Star Trek: The Movie Gets New Direct Sequel From Original Cast

This May, Star Trek: The Movie got a new direct sequel, exploring a largely unknown era in the franchise!

This May, Star Trek: The Movie will get a direct sequel starring the original cast and set in the same era in IDW's new comic book miniseries.

The five-issue miniseries, titled Star Trek: The Movie - Echoes, will continue after the events of the film, with Admiral Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise confronting a double from another universe. The series will be written by Marc Guggenheim and illustrated by Oleg Chudakov, with the first cover art and official synopsis below.

Featuring spectacular artwork by Oleg Chudakov and colors by DC Alonso, Echoes pits the venerated Captain James T. Kirk and his crew against enemies both terrifying and shockingly familiar! When a space anomaly thrusts a criminal mastermind—pursued by a very determined pilot on a mission—into our universe, the Enterprise must stop them from unintentionally starting a war with the Romulans and unleashing a superweapon of foreign technology into the system. But things get infinitely more complicated when these newcomers to our reality remove their helmets, revealing that they’re doppelgängers of our beloved heroes!

Star Trek's Original Cast Will Meet Their Doppelgangers

According to the first official synopsis, "Star Trek: The Movie - Echo" was released shortly after the film's conclusion, giving Kirk and the crew of the newly refitted USS Enterprise a new mission to stop the war with the Romulans . But things take a turn when the strange visitor from the multiverse is revealed to be a double of Kirk and his crew, reaching into one of the most iconic corners of Trek lore.

In explaining the story, author Guggenheim said that most Star Trek stories are told from the perspective of the Enterprise crew, and that he wanted to tell a story from an "outsider's point of view". Guggenheim Credits Movies are central to his love of the franchise; similarly, artist Chudakov likens Echoes to "revisiting [his] childhood."

The Years After Star Trek's First Movie Are Still Unexplored

Despite the unsuccessful landing, Star Trek: The Movie remained crucial to the series. It brought back the live-action Star Trek and set the stage for future movies - which in turn paved the way for more TV shows; in short, Star Trek: The Movie saved the franchise . As mentioned, its sequel is set 15 years later - which means the era is ripe for new stories and missions. The era in which the film is set has been seen in various tie-in media, namely the recently concluded Star Trek: Year Five, but still represents an untapped storyline. Fans can look forward to seeing Kirk struggle to balance being an admiral with commanding his own starship. After this movie, Kirk will lead the Enterprise on another five-year mission...and now, fans can get their hands on it.

Star Trek was unceremoniously canceled by NBC in 1969, and almost immediately began trying to revive it; Paramount greenlighted a new Star Trek series, titled "Phase Two", but in Planet After the great success of "The Great War", he changed course and chose to produce In its place was a big-budget Star Trek movie—the result was 1979's Star Trek: The Movie. The film sees Kirk recommand the Enterprise and confront an alien object heading straight for Earth. Despite stunning visuals from Douglas Trumbull and solid direction from Robert Wise, Star Trek: The Movie wasn't warmly received by critics, despite It did well at the box office and deserves a follow-up. However, by the time the next Star Trek film, The Wrath of Khan, came out three years later, 15 years after the first, the film era remained largely unexplored.

Now, Marc Guggenheim and Oleg Chudakov are set to rectify that with an all-new miniseries immediately after the movie, one of which will be from the Storylines are drawn from the film. Editor Heather Antos praised the Guggenheim for its knowledge of this particular era of Star Trek, so between that and Chudakov's love for the series, fans can Expect another winner in IDW's Star Trek comic series, as Star Trek: The Motion Picture gets an all-new direct sequel from the original cast.

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