Official Star Trek Auction Marks Unofficial End to Current Trek Era (Updated)

While not yet official, the announcement of 60th Anniversary Star Trek Universe Auction indicates the end has come for the current era of Star Trek which once that last seasons air will be from 2017 to 2027. The auction is an interesting one as its for charity, likely not include the most valuable items and requires winners to be a local Ontario, Canada resident. You can find the details here or here.

Kurtzman Talks Starfleet Academy Setting, Other Details

Now that Star Trek: Discovery has completed its run and nothing Trek is on the horizon for the next three or so months, eyes turn to the next series in the pipeline (depending on how Paramount sale goes) with Starfleet Academy. The series is set to start filming at some point this summer with Holly Hunter in the lead as the commodore of the Academy. He verified that the series will take place in the 31st century on Earth, in San Francisco which is the traditional home of Starfleet Academy. This is the same time frame of the last three seasons of Discovery. 

Kurtzman also spoke of his motivations on choices he has made for what to do with Star Trek over the last few years. Below are choice quotes related to Academy but he spoke of Discovery and others series in the full article with the from the LA Times.

It’s a misnomer that there’s a one-size-fits-all Trekkie. And rather than make one show that’s going to please everybody — and will almost certainly please nobody — let’s make an adult drama, an animated comedy, a kids’ comedy, an adventure show and on and on. There’s something quite beautiful about that; it allows each of the stories to bloom in its own unique way.

There’s a specific reason for [31st century setting]. As the father of a 17-year-old boy, I see what my son is feeling as he looks at the world and to his future. I see the uncertainty; I see all the things we took for granted as given are not certainties for him. I see him recognizing he’s inheriting an enormous mess to clean up and it’s going to be on his generation to figure out how to do that, and that’s a lot to ask of a kid. My thinking was, if we set “Starfleet Academy” in the halcyon days of the Federation where everything was fine, it’s not going to speak to what kids are going through right now. 

What’ll be authentic is to set it in the timeline where this is the first class back after over 100 years, and they are coming into a world that is only beginning to recover from a cataclysm — which was the Burn, as established on “Star Trek: Discovery,” where the Federation was greatly diminished. So they’re the first who’ll inherit, who’ll re-inherit, the task of exploration as a primary goal, because there just wasn’t room for that during the Burn — everybody was playing defense. It’s an incredibly optimistic show, an incredibly fun show; it’s a very funny show, and it’s a very emotional show. I think these kids, in different ways, are going to represent what a lot of kids are feeling now.

Alex Kurtzman also said he will be directing the first two episodes of the series. He also briefly commented on the future plans saying "There's always notions and there are a couple of surprises coming up" but didn't elaborate further. Keep in mind Paramount (with CBS and Paramount+) are for sale so be really surprised if he has been given the greenlight to produce any more series until a final decision is made on Paramount's future as such a decision (aka budget), would be in the new owners 'hands.

While Kurtzman's reason for the 31st century setting is true, I doubt it is the primary reason. In Hollywood budget, not story, is king. Discovery built up five years worth of assets from sets, cast, stories, and CGI elements that will make a good dent on per episode budgets and speed up the post production process which likely played a huge part in the decisions made for a new series that became Starfleet Academy. Real argument to be made that streaming's more or less every 1.5 to 2 year release schedule does no favors in keep eyeballs around and it will be interesting if this series can finally close the gap with the Discovery advantage and the large Academy set being built.

Alex Kurtzman To Shepard Star Trek For Six More Years; Backstory on Rise of Alex

Viacom/CBS has extended its deal with Alex Kurtzman and his Secret Hideout production company. The $150 million plus deal means he will continue to remain in charge of all things Star Trek for six more years.  The deal isn't limited to Trek as it pretty much involves anything Kurtzman and his studio decides to make.

The history of Alex Kurtzman and Star Trek is an interesting one. I hope one day an investigative journalist looks into it. Emphasis on investigative so it isn't just a puff piece. The relationship with  Alex Kurtzman's Star Trek actually goes back a way and really started with Transformers. Yeah the Bay film.

CBS Eyes Four Potential Star Trek Series as Signs New Deal with Kurtzman

In a vote of confidence, CBS signs a five-year, $25 million deal extension with Alex Kurtzman. The deal basically means he controls TV Trek (a la Gene Roddenberry back in the day) for the foreseeable future. Kurtzman was part of the writing team that rebooted the movie franchise for Paramount before going solo to launch Star Trek: Discovery as an executive producer. As of last week he is now also show-runner on the program so all decisions go through him.

The deal goes along with rumors, none confirmed by CBS, that another TV show is in the works. Actually it seems CBS is kicking the tires on four potential series. This isn't to say all four goes to series, just that there are four ideas being developed, one of which may move forward.

One show idea is "Sources say Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, who left Discovery after season one, are attached to the Stewart-led reboot." This comes after Stewart hinted a return saying he "may have good cause to look at [Discovery] very soon." Which to mean suggests a potential cameo appearance, not a series. Or it could mean the convention circuit will soon be swamped with Discovery alumni and he likes being informed for panels and the like. I think people are reading to much into this. The other ideas being kicked around is an animated series and a limited series but this is literally the extent of the information on those two.

Another concept that does seem to have legs is one set at Starfleet Academy (era not mentioned) from Stephanie Savage and Josh Schwartz (Runaways, Gossip Girl). The idea, one that has been kicked every time Trek returns, seems great as long as the pair can maybe lose some of over ansty television that has been their mainstay for the last decade.

The last concept is a limited series of Khan Noonien Singth from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. This was a series that Khan creator and director Nicholas Meyer was rumored to have been working on for a little while. The idea seemed to be put on hold and I am guessing Meyer will have little to do with whatever comes of it as I suspect some bad blood formed during the Discovery pre-production process between Meyer and CBS. The closest Star Trek ever got to a "biography" is the Greg Cox written books The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh and To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh.

End result is CBS seems to be investing in the long term for Star Trek and are not just eyeing a season to season pick up of Discovery to keep the franchise going while Paramount continues to spin it wheels as the studio looks to be willing to wait for around two years to see if Quentin Tarantino might direct the next film.

CBS Fires Star Trek: Discovery's Showrunners

It seems Star Trek: Discovery's showrunner problems continue. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Gretchen Berg and Aaron Harberts were fired as showrunner on the program with Discovery Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman (The Mummy, writer on Star Trek movies) taking over duties for the rest of the season. The show is already several episodes into filming.

Sources say the decision to oust Berg and Harberts was based not on the creative but instead for leadership and operational issues. Production on Discovery's first five episodes of season two are near completion, with Kurtzman likely taking over for episode six and beyond. Berg and Harberts, who were longtime collaborators with original showrunner Fuller, will likely still be credited on the episodes they oversaw. Sources say the budget for the season two premiere ballooned, with the overages expected to come out of subsequent episodes from Discovery's sophomore run. Insiders also stress that Berg and Harberts became increasingly abusive to the Discovery writing staff, with Harberts said to have leaned across the writers room table while shouting an expletive at a member of the show's staff. Multiple writers are said to have been uncomfortable working on the series and had threatened to file a complaint with human resources or quit the series altogether before informing Kurtzman of the issues surrounding Berg and Harberts. After hearing rumors of HR complaints, Harberts is said to have threatened the staff to keep concerns with the production an internal matter.

Sources tell THR that Discovery is nearing what has been characterized as a planned production hiatus after episode five, which will allow Kurtzman time to regroup the show's writing staff. Production is not expected to be impacted by the showrunner change.

In another departure for season two of Star Trek, THR has learned that executive producer Akiva Goldsman did not return to Discovery after serving as Kurtzman's right-hand man during its freshman run. Goldsman was brought in to help build the world of Discovery, but the veteran producer, who directed the season one finale, is said to have had a management style and personality that clashed with the writing staff. It's unclear if Goldsman will continue to receive an exec producer credit on season two.

Have to give the writer's room credit with three people fired in one season is quite the accomplishment. At this point have to wonder what the various sides of the story on this one as firing the bigwigs of the show is not a minor thing for any production but this first blush version of the story isn't sufficient information. There have been comparisons to first few season of The Next Generation which suffered from writers' room and producer turnover but that was generally due to conflicts with Gene Roddenberry. This isn't quite the same as doesn't seem based on a difference in vision (Gene's perfect future vs desire to make things bit more messy for drama purposes) but personality conflicts. The 13 episode season 2 is expected to premiere on CBS All Access sometime in early in 2019. Good luck to Alex Kurtzman on his new role.

Abrams, Stars Promote Star Trek Into Darkness

For the last week or so JJ Abrams and some of the stars of Star Trek Into Darkness have been promoting its home video release. Most of the time they covered the same "you should see this movie" ground they covered when promoting the movie theater release but a few nuggets of interest were said. Eve talks about the underwear thing, Abrams answers questions on Khan & the video game, Peter Weller defends his character, and Kurtzman and Orci focus on story choices. Below are the links to the stories and segments I found interesting. My comments will be in italics.

Spinoff Online - JJ Abrams

I think the thing was that Khan really is the most iconic villain of the series, and it felt like an opportunity to see another side of Khan and to something that, like the first film did, use elements that people were familiar with but in a new. It’s a valid argument that it’s about time for them to go off and discover and see things that have nothing to do with what we’ve seen before, and I think we’ll always have some overlap. But I’m excited about the next chapter.

Orci, Kurtzman Back for Star Trek 3

Despite previous reports, Paramount Pictures has decided to stay on course and re-signed Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman to write the script for Star Trek 3. However, Damon Lindelof is not part of the film so it might streamline the writing process resulting in a faster turnaround. Previously Thor writers Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz were rumored to be on board with Orci and Kurtzman in editor/consultant roles on script. I guess the in demand duo figured out how to open their schedule to meet whatever deadline Paramount (hopefully) is working from to prevent another four year gap between sequels.

I cannot say I am excited by this news. The writing record of Orci and Kurtzman is one of great ideas followed by subpar execution. I think they have big, great ideas but the details to effectively execute the big idea are beyond their skill set. Their cool ideas tend to be full of bad character development, many story holes, convenient solutions, and spectacle just for the sake of it rather than any story purpose. In other words, Hollywood considers them the perfect script writers. Which sadly is not really what Star Trek is about.

Star Trek Writers Talk Star Trek Into Darkness

The promotional campaign for Star Trek Into Darkness continues as Paramount is likely to do everything they can to try to take the weekend box office from Iron Man 3 in Europe this coming weekend. Quite the challenge considering the movies $175M US opening, $680M total already. In this post its a look as the writers of Star Trek Into Darkness spoke with TrekMovie.com about the film along with an interview with Karl Urban. Links and highlights below. A final bit is a video as JJ Abrams compares starting work on Star Wars with Star Trek. No information of any real kind is said.

Damon Lindelof Interview
- Unless cloning technology exists, "it is going to be tough" for Abrams to direct ST3.
- Hopes to work on the next feel as "care too deeply for Trek to step away."
- A replacement director would need a "passion for Trek" and a "vision for what comes next."

Orci and Kurtzman Interview from Star Trek Magazine

TrekMovie.com has posted excerpts from Star Trek magazine that is out now. In the issue, Star Trek Into Darknese writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman talk a bit about the movie's big bad John Harrison, the development of the crew and some of the themes they were aiming for while avoiding giving any spoilers.

Harrison as opposite to Starfleet believers:

Well he understands Starfleet because he was enlisted in a similar way. Some might see part of the title coming from the fact that he’s kind of a dark shadow of members of our crew. He too has gone through the process to some degree, that some of our crew have gone though, and clearly for some reason it’s failed to bring him over, so I think he represents that part of our heroes.

Enterprise crew still learning:

Kurtzman, Orci Remain Coy on Star Trek Villain

In brief comments to TrekMovie, Star Trek Into Darkness writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci commented on the name of John Harrison for the movies big bad as played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Roberto Orci had indicated months ago that the character would be a familiar one to Trek fans but (so far) that does not seem to be the case. When asked if he had lied about that, he just said "We will have to wait and see."

Alex Kurtzman said, "Well without revealing too much what I can tell you is that in the same spirit as "can the Enterprise be under water? What does that mean? How are we going to justify this? How are we going to explain it?" We went back and we talked a lot about things that made us want to make the first movie in the first place as fans. And what do we feel was successful for the fans. A lot of that had to do with honoring the history — honoring the show. But we also want to come up with a way to make the stories feel fresh and unpredictable. So without revealing too much, we applied the same thinking to Harrison."

Long story short, it seems my alias theory remains alive. The name is probably used in the movie but I think its the name used to infiltrate Starfleet, not the actual name of the character that will learned as the Enterprise crew attempts to stop whatever his master plan is.

Alex Kurtzman On Sequel Writing Approach

Star Trek sequel (sheesh I will be glad when they give this movie a name), Alex Kurtzman continues his marketing push for his directorial debut with People Like Us. This leads to Trek questions where he answered a few for The Hollywood Reporter. As always the cone of silence remains in place. He spoke about his writing approach to the script and characters and re-iterated that this crew still has a lot to learn. Below are a few segments, the full article is here.

The Hollywood Reporter: If theoretically Star Trek 2 examines what it means for Kirk to be Captain, how much is the film a Quantum of Solace follow-up that starts right after the first film, and how much does it take place some time after the events of Star Trek?
Alex Kurtzman: I can’t answer your question directly, but I can say the assumption that we did not want to make was that just because he’s in the chair and they’re on the bridge together that they’re the crew that you remember from the original series. They’re not -- the crew from the original series had gone on many, many journeys, they were a well-oiled machine in terms of how they function, and these characters are still figuring out who they are and who they are to each other. And I did not want to jump so far ahead that we missed a really important emotional connection to that transition for them.

THR: Has it been a struggle to find stories that are different than the library of tales from previous iterations of Trek, or is there groundwork laid out through those stories that you can build upon for your film but just make it more cinematic?
Kurtzman: Star Trek at its best was always allegory, and wildly entertaining at the same time -- they always coexisted, those two things. And we were supposed to be out this year in theaters, and part of why we all collectively said we really shouldn’t do this is because we put a lot of love and time and effort into making this without violating canon, and yet bring something totally new to the table when it came to Star Trek. The last thing we wanted to do was destroy that by letting a speed mandate mess up our storytelling, and we just felt we weren’t ready. So we wanted to take more time with the story to make sure that the story is as true to everything that keeps you watching one episode a night before bed.

Kurtzman and Pine Talk Sets and IMAX

Star Trek 2's Chris Pine (Kirk) and Alex Kurtzman (writer/producer) briefly commented to Collider about the sequel that recently finished principle photography. The pair are promoting Kurtzman's directing debut of People Like Us that is coming out on June 29th. As usual nothing spoilerish was revealed. Kurtzman spoke about the connecting Enterprise sets while Pine spoke about the pressures of a sequel and IMAX footage. It was recently announced that the film will be released in IMAX 3D with certain key scenes shot with IMAX cameras. The key parts are below, you can find the full interview with Alex Kurtzman is here and Chris Pine is here.

Collider: What was it like, the first day back on the Enterprise? Was it an emotional experience?
ALEX KURTZMAN: Oh, yeah, for sure! Me and Bob [Orci] and Damon [Lindelof] and J.J. [Abrams] and Bryan Burk all feel very protective of Star Trek. The studio had wanted it a year earlier and we said, “No, we can’t. We’re not going to be ready and we don’t want to rush this.” We felt very fortunate that the first movie was well received, and the last thing that we wanted to do was destroy that by rushing something. It’s very precious to a lot of people. We love our Trek and we just wanted to keep it safe.

Kurtzman Compliments Cumberbatch, Abrams

In an interview with MTV, Star Trek 2 writer Alex Kurtzman talked about new cast member Benedict Cumberbatch. Rumors and set video indicates Cumberbatch (Sherlock, War Horse) plays the big bad of the movie but this has not been confirmed. Alex had nothing but compliments for the actor and sadly revealed nothing about the movie.

"He’s incredible," Kurtzman said. "What he does with language is incredible. His training is amazing and he’s so magnetic, he holds the screen in any size frame, he really is a joy to watch."

"The movie is going unbelievably well," he added. "J.J. as usual is crushing it, he’s doing an amazing amazing job. I think as much as we put all of our love and effort into the first one, there’s even more in this one and he is really, he’s such an exacting and beautiful director. What I watch him do, it’s so amazing, he inspires everybody around him and he’s been so utterly true to everything that we all have honored and loved about Trek so that’s kind of where we’re at right now. The finish line is in sight."

"Without spoiling anything, the challenge is that you don’t want to jump too far ahead and assume that just because they got together they’re all comfortable with each other," he said. "They’re still all working out their kinks and still becoming the bridge crew that we remember from the series. That's still very much alive and look, any good sequel is about the challenge that the group faces in order to become the unified team and I think that that challenge in this movie is going to be hopefully amazing."

(via TrekMovie)

Star Trek 2 Writers Continue to Talk Scripting

Between the San Diego Comic-Con and Cowboys & Aliens, the three writers of Star Trek 2 (or 12) continue to speak with the press about their work on the script for the movie and some of the pressure they feel in living up to fan expectations. Rob Orci and Alex Kurtzman talked about the fan pressure (wanting to live up to expectations) and 3D (not "thinking about 3D at this point).

Their writing partner, Damon Lindelof, spoke with MTV (video below) saying the "key relationships" and villain has been worked out. Lindelof did say no Borg but would not confirm Khan except to say that they did a "pro and Khan" list to help make a decision. They also hope to give the supporting characters a chance to "shine a little brighter".

Star Trek Sequel Release Likely Delayed

The writing team of Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman all but guaranteed that the film when not make its June 29th, 2012 release date in an interview Cinepremiere. They now say the sequel is hoping to start principle photography in January 2012. This would leave about five months to finish the script & pre-production, a more reasonable time line for a special effects heavy big budget film. The start date also means the film will either get a Christmas season release date or (more likely) a Summer 2013 start date. While the delay is annoying and shows an overall lack of focus on the part of the principle architects of the franchise, it does increase the probability that JJ Abrams will return to direct. (via TrekMovie)

Orci: We had ideas when we did the first [Star Trek] movie – we always think it is bad luck to think of the sequel – but we had some ideas for the sequel way back then and actually we are doing some of those ideas now and pitching and pitching them to the studio and JJ [Abrams] has been developing them with us. The idea’s that we had have stuck so we feel pretty strongly that we have an amazing story and we are going to be shooting very soon.

Q: How soon?
Orci: Hopefully…
Kurtzman: …Early next year.
Orci: I think probably in January, but every time we say "we will be shooting any second now," we are not, but it is going to be soon.

Interview with Star Trek 12 Writers

TrekMovie was able to score an exclusive interview (yep I am jealous) with the writers of Star Trek 12 - Damon Lindelof, Roberto Orci, and Alex Kurtzman. The video of the interview and the transcript can be found here.

The highlights:
- On rumor of meeting a September start principle photography start date, the answer was confusing but came down to if J.J. Abrams thinks it is ready.
- Writer's still determining what the line is on what and number of classic Trek elements to bring in as they try to create their own canon. Lindelof, "It is just finding that balance so it’s not too inside, but it inside enough so that the people that have invested the last forty years of their live in this incredible myth feel like they are getting their money’s worth."
- While they have worked on the script for technically 9 months, this is really the first time they have been able to work on it full time.
- Have no desire or intent to remake Wrath of Khan but will use it as a model for getting the characters right.

Star Trek Sequel Story "Broken"

In an interview with Hero Complex, Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman revealed they "have broken the story" which more or less means they have figured out the major story points for the sequel. I don't think that means they have a complete outline and probably still a month or so away from a first draft. Current expectations put a finished script sometime in early 2011. Below are excerpts from the interview as they discuss the challenge of putting a story together.

GB: It’s early days on the “Star Trek” sequel, but is there anything you can tell us about the story direction, tone or even the types of challenges you’re anticipating with this next-step project?
AK: Well, we have broken the story, which is very exciting. I think one of the weird challenges that we’re facing on this one is that in many ways, with the first movie, I don’t think people knew what to expect, so when we were in the writing process, Bob and I really spent our time going to things that we loved about “Trek” and it was a very unfiltered process. It felt intimate and small. There weren’t a lot of voices other than [producer] Damon [Lindelof], J.J. and [executive producer] Bryan Burke. Now, that first movie has come up and did well and everyone wants to know what happens next. We didn’t have that pressure, exactly, on the first one. That said, part of what we have to do is listen to it all, ask a lot of questions about what people’s expectations are — and then let all of that go when we sit down to write. We need to find our way back to the same kind of vibe that we had when we wrote the first one: What do we want to see here? What moved us about “Trek”? Where can we go from where we left off?

RO: One of the big challenges is all of the characters are together now. A prequel is a pain in the butt, but one of the nice little advantages was that you get to meet the characters as you go through the story and they get to meet each other. That’s fun. We don’t that luxury of not having the entire family there together at the start of the story. So now you want the character stories to be good for everybody but also not just be there to be stories but also fit into the plot and be organic. We’re looking at a lot of the old episodes for inspiration, still. Whereas the last movie was all about breaking free from “Star Trek” and its canon, now that we can do whatever we want, we still want it to feel like good ol’ “Star Trek” even though it’s a new story.

GB: Your great advantage going in is the chemistry between this bright, young cast. It must be a treat to write for an ensemble that has already shown a lot of spark, humor and nuance.
AK: “Treat” is literally the perfect word. We spend a lot of time talking about how — now that everyone is together — they all need really clear, defined moments. Moments that are specific to their characters, specific to way they interact with each other and also build on the dynamic of those amazing, amazing actors. It’s going to be joy for us.

In Process of Writing Trek Script

Popcorn Biz recently recieved an update on the progress being made on the script for the sequel to Star Trek. The site spoke with the writers Damon Lindelof, Alex Kurtzman, and Roberto Orci.

“We are in the process – It is being written,” Lindelof told Popcorn Biz. “It's a lot of fun. There's a tremendous amount of pressure because expectations, I felt, were a little bit low the last time. Now they're high – but that brings its own level of excitement. So, you know, I hope that we do the fans proud.”

Kurtzman called breaking the sequel’s story “an epic moment for us, of feeling like we finally came to something that meets our expectations.”

“It’s exciting and terrifying and wonderful, and yet I want to put my head in the sand – all at the same time,” Kurtzman said. “I think Bob and Damon and I have to shut the noise out. You do listen to what people are saying, and our antennae are always out for what people are saying and what people want. We take that in, we process it, we adjust it, we talk about it, we debate it, and then we shut it all out and say ‘What are we going to do here? What do we want? What feels right?’”

“Now we have all of characters in place for the beginning of the movie, so order number one is to make sure we’re taking care of them,” explained Orci. “The first movie had the benefit of slowly introducing them – they weren’t all there from the beginning. Now they’re all there, and we want to make sure everyone gets what they deserve first before we see who else can fit in.”

Writers Drop More Sequel Hints

In the latest issue of SFX Magazine (article currently not online), Star Trek writers Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman spoke a little bit about their train of thought on developing the story of the sequel. The suggestions seem to be that they plan on striking out in their own direction with Trek rather than retread over the same ground from previous movies. For fans this likely means the Star Trek 2.0 Khan Noonien Singh is unlikely to make an appearance. Below is some of what they said from IGN and TrekMovie.

"Starting at a premise of what you want to see and then working a story around it is not how we do it," claims Kurtzman. "You have to start with what is the right story. And [then] if you can say, 'That's a story that Khan fits into,' that's how you get to that. Not deciding on a menu list of items and then seeing if you can't string them all together."

Orci adds that it's "tempting" to introduce a new villain in the next film. "We now have this incredible new sandbox to play in," says the scribe. "On the other hand, some fans really want to see Klingons and it's hard not to listen to that. The trick is not to do something that's been seen before just because you think it will be a short cut to likeability."

Personally I don't see Khan or any other previous "named" villain showing up anytime soon. I think other than using the various races - Klingons, Romulans, etc - in their traditionally established ways, any villain in the movie will be unique to the 2.0 universe as a driving force behind the film will be for Abrams, the writers, etc to strike out in their own direction as much as possible. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Orci, Kurtzman SDCC Sequel Update

The San Diego Comic-Con is currently in full swing with Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman making the rounds to promote their upcoming television show Hawaii Five-O. MTV tried to get specific details on their progress in scripting Star TRek 2 (video below).

"That's something we've never told anyone," Kurtzman replied. "We actually are making significant process on the story."

"Our [work] days are regimented by the hour, it's the only way to get through it," Kurtzman explained. "The good news is that on [the set of whatever we're working on] we can step into the trailer and do work on 'Star Trek.'" Orci added, "It's been kind of a noon to 2 kind of thing for some reason. Lunch is nice."

"Now that we've set up everybody-- there were new characters in the last one, so we really want to focus in on them," Orci said. "For example Scotty, who you met at the end of the last movie, who [was] so important to the crew but had the shortest screen time, now is going to be in the movie from the very beginning. In fact, the whole crew is in it from the beginning."

In other word, the narrow focus of the last movie will broaden in the sequel. "Now the whole family is there and you want to focus on them first. Before you worry too much about new characters, make sure you have them taken care of."

Which characters will be getting more screen time? No definites yet, but Orci definitely has his ideas. "I loved, and a lot of people loved, Captain Pike. I loved Bones, who a lot of people thought he's too good-looking to be cast as Bones... he was a fan-favorite. We'd worked with Karl way back in TV land days, so to get back together and have him surprise everyone was great."