Welcome to another edition of Star Trekking, this blog's regular berth for all thing Star Trek.
This week we're taking a break from the look back at Star Trek: The Next Generation for a look forward.
What pray tell does the future hold for our friends and foes of the Federation?
Well, I hate to say this but the future's kind of fuzzy.
At last week's CinemaCon 2026, Paramount kicked off it's presentations with updates on such franchises like Top Gun, Jackass, Call of Duty, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
And Paramount is rolling the dice on Johnny Depp who dropped by to show off some footage from his upcoming Christmas Carol movie.
Well, good on them for all of that.
But this post is Star Trekking, this blog's regular berth for all thing Star Trek. Whazzup with Trek, y'all?
It seems that in this 60th anniversary year, Paramount is dropping the ball on all things Star Trek.
At the start of the Paramound presentation, there was a rapid fire annoucement of all the things the studio is allegedly working on and buried in the mix was Star Trek.
Basically it boils down to Paramount's standard line that a Star Trek movie is "in development".
They've been saying that for years.
Ever since Star Trek Beyond was released in 2016 (has it really been THAT long?), Paramount's been telling us that a Star Trek movie is "in development".
Last year, we did get this news from the studio that the writing team of John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein were working on a new Star Trek movie which was both good news (Yay! These guys wrote Spider-Man: Homecoming) and bad (Uh oh! These guys wrote The Flash).
SIDE NOTE: John Francis Daley was Dr. Lance Sweet on the TV series Bones. When Daley needed some time off to focus on a writing project, the show had Sweets murdered. And yes, I'm still pissed off about that.
The only other deets we got about this alleged Star Trek project was that the next movie would be a whole new direction with whole new characters.
So fans who WANT to see more Zachary Quinto as Spock, well, no, you're out of luck.
All that was last year. This year at the major hype fest that was CinemaCon 2026, all Paramount could say about Star Trek was "hey, we're working on something, guys".
Paramount saying they have a Star Trek movie in development is about as meaningful as me saying I have a Star Trek movie in development.
So that's Star Trek at the movies? Surely something is going with TV stuff, right?
Nothing.
No, less than nothing.
The sets from the most recent Star Trek series have been broken down and are being sold off at auction.
That write in campaign to save Starfleet Academy? Forget about it.
The idea that Strange New Worlds could spin off into a Star Trek: Year One type series with Paul Wesley as Capt. James T Kirk? Not bloodly likely!
All that world and character building in the last season of Picard carrying over into a Star Trek Legacy series? Sorry but that ship has warped outta here.
To celebrate Stat Trek's 60th anniversary, Paramount is not giving fans anything they want or asked for.
It looks the time of Alex Kurtzman and his Secret Hideout production team on Star Trek is done.
And there is no one set to take his place.
And all we have from Paramound is a vague promise of some kind of movie coming some time.
Paramount has a long history of not quite knowing what to do with this franchise.
William Shatner was in town last week, appearing at the Tanger Center for a screening of Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan and he shared stories afterwards with the audience.
No, I did not get to go but one fan did post a clip online where Shatner shared how Paramount execs were jealous of the success of Star Wars and wondered if they had anything like that. They had to be reminded they owned Star Trek.
And once they remembered, well, their involvement wasn't always helpful. One of the reasons Star Trek: The Motion Picture was so low and ponderous was that Paramount wanted to compete with Star Wars spectacle so character development was sacrificed to put more time for special effects on screen.
Subsequent films were done in by Paramount's ever more stringent budget cuts. Yes, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier was done in by William Shatner's bad story and bad directing but Paramount's bare bones budget of $25 million didn't help either.
When Paramount reluctantly greenlit Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, they did so for the same $25 million budget. The movie repurposed sets from the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series to help meet the budget.
While Paramount's management of the Star Trek franchise has always been questionable, it seems it's fate is even less uncertain under the current Paramount Skydance regime led by CEO David Ellison, a MAGA supporting ally of Donald Trump.
Is Star Trek's future actually in doubt due to it's propensity for progressive views, showing women in charge, racial equality and support for the LGBTQ+ community, all concepts that are anathema to the orange blob monster in the White House? And his billionaire friends?
Like the recent Artemis II mission to the moon demonstrated, Star Trek is the epitome of what good can come from a diverse humanity coming together to accomplish incredible things.
But the powers that be that control Star Trek are following a political movement heading in the opposite direction of such an expansive and hopeful future.
Hopefully this political race to self destruction will reverse itself and Paramount may want to see the wonder and beauty of Star Trek's vision for a diverse and inclusive future.
For now, we have to conted with Paramount's big ol' ball drop.
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Never mind me, what does a wiser and more informed person feel about the current state of Star Trek?
Here are some quotes from Jonathan Frakes on the Star Trek All Access podcast.
“I think, sadly, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of our incredible franchise, it seemed very unfortunate that they’ve chosen this moment to not have any new Trek in production. It seems like a very unfortunate irony. I’m sure that Trek will resurface, it always has, and it always will. And the power that Roddenberry invested in it seems to have made it through six decades.”
As a working actor and director, Frakes can ill afford to burn many bridges in Hollywood but it's clear his hope for the future of Star Trek is tinged with more than a little cynicism.
“So some people who either didn’t like or didn’t approve or didn’t support the latest endeavors, for whatever reason. Perhaps it’s the changing of the guard at Paramount+ and CBS [Studios]. Perhaps it’s indecision. Perhaps it’s the amount of money it costs to make how beautiful the show is; the level of the production has become this sort of “shoot to thrill” cinematic phenomenon that when we did the show back in the ’80s, we counted on storytelling and acting and the occasional camera move. It’s a different beast now, and that beast is very expensive, and as we know, it’s called show business.”
Frakes commented on the recent cancellation of Starfleet Academy.
“Yeah, isn’t that unfortunate? And that’s how [Alex] Kurtzman felt. I got a call from Alex and Noga [Landau], who was his co-showrunner on Starfleet Academy. They were calling people to let them know that the show was kind of ‘on ice,’ I think was the phrase they used. And it was what you just said [critiques coming from people who hadn’t watched the show], they couldn’t not mention as a factor, the trolls.”
Even in the wake of cancellations and halts to production, Frakes looks to hold on to hope. Even if as he says, "None of it is encouraging."
“I’m very optimistic about the future. I just wish that something was percolating now. I know that there’s talk of another movie. I don’t think it’s going to be one of the J.J. movies. It seems it’s going to be a brand-new [idea]. I know that there’s also a percolating idea about the Paul Wesley [Star Trek: Year One], which would be the origin of Kirk, but that’s all I’ve got. All I’ve got is rumor and innuendo, and none of it is encouraging… But in truth, there will be a Star Trek on the air through 2027. That gives us a lot of time to get something else in the oven, if you will.”
God bless Jonathan Frakes. He acknowleges things do not look good for Star Trek right now but he holds on to it's ideals and the hope that it will rise again somehow, some way.
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Next week: Star Trekking returns to the past as we move to season 3 of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
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