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Draft:Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V

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Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V
Presentation
Genre
Created byNicholas Meyer
Written byNicholas Meyer
Related
Related showsStar Trek TV series

Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V is an upcoming American audio drama podcast created by Nicholas Meyer. It is part of executive producer Alex Kurtzman's expanded Star Trek Universe and is set before the events of Meyer's film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).

Work on the project, which originated as a three-episode television miniseries written by Meyer, was first revealed in June 2017. That version did not move forward due to the cost of producing such a short series. Kurtzman revealed plans to expand the Star Trek Universe into scripted podcasts in May 2022, and Meyer officially announced Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V that September. Meyer expanded the scripts to nine or ten episodes for the podcast.

Premise

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The series tells the story of Khan Noonien Singh and his followers when they are stranded on the planet Ceti Alpha V between the events of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" and the film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982).[1]

Cast and characters

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Production

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Development

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After joining the CBS All Access series Star Trek: Discovery as a consulting producer and writer, Nicholas Meyer revealed in June 2017 that he was also working on a second Star Trek project that was unrelated to Discovery. Meyer previously wrote and directed the films Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).[3][4] In May 2018, Meyer referred to the project as a "stand-alone Star Trek-related trilogy", and said it was on hold due to the heated relationship between companies CBS and Viacom. As Viacom is the parent-company of Paramount Pictures, the studio behind the Star Trek films, CBS was not able to use content from those films at that time, and Meyer's project was rumored to be a prequel to The Wrath of Khan.[5] The next month, after becoming sole showrunner of Discovery, Alex Kurtzman signed a five-year overall deal with CBS Television Studios to expand the Star Trek franchise beyond Discovery to several new series, miniseries, and animated series. This included a limited series based around the character Khan Noonien Singh and his storyline in The Wrath of Khan, in which he was portrayed by Ricardo Montalbán.[2] Terry Matalas discussed becoming showrunner of the series with Kurtzman and Akiva Goldsman, before eventually joining the series Star Trek: Picard instead.[6]

The project was still on hold in November 2018, when Meyer revealed that it was a three-episode miniseries titled Ceti Alpha V, named for the planet that Khan and his followers live on before the events of The Wrath of Khan. He was unsure then if the project would be moving forward, and said CBS was concerned with how expensive the series would be to produce relative to its short running time.[7] In August 2019, Viacom announced that it was merging with CBS, bringing the film and television sides of the Star Trek franchise under the control of one company, ViacomCBS, for the first time since they split in 2006.[8] ViacomCBS announced in September 2020 that CBS All Access would be expanded and rebranded as Paramount+ in March 2021.[9] In February 2021, Kurtzman said a new series was unlikely to be added to Paramount+'s slate of Star Trek Universe series until one of the existing five came to an end.[10] A month later, Meyer said the project had originally been suggested to him by Kurtzman and he had thought it was a great idea that he was excited to pursue. He was still interested in making the project, but expressed concern at potentially having to extend it beyond the three episode plan which he felt would make it like the television series Gilligan's Island.[11] In May 2022, Kurtzman said there were discussions about the Star Trek Universe expanding to other media such as video games and dramatic podcasts,[12] and a month later Meyer revealed that he was negotiating a deal to turn Ceti Alpha V into a podcast that he would write and possibly direct.[13] At the Star Trek Day event on September 8, Meyer officially announced the scripted podcast as Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V, with Kurtzman, Aaron Baiers, Trevor Roth, and Rod Roddenberry set as executive producers.[1]

The podcast was announced to be premiering in early 2023,[1] but no more news had been released by November 2023. At that time, Meyer said the project had "a kitchen filled with cooks" and "whatever timeline we had went out the window some months ago". Meyer revealed that the podcast was being expanded from the initial three, hour-long television episodes to nine or ten half-hour episodes. He added that they would begin casting and hire a composer once some "behind-the-scenes issues" had been resolved, and said there was a chance that the podcast could lead to a television or film version if it was successful.[14]

Writing

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The story takes place between the events of the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Space Seed" and The Wrath of Khan. At the end of the former, Khan and his genetically augmented followers are stranded on the planet Ceti Alpha V by Captain James Kirk of the USS Enterprise. Kirk challenges Khan to turn the Eden-like planet into a utopia, but this does not go well. By the end of the story, Meyer wanted the audience to "weep for [Khan]. I hope that you understand where he's coming from and what his destiny is" leading into the events of The Wrath of Khan. He added that the story was about how Khan copes with the challenges he faces on Ceti Alpha V.[1][15]

Casting and voice recording

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Casting for the podcast was underway by late August 2024, when Meyer expected voice recording to begin within a year.[15]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Bankhurst, Adam (September 12, 2022). "Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V Is a Scripted Podcast That Will Lead Up to Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan". IGN. Archived from the original on September 12, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Otterson, Joe (June 19, 2018). "Alex Kurtzman Sets Five-Year CBS TV Studios Pact, Will Oversee Expanded 'Star Trek' Universe". Variety. Archived from the original on July 21, 2018. Retrieved July 21, 2018.
  3. ^ StarTrek.com Staff (February 26, 2016). "Nicholas Meyer Joins New Star Trek Series". StarTrek.com. United States: Blogger. Archived from the original on February 27, 2016. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
  4. ^ Pascale, Anthony (June 2, 2017). "Exclusive: Nicholas Meyer Talks Star Trek: Discovery's "Niche" And Hints At Another Star Trek Project". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on June 6, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  5. ^ Pascale, Anthony (May 17, 2018). "Nicholas Meyer Offers First Details On Secret Star Trek Project, Currently On Hold". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  6. ^ Outlaw, Kofi (February 28, 2023). "Star Trek: Picard Season 3 Showrunner Reveals What Happened to Khan TV Series". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  7. ^ "Nicholas Meyer Gives Update On Khan Mini-Series And Talks 'Star Trek: Discovery'". TrekMovie.com. November 21, 2018. Archived from the original on April 1, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2019.
  8. ^ "CBS And Viacom Announce Merger, Reunifying Star Trek Franchise". TrekMovie.com. August 13, 2019. Archived from the original on August 13, 2019. Retrieved March 31, 2024.
  9. ^ Graham, Megan (September 15, 2020). "CBS All Access streaming service is getting a new name: Paramount+". CNBC. Archived from the original on September 17, 2020. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
  10. ^ Vary, Adam B. (February 24, 2021). "Inside the 'Star Trek' Universe of New Shows and Kids' Fare on Paramount Plus". Variety. Archived from the original on February 25, 2021. Retrieved February 27, 2021.
  11. ^ Pascale, Anthony (March 13, 2021). "Exclusive: Nicholas Meyer On What's Holding Back His 'Ceti Alpha V' Star Trek Mini-Series". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on March 13, 2021. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  12. ^ Ulster, Laurie (May 2, 2022). "Interview: Alex Kurtzman On 'Section 31,' 'Academy,' And Expanding His Star Trek Universe Beyond Television". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on May 2, 2022. Retrieved May 4, 2022.
  13. ^ Pascale, Anthony (June 10, 2022). "Nicholas Meyer's 'Ceti Alpha V' Khan Prequel Series May Become Star Trek Podcast". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved September 18, 2022.
  14. ^ Bossig, Aaron (November 25, 2023). "Nicolas Meyer Gives Update On 'Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V' And Why Making It An Audio Drama Is "Perfect"". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on November 26, 2023. Retrieved November 29, 2023.
  15. ^ a b Pascale, Anthony (August 22, 2024). "Exclusive: 'Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V' Audio Drama Podcast Is Currently Casting". TrekMovie.com. Archived from the original on August 23, 2024. Retrieved August 23, 2024.
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Star Trek: Khan – Ceti Alpha V at IMDb