Screenwriter Jendresen Wants Less Sterile Star Trek

[137th Gebirg]

Hello, all.

I know this might seem a bit off-topic, but the new writer for the next Star Trek movie has been selected (Erik Jendersen) and he has some interesting views on what direction he would like to take the franchise. He makes particular mention to the use of "mythology" in the original series to invoke a certain emotional response - something Battlestar Galactica has always done in both its incarnations. He also wants to portray a more gritty and realistic view of humans in space. It would appear that Neo-BSG's unqualified success has had a serious impact on the future of Science Fiction. Article and link follows:

Erik Jendresen, who has been commissioned to write the screenplay for the eleventh Star Trek feature film with an all-new set of characters, said that the original series borrowed "in an often elegant way" from mythology and that he would like to return to a grittier type of emotion for the franchise.

"There's an old tradition in space films, if you think about it, where war and conflict are very sterile," Jendresen told SyFy Portal. "Death doesn't hurt, it's not really ugly. You can get killed by a phaser and just...disintegrate."

For the new film, whose story concept he called "pretty damn big," Jendresen said that he wanted to take an audience into an era before Kirk is born, where things aren't tied up comfortably at the end. "By the end of this story, everyone isn't fine," he explained. "I can safely say as a storyteller with certain standards...my intention is literally as a writer, as a storyteller, as a filmmaker, to go boldly where no one has gone before."

An Emmy-award winning writer and producer for HBO's Band of Brothers, Jendresen recently wrote Journey to thte Center of the Earth for 20th Century Fox but had no great desire to be involved with more science fiction. "I was not a diehard Star Trek fan," he said. "When they first approached me, I wasn't really interested. But they said, 'What if we could approach this as a blank slate, and here's a notion.'" He began to develop a story, "and it's a pretty good one." The eleventh Star Trek film remains in very early stages at Paramount, and no director has been suggested. The original interview is at SyFy Portal at http://www.syfyportal.com/.

From TrekToday at http://www.trektoday.com/news/100305_01.shtml

[137th Gebirg]

Addendum:

In the original interview, Erik says that the new film will take place "160 years" before Kirk is born. He has been later quoted as having made an error in timeframe. It will definitely happen before Kirk, probably Enterprise timeframe. Some are speculating Romulan War/BOTF.

[jewels]

137th Gebirg,
Since the article is mostly talking about Trek I'm moving this to Miscellaneous entertainment. Eventually we will have another Sci-Fi forum (I think a SW one might be in the works....stay tuned) but this article might get more discussion for you if we put it where everyone feels comfortable posting.

I think shows like CSI, Alias, and Lost all contribute to other genre's looking at grittier storytelling styles.

Jewels

[Darrell Lawrence]

If he's aiming to make it more like nuBG, then count this Trekker out.

I think what you're seeing is the problem with making continuation after continuation with different people at the helm with different visions.
Now comes along this other writer, looks at the mishmash of canon that is the ST universe and says 'I think I'll just start everything before everything else to avoid all this crap.

Honestly I don't expect much from this movie since it will probably be nil on character development and big on the explosions and big boobs that Berman and Braga turned Trek into.

Tying this in with Battlestar, I think this is why reimaginings work. Unless you have the same creative vision at the helm, just start over. Otherwise you're going to have to devote enitre episodes to explaining away the inconsistencies the various writers over the years have created. In the end the series will just end up falling flat. I think Enterprise had a great cast, probably better than DS9 and definitely better than Voyager, they just got screwed by the corner they were painted into.

I wouldn't be surprised (or disapointed) if RDM came back and reimagined ST as he did Galactica.

[Mustex]

A piece of advice. Listen to the commentary on "Wrath of Khan," and tell me if you think Nick Meyers sounds like this guy in the way he talks about ST. I hope this is a sign the ST movie jinx has reversed itself ("Nemesis" was an even one, but, while a good idea, was a few rewrites and a better director short of a great Trek film).

[Fragmentary]

Am I the only person who just wishes they would give it a rest for a while?

[Darth Marley]

Give the Beebs a permenant rest.
Keep the Trek universe alive.

Even if they are starting a movie now, it will be years before it hits the screens.

It does sound a lot like where RDM was trying to take Trek during the DS9 phase.
Just think if they could have done a real blood and guts Dominion War.