Abandoned Concepts for the Film That Would Become Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek Insurrection might not have been a great film, but it certainly had some intriguing behind-the-scenes development stories. In his book Fade In: The Making of Star Trek Insurrection, screenwriter Michael Piller details the original concepts for the film, one involving a fountain-of-youth story and Picard going through a Heart of Darkness-style “journey up the river” to take down an old Academy friend. The only problem? Rick Berman hated the initial concept, saying that Patrick Stewart would never go for a movie that “made him look old.” Its second revision was promptly shot down by Stewart himself, who said that it seemed like an overlong episode of TNG. Proving he was just as much a Trekkie as the fans, he directly cited several episodes that matched the script’s format. Brent Spiner even gave a laundry list of completely logical questions about the alien race featured in Piller’s original treatment that looks like a fan forum argument thread. Nice to know that the franchise was well-loved by its actors even if bad decisions were inevitably made (Nemesis, anyone?).
Michael Sacco is a freelance writer and editor, currently working as senior editor at WoW Insider.