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Geek Tyrant
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Watch This Awesome Documentary About the Lost STAR TREK: PHASE II Project — GeekTyrant
If you're a Star Trek fan who loves diving into the deep lore of the franchise's evolution, there's a new 30-minute documentary that you absolutely need to check out titled Lost Voyages . This new project explores the behind-the-scenes saga of Star Trek: Phase II , the abandoned continuation series from the 1970s that almost reshaped the Star Trek universe. This documentary is produced by the Roddenberry Archive and OTOY, the same teams responsible for those stunning Star Trek short films and other archival deep dives. With Lost Voyages , they're sharing details on what might have been if Phase II had actually made it to television screens instead of morphing into Star Trek: The Motion Picture . The story begins in the mid-70s, when Paramount realized just how massive Star Trek had become in syndication. That realization led to a flood of ideas, including early film concepts and eventually a full-blown sequel series. Lost Voyages digs into the creation of Phase II with commentary from Jon Povill, who served as the show's producer, and writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. You'll also hear from Trek legends George Takei and Walter Koenig, adding firsthand insight into this fascinating alternate path the franchise nearly took. One of the most captivating aspects of the documentary is how it visually reconstructs what the show would've looked like. Thanks to OTOY's signature 3D work, fans get to see recreated concept art and set designs like the revamped Enterprise bridge. These designs were eventually refined and used in The Motion Picture , but here they're imagined as they might have originally appeared for the small screen. The documentary also recounts how the whole project unraveled when Paramount decided to convert the pilot episode, 'In Thy Image,' into a theatrical film, a decision that changed the course of Star Trek history. Sure, much of this ground has been covered before in various books and retrospectives, but Lost Voyages presents it all in a way that feels fresh and cinematic. This is a genuinely cool look at a piece of Star Trek history that almost happened, but didn't. And it might make you wonder what Star Trek would look like today if it had. If you're curious about how close we came to getting a very different version of Star Trek , this is absolutely worth 30 minutes of your time.
Gizmodo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
Watch This Documentary About ‘Star Trek: Phase II' and See What Could've Been
The existence of Star Trek: Phase II—the plans for a Star Trek continuation series in the mid-1970s that eventually gave way to Star Trek: The Motion Picture—has been known for a very long time at this point. We've seen concept art, we've seen story ideas, and we've seen it for long enough to see how those nuggets have gone on to influence the Star Trek that we would go on to get for another 50 years. And yet, there's still plenty to enjoy in this new documentary about the bumpy road Star Trek almost made on the journey home back to our screens. Produced by the Roddenberry Archive and OTOY—the companies behind those viral Star Trek short films and a litany of other archival Trek projects and videos—Lost Voyages is a 30-minute documentary that charts the story of what happened when Paramount realized the success it had on its hands when Star Trek became a syndication hit. It covers early potential movies that never happened, all the way through the ideation and early production work for the next Star Trek show—and how things fell apart when the last-minute decision was made to take one of its episodes, 'In Thy Image,' and turn it into a theatrical Star Trek movie. Alongside insight from Phase II producer Jon Povill and writers Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (and even Trek icons George Takei and Walter Koenig), Lost Voyages offers a lot of fascinating insight into how Phase II came about and gives plenty of crisp looks at behind-the-scenes material from the show's production. Of course, in OTOY's style with these Trek lookbacks as well, there's plenty of 3D material replicating concept work done for the series, extrapolating how its sets might have looked like the updated Enterprise bridge (which would be iterated on and used for The Motion Picture), or imagining the finished and finalized model for the initial Enterprise refit. While much of the history is already known about Phase II, it's still an intriguing look back at what might have been—in a way we've never really seen it before. Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what's next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
