Star Trek (film franchise)

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 series, a film franchise, and other media.

The film franchise is produced by Paramount Pictures and began with Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979. That film and the five that followed all starred the cast of The Original Series. The seventh film, Star Trek Generations (1994), was designed to serve as a transition from the original cast to that of the next series, Star Trek: The Next Generation. The next three films just starred the cast of The Next Generation, and ended with Star Trek: Nemesis (2002) which disappointed at the box office.

After a break of several years, a new film simply titled Star Trek was released in 2009. It served as a reboot of the franchise, with new actors portraying younger versions of the Original Series characters, but is technically a narrative continuation set in an alternate timeline called the Kelvin timeline. Two sequels have been produced and another is in development. The franchise's first television film, titled Star Trek: Section 31, is also in development for the streaming service Paramount+. It is set in the original timeline.

The Original Series films

Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry first suggested the idea of a Star Trek feature in 1969.^[1] When the original television series was cancelled, he lobbied to continue the franchise through a film. The success of the series in syndication convinced the studio to begin work on a feature film in 1975.^[2] A series of writers attempted to craft a suitably epic screenplay, but the attempts did not satisfy Paramount, so the studio scrapped the project in 1977. Paramount instead planned on returning the franchise to its roots with a new television series (Phase II ). The massive worldwide box office success of Star Wars in mid-1977 sent Hollywood studios to their vaults in search of similar sci-fi properties that could be adapted or re-launched to the big screen. Following the huge opening of Columbia's Close Encounters of the Third Kind in late December 1977, production of Phase II was cancelled in favor of making a Star Trek film.^[3]

Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

A massive energy cloud from deep space heads toward Earth, leaving destruction in its wake, and the Enterprise must intercept it to determine what lies within, and what its intent might be.

The movie borrows many elements from "The Changeling" of the original series and "One of Our Planets Is Missing" from the animated series. Principal photography commenced on August 7, 1978^[4] with director Robert Wise helming the feature. The production encountered difficulties and slipped behind schedule,^[5] with effects team Robert Abel and Associates^[6] proving unable to handle the film's large amount of effects work. Douglas Trumbull was hired and given a blank check to complete the effects work in time and location;^[7] the final cut of the film was completed just in time for the film's premiere. The film introduced an upgrade to the technology and starship designs, making for a dramatic visual departure from the original series. Many of the set elements created for Phase II were adapted and enhanced for use in the first feature films. It received mixed reviews from critics; while it grossed $139 million the price tag had climbed to about $45 million due to costly effects work and delays.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

Khan Noonien Singh (Ricardo Montalbán), whom Kirk thwarted in his attempt to seize control of the Enterprise fifteen years earlier ("Space Seed"), seeks his revenge on the Admiral and lays a cunning and sinister trap.

The Motion Picture's gross was considered disappointing, but it was enough for Paramount to back a sequel with a reduced budget. After Roddenberry pitched a film in which the crew of the Enterprise goes back in time to ensure the assassination of John F. Kennedy, he was "kicked upstairs" to a ceremonial role while Paramount brought in television producer Harve Bennett to craft a better—and cheaper—film than the first.^[8] After watching all the television episodes, Bennett decided that the character Khan Noonien Singh was the perfect villain for the new film. Director Nicholas Meyer finished a complete screenplay in just twelve days, and did everything possible within budget to give The Wrath of Khan a nautical, swashbuckling feel,^[9] which he described as "Horatio Hornblower in outer space".^[8] Upon release, the reception of The Wrath of Khan was highly positive;^[10] Entertainment Weekly's Mark Bernadin called The Wrath of Khan "the film that, by most accounts, saved Star Trek as we know it".^[11]

Both the first and second films have television versions with additional footage and alternate takes that affect the storyline. (Subsequent Star Trek films tended to have shorter television versions.) Especially notable in The Wrath of Khan is the footage establishing that a young crew member who acts courageously and dies during an attack on the Enterprise is Scotty's nephew.

Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (1984)

The plot picks up shortly after the conclusion of the previous film. When McCoy begins acting irrationally, Kirk learns that Spock, in his final moments, transferred his katra, his living spirit, to the doctor. To save McCoy from emotional ruin, Kirk and crew steal the Enterprise and violate the quarantine of the Genesis Planet to retrieve Spock, his body regenerated by the rapidly dying planet itself, in the hope that body and soul can be rejoined. However, bent on obtaining the secret of Genesis for themselves, a renegade Klingon (Christopher Lloyd) and his crew interfere, with deadly consequences.

Meyer declined to return for the next film, so directing duties were given to cast member Leonard Nimoy. Paramount gave Bennett the green light to write Star Trek III the day after The Wrath of Khan opened.^[12] The producer penned a resurrection story for Spock that built on threads from the previous film and the original series episode "Amok Time".^{[citation needed]}

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

While returning to stand court-martial for their actions in rescuing Spock, Kirk and crew learn that Earth is under siege by a giant probe that is transmitting a destructive signal, attempting to communicate with the now-extinct species of humpback whales. To save the planet, the crew must time-travel back to the late 20th century to obtain a mating pair of these whales.

Nimoy returned as director for this film. Nimoy and Bennett wanted a film with a lighter tone that did not have a classic antagonist. They decided on a time travel story with the Enterprise crew returning to their past to retrieve something to save their present—eventually, humpback whales. After having been dissatisfied with the script written by Daniel Petrie Jr., Paramount hired Meyer to rewrite the screenplay with Bennett's help. Meyer drew upon his own time travel story Time After Time for elements of the screenplay.^{[citation needed]} Star William Shatner was promised his turn as director for Star Trek V, and Nicholas Meyer returned as director/co-writer for Star Trek VI.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989)

Spock's half-brother (Laurence Luckinbill) believes he is summoned by God, and hijacks the brand-new (and problem-ridden) Enterprise-A to take it through the Great Barrier, at the center of the Milky Way, beyond which he believes his maker waits for him. Meanwhile, a young and arrogant Klingon captain (Todd Bryant), seeking glory in what he views as an opportunity to avenge his people of the deaths of their crewmen on Genesis, sets his sights on Kirk.

This is the only Star Trek film directed by William Shatner.

Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

When Qo'noS' moon Praxis (the Klingon Empire's chief energy source) is devastated by an explosion, caused by over-mining, the catastrophe also contaminating Qo'noS' atmosphere, the Klingons make peace overtures to the Federation. While on the way to Earth for a peace summit, the Klingon Chancellor (David Warner) is assassinated by Enterprise crewmen, and Kirk and McCoy are held accountable by the Chancellor's Chief of Staff (Christopher Plummer) and sentenced to life on a prison planet. Spock attempts to prove Kirk's innocence, but in doing so, uncovers a massive conspiracy against the peace process with participants from both sides.

This film is a sendoff to the original series cast. One Next Generation cast member, Michael Dorn, appears as the grandfather of the character he plays on the later television series, Worf. It is the second and last Star Trek film directed by Nicholas Meyer and last screenplay co-authored by Leonard Nimoy.

The Next Generation films

The seventh film acted as a transition between the films featuring the original cast and those with the Next Generation cast. The Next Generation cast made four films over a period of eight years, with the last two performing only moderately well (Insurrection) and disappointingly (Nemesis) at the box office. Film titles of the North American and UK releases of the films no longer contained the number of the film following the sixth film (the sixth was Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country but the seventh was Star Trek Generations). However, European releases continued using numbers in the film titles until Nemesis.

Star Trek Generations (1994)

Picard enlists the help of Kirk, who is presumed long dead but flourishes in an extra-dimensional realm, to prevent a deranged scientist (Malcolm McDowell) from destroying a star and its populated planetary system in an attempt to enter that realm. This film also included original crew members Scotty (James Doohan) and Chekov (Walter Koenig).

Following seven seasons of The Next Generation, the next Star Trek film was the first to feature the crew of the Enterprise-D, along with a long prologue sequence featuring three cast members of the original series and the only appearance of the Enterprise-B.

Star Trek: First Contact (1996)

After a failed attempt to assault Earth, the Borg attempt to prevent First Contact between Humans and Vulcans by interfering with Zefram Cochrane's (James Cromwell) warp test in the past. Picard must confront the demons which stem from his assimilation into the Collective ("The Best of Both Worlds") as he leads the new Enterprise-E back through time to ensure the test and subsequent meeting with the Vulcans take place.

The first of two films directed by series actor Jonathan Frakes.

Star Trek: Insurrection (1998)

Profoundly disturbed by what he views as a blatant violation of the Prime Directive, Picard deliberately interferes with a Starfleet admiral's (Anthony Zerbe) plan to relocate a relatively small but seemingly immortal population from a mystical planet to gain control of the planet's natural radiation, which has been discovered to have substantial medicinal properties. However, the admiral himself is a pawn in his alien partner's (F. Murray Abraham) mission of vengeance.

Insurrection brought in Deep Space Nine writer Michael Piller instead of Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga who had written for Generations and First Contact.^[13]

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

A clone of Picard (Tom Hardy), created by the Romulans, assassinates the Romulan Senate, assumes absolute power, and lures Picard and the Enterprise to Romulus under the false pretext of a peace overture.

Written by John Logan and directed by Stuart Baird, this film was a critical and commercial failure (released December 13, 2002, in direct competition with Die Another Day, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers) and was the final Star Trek film to feature the Next Generation cast and to be produced by Rick Berman.

Reboot (Kelvin timeline) films

After the poor reception of Nemesis and the cancellation of the television series Enterprise, the franchise's executive producer Rick Berman and screenwriter Erik Jendresen began developing a new film,^[14] titled Star Trek: The Beginning, which would take place before Enterprise, as well as before the original series.^[15] In February 2007, J. J. Abrams accepted Paramount's offer to direct the new film, having been previously attached as producer.^[16] Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote a screenplay that impressed Abrams, featuring new actors portraying younger versions of the original series' cast. The Enterprise, its interior, and the original uniforms were redesigned.

This revival of the franchise is often considered to be a reboot, despite having the same characters and story as the original. Still, it is also a continuation of the franchise, with Nimoy reprising his role of the elderly Spock. This route was taken to free the new films from the restrictions of established continuity without completely discarding it, which the writers felt would have been "disrespectful". This new reality was informally referred to by several names, including the "Abramsverse", "JJ Trek" and "NuTrek", before it was named the "Kelvin timeline" (versus the "Prime timeline" of the original series and films) by Michael and Denise Okuda for use in official Star Trek reference guides and encyclopedias. The name Kelvin comes from the USS Kelvin, a starship involved in the event that creates the new reality in Star Trek (2009).^[17] Abrams named the starship after his grandfather Henry Kelvin, whom he also pays tribute to in Into Darkness with the Kelvin Memorial Archive.^[17][18]

Star Trek (2009)

In the 24th century, a supernova destroys Romulus. Piloting a one-man vessel, Spock (Leonard Nimoy) attempts to contain the supernova by generating an artificial black hole, but is assaulted by a Romulan mining vessel captained by Nero (Eric Bana), who is bent on vengeance for Spock's failure to save Romulus; both vessels are pulled into the black hole and sent back in time to the 23rd century. Nero then captures Spock and uses the black-hole technology to destroy Vulcan. Spock's present-day younger self (Zachary Quinto), who is a Starfleet Academy instructor, and a volatile and arrogant cadet named James Kirk (Chris Pine) must then set aside their current differences, and join forces to prevent Nero from consigning Earth and the rest of the Federation worlds to similar fates.

This film acts as a reboot to the existing franchise by taking place in an alternate reality, using the plot device of time travel to depict an altered timeline, featuring younger versions of the primary original series characters. It is the first production to feature an entirely different cast of actors playing roles previously established by other actors, with the exception of the aged Spock played by Nimoy. It was directed by J. J. Abrams (who produced it with Damon Lindelof) and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. According to Lindelof, this production was designed to attract a wider audience.^[20] It received positive reviews^[21][22][23] and a number of awards, including the film franchise's only Academy Award, for "makeup and hairstyling". A story that covered the events between Nemesis and Star Trek was released as the graphic novel Countdown in early 2009.

Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)

A Starfleet special agent (Benedict Cumberbatch) coerces an officer into blowing up a secret installation in London, shoots up a subsequent meeting of Starfleet brass in San Francisco, and then flees to Qo'noS. The crew of the Enterprise attempt to bring him to justice without provoking war with the Klingon Empire, but find there is much more to the agent's mission, and the man himself, than what the Fleet Admiral (Peter Weller) has told them; the agent is none other than Khan Noonien Singh; his allegiance and his motives are initially not at all clear.

Star Trek Beyond (2016)

The Enterprise is ambushed and destroyed by countless alien micro-vessels; the crew abandon ship. Stranded on an unknown planet, and with no apparent means of escape or rescue, they find themselves in conflict with a new sociopathic enemy (Idris Elba) who has a well-founded hatred of the Federation and what it stands for.

Star Trek Beyond was released on July 22, 2016, in time for the franchise's 50th anniversary celebrations. Roberto Orci had stated that Star Trek Beyond would feel more like the original series than its predecessors in the reboot series while still trying something new with the established material.^[24] In December 2014, Justin Lin was confirmed as the director for the upcoming sequel,^[25] marking the first reboot film not to be directed by J. J. Abrams, whose commitments to Star Wars: The Force Awakens restricted his role on the Star Trek film to that of producer.^[26] In January 2015, it was confirmed that the film would be co-written by Doug Jung and Simon Pegg,^[27] who revealed the film's title that May.^[28] Idris Elba was cast as the villain Krall,^[29][30] while Sofia Boutella was cast as Jaylah.^[31] Filming began on June 25, 2015.^[32] This was the last film to feature Anton Yelchin as Chekov, as the actor died in an automobile accident on June 19, 2016.

Reception

Box office performance

Critical response

Academy Awards

Future

Star Trek: Section 31

In June 2018, after becoming showrunner of Star Trek: Discovery, Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series.^[76] In March 2023, Kurtzman expressed interest in making television films for the franchise as well.^[77] A month later, streaming service Paramount+ announced that Star Trek: Section 31, which had been in development as a spin-off series from Discovery, was moving forward as a streaming "event film" instead. Michelle Yeoh was attached to reprise her Discovery role of Philippa Georgiou in the film, which was written by Craig Sweeny and set to be directed by Discovery executive producer Olatunde Osunsanmi.^[78] Production on Section 31 was expected to begin in late 2023.^[78]

Star Trek 4

While promoting the release of Star Trek Beyond, producer J. J. Abrams revealed that a fourth film in the reboot series would see Chris Hemsworth reprising his role of George Kirk, father of Chris Pine's James T. Kirk, from the prologue of the first reboot film.^[79] Paramount officially announced the film in July 2016 with the working title Star Trek 4. J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay were set to write the screenplay.^[80] In December 2017, Quentin Tarantino approached Abrams and Paramount about an idea he had for a new Star Trek film, and a writers room was hired consisting of Mark L. Smith, Lindsey Beer, Drew Pearce, and Megan Amram.^[81][82] Smith was chosen to write the film's screenplay at the end of the month, based on Tarantino's idea.^[83] S. J. Clarkson entered talks to direct the Beyond sequel in April 2018,^[84] but contract negotiations with Pine and Hemsworth ended in August with the pair leaving the project.^[85] The film was canceled by January 2019, with Clarkson moving on to other projects.^[86] In January 2020, Tarantino said he would not direct his proposed film.^[87]

Noah Hawley was hired to write and direct a new Star Trek film for Paramount in November 2019,^[88] based on his own vision for the franchise.^[89] This project was "very close" to production beginning in August 2020 when it was placed on hold by new Paramount Pictures president Emma Watts, whose top priority at the studio was to figure out the direction of the Star Trek franchise.^[90][91] Watts had several options, including Hawley's film, a new Beyond sequel attempt, and Tarantino's project with a new director.^[90] In March 2021, Paramount set Star Trek: Discovery writer Kalinda Vazquez to write a new Star Trek film, based on her original idea,^[92] while a separate script was developed by Beer and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.^[93] The studio scheduled the latter film for release on June 9, 2023,^[94][95] and hired Matt Shakman to direct it in July. Work was expected to move at "warp speed" ahead of a filming start in early-to-mid 2022,^[96] with Abrams producing.^[95] In November 2021, the film's release was pushed to December 22, 2023. The script was being re-written by Josh Friedman and Cameron Squires.^[97] Abrams and new Paramount Pictures CEO Brian Robbins announced in February 2022 that the main cast from the previous three Star Trek films would return, including Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott, Karl Urban as Leonard McCoy, Zoe Saldaña as Nyota Uhura, and John Cho as Hikaru Sulu.^[98] The announcement came as a surprise to the actors as negotiations had not yet begun for their return.^[99]

Shakman left the film in August 2022 after joining the Marvel Studios film Fantastic Four (2025),^[100] and it was removed from Paramount's release schedule soon after.^[101] In March 2023, Abrams said the search for a new director was underway and expressed his view that the story for the next film was as compelling as the story for the 2009 reboot film. The cast had yet to read a script for the film by then.^[102] In January 2024, it was reported that a fourth film was still in development and would serve as the final chapter of the series.^{[103][104][105]}

Untitled Kelvin Timeline prequel

In January 2024, an "origin story" and prequel film within The Kelvin Timeline series of movies was announced as being in development. Toby Haynes will direct, with a script written by Seth Grahame-Smith and J. J. Abrams producing. The project will be a joint-production between Bad Robot Productions and Paramount Pictures.^[104]

See also

• List of Star Trek production staff

References

Sources

• Trimble, Bjo (October 1986). Stine, Hank (ed.). On the Good Ship Enterprise: My 15 Years with Star Trek (Reprint ed.). Norfolk, Virginia: The Donning Company. ISBN 0-89865-253-7.
• Turnbull, Gerry, ed. (October 1979). A Star Trek Catalog. New York: Grosset & Dunlap. ISBN 0-441-78477-1.