Geek favorites Bryan Fuller and Bryan Singer have been forthcoming about their hopes for bringing Star Trek back to the small screen, after the release of J.J. Abrams’ elusive sequel to his Trek movie reboot next summer. However, it turns out those two aren’t the only ones with big dreams about a new TV series set in that sci-fi universe – Michael Dorn is also taking steps to reprise his signature Trek role on a spinoff, tentatively titled Star Trek: Captain Worf.
Worf, Son of Mogh, of course, is the first Klingon main character on a Star Trek TV series. He appeared on The Next Generation throughout its seven-season run, then became a Deep Space Nine regular for its last four seasons. Dorn portrayed Worf in all four Next Generation films; in addition, he played Worf’s grandfather, Colonel Worf, in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
Rumors and reports about a prospective Worf spinoff began circulating earlier this year – which, perhaps not-so-coincidentally, marks the 25th anniversary of The Next Generation. Trek News caught up with recently with Dorn, who gave them the following exclusive “scoop” on the project:
“I had come up with the idea because I love [Worf] and I think he’s a character that hasn’t been fully developed and hasn’t been fully realized. Once I started thinking about it, it became obvious to me that I wanted to at least put it out there, which I have, and the response has been pretty amazing. We’ve been contacted by different individuals–I can’t say who and all that–about wanting to come on board and be part of this. ”
Deep Space Nine concluded with Worf being made Federation ambassador to the Klingon homeworld, Qo’noS. An official prequel comic book to Abrams’ Trek reboot featured Worf as a Klingon Empire General, who battles the Romulan Captain Nero (Eric Bana, in Abrams’ film). Worf sustained life-threatening injuries during the encounter, but it was indicated he was still alive by the story’s conclusion.
However, the overlap between events on DS9 and the Star Trek film continuity has always been kind of fuzzy; hence, it stands to reason that could also hold true for a Worf spinoff and the post-reboot movies. Dorn’s in the same boat of uncertainty as Fuller and Singer, when it comes to how his plans are affected by Abrams’ films – as he put it, “there’s all the political stuff going on with the new movies with J.J. Abrams and Paramount and all that stuff, which I have no clue about and what it all entails, but that’s where it is right now.”
The in-progress subtitle Captain Worf is open to interpretation, as far as indications for when, exactly, the TV series could take place. Such a Star Trek spinoff would, for certain, retain the ensemble format of its predecessors to some degree – with a focus on the adventures of Worf and a new group of space explorers. Morever, Dorn says the show isn’t so much a pipe dream as one might think (at first):
“Interestingly enough it has gotten traction. I was very surprised, I was on a movie not too long ago, where one of the producers was basically lobbying to be part of it. He was like “Michael, I’d love to write it, if you haven’t.” So at this point, my agents and my manager are looking at all the avenues and trying to figure out which is the best one. My agent and manager have been in the business for awhile, so they’re very savvy about where to start and how to get it going. Like I said, in this business you never know and I’ve been through pitching things and I never want to do that again [laughs]. It’s pretty brutal, but definitely I think once again, if Paramount or CBS or anybody thinks this is a viable thing, they’ll jump on it.”
Worf’s Klingon manner and instincts often put him at odds with his fellow officers on The Next Generation, as hilariously highlighted in this 15-minute compilation video; still, there were a few episodes on DS9 that explored Worf’s personal sense of duty and honor beyond the surface level. Nonetheless, there does remain room for further development of the character – even given the substantial amount of backstory already in place for Worf.
However, as Dorn mentions above, the Star Trek: Captain Worf television series is far from getting an official greenlight right now. Nevertheless, we will keep you up-to-date on the situation as more information is released (or Dorn continues to talk about it).
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Source: Trek News [via Moviehole]
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Paramount needs to give Peter David a huge amount of money to get him to produce a TNG series based on his New Frontier novel series. They’re bt far, the best thing going on in the Star Trek TNG universe and unfortunately they’re not canon as novels.
Wolfsbane,
Excellent idea, I read some of the new frontier stuff and P. David has it down pat for the Star Trek TNG universe. Very good stuff.
Just my 2 cents…take it or leave it…for a full-out series, i would say no to New Frontier…simply because its already been written and developed to a long degree. Why retell it? I do love NV though; I would be up for something shorter… like a mini-series?
I can’t stand those novels. Titan would be a LOT better series.
The Next Generation is dead. Let it rest in peace. It’s time to move on to something new.
If the next generation is dead what do you think of the original series and the jj abrams revamp ?
I agree with you that we should move on . I think the Next Generation Should be given more credit than its currently getting but weve got to be aware its been 11 years since Michael dorn did worf , ok nowadays actors are not so ‘exposed’ by the passage of time and im sure dorn could still do it but it feels like producers just dont have the courage to envisage something entirely new.
To me Star Trek is about looking forward. Yes celebrate the past …but dont live in it
I’ve pretty much given up on seeing anything new in the Star Trek universe. First it was Enterprise, now it’s JJ’s reboot. Oh well, at least we have Doctor Who.
Tell me something. What do you “dislike” about JJ’s reboot? And yeah we do have Doctor Who but it seems to me that Doctor Who is sort of running out of steam….because it seems that we getting closer to coming full circle with Doctor Who..especially the cliffhanger that will lead to the 50th Anniversary special..getting off topic a bit..
for me i ask the question – whats the difference between jj abrams first star trek and something like starship troopers – nothing .
After the commercial and critical failure of Nemesis i can understand the need to reevaluate Star Trek movies. However Abrams star trek feels like a cynical marketing exercise to push a product that ticks all the right boxes but presents little substance. Its also a lazy film – lets not explain why old spock is on the same planet as scotty and why scotty has invented a technology that surpasses 24th transporter. Its a lazy film because market research suggests target audiences arent bothered and dont necessarily want their films to make sense as long as there is spectacle , noise, cool dudes and adrenaline rush.
I only hope the success of the first film has given abrams the confidence to add some original substance to the follow up which can pave the way for actual quality and some inspiration instead of lazy box ticking.
They did explain how he came to that planet…it was during the mind meld sequence n as for Scotty inventing that technology..Spock gave him the formula..where u asleep or was it too fast for you that you blink and miss it? As for that market research you were talking about it’s probably why the Transformers trilogy were such box office hits especially the last one. Aside from perhaps the 1st one all of them were turds, stupid n sometimes didn’t make sense at all
i think i fell asleep – well without watching that sequence again i suppose spock is ok giving 23rd federation 25th (?) century technology without repercussons. Also must ve fallen asleep when young spock decided to waste federation hardware by marooning kirk on a planet when he couldve simply locked him in a cell ? why maroon a guy on a planet near a federation outpost but also populated by large carniverous creatures – how did scotty survive so long …etc .etc
i mustve also fallen alseep when they explained why super computer minded spock got his timing wrong and missed the destruction of romulus in the first place or what exactly that red stuff was … etc etc ad nauseum. you can see it is a lazy film … Spock created the kobyashi maru …. hmmmm… box ticking .. but who cares – our target audience certainly didnt !!
As for comparing star trek to transformers – really ? thats my other point. Sadly this star trek IS comparable to a transformers movie.
I understand how you feel though..like you I also have my issues with the “reboot” because like you I don’t feel like it’s the Star Trek Roddenberry created so long ago..but this is a “reboot” and JJ flat out said he wasn’t a fan of Star Trek..so in his way he try to “fix” what wasn’t broken I guess. You got to admit though while the story has some rather “big holes” per se the cast was just perfect and I guess for Spock it was easier to maroon him on a planet then a cell because he probably figure if he was smart enough not only to rewrite the Kobayashi Maru scenario and get aboard the Enterprise (with Bones help) he would be smart enough to escape the cell and cause trouble again..point taken though
Addressing some of your points:
* The timeline Spock came from was already destroyed as a result of Nero’s actions (especially destroying Vulcan!). Giving Scotty the formula for trans-warp beaming couldn’t do much harm at that point and it partially restored the original timeline by at least arranging for Kirk to become captain of the Enterprise.
* Spock presumably stranded Kirk because he (possibly rightly) suspected the brig wouldn’t contain him. Spock was also emotionally compromised at the time and not thinking his clearest.
* Scotty presumably survived so long on the planet by never leaving the Federation outpost. Kirk would probably have been perfectly safe too had he not left the escape pod.
* (Future) Spock presumably worked as fast as he could to save Romulus but wasn’t quite fast enough. Also, even in the future, stellar dynamics probably still aren’t understood perfectly.
* The red stuff was ‘red matter’ and it falls under the same ‘sufficiently advanced technology’ clause as transporters and faster than light travel. It appeared to be an experimental development during Future Spock’s time. It probably would’ve made a great anti-Borg weapon.
Honestly, the movie wasn’t perfect, but the things you’re pointing out as plot holes actually weren’t. If you watch it again, I think you’ll find most of your concerns are already addressed.
he should get together with the folks doing Star Trek: Renegade. That combination would be awsome!