The Star Trek people have been pillaging that franchise for years. They've never respected the history of the show or even understood what made the original series so good. Nothing about this movie can be accurate. Whoa, I sound like a Star Trek geek. Nothing to see here people… move along.

Hey look Lawhawk, I'm not feeding the troll!!

I for one am looking forward to it. Mainly because when I was a kid I dreamed of the day they could do big SF movies with effects like that, which had imaginative scenery and aliens. It looks like they are going for that and not the boring TV movie type plots of many Star Trek films.

I don't mind new actors doing the roles. It depends on how it's written and acted. Yes, most remakes suck. So this might t. But at least it's based on TOS and not the PC shows that followed. It doesn't look PC either, but we'll see.

A friend of mine, the late Steve Gerber, worked on a Next Generation episode when Roddenberry was still alive. Apparently Roddenberry wanted to the Trek shows to me more PC. Ugh.

The old show was more fun and it looks like this movie may be too.

the 'Trek' trailer is resolutely awful- and worse it's all B roll stuff, so apparently Abrams (admittedly not a fan)
figures lots of bling and flash and they will come… the casting seems terribly weak; the trouble with US casting is the sheer lightweight quality all of these people bring. When Spielberg did 'Private Ryan' he toyed with casting the entire film with Aussies and Brits; they at least looked like they've done something other than drink smoothies and cheat on exams… one can hope this film isn't the mess it appears, but as someone totally underwhelmed by JJ Abrams don't hold your breath…

I'm still going to see it

And besides, Simon Pegg's in it. Simon. Freakin'. Pegg.

That might be worth the price of admission all by itself!

OH PLEASE!

TOS is the epitome of extreme camp and angst so deep that the main problem in comparison to High School Musical is that the singing kids are obviously shown to be second rate posers.

That goes for most of the franchise that followed, too. Ugh, ptewie.

As for the "new" Kirk (and Spock and…) I think we should just get over this silly notion of "cannon" and go for the Asian model (Japanese?) of copious do-overs. Let someone else make the character theirs, and it will be different, and it won't make the old one go away, and new things can happen that didn't happen the first time through, perhaps radically different things in radically different directions.

Give some love to those of us who spent so much time watching in horror and shouting at the television set, "That is so wrong!"

Unless, he's surrounded by Zombies, no thanks… And I didn't even get around to complaining about whats-his-name as the villain.

I know they did a little too much tweaking over the years. But, from "Wagon Train to the Stars" to "Start Trek Goes Back to Basics" to "Star Trek Wonders if Androids are Human, Too" to "Star Trek Goes Into Therapy" to "Star Trek Now Has a Really Big Space Satellite," I've pretty much enjoyed them all. Except "Voyager." For some reason, I just couldn't get into it. And I think I liked "Enterprise" because I always felt there was the chance that Scott Bakula would walk into a vortex, show up on the other side in diapers or a dress, only to discover he was still starring in "Quantum Leap."

DFTT

Well, yes. And he's probably not going to have much screen time.

I'm just looking for anything redeeming besides flashy graphics, and I'm not seeing it in the remainder of the casting choices.

LOL! I just wanted to show Lawhawk my powers of restraint!

Voyager had the best theme song of any of the series, give it that much.

Congratulations Nolte, you're the '09 Whiner 'Ward Winner. You can put yourself right up there with the fat basement-dwellers who were texting death threats to Michael Bay because he turned Megatron into a jet instead of a handgun. How do you do Star Trek without Shatner? Oh I don't know, maybe pick someone who's NOT an 80-something B actor? Calling Pine's performance in the trailer "HSM-esque" is a desperate far cry, and even if it weren't, it would be better than "Oh NO Spock, the ALIens are COMing and the PHAsers are ONLY at half POWer! We MUST get DOWN to the TORPEDO bay!" Any human being who watches the new Star Trek trailer and actually misses the old show over it CLEARLY does not remember this scene:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM

And I promise you that fifty to sixty years from now, Chris Pine won't be hosting Rescue 911 or doing Priceline commercials just to keep his face in peoples' memories. Have a glass of warm milk and get to bed.

Well, it's a relief to know I wasn't the only one upset about Megatron not being a handgun.

I dunno, John–The early trailers stunk, but this one, this one drew me in. The other captain (Pike?) challenging Kirk to be a man. The futuristic military training. And yeah, the flashy space battles. I need some splashy space battles in my sci-fi. Ever since I got suckered into watching SeaQuest–Cool submarine action in the pilot, then nothing of note until the season finale… Flashy space battles make stuff worth watching!

After this trailer, my only reservations are that I don't recognize the aliens (They might be the Remians from the Nemesis movie, but even that is weak–Give me Klingons!) and that the alien ships look like they ripped off the Shadows from Babylon 5.

I hate the "Wagon Train to the Stars" put down. Star Trek dealt with all kinds of tricky social issue in complex and interesting ways. The people who labeled it Wagon Train, just lack the creativity and depth to see beyond the phasers.

Also, I suspect there is a bit of leftist hate in the term. Kirk definitely fought for a patriotic, "classical liberal" view of the world — very inconsistent with their dope smoking, anti-establishment, America is the enemy garbage. Lousy hippies.

I wish they'd do an opera…in Klingon!

It was okay that Megatron didn't turn into a hangun…..It was unforgivable that Megatron didn't have a giant lazer cannon on his arm when he was in robot mode! Every Megatron has the giant arm cannon! Even the animal-Megatrons found a way to do it!

Revaling myself as no great fan of TOS here, but: weren't the starships constructed in orbital drydock? I thought they weren't intended to be used in the atmosphere.

What's the Enterprise doing sitting on the ground?

I agree. I loved the teaser. Between that and JJ Abrams involvement, I was excited about the idea. Then the cast photos leaked.

I might have meant "canon." Dang… always get those wrong. You all know what I meant!

Don't even go there. If you want to start talking about history, we know how and when these characters met, and this ain't it. We knew all about Kirk's past, and this ain't it. Arrrggggghh……..

I agree that’s funny. I hope John’s wrong on this movie.

Pegg and Karl Urban aside, the cast looks incredibly weak. When Pine takes the center seat I can't tell whether he's taking command or taking a dump, his expression can go either way. Is be brooding or is he straining? Really, really hate that bit of casting.

I'm not opposed to a new cast. This is, after all, an origins movie. But the rumors about the plot do make my skin crawl.

**MAYBE SPOILERS**

Kirk is now a jerk because he was raised by a jerk of an uncle because The Villain went back in time and killed his parents (shown in preview, so I guess that's not too much of a spoiler).

What pisses me off here — and I do think that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are larger than life, legendary characters — is that all the joy's been sucked out. In the original series, love it or hate it, Kirk loved his job. He was nerdy in the academy and all the way up the promotion ladder because he obsessed with becoming a starship captain. Nothing pissed Kirk off like a threat to his crew or his ship. That very love is what made the best Trek, Khan, so damn good.

For this film, it's Top Gun and paternal envy syndrome (or whatever they called it in Hot Shots). Feh! This drips with angst, and it's impossible to see this Kirk taking a bite out of an apple and calmly saying, "I don't like to lose" while preparing to open a can of whup ass.

Why no, miss ma'am, but it shore do sound purty, don't it?

Yeesh.

So anyway, was a Kirk/Uhura hookup an actual element of the original? I thought that was just something else they manufactured for the movie.

I think there were things about TOS that were simply incredible. Did you think I meant camp and angst in a *bad* way?

But I do think that part of the reason that re-makes tend to suck so much is that we insist they hold to the original. The original is the original. It always will be. I think that re-makes would be better if we would allow them to be alternate History, something new, let someone say what if *that* happened instead, what if *this* were different.

All the new trailer did was turn me off even more. Right now it's only John Cho as Sulu that is making me want to see this movie.

They have ripped apart canon with this movie. Someone tell me where in TOS or the other movies it was even hinted at that Kirk was a troubled bad-boy in his youth. In "Where No Man Has Gone Before" Kirk in his Academy days was described as a stack of books with legs. Yes, he cheated in his Kobyashi Maru scenario – because he hated losing and didn't believe in a no-win siuation.

Oh, most of the shouting about wrongness was directed at TNG. Though I did like Wesley.

Growing up I was a HUGE Trek fan. Not quite to the point of dressing up in Starfleet uniforms and going to CONs…but almost.

That said, over the years I've come to despise and almost hate Trek because its nothing but Marxist propaganda from the word GO (or at least since TNG).

Rape it, I don't care … Trek is just another leftist wh*re anyway.

I'll watch it because I expect it to be mildly entertaining.

Besides, Lazarus Long would kick Capt. Kirks butt anyway.

Kirk and Uhura famously kissed in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren" in which aliens amuse themselves by forcing the pair to lock lips. We never saw any sign that they had an actual relationship and it would have been inappropriate for a commanding officer to be romantically involved with one of his subordinates. Yes, I am a Star Trek geek.

I'm getting older, especially discussing this topic, but I'm not at the big 4-0 yet. My problem with most remakes is the utter disdain usually shown for the source material. Plus, the remakes in the last ten years are so formulaic they could all have been written by computer. As a lover of movies, I hate this.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to tell some kids to get off my lawn.

** Though I did like Wesley.
** … I did like Wesley
** … like Wesley

Now I know you're crazy. Even the guy who played Wesley doesn't like Wesley.

Um…does nobody realize that…

Chris Pine (Kirk) is 29
Zachary Quinto (Spock) is 31
Karl Urban (McCoy) is 37
Simon Pegg (Scotty) is 39
John Cho (Sulu) is 36
Zoe Saldana (Uhura) is 30

Only Anton Yelchin (Chekov) is 19…and that's appropriate because he's a newly graduated Ensign.

Call these guys anything you want, poorly cast, bad actors, whatever…

But stop calling them "too young"! Stop calling them children! They are ADULTS.

You can blame Roddenberry circa the late 80s for the PC stuff. I've read interviews with writers that disagreed and complained and felt boxed in by Roddenberry's utopian vision. The writers tried to break away from some of that on the later shows (at least DS9 and Enterprise). In the commentaries for Star Trek Generations and First Contact, writers Ron Moore and Brannon Braga poke fun at all the contradictions and rules that they had to follow.

I agree John…anybody want to come over an see my leisure suit collection? I have matching platform shoes, too. I still have my glasses that are mended in the middle with surgical tape.

There are several canon story arcs you could take. The last surviving ship of a battle group in the Dominion War would be a great series of flicks. How about a group sent by the Federation to assist the liberated Borg in their fight against the collective. Hell, what about Garak & Q go to White Castle? Anything but this crap!

Although, the train wreck factor has kicked in. I'll wait for Rifftrax.

OK, slick, you are now in the deep end of the Trekkie pool…you may return to your Paris Hilton coming out video.

The Kirk/Uhura kiss was rather controversial. It was not clear if the network was going to air the kiss. Shatner actually forced the issue by deliberately ruining the take of the alternate scene in which no kiss occurred.

I didn't mind Wesley, simply because I was roughly the same age at the time and would've loved to be on the Federation flagship and be told "Here, you drive!"

Ooo! I got it! Michael Weston gets recruited by Section 31!

If you didn't see The Wrath of Khan…you didn't see a good Star Trek movie yet.

It's absolutely pivotal in apologizing for everything that happened since. As in, "yeah, but…KHAAAAAAN!"

If you like the other Trek series, you have to check out former Trek illustrator Doug Drexler's new blog. All the geeks here will like it – he's posting all sorts of goodies from the archives: vintage ads, photos, artwork, etc.

http://drexfiles.wordpress.com/

And yes, I'm single.

Very well said Brisco. And that was the core to the original series.

Men tend to put on muscle until age 30. Young men just look like that, often times. Even the guys who lift weights that I know, who are half my age, look waifish to me most of the time. Men don't hit majority and look like John Wayne. And this is about very young characters. Very young men just don't tend to look all that rugged.

FWIW, Abrams is a good writer but his track-record with re-dos isn't stellar: A few years back, he was going to write/direct a "Superman" movie where Krypton didn't explode, Supes was a royal-born "chosen one" versus his totally-not-just-Laertes-with-a-cape Uncle and Lex Luthor was a corrupt CIA alien-hunter who turned out to be a Kryptonian sleeper-agent. Really.

No, no NO! DS 9 had the best theme music of any Trek series! Dennis McCarthy hit it totally and completely out of the park with that awesome theme.

I was born in the early 70s, so I grew up thinking Star Wars was the be-all end-all of sci fi. My dad tried to convince me TOS was great, but stacked up next to SW it just looked feeble. Heck, even Space:1999 and the original Battlestar Galactica had better toys than Star Trek. At the time, that was more or less the deal-breaker.

So it wasn't until the movies came around that I even really gave it a chance.

I think entertaining movies can be made without resorting to the dried out plots and characterizations that dominate almost every new movie coming out of Hollywood. Conventional wisdom says the stars must be "beautiful people". If they can't act, no worries, we'll make up for it with special affects. The story sucks… no worries we'll have Kirk do Uhura.

Good movies come from good stories. Even Frakes could excite in a well written story. There are plenty of examples. The latest Batman movie was well written and IMHO blew away the several BM movies that preceded it. The Lord of the Ring movies (in which I personally was disappointed) were driven by a great story. The same can be said of the Narnia movie.

If people want bad boy they can watch shows like Gran Torino. You get the full effect without redesigning a character that Shatner spent 40 years developing. The problem is that Eastwood probably isn't pretty enough for the shallow dandys that comprises most of today's movie goers.

I liked some of the movies, but many of them are lame. You can't tell me the one Shatner directed or Nemesis or Insurrection are worthy of one of your movie recommendations. I still like Star Trek, but they have not done a very good job of handling their franchise.

As for your actor argument, it's valid. No actor since Sean Connery has played James Bond as well IMO. But different generations see that differently. THis is a new Star Trek aimed at a new audience. It's not aimed at those of use who grew up on the old show.

I'm willing to go with it if its good.

More PC than the original show. But yeah, I thought the first season of TNG was painfully lame (with a few good points here and there).

that trailer brings an old line to mind: Use enough music there Butch?

You guys have been talking Star Trek all night?
I was raised on TOS and shared TNG with my son. That show had great toys and action figures.
I'm sure we'll see the movie.

Good boy Andrew!

DFTT

In its original manifestation, it was not meant as a put-down. Roddenberry himself used it to market the show, since sci-fi was not yet mainstream and "Wagon Train" (full of the values people still loved at the time) was a very popular series. Roddenberry in private didn't use that metaphor, though. He preferred to think of it as a modern/futuristic "Gulliver's Travels." As it developed, the show took on a persona of its own. I'm enough older than you to have used the "Wagon Train metaphor as a compliment.

DFTT

Reading this thread, I keep waiting for Triumph the Insult Comic Dog to show up.

I'll leave it to the Clintons and the Obamas and the Pitts to get kids excited. I already raised mine, and am still helping to instill civic and moral values in my grandkids. You can tell from my posts on this site that I don't have a lot of influence on Hollywood, so I have to take care of my own. I come from a family whose viewpoint is that we raise our own kids and let others raise theirs (the correct English is to "rear" the kids, but that too has taken on a sinister connotation).

Too much of what we see in our uncivilized society is the result of government and Hollywood doing way too much "for the children, for the children." It's usually an excuse for them to get their hands on my offspring while indoctrinating the offspring of parents who don't want to take the time to raise the young'uns themselves. But you're right, Aaron Spelling took care of his kids, and look what we got stuck with.

DFTT

I'm pretty sure I saw someone had been cast as "Orion Slave Girl" which is nerd for "Green Dancing Chick," so even if there's no Janice Rand, you're two for three.

Scream, Blackula, Scream, indeed! I was just going to mention the late Mr. Marshall who is the only actor to out-emote Shatner in TOS, for my money.

This movie will rock. 300 million for sure.

LawhawkSF,
Will you please tell me where I can get one of those keychains??
It would be a great gift for my brother!!

You got that right Star Trek II Wrath of Kahn was the best of the movies. I for one do not want to be weighed down by all the Trek Mythology when there is a chance that new life can be breathed into this series. I will wait to see it to make any judgements. The Trek Franchise has suffered because of the unweighty histories created and trying to maintain that history. I think a new version might just free the franchise up enough to breathe some new life and excietment that is needed.

You really can’t appreciate Star Trek until you’ve seen it performed in the original Klingon.

Dude, you don't even know the HALF of it. Back in the late-90s, the "new" Superman would've involved him getting killed in the first act, then his "Kryptonian life-energy" or whatever would immaculately-impregnate Lois Lane, eventually causing her to give "virgin" birth to a clone that would then rapidly-mature BACK into her (adult) super-boyfriend. They were really gonna make that. "Superman Returns" is effing GODFATHER II compared to all the other stuff they almost tried over the years.

Ah heck all I know is it has something to do with that Homer guy right.

In regards to Star Trek Babes, some of you seem to be confused. The hottest was, and will always be the Dohlman (France Nuyen, who was still lookin' good in "St. Elsewhere"), followed closely by the Orion Slave Girl (Susan Oliver, so fine she almost got Andy Taylor to open her cell door, and then Seven of Nine (Jeri Ryan, who gave us President Obama).

Insurrection was trash, but I actually liked Nemesis. It dealt with the whole concept of nature versus nurture. I didn't really find it a suitable ending to the TNG series though.
Reboots are common in comics. Stories just get so bogged down in their own fictional histories that it gets difficult to make things consistent and still enjoyable. So the only is to start again, which is what I think they are doing here. But as a kid who grew up with TNG, I have to say that I never saw the true magic of TOS. I'm actually looking forward to this remake as long as they make it reasonably consistent with the original story.

I always thought the dominion wars would make a great set of movies. But that occurred in the TNG time line and they wanted to retire those characters. The dominion wars are even mentioned in Nemesis when they are discussing Shinzon's military record.

Do they fight "Pigs in Space" Just Asking

Nemesis was half an ok movie, but it suffered from some really dumb stuff including crashing the enterprise into a bigger ship. The Remans are supposed to be these super warriors but they just stand around like lugs while they get gunned down and they shoot worse than an A-Team villain.

It has its moments, then it has dumb stuff like the enterprise's dune buggy.

OK, I'll admit that France Nuyen was gorgeous in that role. The best TOS babe for sure. However, I'd let Seven-of-Nine assimilate me any time.

Synova — I looked at our commenter banning policy, and for some insane reason trashing the original Star Trek series isn't on it, but I am convening a board meeting.

I will take a stab and figure that you are an "old fart" like me…Majel Barret, Roddenberry's wife as well as actress in the original pilot and in several ongoing roles throughout Star Trek's history, passed away in Dec 2008…she was 76. The "youngsters" [especially the actors] currently involved with the franchise are old enough to be the grandchildren of the first cast. Scotty and Bones are gone and Kirk and Spock are no spring chickens.

The younger set can't appreciate the time that the original came into its genesis. They have no idea about the history of the civil rights movement and what a BIG DEAL it was to have Kirk making out with Uhuru [lucky b**tard]. None of them get the joke in Star Trek's "Save the Whales" epic of Chekhov asking folks "Where are the nooklear wessels" during the Cold War.

They have their own statement of "history" to make as THEY see it. I leaned alot from my son after his 2nd tour of Iraq in EOD [Explosive Ordnance Disposal] while I'm a Cold War retread. He has his own unique perspective, I have mine although I'm still better looking.

From Star Trek III: "Young minds, fresh ideas – be tolerant."

For me, the jury's still out on Chris Pine but I'm okay with Saldana, Pegg, Cho (more or less), and Karl Urban (who might be the best casting choice). I watched Heroes for a season and a half so I'm fine with Quinto – I just haven't seen him play a non-Sylar character. I agree with you about Bruce Greenwood but I haven't seen Anton Yelchin in anything so I couldn't say. But it's clear their fudging with the timeline. If Kirk's at the Academy, Chekov should be in elementary school.

I'll admit I'm excited. When they first announced this was a "prequel," I shuddered. It's Star Trek – they can literally do anything they want! And at the time, I thought "Can't they make a summer movie with adults anymore?! Does every movie have to have a kid in it?" Maybe that's why Iron Man and Dark Knight were so successful – they had actual grown men playing grown men. No kids, no teen angst, no snarky sidekicks. And I reacted the same way when Shia was announced for the new Indy movie (I thought he was fine – some of the other stuff in the movie, not so much).

Star Trek also got my into film music so I'm eager to hear what Michael Giacchino comes up with.

Oh and by the way, have you given Star Trek: The Motion Picture another chance? I know on your last blog, you compared it to paint drying but I think the film has aged like a fine wine. It's intelligent, full of big ideas, doesn't pander, has excellent visual effects, a beautiful score… well, I think you might like it.

Put down the crack pipe.

The only thing even REMOTELY good about Wesley Crusher is the parody done by Daryl Mitchell in Galaxy Quest.

That and his mom was kinda hot.

You can blame Roddenberry circa the late 80s for the PC stuff. I've read interviews with writers that disagreed and complained and felt boxed in by Roddenberry's utopian vision. The writers tried to break away from some of that on the later shows (at least DS9 and Enterprise). In the DVD audio commentaries for Star Trek Generations and First Contact, writers Ron Moore and Brannon Braga (who now works on "24") poke fun at all the contradictions and rules that they had to follow.

Even the National Review did a "Star Trek Week" series of articles a year or two ago.

A great deal of trekkies/trekkers jumped ship early on the series Enterprise – and when the series did find its footing, they were nowhere to be found because the original sin of updating the Star Trek continuum and trying a new concept was just too great to forgive. Perhaps it is fortunate the Internet was so much less prevalent when TNG debuted or this same entity may have succeeded in killing the ugly duckling before it bloomed into a beautiful swan.

I think the warp drive speed limit was in a late TNG episode – then the writers realized "Oh, crap!" and had the crew break that rule something like two episodes later!

Hey Kevlaur, your avatar, is it from Fallout?

Someone other than the Duke did play Rooster once. I'm not a Star Trek fan (I hate it with all my might) but I know where you're coming from in the Kirk/Shatner department, to this day I hate Warren Oats — seeing him in that eye patch was blasphemous.

NG had nothing similar. They reveled in "exploring humanity" but in trivial ways — Data owning a cat, which character drinks what, who hooks up with whom. It's a soap. In fact, you couldn't derive anything from their actions because the show constantly ran on the deus ex machina principle whenever they faced a difficult choice. All the characters had to do was spout something self-righteous, volunteer for a suicide mission, and something would save the ship. Very passive.

I was looking forward to the new Star Trek until I saw the trailer. Then I saw..The Enterprise being built on Earth. I said 'This is bull $%^&!'. One of the reasons Star Trek has lasted so long in the hearts of fans, was because although it was science fiction, it didn't treat the viewers like complete dummies. One of Roddenberry's decisions was that the Enterprise was built in space, as it would not be credible for a aircraft carrier-sized spaceship to take off and land on a planet (Well that, and the effects would break the budget for the entire series.).____Paramount has finally succumbed and decided to kill the goose. It got many, many golden eggs from Star Trek and its spinoffs

Darn…I was hoping for a modern interpretation of that basket weave wig she had to wear.

Given my aversion to the concept of master/slave and since 'Green Dancing Chick' is probably not in line with current political correctness guidelines I offer the following title for the character:

"Bio-Mechanically Gifted Womyn Of Non-Terran Based Color"

You're gonna need to find a source that says definitively that Roddenberry declared the Enterprise was built in space. The only CANON source we have for when and where it was built was the dedication plaque stating it was constructed at the San Francisco Fleet Yards. That would seem to imply that it was built on Earth. Or at least that the main sections were built on Earth and then transported to space for final construction. But the idea that it was "definitely" built in space is total fanon, not canon at all.

heck no.. .give me the "Enterprise" theme song (espeically during "In a Mirror, Darkly" episodes… NOW that was the high point for the series music)

I'd have to go look for my old Star Trek Encyclopedia, JMP.. but I'm pretty sure the Fleet yards were listed as being "in orbit"

they knew they needed to address the current zeitgeist, and the 9/11 crisis gave them impetus to write some great stuff. The temporal wars (with crewman Daniels) was also outstanding… it's a shame it's so poorly regarded now- try to watch a Voyager or Deep Space 9 and not roll your eyes…

All in favor of turning Wesley Crusher into a dodecahedron?
Ayes have it.

I agree about the "movie looks fun" part, but not the HSM part.

…and I thought Jeri Ryan did a great job considering she was initially brought in for eye candy.

MMMmmm … Seven of Nine … I'll be in my bunk.

If ever a franchise needed a new set of ideas to keep going it was ST. This looks to be just that. I was there at TOS beginning too and am happy to see what looks to be a real romp spooling up in May. So are my 14YO & 16YO for that matter.

Someone else already mentioned looking forward to the RiffTrax treatment for this one, and I can't wait. They're going to have a field day.

The first "Mirror…" ENT episode had the BEST pre-credits teaser with the First Contact footage but, when the Vulcan salutes Cochrane, Cochrane shoots him instead! Great blending of footage, too.

Roddenberry's PC bent was annoying. Some episodes were thinly disguised "Gays are people too" stories (es, gays are people too; just don't waste my TV time preaching that to me). But the worst offense was on the bridge every week: that a ship full of soldiers should have a full-time, command level "counselor," at the captain's side for every decision.

I want soldiers with good mental health in the first place, thank you very much.

I would add Zachary Quinto as a young Spock. On Heroes, he has turned out to be a pretty decent actor.

can't agree with you on 'DS9'… it was eventually cancelled because of the fundamental weakness of the series- stuck on a space station. They struggled mightily to make the show more interesting as time went on but it was too much like that dopey Bruce Boxleitner show for my tastes. 'Voyager' was better- not much, but again the last two seasons prodcued some nice 'one off' episodes. 'TNG' really plays poorly now- the bad 80's style production values ('when in doubt flood it out') and spotty acting (where do I start? how about Wesley Crusher?) and only really top episodes with Jean Luc, Q, and sometimes Riker are watchable. I know this speaks of heresy, but as fans we may say such things…

The only Enterprise theme song I'm aware of was Brian Adams belting it out at his asthmatic best. So I went to youtube and found the alternate version (season 3 and 4, I guess) and if anything it was much, much worse.

Is there another version I missed?

Aw @$&&*#, Russell Watson, not Brian Adams. My bad.

I consider myself a Trekker. I have seen the various trailers, and the response of the basement dwelling Trekkies to Abrams' interpretation of Star Trek. Star Trek needs to be rescued from these people. It needs a jump start because it has become predictable. So the Vulcan ear wearing crowd are pitching a hissy fit…let them. It's the 21st century, and it is time that Star Trek actually reflect it.

Aha! Here it is. A fetching young lass (if by that you mean Vargas girl by way of Boris Vallejo) named Diora Baird is the BMGWNBC:

http://filmdrunk.uproxx.com/2009/03/new-star-trek...

Yes we can. We'll just have to agree to disagree.

Respectfully, I think it went off the air because the creators decided it was time. Granted, the ratings weren't great but I think the studio could have kept going for one more year. TNG aired seven years as did DS9 and VGR. The only Trek shows to be "cancelled" in the traditional sense were the original series and ENT.

The idea of a space station was that, on TNG the ship would just warp to another planet at the end of the episode whereas on a space station, the problems and conflicts stay – you can't just leave. Some fans loved the concept, others hated it, saying it went against the idea of "boldy going." Of course we got the Defiant in the third season and we were off and running.

Blame JJ Abrams, he is the person who has been messing with the Trek universe. Unfortunately the past few series have been getting less and less viewers so you either recreate the Trek Universe or you let it die a slow death. There was a lot wrong with the old Trek so just because it is old doesn't make it good.

"Shatner is Kirk. Kirk is Shatner" Last time I checked Captain James T. Kirk was a fictional character. Let people do with it what they want. And let them succeed or fail on the story they tell, not whether or not they pegged William Shatner's mannerisms. If someone wanted to do a movie about the early days of Rooster Cogburn, let them. Let's see what kind of story they can tell. John Wayne did a wonderful job with the character, but that doesn't mean someone else can't do a 30-something Cogburn.

Besides if more than one actor can play James Bond and get away with it, who, besides Mr. Nolte, is to say that more than one actor can't play James Kirk?

James T. Kirk asTed Logan (of Bill & Ted.) I'll bet he says "whoa" at least once in the movie.

I hope the score is not as Carmina Burana overbearing as in the trailer.

As Ted might say, totally bogus. But it'll do some business.

The Encyclopedias are BS. While they extract info from the series, there are also TONS of conjecture and leaps of logic (ei: entry in Starfleet Academy is automatically at age 18 for all characters, even though SFA has been shown to admit 16-year-olds and for that matter they could have entered late; or the date of first contact with the Klingons being drawn from a throw-away reference by McCoy of "50 years of hostility", so therefore first contact was 50 years earlier than that episode). The creators of the Encyclopedias admit that their books are not to be taken as canon material and could contain data that will be contradicted later on.

You'll need to find an ONSCREEN reference to SF Fleet Yards being in orbit. You're not gonna find it, because I've looked. For that matter, even Uptopia Planitia Fleet Yards (where Picard's Enterprise was built) has been shown onscreen to be on the planet, or at least that's where the main structures are put together.

Who needs canon for something like this? Look at the SHAPE of the things… there's just no way in an even PARTIALLY realism-based universe that a ship shaped like that would hold up under gravity without construction supports that'd cost more than the ships it's holding up.

You said "Ball kiss"

Harlan Ellison HATES Trek, of any type.
Harlan is a spoiled, arrogant, abusive man, who just happens to write excellent "speculative fiction".
(his words; the term science fiction is too base for him).
And that is the extent Harlan Ellison has contributed to mankind. I'd rather be a nobody than him.

I'm as nervous about this movie as the next guy, but for those that think of this as Star Trek 90210 after having seen two trailers and not a single minute of the actual movie, let me give you this information:

1. Leonard Nimoy is in this movie and plays a pivotal role, not just a cameo. To me, that's important, especially since Nimoy has had a very shaky relationship with Star Trek in the past.

2. Quinto is 31, Pine is 28, John Cho is 36, Simon Pegg is 39, and Karl Urban is 36 — This cast is young-ish, but it's not like they're just out of diapers and ready to star in High School Musical 8.

If you consider yourself a Star Trek fan since Day 1, then you owe it to the idea of what Star Trek is to see this movie before you make hasty judgements. If you come out of the movie hating it, at least you can say your viewing of the actual movie informed your perception of it.

From a blog entry I wrote over two years ago re Star Trek 2.0:

Hollywood is trying to cash in on the nostalgia crowd, which is fine as far as it goes. But one thing they forget is that the TV series had time to grow, and had time to establish its own history and precedents. Then it's thirty years later, and the young producers figure that they can make a movie that explains all the backstory in maybe 15 minutes – after all, the younger audience won't care about all that stuff. Then, they cast these young "hot" actors in the main roles (Jimmy Fallon is, at this writing, "rumored" to play Tony Nelson in "Jeannie" [insert gagging sound here]) or actors that, while popular, make you sit up and scream WTF (John Travolta as J. R. in "Dallas"). Then, they make changes to the backstory that will alienate the older fans of the show. AND, on top of all that, they usually hire writers who know nothing about these series, and how seriously the older fans feel about these beloved characters. (One exception: Sidney Sheldon, the original creator and writer for "Jeannie", wrote the script for the movie. But how much you wanna bet they'll bring in some young kid to "modernize" it?)

Is it any freaking WONDER that the movies don't do well? What's next – a movie update where they change everyone's race? Oh, wait…they already did that – The Honeymooners.

Same thing goes for movies based on video games. They try to tap a supposedly built-in market, and then rely on special effects and big stars (see "Doom" or "House Of The Dead"). Or the kiddie market (as in "Super Mario Brothers" or "Double Dragon" – DON'T see those). IMHO, there was only one really good adaptation of a video game into a movie – Mortal Kombat.

What might work is a "next generation"-type movie. You get the original cast members playing the beloved characters, with a new group of kids to teach/raise/interact with. That way, you can have the classic original characters as remembered – with all the appropriate in-jokes for the old fans – and still have the young studs for the new viewers.

Now, come on – how about Martin Milner and Kent McCord teaching a new group of young cops? Or Kevin Tighe and Randolph Mantooth as co-captains of a firehouse and paramedic squad?

THAT would be something I'd pay to see.

Thanks for the link. I think Yvonne Craig's version is best and will continue to be so (ballet vs. pole dancing).

We lost Roger C. Carmel in 1986. What an absolute shame. He'd have made a great father to the newer actor. And Stella!
Hmmm…ideas….

Well…
Having been one of the early jumpers…because I can't be held as a viewer by Scott in his BVD's, and what a wreck canon can be…when Enterprise found Manny Coto, it found its voice. Problem was, by then it was too late. I thought Next Generation started to get better when my acquaintance Melinda Snodgrass started as story editor. (Hey, Melinda! See you at Bubonicon, sweetheart, I'll buy!). DS9 really worked for me, and the wife loved Voyager; that female captain.
Movies: Even numbers are okay. 5 was a wreck, although you finally saw a toilet. Make sure you pay the light bill, film noir doesn't work in space. Insurrection was meh. Never let Deanna drive, she wrecks things. Nemesis was bleh. Morality and such is best when subtle.

I wish you could see me laughing on this side of the laptop, thanks for sharing that. That makes James Cameron's Spider-Man work seem epic in comparison, web-for-wet-dream metaphor and all.

If you know these stories, I'm sure you are aware of Kevin Smith and his tale of Superman and the producer fascinated with giant spiders.

Original Recipe Kirk was ALWAYS after anything that moved, and that included quite a few crewwomen. It wouldn't be permitted in a PC universe where skirts had to be eschewed for 'unisex' uniforms, but it certainly was part of the original episodes. I'm pretty sure that THAT Kirk would've made a pass at Uhura, and that she might have decided to nip things in the bud in order to make hanging out on the Bridge more comfortable…or perhaps not.

I once owned the script writer's guide for TOS. It made the point that the Enterprise was built in orbit and can't go down to a planet's surface. Given that, TOS goofed once when Enterprise was thrown back into 60's-era America by a time-travel accident. Before the crew recovered, Enterprise had descended low enough into the atmosphere that an air-breathing fighter jet was almost able to shoot it down. They were fighting gravity to climb back into space, and I thought then that normal gravity should have pulled the warp drive nacelles right off the main body of the ship!

Oh, yeah, I was also going to say that the writer's guides are not canon and never have been. The series "bibles" for ALL of the ST series, including the first, have been violated multiple times over. The Bible for the original series had Spock as a "half-Martian" and the DS9 guide stated that Sisko had several brothers, where in later seasons we learned that he was an only child.

I'm obsessive. That's just sick.

LOL!

Depends on how you mean 'brothers', considering Sisko's ethnicity.

Unless they tie it back to Kirk's dad, and the 12 minute, save 800 comment, which I doubt.
There is so much to mine that would work out in, quote, "canon", unquote; I t just takes a rabid fan like Phillip J. Frye, (or me), or a lot of time watching old stories and finding where they bump into your concept. When you run to the "alternative timeline", are you doing it because the characters are having to deal with it, or is it because you need that so your "concept" is realized? One is writing; the other is shtick. Like the new bridge…its very pretty. But does it fit? Or could you have done it more like the original series in style and keep some of the character with "Enterprise" and the original "Star Trek"? Unless it was totally impossible to pull off, you try to blend both together so you have an evolution, one to the other; OR you have what what I see, which is a jarring visual element that detracts from the story. What's with Kirk and the black shirt? Do a green wraparound if you want the visual element; the black looks way out of place, unless its an undershirt; then, why is Kirk in an undershirt on the bridge?

We have discussed this matter in a different time and place.

I watched the first episode of Star Trek on its first airing in 1966.

I am still cautiously optimistic about this film.

But after this trailer — which is pure dyanamite — I wish May 8 were tomorrow.

Don't feed the trolls. I thought I was being original, and then someone else who didn't recognize it Googled it, and apparently it's been around for awhile. Since I can't be original dammit, I'm only going to use it when someone on this site falls into the toll trap. Good luck on your hunt.

I liked Wesley, but I was an 11 years old at the time, so I have an excuse.

[...] comments in yesterday’s “Melrose Trek” post ran about 9 to 1 against me, which begs the question of how so many can be so [...]

Actually, that's true. Check out the episode "A Private Little War" — that one is directly about the conflict between the US and USSR. In that episode, the Klingons start arming villagers, who attack the hill people. Kirk then decides to arm the hill people to counter the Klingons.

There are many other examples.

Had I been Picard, Wesley woulda done a one-way out the nearest air lock.

Scott Bakula acting style was to always whisper – loudly
That version of Trek had some good stories but they kept undressing the guys and gals on that show which seemed awkward. I liked having angry Klingons and Andorians instead of the wishy washy versions on Picards Trek.

Wesley is …… I wish Q would have sent him to the other side of the universe

That new Trek coming out looks like 2 metrosexuals will be Kirk and Spock. They do look like they been drinking smooothys

Kirk and Picard in a bar fight. Who would win? KIRK!
He would win because Picard would be explaining the rules when Kirk smashes a chair across him

"Making the Starship Enterprise look like a casting session for “High School Musical: The Pouty Prom.”

Yup, John nails it. This cast looks as mature as the kids Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland used in their school gym to put on a musical to raise money for little Timmy to walk (or whatever the hell excuse they came up with). And I'm going to watch Mickey and Judy before I watch this mess of a film.

Oh, geesh. I meant to say – 'the ink is still wet on his driver's license'. Sorry.

Oh my God, I just got that. LOL!

Hey, potato… tomato.

She was about 70. So if that's what you go for…..

Re: Kirk driving a stick shift, without giving away too many spoilers, suffice it to say this Kirk has had a bit of a different upbringing than the James T. Kirk played by the Shat.

On-column paddle shifters?

The Kid in the Yellow Shirt has a career beyond Trek. I think Bill can be overbearing, and there is that weird emoting pattern, but Kirk is Kirk now. You don't have to channel him like the guy in the Priceline commercial, but you have to push the intensity with him. Smoothie metrosexual don't match up much. The new kid looks like he'd rather be emo.
To beat the canon biz with the manual tranny; paddle shifters. Fits the "Tin Lizzie" of "A Piece of the Action" AND this movie. Simple. But that's what requires the touch. Nemesis, the Captain's dune buggy. These people move pickle jars around with repulsor lift pallets; suddenly something shows up with tires? Wrong, wrong, wrong! Better something like the droid tank in the first (fourth?) Star Wars.

The only thing is…I bet that if I had Manny Coto over my shoulder to kibbutz; and working the production costs, and Melinda Snodgrass to edit, I bet I could have written a better movie. One that would have been in the line with the various series, and still be a reboot to give everyone elbow room to keep going with this franchise.
We'll see…

I'm not necessarily wanting to nail this up in a coffin and bury it before its out; I just want to have people realize you can have the cake AND eat it, too. IF you're willing to put the time and effort into it that the franchise deserves. Why have everyone picking over bones which you can avoid from the beginning? Uhura is Quizno's mmm…tasty, (I apologize, Nichelle), but what's with the Kirk/Uhura "slash" stuff? Its fanboy fic! Originally, she's supposed to be 3rd in command. Let her command, fer ___ sakes! Give young women, blacks, and commo officers something to shoot for. Maybe it would even give Obama a real role model to follow. We may like our sex, hell, even love sex, (I DO), but c'mon, folks, let's quit acting like libs here, we're supposed to be a little more disciplined than that, right? That's why Kirk was always spreading the space herpes around to the guest star females.

I have absolutely no problems with the casting, as long as I believe I actually am watching younger versions of the gang. Pegg is great, after "Hot Fuzz". Urban has earned this shot. So have the others.

I'll see it, even if its just to get Trek re-started. I can write Trek, and I bet I can get him mature.

I read the William Shatner book, he say's their lips were close but never did touch.

your take is mostly corrrect; DS9 lasted longer than it should have because the franchise still had strength at the time and execs liked the demographics. The trouble with both the original series and Enterprise were no real constituencies at the time, and by the time Enterprise debuted the series had just run it's course. One could make the case (I will, anyway) that Voyager and DS9's overall mediocrity (sorry! ) had just bled the thing dry and despite the subsequentsuperiority of Enterprise the series wasalways on life support.
Ultimately I will defer to devoted Trekkers on this, because I am a fair weather Star Trek fan- loved the original series, most of the movies and Enterprise. Thought TNG was ok, and some episodes achieved near greatness. But overall it wasn't that good either. This is just a filmgoers (and scifi fans) take, so please do not take offense because none is intended.
At the end of the day bad Trek is better than good almost anything else; it always has spoke to the best that is in us…

I really don't mind the youth, seriously. The folks overseas are even younger, and they can handle the job quite well, thank you.

My deal with this is the writing, the production, the directing. Knowing what the character does, and what (s)he doesn't do in situations. Can the actor convey meaning by physical means (expression, etc.), or do they have to say everything? Can the story be scripted well from the beginning (Chinatown), or does it need help? Can the script change to save production costs without losing the story, how much, and where? Where should the writer stand firm on a scene that's needed for the story, and where can they bend? Does the director know what he needs from the actors to make the story live? Can he get it? Does he know where his line is, when to say he wants it a certain way, or when to take actor input? Can he manage the shoot? Etc. etc.

Sometimes, I wonder how anything gets made, much less how anything of quality.

While the cast may be physically older, I have no doubt they were chosen for their extremely youthful appearance. One wonders if they will not try to remake the entire Star Trek movie franchise using this same formula. We can look forward to:
Teen Trek: The Lotion Picture
The Wrath of Prom
The Search for Spots
The voyage home (in daddy's boat)
The undiscovered condom

Thanks! You posts are as well.

Not sure how old she is any more but Bette Middler could probably be a good Stella. Not becasue her personality is anything like that but because she had the tough aura that would allow her to pull off the Old BattlleAxe routine.

It would be nice to see how the criminal element does in Star Trek. An interesting twist would be to show the misery involved for the "little" people in a socieity without use for the concept of money. Black Market profiteers providing an organized barter trade for those with the evil assumption they should benefit ffrom the fruits of their labor. Done right this could be a real study on what "capitalism" really is.

That is too bad about Roger. how old was he. I comfor myself when I hear of the death of someone hwo was good in life if they seemed to have led a full life. He was great as Mudd.

Actually the real problem is the Star Trek curse. This is the curse that says that all actors who play James T Kirk will have unusual awkward pauses in their speech mannerism.

Roger was 54. TNG and DS9 had glimmers here and there of "Capitalism" (quotes mine), embodied in the Ferengi. Yeah, the Ferengi.
Supposedly, by this time, with the advent of the replicator, money became superfluous, as anyone could have anything by asking a slot in a machine to make it. Food, clothes, any other item, materials for a home, furniture, etc. So everyone could now pursue the "betterment of the self' concept undistracted by need. Only problem is, if you look at various societies in the world where that could actually be done, Tahiti, et. al., not too many people went "forward" in the technical, (or for that matter, many other) sense at all. I have observed Man as the entity has a tendency to go static without being challenged. Once comfortable, he has a tendency to want to stay comfortable. When something upsets the comfort, activity is pursued until the static state is once more achieved. There is a converse to this; Man also will let others do for him if it doesn't cause too much trouble to that individual. Hence, Obama.

I notice in all the talk about Kirk/Uhura, no one has mentioned the other kiss in Plato's Stepchildren. Spock and Nurse Chapel. Isn't inter species loving a bigger deal then so-called interracial kisses.

By the way, I do not believe Uhura would have touched Kirk with a ten foot pole.

I was thankful for Wes as an eight year old who's dream was to grow up and marry Spock. All my little 2nd grade friends thought Wes was cute, so being into Trekkie was okay.

I've been filling my DVR with all things Trek lately. No offense to poor Wil (a blogger and cool guy), but he was not that good looking a teenage guy. How much perception changes in two decades.

I STILL hate Riker. It's irrational, but he annoys the crap out of me.

I've got to admit misgivings about this new film. A complete disreguard for continuity and a lack of respect for the franchise on the part of Abrams don't bode well.

"I think we should just get over this silly notion of "cannon" and go for the Asian model (Japanese?) of copious do-overs."

Since when was it uniquely Oriental to re-imagine roles? How many Hamlets, Quixotes, Batmen, Supermen, etc., etc. have I seen? Too many to count.