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Rick Berman Asserts STAR TREK Needs Re-Invention, TREK XI Scribe Announced

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By TRexx / 16:56, 22 February 2005 / Enterprise

For the past 19 years Paramount has launched STAR TREK films and series amid continued syndication and massive video sales. "Each time we started something else, we were competing against the previous shows, so as the number started to accumulate, we started to see franchise fatigue," glums Rick Berman. "You could see it with the performance of the last film, which was a wonderful movie. You can only squeeze so many eggs out of a golden goose." Downbeat results for STAR TREK: NEMESIS have curbed the studio's appetite to move quickly on more features. Dismal ratings prompted UPN to pull the plug on ENTERPRISE.

Berman tells Variety that the whole TREK concept has been so exposed that it needs to be re-invented. Another series would be at least three years away; and if a film goes forward, it will be the first that won't be based on already established TV characters.

Roger Nygard, who put together the TREKKIES and TREKKIES 2 documentaries, believes that taking a break is the sensible course. "It's a little like after you've eaten Thanksgiving dinner, you really don't want any more turkey," he notes. "There's been so much, for so long, that the feeling is that it's OK to take a pause."

"I think we're unique in Hollywood in people working here for 12, 15 even the full 18 years, so that's the sad part -- the family we've had here splitting up," frets Berman, who has teamed with Jordan Kerner and Kerry McCluggage to create an 11th feature now at the early stages of development; Erik Jendresen has signed on as writer.

"I don't think it's going away," attests Paramount Network Television president David Stapf. "We look at this as a hiatus."

Nygard's not worried. "We asked the question in TREKKIES 2 whether STAR TREK would be around in another 50 years and it was unanimous that it would be, in some incarnation. It's worth noting that STAR TREK didn't really begin to flourish until it had been off the air for awhile the first time."

Walter Koenig, a.k.a. "Chekov" in the original series, also believes it will be back eventually. "I really don't think that the series cancellation is its ultimate demise, although that may be just a reflex on my part," he says. "At some point, everything loses a little bit of its glow but STAR TREK has shown an uncanny ability to survive."

You can read the complete article at Variety.

UPDATE: Via Paramount Studios, Variety confirmed TrekWeb staff speculation that Erik Jendresen, not "Eric Genderson," is the scribe for TREK XI (story). Variety has now changed the name on their web site.



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RE: I don't get it | Report this post to moderator
By: cooper2000 (Odo's file, contact) @ 13:30:27 on Feb 23, 2005

A new movie with a new cast? Who wants to see that? People go to the Trek movies to see their favorite characters in a big epic story. Something they didnt get with the last two movies.
If they do what they said, it will bomb for sure.
As long as Rick is gone, people will come back but does Paramount know that?

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RE: I don't get it | Report this post to moderator
By: Sennik (Odo's file, contact) @ 14:06:24 on Feb 23, 2005

That's because "franchise fatigue" is the latest excuse Berman is selling for the poor ratings his produced series has been getting. The mere fact that they're already in the early stages of producing and writing Star Trek XI is indicitive of the fact that even Berman doesn't buy his own rhetoric. And this nonsense of a new movie with a new cast is absolute garbage. That movie will bomb. I remember, after First Contact, commenting to a friend that a Star Trek movie now is like a reunion with old friends that happens once every few years. You know the characters, and you go to see them again in a new adventure. Berman is going to absolutely destroy Star Trek, and any chance it has of coming back, by bringing out some new cast new crew Star Trek XI movie. TNG cast is done. After Nemesis I don't think any of them are really interested in doing another. I actually wouldn't even do another motion picture. You need to build the fan base again, and you do that on TV. A 2 night miniseries event. Or, if the story warrants it, a 6 or 8 hour series that tells one story over the course of 6 or 8 weeks. Something. A movie is a movie. And it'll bomb big time if there's a bunch of unknowns, in an unknown ship, and produced by Berman again.

My God I just have this sinking feeling that Star Trek is going to die a horrible death. It doesn't sound like Berman's letting go, and it sounds like Paramount isn't getting rid of him. A movie, even just in pre-production, is a major mistake.

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RE: I don't get it by c.p. @ 13:42:04 on Feb 24
RE: I don't get it by TriOx @ 20:38:51 on Feb 23
    RE: I don't get it by Jadzia-Dax @ 03:29:33 on Feb 24
       RE: I don't get it by Sennik @ 11:25:20 on Feb 24
RE: I don't get it by GustavoLeao @ 14:40:14 on Feb 23
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