Posted:
06:03:15 on April 10
By: Steve Krutzler
Dept: Series Five
Though the most interesting comment with regard to Series V in this interview was posted last night, here is the Series V portion in its entirety from the Star Trek Communicator Issue #132:
Rick, have you begun casting on the new series?
We've begun preliminary casting. We've had several meetings and discussions but we haven't had any formal casting sessions yet.
Are the roles set now or are you still tweaking them?
The script is pretty much locked for the two hour premiere.
Is this still a starship-based series?
That is correct.
Should I assume we'll see a male starship captain this time
That's not a bad assumption.
When will the official announcement be made for Series V?
Well, Paramount will be making an official announcement for the new series in the next several weeks and that will contain information on the setting, the time period and the general parameters of what the series is going to be about. The reason they haven't announced it yet is purely a question of deals. The question of where this series will appear has not been finalized and, until all those business elements are settled, they would like to hold off on the announcement.
Is it safe to say that this new series will have a much different look from previous Star Trek shows?
I would like to think that this show will be different in every way--a different look, a different personality, etc. It's going to be a somewhat dramatic departure, certainly from the last three series and, hopefully, a departure that is going to be appreciated by our fans.
How much does the original Star Trek series influence what you are doing
today with the new series?
Very little. Having been involved with The Next Generation , Deep Space Nine
and Voyager, those series obviously have greater influence on me. The original
series does have an influence on me in that it is the core that set all of the
precedents. We do try to keep those precedents whole to some degree and try to
adhere to them. The original series is very important, but in terms of content
and style I don't think it's much of an influence on any of us.
What is happening now in pre-production on Series V? I know you have Herman Zimmerman and John Eaves working on design.
Yes, that's correct. We are also finalizing the selection of a director which I hope will be done in the next day or two. We have Merri Howard back on board and we are structuring deals right now with every department head on the project. As far as a writing staff goes, we have made a couple of selections already and we are busily working to put together a fresh writing staff that will hopefully look at this as season 1 and not season 8.
Are you trying to get sets built so you can begin filming before any of the impending strikes?
Sets are already being built. We are beginning construction on one of the big soundstanges at Paramount and will be starting construction on two other soundstages as soon as Voyager wraps. Right now our target date is that we will begin shooting on May 8 with a September premiere.
Do you have a battle plan in case there is a strike
A writers strike will keep us from writing but won't keep us from producing and an actors strike will keep us from shooting but not from writing. We have to carry on as if neither strike is going to occur and we certainly are planning on getting, at least, our first two-hour episode completed before the July 1 deadline for the actors strike.
When Paramount makes the official announcement for the show I assume the title will also be revealed. Last time, you said that this show may be the first Star Trek series with Star Trek not in its name. Is that still the case?
Yes, that is still a very good possibility.
(Thanks to Matthew Klaehn at MediaTrek for scanning in the article).
