New STAR TREK Movie Will Dig Into the ‘Bad Apples’ Hiding Within Starfleet and Is Inspired by TRAINING DAY and CRIMSON TIDE
Starfleet has always represented one of the brighter visions of humanity’s future, but the next Star Trek movie may be interested in what happens when the wrong people find their way into that institution.
John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein, the filmmaking duo behind Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, are developing a new feature set within the Star Trek universe.
While the project is still taking shape, the directors have revealed a few interesting details about their approach, including the fact that the story will examine Starfleet from a less idealized perspective.
The film arrives at an interesting point for the franchise as Star Trek celebrates its 60th anniversary. On television, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds and Star Trek: Starfleet Academy have their eventual endpoints mapped out, while Daley and Goldstein are working on what could become the next big-screen chapter.
The pair have been sharing bits of information about the project while promoting their Apple TV film Mayday, and their choice of cinematic influences offers a pretty good indication of the kind of Star Trek movie they’re cooking up.
Daley and Goldstein pointed to Training Day and Crimson Tide as inspirations. Both films star Denzel Washington, and both revolve around escalating conflicts between people operating inside powerful institutions.
Training Day pits a young LAPD officer against a corrupt veteran detective, while Crimson Tide centers on a fierce clash of authority aboard a nuclear submarine.
That raises an obvious question: how do you bring that kind of institutional conflict into Star Trek without stripping away the optimism that has defined the franchise for six decades?
Daley explained: “I would say it’s really kind of a look at the institution of Starfleet and any institution as a whole that has existed for a long time and what that does,” Daley explained to Inverse.
He continued: “I think the portrayal of Starfleet and the people that work within it have always been generally idealized versions of what the future could be.
“And while this [script] isn’t a cynical or nihilistic take on it, I think it does acknowledge that there are some bad apples in every institution that can have a strong voice and can really make an impact on that institution and everything it stands for.”
That sounds like fertile territory for a Star Trek story. The franchise doesn’t need to tear Starfleet apart to question the people operating within it.
Trek has explored compromised admirals, conspiracies, corruption, and ideological conflicts plenty of times before. Daley and Goldstein appear interested in making those problems a major part of their film while keeping Starfleet’s larger ideals intact.
The filmmakers are also experimenting with the structure of the movie. Daley teased: “It takes place almost in real time, and it just is a whole other look at what a Star Trek movie could be without betraying the fundamentals of what it should be.”
A Star Trek movie unfolding almost in real time, influenced by Crimson Tide and Training Day, with a conflict centered on problematic figures inside Starfleet? That could make for a tense and very unique Trek adventure.
There’s still a lot we don’t know about the project, including its characters, cast, era, or when it might actually reach theaters.
For now, Daley and Goldstein seem to have found an interesting angle that lets them challenge Starfleet without turning Star Trek into something cynical.
If they can capture the character chemistry and adventurous energy that make their movies so much fun while digging into the moral pressure cooker they’re describing here, this could be and awesome Star Trek movie!