A new documentary from OTOY and The Roddenberry Archive has been released that gives an insight into a long-forgotten Star Trek television series that many fans probably don’t even know was once in the works. The video, available to watch in full on YouTube, deals with the troubled production of Star Trek: Phase II. The series was a proposed direct follow-up to the original show, acting as a sequel with most of the familiar cast returning. The project began life after unsuccessful attempts to create a live-action film and would have acted as a flagship show on a planned Paramount Television Service.
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Lost Voyages: Phase II and the Rebirth of Star Trek is a 30-minute mini-documentary that features input from many of those who were involved in the production before it was shelved, and other important Star Trek figures and archivists. This includes set designer Daren Dochterman, writer Jon Povill, and Star Trek historians Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. The group discusses the challenges the series faced and how it first emerged following two prior revival scripts written by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry — The God Thing and Planet of the Titans—that went unproduced. The footage also shows digital versions of some of the sets that were designed and partly built in pre-production.
According to the documentary, Star Trek: Phase II was cancelled due to a number of factors. Chief among them was the fact that Paramount dropped the idea for its new network and therefore didn’t need a flagship television series. Meanwhile, the success of both Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind proved that sci-fi movies could be big box office hits, leading to Star Trek being reborn with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Several key concepts and characters that were to be introduced in Phase II were subsequently repurposed for the franchise’s first feature film.
That’s not to say that Star Trek: The Motion Picture was a walk in the park for those involved. Visual effects legend Douglas Trumbull looked back on the film in an exclusive interview with ComicBook, recalling how, by the time he finished work on the film, he was admitted to the hospital with several ulcers and was also suffering from exhaustion.
Other Star Trek projects have also had troubled productions over the years. Most recently, there have been reports that Star Trek 4 is still stuck in development hell. The proposed new entry in the rebooted movie franchise has been in development since 2016 and has seen numerous actors, writers, and directors attached in that time, including The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ director Matt Shakman.
That Star Trek: Phase II was shelved just a month after it was officially announced means that a lot of fans of the franchise are not even aware of its existence. Even those who did know about the series were unlikely to realize just how far along production was before its cancellation. This mini-documentary is a great way to preserve a small but important part of the property’s history, as well as debunk some myths that have spread over the decades.
What do you think of the new documentary, and are you glad that it was cancelled in favor of Star Trek: The Motion Picture? Let us know in the comments!