BAND OF BROTHERS Writer Developed a Fascinating Unproduced STAR TREK Trilogy and Wanted Christopher Walken as Kirk's Great-Great Grandfather

The hit Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks HBO World War II series Band of Brothers is one of my all-time favorite war projects. The series was so damn good and it launched the careers of a lot of great actors. That series was written by Erik Jendresen, and after it concluded Paramount Pictures reached out to him to discuss the possibility of developing a new Star Trek movie. This was before J.J. Abrams came on board to reboot the sci-fi franchise, only Jendresen’s concept was a lot more interesting than what Abrams ended up doing.

Jendresen made it very clear that he wasn’t a big fan of Star Trek, but he sure did have a talent for storytelling and while he wasn’t a fan he had a clear understanding of what the Star Trek franchise was about. He actually had a plan for a trilogy of films and the first movie was going to be titled Star Trek: The Beginning.

Jendresen talked about his experience with this project in the book, "The Fifty-Year Mission: The Next 25 Years: From The Next Generation to J. J. Abrams", and he said:

"Shortly after 'Band of Brothers,' I got a call from my agent, who said, 'Would you be interested in getting into "Star Trek?"' And I said, 'No.' First of all, because I don't really like science fiction. I'm kind of an odd purist that way. If it's not Jules Verne or H.G. Wells or Edgar Allen Poe or Arthur Conan Doyle, I'm not that interested. The space opera genre of science fiction is just something that has never held any interest for me. But they didn't take no for an answer." 

Executive producer Rick Berman had a concept he wanted to explore that revolved around exploring the lives of a young Kirk and a young Spock, and producer Jordan Kerner was adamant about getting Jendrensen involved, so they asked if he would come on board as a consultant, which he agreed to. Jendrensen said:

And I said, 'Sure.' And I was very honest with them. I loved two things about 'Star Trek.' The first was this sort of Horatio Hornblower aspect to Kirk. All of that boldness. It's sort of a throwback to a great kind of literary figure and hero."

Jendresen also said that he "loved the fact that the stories were always, at the time, of political or social relevance. There was a message behind them all. And it was kind of lovely. I really respected that." He ended up developing a story for the new film and pitched it to the studio, which seemed like a really weird experience for him. He talked about that experience, saying:

"We went in to pitch it to the head of the studio, Donald De Line. We sat down and started telling the story. I've been in a lot of rooms in Hollywood. I've pitched a lot of projects. I've never been in a more preternaturally dead room than this one. It was like being in a sensory deprivation tank. There was not a sound, and in the middle of the pitch I thought, 'This is really odd.' In the middle of it, I look over to the sofas and one of the producers is sitting there and he started doing that 'Kennedy just got shot' with his fist under his chin."

While it seemed like the pitch he was making was falling on deaf ears, they actually loved his concept, and at the end of his 45-minute pitch, the producer excitedly offered him the job. As for the story that Jendrersen wanted to tell, it was intended to be set in the years following the events of Star Trek: Enterprise, but before the original Star Trek series with Captain Kirk. The story would have focused on the Romulan War, which was frequently referenced in various Star Trek series but never fully explored on screen.

The plot centered around a young pilot named Tiberius Chase, not coincidentally sharing a name similar to James T. Kirk's middle name, Tiberius. Tiberius Chase was one of Kirk's ancestors. The story depicts the Earth's initial encounters with the Romulans, the early stages of the war, and how they wanted to kill all of the Vulcans on Earth. Chase becomes instrumental in rallying human and allied forces to confront the Romulan threat. Jendresen's hope that the story, which depicted the Earth-Romulan War, would be part of a trilogy of films.

It’s said that the tone of the script had a very World War II tone. Its story and setting are more dark and militaristic than traditional Star Trek, more closely resembling Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It would’ve been more of a military thriller-type film, which would’ve been very different for the franchise. One of the speeches made by Chase said: "I will still, and forever, wonder how one can go boldly and follow at the same time?" Jendresen went on to talk about the story, saying:

"This is all happening during the Serbian-Croatian conflict. So the whole notion was of this interstellar ethnic cleansing going on. It was really about something. And the fact that the Earth stands up against the Romulans and says, 'No.' The needs of the few outweighs the needs of the many. That is the moment when the Earth stands up and says no.”

Jendresen went on to talk about the freedom he had exploring the Tiberius Chase character because the character didn’t carry over into the future of the franchise. Because of that, the writer was able to bring tragedy to Chase in any way he wanted.

"Having to come up with some kind of clever way to be able to have a human encounter a Romulan and deal with the notion that no one lives to tell of it. And it was really fun to try to tackle the idea of Kirk's progenitor. Who is this guy that he was named after? Where did his spirit originate from? I really embraced it."

While this version of Star Trek would have been very different, Jendresen believed that his story was respectful to the franchise and canon, and he was very happy with the work that he did for the project. As he went through the process of developing the script, he came to appreciate the Star Trek franchise even more. He said:

"By the time I was finished writing it, I was quite shocked about the whole thing. I really enjoyed the process. I was also very well aware of the fact that because of the agnostic feeling I had toward the genre, and I wasn't a die-hard fan, I was able to serve it better, because I wasn't precious. My own feelings about a story or a canon of material are as strong as most Trekkies are for the [Doyle] books. That was something I was crazed about as a kid. To this day, I still am."

When Jendresen was finished with the first script, he started planning out the next movie in the trilogy, and he was excited to continue to tell his story. He said:

"I was so looking forward to the second one, because it was going to be a chase from Romulan space. And also, the great notion being that most of the Romulan fleet would be heading back to Romulus from Earth so they are sort of on a collision course with the whole Romulan fleet. During the course of this, there would be conflict, tension, and suspense. But, I was looking forward to inventing the adventures of Odysseus on his way home, back to Penelope."

Jendresen went on to explain that he wanted to introduce Kirk’s great-great-grandfather Otto Chase, and he wanted Christopher Walken to take on that role! He explained:

"I did have one person in mind when I wrote it. But it's a tertiary character. Tiberius is Kirk's great-grandfather. So his great-great-grandfather is Tiberius' father, Otto Chase, who leads this group of xenophobes, and I was just absolutely convinced there was only one guy to play him. And that was Christopher Walken. I would have brought him back in the sequel. He was such a colorful character. The idea of Walken in this subterranean cavern with all of these ancient rotting Nazi UFOs would've been great."

What a cool freakin’ Star Trek story this would’ve been! Unfortunately, the project fell apart thanks to a "regime change" at Paramount Studios. Yeah, Jendresen's ideas about a Romulan attack fleet and the extermination of the Vulcans did find their way into the script for J.J. Abrams' 2009 Star Trek film, but I think Jendresen would’ve been a much better way to go for the film. It’s a shame it never got made.

You can read the script here if you want.

Via: /Film