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This story must start with a prologue. In 1989, the television guru J. Michael Straczynski had brought His idea for “Babylon 5” For Paramount, hoping that the studio would produce it and transform it into a science fiction show in its own right. He presented Paramount with a standard bible, a character bios, works of art and even 22 brief ideas of history which he intended to write for the show. The series was located in the middle of the 13th century aboard a space station which was located in a neutral part of the space. Many extraterrestrials would cross and the main characters of the program, which are part of a military peacekeeping organization, had to address the whole natural intrigue of being in this position. Paramount refused “Babylon 5”, but Straczynski ended up selling his argument to Warner Bros. A few years later.

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In a suspicious timing, however, announced Paramount – only two months after the announcement of “Babylon 5” – which he would produce “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” Also Located aboard a numbered space station which has also seen many foreigners visit a besieged outpost supervised by a military peacekeeping organization. Straczynski noticed (In an article on his website) that the creators of “Deep Space Nine” Rick Berman and Michael Piller probably did not see his materials “Babylon 5”, but he suspected that some of his ideas were nevertheless used to develop this “Star Trek” television program. The tensions between Straczynski and Paramount have remained palpable for years.

This context is important to know when he talks about “Star Trek: Re-Boot The Universe”, a “Star Trek” treatment proposed by 14 pages “that Straczynski once paved with Bryce Zabel, the creator of the science fiction series” Dark Skies “. In 2004, when” Star Trek: Enterprise “was in the branch and the restart of” Star Trek ” The eye of Jjabrams, Straczynski and Zabel brutally hammered their ideas.

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Oddly, the possible restart of 2009 also looked like Straczynski’s idea. Zabel talked about this restart “The fifty -year mission: the next 25 years: from the next generation to JJ Abrams”, “ Edited by Mark A. Altman and Edward Gross.

“Star Trek: Re-Boot The Universe” was in fact the result of Straczynski and Zabel trying to distract themselves from the brainstorming for a joint television series which they did called “Cult”. It seems that the pair lazily discusses the franchise “Star Trek” and where it was in 2004. The “Star Trek” property, it must be remembered, was in a fairly sorry state at the time. He had just lived A huge bomb with “Star Trek: Nemesis” And was about to miss the clock on “Star Trek: Enterprise”, the only “Star Trek” series in the waves. It seemed that the franchise was made, and Zabel and Straczynski knew it. Thus, they thought that the only way for the property was a restart. Familiar characters could be preserved, but the story had to be started again. As Zabel recalled:

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“We started talking about the state of the” Trek “universe. […] Before we could stop, we hit 14 -page treatment […] It seems to me that I remember having lunch in art cold meats and our conversation which moves away in the situation of “trek”. The take that we proposed included using the original characters, but not as young officers at the Starfleet Academy. “”

(Art deli is still standing at Studio City, California, if you want to go.)

But Zabel and Straczynski were on something. They knew that the adventures of a young captain Kirk, a young Spock and a young Dr McCoy would be the only way to grasp the public again. Yet another original series with new characters would only attract the attention of an audience already undressed in trekkies. The dominant current had to be reintroduced for the familiar.

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What, of course, has done.

Zabel continued his ideas, noting that the new film “Star Trek” should be a restart-that is to say an entity distinct from the continuity that had preceded it. As he said:

“We wanted to do what they would do in the world of comics: create a separate universe for all old television and cinema” Trek “in order to free ourselves in a creative way so that we can kiss good things, ban the Bad and try new things. In our restart, we wanted it not to issue them in a new story.

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It should be noted that Zabel and Straczynski have never written a script, and they did not advance the project beyond their 14-page treatment. However, they thought it was quite good to introduce itself to Paramount. Unfortunately, they were refused at the door, while Abrams had beaten them with a punch. It seems that Abrams was already developing his restart of “Star Trek” when Staczynski and Zabel worked on theirs. The fact that they both concerned the young Kirk and the first days of his relationships with Spock and McCoy seemed to be a complete coincidence.

So, even if it may seem that it is another case of potentially lifting some of the ideas of J. Michael Straczynski for a new “Star Trek” project, it seems unlikely. Thanks to the debacle of “Deep Space Nine”, however, some fans of “Babylon 5” can always be suspect.

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More recently, “Star Trek” revisited the “Young Kirk” idea Again Thank you to its inclusion on “Star Trek: Strange New Worlds”, a series takes place only a few years before the original “Star Trek” television program. Paul Wesley plays the new young KirkWhile Ethan Peck plays the new young spock.