

(written from a Production point of view Real World article

For for the fifth film, please see Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.

In late 2006, plans for a new untitled Star Trek animated web series (later entitled Star Trek: Final Frontier) were announced. This series would be set in the year 2528 and would center around the latest crew of the starship Enterprise in a darker future.

Setting

In this series, the Federation would have fought a war with the Romulans, ending in the 2460s. This war would have been started by unknown persons using a surprise attack of Omega particle detonations. Vast areas of the galaxy would be considered impassable due to these detonations. This causes a split between the two halves of the Federation. During the Federation-Romulan War, Qo'noS was taken over by the Romulan Star Empire, Andoria was destroyed, and Vulcans left the Federation (they were negotiating reunification).

In this environment, the crew of the Enterprise, led by Captain Alexander Chase, would attempt to bring back the old days of "seeking out new life and new civilizations." This Enterprise would be a Bismarck-class cruiser that fought in the Federation-Romulan War, and under Chase would start out as a border patrol ship. The ship would have a complement of Dragonfly-type craft capable of travel through the Omega distortions. The crew would include Commander Barric Holden (executive officer), Lieutenant Kaylen Donal (security chief), Lieutenant Commander "Mr. Zero" (chief engineer), and Protocol Officer William Preston.

Development

The show began development shortly after the cancellation of Star Trek: Enterprise in May 2005 by David Rossi, Doug Mirabello, and José Muñoz. The idea of using animation was a way to avoid using expensive live-action scenes, in order to make it more likely to be green-lit by the networks. Originally, they conceived a series set aboard a starship in the 23rd century, but CBS did not want the show to be set during the Star Trek: The Original Series era. Remembering advice given to him by LeVar Burton, Rossi then set the series further into the future, past the events of Star Trek Nemesis.

After CBS expressed interest over the proposed series, the team formed Zero Room Productions, and were asked to develop artwork and write five scripts for "mini-episodes." As of September 2009, all five of the episode scripts that had been developed were made available on the website. The overview refers to the show as not being in development following the release of Star Trek.