7. The Beginning
The Beginning was another film project, a proposal for the eleventh Trek film before JJ Abrams was given the reigns to the franchise. Set four years after the Enterprise episode, the movie revolves around one Tiberius Chase, a Starfleet pilot from a family connected with xenophobic Earth isolationists and an ancestor of Kirk, and the start of the Earth/Romulan War. The Romulans launch a sneak attack on Earth, demanding the government surrender, along with the Vulcan population on Earth. While Starfleet holds of the Romulans, Chase and a group of sympathizers steal a ship and head off to attack Romulus after Starfleet turns down his idea. While The Beginning was a Rick Berman project (and most people familiar with Trek fans know his reputation), it had one major thing going for it: Band of Brothers writer/producer Erik Jendersen writing the screenplay. Between Jendersen and the Earth/Romulan War, the script had the potential to be a darker, yet larger scope story than some of the previous Trek films due to its nature as a potential trilogy. But before things could really get started, Paramount changed presidents and eventually wound up backing the Abrams film as the eleventh Trek picture.