Gene Roddenberry's Original Pitch For Star Trek 2 Will Blow Your Mind

Why Roddenberry’s “Star Trek II” Was Canceled

There are two principal reasons for why Roddenberry’s “Star Trek II” collapsed into its own pocket dimension.

For starters, the Paramount executives found the concept of time traveling to the Kennedy assassination in bad taste. In modern terms, Roddenberry’s Star Trek II would be like a modern time travel movie revolving around the 9/11 terrorist attack. Tinkering with the implications of such an event on the space-time continuum was just too soon.

More importantly, however, Paramount’s rejection of Roddenberry’s pitch dealt with how he handled Star Trek: The Motion Picture. With an initial budget between $8 to $15 million, cost overruns ---partly due to Roddenberry’s leadership--- ballooned Star Trek: The Motion Picture’s price tag to $35 million by the time it landed in movie theatres. Roddenberry’s vision was one of the most expensive films of its time. With big budget films such as Michael Cimino’s 1980 western Heaven’s Gate bankrupting studios like the United Artists, Paramount ordered “full stop” on big-budget projects. Star Trek was at the top of the list.

Instead of continuing with Roddenberry’s big-budget sci-fi spectacles, Paramount gave the command chair of the Star Trek franchise to TV producer Harve Bennett. Bennett’s mission was to make a blockbuster film on a TV production budget and schedule. Roddenberry was sidelined to Executive Consultant status.

Despite his diminished status, Roddenberry continued to insist that his “Kirk Meets JFK” script was the only viable direction for his franchise. From Wrath of Khan to the Voyage Home, Roddenberry repeatedly submitted this treatment as one of his contributions to each production.

Ordinarily, that would be where the story ends, but since this is a Star Trek history article, you are invited to break the bounds of conventional reality and travel…