Posted in: Movies, Paramount Pictures, Star Trek, TV | Tagged: star trek

Star Trek Writers Tease "Training Day," "Crimson Tide" as Inspirations

Star Trek writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein discuss how films like Training Day and Crimson Tide are inspiring their work.

John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein have a tall task ahead as the current torchbearers, as the first writers to usher in a new Star Trek project under the David Ellison Skydance era at Paramount, which replaced the canceled fourth Kelvin film. The attention becomes more pronounced when the television side of the franchise is now dumping the two and a half seasons left from Strange New Worlds and Starfleet Academy, not to mention that there hasn't been a new film since 2016's Star Trek Beyond. While the duo didn't offer much at San Diego Comic Con 2026, they cryptically stated that it would take place in the "future" and introduce a new slew of original characters. While promoting their film Mayday, Daley and Goldstein spoke to Inverse to fill in some blanks about the direction they want to go.

Star Trek Writers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein on the Two Denzel Washington Films That Will Inspire Their Project

Daley and Goldstein assure fans that they won't be required to take in the 60-year history of the Gene Roddenberry franchise to understand their film. "I would say it's really kind of a look at the institution of Starfleet and any institution as a whole that has existed for a long time and what that does," Daley said. "I think the portrayal of Starfleet and the people that work within it have always been generally idealized versions of what the future could be. And while this [script] isn't a cynical or nihilistic take on it, I think it does acknowledge that there are some bad apples in every institution that can have a strong voice and can really make an impact on that institution and everything it stands for."

As a reference, Goldstein points out, "Two movies we cite as comps for what we're hoping to do are 'Training Day' and 'Crimson Tide.'" Adds Daley, "It takes place almost in real time, and it just is a whole other look at what a Star Trek movie could be without betraying the fundamentals of what it should be." Training Day (2001) follows Det. Jake Hoyt (Ethan Hawke), who is taken under the wing of the more seasoned Det. Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington). Unfortunately, the learning experience gets a little too real when Hoyt discovers how crooked Harris is as a cop. Crimson Tide (1995) follows the tension on an American nuclear submarine as Captain Frank Ramsey (Gene Hackman) goes against a standing order to launch his arsenal. When a new message comes in, interference, compounded by the damaged vessel, his executive officer, Lt. Cmdr. Ron Hunter (Washington) tries to confirm it to potentially avert nuclear war, and tensions and loyalty divide the crew as timing is of the essence.

"With the advent of truly cinematic television, I think the challenge then is to have it justify its place as a feature, a theatrical feature that in a perfect world is on the biggest screens possible," Daley said. "And that requires looking at it in a sort of larger sense than any kind of television show could do. It's definitely something that we are hyper-cognizant of as well. There has to be a spectacle to it." Goldstein adds, noting the challenge of going beyond just the Star Trek fanbase, "I mean, look, we don't want to rely on fandom. We don't want to just hope that there's enough fans of the original [TOS] or The Next Generation or whatever who will turn out for this. We want to just make a great movie that lives in the world that people are familiar with — some people are familiar with — and that others will discover. And then, with good fortune, we launch a new franchise into existence."

Not that rogue authority figures of commodores and admirals are anything new if you look at cinematic examples of Star Trek: Insurrection (1998) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) and several episodes of The Original Series, The Next Generation, Picard, etc. Mayday, which stars Ryan Reynolds and Kenneth Branagh, is available on Apple TV on September 4th.

Enjoyed this? Please share on social media!

Stay up-to-date and support the site by following Bleeding Cool on Google News today!