The Star Trek franchise has been in existence either on television or in films since the Original Series first aired in September of 1966. Now five years after Star Trek: Beyond, Paramount feels it is ready to warp on to the big screen yet again.

On Friday Paramount officially announced that Stark Trek is returning to theaters on June 9, 2023 and while that is exciting to hear Paramount did not give any indication as to exactly what this new movie will be about. Will it be a fourth installment of the Kelvin timeline created by J.J. Abrams with Star Trek 2009, something connected to Star Trek Discovery or Star Trek: Picard or an entirely new project yet to be announced?

The last Star Trek movie to play in theaters was 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond. Even though Beyond came the closest to feeling like something from the original series it was also the lowest grossing of the three Kelvin timeline movies. 

Of course, we cannot forget about the long-rumored Quentin Tarantino Star Trek movie that last we knew Tarantino was not attached to direct. Tarantino in the past has expressed interest at putting his own mark on the science fiction property, something many Star Trek and Tarantino fans have expressed an abundant of interest in seeing the filmmaker take a stab at.

Reggie’s Take:

Hearing that Star Trek is potentially returning to theaters in 2023 is exciting news. While I feel that Star Trek’s first and best home is on television, I have missed it on the big screen.

First, I will admit that I enjoyed the three previous movies starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban and Zoe Saldana. I know some Trek fans did not like or care for Abram’s version, but I did not have an issue with them. Were they perfect movies? No, of course not. One of the best things I felt Abram’s did with the 2009 movie was to set it in an alternate timeline. The first time I saw the 2009 Star Trek film and discovered it was set in an alternate timeline I felt it was the right move. It gave Abram’s the freedom to tell any story and go in any direction and not have to worry about what had already been done. It was a way of telling new stories and not affect anything that had already been done in the original timeline.

As far as what I would like to see if Paramount keeps the June 2023 release date. I would be okay with several different options. The easy choice is to bring back Chris Pine and company and give them a fourth opportunity at saving the Federation. One of my few gripes with the Kelvin timeline movies is we have not seen the Klingons as the antagonist. Regardless of what you thought of their updated look in Into Darkness, one the best part of TOS on television or in the movies was that Kirk hated the Klingons and the Klingons wanted Kirk dead. Something that could easily be explored up on the big screen.

If Paramount chooses to move away from the Kelvin timeline than I would love to see them dip into the past as it were and give us a crew, we have yet seen in theaters. That could be an all-new crew never seen on television or the movies or return to a crew like Deep Space Nine.

Yes, you read that right. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine’s last new episode aired in June of 1999, leaving Captain Sisko in the Celestial Temple, Kira in command of DS9, Worf as the Federation ambassador to the Klingon Empire, although we later see Worf back on the Enterprise-E in Star Trek: Nemesis, Odo rejoining the great link and Chief O’Brien leaving to teach at Starfleet Academy. Granted everyone scattered at the series conclusion, but it is Hollywood and who is to say you could not get everyone back for one movie.

Of all the other series after The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine in my mind would make a good movie. There is plenty there to explore after twenty plus years and there is nothing saying you must do more than one movie. It was a series that constantly got high praise with a cast that you could argue was just as good as the Next Generation cast. You could even add cast members from Voyager into the mix giving both shows the chance to shine up on the big screen instead of cameos in other Trek movies.

Personally, I do not see Paramount making a movie with the Discovery cast, with it just airing only on Paramount Plus I do not see there being enough of an audience for a Discovery movie to be profitable. Same goes for Star Trek: Picard, even though I thought the first season was terrific, they just begun to film the second season and even if Star Trek: Picard was what they wanted to go with you might as well make it the fifth TNG movie in all honesty, because that is what fans will be wanting.

Categories: Star Trek

Tags: Kelvin Timeline, Movies, Paramount, Star Trek, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Star Trek Discovery, Star Trek Voyager, Star Trek: Picard