Creator of Lost to direct Star Trek 11

radiospan

From BBC today: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4930474.stm

JJ Abrams, creator of TV show Lost and director of Mission Impossible III, is to produce and direct the 11th Star Trek film, it has been reported.

According to industry newspaper Daily Variety, the film - set for release in 2008 - will focus on the early days of Captain James T Kirk and Mr Spock.

The as-yet-untitled feature will tell of their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.

The most recent Trek film, Star Trek: Nemesis, was released in 2003.

Abrams will write the film with his Mission Impossible co-writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci.

The film will be co-produced by Lost producers Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk.

The decision to revive the Trek franchise comes a year after the cancellation of spin-off TV series Enterprise, which was axed after four seasons due to poor ratings.

The film Star Trek: Nemesis - which starred the cast of the Next Generation series - also underperformed, making less money than any of its nine predecessors.

However, rumours that the film series would continue in a different form have been circulating since 2003.

Earlier this year, Next Generation star Patrick Stewart told ITV1's This Morning there was "interest in bringing the Next Generation cast together with actors from different Star Trek series".

BuffyBot

According to industry newspaper Daily Variety, the film - set for release in 2008 - will focus on the early days of Captain James T Kirk and Mr Spock.

The as-yet-untitled feature will tell of their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.

My eyes..they bleed..

lostexpectation

tsk will it actually be a star trek film or one of their old ideas bogded onto star trek I thought they were going to do the Romulan Wars?

MrVestek

Dear... god no. I'll still go to see it but... mergh.

FX Meister

BuffyBot wrote:

My eyes..they bleed..

Shouldn't you be posting this on personal issues and not here?

bizmark

ugh ffs

tj-music.com

Although I really never was too fond of Shatner one has to admit that Kirk and Spock have agreat screen presence and I personally think that they were especially great in Star Trek VI.

In fact, I have been talking to a lot of people, fans and non fans alike and everybody has said that the role of Spock was well acted by a very strong actor that is Leonard Nimoy.

So, I guess that the whole movie depends on casting the right Spock.

After all, Mr. Spock´s character is a well developed one and the film could greatly benefit if the conflict between him and his father would be an issue in it.

It all remains to be seen.

I am not surprised that NEMESIS didn´t make the same amount of money than the predecessors and I guess we all agree that a more "Trek-based" approach would have helped the movie.

ixoy

Right, am I the only one then who wants to see a time when we don't know the real outcome? There won't be much room for suspense in a movie where we know the characters surivive, know the state of the universe, etc to go on in the original series.

Why not go after events in Star Trek X but with a good script this time? They seem determined just to try and feel in blanks in their old past rather than bother to create a new future.

...Or am I talking crazy talk?

_Kaiser_

Nope, I agree with you. You'd think they'd have learned from Enterprise that prequels don't work!

Besides, Kirk and Spock are iconic characters to 2 generations, as are the actors who played them. Bringing in new faces would just be wrong imo.

MrVestek

Here's a mad idea... Imagine they cast James Cawley of New Voyages as Kirk and the guy who plays Spock there as Spock too. They both play the characters well, albeit a fair bit differently than Shatner and Nimoy did.

Justice

Achilles, well if u listen to the creators of new frontiers you see that their belief is that anyone can play the kick/spock role, and when they do they bring their own interpretation of the characters, like shakesperian characters like othello etc.

mind u i dont really agree.

as for the film,

still early days yet so this gets put into rumour rather than fact imo.

MrVestek

Justice wrote:

Achilles, well if u listen to the creators of new frontiers you see that their belief is that anyone can play the kick/spock role, and when they do they bring their own interpretation of the characters, like shakesperian characters like othello etc.

mind u i dont really agree.

as for the film,

still early days yet so this gets put into rumour rather than fact imo.

A producer and director have already been chosen so all that's left now is final script draughts and then the shooting will begin. Unfortunately, this one aint rumour :-/

Damn never thought I'd be sorry to hear news about a new Trek movie.

Johnny Storm

Achilles wrote:

...Damn never thought I'd be sorry to hear news about a new Trek movie.

LOL - It's pretty much scraping the bottom of the barrel all right. :rolleyes:
IMHO any thought of re-casting Kirk and Spock should be left for several years until the technology exists to create effective CGI actors using the likenesses of Shatner, Nimoy et al. Anything else is just going to totally piss-off the fan-boys who, lets face it, are the economic backbone of the Trek "franchise". Well, it'd piss me off anyway :cool:

DublinWriter

Barrel scrapage alright.

That was actually one of Roddenberry's first plot ideas for the initial Star Trek movie back in 1979. It was muted by Paramount because they wanted to use the original cast to draw in people, and there was no way even then that they could have passed for 18 year old versions of themselves.

Scarier still is the fact that Shatner is still caught in the Nexus and will remain so for all time, they just let him out to record the ocassional C.D. and do ads for breakfast cerials.

MrVestek

DublinWriter wrote:

Scarier still is the fact that Shatner is still caught in the Nexus and will remain so for all time, they just let him out to record the ocassional C.D. and do ads for breakfast cerials.

Erh no he's not... did you not watch the ending of that movie no?

Johnny Storm

Achilles wrote:

Erh no he's not... did you not watch the ending of that movie no?

DublinWriter is correct. Everyone who was ever in the Nexus is still there. That's why Picard was able to meet Guynan in the Nexus.

monkeyfudge

IMDb wrote:

Abrams Slams 'Star Trek' Rumors
Mission: Impossible III director J.J. Abrams is hitting back at unauthorized reports he is directing the next Star Trek movie. The Alias creator is furious the news was released prematurely and is also upset that key details regarding the storyline were incorrectly reported. He explains to Empire online, "The whole thing was reported entirely without our cooperation. People learned that I was producing a Star Trek film, that I had an option to direct it, they hear rumors of what the thing was going to be and ran with a story that is not entirely accurate." Last week, Hollywood trade paper Variety, reported Abrams was on board and that the film would center on the early days of Captain James T. Kirk and Spock and that Philip Seymour Hoffman was in talks to play the ship's doctor. Abrams won't reveal the true storyline, but hints that it won't feature characters Captain James T. Kirk or Mr. Spock at all, but doesn't rule out bringing some of the original characters back for the new film, adding, "Those characters are so spectacular. I just think that..you know, they could live again."

Personally I absolutely love the idea of Philip Seymour Hoffman in the Star Trek universe.

sioda

Picard never left the nexus star trek 11 is going to be about the fact that the past few years were all a dream ala Dallas

DublinWriter

Johnny Storm wrote:

DublinWriter is correct. Everyone who was ever in the Nexus is still there. That's why Picard was able to meet Guynan in the Nexus.

I also heard Shatner let it slip on Letterman that the filmed an alternate ending where he didn't die.

monkeyfudge

I want to see the ending where Picard and Kirk make out.