'Nemesis' Not Last TNG Trek

[Neo]

Stewart: 'Nemesis' Not Last TNG Trek

Prior to the film's production, 'Star Trek: Nemesis' was widely expected to be the last outing for the TNG crew. But as the film's release nears, some of those crew members are getting ever more positive about the possibilities for another sequel.

"There's been a lot of gossip about this being the last Next Generation film," Patrick Stewart (Jean-Luc Picard) told SFX Magazine (via the Great Link). "Those conversations are only happening in the fan community. As far as the studio is concerned, and our executive producer is concerned, and indeed as far as all of us are concerned, though we all have our own opinions and feelings, there is nothing official at all about it being the last."

Stewart did admit that the 'Nemesis' story would work well as an ending to the TNG adventures. "Everything about the ending of this movie has a sense of closure about it, but there is also a huge opportunity for a sequel to this movie just sitting there, should it be taken up. And my feeling is that with Paramount it will totally be a matter of profits. If this film does really well, there will be another one. And that will continue, so long as they do well. The first time one does badly then, 'Clang!' We shall be put out to graze."

Further comments from Stewart on 'Nemesis,' as well as on his role in the upcoming X-Men 2 can be found in the June 2002 issue of SFX Magazine, on sale now in the United Kingdom. However, a transcript can also be found online here at the Great Link.

Another project Stewart was recently involved in was 'King of Texas,' an updated retelling of the original Shakespeare play 'King Lear' that will premiere on TNT next Sunday. The actor today participated in an online chat at USA Today to promote the film. Looking back on the production, Stewart said he felt the writers had been successful in transposing the play to Texas.

"I think they were entirely successful," Stewart said. "The original breakdown of Shakespeare's play in terms of the characters was done by myself, and I handed it over to the screenwriter, who's also a Texas historian. The other thing is that we stayed very very close to Shakespeare's story. There was only one principal character who got cut (Kent). The problem with him is that in the play he spends most of the play in disguise. We combine his character with that of Albany."

Although the emotionally wrecked John Lear was a very different role from that of Picard, Steward said portraying this character was not particularly difficult for him. "I'm most well known for playing dominant individuals, but that doesn't characterize all the work I've done. Someone asked me recently if I was afraid of being typecast after Star Trek. I've been typecast all my life! In RSC, I played coarse comic roles. Then I played hysterical neurotics. Then roles like Picard came up. Strength is something I enjoy using, but it's not a necessary characteristic."

 

[digi_rage1]

As the trailer says..."A generation's....Final Journey". This could possibly suggest that this is the last TNG movie. Although I my opinion, it would be stupid to end it.

Ryan

 

[King Donut]

Originally posted by digi_rage1
As the trailer says..."A generation's....Final Journey". This could possibly suggest that this is the last TNG movie. Although I my opinion, it would be stupid to end it.

Ryan

No, it said: "A Generation's... Final journey...Begins!" Begins? That COULD mean this is the first part to "The Final Journey" trilogy/series!:rolly2:

 

[digi_rage1]

Possible. Although it is more likely that they are saying 'begins' because the movie is coming out. They dont mean begins as in a whole series of movies.

 

[Dave]

I think that it is probably meant to be as ambiguous as it is. They won't make that kind of decision until they have box-office reciepts from it. The amount of money it earns will decide, though a future film without Brent Spinner or Patrick Stewart would not be very good IMHO.

Stewart has just given an interview to SCIFI WIRE:

Stewart Counts Trek Blessings

Patrick Stewart smiled slyly when asked by SCI FI Wire if it would be safe to say that he's taken Capt. Jean-Luc Picard from Point A with Star Trek: The Next Generation to Point Z with the upcoming film Star Trek: Nemesis. "Your question presupposes that [Nemesis] is Z," he said in an interview. "I don't know yet if this is Z. It may or may not be the case."

Stewart added that his Star Trek association remains both a blessing and a curse. "I must say that Star Trek is 90 percent blessing," he said. "The curse part of it is minimal and has only to do with a couple of personal issues and one professional issue. One of the personal issues is the loss of privacy, of course. And the professional issue is the one I've spoken of often, and that's that you run the risk of something becoming an albatross around your neck when, professionally, you are so associated with one role. Fortunately, I have been able to do a great deal of work outside of Star Trek. And I'm pleased that there were four years between Insurrection and Nemesis. So, for me, the blessing of Star Trek definitely outweighs the curse of it."

 

[Dave]

The latest issue of DreamWatch magazine, just out in the UK, features an exclusive interview with TNG star Patrick Stewart. As well as repeating again his thoughts that whether or not this is the last TNG movie will not be decided until the box office receipts are counted, he also has more to say on the actual film itself:

"I think it's possible that there might be more to anticipate and to be excited about with NEMESIS than with any of our previous movies, including everybody's favourite, 'First Contact'," says Stewart about the upcoming TNG movie. "I think we've got the mix right, in terms of a strong story."

"There are two storylines running side by side, interconnecting at different times," he continues. "We have a very strong action base as well for this, which means that the dialogue scenes are broken up with really quite effective sequences of action. It has romance in it - in fact, it's probably the sexiest movie we've done in some respects, although unfortunately none of this involves me. It has a psychological aspect to it too, which is interesting and potent. And there are surprises - the kind of surprises that, while we were shooting it, we were licking our chops with glee at the thought of these things that were going to surprise people."

"It's also a very emotional film. I think even those who are not die-hard fans and don't know all of the history of the Next Gen will find it quite intense. I think it's more emotional than anything we've done on the big screen before. And because we have both a director and a writer who are non-Star Trek people for the first time, I think there is a fresh perspective on it. John Logan is one of the best writers working in Hollywood today, and also happens to be a Star Trek fan - a big Star Trek fan. And of course Stuart Baird is a very distinguised editor and action director."

"So I think there's a lot to look foward to," promises Stewart. "And it starts right at the beginning; a couple of minutes into the film, we've got lots of stuff happening."

 

[godpidgeon]

They have to do at least 6 movies like the original crew did to be able to quit the series. Here's a better question, who will take their place on the silver screen?

 

[Dave]

I'm sure that that is the real question here. If DS9 or Voyager had been more successful financially then we would already be having DS9 or Voyager movies and TNG movies would have finished long ago.

There is an argument that the DS9 story was completed, and that Voyager got home, but if they had wanted to do a story, they could have made one, it is scifi after all, anything can happen!

So, it is really because the studio is scared to chance a DS9 movie or a Voyager movie, and it's less risky to run with something that they know works, even if the wage bill for the actors rises with each film.

It's not as if those later series weren't as popular either, it is only because DS9 suffered from always being on at the same time as another 'trek' series (first TNG then VOY), and Voyager suffered from being shown on UPN rather than syndicated. They each have their own fans.

I would like to see a DS9 or Voyager movie, but as time goes on, it seems less and less likely. The actors having all moved on career-wise and the plots going cold.

 

[digi_rage1]

I think the real question to ask, and probably Paramount will do the same is....If the TNG era movies stop, who will take it over. To be honest the Enterprise series cast is far from what I would call amazing actors, but you never know...

 

[Dave]

In an interview for 'Star Trek Monthly' Sept. 2002 Jonathan Frakes said:

"I really don't think this is going to be the last one. I'm pretty sure that it's going to make lots of money, and if it does, someone will ask us to take a pay cut and we'll go off and make another one."

I'm sure that there will be more Star Trek films. On balance I think the chance of another TNG movie is far more likely than a Voyager or DS9 one. A mixed cast is still a possibility though.

Enterprise will go on for a few years yet, they won't do a movie with them before the series itself ends, and if it doesn't go on for the seven years then it must have bombed seriously, and a movie would be out of the question anyway.

SCIFI WIRE -- Stewart: Next Gen In Fans' Hands
Patrick Stewart told SCI FI Wire that he's "open" to reprising his role as Captain Jean-Luc Picard in future Star Trek: The Next Generation features, but that the fate of the big-screen franchise depends on Trek fandom supporting the upcoming Star Trek Nemesis. "The fans continually ask the question, 'Is this the last movie? Please don't tell us it is. Let there be another movie,'" Stewart said in an interview. "So I say to them, 'We've done our part now in all of this. Everyone from Rick Berman to the cast, the writer and the director has played their part. But now it's up to the fans.'"

Stewart added, "We are opening in the toughest of times. We are surrounded by mega-movies. We are a mega-movie, too, in the great scheme of things, but [Nemesis faces competition from] Harry Potter and James Bond and The Lord of the Rings and Solaris. November-December is crazy. So we have, I don't know, five to seven days to make our impact. You know how it is with movies these days. Unless you're a low-budget independent movie that can sit around in a couple of cinemas in New York and Los Angeles for several weeks, if you don't do [big box office] in that first weekend you're dead. I would love to see Nemesis hit a home run that weekend, to use a current image. That, more than anything, is what would promise a further episode of The Next Generation." Star Trek Nemesis opens nationwide on Dec. 13.