Before James T. Kirk was the captain of the USS Enterprise, there was Captain Christopher Pike.
Pike first appeared in “The Cage,” the rejected pilot episode of the original Star Trek series, and he showed up again in the episode “The Menagerie.” Since then, the character has been seen in the new reboot movies, but his time as the captain of the Enterprise in the prime universe has otherwise not been explored in TV or film. An Indiegogo campaign however is trying to change that.
The crowdfunding effort is trying to raise enough money to film the first 30 minutes of a 90-minute film titled Star Trek: Captain Pike. According to the Indiegogo page, the movie will explore Pike’s first mission in command of the starship.
There are a number of Star Trek alums who will be in the cast, including Enterprise’s Linda Park, Voyager’s Robert Picardo, and Deep Space Nine’s Chase Masterson. Walter Koenig, who portrayed Pavel Chekov in The Original Series, will also be involved as a co-writer, co-producer, and actor. Koenig discusses Star Trek: Captain Pike in a YouTube video where he says it will be on the “edgier side of things” and encourages people to think of Game of Thrones or Mad Men when thinking of this potential film and series.
The movie already tried looking for funding with a Kickstarter campaign to make a 45-minute prequel episode before a film, but it did not reach its goal of $112,000. This led to some changes. The new Indiegogo is only asking for $50,000 to make the first 30 minutes. The filmmakers will attempt to raise additional funds for the next 60 minutes through future campaigns, according to the campaign page. As of this writing, they have raised $47,945 with 15 days left to go.
You can find out more about what the Indiegogo project and perks on the campaign’s page.
Screengrab via Star Trek/YouTube