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Why didn't Paramount Pictures make more Star Trek films featuring Captain Picard and The Next Generation cast?

posted 4 years ago by TMC-4 (19417)
5 replies | jump to latest

https://www.quora.com/Why-didnt-Paramount-Pictures-make-more-Star-Trek-films-featuring-Captain-Picard-and-The-Next-Generation-cast/answer/Jeremy-Shirland

Budget. Current sci-fi films are short on storyline, and more focused on rollercoaster action sequences. Star Trek just doesn’t work well with a high-budget film mentality. The best ST movie ever was a direct result of budget cuts, and primary filming handled by the television department. Yes, TWOK was handled primarily by the television division of Paramount.

Television. The best storylines are being told on streaming format television, no question about it. Serialized binge watching has proven to be the best way to frame stories, and keep viewers engaged. Networks are struggling for content under this newish format. Star Trek, of course, is about the story. Star Treks 2–3–4 were very successful both commercially, and critically, because of the ability to tell a story

Ensemble. Star Trek TNG has a great lead actor, and some very solid supporting actors. But let’s face it, Gates McFadden, Levar Burton, and Marina Sirtis just aren’t film actors. So, they need to get all the actors to sign on, and to do that, they have to have a certain amount of lines, and scene counts. So the story starts getting ludicrous, because now, Dr. Crusher is fighting the Borg… etc. meh.

[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 4 years ago

Instead of the boring third movie which played out like a bland episode from season 2, the movies should have included Q as an antagonist in at least one movie, with later movies including fan faves the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians and the Ferengi.

I’d of loved to of seen further movies released in the 90’s gradually including the DS9 and Voyager crew too. But they messed it up with two boring movies that didn’t do justice to a great show.

[–] strntz (10833) 4 years ago

I have to agree that the scripts were uninspired, but then many of the scripts and two-parters of the TV series were pretty good. A couple were movie worthy.

With the First Gen group, the 60s series were pretty entertaining for the most part, but none of them approached a movie level. The First Gen movies were a step up in story writing.

I think another reason is that fans were willing to show up for anything the legendary first cast did on film. TNG wasn't gone nearly as long, and the sentimentality of seeing the old TNG cast just wasn't there.

[–] [deleted] 4 years ago

Who the hell are the "First Gen group"? We don't call them that, we call them the Originals, and even then, they aren't.

[–] NotoriousRio (12927) 4 years ago

I think another reason is that fans were willing to show up for anything the legendary first cast did on film. TNG wasn't gone nearly as long, and the sentimentality of seeing the old TNG cast just wasn't there.

That's true, plus at the time we were getting constant Star Trek on TV from 1987 - 2005. It was too much, with 20+ episodes a season, by the time Voyager came along I was burnt out.

[–] TandyMan (10367) 4 years ago

They definitely boned the TNG movies with the 3rd film. The stakes just weren't film worthy. Even if Nemesis wasn't a total stinker, the common fan was lost completely by that point. Only the hardcore fanbase was gonna turn out for whatever they made.

I think the problem was trying to produce a series of TNG films at all. Trying to replicate the magic of the TOS film series. What we had at this point wasn't just a single Star Trek series to draw from, but the addition of three entire 7 season arcs of show with a bevy of wonderful beloved characters all ready to finally interact with one another in a larger than life way on the big screen. The MCU has proved what an exciting idea that is. Hollywood just thought a lot smaller back then. Even still, it was a mistake to stick to TNG and ignore the other two series. I would guess maybe, due to the mixed reception Generations got combining the two casts, that they didn't want to try that again? Who knows.

I believe the points made in this thread of Star Trek fatigue are warranted as well. The excitement now that fans have for the return of Picard and others from back in the day illustrate the importance of time and nostalgia.

Also, the production of the TV shows had gotten pretty darn good. We no longer needed the big budgets afforded by film to fully realize the world of Star Trek on screen. The step up from the original series to the movies was utterly mindblowing. That's exciting. That's worth throwing money at. The TNG movies were so in line visually with the shows that eh.... it's a little bigger in scope. That's not a draw.