Monday, November 21, 2005

A New Team To Produce Next Star Trek Series...


Source:SciFi Pulse
By: Ian M. Cullen

Over that last few months there has been much discussions within Fandom about when who and where the next Star Trek show will be taking place, the biggest question is when will there be a new show, the answer at present is still very much up in the air as to when, and Rick Berman who has been the caretaker of Star Trek since the tragic passing of the series creator Gene Roddenberry is as in the dark as the rest of us. In issue 124 of the official UK Star Trek Magazine Berman revealed his thoughts on what will happen when Paramount decide to go once more unto the Trek.

In a recent readers poll which was filled in by the readers of Star Trek Magazine fans were asked what current shows could Star Trek learn from as and when it returns and the answers were pretty close between Doctor Who, Stargate Atlantis and the controversial much loved and much hated re-imagining of Battlestar Galactica.

“That’s hard to comment on. It’s certainly an interesting conclusion. When they re-energise the franchise it’s going to be the result of someone fresh, someone who has not been extensively involved with Star Trek, coming up with a new approach to the series. I think when Roddenberry created The Next Generation it was similar in many ways to the original shows, but obviously with a brand – new cast and a lot of new elements to the universe and to the spaceship. But since then, we did nearly 700 hours of Star Trek. So when the time to reinvent it or reinvigorate it, it’s going to have to be something very fresh and new, and my guess is that it would very possibly be from someone other than the people who have been creatively involved with it in the past.”

One thing that has been on the minds of many fans is the current status of the 11 th Star Trek movie, some elements of Fandom have also asked why it has to be a new crew and why can it not be the Enterprise Crew? Berman gave a somewhat revealing answer to this which pretty much states that nothing is set in stone as of yet.

“I would say that the storyline of the movie is still up in the air. The original story that has been put into development took place after Enterprise was done. Whether the next movie takes place there or whether it takes place at another point, I think that the studio’s feeling is that it would be nice to try to do a feature film with a fresh, new, none television series crew. So if Paramount decides that they’re going to reinvigorate or reinvent Star Trek at some point in the future, that would probably negate the use of characters from the existing shows.”

“By the way, I would say that the film is still in the same early stages of development it was the last time we talked.” Berman added while talking to Ian Spelling.

This year has been a pretty bad time for Star Trek having lost some pretty prominent names. Berman was asked for his thoughts on the losses of James Doohan and Robert Wise and provided the following by way of his own personal remembrances of both men.

“I met Robert Wise. One night I was at a Hollywood function, and my wife and I were sitting at a table along with some other people. We saw that the table next to ours was occupied by just one person, and it was Robert Wise. My wife walked over to him and said, ‘Would you please come and join us?’ He came and sat with us for the evening, and he was a lovely person. Obviously, we’re all incredibly grateful to him. Jimmy, who I worked with and who I knew, was a doll. He was just a very talented and sweet man. They’re both missed.”

As to other projects Berman reveals that he does have a few things in the works right now which he cannot reveal as of yet.

“My biggest focus right now is my involvement in some series ideas we’re trying to develop, and hopefully I can tell you more the next time we talk.”

The Full interview is a part of the Star Trek Magazine new issue #124 published in the U.K. which also includes interviews with Chase Masterson, and Kate Mulgrew

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