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STAR TREK: SOUND EFFECTS – OST 1988

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• Photography

Star Trek Sound Effects

Starship Ambiences

Enterprise-a rumble, enterprise-a bridge, bridge chatter, radio static, heart beat scanner, engineering, engines straining, brig forcefield, transporter room, computer room, ship sound fx.

• Force Field On
• Force Field Zap
• Communicator
• Shuttle Fly-By
• Hailing Freq
• Intercom Whistle
• Deflector Beam
• Ship Phaser
• Lots of Torps
• Phasers/Torps
• Tractor Beam
• Being Hailed
• Short Alert
• Distress Beacon

Computer beeps

• Buttons Long
• Buttons Short
• Button Short
• Button No Work
• Console Burnout
• Small Explosion
• Long Explosion

Transporter

• Transport Fail

Meta Sounds

• Triumph Sting
• Tension Sting
• Bad News Sting
• I'm a Doctor
• Comp "Working"

Equipment FX

• Tricorder Special
• Phaser Stun
• Phaser Kill
• Phaser Explosive
• Klingon Disruptor Pistol
• Disruptor Generic
• TOS Phaser Stun
• TOS Phaser Kill

Disruptor Battle

Romulan sound fx, rom ship noise.

• Disruptor Pistol
• Rom Transporter
• Rom Replicator
• Romulan Cloak
• Ship Disruptor
• Romulan Torp

Klingon Sound FX

Klingon ship rumble, klingon bridge.

• Klingon Torp
• Klingon Alarm
• Klingon Cloaking
• Klingon De-Cloaking
• Klingon Door
• Kling Disruptor Low
• Kling Disruptor High
• Klingon Transporter

Sound effects Technology

  Communication

  Holodeck

  Transporter

  Equipment

  Weapons

  Ship systems

  Bridge equipment

  Doors

  Miscellaneous

Cardassian Union

  Systems

Ferengi Alliance

Klingon Empire

Romulan Star Empire

Miscellaneous

Copyright information

The avaiable sound effects files were taken directly from the according Star Trek TV series or movies, and from diverse interactive CD-ROM applications or games (Star Trek: TNG Interactive Technical Manual, Star Trek Captain's Chair, Star Trek Generations, Star Trek: DS9 Harbinger). All copyrights are the property of their respective holders. Concerning the public use of the files: since the sounds have been reworked and enhanced by the author, I expect credits with link to the Star Trek Dimension at all events.  

© 1999-2000 by Star Trek Dimension / Webmaster . Last update: November 12th, 2000

• Entertainment

Hear 13 iconic Star Trek sounds created by the late Douglas Grindstaff

Listen to a Tribble cooing and a phaser blasting and remember the man who made it happen.

• Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year"​ award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.

The Tribbles' distinctive coos were created by Douglas Grindstaff.

Douglas Grindstaff, the man responsible for many of the signature sounds in the original Star Trek TV series, died July 23 at age 87, StarTrek.com reported .

"Please join us in remembering Douglas Grindstaff, the award-winning sound editor and designer behind many iconic  #StarTrek  sounds," reads a tweet from the show's official Twitter account.

Please join us in remembering Douglas Grindstaff, the award-winning sound editor and designer behind many iconic #StarTrek sounds #TOS #StarTrekFamily #StarTrekRemembers https://t.co/J0qxlSo1AQ pic.twitter.com/XncRDozxmT — Star Trek (@StarTrek) July 25, 2018

Grindstaff and co-workers Joseph Sorokin and Jack Finlay teamed up to deliver all the background sounds and effects on the fabled CBS show, which ran from 1966-1969. (CBS is CNET's parent company.)  In 1967, Grindstaff was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Individual Achievements in Film and Sound Editing category.

Fans appreciated Grindstaff's work. "He made the Enterprise come alive," wrote Twitter user Kelly Key. "The background buzz on the bridge always reminded me of crickets and cicadas from a field on a summer night -- full of life and activity."

He made the Enterprise come alive. The background buzz on the bridge always reminded me of crickets and cicadas from a field on a summer night-full of life and activity. — Kelly Key (@KellywrtrKey) July 25, 2018

May the stars always shine brightly down on DG. May the songs of the universe call his name. — Ann Flynt (@AnnFlynt) July 25, 2018

a talented man - RIP : were his beautiful ambient sounds ever available on some kind of mp3 ? did they ever do that - its very theraputic stuff - please advize — JonjackJones (@JackJohnCarter) July 25, 2018

Why must all the great people die...RIP Douglas ♡ — san || 🖖 (@triwizardkirk) July 26, 2018

Grindstaff is survived by his wife Marcia, his three children and her three children, and by 16 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren, with more on the way. Grindstaff, a Korean War combat veteran, also worked on such shows as The Brady Bunch, Dallas and Mission: Impossible.

Take a listen to some of the memorable sounds Grindstaff helped bring to life.

1. Red alert klaxon

Set this one up on your iPhone for the most unnerving wake-up alarm ever.

2. Transporter sounds

Some of us seriously thought this would be the transportation of the future. Still waiting though.

3. Tribbles cooing

Poor Kirk just wanted his chicken sandwich and coffee, Tribble-free.

4. Phasers firing

Some of us may've made these noises while running around the backyard pointing random objects at our neighbors. 

5. Bridge doors

Modern doors just don't close with this satisfying swoosh.

6. Boatswain's whistle

On the original show, the boatswain's (pronounced BEAU-son's) whistle was used to open shipboard communications via the ship's intercom. You'll know it when you hear it.

7. Heartbeats

Dr. McCoy probably heard a lot of these in sick bay.

8. Hull hit

That sounds like a bad one. 

9. Inside the shuttle craft

Lots of sounds share space inside the shuttle.

10. Sick bay scanners

These sound a little bit like a plaintive waterfowl calling to its mate.

11. Warp drive

Brace yourself: Warp speed, Mr. Sulu.

12. Food and drink synthesizer

Kirk was more of a coffee achiever, but later on, Jean-Luc Picard would demand his "Earl Grey, hot."

13. Open a hailing frequency

Nichelle Nichols' Lt. Uhura, the Enterprise's communications officer, was a pioneering character.

First published July 30, 4:29 p.m. PT.  Update, July 31, 1:09 p.m. PT:  Adds some of Grindstaff's most iconic sounds.  

Zip me up, Scotty: 50 years of Star Trek uniforms

Star Trek Ringtones

Beam your phone up with these great ringtones from the Star Trek tv series. Sound effects from the star ships, computers and actors are here.

Category: Sound FX    Tracks: 63    Views: 2058022   

by Jason Booth - 63 tracks

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Peace and long life.

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• Paramount/Netflix/Other Streaming Trek
• Star Trek: Discovery

What about the sound effects?

• Thread starter Gingerbread Demon
• Start date May 30, 2019

• Gingerbread Demon

I love Star Trek Discovery

• May 30, 2019

I think the sound design on the show as pretty good as much as the visual effects but in the 2 parter finale for season 2 did they use JJ Trek engine sounds? When the ships went to warp it sounded like the JJprise?  

F. King Daniel

Fleet admiral.

As far as I can tell (and I'm no expert) the sound design on the show draws from every iteration of Trek. TOS bridge sounds, TNG noises for hailing frequencies and other tidbits, Voyager's sound for Pike's ready room and I'm pretty sure they used Kelvin button sounds (or something very similar) when Michael was crawling through air ducts on the palace ship in the mirror universe finale. So I wouldn't be surprised if the warp jump was the Kelvin noise, since it was certainly made to resemble it visually.  

King Daniel Beyond said: As far as I can tell (and I'm no expert) the sound design on the show draws from every iteration of Trek. TOS bridge sounds, TNG noises for hailing frequencies and other tidbits, Voyager's sound for Pike's ready room and I'm pretty sure they used Kelvin button sounds (or something very similar) when Michael was crawling through air ducts on the palace ship in the mirror universe finale. So I wouldn't be surprised if the warp jump was the Kelvin noise, since it was certainly made to resemble it visually. Click to expand...

The Wormhole

• Jun 15, 2019

I've noticed a lot of 24th century computer sounds and alarms used throughout the show. Except the Enterprise, which takes all its auditory cues from TOS.  

Vice Admiral

• Jun 16, 2019

And the 24th century Klingon and Romulan alert sounds that Starfleet is using 100 years earlier... so damn lazy that they didn't come up with anything new, and instead reused sounds that make no sense and don't fit at all!  

NCC-73515 said: And the 24th century Klingon and Romulan alert sounds that Starfleet is using 100 years earlier... so damn lazy that they didn't come up with anything new, and instead reused sounds that make no sense and don't fit at all! Click to expand...

• Jun 17, 2019

That doesn't make much sense  

Fleet Captain

Honestly i'd say the sound design, at least as far as the ships has been what I would classify as "A ****ing mess." Since the beginning. The pew pew's have been off, the dropping in of the TOS torpedo sounds is jarring. The use of all different kinds of sounds from all the eras at seeming random is off putting. Honestly, if they want to use some of the old sounds, that's fine, but they really need to come up with a coherent voice for the sound design in season 3.  

• Jun 18, 2019

OpenMaw said: they really need to come up with a coherent voice for the sound design in season 3. Click to expand...

• Jun 19, 2019

BeatleJWOL said: They have. They're all Star Trek sounds. Click to expand...

OpenMaw said: a cacophony of nostalgia and misery Click to expand...

OpenMaw said: Not what I meant. They do not harmonize. They distract. You have sounds from the 60s, 90s, and newly created sound effects intermixing constantly, and it becomes a cacophony of nostalgia and misery. Click to expand...

BeatleJWOL said: As in the old sound effects being the nostalgia and the new sound effects being the misery? That sounds like a personal problem. Click to expand...

Lord Garth said: Not everything in 2019 is from 2019. My house was built in 1962, my microwave is from 1994, my car is from 2009. When I turn on the radio, if it's terrestrial, I'll hear a song from the '90s, a song from the '80s, something from 2012, and then suddenly 1977. Talk about whip-lash. Click to expand...

I didn't care for the half-assed excuse for using 24th century sounds that Discovery was supposed to be the most advanced ship in Starfleet, so it'd be ahead of the curve. One, that doesn't explain the same sound palette being used on the Shenzhou (because it's clearly an after-the-fact rationalization), and, two, that's like doing a movie on the Titanic and having the telegraph sound like this because the ship was a top-of-the-line technological marvel for the time. It shouldn't have been so much trouble to keep it straight. They had all the TOS sounds, all the ENT sounds, and even, potentially, a revamped version of the TOS sounds from the KT movies, or even do what the prior series and films generally did, and make up a new sonic vocabulary. But, no, let's just randomly have one room on the Discovery use the doorbell from Voyager .  

This, my friends, is why I'm glad Discovery 's not a prequel anymore...  

Mark_Nguyen

Rear admiral.

Commercial airplanes have been using the same "bing-bong" alert sounds in the cabin for decades now. It ain't broke, they ain't fixing it. That said, I also find the DSC sound design distracting. Whoever's in charge was most likely given a big ZIP disk from 2005 filled with everything that the Berman era came up with, which includes folders for various episodes set in or flashing back to the TOS era, and told to have fun with it. The very-certainly-in-the-tiny-minority of fans who DO care about such things is already way smaller than the fraction of fans who are okay with ANY familiar sounds being part of the mix, and THEY are far smaller than the fraction of watchers who don't give a hoot. Still, IMO it pales in comparison to the relative consistency we had in the Berman era. When we were on the Defiant, it SOUNDED like the Defiant. When the NX-01 Enterprise had a bridge scene, it sounded distinctly different, even to the casual fan who wouldn't pay it too much mind. And when either of those shows time traveled or dimension jumped or whatever onto a TOS starship, by golly did it sound like it was 196X again. Here it DOES sound like Trek, but any close ear to the ground makes it sound sloppy and lazy, using random sound effects found in a folder and used because it had "bridge comm beep 002" in the file name. I can only hope that someone pays attention to the new Picard show and gives it a sound portfolio that sounds evolved from TNG, and more importantly distinct from DSC. Mark  

• Jun 24, 2019

Meh, all the different Trek sounds still are nothing compared to season 1's TIE Fighter.  

• Jun 28, 2019

DSC uses previously used sound effects. Fans: how lazy that they just recycled things! DSC uses new sound effects. Fans: that's not what it would sound like on Star Trek!  

Boris Skrbic

seigezunt said: DSC uses previously used sound effects. Fans: how lazy that they just recycled things! DSC uses new sound effects. Fans: that's not what it would sound like on Star Trek! Click to expand...

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“Star Trek Origin” Movie Tidbit: Reportedly Set Mostly On Earth

| July 17, 2024 | By: TrekMovie.com Staff 146 comments so far

Next Monday, July 22nd, is the 8th anniversary of the last Star Trek feature film, Star Trek Beyond . Earlier this year Paramount put an “Untitled Star Trek Origin” movie on their upcoming slate of feature films. The setting of this film, and how it will tie into Trek canon has been a bit of a mystery, but a new tidbit could offer a little clue.

Back to Earth?

Last week the biggest news in Hollywood was the official announcement of a merger with Skydance Media and Paramount. In one of the post-announcement analysis articles, The Hollywood Reporter broke down what to expect out of the new Paramount, which included a bit about Star Trek, which it described as a “A crown jewel of the Paramount empire,” but noting it has struggled to become a major box office draw. Skydance is already invested in the Star Trek film franchise, having co-produced the last two feature films. According to THR, Skydance retains the option to opt-in to the upcoming Star Trek films, which so far have been developed independently by Paramount’s Motion Picture Group.

David Ellison confirmed that he plans to expand Paramount’s release slate, producing more feature films than the studio has in recent years. The THR piece broke down what feature films to expect from Paramount next, including two Star Trek movies already in development: the “Origin” movie and the “Star Trek 4” sequel to Beyond , featuring the Kelvin cast led by Chris Pine. The interesting tidbit was what the article had to say about the origin movie:

[A] prequel focusing on humanity’s early contact with aliens and the formation of the Federation. Andor  director Toby Haynes is attached to direct a script by Seth Grahame-Smith that is rumored to take place largely on Earth. The studio sees the project as an entry point for new fans who do not need to know about decades of canon (or keep up with the myriad shows on Paramount+). No cast or release date is set, but it’s in pole position to be the next  Trek  to hit the big screen.

The bit about alien contact in and the formation of the Federation had been reported before, but this is the first note of the rumor the film is primarily on Earth. This was also the case for the 1996 film Star Trek: First Contact . Of course, humanity’s home planet has also been featured in several other Star Trek feature films.

Zefram Cochrane greets the Vulcan visitor to Earth in Star Trek: First Contact (Paramount Pictures)

This update from THR also indicates the origin movie isn’t tied into the Paramount+ shows, nor would it rely on established Trek canon. In May Variety reported, “the film is intended as an origin story for the main timeline of the ‘Star Trek’ franchise (rather than the alternate Kelvin timeline, started with 2009’s “Star Trek”).” If the film is set in Trek’s Prime universe, it’s unclear how it would fit with established lore, especially as seen in First Contact and Star Trek: Enterprise .

The fate of the future of Star Trek on the big screen still remains unclear, but if Paramount wants to be back in theaters in time for the 60th anniversary, they are going to have to start making moves soon to make that happen.

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

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I’m not a pessimistic person but this feels wrong on a few levels. The brilliance of this “not so difficult to understand” series is that you are away from Earth for the vast majority of the time. It’s not about Earth, it’s about characters encountering the limitless possibilities of going “out there.” This pre-prequel idea doesn’t sit well with me.

Yes…. But…. Doesn’t almost every feature film have a bit of Earth in it?

Yes – a bit. Studios reckon that movie audiences like to see Earth. I suppose it gives them a point of contact. I wonder if any Star Trek audience wants to be there all the time.

It’s funny because in the TOS movies the movie that was away from Earth the most is Khan and it was considered the best. Conversely Voyage Home was 99% entirely on earth and it was considered the second best. So the whole “Earth” thing really depends on the point of view.

and – that was also an entry point movie. You didn’t *need* to know all the background with Khan. It helps certainly, but it was just a fun movie, so it was a hit

Exactly, it was a submarine battle movie in space and done better than most actual submarine movies.

‘Khan’ begins with the ‘maru’ training room at the Frisco academy , then to kirk’s apartment by the bay and then up to space dock to launch the enterprise on the training mission.

Thats why I said the most, not all :). But when referencing Kirk’s apt I think you are thinking of Star Trek III

OOps, I take that back, the “glasses and Romulan Ale scene”

“Voyage Home was considered the second best”. By whom? You? Undiscovered was a much better film! Voyage was so hokey! Transparent aluminum, Spock nerve-pinching a punk rocker, “There be whales!”, etc., etc. An embarassment.

if not the best then the one with the most crossover appeal to non trekkers.

‘insurrection’ and ‘beyond’ the only ones not set on earth at some point.

The Voyage Home and First Contact were almost completely on Earth.

It’s just easier to be a bit indifferent to all Trek movies, they always try to straddle the line between being Trek and being a blockbuster and end up being a bit lack luster on both accounts.

If it is an origin story, it would make sense to have a large portion of it take place on Earth. Even after Starfleet and the Star Trek universe was well established, you have had two feature films take place primarily on Earth. Star Trek IV and First Contact were almost entirely set on Earth.

The entry point for all of Star Trek took place in space on a starship seeking out new life and new civilizations. Paramount should try and remember that.

Sadly that concept does not bring in general audiences and Trek fans aren’t enough to make a successful movie.

I disagree. How many people that went to see Oppenheimer had read Richard Rhodes’ amazing 1000 page tome “The Making of the Atomic Bomb” or were interested in 1940s physics or 1950s politics?

Trek has been part of the culture for over 60 years now. It’s part of the water we swim in to some degree. “General audiences” are aware of Trek, and sci-fi, in general, does well.

Additionally: “general audiences” is such an insulting term, both to fans and non-fans. It’s a studio give-up term for “we don’t really know what we should do with this franchise so we’ll just make it as generic ‘Save the Cat’ as possible and hope it doesn’t end up going against a Tom Cruise movie”

Cast it well, produce it well, and **write a good script**, and it will succeed. Even if it doesn’t pop on opening day, it will get word-of-mouth run and do just fine. Nothing that kicked off a franchise ever had baked in “general audience” concern. They had a vision and execution. THAT’S what general audiences want. Give them that, and they will come.

Well keep in mind Oppenheimer had a lot going for it, like Nolan for example. That man’s name alone can put butts in seats. Besides, you don’t have to have read the book to know the devistating history of the Manhattan project.

I would almost argue that for non-fans, “Star Trek” acts like a deterrant to see a movie rather than a reason to. Star Wars may have broken the barrier into “cool” territory but Star Trek never did.

Kepp in mind Star TRek 4 took place almost entirely on Earth and to this day is one of the best Trek movies.

Nope. See above.

Keep in mind I said one of the best, not THE best. Remember this is the movie that gave birth to the “even movies” are good theory.

So it takes place in a different timeline from the Prime or Kelvin universe? They did hint at it but I always assumed it would be in the prime universe.

If so, I’m fine with that although I still don’t know why it would need to since we know zilch about the early days of Starfleet unless they are making drastic changes and it’s the Andorians or Bajorans that makes first contact or something.

But nothing about the premise itself sounds like it will excite new fans. I don’t think anyone cares about early Star Trek history except the people who already watch it. But maybe there will be more to it.

According to the article, the movie apparently is not going to be relying on established canon, which right there sends up red flags, since it’s supposed to be an origin story taking place in the main/prime timeline, though there will be people that will argue that the main timeline and prime timeline are not one & the same & are separate timelines like the Kelvin Timeline.

I don’t know HOW they’re going to pull it off, but not relying established canon means that they’re going to have to make something incredible to pull this off.

Yeah that’s what I mean. We know nothing about early Starfleet outside of the Vulcans and Cochrane getting it off the ground.. I don’t even think there is a year it was established in.Unless I’m forgetting something that’s it so not sure what would they need to change to say it’s not part of established canon?

But maybe there will be some big conflict that will make it obvious it is it’s own thing from what we know from Enterprise. Maybe the Xindi or someone new attacks Earth 50 years earlier or something.

One thing we do know thougfrom Enterprise is that the Federation is established like over 100 years after First Contact. This description mentions the early days with contact AND the forming of the Federation. Unless this movie takes place across decades this can’t follow canon.

Man I am so sick of writers telling us canon is too hard and they can’t be creative. Get creative and figure it out.

I guess they think they have a clean slate because they’re out in front of the events that have been chronicled?

Something tells me red matter will not be involved.

I think they said it’s cannon to the current start trek time line

Yeah I reread it and you’re right. it’s a little confusing because it makes clear it will take place in the current timeline afterall but not rely on established canon? What?

This butts into an issue that I’ve had since they started talking about the conceit of the kelvinverse. The new timeline was created as a branch from the existing one.. but how can you have a branch with a whole new timeline without a separate past? If the past is the same, what happens when Kelvin Kirk travels back and alters things? It has to be a new past.. but it was explained that it wasn’t.. but I think the creatives look at it differently, and that’s part of the problem, too.

The idea isn’t that Kelvin branched off from when the Narada came back in time. When the Red Matter black whole formed it sucked up a whole lot of matter. That matter condensed into a form that was so dense it could not contain itself and exploded, hence creating a big bang and the Kelvin Universe. It’s actually just a coincidence that the Narada arrived in their 23rd century (different universe means time and space and physics do not operate the same).

That…is not what that means. It’s been said again and again: The Kelvin timeline diverges from the prime timeline in 2233, when the USS Kelvin meets the Narada, and Kirk’s father dies saving the crew.

Everything before that is identical, so the events of First Contact and Enterprise still happen.

Everything in the Prime Timeline after Prime Spock is swept back from Prime-2387 to the Kelvin-2258 continued as normal, as well (see: Picard / Discovery )

It is a branched timeline, following the “many worlds” interpretation of the multiverse concept, i.e. for every possible event that could happen, it does happen, creating a branched timeline, or as they would say in Loki , a variant timeline.

That said there are separate parallel universes (like the MU) which may have their own branched timelines; conceptually a parallel universe may just be a very, very deep branched timeline, but the writers like to keep this loosey-goosey for storytelling reasons.

This was what has been said by the powers that be, but i keep going back to, a branching future would cause either disruption to the existing past, or a whole new past. I agree with the idea that the Narada incident created a whole new timeline, including a new past. I think the current writers have ran with that idea, instead of what Orci and Kurtzman said back when Trek 09 came out.

Not according to Dr. Erin MacDonald, the current scientific advisor and Prodigy guest star,

“I do believe in multiverses. My favorite multiverse theory is something called the dripping black hole theory, which is where you get a black hole in our universe, which then merge, then grow, then migrate to the center of galaxies — and that’s where we have supermassive black holes. All of this matter is falling into it, and it’s converting it into energy. It’s tearing it apart.

We don’t know what really happens in there, but the dripping black hole theory is that it reaches a critical mass or critical amount of energy, and it explodes, and it gives birth to it. That’s the Big Bang in another universe.”

I don’t know how much I agree with this idea because I don’t understand how creating a ‘new’ universe gives you billions of years of the same past of the universe you just came from? Basically every atom formed exactly the same way as the original universe and stretched out for billions of years and not just when Kirk was born.

It’s really hard to wrap my head around that, but I guess you can say that about most ideas of a multiverse lol.

Well, ya, it’s hard for me too lol. The important thing to remember in physics (I am NOT a scientist as you know) is that the laws of physics and time as we know it are bound to our universe, not outside of it.

Case and point, the universe is about 13 – 14 billion years old. But the furthest object we have ever observed is over 46 billion light years away? How? because the universe’s growth is not bound by our laws of physics, only what is within our universe it.

Remember the episode of DS9 where a runabout accidently got a miro universe caught on a nacelle in the wormhole? The thing was tiny enough to sit on a console in Ops. But as Dax stated, within that universe billions of years might have passed.

This was always the problem with the Kelvin movies, it wanted to be both connected but disconnected from the prime universe at the same time and it just complected things more in the end as British Khan proved.

And I knew they would never keep to that time travel rule because it just makes things overly convoluted and was completely ignored when they started making new shows again and just went back to the old rules.

I’ve always defended the idea of the movie premise but in the end it was probably a better idea to just do a direct reboot and just do whatever you wanted. These were people desperately trying to find a way to keep the movies relevant to old fans but something new fans didn’t have to care about. In the end it didn’t do either side any favors and most old fans still don’t look at that universe anywhere close to the importance of the Prime universe today.

I agree with you, but I like the idea of creating a whole new timeline, with a new past, and in my mind that’s what it is. The best thing the Kelvin movies did was complete Nimoy Spock’s arc, where he fully embraced his Human side. I can criticize that film for a lot of things.. but its handling of Spock Pime’s character arc is not one of them. Matter of fact, i love it.

it means it’s going to be a new story that’s not a specific sequel to something so you don’t need to watch TOS or Discovery to understand this movie is what it means by “not relying on established canon”

Yes that makes sense. Which is exactly what Enterprise did for the most part but it still had to rely on canon here and there just the same. But I’m not splitting hairs, I get the point and it can just tell its own story and hopefully not contradicta lot in the process.

But how well they actually do it I guess we’ll see. Judging by how well they handled all the prequels so far…yeah.

yeah that said that about SNW too and then the Gorn and T’Pring showed up

What even is our current timeline? All I know is *something* got scewed cause of the Temporal Cold War and now Khan is like 5 this year.

OK it looks like I totally misread it and I thought it was about the formation of Starfleet. But it’s about the formation of the Federation? Didn’t they already do this with Enterprise?

It’s very confusing. So I guess it will take place after the events of season 4?

Again will new fans care about this? They certainly didn’t care about Enterprise itself. I just don’t see the point of this? Unless it’s going to involve the Romulan war but it wouldn’t if the movie largely take place on Earth.

Starfleet in “Enterprise” was part of the United Earth government, possibly as an outgrowth or rebranding of the United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA). This could explain why the Federation Starfleet is still primarily composed of Humans (Earth and colonial) for centuries to come.

Enterprise NX-01’s launch is 88 years and a week after First Contact, so there’s time in there to tell a story around the formation of United Earth or the earliest government and private exploration and colonization; “Enterprise” included the concepts of a significant Earth-based merchant fleet and interstellar Earth colonies.

That all sounds fine and you laid it out very well. I just can not for the life of me think how any of that would entice new fans to care about any of it? Reading it it sounds like historical dense minutiae. I doubt even most casual fans cares about stuff like this. This is something you do a miniseries or movie about on P+ like the Section31 movie for example, not make it a big budget movie for mass appeal.

Now that said we are only reacting to the premise but we don’t know anything about the story itself. They could craft something that could be fun and exciting for a newbie but I still have my doubts until we hear more.

And as divisive as the Kelvin movies have become to many hard-core fans you have to give JJ Abrams credit and I think he did have his finger on the pulse on how to make Star Trek digestible for new and younger viewers. He kept it light, simple and fun. You didn’t have to understand that much about what Starfleet or the Federation was about outside a few lines of dialogue and the movies just focused on taking down a big bad which is why most action movies have such wide appeal.

But yes they made a lot of mistakes too, the biggest one sticking to that same formula for three movies straight instead being a little more creative but that’s my opinion only.

But yeah this the problem with Star Trek when you’re trying to make it for everyone. This idea sounds at least different and with more depth than the Kelvin movies but only nerds cares about stuff like this. You make it too light where you avoid all the substance to have more action scenes, you got the general audience more interested but you lose a lot of the base you been relying on for 50 years.

And most fans are just not that interested in more prequels in general. Enterprise itself proved that even if its a lot more popular today.

it’s people not understanding Starfleet/Federtation and often interchange the words freely

previous articles said it’s about the formation of Starfleet in the wake of first contact with the Vulcans, whoever wrote this new article probably thinks Starfleet/Federation are the same thing

OK yeah that’s probably it because I could’ve swore the original article was citing the formation of Starfleet or at least its early days.

And as stated we already done the birth of the Federation for four seasons.

I can understand people not familiar with the property confusing the two but you’re a journalist and it takes a few minutes of research to get it right.

“But nothing about the premise itself sounds like it will excite new fans” I’d take it a step further, and I don’t see what about this movie excites anyone. It could be great, but it will struggle at the box office. The best you can do is to try to get back to what makes Trek accessible. JJ, as much as I’m not a fan of his storytelling, did figure out how to get butts in the seats for his first movie. Star Trek, to most people, is Kirk, Spock and Bones. I just do not know how you create a mass appeal motion picture for the theaters without them. Because the name ‘Star Trek’ is not enough. Some big name movie stars wouldn’t hurt, but, it needs sustained success, and I just don’t think it’s possible, at this point, to turn it into a billion dollar franchise with appeal beyond the fundamental fan base.

It feels like they are trying to recreate the magic of First Contact without anyone who knows a lick about First Contact being involved. It seems like this is going to be a generic “man meets aliens” movie with Star Trek slapped in the title. Honestly I’d be surprised if the “aliens” even look like Vulcans.

The other thing that made those films work so well, was that no one was kidding themselves that these were anything other than “B” movies. A relatively inexpensive cast, and they spent money in the right places. What is today’s equivalent of that? Made for streaming movies? Smaller budget, non-tent pole releases? Hard to say.

Exactly this. The most successful Star Trek movies like Khan and Voyage home and Undiscovered Country cost a tiny fraction of what movies cost today. If I remember the story correctly The Motion Picture was hugely expensive for the time and did not in any way create Paramount’s Star Wars and was cusidered a failure from that perspective. Harve Benett said he could make 3 movies for the cost of TMP and did. And look at the results.

Yeah that was the way to go because in the end we got 10 movies out of it, some very good as well.

TMP made money but like the Kelvin movies themselves it didn’t reach anywhere close to the expectations the studio was expecting for the amount of money it cost. Most people forget today not only was it MORE expensive than SW itself which made nearly 10 times more than TMP, it was one of the most expensive movies ever made at the time.

On one hand it was great to see how confident Paramount was of a movie based on a show that was canceled after just three seasons. But they also knew they way overestimated the show’s popularity and course corrected. Maybe it was too big of a drop but it guaranteed new movies for years on end; albeit rock bottom budgets.

With the Kelvin movies it was again great to see so much confidence in the brand again after Nemesis bombed and Enterprise was canceled after 4 seasons. But once again, they overestimated its popularity and while the first movie was a bigger crowd pleaser over The Motionless Picture turned out to be (I still get bored after 20 minutes), they should’ve kept the budget more in line for the sequels since it barely made a profit in theaters.

The reality is while I do believe the movies did bring a new interest to the franchise, it was always on shakey ground. Once STID vastly underperformed (which once again was the highest budgeted movie for Paramount at the tume) that was the time to start making lower budget films again. Not TV movie low but something closer to middle tier movies. It was obvious to me the party was over and STID was at the peak.

But Paramount desperately wanted their own version of Marvel and in turn has sunk the film franchise into the abyss longer than what Nemesis did after it bombed. Way to go guys, way to go.

If this Starfleet movie is anything over $130 million than Paramount has not learned its lesson. It really shouldn’t be over $120 million in reality. $100 million is the most ideal considering they are starting over with a very questionable product. I know that was never realistic for Beyond but if it costed only that, it would’ve been considered a huge hit even if it only pulled in $340 million.

They just have to play to the franchise strengths snd limits.

TMP is way better now in its director’s edition blu/4 k version. the bonus content on the discs alone makes it worth buying.

I am not sure this particular angle makes any sense. New fans aren’t necessarily going to go see a Star Trek movie just because it’s set on Earth. Or even if it’s set in the early days of the franchise because ultimately it’s still in the Star Trek universe. They will need a low budget and a compelling storyline to overcome the prejudice that some people have towards Star Trek. I think it’s possible to achieve but I am just not sure it’s likely. At this point the studio’s best business model is releasing movies on Paramount +.

Agree 100% (as I’m sure most of us here do) on them needing to launch movies via P+ and I think placing it on earth (though I think it’s a bad idea overall) is probably to keep costs low – less sets / ships / effects and so forth.

I agree, but at the same time, I would wager more than $5 that more people have heard of Star Trek than have heard of Dune.

Certainly far more people went to see Dune than just the fan-base of the franchise. Spectacle, casting, a compelling story, and excecution are what counts. You can have those on the cheap or very expensive but it needs those things. Baked in fandom is not in the list.

The origin of Starfleet and the Federation is the same in both the Prime and Kelvin Timelines, right? The change didn’t happen until Nero arrived from the future on the day of Kirk’s birth, 70-ish years after the founding of the Federation.

The fact that the media is being fed information that suggests otherwise gives me pause. They may as well not bother with “Star Trek” in the title.

They’ve said now that the Narada event impacted both ways in time, both forward and back.

Which makes much more sense. With all the time travel shenanigans that happened in the prime timeline, it makes much more sense that they’d have their own past created along with a new future, otherwise, you just changed the prime timeline instead of creating a new one.

Pegg said that when trying to explain why Sulu was now gay (after Takei stated he was very opposed to the change saying he’d never played sulu as a gay man)

I think the more official explanation from Bob Orci back in 2009 was that both timelines were the same until Nero created the new kelvin timeline.

Funnily enough the time travel impacting both ways forward and back theory was explained by Michael Keaton in The Flash movie

Yeah, as a gay man myself, I thought Takei could have handled that a lot more gracefully. As I recall, he called it a “twisting” of Gene Roddenberry’s creation. So his criticism sounded pretty homophobic to me, even if that wasn’t his intention. How would a gay Sulu have been played differently, anyway?

Also, assuming Kelvin Sulu is younger than Kelvin Kirk, he would have been conceived/born in the new timeline. So he’s a different Sulu.

Or maybe things are just more fluid in the 23rd century. Maybe Kelvin Sulu has had male and female relationships. Who knows?

And the way it played in the film, he could have just been meeting a friend or a brother — there was nothing sexual or romantic.

I know we’re talking about timelines and none of this is the point here, but this bothered me then and still does.

Anyway, since none of this is real, timeline shenanigans are just a way to explain/justify story choices.

But if this is indeed a stealth reboot, what’s the point?

The Kelvin films were promoted as a chance to tell new stories and not require audiences to have done homework to understand what was happening — and then they ended up retelling old stories and piling on fan service that confused new audiences.

(When I saw Into Darkness, the guy in front of me had to explain to his girlfriend who Khan was during the brig scene and why it mattered. They walked out about 20 minutes later.)

Roddenberry was smart with TNG, although it took awhile to gel: no TOS aliens (except Klingons) or revisiting TOS planets or plot lines (except for the regrettable Naked Now). So why is it so hard for a Trek movie to tell an interesting story without getting bogged down with Trek minutia.

Ya know the funny thing is that AFAIK nothing in TOS stated Sulu is straight. Mirror universe Sulu certainly was but he was the only TOS character that was never linked to a woman during the run of the show

That’s just something Simon Pegg said once. It’s by no means official or anywhere near approaching it. It’s not a horrible idea, but it’s far from anything approaching canonical.

But according to the current Trek science advisor it is a real scientific theory.

LOL i’ve been saying that all along :P

Wouldn’t ‘formation of the federation’ place the story right after ENT? If I remember correctly, Archer’s Enterprise was part of Starfleet, but the Federation was yet to be chartered. I would be fine with that time period.

Yeah, that’s how I would read “formation of the Federation.” That time period seems like fertile territory shortly after Enterprise. The days immediately after First Contact like “Year 1” (2063-64) could also be interesting but that wouldn’t be the formation of the Federation. On the other hand, the general audience and perhaps even the Hollywood Reporter writer do not know the difference between Federation and Starfleet, so I wouldn’t bet on anything.

The formation of United Earth and Starfleet, though, are between “First Contact” and “Enterprise”. The unification of Earth is a key stepping stone on the path to the Federation.

Perhaps the story could be of an alien contact that doesn’t go as well as Vulcan contact did, that impresses upon Earth’s residents the need for cooperation and collaboration, and eventual confederation.

The problem is by the time the Federation was formed humanity was WAY past “the early days” of first contact This movie would have to take place over 100 years to be cannonoical.

the signing of the charter happens in the Ent series finale, set after the end of the romulan war.

Scrap, start again

I will judge the film on the finished product. I sincerely hope that I get a chance to see it in theaters.

Yay! A big screen adapation of “These are the Voyages”….. I can hardly wait.

Your comment is EPIC. LOVE it. Made my day.

They can do a two hour film that completely re-writes canon and blows up fandom and at that end Jonathan and Marina say “Exit holodeck, end program” and the Enterprise-D continues into the 7th season (again) LOVE your comment

It’s a hard reboot and they just are not calling it that yet.

Yep. An entry point for new fans to completely disregard everything that came before.

‘This is not your grandfathers star trek’

Will it even be Star Trek at all?

I want to be excited about this. I do. But Seth Grahame-Smith is a writer with a poor track record when it comes to movie scripts.

He wrote the Lego Batman Movie, which was an entertaining hit. He knows his genre fiction well enough.

I’m OK with it if they take off Star Trek in the title.

Earth Trek!

These Are The Voyages: The Motion Picture

Holodeck: End Program

It will not be a massive success The Voyage Home & First Contact already covered this theme!

“The Voyage Home” was about a mere blip in Human history where a bunch of people landed a spaceship in San Francisco for about a week and took off with a couple of humpback whales. The only impact that had on human history was the strange disappearance of a somewhat noted but not exceptionally famous whale biologist, a profession that was about to go the way of the cuneiform scribe. That, and the inexplicable disappearance of a Russian spy from FBI custody, something easily buried by the classified document system.

There’s also 88 years between “First Contact” and “Enterprise”. There’s 56 years before Zefram Cochrane dedicates the Warp Five Complex. There’s space for a lot of stories in that time frame to explain how Earth got from the Post-Atomic Horror extending into the 2080s to solving the problems of scarcity, poverty and hunger.

Huh? The Voyage Home had nothing to do with the Federation’s origin.

Will not be a success bc its like the two biggest grossers of the original films? lol

So … another Prequel? Yay.

Damn. I mean, should have WW3 Earth rebuilding but was hoping for something along the lines of… Zephrane Cochrane has gone missing after he was scheduled to return from the Matriarchal Alpha Centauri trade mission (no subspace comms). Morale is low with his disappearance and problems on the colonization effort meant to rebuild Earth. Earth ships are warp jumping trying to find Cochrane (again, no subspace comms or continuous warp) but instead get a distress signal from a Vulcan ship. The Earth ship races home and informs the SpaceX style UESPA (Cochrane’s Montana team). The disorganized United Earth consults with the Vulcans who listen and then write off the science ship, it has been captured by a space control ship of the Vegan Tyranny which once dominated the galaxy and destroyed all signs of intelligent life before most disappeared (explaining the Fermi Paradox and why races are emerging now at similar tech levels). It is worried that the construct will reactive and end up destroying civilizations again and the power of the Vegan Tyranny SCSs is beyond that of even the Vulcans. The UESPA commander with the help of a UE protocol officer decides they will attempt a rescue anyway without authorization to prove humanities worth and our commitment to life. They load up a primitive ship (the Bonhomme Richard) with turrets, nuclear weapons (the protocol officers contribution) and race off on a rescue mission…. which gets blasted on dropping out of warp facing superior fire power, shields, etc. The commander however set off nuclear torpedoes to confuse the enemy sensors and prepared the crew such that they hide in the wreckage of their ship as it is crippled and then do a spacewalk to board the Space Control Ship (which never would consider such a primitive move), sneak onto the ship and engage in a running battle to rescue the Vulcan crew which is held captive. Turns out the Vegan AI is the only survivor of the Vegan Tyranny civil war where most SCSs were self destructed when the AI went crazy taking their mission to destroy all intelligent life to the next level (destroying them) and is preparing to engage in a campaign to eliminate all life everywhere. The human crew sets off explosive devices while escaping on the Vulcan science ship (that has to escape and destroy a chasing drone and an AI boarding party that beams aboard (much to the shock of the crew that has never considered transporters before) out for revenge as well with some team work that turns their science drones into torpedoes). The science ship returns to Earth to the astonishment of the Vulcan Ambassador who notes that maybe there is something to these humans after all while giving them the science ship which is rechristened the Enterprise (it is the ring ship Enterprise, the first continuous warp ship in the human fleet). BOOM.. Star Trek begins. Anyway… I have this screenplay for when I first saw the ad for Enterprise after Voyager and really wanted to write for that show. I keep hoping one day someone will actually film something like that BTW, if you credit me for my kids, steal this and do it. I will not sue if credited LOL I have lots of situational comedy too if any one wants the script.

But… that would not make for a good movie, by the sounds of it.

Takes place mostly on Earth? Sounds like a budget decision to me.

Yeah pretty much my thoughts too. They can’t throw another $150 million at something when they barely are bringing in any real money now.

I’m guessing it will be closer to a hundred million.

As much as it hurts me to say it, the only movies Paramount should be throwing that kind of money at star Tom Cruise.

And considering MI 7 wasn’t the huge hit everyone was assuming it would be (me included) he’s not even a guarantee. But he will always be the safer bet a hundred times over any Star Trek movie…unless he’s in it.

But that’s the point, if big sequels and franchises that has brought in billions of dollars can fall short of expectations, the next Star Trek movie can crater given its lack of wide appeal and zero presence in theaters for an entire decade.

Don’t care where it’s set. Don’t care when it takes place. Give me a good STORY!!! With good CHARACTERS that I LIKE, that aren’t INSUFFERABLE and aren’t CRYING ON THE BRIDGE! Give me something of SUBSTANCE and not HOLLOW NOSTALGIA BAIT. Give me people that feel REAL, that say SMART things, that don’t make me CRINGE to the point I have to hit pause and reconsider my identity as a “Star Trek fan.” I can’t say I’ve been much of a fan these past few years. Just give me one good thing, please. I’ve been so patient.

Ex-act-a-ly! ☝️😌👍

I can’t fault this sentiment! Miss seeing your posts around here lately. I assume you skipped the last season of Discovery lol.

Oh I post, usually to gripe and take pot shots at Disco! Yes I’ve skipped the last 4 seasons lol last Trek I saw was Picard finale. But endlessly rewatching my TOS blu-rays to my heart’s content :) actually lately my biggest connection to Trek is prop and autograph collecting. Cuz who needs money?

I’ve already seen the Star Trek origin story. All 98 episodes of it.

2 guys go to the movies

Guy 1: Hmm.. Avengers? Spielbergs UFO movie? Mandalorian?

Guy 2: Seen them

Guy 1: What about star trek?

Guy 2: I don’t like star trek

Guy 1: Yeah but this ones set on earth, no weird aliens or previous casts or any trekkie stuff like that

Guy 2: oh maybe see that then

they watch the movie Guy 2 sits there bemused and having no clue why the Quantum Leap dude is in it with a hot babe with pointed ears,or why they felt the need to deage James Cromwell, or what Patrick Stewart is doing in the background in that weird Close Encounters scene with the spock looking dude

I’m guessing none of them will be in it.

I guess not, but it’d be funny (and very trekkie) if they did

On a side note, I’d like to see a mashup of “Star Trek” and “The West Wing” with President Jonathan Archer. Call it “Star Trek: Presidency”, bring back Scott Bakula.

Reed is defense minister, T’pol drops in from time to time, Shran is Andorian ambassador (either a ceremonial position or as a planet’s member of the Federation parliament), heck, even Trip comes back in flashbacks.

I want to see a mashup of Star Trek and the X-Files. The Aliens Mulder was searching for this whole time were the Vulcans.

Sounds god awfully bloody boring…and cheap.

I have to wonder what they’re doing. It all sounds… weird. The only thing I can come up with, what this movie is about, is that it is a direct follow-up of First Contact, on earth. What happened after the people of earth find out about aliens. That sounds kinda interesting I guess, but I wouldn’t call that Star Trek (yet). That sounds like a fun thing to explore for current fans. Like a streaming special or something. Not for new people. So quite the opposite of what their intentions are. I guess I’m open to it, but nothing really excites me about this, when I read about it.

More proof how clueless Paramount is. This isn’t going to drive new fans to this movie.

And yet another prequel? Sigh

ZZZZZZZZZZZZ

zzzzzzzzzzzzz

zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Oh, I’m sorry I dozed off a bit there when I read the article to find out we’re getting another boring prequel no one asked for.

This will probably bomb like the last JJ verse movie did. Judging by the comments alone no one really wants to see this. And to think will attract ‘new’ fans is about as delusional as thinking Abrams understands Star Trek.

This thing is probably much cheaper than the overstuffed soulless Stat Wars wannabe Kelvin movies, so it probably has that going for it.

It probably won’t be made before 2030 the ways things are going. It’s already been 8 years, what’s another 6 at this point.

I really believe this is a much cheaper movie and probably why they are oddly moving ahead with this one over the next Kelvin movie. I still think that movie is just too high for their blood no matter how many times they keep telling us they plan to make it for 8 years now.

And even though I’m very skeptical this is going to move the needle in terms of both box office or new viewers I do like that they are attempting something different from what came before and with original characters for a change. It also doesn’t sound like they are trying to turn this into a quasi Star Wars movie like the first Kelvin movie.

But yeah you’re right in the end this can fail too and if it does then even less of a chance the next Kelvin movie will ever get off the ground.

I’m really hoping they are coming to their senses and this is a $90-100 million movie because there is just so many unknown factors with it and it seems questionable how many old fans would even be interested in seeing it, much less new ones.

I also still think going backwards is another mistake when fans are pushing for more 25th century Star Trek, Legacy or not. But if it turns out to be a really great movie it won’t matter.

a ST film set mostly on earth only worked with ‘voyage home’

I guess you never saw First Contact.

or Into Darkness

Into Darkness was uugghhh

It’s a comedy that starts at a 1970s Star Trek convention, where fan-scientists create a secret program to get back into spaces d create a real Starfleet but they struggle for a few decades until the next generation of fan-scientists come up with warp tech that really works…

I don’t know how that’s funny, but maybe we can finally get Eddie Murphy and Ton Hanks and Javier Bardem (just throwing him in there) and….

Maybe it’s directed by the Cohen Brothers?

I remember back in the early 2000s ‘origin’ movies were planned, a trilogy with the main character named Tiberius Chase, an ancestor of Captain Kirk. It was to be a Star Trek Origin story. Eventually either Trekweb or Memory Alpha found a summary of the scripts and they were, well, boring. There was nothing compelling about the stories. I was happy those films were never made.

An ‘Origin’ story for Star Trek — well, there was First Contact, which really is the ‘start’ of Star Trek, and then ‘Enterprise,’ the first Starfleet Warp 5 ship, leading up to 2161 and the Federation Charter — yeah, we didn’t see the Romulan War so we could see that in a film, by why? We had a whole season of a Klingon War in Disco.

There is so much of Trek that becomes been there / done that.

How do you make anything else INTERESTING for Star Trek fans and non-fans?

I just don’t see the need — I mean, what’s the point of such a new ‘origin’ film?

There are probably so many great Star Trek stories yet to be seen — and it all starts with the writing — is there a great story to be told with great writing?

Give us a film that surprises us in a good way. Give us a film with a GREAT story that is well written.

“T he origin movie is said to be aimed at bringing in new fans unfamiliar with Trek lore” I believe I’ve heard this before…

The origin movie

It sounds like a Bond film without then Gadets

No Warp speed, no transporter no proper shields, its all boring

Erik Jendresen’s script Star Trek: The Beginning about the Romulan War and the birth of the Federation is what really needs to be made.

I think the basic flaw here is not that they’re going back to the origin story, or not that it may or may not fit with established canon/lore. I think the problem is in the basic assumption that an “origin” story will attract new and/or younger viewers. I think Trek, like Star Wars or Marvel is past the point of saying “hey, you who doesn’t know anything about this, get on the bus.” The flaw is that I only care about the origin of something if either 1) I’m there at the beginning (Ironman) or 2) I’m a long time fan and there’s interest in going back to where it all started (Star Wars).

The window to have something ready for 2026 is closing fast. Really fast.

How about making a proper 2 hr ENT finale instead? Two birds with one stone.

i get it, a franchise like ST can seem hard to get into as a newbie. where do you start? do you watch 700+ episodes between TOS TNG DS9 VOY ENT and 13 movies before i can watch new Trek? i think a Romulan War movie franchise post ENT could work. all you need is an opening text catching everyone up to the stat of things like BSG did during the miniseries. and then don’t do easter eggs and nods to old canon. good guys vs bad guys and go.

It doesn’t matter where you start. Either it appeals to you and piques your interest in the other Star Trek shows and movies, or it doesn’t. Making Star Trek less “Star Trek” is a big mistake, and it sounds like that is the goal.

To a Trek newbie id suggest watching about 10 of the best TOS eps (including both pilots), then movies 12346, then about 20? of the best TNG eps (including EAF/AGT) followed by the movies Gen,FC,Nem. Then Picard s3. then ST09/ID. then maybe some of ENT (pilot/s4)…

I always suggest giving TNG a shot first and watch the entire show. But I always suggest TOS if they are OK trying out something a little more outdated. But I do notice most people who try that show out first don’t have an issue with it but it does feel much older than the others these days, that can’t be denied.

But the movies are great too, especially if you want the TOS charactes but a bit less dated fromthe show, starting with TWOK. ;)

Voyager is also an easy entryway for many people these days and probably why it’s still so popular.

Enterprise is obviously great if they want to start from the beginning chronologically.

The new shows SNW and Prodigy are the easiest recommendation to try first IMO.

I will give them the opportunity to tell this story, but I fear this is another case of executives coming up with a story, then being told this conflicts with canon, and then coming up with a contrivance to get around it or bypass it.

entry point for new fans who do not need to know about decades of canon (or keep up with the myriad shows on Paramount+)

This line makes me want to pull my hair out. There is zero reason why knowing decades of Star Trek canon should be a prerequisite for understanding anything new. The only reason it is is because Kurtzman and others are obsessed with lazy, ham-fisted nostalgia, and insist on making every little thing in the new shows piggyback off the old. Make original stories that stand on their own and anything can be an entry point for new fans.

A prequel? Really? Does Enterprise, Discovery or SNW not cover this? Why are the producers so scared to come up with anything new, ie past Voyager/DS9?

I’ll reserve judgement until we know more. For all we know, it could fit quite nicely between and among what we already know, so I’m not going to freak out until there’s something solid to freak out about. I’m looking forward to the possibilities, though.

Right attitude to have Scott . I would give anything to have that level of maturity and rational lol.

And people wonder why I gave up on today’s Star Trek shtuff and just watch Twilight Zone TOS, Outer Limits TOS, and the Irwin Allen shows of the 60s. Laugh and smirk all you want, but it works for me. :)

I’ve fairly recently been catching up on early TZ (on UK Legend channel) that i never seen (only seen the famous ones like Shatners 2 and a few others) and am really enjoying them, Willoughby a particular fave

always intended to get the entire TZ set on DVD or blu but never got around to it ..

Legend also show TOS daily (and Mission straight after) so find myself rewatching those for the umpteenth time (and obvs own them on blu)

I hope they don’t decide to just disregard canon like the X-Men movies

Seems like between Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Enterprise, this is all ground that’s been covered before to an extent.

“[ A] prequel focusing on humanity’s early contact with aliens and the formation of the Federation.”

Please PLEASE tell me they realize the time period they are speaking of is like 100 years from First Contact to the Federation???!!

Reminds me of an early concept of ENT season 1.

Sounds like what Star Trek: Enterprise was supposed to be, especially the episode First Flight.

Maybe it will be good? I personally hope the first aliens this new crew meets are the Vulcans, Tellarites, Andorians, and Klingons.

Or if I had to pick just one: the Tellarites. They are the most under-developed of all the TOS aliens, so they have basically a clean slate to work with.

Will this even be greenlit into production on the level of shooting? Especially with Paramount’s Financial situtation and the Skydance merger in process (??) How many Trek movie projects have there been sine 2016 ‘Beyond’ that were in ‘pre-production’, script phase, given a hyped JJ-GO and place holder date, new director, new director, rumored director, fantasy rumor, etc…

This earthbound Formation of Starfleet idea could work yet I’m sceptical.

If the plan is to release for the 60th anniversary then yeah it has to be in production by EARLY next year the latest. They can’t wait until Skydance takes over since reports are saying it can take up to a year to go into effect.

But I’m still skeptical this thing will even happen and if it does the chances of opening for the 60th gets slimmer as every month goes by and there is no news about any actual production ramping up. We got a blurb on the premise but nothing in the way of when they plan to start shooting something that suppose to open in two years says a lot.

We have been down this transwarp corridor too many times at this point. Depending on your POV this is the sixth or seventh movie they have announced in 8 years. Yes they announced a writer and a director but they have done that for every canceled movie now.

Even though the TV side of things is having its stumbles lately with P+ woes and less money, at least things are still happening and in the pipeline. The Starfleet Academy show is now roaring to life and starts production next month.

And it’s sad to say this but that show could wrap up it’s first season without a movie still in production. It’s happened on the last 5 shows now, so yeah.

The way I see this film is happening is either as a continuation after the first contact with Vulcans in First Contact or another alien species in this case if they want to totally reboot it, which seems to be what they are going for. Or they do a World War 3 story and move the alien first contact idea to coincide with that. They might go for the WW3 idea since it might be considered more “timely” with current events happening in the world.

set to be absolutely boring … Star Trek is „Space, the final frontier…“

is this the right time to do a ST prequel considering how well ‘furiosa’ did at the box office.

Giant Freakin Robot

The Star Trek Character Who Loves Her Own Theme Song

Posted: July 17, 2024 | Last updated: July 17, 2024

One of the things you can always count on a new Star Trek show to have is a killer theme song. That was certainly true of Discovery, a sometimes controversial entry in the franchise that nonetheless had one banger of a theme. What makes Discovery’s theme special in Star Trek history is that it has a character (in this case, Tilly) who likes to jam out to it in her free time, as evidenced by the episode “Lethe.”

The Rise Of Tilly

This was a Season 1 episode, which meant that Tilly’s primary arc was transitioning from a nervous cadet into the kind of promising officer who would someday become a starship captain. Burnham, who once mastered moving up the ranks before being tried and convicted for mutiny, took the young cadet under her wings, helping to prepare her for the Command Training Program.

The Star Trek: Discovery episode “Lethe” involved the two officers exercising by jogging through the ship’s hallways, and that’s when we hear the show’s theme song as we’ve never heard it before.

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Working Out To The Show’s Theme

As the show’s composer, Jeff Russo, later said, he was reviewing this scene back when it only had temp music in it. His memory was a bit fuzzy, but he recalled that “maybe Tilly was listening to some music or something.” At this point, the Star Trek composer had a great idea that he ran by Alex Kurtzman: he wanted to do “an eight-bit electronic version” of the show’s theme song.

It’s easy to overlook the presence of the Star Trek: Discovery theme song in this scene, and that’s by design: as Russo described it, he wanted to “sneak the main theme in,” and it would go mostly unnoticed because it “doesn’t sound like our score” and “it’s not very like our show to have this moment.”

Changed In Post-Production

Kurtzman was a tad skeptical and asked Russo to provide an example, causing the composer to create a “very percussive, eight-bit-sounding, synthetic sounding” version of the score that was ultimately included in the final scene.

Now, here’s where this Star Trek trivia gets interesting: while Russo didn’t seem completely certain in his recollection of the scene when it had temp music, he thought that Tilly might have been listening to music while jogging with Burnham, a fairly common practice with runners in the real world.

The Theme Played In Universe

While Tilly didn’t have headphones on or anything, it would be trivially easy for the Discovery to play music that follows officers while they exercise. In fact, that would be (as Spock might say) quite logical since it appears that running through the ship like this was commonplace.

Since Russo replaced the temp music in this Star Trek episode with the Discovery opening song, there is a decent chance that Tilly is listening to the theme of the show she appears in. That would make the theme (or at least this arrangement of the theme) diegetic, which is just a fancy word for music that the onscreen characters can hear. And while Tilly is one of the more recent characters to enjoy a Star Trek theme song, she wasn’t the first nor the last.

Other Shows Have Used Music Homages

For example, in Star Trek: The Original Series, there are at least two instances of Uhura singing the show’s theme song. Deep Space Nine has a visiting Bajoran musician play an old folk tune that is just a version of that show’s theme.

As for Lower Decks, episode after episode has musical homages to earlier shows, including the most recent use of The Next Generation theme song (and if you’re about to “remind” us that this was originally the theme from The Motion Picture, we might have to stun you with a phaser).

Tilly And The Discovery Theme

Long story, not very short, Tilly is following in a fine Star Trek tradition of enjoying her own show’s theme song. Compared to other characters, though, she has the dubious honor of being the only one to listen to a kind of lo-fi, chiptune version of her theme. That means we’re left making a simple request of Paramount: it’s time to have a permanent “lo-fi beats to study by” channel with a cartoon Tilly cramming for the Command Training Program.

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Anton Yelchin's Chekov Accent In Star Trek Was Inaccurate On Purpose

Viacom, the parent company of Paramount, underwent a dramatic split in 2005, causing the TV rights to "Star Trek" and the movie rights to "Star Trek" to be divided among two separate companies. This meant that if the movie-owners wanted to make a new feature film, they would have to license "Star Trek" iconography from the TV-owners. Under the conditions of such a liscense, a movie had to look legally distinct from the old TV show. What a headache.

This situation led to the creation of the Kelvin-verse, a "Star Trek" continuity that took place in a parallel timeline. The 2009 "Star Trek" movie featured the same ships and characters as the 1966 "Star Trek," but altered into something similar-yet-different. New actors played younger versions of the 1966 originals, and the U.S.S. Enterprise was now twice as big. Director J.J. Abrams also made the new movie more dramatic, action-packed, and full of explosions. There's some debate among Trekkies as to whether or not the Kelvin-verse is in the spirit of "Star Trek" or if it should be considered an autonomous media entity. 

What everyone seemed to agree on, however, was the new film's savvy casting. The newer, younger actors all did exemplary jobs of capturing the looks, mannerisms, and personalities of their 1960s counterparts. They were youthful, more impulsive versions of the characters we knew, but held the same appeal. 

The role of Ensign Pavel Chekhov, previously played by Walter Koenig, went to the late Anton Yelchin. Yelchin captured Koenig's cockiness, Russian-centric ego, and dazzling charm. He also recreated Koenig's broad Russian accent, a notable feature of the character. 

In 2009, Yelchin spoke with TrekMovie , and he revealed that the accent was deliberately broad; it wasn't supposed to sound authentic. He also explained why he made that decision. 

Warp Drives Are Possible and Aliens May Already Be Using Them, Scientists Say

If we track explosions from malfunctioning warp drives, we could finally discover where E.T.s are hiding.

Warp drives that enable spacecraft to travel at near light speeds are a fixture of science fiction, famously allowing Star Trek ’s Federation crews to boldly go where no one has gone before. But scientists have long theorized how a real-life warp drive might work, the most famous example being the Alcubierre drive , a design that Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, Ph.D., put forth in 1994. This type of drive would form a bubble around travelers, contracting the space in front of it and expanding the space behind it to leap across the cosmos.

In a preprint study posted online in June, a team of researchers hailing from the U.K. and Germany posed the question: If an alien civilization is using an Alcubierre drive, could we detect it by looking for the gravitational waves such a system might emit? After all, the Pasadena, California-based LIGO Lab—home to the world’s largest gravitational wave observatory—can pick up the perturbations in spacetime generated by highly energetic events like black hole mergers and supernovas.

So why not alien technology ?

According to the researchers’ calculations in this new work (which has not been peer-reviewed), humanity really could pick up on signs of an alien warp drive, but only with a new generation of gravitational wave observatories.

Warp Breach, Captain

Astrophysicist Katy Clough, Ph.D., and her co-authors came up with the idea of simulating a warp drive’s gravitational wave signature seven years ago. They were inspired by Star Trek , she says, and in particular by the occurrence of warp “breaches” in the show’s universe.

An Alcubierre drive—which theoretically would require negative energy (a repulsive gravitational force, rather than an attractive one) and exotic forms of matter to work—wouldn’t greatly perturb spacetime while operating correctly. Technically, even driving a car on Earth generates gravitational waves (anything that accelerates does), but they’re too small to be detected or have much of an effect on anything. But the waves that reach our planet from space are typically caused by violent events or the movements of massive objects, like a spinning neutron star. A malfunctioning Alcubierre drive would qualify, too.

“If you put exotic matter into forming a warp bubble, it will naturally disperse over time. So, hypothetical aliens would need some kind of containment mechanism to keep it in place. And we don’t know what that is,” Clough explains. “We said, well, in Star Trek , it always happens that you have a warp-drive containment failure. So why don’t we just go with this idea?”

In a warp-drive containment breach, Clough says, all of the contained energy and matter would spill out and create the kind of messy oscillations that generate gravitational waves, like someone splashing around in a pool. This would be, to say the least, unpleasant for the ship’s occupants.

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“You’d get stretched and squashed, and ultimately, it would be nasty,” Clough says.

Clough says the project seemed “fun” to the team at first, but that it quickly became very complicated. The main problem, Clough says, was choosing equations that both led to a stable evolution in the simulation and made physical sense.

That accomplished, Clough’s team found that a warp breach on a kilometer-sized ship traveling at 10 percent of the speed of light (30,000 kilometers per second), would create a “very distinct” gravitational wave signal. It could be detected from up to 1 megaparsec away, or 3.26 million light years, meaning a warp-drive collapse in Andromeda—the nearest galactic neighbor to the Milky Way—could be detectable on Earth.

Luke Sellers, Ph.D., lead scientist at Applied Physics—an independent research group based in New York City and Stockholm that has proposed its own warp drive designs and studied the search for alien life in gravitational wave signals—says the work from Clough’s team is a “welcome addition” to the field. The study “just makes sense,” he says, particularly the insight that an Alcubierre drive could blow apart.

One day, he said, “we could have a menu of all these exotic SETI -type gravitational wave signals” to look for, “one of which might be a very large propulsive mechanism, and one of which could be this warp drive explosion.”

The Next Generation

Assuming that aliens have figured out how to make an Alcubierre drive and one explodes within range of our observatories, there’s still a problem: none of our existing detectors are equipped to pick up high-frequency gravitational waves.

Gravitational wave detection is still “a really new field,” Clough says. “It’s really like the beginning of electromagnetic observations, where we’re just looking at one frequency band.”

Caltech and MIT’s ground-based LIGO observatory, for example, debuted in 2002 and eavesdrops on frequencies in the range of 10 Hz to 1 KHz. (If a 1-KHz wave was sonified, it would sound like a high-pitched whining tone .) NASA and the European Space Agency’s planned space-based LISA observatory, which is expected to launch in the 2030s, will listen in on even lower ranges. An exploding Alcubierre drive would emanate waves at a frequency of about 300 KHz, which, if it was a sound, would be outside the range of human hearing.

The reason for this initial focus on lower frequency bands, Clough says, is that there are high-priority objects and events in those ranges.

“There aren’t that many well-motivated astrophysical targets at those kinds of [higher] frequencies,” she explains. “There are some exotic things, like primordial black holes or signals from the early universe, so there are proposals to try and build detectors in that range. This is another potential argument for building those detectors.”

Indeed, in 2021, a team of over two dozen scientists from around the world, including institutions like LIGO and CERN, argued in a paper that observatories targeting high frequency ranges would allow us to look for signs of novel physics in the early universe, for example.

“It stands to reason that you want to probe that vastness as much as possible, if you want to have a chance to detect something,” says Sellers, the scientist from Applied Physics. On top of new detectors, a “pipeline” for SETI searches involving machine learning algorithms could be beneficial, he says.

The paper’s conclusions also come with some caveats. The work covers a very specific scenario with carefully chosen parameters, including the type of warp drive. It’s “an example, and not the template to look for,” Clough says. Still, her team expects that the frequency range of the gravitational waves would carry over to other designs.

“It could be the case that, once we get these better detectors, there’s a really loud warp drive signal that you can see even if you didn’t already know what you’re looking for,” Sellers says. “And if that happens, it’s conceivable that we could actually reverse engineer what system they’re using.”

Jordan Pearson is the former executive editor of Motherboard. His work has appeared in The New York Times, WIRED, The Verge, Popular Mechanics, and CBC News.

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