UPDATE 2: Thrawn creator Timothy Zahn is writing his first Star Trek story, a Deep Space Nine graphic novel from IDW.
UPDATE: The one movie everything rides on is coming into focus: Goldstein and Daley tell Empire it’s probably the darkest film they have ever written, and it’s not the Kelvin timeline.
Star Trek premiered on NBC on September 8, 1966, with “The Man Trap.” Today the franchise turns 60.
Paramount is marking the day everywhere at once: a new scripted podcast, a Guinness World Records attempt, two game shows, and the final day of a theatrical event playing in 750 theaters.
It looks like a birthday party. It also happens to be a working preview of the plan our sources have been describing since June.
What’s Happening For Star Trek Day
Star Trek: Khan, an all-new scripted podcast built around the franchise’s most famous villain, launches today.
Fans around the world are throwing the Vulcan Salute for a global Guinness World Records attempt, culminating today at London’s Science Museum during its Star Trek Lates event. The London Underground is in on it too, with themed takeovers at King’s Cross St Pancras and South Kensington.
On CBS, Star Trek-themed episodes of The Price Is Right and Let’s Make a Deal air today and stream on Paramount+.
Tonight in Los Angeles, the Autry Museum hosts a free outdoor screening pairing “The Man Trap” with an advance look at the Strange New Worlds episode “Orders of Magnitude.”
And it’s the final day of the theatrical event that started September 4, pairing the first four Star Trek movies with hand-picked Original Series episodes. Today’s Star Trek Day marathon runs all four double features back to back.
The 60th anniversary Blu-ray gift set is also out today. William Shatner’s documentary The Sixty-Year Mission follows in Regal theaters on October 9 — and Shatner, at 95, says he would still play Kirk.
The Plan Behind The Party
Look at what’s actually on those theater screens. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is playing as The Director’s Edition. The Wrath of Khan is playing as the Director’s Cut.
On August 11, a source told us Paramount-WBD is planning a run of directors’ cuts in theaters — Star Trek included — with new Blu-rays and collector merchandise to follow. Three weeks later, AMC listed this exact event.
The same source has since told us many more re-release campaigns are coming over the next six to twelve months, with every property from 1970 to 2000 getting a second and third look.
The bigger picture goes back further. On June 29, our sources said David Ellison and Mike De Luca were teaming up to save Star Trek. On July 2, they said the reboot is going back to the franchise’s Wrath of Khan-to-Next Generation roots.
A 60th birthday built on The Director’s Edition, the Director’s Cut, and the original episodes is that plan, on screen, today.
Everything Rides On The Movie
So where does Star Trek actually stand at 60?
Our sources have been blunt about it: everything rides on the movie.
That movie comes from Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley: a thriller set inside the Starfleet institution, playing out in near-real time, with comparisons to Training Day and Crimson Tide. It uses all-new characters, and it is still in development.
On the TV side, Paramount+ has been canvassing writers as Alex Kurtzman’s deal runs out, and there are no plans for a United series.
Sixty years ago tonight, “The Man Trap” aired and started all of this.
In 1982, The Wrath of Khan saved the franchise after a rough stretch. That movie is on theater screens today, in its Director’s Cut, while Paramount lines up a new one to do the same job.
