Star Trek Signs Scripter; Battlefield Retooling

November 17 -- Star Trek 10 is one step closer to reality: Paramount has engaged the services of Gladiator co-writer John Logan ("strength and honor") to script the yet-to-be-titled sci-fi franchise's next pic.

Producer Rick Berman and Star Trek stalwarts Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner are all on board, but no director has been tapped yet, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Logan is also at work on a screenplay about the life of Howard Hughes for director Michael Mann at New Line and on the script for DreamWorks and Warner Bros.' new screen adaptation of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine, which will star L.A. Confidential's Guy Pearce.

Stewart is also signed to an X-Men sequel, which also has no start date at the moment.

Back to the BattlefieldIn other sci-fi news, John Travolta may have finally gotten the message that Battlefield Earth wasn't quite a resounding success. The star wants to make some improvements to the Scientology-inspired box-office flop before it is released on video in Germany, the movie's distributor said today.

German media group Intertainment announced it was delaying Earth's overseas video release until next year, which will give them time to tinker but will diminish their profits for the year.

"Following the movie's poor reception in the U.S., Travolta wants to make a few improvements in the post-production of the film," Intertainment Chief Executive Ruediger Baeres told Reuters. He declined to say exactly what kind of "improvements" Travolta had in mind — perhaps hitting the "erase" button would help?