pulled at the last minute. Some of the funding raised through the Kickstarter campaign is going into finishing off Bread and Savagery and Mind Sifter but the announcement that some was going towards a supposedly (near) completed episode was a shock. This need for cash might also have something to do with moving to new, larger premises which are costing a fair chunk. The quality of the show has improved since it's early beginnings but the issue is that long delays seems to come with the territory - hopefully not as long as Kitumba though. As we write, Phase II is now $10,000 off their stretch goal to produce Mind Sifter. Perks for donations include stickers, LCARS graphics, a Phase II uniform, signed Spock ears and more.

What makes it even worse for the Phase II guys is that Continues is chomping close at their heels. While the former has been around for a lot longer, fans are heaping a ton of praise on Continues which offered up a nice promo poster of its third episode which will be premiering in June. The last release, Lolani, was met with mainly positive reviews, citing the show as being the closest thing to The Original Series that it could possibly be. The stakes for episode three could not be higher and these guys have worked hard to make sure that the deadlines they set and announce are adhered to. 

In Your Price Range?

If you happen to have $35 million of disposable income then why not get yourself an eight-bedroomed mansion complete with USS Enterprise cinema? 

Former CEO of the FriendFinder Network, Marc Bell has been forced to put his eccentric property on the market after some, erm, less than positive financial results. The rest of the house barely gets a mention as all eyes are immediately trained on the one-off movie theatre which replicates the bridge of the Enterprise-D. The level of detail is superb as you can see. All the chairs recline  and the ceiling is dotted with stars for effect. The concession area on the way in is reported to resemble a transporter room guarded by a life-size Borg. 

For a gimmick this is amazing but you're going to need to be a serious fan with an equally serious amount of money to be able to move in. If you want to lend me the cash on a permanent basis then get in touch...(!)

Virtually There

...And if you can't afford the house, why not try on that Oculus Rift VR device again? 

Last month we talked about the reproduction of the USS Voyager bridge, well now in May someone brightspark has completed a replica of the Enterprise-D bridge. Definitely worth taking a look because Enda O'Connor's work is magnificent and having the Borg trash-talking on the main viewer is a nice addition to the ambience! The most criminal thing about this vid is that only 3500 people have seen his work. No excuses now, get over there on YouTube and take a good look.

Stranger Things Have Happened

The wonderous iO9 site dropped a bomb this week, sparking rumours of a new Star Trek series that would be launched after the third movie is released. Apparently it's going to be going down the reboot universe line and might have something to do with The Next Generation as (pinch of salt required) they're looking to cast a young Deanna Troi...We suspected any new show would be following the Abrams route but this is a big curve ball - are we ready to see the Picard era rebooted just yet?!

Sneaky Peaks

Ok - usually we'd wrap this up in the Eaglemoss monthly section but hey, it's been a slow month on the news front. The publishers of The Official Starships Collection posted a little video of a photo shoot this week but what really caught our eye were the two or three little glimpses of models that have yet to be released in the UK. For reference we got to see the Xindi-Insectoid ship, the Romulan Warbird from the 22nd Century (although we have a better shot below), Krenim Temporal Weapon ship (here, left in hand)  and the Nebula Class if only for a matter of seconds. 

Thanks also to +Ed Thomas who spotted the Valdore and the USS Prometheus in there too. The latter actually gets subbed for the Dauntless. This little tease trail also gives us an idea of the scale of these new ships - the Xindi ship looks huge while the Prometheus seems to be along the small and thin lines of the Excelsior.

For those of you on other soils it'll give you some good close ups of the range thus far although it does tend to focus more on the first ten issues than any others. We've included some more shots below if you missed the appearances of those ships yet to dock at your newsagent.

Xindi Insectoid ship (big!)

Romulan Bird of Prey (22nd Century) along with the USS Enterprise-E, a de-throned Dauntless, USS Voyager, Borg Sphere and Jem'Hadar Battlecruiser

Not-yet-released Nebula-class back row second from right - same width as the D and the Warbird?

Sideshot (sorry bit blurred) of the Nebula-class between the Warbird and the Galor class (back row)

Single shot of the USS Prometheus...before it's taken out - which is what they're probably discussing.

Blink and miss it - the Valdore shows it's wings from a distance

Oh and the official site has also dropped two new images of the Nebula Class and the Xindi ship on their upcoming ticker.

As if that's not enough, Entertainment Earth and Memory Alpha posted up some new images of the 22nd Century Romulan Warbird and the Maquis raider. 

The latter model will be the smallest ship produced so far and should be the most detailed given its size. From the shots below it looks like these might be two fantastic models with a lot of surface detail apparent on both. Here are the magazine covers (provisional) plus the model shots recently revealed.

Were there any other stories from May that got you interested? Is there one we've missed out on here? Drop a line below!