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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Star Trek Creativity Put On "Cruise" Control
2006-11-01

Could Tom Cruise be planning an appearance in Star Trek XI for his M:I-III director, J.J. Abrams?
That's the latest rumour, as the WENN entertainment news service reported, citing an "insider" who told the Canadian TV Guide, "He didn't even need to be begged to appear in it." Cruise is reportedly a big fan of Star Trek, but then, many other stories are flying about Cruise today. Hundreds of reports have surfaced that Cruise and fiancée Katie Holmes will marry next month in Italy (here is ABC's story), and TrekMovie.com has a link to Monday's Variety story about numerous other roles Cruise may be considering.
Reports circulating indicate that all loud conversation in the script department has been forbidden in favor of brief hushed exchanges.
Meanwhile, Ron Moore has announced that he approves of Abrams as producer of the next Star Trek film. The UK's Star Trek Magazine (via TrekWeb) quoted former Trek producer Moore - now the creative force behind Battlestar Galactica - as saying that Abrams' selection is probably good for the franchise. "Abrams' lack of involvement in Star Trek is hopefully a positive thing, just as it was for Harve Bennett and Nick Meyer when they came in on Wrath of Khan," said Moore. "In that case, it let people take a clean look at The Original Series and wipe away a lot of sentimentality in an effort to get at the roots of what the show was and the results speak for themselves." Moore, whose Battlestar Galactica is more recreation than revival, has suggested that the original series might be best approached with a fresh start, while many fans have insisted that any prequel should maintain current Star Trek canon and tradition.
"Battlefield Earth" has made the short list of titles and John Revolta Travolta has been nominated to play the early Spock.
Posted by:Zenster

#21  I want a Galaxy Quest series.

And I want a "Wallace & Gromit Meet the Romulans" series, but that doesn't mean it's gonna happen anytime soon.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-11-01 23:20  

#20  :-)

I would dearly love to see more quality SciFi, such as Firefly. AFAIC, nothing else on-air now comes close.
Posted by: .com   2006-11-01 20:45  

#19  indeed, .com. indeed.
Posted by: lotp   2006-11-01 20:42  

#18  Oh and the scene I liked best in a star trek episode was in DS9 when the klingons showed up to take out the space station and the commander turn it into a battle station, my eyes poped out my head i never saw so many phaser cannons in one place :)
Posted by: djohn66   2006-11-01 20:33  

#17  the whole year is on a 4-dvd box set - well worth it. LOTP - continually surprised....
Posted by: Frank G   2006-11-01 20:33  

#16  Loved Firefly and liked the old/new Gallatica, and I would luv to see a star trek movie where the federation and klingons at war it would be awesome.
Posted by: djohn66   2006-11-01 20:30  

#15  Inara. Companion. Nuff said. ;->
Posted by: .com   2006-11-01 20:28  

#14  take my love
take my land
take me where I cannot stand
I don't care
I'm still free
you can't take the sky from me

take me out
to the black tell 'em I ain't coming back
burn the land
and boil the sea
you can't take the sky from me

have no place
I can be
since I found Serenity
but you can't take the sky from me

Posted by: lotp   2006-11-01 20:25  

#13  I'm still a Firefly/Serenity fan
Posted by: Frank G   2006-11-01 20:18  

#12  >Include parts of the crews from Next Gen/Voyager/DS9<

Sheesh. I've always believed that the original Trek was like the UN in Korea - brash, violent and led by Americans; TNG was like the UN in the Balkans - weak, incompentent and full of Europeans.

Shows like B5, Farscape, Firefly and BS Galactica show how lame the ST franchise became with TNG. Enterprise could have been a good show if they had shown the actual history from the Original Series (Bad Klingons, Romulans, etc.) but they couldn't get away from the TNG taint.

davemac
Posted by: davemac   2006-11-01 20:02  

#11  The Star Trek franchise is dead. Drive a stake through it's heart. Or cast Tom Cruise in the next Trek movie. Same thing either way.
Posted by: DMFD   2006-11-01 19:13  

#10  The new Battlestar: Galactica rocks on toast!

Compared to the original it is head and shoulders above even Star Trek. Edward James Olmos as Adama is absolutely brilliant.

Yeah, sometimes there's a little too much angst amongst the characters, but as a whole the series just friggin rocks!!!

Posted by: FOTSGreg   2006-11-01 18:22  

#9  I also like the new Galactica (and the old). I can't stand beside you on the Battlefield Earth one though. The book was enjoyable light fluff, the movie a stinking pile of dutched camera angles and compromised story elements.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2006-11-01 17:33  

#8  Ok that is enough! The new Battlestar Gallactica does not suck. It was very quirky at the beginning but it has grown into a first-rate Sci-Fi drama. On the matter at hand I do hope that Cruise gets a part on Star Trek XI but as a red shirt that gets eaten or killed in the first 30 seconds. I guess I am weird because I actually enjoyed Battlefield Earth, mostly the way a human got the better of alien conquerors.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge   2006-11-01 17:27  

#7  Let's write our own star thriller.
We could beam that rock monster up into the next democrat national convention. The teachers union could be eaten by their own Klingons. Scrub your annus, it's the only cure.


I'll get right on it.
Posted by: wxjames   2006-11-01 16:54  

#6  Trek has been on cruise-control creatively since Voyager. Enough with the prequel stuff. They've built a rich backstory and they refuse to use it.

They should create a multi-movie story-arc the spine of which leads to war with the Klingons. Everyone loves the Klingons and thematically you can have all sorts of fun with chunks of the Federation that think the war is stupid (Vulcans) and others that want to slaughter the Klingons once and for all (Tellerites). Politics and repurcussions far beyond the one ship are key and our heros have to keep the Federation happy while beating back the enemy.

Base it around Admiral Sulu and Captain Checkov/XO Barclay. Include parts of the crews from Next Gen/Voyager/DS9 because that's the best time frame to use. Near the grand climax you have the Romulans get involved, but then the Romulans have a coup as Admiral Spock and his faction take over power.

This stuff writes itself if the folks involved are actually fans of the show.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2006-11-01 11:47  

#5  I want a Galaxy Quest series.
Posted by: DoDo   2006-11-01 11:40  

#4  You know, ST:Enterprise ran for two seasons longer than the original series did, Joe.

Why does it need five years to "just get started?"
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman   2006-11-01 10:26  

#3  And sucks more than the original ever did.

As if that were even humanly possible.

[Bart Simpson] This sucks and blows at the same time.[/BS]

the rush is on to conquer nano-moments

With Joe's usual astonishing prescience, he nails the evolution of the sound bite culture dead-on. Welcome to a society with the collective attention span of a fruit fly.
Posted by: Zenster   2006-11-01 05:24  

#2  Moore, whose Battlestar Galactica is more recreation than revival,

And sucks more than the original ever did.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2006-11-01 05:14  

#1  As wid many other shows, STAR TREK: ENTERPRISE was canned too early, just when the plots, characters, and quality of script/dialogues were getting interesting. Now that the MSM has officially finally discovered that BIG CINEMA is slowly going the way of the Dodo, the rush is on to conquer nano-moments of [high-speed/HD] TV screen time + YOUTUBE-style mediums.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2006-11-01 03:59  

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