Paramount has announced a new scripted Star Trek podcast detailing the exploits of arch-villain Khan Noonien Singh. Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V will cover the time period after Khan and his cohort of genetically engineered villains were exiled during the classic episode space seed and before Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. More importantly, the long-discussed miniseries will be written and directed by Trek author Nicholas Meyer.
For Trek fans, there are few creative figures who deserve more adoration than Meyer. The writer and director did Khan’s wrath, the film that apparently saved the series from obscurity. He would go on to co-write the journey home and rudder the unknown country — three of the best Star Trek movies ever made. In fact, one Dear Trek Scholar he even said that to make a great Star Trek you need to do two things: hire Nicholas Meyer and then cut his budget in half.
Alex Kurtzman praised Meyer, saying “Nick made the definitive Trek movie when he made Gonna, and we’ve all been standing in his shadow ever since.” He added that Meyer “has come up with something as surprising, gripping and emotional as the original, and it’s a real honor to be able to allow him to tell the next chapter of this story exactly the way he wants.”
When the revival of Star Trek began, Discovery original creator Bryan Fuller recruited Meyer as producer. In 2017, Meyer added that discussions had taken place for him to write a half-sequel series to Khan that would cover his exile and bridge the gap between the classic series and the film. The series may or may not have been frozen as a consequence of the complex merger of Paramount and CBS, and the fact that it only lasted three episodes. Onstage, Meyer said that he was working on revising his drafts and, presumably, making sure they fit the format better.
Unfortunately, there are no solid details on who will star in the series (Ricardo Montalbán passed away in 2009), and no word on a release date or runtime. But since Paramount a) hired Nicholas Meyer and b) cut his budget plus Of the half, we should expect this podcast to be the best piece of Trek ever committed to audio.
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