Details Revealed for Bryan Singer’s Failed ‘Star Trek’ TV Pitch

Details Revealed for Bryan Singer’s Failed ‘Star Trek’ TV Pitch

A little while back, Star Trek: The Next Generation actor and director Jonathan Frakes revealed that director Bryan Singer (X-Men) once had a pitch for a Star Trek television show.

By Alastair - Apr 22, 2011 12:04 PM EST
Filed Under: Star Trek
Source: slashfilm.com

VIA /FILM



A little while back, Star Trek: The Next Generation actor and director Jonathan Frakes revealed that director Bryan Singer (X-Men) once had a pitch for a Star Trek television show that never came to fruition. Singer is a well-known Trek fan, and thanks to some string-pulling by X-Men and Star Trek star Patrick Stewart, has even appeared in an uncredited role on Star Trek: Nemesis.

Recently, more details have come to light about Singer’s failed Star Trek proposal. Read on after the jump to fantasize about what could’ve been.

According to an in-depth story over at TrekMovie, back in 2005, Singer was having dinner with screenwriter Christopher McQuarrie (The Usual Suspects) and director Robert Meyer Burnett (Free Enterprise) when the three of them got to talking about the idea of pitching a new Star Trek series to fill the gap left by Star Trek: Enterprise, which had just been cancelled. Burnett later brought on screenwriter Geoffrey Thorne (Leverage) to help create a 25-page series proposal outlining the show.

Some details about the proposed series:
The series would have been titled Star Trek: Federation.
Singer and his team had already commissioned a new logo, designed by Mike Okuda, which you can see above.
Federation would have consisted of “more complex serialized stories” focusing on “compelling stories about our world today,” as opposed to standalone episodes dealing mainly with the Trek universe.
It would have taken place in the year 3000 — several centuries after the existing Star Trek series, but within the same continuity.
The Federation would be in a period of complacency and stagnancy, in a purposeful parallel to both the decline of the Roman Empire and the current state of the “American Empire.”
The action would’ve kicked off when a new threat called “The Scourge” entered the picture, compelling the Federation to build a new USS Enterprise — the first in over 300 years.
One of the central characters would’ve been Commander Alexander Kirk, an aggressive officer with a “checkered past” who was the sole survivor of a run-in with The Scourge.
Sadly, the pitch was never actually, well, pitched. The team finished the proposal in early 2006, planning to pick the project back up later in the year after Singer completed post-production on Superman Returns. But before they could actually present it, Paramount announced J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek, and Singer and his team scrapped their plans.

I’ve never been hugely into Star Trek, myself, so I can’t say whether Singer’s vision of the series would appeal to real Trek fans. As a television viewer, though, I think this sounds great — rich, interesting and smart. The proposal in some ways reminds me of Battlestar Galactica, another excellent show that juggled large-scope political allegories and vivid, fleshed-out charcters. It’s a shame the proposal never actually went anywhere.

For a more in-depth look at Star Trek: Federation, check out both TrekMovie’s first post, which explains how the proposal came together, and the follow-up post, which offers more specifics about the series itself.

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CBK
CBK - 4/22/2011, 12:40 PM
You must have never seen Star Trek: The Next Generation. Give it a watch, and after you get an idea of who the characters are watch the episode "The Light", it's some of the best storytelling I've ever seen.

marvel72
marvel72 - 4/22/2011, 1:02 PM
if ruining the x-men & superman wasn't enough,he had to try star trek.
Ethic
Ethic - 4/22/2011, 1:18 PM
I've watched nearly all incarnations for the show and "The Next Generation" simply nailed it, it's such a quality show.

I read the full article on TrekMovie and it actually sounded quite promising.
Closer to TNG which I preferred.
Although they wanted a sentient computer on the ship with emotions, that is ridiculous.
LP4
LP4 - 4/22/2011, 3:28 PM
Singer ruins everything. If he ruined Trek I would not be surprised.
Deadshot
Deadshot - 4/22/2011, 3:37 PM
Bryan Singer is such a horrible director.
loganoneil
loganoneil - 4/22/2011, 7:53 PM
Actually, Singer is a DECENT director - of straight drama (just watch 'The Usual Suspsect'), he just sucks at action/comic book movies. It doesn't help that he's admitted on more than one occassion to not liking the genre and not properly doing his research homework! As he's a fan of Trek, hopefully he'd have a better understanding of the dynamics of the property, thus giving him an insight to what would work (like I said, hopefullly...).
reverendjonnynemo
reverendjonnynemo - 4/22/2011, 8:52 PM
@LP4 No worries - Jar Jar Abrams beat him to it.
superwolverine
superwolverine - 4/23/2011, 11:15 AM
this sounds like it had some potential. i didn't get into star trek until i watched star trek:first contact with the borg .
AutobotCommander84
AutobotCommander84 - 9/11/2011, 10:22 AM
I bet anyone who says Singer is a bad director is a homophobe because he's gay. I personally think he's a great director.
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