Next Star Trek Movie Is Probably Creatively Bankrupt, May Be Remaking Wrath Of Khan

Date: Dec 2, 2011 | Author: Josh Tyler | Category: Sci-Fi

We heard a few weeks ago that Benicio del Toro was being cast to play an unspecified villain in the next Star Trek movie. Now his role has been specified. He’ might be playing Khan.

Right now it’s just an unconfirmed rumor being spread by Latino Review, but it’s a rumor that makes a lot of sense if you try to picture Del Toro in full Khan regalia. They’ve gotten a few rumors like this right before. If and when this Khan rumor pans out, I hope every real Star Trek fan out there will have the sense to hop in a life pod and abandon ship.

Why? Because this would be a slap in the face to everyone who bought in to this new take on the franchise we love. The whole point of rebooting Star Trek and putting it in this parallel universe where anything could happen, was so that they could tell new exciting stories without all that baggage of existing canon. More than that, the whole point of the franchise is to “boldly go where no man has gone before”. It’s in the fucking opening monologue. That’s the world of exciting ideas Gene Roddenberry envisioned.

Why not do something new? Well the writers might have… if they’d actually started working on the script for the sequel three years ago like they were supposed to. Instead, somewhat infamously now, the Star Trek team put off working on the next movie for years so they could do other projects. It’s well known that Paramount was growing impatient, and if you’ve procrastinated about something and run out of time what do you do? You might go the laziest, easiest route to get it done. This is, without a doubt, the laziest and easiest route JJ Abrams, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman could have gone.

Hopefully none of this is true, and they were enthusiastic for it and DID come up with an original idea. If it is true, it’s not hard to understand why.

UPDATE! Director JJ Abrams has already come out and denied the whole thing. However it’s worth nothing that Hollywood denies rumors like this, whether they are true or not. They have a long track record of doing so. In fact in the original LR report they said they believed Abrams and Paramount would lie about it, and say there was no truth to the story, if asked.

What I know is that if they are actually doing this, they’re going against everything that the original JJ Abrams movie and Star Trek in general stands for. Why would would a studio like Paramount Pictures agree to something this stupid? The poll on this story is why. Most of the people voting there, casual fans primarily, are voting that they think this is a great idea. Why do so many people want to see something they’ve already seen done in an inferior fashion? Name recognition. People think they want something new, but what they really want is something comfortable and familiar.

That’s why remakes have become so popular. Hollywood realized a few years ago that the only thing that really mattered in their movies was name recognition. When it comes to villains, there’s no villain more recognizable to Khan.

Star Trek fans, when and if this rumor proves true, know that you’re being spit on.

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Comments

Fjmosca

more than once it ahs been said that the next movie will NOT be a Kahn film……why screw this up now?
Garyholland48

You know for absolute certain it is a re-make? And not perhaps some sort of backstory we haven’t yet seen? By the way, it’s not always about wanting something “comfortable” as you call it, that’s just your opinion. Nothing wrong with an updated version of a old story. So, please speak for yourself and not Star Trek fans.

JT

It says very clearly this is an “unconfirmed rumor” and cites a source. So I’m not sure why you’d ask if we’re “absolute certain”.

And yes, there’s everything wrong with an updated version of an old story for the very reasons outlined in the above article. BOLDLY GO WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE

Not

Boldly go and update things we’ve done before.
http://www.facebook.com/GuyverRyu Jason Gonzales

and really there’s no need for a back story movie either. there is an episode from TOS that gives us the back story already. hopefully this is just a rumor though and del Toro is actually playing a different character. Bringing Kirk’s oldest and most hated foes, the Klingons, would be nice.

http://www.facebook.com/briancmckinley Brian C McKinley

I say let this new universe die an ignored death. there is so much good stuff that could be done with the real Trek. This is just a bastardization. It was an interesting idea but it is not Trek. imo

JT

Point me to the lifepods. I’ll eject with you, if this turns out to be true.

http://dbcooper.livejournal.com P.F. Bruns

*canon
*boldly

Sorry to be a stickler.
Ajitaryu

One of the main reasons I love reading you guys is your laser sight aim.Right through the Hollywood bullshit and down to the,they’re trying to screw the audience out of their hard earned $. The only way to stop this shit, is to stop buying into it.Nice job yet again!
http://www.cookiesfromthedarkside.wordpress.com MichaelL65

It could be Khan’s son.

JT

That’s not the rumor. But that might be the one thing that could be even lamer.
https://twitter.com/#!/haversam [A]

It could be Khan’s song.

JT

LOL

http://www.cookiesfromthedarkside.wordpress.com MichaelL65

And, why wouldn’t Khan be in this alternate Universe/timeline?

JT

No one said he wouldn’t. But the point is to boldly go to NEW worlds. To seek out NEW life. Not revisit old stuff which was already done perfectly and which we can watch any time by popping in a DVD.

http://twitter.com/GillRockatansky Gilleathain McLean

Actually, it is completely impossible for this to be a remake of Wrath of Khan, since Wrath of Khan is a sequel to the TOS series 1 episode Space Seed. Wrath of Khan can’t be remade until the events of Space Seed have happened in this new timeline.

If JJ is making Khan the villain then, due to the changes caused by Spock Prime, things would probably be different – though Khan’s motives would most likely be the same. So, we’d get Kirk Vs. Khan, but not Wrath of Khan as that would be a revenge movie with no revenge motive.

http://www.facebook.com/GuyverRyu Jason Gonzales

Khan wouldn’t actually be in the mood for revenge as the circumstances that caused his revenge haven’t actually happened yet. Kirk has yet to meet him and maroon him on that planet as this alternate timeline is taking place at the same time as the very beginning of TOS. This would basically have to be a movie version of “Space Seed” and not Khan’s actual revenge plot.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Grade/516711380 Jason Grade

Agreed. If you’re going to rehash an original series/original movie villain, then do one that was implemented poorly. Like Sybok (Star Trek V), the Gorn (TOS: Arena), Garth of Izar (TOS: Whom Gods Destroy), etc.

Khan was already handled perfectly well in Star Trek II. There is no reason to redo that movie/concept/character.

Best case scenario, this new Trek movie would have been a space exploration movie, and the “villain” would be the environment or circumstances rather than a specific person.

Bscharwath

No! please just let V die, forever.

http://www.cookiesfromthedarkside.wordpress.com MichaelL65

BTWW, Edward James Olmos would make a great Khan!
Garyholland48

But is it just the one source or are there others making the same statement? It’s just that your comments seemed to convey that you’re already convinved it IS true. And it may be,..But would J.J. Abrams really do this even with pressure from Paramount?

JT

Correct, right now it’s just this one source. It tried to make it clear above that we don’t know if it’s true. It’s a rumor, an unconfirmed rumor. Sadly there’s literally no way to know right now, for sure, one way or the other. I’d rather err on the side of outrage and let Paramount know how much this sucks, just in case it is real, and we can talk them out of it.

https://twitter.com/#!/haversam [A]

Maybe they’re doing some sort of social commentary on the current economy and the villain will be named Strauss-Kahn. It’s possible.
http://twitter.com/GillRockatansky Gilleathain McLean

Thing is, this new universe is entirely changed. The Khan story from the old Trek doesn’t matter to it, but perhaps Khan and Kirk are predestined to become mortal enemies, that means the JJ universe needs to introduce them to each other. Maybe JJ will even persuade Nimoy to reappear as Spock Prime and give Kirk a bit of advice. Everyone was happy that Nimoy was in the first one, so why be do down about them wanting to keep Khan in the story as well? At least it isn’t Humpback Whales.

JT

Nimoy is an actor. Khan is a character. The two ideas aren’t really comparable.

http://twitter.com/GillRockatansky Gilleathain McLean

OK, I’ll rephrase: Everyone was happy that Spock Prime was in the first one, so why be so down about them wanting to keep Khan in the story as well? You may be saying that they have to do new things in this extension of the franchise, but they are now back to the beginning of the original series’ timeline. None of the stuff you seem to consider having happened has actually happened. No point complaining about canon, the entire canon can be rewritten – but fans will enjoy seeing old encounters happening again in this slightly skewed timeline, like the ‘red shirt’ dying in the last film.

Think of it like Back To The Future: Marty is Kirk, Biff is Khan. Different encounters by the same characters in slightly alternate realities.

Finally, Khan’s appearance in Wrath of… was part of the same ‘name recognition’ that you’re complaining about.

JT

Still not really comparable ideas. Spock prime’s appearance was a continuation of the existing Star Trek story. To do the same thing with Khan you’d have to have Ricardo sent to the parallel universe. But you can’t, because that character was killed.

http://twitter.com/GillRockatansky Gilleathain McLean

Spock went back in time. It isn’t a parallel universe, it is an alternate timeline based on what Spock did. Khan will still be alive, unless he happened to be killed by Nero. This is Star Trek, not Fringe.
Anonymous

It is an alternate timeline based in another parallel universe. Its called string theory, read up on it.
Zeppo

Alive yes, but as of the end of JJTrek, Khan is still in suspended animation. Kirk has not found their shipped and released them yet. Khan could easily get missed and stay frozen for many more years.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Grade/516711380 Jason Grade

Wrong. The opening of the movie clearly establishes a Starfleet that is already different than the Starfleet that we had seen in TOS. The Kelvin looks nothing like a pre-TOS ship should look like, and it is WAY too large (20 shuttles? Really?). The crew is already wearing the delta shield patches on their shirts (in TOS, each ship/base had its own patch similar to modern NASA missions). And the technology is already superior to what was seen in TOS. Spock Prime doesn’t travel to the past and create an alternate timeline. He travels to a parrallel universe’s past and creates an alternate parallel timeline.
http://twitter.com/GillRockatansky Gilleathain McLean

Ok, here’s the timelines (in years rather than stardates).

Spock Prime travels back from 2387 to 2258 (Nero going back to 2233).
Khan’s ship in TOS isn’t found until 2267, though he has been frozen since the 1990′s.
Khan isn’t killed until 2285.

So, Khan appearing would fit in perfectly with this universe’s timeline. You can check all the dates @ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Star_Trek
http://www.facebook.com/GuyverRyu Jason Gonzales

Good job with the dates. A movie with Khan wouldn’t actually be a Wrath of Khan remake as that occurred in 2285. This is approximately around year 2267 when he is found. It’s possible that this time Khan will become a good guy and either join Kirk as an ally or maybe sacrifice himself to save Kirk against, oh, say the Klingons? How would that be for a trip away from canon while still name dropping some familiar faves?

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Grade/516711380 Jason Grade

Yes, and Nimoy’s advice should be: “Don’t make this movie!”

http://www.facebook.com/people/Dusty-Rhodes/100001408648181 Dusty Rhodes

Here’s a bold idea. Cast Lindsay Lohan as Khan, so Kirk can have a sex scene. And for kicks, since we blew up Vulcan in the last one, lets blow up Earth! With the Death Star (since Abrams loves Star Wars so much that he made a Star Wars movie called Star Trek).
Anonymous

I am pretty convinced that it’s going to be Khan, because the first movie showed that this new team doesn’t give a crap about coherence or logic. (A supernova destroying a galaxy, blah!) They’ll just handwave away the myriad problems with this as “Hey it’s a new timeline! Everything’s different now!”

(And no, my point is NOT that they should slavishly recreate the old timeline down to the last detail. They should avoid the old timeline altogether and, as this article states, tell NEW STORIES. They INSISTED that they felt creatively shackled by the old continuity and therefore they just HAD to COMPLETELY WRECK AND WIPE OUT forty years of great stories. I hated and still hate the first movie for that. But if they did it because they wanted freedom to tell new stories and then they just serve up this crap, then I won’t be paying to see this or any subsequent TREK movie until these vultures leave. Not everybody wants to see STAR TREK turned into “STAR WARS with Vulcans,” thank you…)
Aquamelli

Q!
IanR

The first “Reboot” was Star Trek in name only. Only the McCoy character in any way resembled the original. It had flashy FX, big explosions, a dire script, some lame acting and very little logic to it. So why expect much from the sequel? It probably will feature Khan and thus insult a host of fans, but the producers won’t care and it will probably make a fortune.

I hate to say it but real Star Trek is dead and the new films are just shovelling dirt on top of it’s coffin. Very sad.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Grade/516711380 Jason Grade

Except that his name “Bones” is supposed to be derived from the term “Old Sawbones”, which is a reference to Civil War doctors who would have to cut off a patient’s injured limb to prevent infection. The name has nothing to do with his wife/divorce.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-Grade/516711380 Jason Grade

One thing that is interesting is that Peter Weller is supposed to be playing a secondary villain who his agent describes as a “C.E.O.”. Conventional wisdom states that “C.E.O.” must mean that he’s a corporate C.E.O. But the abbreviation “C.E.O.” just means “Chief Executive Officer”, which could also be a reference to the executive officer of a ship (i.e. second in command). So if the Khan rumors are true, Weller could be playing one of Khan’s right-hand men, or he could be the commander of a ship that Khan hijacks (Captain Terrell in Star Trek II) who is brainwashed or coerced into helping Khan.

However, what is more interesting is the fact that Weller already had a role in Star Trek. In Star Trek Enterprise’s second-to-last episode, Weller played John Paxton, the C.E.O. of a lunar mining colony and leader of a terran racial purity terrorist organization. So could Abrams somehow be reviving an Enterprise villain to play a part in his Star Trek sequel?
Bscharwath

Even if it is Khan how do you know they are redoing Wrath of Khan….they could be going back to the series Khan….maybe they can even explain why Khan recognizes Chekhov in the movie even when he was NOT in the original episode. Please, chill out and give Abrams a chance….who cares as long as there is another movie….
Jake Schneider

You make a lot of decisions for trek fans, try to stop that. It’s not becoming of you.
Anonymous

Why don’t trekkies make the next movie?
Harlander

I’ve seen far more comments to the effect of “No, it’s not Khan, but somebody else you might recognize from TOS.” Add in other comments that they want to give attention to their ideas for the Klingons that ended up on the cutting room floor, and I think it’s more likely that the next villain will be one of the three major Klingon captains Kirk encountered in TOS: Kor, Koloth, or Kang…
Frank

I’m cool with another Khan.
jamesweld

I am a big Star Trek fan but if they are pushing for a reboot of Khan, it may be time for me to say goodbye to the greatest sci/fi adventure show. A show that helped spawn so many technological inventions because children first watching the show dreamed of, then built so many of the items seen on the show. We all grow up and take interests in other things like gardening and talking about the weather. We no longer look up at the stars and dream, that’s for our kids. Like the loss of Steve Jobs who built things to his imagination the ended up causing a change in the way we do things electronically, Gene Roddenberry was a creative thinker and entertained a generation of TV watchers with a fantastic story and a great chemistry between the actors. Finding the people to play those parts meant more to the show than any of the storylines. The new cast is cold and just reading the scripts. They are only interested in getting a paycheck and nothing more.
Captain Nero

* to boldly go where no bulls**t has gone before would be more apt i think
i mean gee’s Paramount give us a break here ( loyal trekkie’s principally )
this re- boot was supposed to be taken in a brave new direction but what
happened?? did the wheels fall off …oops sorry i meant to say did the warp
nacells fall off during transwarp drive or something??.
get off your lazy butts and give us loyal fans what we have been asking for
please as for many years now we have heard one boring dribble after another
about a * new star trek movie * in the making but have yet to see even one
decent trailer about said proposed movie for crying out loud.
half of the people commenting here could come up with a better story line / plot
for a new star trek movie one that would be full of the magic that made the
original movie so popular when they first came all those years ago but no we
have to start rolling over in our grave in abject horror of what Paramount pictures
are actually trying to ram down our collective throats.

* Star Trekking Across the universe * if they bring out this movie idea its going
to get worse ( yes its the jungle they brought out years ago folks if you remember the words to the ditty … star trekking across the universe )…lol ^_^
nuff said already O.o

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