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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

1982, Sci-fi/Adventure, 1h 53m

What to know

Critics Consensus

Considered by many fans to be the best of the Star Trek movies, Khan features a strong plot, increased tension, and a sharp supporting performance from Ricardo Montalban. Read critic reviews

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As Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) monitor trainees at Starfleet Academy, another vessel from the United Federation of Planets is about to try out the planet-creating Genesis Device in a seemingly deserted portion of space. In the process, two of Kirk's officers are captured by Khan (Ricardo Montalban), an enemy Kirk thought he'd never see again. Once more, Kirk takes the Enterprise's helm, where he meets Khan's ship in an intergalactic showdown.

Genre: Sci-fi, Adventure, Action

Original Language: English

Director: Nicholas Meyer

Producer: Robert Sallin

Writer: Harve Bennett , Jack Sowards , Jack Sowards

Release Date (Theaters): Jun 4, 1982  wide

Release Date (Streaming): Jun 26, 2013

Runtime: 1h 53m

Distributor: Paramount Pictures

Production Co: Paramount Pictures

Sound Mix: Surround, Dolby Stereo, Magnetic Stereo 6 Track, Stereo

Aspect Ratio: Scope (2.35:1)

View the collection: Star Trek

Cast & Crew

William Shatner

Admiral James T. Kirk

Leonard Nimoy

Captain Spock

Ricardo Montalban

Khan Noonien Singh

DeForest Kelley

Commander Leonard H. McCoy, M.D.

James Doohan

Commander Montgomery Scott

Walter Koenig

Commander Pavel Andreievich Chekov

George Takei

Commander Hikaru Sulu

Nichelle Nichols

Commander Nyota Uhura

Kirstie Alley

Lieutenant Saavik

Dr. Carol Marcus

Merritt Butrick

Dr. David Marcus

Paul Winfield

Captain Clark Terrell

Nicholas Meyer

Harve Bennett

Jack Sowards

Robert Sallin

Executive Producer

William F. Phillips

Associate Producer

Gayne Rescher

Cinematographer

William Paul Dornisch

Film Editing

James Horner

Original Music

Joseph R. Jennings

Production Design

Michael Minor

Art Director

Charles Graffeo

Set Decoration

Robert Fletcher

Costume Design

Mary V. Buck

Werner Keppler

Makeup Artist

James Lee McCoy

Dione Taylor

Hair Stylist

Austen Jewell

Unit Production Manager

Douglas E. Wise

First Assistant Director

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Critic Reviews for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Audience reviews for star trek ii: the wrath of khan.

Arguably the high point for the original cast's film franchise. Shatner shows true vulnerability as Kirk in this film and Ricardo Montalban cements his place as one of the best portrayed villains in film as Khan. The result of the film is not seen coming and you wonder how the crew will bounce back in the inevitable next film.

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Sequels are supposed to take what was great about the first outing and expand on it while also improving upon the mishaps as well. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is better than the first film in almost every aspect. I took issue with the pacing, overuse of special effects, length, and the lack of a present villain in Star Trek: The Motion Picture. This film wipes away silly and unnecessary special effects and gives us an intriguing story with characters who we understand and care about. It's also a solid 30 minutes shorter without cutting out anything that would hurt the story. I was thoroughly impressed by this sequel even 30 years after its release. We open the film as the enterprise seemingly has a new captain in Kirstie Alley's Saavik, only to find out its a training exercise put together by Spock and Admiral Kirk. I was worried they may rehash the same story line as the first film as Kirk seemed to hint that he may be done with the Enterprise, only to run into an old foe in Khan. Even though I have seen bits and pieces of the original series and had been somewhat familiar with Khan as a villain, I didn't know to the extent to which him and Kirk were linked. I was glad to see viewing of his appearance in the TV series wasn't entirely necessary as they explained enough in the 103 minute run-time. Khan has become somewhat of a pop culture icon over the years, so I had my fair share of expectations going in. Ricardo Montalban's performance and the writing didn't let me down. So much so that you understand where Khan is coming from when he wants Project Genesis from the crew and wants revenge for what Kirk did. In many ways, he was Kirk's arch nemesis and proved to come through with a lot of what he swore to do to Kirk. My only gripe with him as a villain was that I feel like we were missing an in person interaction with Kirk himself. Speaking through a video screen inside the Enterprise isn't enough, you need that human interaction. With that said, The Wrath of Khan has the emotional layers and character depths that the first film was lacking. All of the original dynamics of the ship are there, plus some new and enjoyable ones as well. Plus, it doesn't take 45 minutes for things to get going, the pacing is much improved. James Horner's haunting score also sets the tone immediately from the opening scene, all the way through the bittersweet ending. Overall, everything feels bigger and better with The Wrath of Khan. Having seen the new Trek films, I think this can rank up there with them as some of the best outings the Enterprise crew has ever had. +Fantastic score +Emotionally layered +Special effects & pacing much improved +Very good villain -Although Khan was missing the human interaction with Kirk 8.6/10

And this is coming from an adamant "definitely not a fan" of the original series.

This is the second movie in all of the "Star Trek" movies, and it's considered the best(I've only seen this and the first one). This is miles better than the first movie, and really showcases a great story, with great characters. A guy I work with recommended I watch an old episode called "Space Seed" first. It's not mandatory, but it's a great thing to do, because it gives a great set up, and you get to see why Khan and Kirk hate each other. The effects are very dated, and the acting is just awesome. Awesome, because it's all overacted, which for a movie like this works well. When Kirk yells Khan, it's just awesome. I like the Abrams movies better, but this makes me want to continue with the old movies to see where it all goes. Good movie that's still good 30 years later.

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The peculiar thing about Spock is that, being half human and half Vulcan and therefore possessing about half the usual quota of human emotions, he consistently, if dispassionately, behaves as if he possessed very heroic human emotions indeed. He makes a choice in “Star Trek II” that would be made only by a hero, a fool, or a Vulcan. And when he makes his decision, the movie rises to one of its best scenes, because the " Star Trek " stories have always been best when they centered around their characters. Although I liked the special effects in the first movie, they were probably not the point; fans of the TV series wanted to see their favorite characters again, and “Trek II” understood that desire and acted on it. 

Time has passed since the last episode. Kirk has retired to an administrative post. Spock is commanding the Enterprise, with a lot of new faces in the crew. The ship is on a mission concerning the Genesis device, a new invention which, if I understand it correctly, is capable of seeding a barren planet with luxuriant life. A sister ship, the USS Reliant, is scouting for lifeless planets and finds one that seems to be dead, but its instruments pick up a small speck of life. Crew members investigate, and find the planet inhabited by an outlaw named Khan, who was exiled there years ago by Kirk, and has brooded of vengeance ever since. 

Khan is played as a cauldron of resentment by Ricardo Montalban , and his performance is so strong that he helps illustrate a general principle involving not only Star Trek but “ Star Wars ” (1977) and all the epic serials, especially the “James Bond” movies: Each film is only as good as its villain. Since the heroes and the gimmicks tend to repeat from film to film, only a great villain can transform a good try into a triumph. In a curious way, Khan captures our sympathy, even though he is an evil man who introduces loathsome creatures into the ear canals of two Enterprise crew members. Montalban doesn't overact. He plays the character as a man of deeply wounded pride, whose bond of hatred with Admiral Kirk is stronger even than his traditional villain's desire to rule the universe. 

There is a battle in outer space in this movie, a particularly inept one that owes more to "Captain Video" than to state-of-the-art special effects. I always love it when they give us spaceships capable of leaping across the universe, and then arm them with weapons so puny that a direct hit merely blows up a few control boards and knocks people off their feet. Somehow, though, I don't much care if the battles aren't that amazing, because the story doesn't depend on them. It's about a sacrifice made by Spock, and it draws on the sentiment and audience identification developed over the years by the TV series. 

Perhaps because of that bond, and the sense that an episode may be over but the Enterprise will carry on, the movie doesn't feel that it needs an ending in a conventional sense. The film closes with the usual "Star Trek" end narration, all about the ship's mission and its quest, and we are obviously being set up for a sequel. You could almost argue that the last few minutes of “Trek II” are a trailer for “Trek III”, but, no, that wouldn't be in the spirit of the Enterprise, would it?

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan movie poster

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

113 minutes

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Admiral James T. Kirk is still in charge of a space fleet, but from behind a desk. Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock convince him to take on a mission which sounds simple, but with the mysterious Khan, things get a little tricky. more

Admiral James T. Kirk is still in charge of a space fleet, but fr ... More

Starring: William Shatner Leonard Nimoy Ricardo Montalban

Director: Nicholas Meyer

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Admiral James T. Kirk is still in charge of a space fleet, but from behind a desk. Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock convince him to take on a mission which sounds simple, but with the mysterious Khan, things get a little tricky.

Starring: William Shatner Leonard Nimoy Ricardo Montalban DeForest Kelley James Doohan

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Poster art for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan featuring the U.S.S. Enterprise

Khan, a genetically enhanced “super man” from Kirk’s past, returns to seek revenge on now-Admiral Kirk, the man who banished he and his followers to a dying planet 15 years earlier.

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Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan cast, left to right:  Deforest Kelley, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Walter Koenig, William Shatner, James Doohan, Leonard Nimoy Film and Television.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan review – Spock and Kirk shine in charming Enterprise revisit

The 1982 sequel to the original Star Trek film, featuring a film debut for Kirstie Alley, returns to cinemas with its crowdpleasing zap and raw emotion intact

T he 1982 sequel to the original Star Trek feature film is now re-released: a brisker, brasher work directed by Nicholas Meyer which moved away from the more lugubrious, Kubrickian ambitions of the first film and back to the crowdpleasing zap of the TV show, importantly starting with the irresistible theme tune. However, 60s TV Star Trek would surely never have given us anything like the rather extraordinary moment included in this movie: chief engineer Mr Scott is discreetly treated for a certain ailment by Dr McCoy, because of his recent “shore leave”. Too much information there about Mr Scott’s private life.

Wrath of Khan is the film that sensationally gave us the heroic and tragic sacrifice of Mr Spock, a wonderful performance of sonorous gravitas from Leonard Nimoy. That calamity traumatised its audiences and taught future generations of franchise-creators from Star Wars to Harry Potter that nothing grabs the fanbase like a big death. The Spock demise was further elevated in pop culture a decade later on the Seinfeld TV show when it was revealed that Jerry’s friend George Constanza was, in adult life, more moved by the memory of Spock’s fate than by the death of his own fiancee.

The situation aboard the USS Enterprise is that Spock is now captain, mentoring a commander-in-training, Saavik, played by Kirstie Alley in her debut film role. There has been another uniform redesign: tunics are now a deep cherry red, thus confounding the “red jersey” stigma, traditionally the colour of other ranks’ uniforms, those most likely to die when beamed down to other planets with more important cast-members.

Ricardo Montalbán as Khan.

Admiral James T Kirk (William Shatner) is yearning to get away from desk responsibility and see action once again. He is grimly aware of the passing years, made more piquant by a birthday present from his plain-speaking pal, Dr McCoy (DeForest Kelley): a pair of reading glasses. But Admiral Kirk’s inspection of the Enterprise coincides with a threat from his old nemesis Khan (an enjoyably hammy Ricardo Montalbán) who tries to steal a terrifyingly powerful new invention: the Genesis, which has the power to create biological lifeforms on desolate planets, but also to destroy lifeforms that are already there.

The unspeakable Khan gains an insidious access to the Enterprise by capturing Chekov (Walter Koenig) and getting a little reptile’s offspring to slither into his ear, thus putting him under a hypnotic influence: a truly creepy moment. And so the duel between Kirk and his old adversary begins, with the Admiral periodically shouting “Khaaaaan!” in pedantic moments of defiance. It’s still entertaining and charming in its innocent idealism.

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  • Leonard Nimoy
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Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan Review

Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan

01 Jan 1982

108 minutes

Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan

Although the slow, gabby, and, frankly, rather insipid Star Trek: The Motion Picture did the business, it was pretty lame to all but the most dedicated, particularly coming two years in the wake of Star Wars.

Nicholas Meyer, a successful novelist (The Seven-Per-Cent Solution) turned able director, understood that the interplay between the characters, back on familiar footing, was as important as the impressive FX. A sequel 15 years on to the classic Trek TV episode Space Seed, the very enjoyable hokum of Wrath Of Khan is energised by the return of a fabulous Ricardo Montalban as the exiled, genetically enhanced tyrant Khan, once ruler of an empire on Earth (round about now, actually) who was originally encountered in suspended animation on the vessel Botany Bay and revived in the 23rd Century.

Having escaped the dead planet where he's been stranded, with his mitts on a starship, a cutthroat band of followers and an all-consuming obsession with exacting terrible revenge on the U.S.S. Enterprise gang — chiefly, of course, former captain James T. Kirk (Shatner). Khan is exactly what's required for camp piratical space fun — a formidable foe who is charismatic, brainy, and ruthlessly fanatical. The necessity for a showdown takes on save-the-universe urgency when Khan snatches up a highly desirable gizmo — the Genesis Device, which reorganises energy into living matter — containing the power of creation or mass destruction. The Genesis Device is well named since it provokes dialogue that, in 1982, would have struck anyone with no taste for speculative science fiction as wincingly pretentious. Today it seems more apt as Kirk and cronies debate the potential for and consequences of science second-guessing God. The real heart of the story is, however, almost unique in the annals of screen sci-fi. It's about getting old.

The most elegiac of the big screen Treks, the adventure celebrates comradeship above all the other fundamentals and imperatives of the Trek ethos (like courage, curiosity and cultural imperialism). And it's a tale told with considerable warmth and humour, some spiffing explosions and a multiple-hanky act of self-sacrifice to round things off. At the beginning the once irrepressible Kirk's birthday (which one it is we aren't told, but the big five-o seems likely) brings on morose reflection. The former intergalactic babehound says "Galloping around the cosmos is a game for the young," considers the paths not taken (unaware that an old flame and his hitherto unknown, full grown son are about to be sprung on him) and is passively resigned to an assignment commanding a computer console in place of his "first, best destiny" — command of a starship.

Spock (Nimoy) gives him an ancient copy of A Tale Of Two Cities. Bones (Kelley) gives him a pair of antique spectacles for his middle-age myopia, so he can read it, which comes in handy when he misquotes Sydney Carton in the eventual denouement. A simple training cruise for Starfleet cadets (including a debuting Kirstie Alley as Vulcan smarty-pants Saavik) is tiresomely routine and seems set to be Kirk's last mission. Then Khan rears his vengeful head — yippee! — forcing Kirk to boldly go once more.

The point is, he learns, there are still big challenges: "I haven't faced death. I've cheated death. I've tricked my way out of death, and patted myself on the back for my ingenuity. I know nothing." That understood, the adventure of life goes on, age, a crazed villain and a warp drive engine on the blink be damned. As is the case in the best of the classic Trek screen adventures (let's hear it for IV and VI, both co-written by Meyer) Jack B. Soward's script is witty and literate, the crew are on top self-mocking form and there are neat references to Dickens and Melville. But Wrath Of Khan is capped by a daring shocker: killing a beloved character (or at least so fans believed until Star Trek III) to press home such weighty Trekian sentiments as "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

What haven't worn as well are the disastrous fashion statements: striped bell-bottom uniform trews tucked into boots and those absurd Santa Claus tunics. And then, of course, there's the trademark dodgy coiffures. Still, it's a far, far better thing they do than they have ever done when they can save civilisation as we know it even on a bad hair day.

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Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan

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Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American motion picture released by Paramount Pictures . The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T. Kirk ( William Shatner ) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise facing off against the genetically-engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh ( Ricardo Montalbán ), a character who first appeared in the 1967 Star Trek television series episode " Space Seed ". When Khan escapes from a 15-year exile to exact revenge on Kirk, the crew of the Enterprise must stop him from acquiring a powerful terraforming device named Genesis. The film concludes with the death of Enterprise crewmember Spock ( Leonard Nimoy ), beginning a story arc that continues through 1986's Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home .

After the lackluster critical and commercial response to Star Trek: The Motion Picture , series creator Gene Roddenberry was forced out of the sequel's production. Executive producer Harve Bennett wrote the film's original outline, which Jack B. Sowards developed into a full script. Director Nicholas Meyer completed the final script in 12 days, without accepting a writing credit. Meyer's approach evoked the swashbuckling atmosphere of the original series, and the theme was reinforced by James Horner 's musical score. Leonard Nimoy only reprised his role as Spock because the character's death was intended to be irrevocable. Negative test audience reaction to Spock's death led to significant revisions of the ending without Meyer's consent. The production used various cost-cutting techniques to keep within budget, including utilizing miniatures from past projects and re-using effects footage from the previous movie. Among the film's technical achievements is the first complete feature film sequence created entirely with computer-generated graphics.

The Wrath of Khan was released in North America on June 4, 1982. It was a box office success, earning US$97 million worldwide and setting a world record for first-day box office gross. Critical reaction to the film was positive; reviewers highlighted Khan, the film's pacing and the character interactions as strong elements. Negative reaction focused on weak special effects and some of the acting. The Wrath of Khan is generally considered one of the best films of the Star Trek series and is credited with creating renewed interest in the franchise.

  • 3.1 Development
  • 3.3 Filming
  • 3.4 Effects
  • 5.1 Release
  • 5.2 Critical response
  • 5.3 Home video

The film opens with the Vulcan Lieutenant Saavik in command of the starship USS Enterprise . The vessel is on a rescue mission to save the crew of a damaged ship in the Neutral Zone along the border with Klingon space when it is attacked by Klingon cruisers and critically damaged. The "attack" is revealed to be a training exercise known as the " Kobayashi Maru "; a no-win situation designed to test the character of Starfleet officers. Admiral James T. Kirk oversees the simulator session of Captain Spock 's trainees. [1]

The USS Reliant is on a mission to search for a lifeless planet for testing of the Genesis Device , a torpedo that reorganizes matter to create habitable worlds for colonization. Reliant officers Commander Pavel Chekov and Captain Clark Terrell beam down to the surface of a possible candidate planet, Ceti Alpha VI, where they are captured by Khan Noonien Singh . Khan and his fellow genetically-advanced supermen were once rulers of late 20th century Earth, but after their defeat they escaped into space in a sleeper ship . The Enterprise discovered Khan's ship adrift in space fifteen years previously ; Kirk exiled Khan and his followers to Ceti Alpha V after the supermen nearly captured his ship. Khan reveals that after they were marooned, Ceti Alpha VI exploded, destroying Ceti Alpha V's ecosystem and shifting its orbit. Khan blames Kirk for the death of his wife and plans to avenge her. He implants Chekov and Terrell with indigenous, mind-controlling eels that enter the ears of their victims and uses the officers to gain control of the Reliant . Learning of the existence of Genesis, Khan attacks Space Station Regula I where the device is being developed by Kirk's former lover, Dr. Carol Marcus , and their son, David . [2]

The Enterprise embarks on a training voyage under the command of Spock. Kirk takes command of the Enterprise after the ship receives a distress call from Regula I. En route, the Enterprise is ambushed by the Reliant . The attack cripples the Enterprise and many of its trainees are killed. A transmission between the two ships reveals Khan knows of the Genesis Device and wants all materials related to the project sent to him. Kirk stalls for time and disables the Reliant Template:'s defenses by transmitting a prefix code, allowing the Enterprise to counter-attack. Khan is forced to retreat and effect repairs, while the Enterprise limps to Regula I. Kirk, McCoy and Saavik beam to the station, where they find Terrell and Chekov, along with slaughtered members of the Genesis Project. The team finds the remaining scientists, including Carol and David, hidden deep inside the planetoid of Regula. Using Terrell and Chekov as spies, Khan steals the Genesis Device and orders them to kill Kirk; Terrell resists the eel's influence and kills himself while Chekov faints. Though Khan believes his foe stranded on Regula I, Kirk and Spock use a coded message to arrange a rendezvous and pilot the Enterprise into the nearby Mutara Nebula; static discharges from the nebula render both ships' defensive shields useless and compromise targeting systems, making the Enterprise and Reliant evenly matched. Kirk uses Khan's inexperience in three-dimensional combat to critically disable the Reliant .

Mortally wounded, Khan activates the Genesis Device, which will reorganize all matter in the nebula—including the Enterprise . Though Kirk's crew detects the activation of the Genesis Device and the Enterprise attempts to move out of range using impulse engines , with the warp drive damaged they will not be able to escape the nebula in time. Spock leaves the bridge and goes to the engine room to restore the warp drive. When McCoy tries to prevent Spock's exposure to high levels of radiation, he incapacitates the doctor and performs a mind meld , telling him to "Remember". Spock restores power to the warp drive and the Enterprise escapes the explosion. Kirk arrives in the engine room, where Spock dies of radiation poisoning . The explosion of the Genesis Device causes a planet to coalesce out of the nebula. A space burial is held in the Enterprise Template:'s torpedo room and Spock's coffin is shot into orbit around the newly formed planet. The crew leaves the planet to pick up the Reliant Template:'s marooned crew from Ceti Alpha V. In the final scene Spock's coffin is seen to have soft-landed on the planet. Spock narrates Star Trek Template:'s " Where no man has gone before " monologue as the view moves forward into a field of stars. [3]

The crew of the Enterprise gathers for Spock's funeral (the torpedo with Spock's body is at the bottom of the frame). From left to right: Sulu, Chekov, Scott, Kirk, McCoy, Uhura, and Saavik.

William Shatner plays James T. Kirk , a Starfleet Admiral and former commander of the Enterprise . Kirk and Khan never confront each other face-to-face during the film; all of their interactions are over a viewscreen or through communicators, and their scenes were filmed four months apart. [4] Meyer described Shatner as an actor who was naturally protective of his character and himself, and who performed better over multiple takes. [5]

Ricardo Montalbán portrays Khan Noonien Singh , a genetically enhanced superhuman who used his strength and intellect to briefly rule much of Earth in the 1990s. Montalbán said that he believed all good villains do villainous things, but think that they are acting for the "right" reasons; in this way, Khan uses his anger at the death of his wife to justify his pursuit of Kirk. [6] Contrary to speculation that Montalbán used a prosthetic chest, no artificial devices were added to Montalbán's muscular physique. [5] Montalbán enjoyed making the film, so much so that he played the role for much less than was offered him, and counted the role as a career highlight. His major complaint was that he was never face-to-face with Shatner for a scene. "I had to do my lines with the script girl, who, as you might imagine, sounded nothing like Bill [Shatner]," he explained. [7] Bennett noted that the film was close to getting the green light when it occurred to the producers that no one had asked Montalbán if he could take a break from filming television show Fantasy Island to take part. [6]

The Vulcan Spock is portrayed by Leonard Nimoy . Nimoy had not intended to have a role in The Motion Picture Template:'s sequel, but was enticed back on the promise that his character would be given a dramatic death scene. [8] Nimoy reasoned that since The Wrath of Khan would be the final Star Trek film, having Spock "go out in a blaze of glory" seemed like a good way to end the character. [6] DeForest Kelley plays Leonard McCoy , the Enterprise Template:'s chief medical officer and a close friend of Kirk and Spock. Kelley was dissatisfied with an early version of the script to the point that he considered not taking part. [8] Kelley noted his character spoke many of the film's lighter lines, and felt that this role was essential in bringing a lighter side to the onscreen drama. [6] Other members of the Enterprise crew include chief engineer Montgomery Scott ( James Doohan ), navigator Hikaru Sulu ( George Takei ), and communications officer Uhura ( Nichelle Nichols ). Nichols and Gene Roddenberry took issue with elements of the film, including the naval references and militaristic uniforms. Nichols also defended Roddenberry when the producers believed he was the source of script leaks. [9] Takei had simply not wanted to reprise his role until Shatner persuaded him to return. [10] Kelley felt that McCoy speaking his catchphrase " he's dead, Jim " during Spock's death scene would ruin the moment's seriousness, so Doohan delivers the line "he's dead already" to Kirk. [11] Scott loses his young nephew following Khan's attacks on the Enterprise . The cadet, played by Ike Eisenmann , had many of his lines cut from the original theatrical release, including a scene where it is explained he is Scott's relative. These scenes were reintroduced when ABC aired The Wrath of Khan on television in 1985, and in the director's edition, making Scott's grief at the crewman's death more understandable. [10]

Walter Koenig plays Pavel Chekov , the Reliant Template:'s first officer and a former Enterprise crewmember. During filming, Kelley noted that Chekov never met Khan in "Space Seed" (Koenig had not yet joined the cast), and thus Khan's recognizing Chekov on Ceti Alpha did not make sense. Star Trek books have tried to rationalize this discrepancy; in the film's novelization by Vonda N. McIntyre , Chekov is "an ensign assigned to the night watch" during "Space Seed" and met Khan in an off-screen scene. [12] The non-canonical novel To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh explains the error by having Chekov escort Khan to the surface of Ceti Alpha after the events of the television episode. The real cause of the error was a simple oversight by the filmmakers. Meyer defended the mistake by noting that Arthur Conan Doyle made similar oversights in his Sherlock Holmes stories. [5] Chekov's screaming while being infested by the Ceti eel lead Koenig to jokingly dub the film Star Trek II: Chekov Screams Again , in reference to a similar screaming scene in The Motion Picture . [10] Paul Winfield plays Reliant captain Clark Terrell ; Meyer had seen Winfield's work in films such as Sounder and thought highly of him. There was no reason for casting him as the Reliant Template:'s captain other than Meyer's desire to direct him. Meyer thought in retrospect that the Ceti eel scenes might have been corny, but felt that Winfield's performance helped add gravity. [5]

Other characters include Kirstie Alley as Saavik , Spock's protege and a Starfleet commander-in-training aboard the Enterprise . The movie was Alley's first feature film role. Saavik cries during Spock's funeral. Meyer said that during filming someone asked him, "'Are you going to let her do that?' And I said, 'Yeah', and they said, 'But Vulcans don't cry,' and I said, 'Well, that's what makes this such an interesting Vulcan.'" [5] The character's emotional outbursts can be partly explained by the fact that Saavik was described as of mixed Vulcan- Romulan heritage in the script, though no indication is given on film. [10] Alley was so fond of her Vulcan ears that she would take them home with her at the end of each day. [5] Bibi Besch plays Carol Marcus , the lead scientist working on Project Genesis, and the mother of Kirk's son David (played by Merritt Butrick ). Meyer was looking for an actress who looked beautiful enough that it was plausible a womanizer such as Kirk would fall for her, yet who could also project a sense of intelligence. Meyer liked that Butrick's hair was blond like Besch's and curly like Shatner's, making him a plausible son of the two. [5]

Production [ ]

Development [ ].

Gene Roddenberry was removed from a direct role in the development of The Wrath of Khan due to concerns that he was the main reason behind The Motion Picture Template:'s lukewarm reception.

After the release of The Motion Picture , executive producer Gene Roddenberry wrote his own sequel. In his plot, the crew of the Enterprise travel back in time to set right a corrupted time line after Klingons use the Guardian of Forever to prevent the assassination of John F. Kennedy . [13] [14] This was rejected by Paramount executives, who blamed the poor performance and inflated budget ($46 million) of the first movie on its plodding pace and the constant rewrites Roddenberry demanded. [15] As a consequence, Roddenberry was removed from the production and, according to Shatner, "kicked upstairs" to the ceremonial position of executive consultant. [16] Harve Bennett , a new Paramount television producer, was made producer for the next Star Trek film. [17] According to Bennett, he was called in front of a group including Jeffrey Katzenberg and Michael Eisner and asked if he thought he could make a better movie than The Motion Picture , which Bennett confessed he found "really boring". [18] When Bennett replied in the affirmative, Charles Bluhdorn asked, "Can you make it for less than forty-five-fucking-million-dollars?" Bennett replied that "Where I come from, I can make five movies for that." [17]

Bennett realized he faced a serious challenge in developing the new Star Trek movie, partly due to his never having seen the television show. [17] To compensate, Bennett watched all the original episodes. This immersion convinced Bennett that what the first movie lacked was a real villain; after seeing the episode " Space Seed ", he decided that the character of Khan Noonien Singh was the perfect enemy for the new film. [19] Before the script was settled upon, Bennett gathered his production staff. He selected Robert Sallin, a director of television commercials and a college friend, to produce the movie. Sallin's job would be to produce Star Trek II quickly and cheaply. [20] Bennett also hired Michael Minor as art director to shape the direction of the film. [21]

Bennett wrote his first film treatment in November 1980. In his version, titled Star Trek II: The War of the Generations , Kirk investigates a rebellion on a distant world and discovers that his son is the leader of the rebels. Khan is the mastermind behind the plot, and Kirk and son join forces to defeat the tyrant. Bennett then hired Jack B. Sowards , an avid Star Trek fan, to turn his outline into a filmable script. Sowards wrote an initial script before a writer's strike in 1981. Sowards' draft, The Omega Syndrome , involved the theft of the Federation's ultimate weapon, the "Omega system". [19] Sowards was concerned that his weapon was too negative, and Bennett wanted something more uplifting "and as fundamental in the 23rd century as recombinant DNA is in our time," Minor recalled. [21] Minor suggested to Bennett that the device be turned into a terraforming tool instead. At the story conference the next day, Bennett hugged Minor and declared that he had saved Star Trek. [21] In recognition of the Biblical power of the weapon, Sowards renamed the "Omega system" to the " Genesis Device". [19]

By April 1981 Sowards had produced a draft that moved Spock's death to later in the story, [19] because of fan dissatisfaction to the event after the script was leaked. [5] Spock had originally died in the first act, in a shocking demise that Bennett compared to Janet Leigh 's early death in Psycho . [22] This draft had a twelve-page face-to-face confrontation between Kirk and Khan. [23] Sowards' draft also introduced a male character named Savik. [19] As preproduction began, Samuel A. Peeples , writer of the Star Trek episode " Where No Man Has Gone Before ", was invited to offer his own script. Peeples's draft replaced Khan with two new villains named Sojin and Moray; the powerful beings are so alien they almost destroy Earth by mistake. This script was considered inadequate. [23] Deadlines were looming for special effects production to begin (which required detailed storyboards based on a completed script), and by this point there was no finished script to use. [19]

Director Nicholas Meyer had never seen an episode of Star Trek when approached to direct the film and rewrite the script

Karen Moore, a Paramount executive, suggested to Bennett that Nicholas Meyer , writer of The Seven-Per-Cent Solution and director of Time After Time , could help resolve the screenplay issues. [6] Meyer had never seen an episode of Star Trek . [24] He had the idea of making a list consisting of everything that the creative team had liked from the preceding drafts–"it could be a character, it could be a scene, it could be a plot, it could be a subplot, [...] it could be a line of dialogue"–so that he could use that list as the basis of a new screenplay made from all the best aspects of the previous ones. [6] To offset fan expectation that Spock would die, Meyer had the character "killed" in the Kobayashi Maru simulator in the opening scene. [5] The effects company required a completed script in just twelve days time so, Meyer wrote the screenplay uncredited and for no pay before the deadline, surprising the actors and producers. [6] Meyer described his script as " 'Hornblower' in outer space", utilizing nautical references and a swashbuckling atmosphere. [8] (Hornblower was an inspiration to Roddenberry and Shatner when making the show, although Meyer was unaware of this). [25] Sallin was impressed with Meyer's vision for the film: "His ideas brought dimension that broadened the scope of the material as we were working on it." [26] Gene Roddenberry disagreed with the script's naval texture and Khan's Captain Ahab undertones, but was mostly ignored by the creative team. [27]

Meyer attempted to change the look of Star Trek to match the nautical atmosphere he envisioned and stay within budget. [6] The Enterprise , for example, was given a ship's bell , boatswain's call , [19] and more blinking lights and signage. [18] To save money on set design, production designer Joseph Jennings utilized existing elements from The Motion Picture that had been left standing after filming was completed. [19] Sixty-five percent of the film was shot on the same set; the bridge of the Reliant and the "bridge simulator" from the opening scene were redresses of the Enterprise Template:'s bridge. [6] The Klingon bridge from The Motion Picture was redressed as the transporter and torpedo rooms. [18] The filmmakers stretched The Wrath of Khan Template:'s budget by reusing models and footage from the first Star Trek film, including footage of the Enterprise in spacedock. [10] The original ship miniatures were used where possible, or modified to stand in as new constructions. The orbital office complex from The Motion Picture was inverted and retouched to become the Regula I space station. [19] Elements of the cancelled Star Trek: Phase II television show, such as bulkheads, railings, and sets, were cannibalized and reused. [10] A major concern for the designers was that the Reliant should be easily distinguishable from the Enterprise . The ship's design was flipped after Bennett accidentally opened and approved the preliminary Reliant designs upside-down. [6]

Uniform exemplar from The Wrath of Khan on display at Star Trek: The Experience

Designer Robert Fletcher was brought in to redesign existing costumes and create new ones. Fletcher decided on a scheme of "corrupt colors", using materials with colors slightly off from the pure color. "They're not colors you see today, so in a subtle way their Template:Sic indicate another time." [26] Meyer did not like the Starfleet uniforms from either the television series or The Motion Picture and wanted them changed, [24] but for budgetary reasons they could not be discarded entirely. Dye tests of the fabric showed that the old uniforms took three colors well: blue-gray, gold, and dark red. Fletcher decided to use the dark red due to the strong contrast it provided with the background. The resulting naval-inspired designs would be used in Star Trek films until 1996's Star Trek: First Contact . The first versions of the uniforms had stiff black collars, but Sallin suggested changing it to a turtleneck, using a form of vertical quilting called trapunto . The method creates a bas-relief effect to the material by stuffing the outlined areas with soft thread shot via air pressure through a hollow needle. [28] By the time of The Wrath of Khan Template:'s production, the machines and needles needed to produce trapunto were rare, and Fletcher was only able to find one needle for the wardrobe department. [19] The crew was so worried about losing or breaking the needle that one of the department's workers took it home with him as a security measure, leading Fletcher to think it had been stolen. [28]

For Khan and his followers, Fletcher created a strong contrast with the highly organized Starfleet uniforms; his idea was that the exiles' costumes were made out of whatever they could find. [6] Fletcher said, "My intention with Khan was to express the fact that they had been marooned on that planet with no technical infrastructure, so they had to cannibalize from the spaceship whatever they used or wore. Therefore, I tried to make it look as if they had dressed themselves out of pieces of upholstery and electrical equipment that composed the ship." [6] Khan's costume was designed with an open chest to show Ricardo Montalbán's physique. Fletcher also designed smocks for the Regula I scientists, and civilian clothes for Kirk and McCoy that were designed to look practical and comfortable. [6]

Meyer had a "No Smoking" sign added to the Enterprise Template:'s bridge, which he recalled "Everyone had a fit over [...] I said 'Why have they stopped smoking in the future? They've been smoking for four hundred years, you think it's going to stop in the next two?" [18] The sign appeared in the first shot of the film, but was removed for all others appearing in the final cut of the film. [10]

Filming [ ]

Principal photography began on November 9, 1981, and ended on January 29, 1982. [29] The Wrath of Khan was more action-oriented than its predecessor, but less costly to make. The project was supervised by Paramount's television unit rather than its theatrical division. [30] Bennett, a respected television veteran, made The Wrath of Khan on a budget of $11 million—far less than The Motion Picture Template:'s $46 million. [11] The budget was initially lower at $8.5 million, but it rose when the producers were impressed by the first two weeks of footage. [18] Meyer utilized camera and set tricks to spare the construction of large and expensive sets. For a scene taking place at Starfleet Academy , a forced perspective was created by placing scenery close to the camera to give the sense the set was larger than it really was. To present the illusion that the Enterprise Template:'s elevators moved between decks, corridor pieces were wheeled out of sight to change the hall configuration while the lift doors were closed. [10] Background equipment such as computer terminals were rented when possible instead of purchased outright. Some designed props, such as a redesigned phaser and communicator, were vetoed by Paramount executives in favor of existing materials from The Motion Picture . [31]

The Enterprise was refurbished for its space shots, with its shiny exterior dulled down and extra detail added to the frame. [32] Compared to the newly-built Reliant , the Enterprise was hated by the effects artists and cameramen; it took eight people to mount the model, and a forklift truck to move it. [33] The Reliant , meanwhile, was lighter and had less complex internal wiring. The ships were filmed on a blue screen with special film that does not register the color; the resulting shots could be added to effects shots or other footage. Any reflection of blue on the ship's hull would appear as a hole on the film; the gaps had to be patched frame by frame for the final film. The same camera used to film Star Wars , the Dykstraflex , was used for shots of the Enterprise and other ships. [32]

The barren desert surface of Ceti Alpha V was simulated on stage 8, the largest sound stage at Paramount's studio. The set was elevated 25 feet off the ground and covered in wooden mats, over which tons of colored sand and powder were dumped. A cyclorama was painted and wrapped around the set, while massive industrial fans created a sandstorm. The filming was uncomfortable for actors and crew alike. The spandex environmental suits Koenig and Winfield wore were unventilated, and the actors had to signal by microphone when they needed air. Filming equipment was wrapped in plastic to prevent mechanical troubles and everyone on set wore boots, masks, and coveralls as protection from flying sand. [34]

Spock's death was shot over three days, during which no visitors were allowed on set. [5] Spock's death was to be irrevocable, but Nimoy had such a positive experience during filming that he asked if he could add a way for Spock to return in a later film. The mind meld sequence was initially filmed without Kelley's prior knowledge of what was going on. [35] Shatner disagreed with having a clear glass separation between Spock and Kirk during the death scene; he instead wanted a translucent divider allowing viewers to only see Spock's silhouette, but his objection was overruled. During Spock's funeral sequence Meyer wanted the camera to track the torpedo that served as Spock's coffin as it was placed in a long trough and slid into the launcher. The camera crew thought the entire set would have to be rebuilt in order to accommodate the shot, but Sallin suggested putting a dolly into the trough and controlling it from above with an offset arm. [6] Scott's rendition of " Amazing Grace " on the bagpipes was James Doohan 's idea. [36]

Test audiences reacted badly to Spock's death and the film's ending (the tone of which was dark and final), [6] so the ending was made more uplifting by Bennett. The scene of Spock's casket on the planet and Nimoy's closing monologue were added; Meyer objected, but did not stand in the way of the modifications. [11] Due to time constraints, the casket scene was filmed in an overgrown corner of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park , using smoke machines to add a primal atmosphere. The shoot lasted from midday to evening, as the team was well aware there would be no time for reshoots. [37]

Special consideration was given during filming to allow for integration of the planned special effects. Television monitors standing in for computer displays were specially calibrated so that their refresh rate did not result in banding on film. [10] Due to a loss of resolution and quality resulting from rephotographing an element in an optical printer, live action sequences for effects were shot in 65mm or VistaVision formats to compensate. When the larger prints were reduced through an anamorphic lens on the printer, the result was a Panavision composite. [38]

Effects [ ]

With a short timeframe to complete The Wrath of Khan Template:'s special effects sequences, effects supervisor Jim Veilleux, Meyer, Jennings, Sallin, and Minor worked to transform the written ideas for the script into concrete storyboards and visuals. The detailed sequences were essential to keep the film's effects from spiraling out of control and driving up costs, as had occurred with The Motion Picture . [21] Each special and optical effect, and the duration of the sequences, was listed. [33] By the end of six weeks, the producers determined the basic look and construction of nearly all the effects; the resulting shots were combined with film footage five months later. [39] Industrial Light and Magic (ILM) produced many of the effects, and created the new models; the Reliant was the first non- Constitution -class Federation starship seen in the series. [19] As the script called for the Reliant and Enterprise to inflict significant damage on each other, ILM developed techniques to illustrate the damage without physically harming the models. [19] Rather than move the models on a bluescreen during shooting, the Vistavision camera was panned and tracked to give the illusion of movement. [6] Damage to the Enterprise was cosmetic, and simulated with pieces of aluminum that were colored or peeled off. Phaser damage was created using stop motion . The script called for large-scale damage to the Reliant , so larger versions of the ship's model were created to be blown up. [19]

The Enterprise (left) maneuvers away from the severely damaged Reliant in the Mutara nebula. The sparks coming off the Reliant Template:'s nacelle were hand animated, frame by frame.

The battle in the nebula was a difficult sequence to accomplish without the aid of computer-generated models. The swirling nebula was created by injecting a latex rubber and ammonia mixture into a cloud tank filled with fresh and salt water. [37] All the footage was shot at two frames per second to give the illusion of faster movement. The vibrant abstract colors of the nebula were simulated by lighting the tank using colored gels . Additional light effects such as auroras were created by the ILM animation department. [37] Using matte work, the ships were physically stuck on a background plate to complete the shot. [6] The destruction of the Reliant Template:'s engine nacelle was created by superimposing shots of the engine blowing apart and explosions over the model. [6]

The scene in which Terrell kills Jedda, a Regula scientist, by vaporizing him with a phaser was filmed in two takes. Winfield and the related actors first played out the scene; this footage became the background plate. A blue screen was wheeled onto the set and actor John Vargas , the recipient of the phaser blast, acted out his response to being hit with the energy weapon. A phaser beam element was placed on top of the background plate, and Vargas' shots were optically dissolved into an airbrushed disintegration effect which matched Vargas' position in every frame. [40]

The Ceti eel shots used several models, overseen by special effects supervisor Ken Ralston , who had just finished creature design for Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi . He tied a string to the eels to inch the models across the actors' faces before they entered the ear canal. [6] The scene of a more mature eel's leaving Chekov's ear was simulated by threading a microfilament through the floor of the set up to Koenig's ear. The scene was filmed with three variations, which Ralston described as "a dry shot, one with some blood, and the Fangoria shot, with a lot of gore." [41] Footage of a giant model of Koenig's ear was discarded from the theatrical release due to the visceral reaction it elicited in test audiences. [10]

Additional optical effects were provided by Visual Concept Engineering (VCE), a small effects company headed by Peter Kuran; Kuran had previously worked at ILM and left after finishing Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back . [42] VCE provided effects including phaser beams, the Enterprise reactor, additional sand on Ceti Alpha V, and an updated transporter effect. Meyer and the production staff were adamant about not using freeze frames for the transporter, as had been done in the original television series. Scenes were shot so that conversations would continue while characters were in mid-transport, [10] although much of the matte work VCE created was discarded when the production decided not to have as much action during transports. [42]

The Wrath of Khan was one of the first films to extensively use electronic images and computer graphics to speed production of shots. Graphics company Evan and Sutherland produced the vector graphics displays aboard the Enterprise and the fields of stars used in the opening credits. [40] Among ILM's technical achievements was cinema's first entirely computer-generated sequence: the demonstration of the effects of the Genesis Device on a barren planet. [43] The first concept for the shot took the form of a laboratory demonstration, where a rock would be placed in a chamber and turned into a flower. [6] Veilleux suggested the sequence's scope be expanded to show the Genesis effect taking over a planet. While Paramount appreciated the more dramatic presentation, they also wanted the simulation to be more impressive than traditional animation. [40] Having seen research done by Lucasfilm's Computer Graphics group, Veilleux offered them the task. The graphics team paid attention to detail for the sixty-second sequence; one artist ensured that the stars visible in the background matched those visible from a real star light-years from Earth. The animators hoped it would serve as a "commercial" for the studio's talents and would later branch off from Lucasfilm to form Pixar . [43]

Jerry Goldsmith had composed the music for The Motion Picture , but was not an option for The Wrath of Khan given the reduced budget; Meyer's composer for Time After Time , Miklós Rózsa , was likewise prohibitively expensive. [44] Bennett and Meyer wanted the music for the film to go in a different direction, but had not decided on a composer by the time filming began. Meyer initially hoped to hire an associate named John Morgan, but Morgan lacked film experience, which would have troubled the studio. [45]

Paramount's vice-president of music Joel Sill took a liking to a 28-year old composer named James Horner , feeling that his demo tapes stood out from generic film music. [46] Horner was introduced to Bennett, Meyer and Salin. [47] Horner said that "[The producers] did not want the kind of score they had gotten before. They did not want a John Williams score, per se . They wanted something different, more modern." [48] When asked about how he landed the assignment, the composer replied that "the producers loved my work for Wolfen , and had heard my music for several other projects, and I think, so far as I've been told, they liked my versatility very much. I wanted the assignment, and I met with them, we all got along well, they were impressed with my music, and that's how it happened." [49] Horner agreed with the producers' expectations and agreed to begin work in mid-January 1982. [47]

In keeping with the nautical tone, Meyer wanted music evocative of seafaring and swashbuckling, and the director and composer worked together closely, becoming friends in the process. [46] As a classical music fan, Meyer was able to describe the effects and sounds he wanted in the music. [48] While Horner's style was described as "echoing both the bombastic and elegiac elements of John Williams' Star Wars and Jerry Goldsmith 's original Star Trek (The Motion Picture) scores," [50] Horner was expressly told to not use any of Goldsmith's score. Instead Horner adapted the opening fanfare of Alexander Courage 's Star Trek television theme. "The fanfare draws you in immediately—you know you're going to get a good movie," Horner said. [51]

In comparison to the flowing main theme, Khan's leitmotif was designed as a percussive texture that could be overlayed with other music and emphasized the character's insanity. [52] The seven-note brass theme was echoplexed to emphasize the character's ruminations about the past while on Ceti Alpha V, but does not play fully until Reliant Template:'s attack on the Enterprise . Many elements drew from Horner's previous work (a rhythm that accompanies Khan's theme during the surprise attack borrows from an attack theme from Wolfen , in turn influenced by Goldsmith's score for Alien . Musical moments from the original television series are also heard during investigation of the Regula space station and elsewhere. [53]

To Horner, the "stuff underneath" the main story was what needed to be addressed by the score; in The Wrath of Khan , this was the relationship between Kirk and Spock. The main theme serves as Kirk's theme, with a mellower section following that is the theme for the Starship Enterprise . [54] Horner also wrote a motif for Spock, to emphasize the character's depth: "By putting a theme over Spock, it warms him and he becomes three-dimensional rather than a collection of schticks." [52] The difference in the short, French horn-based cues for the villain and longer melodies for the heroes helped to differentiate characters and ships during the battle sequences. [51]

The soundtrack was Horner's first major film score, [50] and was written in four and a half weeks. The resulting 72 minutes of music was then performed by a 91-piece orchestra. [48] Recording sessions took place April 12–15 at the Warner Brothers lot, The Burbank Studios. [51] A pickup session was held on April 30 to record music for the Mutara nebula battle, while another session held on May 3 was used to cover the recently-changed epilogue. [55] Horner used synthesizers for ancillary effects; at the time, science-fiction films such as E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and The Thing were eschewing the synthesizer in favor of more traditional orchestras. [56] Craig Huxley performed his invented instrument—the Blaster Beam —during recording, as well as composing and performing electronic music for the Genesis Project video. [57] While most of the film was "locked in" by the time Horner had begun composing music, he had to change musical cue orchestration after the integration of special effects caused changes in scene durations. [48]

The Wrath of Khan features several recurring themes, including death, resurrection, and growing old. [58] Upon writing his script, Meyer hit upon a link between Spock's death and the age of the characters. "This was going to be a story in which Spock died, so it was going to be a story about death, and it was only a short hop, skip, and a jump to realize that it was going to be about old age and friendship," Meyer said. "I don't think that any of [the other preliminary] scripts were about old age, friendship, and death." [5] In keeping with the theme of death and rebirth symbolized by Spock's sacrifice and the Genesis Device, Meyer wanted to call the film The Undiscovered Country , in reference to Prince Hamlet 's description of death in William Shakespeare 's Hamlet , [59] but the title was changed during editing without his knowledge. [5]

William Shatner in 2005. Shatner, fifty years old in 1981, was uneasy about playing an aged Kirk.

The Wrath of Khan follows in a long tradition of films in which the adventurer or explorer must undergo a figurative or literal death in order to start anew. [60] Spock is Kirk's doppelgänger and together they represent a bifurcated hero, with the two characters representing dueling halves of the human condition. Spock represents the supernatural ideal of a completely logical and infallible person, while Kirk represents the impassioned and human reality, prone to error and at odds with himself. [61] Spock's sacrifice at the end of the film allows for Kirk's spiritual rebirth in the tradition of the death-rebirth cycle. After commenting earlier that he feels old and worn out, Kirk states in the final scene that "I feel young." [62] The Kobayashi Maru test forces its participants to confront an unwinnable situation which serves as a test of character, but Kirk reveals that he won the test by cheating; Saavik responds that Kirk has never faced death. Spock's own solution to the no-win scenario, that of self-sacrifice, [63] forces Kirk to confront death after continually cheating it, and to grow as a character. [64] Sight and sound reinforce the themes of death and aging, as well as the promise of rebirth; Spock is the first character seen and his voice is the last heard, and his coffin follows the same trajectory towards the new planet as the Genesis Device does in a video lecture earlier in the film. [3]

Meyer added elements to reinforce the aging of the characters. Kirk's unhappiness about his birthday is compounded by McCoy's gift of reading glasses. The script stated that Kirk was 49, but Shatner was unsure about being specific about Kirk's age. [5] Bennett remembers that Shatner was hesitant about portraying a middle-aged version of himself, and believed that with proper makeup he could continue playing a younger Kirk. Bennett convinced Shatner that he could age gracefully like Spencer Tracy ; the producer did not know that Shatner had worked with Tracy on Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), and was very fond of the actor. [6] Meyer made sure to emphasize Kirk's parallel to Sherlock Holmes in that both characters waste away in the absence of their stimuli; new cases, in Holmes' case, and starship adventures in Kirk's. [5]

Khan's pursuit of Kirk is central to the film's theme of vengeance, and The Wrath of Khan deliberately borrows heavily from Herman Melville 's Moby-Dick . [65] To make the parallels clear to viewers, Meyer added a visible copy of Moby-Dick to Khan's dwelling. [5] He liberally paraphrases Ahab, with his final lines to Kirk nearly verbatim Ahab's tirade at the end of the novel: "to the last I grapple with thee; from Hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee." [65] [66] Kirk represents both the restless elements of Ishmael as well as the titular white whale of Melville's novel; Khan's blind pursuit of Kirk mirrors Captain Ahab 's obsession with Moby-Dick. Both Khan and Ahab pursue their quarry against the better judgement of their crew, and end up killing themselves in an effort to take their foe with them. University of Northern Colorado professor Jane Wall Hinds argues that the themes of The Wrath of Khan clash with the optimistic and transcendentalist perspectives of the original series and The Next Generation . [65] Moby Dick Template:'s themes of vengeance would later heavily influence Star Trek: First Contact . [67]

Reception [ ]

Release [ ].

The Wrath of Khan opened on June 4, 1982 in 1,621 theaters in the United States. It made $14,347,221 in its opening weekend, at the time the largest opening weekend gross in history. [68] It went on to earn $78,912,963 in the US, [69] becoming the sixth highest-grossing film of 1982. [70] It made $97,000,000 worldwide. Although the total gross of The Wrath of Khan was less than that of The Motion Picture , it was more profitable due to its lower production cost. [68] The film's novelization, written by Vonda N. McIntyre , stayed on the New York Times paperback bestsellers list for more than three weeks. [71] Unlike the previous film, Wrath of Khan was not promoted with a toy line, although Playmates Toys created Khan and Saavik figures in the 1990s, and in 2007 Art Asylum crafted a full series of action figures to mark the film's 25th anniversary. [72] In 2009 IDW Publishing released a comic adaptation of the film, [73] and Film Score Monthly released an expanded score. [74]

Critical response [ ]

Critical response to The Wrath of Khan was positive. [75] Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 92% of selected critics have given the film a positive review based on a sample of 38. [76] After the lukewarm reaction to the first film, fan response to The Wrath of Khan was highly positive. The film's success was credited with renewing interest in the franchise. [77] Mark Bernardin of Entertainment Weekly went further, calling The Wrath of Khan "the film that, by most accounts, saved Star Trek as we know it"; [78] it is now considered one of the best films in the series. [77] [78] [79] [80]

The film's pacing was praised by reviewers in The New York Times and The Washington Post as being much swifter than its predecessor and closer to that of the television series. [81] [82] Janet Maslin of The New York Times credited the film with a stronger story than The Motion Picture and stated the sequel was everything the first film should have been. [81] Variety agreed that The Wrath of Khan was closer to the original spirit of Star Trek than its predecessor. [83] Strong character interaction was cited as a strong feature of the film, [84] as was Montalbán's portrayal of Khan. [85]

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times and Derek Adams of Time Out complained about what were seen as tepid battle sequences, [85] and perceived melodrama. [82] [86] While Ebert and TV Guide felt that Spock's death was dramatic and well-handled, [85] [87] The Washington Post Template:'s Gary Arnold stated Spock's death "feels like an unnecessary twist, and the filmmakers are obviously well-prepared to fudge in case the public demands another sequel." [82] Negative reviews of the film also focused on the acting, [82] [88] and Empire singled out the "dodgy coiffures" and " Santa Claus tunics" as elements of the film that had not aged well. [89]

The Wrath of Khan won two Saturn Awards in 1982, for best actor (Shatner) and best direction (Meyer). [90] [91] The film was also nominated in the "best dramatic presentation" category for the 1983 Hugo Awards , but lost to Blade Runner . [92] The Wrath of Khan has had an impact on later movies: Meyer's rejected title for the film, The Undiscovered Country , was finally put to use when Meyer directed the sixth film , which retained the nautical influences. [5] Director Bryan Singer cited the film as an influence on X2 and his abandoned sequel to Superman Returns . [93] The film is also a favorite of director J. J. Abrams , producer Damon Lindelof and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman , the creative team behind the franchise relaunch film Star Trek . [94] [95] [96]

Home video [ ]

Paramount released The Wrath of Khan on VHS and Beta in 1983. Unlike contemporary releases, Paramount sold the VHS for $39.95, more than $40 below other movie cassette prices. The release was credited with instigating more competitive VHS pricing, and an increase in the adoption of increasingly cheaper VHS players. [97]

Paramount released The Wrath of Khan on DVD in 2000; no special features were included on the disc. [98] Montalbán drew hundreds of fans of the film to Universal City, California where he signed copies of the DVD to commemorate its release. [99] In August 2002, the film was re-released in a highly anticipated [100] two-disc "Director's Edition" format. [101] In addition to remastered picture quality and 5.1 Dolby surround sound , the DVD set included director commentary , cast interviews, storyboards and the theatrical trailer. [102] The expanded cut of the film was given a Hollywood premiere before the release of the DVD. Meyer stated that he didn't believe directors' cuts of films were necessarily better than the original but that the re-release gave him a chance to add elements that had been removed from the theatrical release by Paramount. [103] The four hours of bonus content and expanded director's cut of the movie were favorably received. [102] [104] [105] [106]

The film's original theatrical cut was released on Blu-ray Disc in May 2009 to coincide with the new Star Trek feature, along with the other five films featuring the original crew in Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection . [107] Of all six original films, Wrath of Khan was the only one to be remastered in 1080p high-definition from the original negative. Nicholas Meyer stated that the Wrath of Khan negative “was in terrible shape,” which is why it needed extensive restoration. All six films in the set have new 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio. The disc also features a new commentary track by director Nicholas Meyer and Star Trek: Enterprise showrunner Manny Coto . [107]

  • ↑ Cartmell, 179–181.
  • ↑ Template:Cite web
  • ↑ 3.0 3.1 Roth, 8.
  • ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 Meyer.
  • ↑ 6.00 6.01 6.02 6.03 6.04 6.05 6.06 6.07 6.08 6.09 6.10 6.11 6.12 6.13 6.14 6.15 6.16 6.17 6.18 6.19 6.20 Star Trek cast and crew.
  • ↑ Template:Cite news
  • ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Rioux, 243.
  • ↑ Nichols, 248–249.
  • ↑ 10.00 10.01 10.02 10.03 10.04 10.05 10.06 10.07 10.08 10.09 10.10 Okuda.
  • ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Rioux, 249.
  • ↑ Jenkins, 104.
  • ↑ Dillard, 71.
  • ↑ Shatner, 161–162.
  • ↑ Rioux, 240–241.
  • ↑ Shatner, 99.
  • ↑ 17.0 17.1 17.2 Rioux, 240–242.
  • ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Reeves-Stevens, 203–205.
  • ↑ 19.00 19.01 19.02 19.03 19.04 19.05 19.06 19.07 19.08 19.09 19.10 19.11 19.12 Template:Cite journal
  • ↑ Anderson, 52.
  • ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 Anderson, 53.
  • ↑ Dillard, 77.
  • ↑ 23.0 23.1 Template:Cite book
  • ↑ 24.0 24.1 Dillard, 96.
  • ↑ 26.0 26.1 Anderson, 57.
  • ↑ Rouix, 245.
  • ↑ 28.0 28.1 Anderson, 56.
  • ↑ Anderson, 73.
  • ↑ Anderson, 51.
  • ↑ Anderson, 61.
  • ↑ 32.0 32.1 Anderson, 55.
  • ↑ 33.0 33.1 Anderson, 54.
  • ↑ Anderson, 59.
  • ↑ Rioux, 248.
  • ↑ Nichols, 251.
  • ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Template:Cite journal
  • ↑ Veilleux, 1055.
  • ↑ Veilleux, 1032.
  • ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Veilleux, 1034.
  • ↑ Anderson, 63.
  • ↑ 42.0 42.1 Anderson, 62.
  • ↑ 43.0 43.1 Template:Cite news
  • ↑ Bond (1999), 105.
  • ↑ Bond (2009), 5.
  • ↑ 46.0 46.1 Bond (2009), 6.
  • ↑ 47.0 47.1 Anderson, 71.
  • ↑ 48.0 48.1 48.2 48.3 Template:Cite journal
  • ↑ Template:Cite journal
  • ↑ 50.0 50.1 Template:Cite news
  • ↑ 51.0 51.1 51.2 Bond (2009), 9.
  • ↑ 52.0 52.1 Anderson, 72.
  • ↑ Bond (1999), 106–107.
  • ↑ Bond (2009), 8.
  • ↑ Bond (2009), 10.
  • ↑ Bond (2009), 17.
  • ↑ Template:Cite book
  • ↑ Template:Cite web —" Hamlet : But that the dread of something after death/The undiscovered country from whose bourn/No traveller returns, puzzles the will/And makes us rather bear those ills we have/Than fly to others that we know not of?"
  • ↑ Markey, 14.
  • ↑ Markey, 21.
  • ↑ Spock : I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now. What do you think of my solution?—Meyer, Nicholas (director). Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan . Scene 16, "Warp Speed".
  • ↑ Roth, 10.
  • ↑ 65.0 65.1 65.2 Template:Cite journal
  • ↑ Melville, 427. online
  • ↑ 68.0 68.1 Template:Cite news
  • ↑ 77.0 77.1 Jenkins, 250.
  • ↑ 78.0 78.1 Template:Cite web
  • ↑ 81.0 81.1 Template:Cite news
  • ↑ 82.0 82.1 82.2 82.3 Template:Cite news
  • ↑ 85.0 85.1 85.2 Template:Cite web
  • ↑ 102.0 102.1 Template:Cite web
  • ↑ 107.0 107.1 Template:Cite web
  • 1 Vulcan (Star Trek)

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Paramount Pictures Officially Confirms Star Trek Origin Movie For Its Upcoming Film Slate

movie star trek 2

| April 11, 2024 | By: Anthony Pascale 238 comments so far

Today, the road to the next Star Trek feature film took a small but significant step towards becoming reality.

Paramount makes it official

Earlier this year, it was reported that Paramount Pictures was developing a new Star Trek feature film in parallel development to the “Star Trek 4” sequel to 2016’s Star Trek Beyond . Today the studio made the reports official as they announced their slate of films for 2025 and 2026, an official list which includes what Paramount is now calling “Untitled Star Trek Origin Story.” The studio also confirms the previously reported details: The film is “set decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film.” Toby Haynes ( Andor , Black Mirror “USS Callister”) is directing based on a screenplay by Seth Grahame-Smith ( The Lego Batman Movie ), with J.J. Abrams returning as producer.

The Star Trek movie was just one of many the studio confirmed as part of their 2025/2026 slate at their CinemaCon presentation today. Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins led the studio’s presentation at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas. This is the first time Star Trek has been part of the studio’s annual CinemaCon event since Robbins took over in 2021.

The “Star Trek 4” sequel to Beyond was not part of today’s CinemaCon presentation, presumably because with the recent hiring of a new screenwriter , that film would not be ready for theaters by 2026. It has also been reported that the origin story movie is set to start filming by the end of the year. There are no details yet on the plot, specific time setting, or cast. If Paramount can move fast enough they could get the origin movie into theaters by 2026—in time for Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.

Find more news and analysis on  upcoming Star Trek feature films .

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Fool me once … ( also I want a movie but until someone gets a set built I’m not holding my breath )

I’m not pre-ordering my tickets…..

You would need a title and a premiere date to order tickets. This film has neither.

I’d wait to believe it until you actually see a movie trailer for it. Noah Hawley was in the casting stage when they cancelled his Trek movie. They might have even started on the sets.

The film is on Noah’s IMDB Credits list…

Yep. I heard ferries exist too!

Car ferries?

Even now, it potentially doesn’t matter. They could pull a Zaslav and shelve the film after it was all but released.

I won’t believe it until my butt is in the theater seat and the film starts playing.

We don’t need the origin story. We have it already. It was called “Enterprise”.

I didn’t realize there was such a large interest in a Star Trek origin movie. It’s their money to burn.

I still believe this is their way of rebooting the “prime” universe from the beginning and remaking it in a new image. I see no other point of doing an origin movie. First Contact and Star trek: Enterprise were origin enough IMO.

I don’t quite get it either. We already got that with First Contact and Enterprise. What else is there that could interest the general public.

Yeah, and for me, the period between First Contact and Enterprise just doesn’t seem that exciting. The period between Enterprise and the Nero incursion would be more interesting, I guess.

They wrote that the origin film would be “set decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film”. That film (in-universe) is set in 2233 (Nero incursion) and 2258 (main plot) respectively. So “decades before” would be after Enterprise, probably after the formation of the Federation, most probably before the Nero incursion, maybe around the turn of the century.

It’s just odd they are calling it an “origin” movie if it happens after Enterprise.

I’m curious what they mean by “origin”. The origin of Starfleet would be before Enterprise and the origin of the Federation would be after.

Also, the origin of Star Trek would have to be before the events of First Contact.

…assuming there is a concern about canon whatsoever, of course.

Many assumptions to be made at this point for sure.

Assuming this announcement doesn’t get added to the pile of previous unmade-movie announcements.

They’re calling it an origin movie to appeal to newcomers and casual fans.

Maybe we’ll see the founding of the Federation?

We already saw that in the infamous final episode of Enterprise. If they revisit that, they’d have to include the NX-01 crew and do a *lot* of deaging. 😉

They could show the first year of the Federation or something.

The obvious way to go is just do the Romulan war which leads into the founding of the Federation and what Enterprise was supposed to do.

That’s really the only thing fans actually want to see in terms of a prequel story.

Which was already scripted for Berman nearly 20 years ago by the band of brothers screenwriter.

Yep. I heard that’s what they were considering doing until the Kelvin movie got greenlit instead.

Overall the Kelvin movie was probably the better choice in terms of box office but I probably would’ve preferred the Romulan war idea because it did sound more original and different.

Couldn’t they just carry on from the end instead of squeezing more new shows in between what we already have?

For how little Trek lore has fleshed out that imaginary bit of history, do we really need to be putting some detail to how we went from post-apocalyptic hellhole to utopian paradise in fifty years? Maybe some enterprising human stole a replicator off a Vulcan ship and reverse engineered it? Seeing the sausage being made may not be a great on screen adventure…

Eastern Europe isn’t the best example – while they’ve done okay extricating themselves from the communist wasteland, it was (and is) without its setbacks.

that’s what makes me so crazy. Discovery was the chance to reboot the “prime” universe but they have stubbornly stuck to this quisling versio

Not only that, they already did a Star Trek origin movie. Star TRek 2009. But sure lets put more money in it, have it fail, and then blame the box office on why we will never get more trek. Thats a great idea!

That was really a Kirk and Spock origin story. There’s a century of Federation/Starfleet before them that we know almost nothing about. Plenty of room for a good one-off story. Maybe a story 20-ish years before Discovery , with Captain April and Lt. Commander Pike? Could have a young Sarek, too.

First off do we even know what they mean by “origin”?

Could be about the founding of the federation, the Romulan War, or the early days of starfleet pre-Enterprise.

It may have nothing to do with Kirk and Spock, the Enterprise, might not be any kind of reboot or reset.

My gut says it’s set in the Kelvin timeline and it takes place post USS Kelvin but pre-2009 Trek. And I’m fine with that.

They already said it will be based in the prime universe, not the Kelvin. I don’t know why they framed that press release that way but I guess since the Kelvin movies are the current movies they wanted to make clear to people this movie is before all of that I guess.

And obviously will have nothing to do with Kirk and Spock because it will be before they were even born.

These announcements feel like Groundhog Day, don’t they? Maybe that’s the story they should tell.

A feature length version of Cause and Effect…

I’m guessing Romulan Star Empire Wars era setting.

Yeah, maybe it’s the concept Rick Berman pitched: a Romulan War film where the NX-01 is off vacationing at Risa.

How about Star Trek: Federation . Founding of the Federation, which is immediately followed by a crisis requiring the urgent launch of USS Federation (NCC-01). Scott Bakula has a cameo appearance as President Archer.

Here we go! :D

Star Trek Origins: The Future Begins

Yeah but it’s not as exciting when we literally have a thousand years of that future now.

This is why prequels bore so many people when we already know so much about the future it’s setting up.

At least with the Kelvin movies they were smart to not make it a traditional prequel and people still hated those too.

I will never understand the obsession of going backwards when you have a fanbase that is constantly begging to go forward and prequels don’t attract new fans at all because they are made for oddly old fans in mind. You only cared about how Anakin became Vader in the prequels if you watched the OT.

We really know almost nothing (in canon) about the entire century that elapses between Enterprise and Discovery , though. I would have preferred Kelvin Movie 4 or even a post-TNG original movie (maybe with Patrick Stewart making a cameo) but I could get behind a canon treatment about the first years of the Federation.

If it’s really something good or interesting fine. If it’s just ‘this is how the Federation was formed” we already got that already.

Now if it’s the Romulan war or something then that’s at least something people can get excited about. But yeah we already know how it ends so maybe that won’t be it either.

I just can’t really get to excited about a prequel movie.

Yeah, I think the Romulan war would be a great premise for a movie, BUT according to TOS the battles were fought with “primitive atomic weapons and in primitive space vessels which allowed no quarter, no captives, nor was there even ship-to-ship visual communication; therefore, no human, Romulan or ally has ever seen the other.”

In other words canon would have to be completely ignored – we all know Enterprise completely disregarded the TOS take of the war as the NX-01 had visual comms, phase cannons and photonic torpedoes. If the story is a good one, I am totally good with ignoring canon, but of course others are not.

Yeah that’s always the issue with the Romulan War thing, it’s really hard to make a compelling story about it when you are fighting it without directly engaging the enemy.

That said I’m 100% convinced they will just ignore that and do what they want or just find an excuse to change ot. Look at SNW, this the show that has shown the Gorn years before they were supposed to be seen and completely changed Khan’s original timeline using TCW as the reason..

Discovery had an entire Klingon War when that didn’t remotely exist in canon.

So yeah it probably won’t matter that much end of the day. They will just make what they want and then will use some excuse to do it. That’s been the case since Enterprise as you said.

Exactly! Very well put!! I just wish someone from TPTB would listen already!

Think about it prequels are easy to make because most of the writing is done for you. You don’t have to come up with where these characters will go.

Only if they are old characters though. But this sounds like Enterprise and not SNW and it will be all new characters.

So, it would be set after Enterprise and before the Kelvin fiasco. Awesome.

Probably the Romulan Wars. And with no Enterprise. Not excited

If only I could insert the Will Farrel “I don’t believe you!” GIF.

Whatever this turns out to be, hopefully it will be interesting. More likely it will turn out to be just another dead Trek movie project.

So many of these stories do seem to go absolutely nowhere! However, I am not as negative about an origin story as some fans are. At this point, I am more neutral on the movie. I can see that under the right circumstances it could be quite interesting. Although prequels can be a tough sell to Star Trek fans. Ultimately the fact that’s a movie could work in its favor though. Less storylines to produce over the years might help keep the story focused! Though I am not sure it would be a box office draw.

I’ll believe it when I’ve seen it in theaters, listened to TrekMovie’s review, and have the blu-ray on my shelf 4 months later.

Where to place the Blu-ray tho?

Before ST09 or after Beyond? …or.. Before TOS?

They go in order of release, for me. But could this be the first Trek film I don’t purchase on disc? Time may tell…

It’s an origin story taking place in the prime universe so it will go either before or after Enterprise basically.

I’ll believe it when it actually happens. Also, Seth Grahame-Smith is not a good writer, so that doesn’t bode well.

My thoughts exactly.

I liked the book Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, but not the movie.

I absolutely loved the Lego Batman movie, though. If he is able to incorporate Trek lore with as much care as he did for Batman, it could turn out to be a very good movie after all.

I’ll believe it when I’m sat i theatre turning off my phone with my Star Trek Origins screensaver and eating popcorn out my STO popcorn bucket (the lid in shape of the Starfleet A insignia )

He co wrote The Flash right? I really liked that , I could imagine something similar happening with Nero as happened with Zod in that (going back to 1st film via timetravel)

This is what’s over at Box Office Mojo: Untitled Star Trek: Beyond Sequel (????)

Grain of salt, anyone?

There are apparently two movies planned. Origin and Trek 4…

Actually there are three now including one that we all thought was DOA two minutes after it was announced.

Three movies in development from a studio who has cancelled four of them for 8 years now. And this will be the fourth new script for the next Kelvin movie.

That’s why everyone is very very confident this one is happening for sure. 🙄

The only thing we can take to the bank is we will see Section 31, starring Academy Award winner Michelle Yeoh!!

Pretty much.

And a studio that is broke and in debt with junk status. None of these will likely be made or just the super cheapy origin movie if they can keep the budget low.

My thoughts exactly as well.

I’m pretty sure you got your facts wrong.

Sigh. Why do the powers that be always want to go backward in the ST timeline and do origin stories and such?

Lack of confidence in new ideas and to make it as cheaply as possible, are two things that come to mind right away.

It’s simple. They don’t want all that trek nerd baggage. They want a movie anyone would go to see and understand.

How’s that working for them?

You don’t get it.

I don’t get it either? It’s not like the prequel stuff has been huge home runs or big money makers.

The Star Wars prequels made a lot of money. That’s what Paramount still looks at, even though they have yet to duplicate that financial success.

Yes but that’s STAR WARS! It’s going to make a lot of money period. And those prequels came out when it was just the OT and nothing else for literally decades. There was a lot of hype just returning to those stories.

This is not the same thing, especially when we already had so many prequels in Trek now and with mixed results. That said I’m not saying it can’t be successful but I don’t see any huge hype around it either because most fans just seem to want to go forward and not backwards.

All the negativity over this ‘announcement’ is well deserved. Just make a fcking movie already Paramount, Jesus.

But I suspect IF this one is real it’s probably a much cheaper movie being new actors and maybe something with a lot less explosions and FX. I suspect it will probably be around $100 million.

It’s certainly doesn’t sound like something they are pushing to make a billion dollars or anything. Only people who cares about a prequel will be mostly old fans and even they aren’t exactly excited about yet another prequel judging by all the reactions so far. Maybe they will attract an A list star or a well respected one to bring more hype to it.

But same time I been pushing to just do something NEW with new characters and setting forever now. Stop trouting out Kirk and Picard, take a real chance with the franchise for a change. I was hoping it would be Post Nemesis but I should be happy I finally got half of what I wanted lol.

But I’ll believe it when I see it. I have literally been saying this line for six years now and I’m really tired of saying it. 🙄

Yup, exactly. Assuming it even happens, the premise sounds weak. Not surprised.

Yep. Unless it’s something truly mind blowing it’s not going to elicit a lot of excitement. Sure we’ll all go lol but I don’t see this thing having any real pull beyond the true believers.

It probably got the greenlight because its really cheap and it’s becoming embarrassing how long this franchise has languished.

I really only go to movie theaters to see Trek films (much prefer the comforts of home to see movies), so yup I’ll be going, good or bad. And yes, it is really pathetic the way this franchise has been treated on the big screen for the past 20 years. Disgraceful.

Ummm… what premise?? The only thing we know is that it is an origin movie. Nothing else. There IS no premise yet…

I think he means just another origin story itself feels a bit tired. But yes we don’t specifically know what that means yet but anything before TOS at this point just doesn’t really get a lot of fans all that hot and bother.

Whatever it ends up being it’s just filling in to more history we already know.

I get it. But no matter what era they make a movie in, there will be complaints. We have done prequels – some fans hate that. We have done same era as TNGish – fans complained. Likewise, we have had a show set in the future (soon to be another) – fans complained. There aren’t many options left.

Before TOS: Enterprise, JJ movies, Discovery, SNW just after TNG era: Picard, Prodigy, Lower Decks Future: Discovery, Starfleet Academy

Do they just make things in the era of TNG, DS9 and Voyager? No matter what is produced, there will always be a fan base that is unhappy.

Most people seem to really want the Legacy show though. I think for the majority of fans they may not agree with everything but there is definitely a sense they rather go forwards than backwards and why 4 of the 5 shows are post Nemesis shows.

And if you gave the option between a Legacy movie or this prequel idea, it wouldn’t be close.

I just don’t think making a prequel movie is the best idea out there. And I don’t think new audiences will remotely care one way or the other.

I’m going to start reporting you now. One guy got the boot for being an obsessive troll and like you was already banned before anyway.

Leave me alone from this point on. I mean it.

What a total disappointment. I wanted to see the Kelvin crew return. It’s going to be 10 years between films.

Please be Kirk and Spock at least.

Check the first paragraph of the article out again. This one is presumably being developed ‘in parallel’ to the Kelvin crew sequel.

Recast Kirk and Spock, I presume?

I wouldn’t be surprised if the main character is Kirk’s great grandfather, Tiberius something or other.

And not surprised there was no announcement of the next JJ verse movie. I predicted a few weeks ago that one wouldn’t get made by 2026 or the 60th anniversary. Frankly I don’t even know why they are even bothering with it anymore? Whenever it’s supposed to come out it’s already going to be the last one and over 10 years since the last one came out.

What’s even the point? They are clearly moving on from it.

As far as the origin movie why not just make it for the 60th anniversary? Why rush it? It’s already been nearly a decade, what’s one more year at this point and you can Marley it better in an anniversary year.

Its the reverse of ST 6, here we getting the prequel movie instead of the final cast film (for the anniversary)

Someone on another board said we are probably getting the sequel to First Contact so it would make sense to have it for the 6Oth anniversary 30 years apart lol.

“[S]et decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film?”

Gimme Archer & T’Pol, or else…

Neither actor has any interest in returning to Star Trek, so that won’t happen.

I’ve only heard Bakula say that about Quantum Leap , not Enterprise . And this is a feature film, a lot harder for an actor to turn down. I agree with his decision to ignore the QL reboot (that series didn’t capture the heart and soul of the original at all) but if Paramount approached him with “we want you to play President Archer for a few scenes in this movie” I doubt he’d say no.

No, no no. You’ve got it all wrong. It’s a story about a little design firm vying for the chance to design the Enterprise. It’s a story about a plucky band of mechanical engineers and physicists who come together to do the best pitch of their lives in a bidding war with three other firms. So, an origin story…from a certain point of view. ;)

I would watch,THAT!

I would write that!

I would direct that! (If I was Christopher Nolan)

No, I want Nolan doing ThePrisoner! He’s already got a script from the guy who wrote 12 Monkeys and the best stuff in Blade Runner, from over a decade back.

You probably meant it as a joke, but I’m also intrigued by this idea :D

Charlie Kaufmann does star trek.

Sure, you can store anti-matter in a glass jar. What could possibly go wrong?

Y’know, I know this is said partly in jest, but I wouldn’t mind that kind of movie if it was sort of a space race / WWII / Cold War drama, kind of a mix of Oppenheimer and The Right Stuff.

There’s a geo (spatio?) political angle (firm up the borders of the Federation, mitigate threats, and establish new allies while keeping up the exploration / first contact initiatives), the pressure on the engineering team to deliver groundbreaking new tech (and probably the cost of failed experiments, accidents, etc.), and then recruiting and training a new kind of crew – a starship crew (as Captain Merrick described them in ‘Bread and Circuses’.)

In essence, the origin of Starfleet as we know it – the first long-duration missions, the best of the best crewmembers, cross-trained, multidisciplinary, and for the first time, widely multi-species, etc.

Glad you all like. Paramount, you can send the check to: bmar, care of….

I’m thinking there’s going to be peace in the Middle East and nuclear fusion power is going to be a reality before they ever get back to the theaters.

Once upon a time I enjoyed Star Trek. Since the Nu Trek era began. I havent enjoyed any of the story arcs. They are just too aweful. There is a multitude of reasons why throught the web. Strange New Worlds S1 corrected course, however S2 not so. There are forces at work at Paramount. They are hell bent to destroy Star Trek. If Kurtzman and crew are in charge of the new movie. Get ready for more fantasy drama nonsense, and less plausable sci-fi.

Same here. I can’t get into NuTrek much at all. It feels like a shell of the golden era. For me that will always be 1966-2005.

But if others like it and getting new fans I’m very happy for them.

Same here. I’ve found a few gems in SNW S1, PIC S3, and S1 of Prodigy, but otherwise have been very disappointed in “NuTrek.” Of course I wish the franchise the best, but so far it’s been more misses than hits for me.

Yes I truly love Picard season 3! The best thing to come out of NuTrek so far. I don’t hate SNW but it railroads canon too much for my taste but it does feel like Star Trek again.

I haven’t seen Prodigy yet but I plan to watch it when season 2 begins and will watch season 1 before that one. Everyone kept saying it’s for kids and I’m far from a kid these days lol. But others here convinced me it’s a show for adults too so will give it a go

Wow, hell-bent on destroying Trek. Hell-bent, you say!! Just a tough melodramatic, are you?

Really don’t care about prequels and just want to keep going forward. Why not a movie in the 25th or 26th century with new crew and characters?

I may care more if Archer is involved or something. But I suspect this movie will bomb like the last one did. Only fans cares about prequels. New fans won’t care at all.

At least it’s in the prime universe again I guess.

But 25th or 26th century would still be a prequel to Discovery’s 32nd century :D

That doesn’t bother me because we don’t know anything about those time periods. We already know plenty about everything before TOS because it’s all been said or told now

Yeah I said this to another member the other day discussing any post Picard stories and that it will be completely new stories in a period we don’t know so it’s not the same thing. When you’re doing something like a TOS prequel you only have so much room and while it can certainly be interesting and creative it basically just like filling in to more stuff we already know.

That said the Section 31 movie time period is at least more interesting because it covers a much wider time period and they can be a lot more freer with the technology, etc so looking forward to that at least.

Yes I will admit although I’m not a big fan of the Space Nazi the time period of the movie intrigues me more. I always been curious of this period and the lead up to TNG, mostly because we know very little about it.

Discovery (in my view) kind of ruined everything in the Trek timelime. Just my opinion. Anyone who wants to just forget it happened, I’m in. Kidding, not kidding.

Agreed! I also don’t think it will be allegorical science fiction or be anything thought provoking. It will be a fast paced action adventure story that’s empty of depth and soul. Modern Star Trek is more interested in spectacle than compelling stories.

I’d guess that it means “origin of the TOS crew,” but that’s kind of weird, because we saw that in 2009.

Maybe this time they’ll start when they’re toddlers. (I kid, but not really). :)

They are going to re-do ‘A night in Sickbay’ like they did with Wrath of Khan/Into Darkness. It’ll be the same but different…..

Could this be their way of doing a George Kirk movie?

I would want to watch that, colour me intrigued…

“set decades before the original 2009 Star Trek film.”

Original 2009 Sta Trek film Sounds so wrong.

there is only two star trek origin stories i want to see the formation of the federation and it’s first few years if they have to adapt the rise of the federation novels for the movie and the origins of the borg they could adapt the plot ffor thet from the star trek destiny novels for a movie

Spot on, on both points!

2025? I hope it works out…

First we hear we are getting a Star Fleet Space Academy series that no one wants. The idea was mentioned in the 1980’s and shot down by fans. Now a retake on a Star Trek Origins films. Is any one currently running the Star Trek franchise in TV/streaming or film even listening to what the fans both old and new are saying?

It would seem not, sadly. How about establishing the time period between TUC and TNG, there’s a literal ton of stories to tell there? How the possibilities for storytelling within the franchise have been squandered over the years makes me frustrated, and frankly confused. SO many missed opportunities.

The upcoming section 31 movie will be set during that time frame as we know a young Rachel Garrett who later in life will be the captain of the enterprise c and defend the Klingon colony of narendra 3 will be in the movie maybe we will get to see the ent-b also again

Pointless movie as no audience will come see it at best it will make half its budget back. I mean they spent $250M on the 2009 movie and it showed on screen….you already know they are not spending that level otherwise it would be a Kelvin cast sequel!

I believe they spent just under 160 mil on the 09 (not counting the interest payments for holding the finished film for six months to get a summer release, or prints/advertising.) You’re probably thinking of BEYOND with the 250 number.

I still can’t see the money on screen in the 09, shooting in the damn brewery was Corman-level cheap.

The Numbers have the 09 costs 140 and BO Mojo sez 150, so yeah, way under the 250m you mention.

Can the ethos of Trek be distilled by JJ? Bob orci was bad for trek.

Kurtzman seemed to fall into trap w/discovery season 1.

Season 2, Picard, Lower Decks and SNW definitely sealed my thinking that Trek was in right hands.

Is section 31 and Rachel Garrett the right pivot for Trek? I thought 24th/25th century had plenty of stories to still tell.

Enterprise C, and possibly Tasha Yar/Sela after the events of Yesterday’s Enterprise! This should reboot TNG/Picard if ST: Legacy doesn’t happen.

Lower Decks makes me laugh Picard made me cry (good) SNW made me feel like Kurtzman should be trusted 💯

Great. Abrams ruined Star Wars and he’s finishing of Star Trek.

JJ had a planed out story plot for what he wanted to happen in the sequels but rian johnson chose to deviate from what jj had payed out so when jj returned for episode 9 he had to try and make the best of it and make his original story plot work but with the changes Johnson had made altering it so he had to come up with another evil sith mastermind and chose palpatine and he did course correct Rey’s lineage though it was different from who he had initially planned it to be and with Carrie fishers untimely passing he had to rewrite more and he had Luke show up as a force ghost to help rey when she returned to ach-to as apparently he was never going to have Luke die until the the final battle

I hope it has nudity

….and “Invincible” level action. It’ll be a hard R Quinton Tarentino could love.

Yes, we are on the same page.

CinemaCon basically works like a network upfront. You see clips and hear a lot of announcements. When there’s no cast or start date for announced projects, there’s maybe a 50/50 chance that the project will actually move forward (I was with a former employer for over 8 years and we announced a lot of stuff that generated a lot of buzz but then never materialized).

I think Brian Robbins will be gone within the next 12 months and if Robbins is pushed out this film is dead in the water.

This is probably the right answer.

I have next to no faith this will actually happen but they only have themselves to blame lol.

I remember a former poster kept saying ‘well this a new regime ‘ they aren’t the old guys’. Uh huh. It just shows end of the day they might be different but they still answer to the same shareholders and they know another Trek film is risky. Maybe this will finally get beyond a script this time but no one will be convinced until they start shooting the thing.

Rehashing old fandom letter campaign complaints from 40 years ago, don’t equate to the modern sci-fi fan, let alone the majority of Star Trek fans of 2024. The majority of complaints in the article comments are that there isn’t enough new future timeline Star Trek, so why would people NOT want a Star Fleet Academy series – new stories, new characters, new ships, new alien species/planets etc? An Origin movie is a vague enough description that it’s probably likely that the fandom can’t come anywhere close to a correct theory on when in the Trek timeline, this movie could be set.

I agreed with a commenter earlier, a George Kirk prequel movie would satisfy a lot of the fans, and hopefully generate enough interest for new and casual Star Trek moviegoers to warrant their going to a cinema complex. As to want the hardcore Star Trek fandom really want? There is too much dissent and bitter recriminations gone by, for any serious agreement by the fandom of their requirements, to stick for any longer than the next Trek major media article to be issued. And even if a majority agreement could be achieved – then we have the Mount Everest of EP Alex Kurtzman / Secret Hideout control of Trek production, to climb. A movie or series could have a billion-dollar budget, stellar A-list cast and crew, critical media acclaim for the story / screenplay. A favourable release timing and viral marketing, but fall at the last hurdle – the box office, due to the mountain of hate piled up against Paramount, Kurzman and his associates.

Now, as to the overall custodianship of the Trek franchise and its operation as a business, in general by Paramount, and its contracted creatives? Well, that’s a whole Hollywood chapter in itself. And is any of that even relevant in the long term, with the behind-the-scenes Harry Potter Wizard chess moves that are going on at the studio ownership, and network controlling interest levels? Apologies for the extended and extensive reply.

The first thing to do in order make a successful Star Trek movie is to ignore Star Trek fans.

God, please, no origin stories.

Star Trek: The Beginning, Part 1 — A Final Frontier Origin Story

Star Trek has always been a production dealing with many human issues pushing open the veils of awkwardness, embarrassment, and unaddressed behaviors that represent our culture planet wide. Thank You Star Trek. The one thing Paramount+ did that was just totally in bad taste was cancel Prodigy, bunch of morons.

Every fan’s preferences are different, but over the years I’ve ended up streamlining various ‘franchises’ I enjoy to my own liking when it comes to a re-watch – and these days my own limited Star Trek ‘canon’ purely consists of kicking things off with ‘The Cage’ pilot storyline….followed by my specific favourite TOS episodes in ‘production order’ (starting with ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before’, and skipping ‘The Menagerie’ two-part storyline)….followed by all the TOS movie storylines….and ending the Kirk crew’s adventures with ‘The Undiscovered Country’ as my preferred send-off for them all….then skip the antics of the ‘Generations’ movie, and instead continue on with my specific favourite TNG episodes (starting with the ‘Encounter At Farpoint’ introduction to Picard and his crew)….and then conclude the entire thing with the ‘First Contact’ movie’s storyline – which covers the development of ‘warp drive’, bringing everything full circle, and giving me all the ‘origin’ specifics I need..

All other ‘Trek-related shows and movies since then remain firmly on my ‘one-watch-only’ list, but I’m more than content with what I’ve outlined above.

I don’t know if I’ll ever get a ‘Star Trek’ movie which goes much deeper than glossy ‘pew-pew’ action and explosions in the future, but I remain hopeful.there might be a storyline that I really like again.

In the meantime, for my latest ‘alien contact’ fix, I’ve just finished up enjoying the excellent ‘Three-Body’ show’s inventive storyline and characters – the subtitled, 30-episode one produced by Tencent, which is currently available on YouTube and Amazon Prime (not the muddled 8-episode ‘3 Body Problem’ version by Netflix) – So much so, that I’m intending to buy the actual trilogy of books by the Chinese author, as I can’t wait for the next season to be made to find out what happens next. Some big ideas to come by all accounts, and I’m there for a bit more of that. .

The Netflix series is Superior

You’re welcome to your own preference of course.

But I far preferred the slow burn of the mystery and character build-ups in the Tencent version compared to the condensed and altered Netflix adaption. I just happen to find it a more satisfying and riveting version overall – and I will always prefer the way the ‘Judgment Day’ tanker got ‘nano-spliced’ in the Tencent version. Such an awesome sequence from start to finish!

Anyway, if the Netflix version actually gets a second season, I’ll certainly check it out too….but I am definitely looking forward to the next season of the Tencent show, which has been greenlit already.

The Tencent version is just boring to me and you can feel the Party’s hands all over it. Glad you liked it though.

I did indeed like it. A lot. I hadn’t read the books as I said, so didn’t know what to expect. Having read up on a few things since watching both shows, it seems that that there’s plenty of others that much prefer the slower build-up of the Tencent version too.

While it doesn’t include the likes of the brutal Netflix show’s opening, the hardship that the main female character endured was covered sufficiently for me throughout the show, and I’m just glad that I got to know her story by watching this version first.

And I sure didn’t miss the amount of unnecessary swearing that the Netflix version included either, which gave the Tencent version additional points. I don’t appreciate it my ‘Star Trek’ viewing, and I didn’t need it in the telling of this memorable sci-fi tale either.

And just to add, that even better for me is the fact that there’s now been a 26-episode ‘Anniversary Edition’ version of the Tencent show released, which has been re-edited by the director.

It seemingly cuts down on some ‘filler’ run-time that was added for the sake of the show’s producers initially, so that things will follow the original book’s contents even more closely now, and improve on the pacing of the show overall. I’m very pleased about that.

Whats so bad about swearing? The human race has been swearing since language was invented and we’ll be swearing 10,000 years from now.

Again, it’s just a personal preference thing.

There’s plenty of hard-edged movies and shows that contain wall-to-wall swearing which I can watch if I’m in the mood for them. But other times I’m equally inclined to watch something with less harsh language throughout.

I really disliked the F-bombs which the ‘Picard’ show included for instance, and didn’t think the ‘Star Trek’ franchise was the better for it. And I doubt that I would have enjoyed the Tencent ‘Three-Body’ adaption any better if it had contained bad language too.

Anyway, back to this supposed ‘Star Trek origin movie. I’d like to think it won’t be littered with F-bombs either.

PG13 are allowed 1 f bomb (like Guardians 3 I finally saw other night). And Trek is very comfortable to f bombs in Picard etc so safe to say we’ll be getting Treks first movie f bomb next film :)

Data said “Oh $hit” in Generations.

Which was very mild compared to what we heard in ‘Picard” Not that I would wish to show my younger family members the ‘Picard’ show anyway, considering it turned out to be so dire overall.

However, Data’s reaction was hilarious in that scene’s context I recall. Just a pity the rest of the movie was such a dud, and not part of my own ‘Star Trek’ canon anymore.

I’ll always wonder what the Tarantino script would have given us….

we don’t need origin stories for everything! in media res is the way to go – almost always – TOS just dumps you right in the middle of events without even the clunky intros of TNG Encounter at Farpoint.

If this movie does well will IT get an origin story? We’re going to end up at the pool of goo at the dawn of humankind waiting for Picard and Q to show up…

im happy with any good trek news… even if they made a direct sequel to the final frontier… but how many origin stories do we need? i’d be happy if someone forged a path forward and created new things…

So this one is set in the five-minute period between Enterprise and Discovery? Or the as-yet unexplored time between April 5th 2063 and Enterprise where it’s “stone knives and bear skins” and no Trek tech to speak of? Enterprise was the prequel! How’d that one work out?

If the movie is made ,I will judge it then.

I wanted the 4th Kelvin, do they know who their audience is? Nobody i know, Star Trek fan or general audience bothered to go see Beyond. It was like Nemesis all over again. The trailer was terrible, the movie was kind of meh to be honest. So in the intervening years since the 2009 somewhere they lost the audience. Star Trek 2009 was an event movie, and 2015 Force Awakens was as well. Good job letting JJ go to Disney so Star Trek died as a film series.

I’m guessing the fourth movie is still too costly to risk making another one at least right now.

Someone threw out an an interesting theory on the last thread discussing this for the 47th time that they suggested Paramount have no plans to actually make another Kelvin movie but just as a rouse for the next company that buys the studio.

It really makes sense at this point, they can dangle the idea the movie is in ‘development’ and then when someone actually buys it they can just decide to make it or cancel it.

I mean it doesn’t sound crazy considering where we are. It’s a movie that is working with their fourth new writer but there is still no director or even a starting date of any kind within the the next two years.

Them you have this origin movie that was just announced a few months ago and that’s already scheduled to come out next year. My guess is it will probably cost half of what another Kelvin movie would be. But yeah who knows if that will get made either, but it has a better chance than a Kelvin movie.

Ikr, Beyond totally killed interest the series , the Fast Furious teaser trailer was bad, the second trailer gave away the twist, the audience (who cared about that stuff) knew JJ had crossed over to SW (which gave the behemoth of SW7 even more publicity, making ST feel less an event), there was no hook for fans or even general moviegoers like there was for ST09/ID (like if Shatner had returned or the Borg being the villain again) and nothing ‘big’ happening in the canon like the previous ones (Orcis ST3 had the timeline under threat of being wiped out, which would’ve been a huge deal) the eventual movie was kind of meh as you say and was just abit nerdy and Insurrection looking (like it was for hard core fans only).

At the time i had some friends (some who were casual Trek fans, and some even disliked Trek) who thought 09/ID were awesome and they didn’t even bother to see Beyond bc of the trailers and the general vibe (its like it felt like abit of a turkey, like other big sequels/remakes that summer, Ghostbusters, Independence Day 2 etc, )

I actually agree with all of this and I personally think Beyond was the best of the three.

But you’re right, there was really no hook for the movie and that first trailer was just awful. It almost kept me away from watching it.

But the biggest problem is the new fans just lost interest by then. I always bring up the fact I had three friends who had never seen Star Trek before went to go see the first film and generally loved it. I thought it was truly bad but fine for a brainless action movie.

But by the time Beyond showed up all three had zero interest in the franchise by that point. They just stopped caring. I remember asking one of them that saw the first two movies in the theater if he planned to watch Beyond and his response was no because now Star Wars was back and he rather just watch that. And he thought it looked boring.

That’s the entire problem trying to get new fans onboard and a lot of them were like my friends who just saw these movies as another summer action movie but nothing beyond that. They never cared about the franchise itself and so it was very easy to move on when the next shiny toy showed up.

That’s exactly why I don’t see another one doing all that well because to newbies it’s still Star Trek and it’s not cool enough to fully get into and will probably bomb again unless the budget is just super low.

I watched Guardians Vol 3 the other night on dvd and it (and previous 2) kind of felt the same as Beyond abit , the look, the vibe, the action, set pieces, the humour, the rock songs etc . so really with Guardians (that Beyond tried to ape), along with the return of SW, Trek 3 had no chance with casual movie goers who would just consider it Guardians/SW lite , (between the generational event of SW7 and the next GOTG vol 2) .. Even more reason to have gone with Orci’s more ‘star trek’ version of ST3 featuring Shatner

I can’t name anyone who actually wants an origin movie. By the way, didn’t we get that one with First Contact already anyway?

It’s not up to you or anyone you pretend to know.

Another prequel? This is getting ridiculous now. Remember when Star Trek used to go forwards? Enough already!

Kurtzman said he didn’t have the authority to greenlight legacy. I wonder if that will be like Bennet’s academy years and never happen.

18 months is not enough time for a movie of this size unless this is ready to shoot in july.

The JJ-verse is an aberration no one is particularly a fan of. There is no one who wants to how that mess started. It’s done nothing but foul everything that went before, leaving ST-ENT, of all things, as the only remaining official classic canon. Bugger that.

I need Star Trek that is hopeful, aspirational, and inspirational. 15 yrs later neither Bad Robot or Secret Hideout has done anything close to that. Sec 31 and Starfleet Academy aren’t anything viewers want. I wish they’d just stop.

lol,if you say so…

EXCLUSIVE: Former Anonymous writer of Trek 4 shares his experience

Interviewer: Hello, we are here today to talk to a former writer for the very very very (like really very) long delayed fourth Kelvin movie. With the announcement of a prequel movie being released instead and yet ANOTHER new set of writers for the next Kelvin movie, we reached out to the only person who returned our calls; a former writer from the 2023 project.

To give us an honest insight into his experience he wishes to remain anonymous. For the sake of this interview he will be simply referred to as ‘GotohellParamount’. Thank you for meeting with me today.”

GotohellParamount’: “You’re welcome.”

Interviewer: “It sounds like your experience working on the last movie didn’t end too well. How is your relationship with the studio today?”

GotohellParamount: “Bleep them in their bleeping bleepholes. I hope they all die from bleeping Ebola.”

Interviewer: ‘That’s some pretty colorful metaphors. Can I ask what happened?”

GotohellParamount: “Their bleeps that’s what. We spent a year working on that movie. We lost the director to go work for Marvel because these bleepholes kept bleeping us around. I got so frustrated I finally texted the Head Studio Guy and said ‘will you people stop bleeping around!? Get off your bleeps and let’s make a movie already!!’

Three weeks went by and I finally got a response from them. It simply read ‘K’. Bleepholes!!! By the way you’re not going to ‘bleep’ any of these words out are you?”

Interviewer: “Um…of course not. Can you tell us a little about what the movie was about?”

GotohellParamount: “The gist was a huge black ship comes from the 25th century to the 23rd century wiping out solar systems in the Federation. It was a new villain who wanted…wait for it…vengeance. That bleep was going to be bleeping awesome!!”

Interviewer: “So who was going to be the villain?”

GotohellParamount: “That’s the greatest part of it all. He was going to call himself…you ready: Kaos. JJ Abrams himself came up with that name. But then the true reveal was that he was indeed Kirk’s great great great great great great great great great great grandson from the future and came to stop Kirk from destroying his planet so he had to destroy the Federation first. We were even thinking Chris Pine can play both parts but Paramount was worried he would demand twice the salary.”

Interviewer: “I interviewed Chris Pine a few months ago and he was hoping there would be more scenes of him riding another motorcycle. Did you include that in the script?”

GotohellParamount: “Do you remember the ending of Mission Impossible 2 with the motorcycle duel? Pretty much the same ending with our movie with Kirk versus his evil grandson; except it was going to take place either on Romulus or in San Francisco. We were still figuring it out. There was even talk of it happening on a lava planet… but that would’ve ballooned the budget.

Interviewer: “Sounds very exciting. How was he going to wipe out the solar systems?”

GotohellParamount: “The ship he was on had the power to destroy stars by breaking down their fusion reactions. The FX was going to be bleeping sick.”

Interviewer: “Wait so the ship was a…Star destroyer?”

GotohellParamount: “Yep but to get around copyright issues JJ wanted to call it a Destroyer of Stars. The man is a bleeping genius I tell you.”

Interviewer: “It’s definitely a name.”

GotohellParamount: “We were so proud of the script. We gave it to JJ to read it. After he put it down, he took off his glasses put his hand on my shoulders and said ‘this is the most original Star Trek story I’ve ever read and I’ve read three of them.’ You have no idea how much that meant coming from such a visionary like him.”

Interviewer: “I’m sure you were. Was there any casting possibilities before it was shut down?”

GotohellParamount: “Was there?? We reached out to some incredible actors! Robert Downey Jr, Florence Pugh, Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy and Matt Damon. We wanted him to actually play Kirk’s evil grandson.

Interviewer: “Wait… weren’t all of them in Oppenheimer?’

GotohellParamount: “(Hard shrug)! I don’t know I haven’t seen it yet. Unfortunately Matt Damon’s agent was the only one who bothered to call us back. Apparently he always wanted to work with John Cho. Go figure? Too late now unfortunately.”

Interviewer: “Well that’s all the time we have. Thank you for your incredible and honest insight. Any thoughts on the new movie announcement or the chances either one will actually get made?”

GotohellParamount: (Laughs for three minutes). That’s it.”

Interviewer: “Thank you.’

I laugh every.single.time! 😂

Well done per usual.

Nice. Don’t forget to throw the Beastie Boys in there someplace…wouldn’t be a Kelvin film without them…

Haha correct. How I let that one slide you got me. Having an off day I guess!

This was indeed hilarious! 😂

I love how you parody JJ Abrams. He doesn’t seem to have an original bone in his body looking at both his Star Trek and Star Wars movies.

Lol nope! I still remember watching Honest Trailer for Star Trek Into Dumbness and they even showed how much that movie copied the first one lol.

The fact both movies ended back at San Francisco when your series takes place in the freaking galaxy should tell you everything wrong with these movies.

that actually sounds like a legit potential Kelvin ST4 – Kirks evil great great grandson Kaos (Matt Damon) comes back to 23rd century to kill Kirk in his big star destroyer (sorry ‘destroyer of stars’) ship! Brilliant!!

That’s the insane part, this idea could actually pass for a Kelvin movie lol.

Thank you! 😁

Coming out of my lurker mode to say this is brilliant. I laughed my bleep off!

So glad you enjoyed it my friend! 😄

I bleeping love making them lol.

Another prequel? Why can’t they come up with new material?

‘Star Trek’ Origin Story Movie Will Be Set Decades Before 2009 Film

CinemaCon 2024: The new project will be produced by longtime “Star Trek” steward J.J. Abrams

star-trek-2009-chris-pine-zachary-quinto

Paramount Pictures is ready to boldly go (again).

After rumors circulated earlier this year, Paramount officially announced a new “Star Trek” prequel film on Thursday, this time taking place decades before the original 2009 “Star Trek” feature.

“Andor” director Toby Haynes will direct from a script by Seth Grahame-Smith (who is also writing another hotly touted CinemaCon title, the third “Now You See Me” film). J.J. Abrams is returning to produce.

But then again, we’ve heard about a new “Star Trek” movie before.

movie star trek 2

During the run-up to “Star Trek Beyond” in 2016, it was revealed that a fourth film would reunite Chris Pine’s Captain Kirk with his deceased father (played, once again, by Chris Hemsworth). A year later, Quentin Tarantino approached Paramount about doing a “Star Trek” movie – this time as an R-rated gangster movie (based, in part, on the 1968 episode of the original series “A Piece of the Action”). In 2018 S.J. Clarkson, a TV vet who would eventually direct “Madame Web,” was hired to direct the fourth film in the Abrams-verse, but salary disputes led to Pine and Hemsworth leaving the project. That version was canceled in 2019 and Tarantino stated in 2020 that he wouldn’t be making his “Star Trek” either.

In November 2019 “Fargo” creator Noah Hawley was hired to write and direct a new “Star Trek” film based on his version of the series. A year later, this movie was canceled by new Paramount Pictures president Emma Watts. In 2021 “Star Trek: Discovery” writer Kalinda Vazquez was hired to write a version based on her original pitch, but a separate script was being developed by Lindsey Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet. The studio even set a summer 2023 release date for a new “Trek” (which “Trek” was the question).

In 2021 that release date was pushed to Christmas 2023, under the direction of “WandaVision” director Matt Shakman. Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires were brought on to retool the script. In early 2022 it was announced that the stars of the three previous “Star Trek” installments in the Abrams-verse would all be returning, although it was later reported that the actors had not entered negotiations to return.

In 2022 Shakman left “Star Trek” to join Marvel Studios’ “The Fantastic Four.” But just last month Steve Yockey was hired to write a fourth “Star Trek” movie.

Now, we are finally getting word of another film in development, with another writer/director team. But it’s not the first time that a “Star Trek” prequel script has been floated, as Erik Jendresen, cowriter of “Mission: Impossible: Dead Reckoning,” had submitted a script for “Star Trek: The Beginning” before J.J. had taken over and pitched his 2009 version. It depicted the Earth-Romulan War.

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The Star Trek “Origin” Movie Is Finally Going Into Production

The new Star Trek prequel movie is set to be revealed on the big screen. Probably.

LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 1: Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock (Mr. Spock) in the STAR TREK: The Origina...

For 30 years — from 1979 to 2009 — the longest wait between new Star Trek feature films was seven years. And, for most of that period, from the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) to Star Trek: Nemesis (2002), there was almost always a new Star Trek movie in theaters every two to four years. But after the wildly successful J.J. Abrams-directed reboot film in 2009, the release clip for Trek movies went from maximum warp to impulse power, to glacially slow. And now, by the time the next Star Trek movie hits theaters, it will have been about 10 years since the previous one — Star Trek Beyond — beamed into cinemas in 2016.

Since that time, for Trekkies, updates of a new Star Trek film have been very similar to the game football Lucy plays with Charlie Brown; just when a hypothetical movie sounds real, it gets snatched away. But now, there’s a glimmer of hope. Thanks to reports out of CinemaCon 2024, it looks like, the next Trek film is scheduled for release in either 2025 or 2026. But what’s it about? And will it really happen?

Star Trek 14 is “an untitled origin story”

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto in 'Star Trek' (2009).

The new “origin story” will be set before the 2009 reboot. But how many decades before?

During CinemaCon 2024, Paramount confirmed several in-development projects including a live-action GI Joe / Transformers crossover (teased in 2023’s Rise of the Beasts ), a hardcore Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles live-action movie, a remake of the sci-fi thriller The Running Man (from Edgar Wright), the confirmation of an Avatar trilogy, and the assertion that a new Star Trek feature film will go into production this year, with a release date soon to follow.

Since 2016 to now, there have been at least five different attempts to make a new Star Trek film, either as timey wimey direct sequel to Beyond (“Star Trek 4”) a one-off space mobster movie (Quentin Tarantino’s script) or something else entirely (Noah Hawley and Matt Shakman’s attempts that remain undisclosed). But now, although Paramount is reportedly developing a sequel to Beyond — which would feature the reboot cast from the 2009 film one last time — the next Star Trek movie is not that sequel, but instead, as previously reported , an “origin story” that “takes place decades before the 2009 Star Trek film that rebooted the franchise.” This movie has been confirmed to be directed by Toby Haynes ( Andor, Doctor Who ) with a script from Seth Grahame-Smith ( The Lego Batman Movie , Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter) .

Wait? Wasn’t the 2009 film an “origin story?” While the answer to this question is technically a “yes,” the 2009 film (just titled Star Trek ) was also partially a time-travel sequel to the canon established in The Next Generation , and literally everything else in the Trek franchise up until that point. By saying the new prequel film takes place “decades before” the first reboot, this could hypothetically mean that the movie takes place in both the Prime and Kelvin timelines simultaneously.

TLDR: The Trek timeline diverged in the first reboot movie, beginning in the year 2233, so, a story set even a few decades before that divergence, in the 2210s or 2220s or earlier, would be consistent with all versions of Trek's future history. Presumably, the “origin story” won’t take place in the two decades between the prologue of the 2009 film (2233) and the main story (2258), because honestly, even for hardcore Trekkies that’s a big canon headache. So, sometime in the early 2200s, but before the 2230s is probably the best bet. And, even if the movie was set a bit earlier than that — say in the late 2180s or 2190s — we’d still be dealing with a very early point of Starfleet history that has never been depicted and that we know almost nothing about. Hence, if you squint — and don’t think about the prequel series Enterprise (2151-2161) too much — then yes, we’re looking at an origin story in which pretty much anything could happen.

Star Trek “origin” movie release date

LOS ANGELES - DECEMBER 1: The USS Enterprise during the opening credit for in the STAR TREK: The Ori...

One of the earliest shots of the USS Enterprise — from the 1964 Star Trek pilot episode “The Cage.” The new prequel film will likely be set half a century before this moment.

While some tweets out of CinemaCon seemed to indicate that the new Star Trek movie could hit next year in 2025 , TrekMovie confirmed that the “Untitled Star Trek Origin Story,” is on the Paramount slate for 2025 or 2026. TrekMovie also predicted that 2026 is more likely, writing, “If Paramount can move fast enough they could get the origin movie into theaters by 2026 — in time for Star Trek’s 60th anniversary.” Then again, 2025 is not impossible, it’s just cutting it a little close.

It should also be noted that the entire corporate entity of Paramount is reportedly close to a merger that would see it purchased by Skydance Media, the same production company behind the three existing J.J. Abrams-produced Star Trek reboots. If that deal is finalized soon, then, yes, this Star Trek feature film might actually happen very quickly. And if it doesn’t, there will still be plenty of new Star Trek shows streaming , not to mention the first direct-to-streaming standalone Star Trek movie, Section 31 , starring Michelle Yeoh, which will hit Paramount+ sometime later this year.

All the reboot Star Trek films (2009-2016) are currently streaming on Paramount+. The previous ten films (1979-2002) are all on Max.

Phasers on Stun!: How the Making — and Remaking — of Star Trek Changed the World

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Star Trek Movies in order

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1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

G | 143 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 96,497 | Gross: $82.26M

Star Trek I

2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

PG | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 129,104 | Gross: $78.91M

Star Trek II

3. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

PG | 105 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

Admiral Kirk and his bridge crew risk their careers stealing the decommissioned U.S.S. Enterprise to return to the restricted Genesis Planet to recover Spock's body.

Director: Leonard Nimoy | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 86,082 | Gross: $76.47M

Star Trek III

4. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

PG | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

To save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.

Votes: 91,382 | Gross: $109.71M

Star Trek IV

5. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

PG | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Captain Kirk and his crew must deal with Mr. Spock's long-lost half-brother who hijacks the Enterprise for an obsessive search for God at the center of the galaxy.

Director: William Shatner | Stars: William Shatner , Leonard Nimoy , DeForest Kelley , James Doohan

Votes: 64,142 | Gross: $52.21M

Star Trek V

6. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

PG | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

On the eve of retirement, Kirk and McCoy are charged with assassinating the Klingon High Chancellor and imprisoned. The Enterprise crew must help them escape to thwart a conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the last best hope for peace.

Votes: 80,825 | Gross: $74.89M

Star Trek VI

7. Star Trek: Generations (1994)

PG | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Mystery

With the help of long presumed dead Captain Kirk, Captain Picard must stop a deranged scientist willing to murder on a planetary scale in order to enter a space matrix.

Director: David Carson | Stars: Patrick Stewart , William Shatner , Malcolm McDowell , Jonathan Frakes

Votes: 86,969 | Gross: $75.67M

Star Trek VII

8. Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

PG-13 | 111 min | Action, Adventure, Drama

The Borg travel back in time intent on preventing Earth's first contact with an alien species. Captain Picard and his crew pursue them to ensure that Zefram Cochrane makes his maiden flight reaching warp speed.

Director: Jonathan Frakes | Stars: Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , Brent Spiner , LeVar Burton

Votes: 131,959 | Gross: $92.00M

Star Trek VIII

9. Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

PG | 103 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

When the crew of the Enterprise learn of a Federation conspiracy against the inhabitants of a unique planet, Captain Picard begins an open rebellion.

Votes: 79,393 | Gross: $70.12M

Star Trek IX

10. Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The Enterprise is diverted to the Romulan homeworld Romulus, supposedly because they want to negotiate a peace treaty. Captain Picard and his crew discover a serious threat to the Federation once Praetor Shinzon plans to attack Earth.

Director: Stuart Baird | Stars: Patrick Stewart , Jonathan Frakes , Brent Spiner , LeVar Burton

Votes: 83,854 | Gross: $43.25M

Star Trek X

11. Star Trek (2009)

PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.

Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Simon Pegg , Leonard Nimoy

Votes: 619,920 | Gross: $257.73M

Star Trek XI

12. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.

Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Zoe Saldana , Benedict Cumberbatch

Votes: 496,817 | Gross: $228.78M

Star Trek XII

13. Star Trek Beyond (2016)

PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

The crew of the USS Enterprise explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a new ruthless enemy, who puts them, and everything the Federation stands for, to the test.

Director: Justin Lin | Stars: Chris Pine , Zachary Quinto , Karl Urban , Zoe Saldana

Votes: 258,266 | Gross: $158.85M

Star Trek XIII

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A Star Trek Origin Movie Is Coming in 2025 From 'Andor' and 'Doctor Who' Director Toby Haynes

'Star Trek' (2009) director J.J. Abrams is attached to produce.

The Big Picture

  • A new Star Trek prequel film, an "origin story", is in development, at Paramount.
  • The Star Trek history before Kirk's missions on the Enterprise is largely unwritten, leaving room for creativity with the new film.
  • Director Toby Haynes, known for Andor , is working on the film alongside writer Seth Grahame-Smith; a 2025 release window was announced at CinemaCon.

Star Trek may finally be coming back to the big screen. A prequel to the 2009 J.J. Abrams reboot of the franchise is in the works from director Toby Haynes . The news comes from Paramount's presentation at CinemaCon today, as reported by Collider's Steve Weintraub and Britta DeVore . With Haynes, who recently helmed six episodes of the acclaimed Star Wars series Andor , at the rudder, the film will be written by Seth Grahame-Smith .

So far, other details on the new film are scarce, but it will reportedly be an "origin story", taking place decades before the 2009 Star Trek film, which took place in 2255. That likely means that it will not feature the cast from the 2009 reboot, which has so far been difficult for Paramount to wrangle together for a fourth film, despite numerous attempts to do so . That doesn't necessarily mean that a fourth movie isn't happening: back in March, Paramount hired The Flight Attendant scribe Steve Yockey to pen a new script for the film. For their part, the cast is game as well, with Zoe Saldaña recently stating her willingness to return for a fourth mission on the USS Enterprise .

What Happened Decades Before Kirk's First Missions on the Enterprise?

The history of the Star Trek universe prior to the celebrated voyages of the Enterprise is largely unwritten. The first starship Enterprise 's adventures in the 22nd century were chronicled on the UPN prequel series Star Trek: Enterprise . That series ended with the founding of the United Federation of Planets in 2161, which leaves almost a century of mostly unexplored history between that and the history now being charted on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds (and the first two seasons of mothership show Star Trek: Discovery ).

At some point, the nascent Federation faces a devastating war against the Romulan Star Empire , while also engaged in a Cold War with the Klingons. The USS Enterprise will eventually be launched in the 23rd century, under the captaincy of Robert April, who has been briefly glimpsed on Star Trek: The Animated Series and Strange New Worlds , before being handed off to Christopher Pike . Apart from that, however, Haynes and Graeme-Smith have a near-blank canvas upon which to make their mark.

In addition to Andor , Haynes has also helmed episodes of Doctor Who , Sherlock , and Black Mirror ; his work on the latter series includes the episode " USS Callister ," a loving pastiche of Star Trek . Graeme-Smith wrote the novels Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter ; he worked on the story for the upcoming horror comedy sequel Beetlejuice Beetlejuice .

A new Star Trek prequel film is in development; no date has yet been set beyond a 2025 release window . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

movie star trek 2

The Star Trek Origins Movie Is Officially Moving Forward, But I Have Two Serious Concerns About It

I f you have a Paramount+ subscription , you know full well how the Star Trek franchise has been thriving on TV again for many years now. Streaming has allowed the shows like Discovery , Picard , Strange New Worlds , Prodigy (which is now housed at Netflix) and Lower Decks to be made, and there are more upcoming Star Trek TV shows on the way, as well as the Michelle Yeoh-led Section 31 movie . However, not the franchise’s theatrical film side of things, we haven’t seen anything since 2016’s Star Trek Beyond , but apparently that’s about to change. Paramount Pictures is officially moving forward with that Star Trek origins movie that was reported about earlier this year , though after hearing this news, I can’t help but have two serious concerns about it.

During the Paramount presentation at CinemaCon today that CinemaBlend attended, it was mentioned that this Star Trek movie, which will be directed by Andor ’s Toby Haynes and written by Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter ’s Seth Grahame-Smith, is set to begin production later this year and is expected to be released sometime in 2025. Beyond that, no other details were revealed, so the only other thing we know about this project is that it’s set decades before the events of 2009’s Star Trek , i.e. the movie that kicked off the alternate timeline which follows Chris Pine’s James Kirk, Zachary Quito’s Spock and more.

Therein lies my first concern with this origins movie: exactly how is this going to function as a prequel? Not to get too nerdy, but the point of divergence between the Kelvin timeline and the main Star Trek timeline occurs when Nero’s ship’s came back in time to the former reality, which also happened to be the same day James Kirk was born. Everything before that day happened the same way in both timelines, including the events of the TV show Star Trek: Enterprise . So because that series chronicled Starfleet’s first deep-space exploration and ended with the formation of the United Federation of Planets, what origin is there to tell?

The main thing I can think of at the moment is we’d learn how Starfleet and the United Federation became the powerhouse forces they are by the time the 2009 Star Trek movie begins. But even setting aside the fact that this doesn’t need to be classified as a Kelvin timeline exclusive-story since again, such events would have happened the same way in both realities, would this make for a compelling enough cinematic event? With talent like Haynes and Grahame-Smith behind it, I hope so.

My second concern with this Star Trek origins movie is what this means for Star Trek 4 , i.e. the Star Trek Beyond follow-up. We’re coming up on 10 years of this project trying to get off the ground, with various behind-the-scenes creative talent boarding and exiting it, including director Matt Shakman, who left to helm The Fantastic Four . It seems like Star Trek 4 can’t catch a break, and I’m worried that this origins movie will result in it being shelved for good.

Now to be fair, when this origin story’s existence was revealed, it was mentioned that Star Trek 4 was still in “active development’ and is intended to be “the final chapter of the series.” So on face value, Paramount reportedly intends to give this version of the USS Enterprise crew a proper farewell, but given how many attempts to move Star Trek 4 forward have failed, will prioritizing the Star Trek origins movie will once again result in the other movie falling by the wayside? At this point, if Star Trek 4 does get made, it’s not coming out until well over a decade after Beyond . Is it even worth being remotely optimistic about its chances anymore?

As a longtime Star Trek fan, I’ll end up seeing this origins movie regardless, but these concerns will keep weighing on my mind until more information comes to light. Naturally we’ll pass along any major updates that come in, but for now, you can look through our 2024 movies schedule to stay on top of the cinematic entertaining coming out later this year.

Zachary Quinto's Spock and Chris Pine's Kirk in Star Trek Into Darkness

A Star Trek origin story movie is officially on the way from Andor and Black Mirror director

It's set to take place decades before 2009's Star Trek

Chris Pine in Star Trek Beyond

Paramount has officially announced a new Star Trek movie – but it's not Star Trek 4.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story was unveiled at CinemaCon, with J.J. Abrams set to produce (H/T The Wrap ). The film will take place decades before 2009's Star Trek, with Andor's Toby Haynes set to direct and Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter author Seth Grahame-Smith set to pen the script. Plot details have yet to be released. Deadline first announced the film earlier this year.

Haynes directed the popular Black Mirror episode U.S.S Callister, which acts as a Star Trek parody. Black Mirror season 7 will feature a sequel to U.S.S Callister , though it has not yet been announced who will direct.

Paramount also stated that the origin pic would begin production later this year to make it in time for a 2025 theatrical release. Star Trek 4, the sequel to Abrams' 2009 flick, is still in development. WandaVision's Matt Shakman was previously attached to direct, but  left the project  in August 2022  around the same time he was announced as the new Fantastic Four director. Last month, Variety reported that Sucker Punch and Supernatural writer Steve Yockey would pen the fourth Star Trek film, which intends to bring back Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and the rest of the cast.

The Untitled Star Trek Origin Story does not yet have a release date. For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2024 and beyond, or, skip right to the good stuff with our list of movie release dates .

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Lauren Milici

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.

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COMMENTS

  1. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan: Directed by Nicholas Meyer. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan. With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.

  2. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American science fiction film directed by Nicholas Meyer and based on the television series Star Trek.It is the second film in the Star Trek film series following Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979), and is a sequel to the original series episode "Space Seed" (1967).The plot features Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the starship ...

  3. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

    Star Trek Into Darkness: Directed by J.J. Abrams. With Leonard Nimoy, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana. After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable ...

  4. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

    As Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) monitor trainees at Starfleet Academy, another vessel from the United Federation of Planets is about to try out the planet ...

  5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Trailer #1

    Check out the official Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Trailer starring Leonard Nimoy! Let us know what you think in the comments below. Watch on Fan...

  6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

    Synopsis. In the year 2285, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) oversees a simulator session of Captain Spock's (Leonard Nimoy) trainees. In the simulation, Lieutenant Saavik commands the star ship USS Enterprise on a rescue mission to save the crew of the damaged ship Kobayashi Maru. When the Enterprise enters the Klingon Neutral Zone to ...

  7. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan movie review (1982)

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The peculiar thing about Spock is that, being half human and half Vulcan and therefore possessing about half the usual quota of human emotions, he consistently, if dispassionately, behaves as if he possessed very heroic human emotions indeed. He makes a choice in "Star Trek II" that would be made only by a ...

  8. Watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Streaming Online

    Admiral James T. Kirk is still in charge of a space fleet, but from behind a desk. Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock convince him to take on a mission which sounds simple, but with the mysterious Khan, things get a little tricky. more. Starring: William ShatnerLeonard NimoyRicardo Montalban. Director: Nicholas Meyer.

  9. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

    Synopsis. 1982 • PG. Khan, a genetically enhanced "super man" from Kirk's past, returns to seek revenge on now-Admiral Kirk, the man who banished he and his followers to a dying planet 15 years earlier. Khan, a genetically enhanced "super man" from Kirk's past, returns to seek revenge on now-Admiral Kirk, the man who banished he ...

  10. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

    It is the 23rd century. The Federation Starship U.S.S. Enterprise is on routine training maneuvers and Admiral James T. Kirk seems resigned to the fact that this inspection may well be the last space mission of his career. But Khan is back. Aided by his exiled band of genetic supermen, Khan - brilliant renegade of 20th century Earth - has raided Space Station Regula One, stolen a top secret ...

  11. Watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Admiral James T. Kirk is still in charge of a space fleet, but from behind a desk. Dr. McCoy and Mr. Spock convince him to take on a mission which sounds simple, but with the mysterious Khan, things get a little tricky. 5,223 IMDb 7.7 1 h 52 min 1982. X-Ray HDR UHD 13+. Science Fiction · Action · Cerebral ...

  12. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan review

    The 1982 sequel to the original Star Trek film, featuring a film debut for Kirstie Alley, returns to cinemas with its crowdpleasing zap and raw emotion intact Peter Bradshaw Thu 1 Sep 2022 04.00 ...

  13. Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan Review

    12. Original Title: Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan. Although the slow, gabby, and, frankly, rather insipid Star Trek: The Motion Picture did the business, it was pretty lame to all but the most ...

  14. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) Original Trailer [FHD]

    Directed by Nicholas Meyer. With William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan.Blu-ray (Amazon) : https://amzn.to/48gY5064K Blu-ray (Amazon) ...

  15. Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is a 1982 American motion picture released by Paramount Pictures.The film is the second feature based on the Star Trek science fiction franchise. The plot features James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the crew of the starship USS Enterprise facing off against the genetically-engineered tyrant Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), a character who first appeared ...

  16. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 40th Anniversary

    One of the most celebrated and essential adventures from the STAR TREK universe, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN celebrates 40 years with the director's cut ...

  17. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan 40th Anniversary presented by TCM

    Movie More Info. One of the most celebrated and essential adventures from the STAR TREK universe, STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN celebrates 40 years with the director's cut on the big screen. On routine training maneuvers, Admiral James T. Kirk seems resigned that this may be the last space mission of his career.

  18. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

    Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Menu. Movies. Release Calendar Top 250 Movies Most Popular Movies Browse Movies by Genre Top Box Office Showtimes & Tickets Movie News India Movie Spotlight. TV Shows.

  19. List of Star Trek films

    Logo for the first Star Trek film, Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979). Star Trek is an American science fiction media franchise that started with a television series (simply called Star Trek but now referred to as Star Trek: The Original Series) created by Gene Roddenberry.The series was first broadcast from 1966 to 1969. Since then, the Star Trek canon has expanded to include many other ...

  20. Paramount Pictures Officially Confirms Star Trek Origin Movie For Its

    The Star Trek movie was just one of many the studio confirmed as part of their 2025/2026 slate at their CinemaCon presentation today. Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins led the studio's ...

  21. Star Trek Prequel Film Officially Announced by Paramount

    'Star Trek' Origin Story Movie Will Be Set Decades Before 2009 Film. CinemaCon 2024: The new project will be produced by longtime "Star Trek" steward J.J. Abrams

  22. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan Showtimes

    PG, 1 hr 53 min. As Adm. James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and Capt. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) monitor trainees at Starfleet Academy, another vessel from the United Federation of Planets is about to try out the planet-creating Genesis Device in a seemingly deserted portion of space. In the process, two of Kirk's officers are captured by Khan (Ricardo ...

  23. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan [Complete Motion Picture Sountrack]

    Title: Star Trek II: The Wrath of KhanGenre: SoundtrackComposer: James HornerOriginal Copyright: 1982Record Label: Paramount, RetrogradeRelease Copyright: 20...

  24. Star Trek's Most Mysterious Movie Is Coming Sooner Than You Think

    For 30 years — from 1979 to 2009 — the longest wait between new Star Trek feature films was seven years. And, for most of that period, from the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979 ...

  25. Star Trek Movies in order

    Star Trek Movies in order. 1. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979) G | 143 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi. When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.

  26. A Star Trek Origin Movie Is Coming in 2025 From Director ...

    Director Toby Haynes, known for Andor, is working on the film alongside writer Seth Grahame-Smith; a 2025 release window was announced at CinemaCon. Star Trek may finally be coming back to the big ...

  27. The Star Trek Origins Movie Is Officially Moving Forward, But I Have

    My second concern with this Star Trek origins movie is what this means for Star Trek 4, i.e. the Star Trek Beyond follow-up. We're coming up on 10 years of this project trying to get off the ...

  28. Star Trek II Wrath of Khan

    (WARNING: LOUD VOLUME)From what many fans consider the BEST Star Trek movie; the initial face off in the film between Khan and Kirk. With great performances ...

  29. A Star Trek origin story movie is officially on the way from Andor and

    Paramount also stated that the origin pic would begin production later this year to make it in time for a 2025 theatrical release. Star Trek 4, the sequel to Abrams' 2009 flick, is still in ...