Summary
Star Trek’s prequel movie can answer 30-year-old questionsStar Trek: First Contactleft behind. Paramount Pictures is developing anUntitled Star Trek Originmovie directed by Toby Haynes and written by Seth Grahame-Smith. Haynes directedBlack Mirror’sStar Trekparody, “USS Callister,” and hisStar Trekprequel film is reportedly set mostly on Earth and focuses on humanity’s early contact with aliens and the formation of the United Federation of Planets. Haynes’Star Trekprequel movie is said to be aimed toward general audiences who don’t have expertise aboutStar Trek’s vast canon.
Director Jonathan Frakes’Star Trek: First Contactwas released in 1996, and the hit film was essentiallyStar Trek’s origin story. To stop the Borg, Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) leads the USS Enterprise-E to the year 2063. As Picard battles the Borg on the Enterprise, it’s up to Commander William Riker (Jonathan Frakes) and his away team to ensure Dr. Zephram Cochrane’s (James Cromwell) first warp flight launches as scheduled. Corchrane’s history-making voyage succeeds, resulting in humanity’s First Contact with the Vulcans.From that seed sprangStar Trek.
10 Ways Star Trek: First Contact Improved The Franchise
Released to celebrate 30 years of the Star Trek franchise, First Contact laid the groundwork for its next 30 years from Enterprise to Picard.
Star Trek: First Contact Questions Toby Haynes’ Prequel Movie Can Answer
Picard and the Enterprise left some questions behind
AStar Trekprequel movie set mostly on Earth would logically be set during the decades afterStar Trek: First Contact’s introduction between humans and Vulcans in 2063 and the launch of the NX-01 Enterprise in 2151, as seen inStar Trek: Enterprise.This is fertile ground for aStar Trekstory as it’s never been revealed what happened that led to the formation of Starfleet. Indeed, during those 90 years, Earth stopped wars, solved hunger, and the climate crisis, and abandoned the pursuit of money in favor of advancing the human race. In short,Earth became a Utopia- but how?
While it’s doubtful Toby Haynes’Star Trek Originmovie would go into detail about what happened afterStar Trek: First Contact, it could provide updates about how Zephram Cochrane meeting the Vulcans turned Earthlings into a spacefaring people. Easter eggs could reveal what happened to Lily Sloane (Alfre Woodard),what became of Cochrane’s Phoenix starship, and the prequel could depict the early tumult between the haughty Vulcans and the scrappy people of Earth. There would have to be some space adventure in thisStar Trekprequel movie, butEarth did have starships already before the NX-01 Enterprise became Starfleet’s first Warp 5-capable vessel.
Star Trek: The Original Seriesestablished that Zephram Cochrane left Earth in the early 22nd century, but was kept alive in the Gamma Canaris region of space by an alien called the Companion.
Will Star Trek’s Prequel Movie Ignore Enterprise Canon?
What is this Star Trek origin movie really about?
For longtimeStar Trekfans, the biggest concern about Toby Haynes’Untitled Star Trek Originis that it willignore or rewriteStar Trekcanon. After all, the description fromThe Hollywood Reporterthat theStar Trek “prequel focus[es] on humanity’s early contact with aliens and the formation of the Federation"is already problematic becausethe United Federation of Planets is foundedafterStar Trek: Enterpriseends.It’s possible Toby Haynes’Star Trekprequel could create a new history that will supersede known canon without J.J. Abrams' gimmick of creating an alternate timeline inStar Trek(2009) in which to do as he pleases.
It’s unclear exactly when Toby Haynes' Star Trek prequel movie is set and what it will actually be about.
Then again,Star Trek(2009) recognizedStar Trek: Enterprise’s place in canonby name-dropping Admiral Archer. 2016’sStar Trek Beyond was even more respectful and integrated aspects ofStar Trek: Enterprise’s era, including theNX Class USS Franklin starship. With little information to go on, it’s unclear exactly when Toby Haynes’Star Trekprequel movie is set and what it will really be about. While there may be changes or revelations that will giveStar Trek’s origin a new direction or perspective, it may not outright break canon. But weaving inStar Trek: First Contact’s history and answering some questions left behind would go a long way toward pleasingStar Trekfans.
