Just as Star Trek Beyond ’s reviews instill new hope for the series’ recovery after Into Darkness, Paramount announced some dispiriting details on Star Trek 4. That a Star Trek 4 is happening at all, especially before box office is back on Star Trek Beyond , is good news. The rest… well…
First up is Chris Hemsworth. He’ll be in Star Trek 4 as George Kirk, despite dying at the very beginning of J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek reboot. It seems picking up hotshot director Justin Lin and amping up the color to a more saturated Guardians of the Galaxy aesthetic wasn’t enough: Paramount wants Thor.
Unfortunately, bringing back Hemsworth as Kirk’s dad ensures that Star Trek 4 will be all about Captain Kirk’s daddy issues, an overplayed theme in the reboot series that looked like it was finally on the way out with Star Trek Beyond.
So how will they bring back a dead Papa Kirk? Yep, Star Trek 4 will involve time travel, just like Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home . Time travel has been surprisingly fruitful as Star Trek story trope. Not only is it at the center of two of the better Star Trek movies — The Voyage Home and First Contact — but it’s also the crux of The Original Series classic “The City on the Edge of Forever” and several excellent episodes of The Next Generation like “Tapestry,” “Yesterday’s Enterprise” and series finale “All Good Things…”
But time travel has also been to blame for some of Trek’s worst moments, including Star Trek Generations and the baffling “Assignment: Earth.”
The Star Trek 4 script is itself a bit of a time travelling chronology mess. According to 1701 News, It’s the same script by J.D. Payne and Patrick McKay that Paramount rejected the last time around. Star Trek 4 will just be the Star Trek 3 that never was. So if it’s good enough for Star Trek 4, why wasn’t it good enough for Star Trek 3 ? Only time will tell.
