Live from Hollywood Premiere Now

Right now, TrekMovie.com and LA station KABC are covering the Hollywood premiere of Star Trek right now. In addition Grauman's Chinese Theatre that is hosting the event has a three live webcams capturing arrivals that are expected to include many the Star Trek cast post present and past and lots of A and B list celebrities. Use the links below (which will open seperate windows) to check it out.

KABC's Live Coverage
Grauman's Chinese Theatre Webcams
TrekMovie's Twitter Coverage
TrekMovie's Twit Pictures

New Big Red Clip and Movie Stills

Yesterday's episode of Lost had an interesting extra when the Lost logo went to space and had the Enterprise fly through the "O" to start a clip of the movie with Kirk on Delta Vega getting chased by Big Red, the name of the ugly red creature. Sadly no embed but you can find the clip here.

In addition IO9.com has a sizable gallery of picture still from the movie including a few behind the scenes pictures. That can be found here.

Maxim Talks Trek With Abrams

JJ Abrams continues the magazine interview round, this time in the current issue of Maxim Magazine. Below are segments from the article which can be found here. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Abrams is many things—father, amateur magician, amateur guitarist—but he was never, ever a Trekkie. “I didn’t even remember that Spock was half-human. I thought, Well that’s fucking interesting!” Abrams chuckles, smiling mischievously in his Clark Kent glasses. “There were things about these characters that sucked me in, regardless of and despite their being on Star Trek.”

...Orci and Kurtzman brought him into their Trek script meetings with the hopes of seducing him. “Little by little we reeled him in, until he felt some ownership of it,” says Kurtzman, who showed Abrams 30 pages at a time. “Then we hit him with a stick and dragged him onto the boat,” adds Orci.

“This movie was not intended to honor the existing Star Trek fans’ expectations as much as it was intended to be entertaining and emotional and fun and relevant,” says Abrams. “If it works, a lot of people will enjoy it who never knew they wanted to see a Star Trek movie. Because, honestly, for many of us that was the case.”

Abrams’ grandfather Kelvin was a consummate tinkerer who taught his grandson to take apart phones and radios and put them back together. Most important, he handed his grandkid a super-8 camera when he was 10. Abrams began filming stories filled with fake spaceships, homicidal dolls, homemade explosions, and homages to his favorite show, The Twilight Zone. “This is why I can appreciate Trek fans,” explains Abrams. “Because I would actually resent whoever was working on a new Twilight Zone remake—like, ‘Who are you?’ (USS Kelvin named after his grandfather not the temperature measurement).

Pine recalls that one day Abrams spent all his time between sets fiddling with music on his MacBook. “A friend of his dropped by and found these separate tracks for The White Album: drums, bass, and so on,” he says. “So J.J. was fucking around on GarageBand with original Beatles recordings, remixing them himself while directing a scene and live-chatting with Trek fans on his laptop. It’s kind of infuriating how much he has going on. You look at yourself and think, What the fuck am I doing?” John Cho, who plays Sulu, adds, “He could honestly do any job on a film set: costumes, makeup, special effects.”

JJ Abrams on Jimmy Kimmel Live

Star Trek director JJ Abrams was on Jimmy Kimmel Live yesterday to discuss the movie such as how not a Trekkie and shooting at a Budweiser plant. The clip is Kirk, Sulu and Olsen prepping and then jumping but a shuttlecraft to stop Nero from destroying Vulcan.

TV Spots #9-12

Three more TV spots for your enjoyment. Number nine is essentially a truncated version of the most recent trailer, #10 focuses on Kirk and the action again, #11 probably has the most new footage of the spots with new angles on the space fights, Kirk at Starfleet and cast interactions and #12 shows more Starfleet footage.

Quinto On Letterman

Zachary Quinto was on Late Show with David Letterman to promote Star Trek. He discussed going to Kuwait to show the movie to the troops and some of the fun he had while traveling around the world (bunging jumping in Australia) to promote the movie. Sadly the sound does cut out at the end.

Sadly CBS doesn't do the embed thing but you can find the segment here. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Eric Bana on Tonight Show

Eric Bana was on yesterday's The Tonight Show with Jay Leno where he discussed working on the movie and relates some of the experiences he had while promoting the movie around the world. Information wise nothing much is revealed but it’s an entertaining interview. Below is when the interview goes into discussing Star Trek but you can watch the whole thing here. The clip shown is the same as seen here when Nero meets Captain Rabau of the USS Kelvin. Thanks to Brian for the link.

New Clip and Now and Then Comparison

A new scene from Star Trek shows Spock (Zachary Quinto) meeting Scotty (Simon Pegg) after an at warp transportation from the ice planet Delta Vega, after Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) gave Kirk some suggestions on how to handle his younger counterpart.



ABC News has posted a gallery of photos that compares the Star Trek cast of today with the cast as they were in the '60s and also provides a summary of where the "Prime" bridge crew is today. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Abrams Talks Lens Flares

As recent reviews noted, Star Trek has lot of lens flares. The volume of them didn't pass Abrams notice, who spoke with io9 about them.

I'm curious to hear more about why you decided to use so many lens flares, and exactly when you decided to use them?
[Smiles] I don't know what you're talking about. [Laughs] I'm kidding. I know what you're saying with the lens flares. It was one of those things... I wanted a visual system that felt unique. I know there are certain shots where even I watch and think, "Oh that's ridiculous, that was too many." But I love the idea that the future was so bright it couldn't be contained in the frame.

The flares weren't just happening from on-camera light sources, they were happening off camera, and that was really the key to it. I want [to create] the sense that, just off camera, something spectacular is happening. There was always a sense of something, and also there is a really cool organic layer thats a quality of it. They were all done live, they weren't added later. There are something about those flares, especially in a movie that can potentially be very sterile and CG and overly controlled. There is something incredibly unpredictable and gorgeous about them. It is a really fun thing. Our DP would be off camera with this incredibly powerful flashlight aiming it at the lens. It became an art because different lenses required angles, and different proximity to the lens. Sometimes, when we were outside we'd use mirrors. Certain sizes were too big... literally, it was ridiculous. It was like another actor in the scene....

We had two cameras, so sometimes we had two different spotlight operators. When there was atmosphere in the room, you had to be really careful because you could see the beams. So it was this ridiculous, added level of pain in the ass, but I love... [looking at] the final cut, [the flares] to me, were a fun additional touch that I think, while overdone, in some places, it feels like the future is that bright.

Nimoy Talks About Returning To Trek

Leonard Nimy, or Spock Prime, talks about returning to Star Trek and working with Zachary Quinto (or Spock 2.0) to io9.

you had a chance to be in Star Trek: Generations, but that didn't work out. Why was this the ideal chance to bridge the old Star Trek with the new Star Trek?
The makers of this film re-awakened the passion in me that I had when we made the original film and series. I was put back in touch with what I cared about and liked about Star Trek, and why I enjoyed being involved with Star Trek. So, it was an easy way to come on home.

Did you miss working with William Shatner? Did you want him to be in the film with you?
Bill and I are very, very close friends, and we have been for a very, very long time. Did I miss him? I can't honestly say that that's the right word to describe my feelings about this process and him not being in the movie. I was aware that he wanted to be in the movie. I was aware that J.J. Abrams and the writers spent time with him, to try to find a process where he could be involved, but it just didn't work out. I don't know exactly why. I wasn't involved in those discussions and meetings. I didn't see the material they presented to him, if they did. I pointed out to him that we're even now because he acted in one of the Star Trek movies that I was not in and he had to admit that that was true [laughs]. And we're over it. I think it's history. I think he genuinely wants the movie to be a success. I spent time, we all spent time, with him last night at his charity event. I admire him a lot. I think he's done a great job with his career. He was a handsome leading man, and became a very good, character actor and avery successful character actor. We have a great friendship, and it continues to be a great friendship.

How did you work with Zachary Quinto?
I thought that he [Zachary Quinto] made some choices that were wonderful surprises for me. We did not talk about specifics like, "do this or don't do that." We had conversations about the philosophy of the character, and the philosophy of Star Trek, and fan reactions to various aspects of Star Trek, but there were no specifics, it didn't call for that. But watching Zach on film, I'm very proud of what he did. I think we have book-ended the character. He has created a Spock that comes before the Spock that I have created in the series. I play a Spock that is much much more resolved. And I think that is who I am actually today. So I think it works extremely well and I admire his talent.

What did you discover about young Spock while making this movie?
Zachary's choices in his performance often surprised me, in a very positive way. "I would never have thought to do that, and I think that's a wonderful idea!"....

Let me take the opportunity to say this. Everybody at this table [the cast] are very, very talented and intelligent people. They found their own way to bring that talent and intelligence to this movie, and I think it shows. If Chris Pine could do anything other than go direct to Starfleet after Bruce Greenwood told him what his life should be about, I would be shocked. I just had to do what Bruce Greenwood told me to. When Karl Urban introduced himself as Leonard McCoy and shook hands with Chris Pine, I burst into tears. That performance of his is so moving, so touching and so powerful as Doctor McCoy, that I think D. Kelley [DeForest] would be smiling, and maybe in tears as well. And, these two [Zachary, Zoe] I think are wonderful together. It's such a passionate and compassionate performance by Zoe that I was just so pleased to be a part of this movie, with all of you good people.

Star Trek Writers Talk Romance

Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman spoke with io9 about love story in the movie between Spock and Uhura.

How did you go about deciding and executing such a huge canon-changing relationship?
Orci: A lot of the things in the movie could conceivably match with what happened in any Universe. We know that Kirk cheated on the Kobayashi Maru, [for example]. In the original series, the first interracial kiss was Kirk and Uhura. One of the things we tried to do with this movie was, try to play with keeping some things the same - and other things, maybe the exact opposite.

That was one of those scenarios where we thought, "If that's in the original universe, maybe this one becomes Spock and Uhura." It brings out his human side, it fits Spock's arc for the surprise of the fact that he does share humanity and in the revelation that his father did love his mother, and therefore Spock himself is then capable of that and you see that with him and Uhura. It fits him.

Kurtzman: Knowing that it was a really controversial decision, the most important thing for us was, to not be cute or try to be clever about how we were going to reveal it, but to actually provide genuine emotional context. And I think whether or not you agree with our choice, what you can't argue with is: You just watched this man, who you really care about, show that he's struggling with his identity, lose his mother, and watch his planet blow up. And because he's a Vulcan, he has to be stoic about it.

When you as an audience want somebody to give the man a hug, you want some connection for him. So when Uhura does that, you're simultaneously taken aback, but also a bit relieved that he has somewhere to take that. So we felt like that would be the best access point to reveal that to the audience. We built it up in those earlier scenes, [so] you get that sense. There are little seeds planted along the way.

Zoe Saldana also commented on the romance:

They locked us in the office at Bad Robot, so that we could read the script, and I dropped it and grabbed my Blackberry and kept saying, "This man's crazy! J.J.'s out of his mind. I'm not that aware about Star Trek, but I do know that [Spock and Uhura] never mingled. It's crazy!" But once I finished the script, it just made so much sense. They have the most similar characteristics. I almost feel like she had this admiration for Spock because he was older and sort of like a teacher, and there was this crush or platonic infatuation with someone that's wiser, wittier, handsome and had pointy ears. Why not?

Live Interview with Greg Ellis Tonight

Blog Talk Radio's Dr. Blogstein will interview Star Trek's Greg Ellis (Chief Engineer Olsen) tonight at 9:00pm about the upcoming movie. Greg Ellis' most recent role was on TNT's Trust Me (now cancelled). The character is the one you see in the trailers doing the sky dive with Kirk and Sulu (because that is what Chief Engineer's do) as part of clearing the decks so that famed bridge crew of Kirk and company can take over. For more details and how to listen in go here. Thanks to Shaun for the link.

Four Scenes and One Behind the Scenes Video

From TrekMovie, here are four clips from the movie and one behind the scenes montage of Director JJ Abrams at work on various Star Trek Sets.

Kirk and Uhura Meet

Enlist in Starfleet

Space Jump

Rabau Meets Nero

Behind the Scenes Montage

Star Trek Newsweek's Cover Story

This week's issue of Newsweek devotes a lot of attention to Star Trek including the inspired cover image of a child flying a toy Enterprise as part of the upcoming release of the movie.

There are three main articles, one of which explore Star Trek: The Next Generation from the writer's perspective. "Vulcans Never, Ever Smile" tells of the difficulty that writers had on the series (155 writers for 198 episodes) as they tended to get fired frequently by the show runners (including Roddenberry) for not meeting whatever standards they wanted at that moment in time (which explains why the series quality jumped around a great deal).

In Hollywood, as in life, the real power rests with the moneymen: the studio, or whoever is financing the enterprise (small "e"), and the network, or whoever is putting it on the screen. That's why one writer-producer I worked with on "Star Trek" always carried a wad of thousands of dollars in his pocket, which he fondled when things got frustrating. "To remind me of why I'm here," he said.

The cover article, "We're All Trekkies Now" summarizes the history of the show and its similarities to today's point in history with a new administration.

There's one more intriguing allegorical overtone to the new "Trek," perhaps completely accidental. With the willfully hegemonic Bush administration now gone, the tenets of Roddenberry's fictional universe feel very much in step with current events. Whether you're happy about it or not, the Obama foreign policy, at least for now, emphasizes cross-cultural exchange and eschews imperialistic swagger. That sounds very much in sync with the Federation's Prime Directive, which stipulates that humanity should observe but never interfere with alien cultures (no Iraq-style invasions, in other words).

Newsweek's website also has a gallery of images from the franchise's history that shows some of the celebrity Trekkies that have been on the show (oddly leaving Whoopi Goldberg out of the mix).

The new issue should be out on newsstands in the next day or two.

Two Kirks Meet

The day has finally arrived (for those that care); the two Kirks have finally met. For various reasons (more likely pride), Shatner never visited the Star Trek set like other alumni so never met his new counterpart until now. William Shatner and Chris Pine finally talked when the new Star Trek cast attended the William Shatner Horse Show, a charity event by the actor.

TrekMovie.com is at the event and plans on providing more information as it occurs. I get the feeling the meet was of polite small talk and not much else.

Abrams on Trek Deleted Scenes

Turns out there are a few deleted scenes that will have to wait until the DVD/Blu-ray release to be seen according to director JJ Abrams via TrekMovie. Most of the removed scenes (some seen in the trailers) are Kirk, Spock and Nero's back stories.

For Kirk and Spock, the stories involve some childhood scenes including the birth of Spock with Winona Ryder (Amanda) and Ben Cross (Sarek). There was also a scene with Kirk's abusive uncle that probably helps explain the chip on his shoulder. For Nero, the lost scenes mostly involve his escape from the Klingon Prison Planet Rura Penthe (last referenced in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). The story beat is still in the movie but more as a passing reference then a specific scene.

Below are two videos were Abrams talks about the cut footage. The first one he references baby Spock and the second is Nero's prison break.

Producers Talk Updating Star Trek

The New York Times spoke with JJ Abrams and company about updating Star Trek for today's audience and still try to keep old style Trekkies happy. The full article is here with segments of it below. Nothing new is really said (Abrams not a Trekkie is now, wants to update while keeping the core, etc).

“There’s just too much stuff out there to be loyal to everything,” Mr. Lindelof said. “Someone will find 50 ways to tell us we’re idiots, and it wouldn’t be ‘Trek’ if they didn’t.” At the same time they appreciate the perils of chiseling away at a cultural touchstone whose influence has remained enormous even as its reputation has varied wildly over the years.

If “Star Trek” fails, Mr. Kurtzman said, “it’ll be the biggest personal failure we’ve ever had, because we will have actually violated something that means a lot to us.”

For the “Trek” faithful there are plenty of nods to past television episodes and movies, familiar catchphrases and Kirk’s notorious solution to a supposedly unwinnable mission simulation. But there is also a conscious effort to inscribe this “Trek” in the storytelling traditions popularized by Joseph Campbell, in which heroes must suffer loss and abandonment before they rise to the occasion.

“You had to love genre at your core in every possible way,” he said. “And yet you had to separate it from what ‘Trek’ had been, to make it feel fresh.”

“We’ve become so familiar with the idea of space travel because of so many movies and TV shows that it’s lost its adventure and its possibility, its sense of wonder,” Mr. Abrams said. “Forty-three years ago it was not a boring idea.”

Star Trek: D-A-C Hands-On

IGN has posted a write-up with four videos of game play for the upcoming tie-in video game that will be released on XBox Live, Playstation Network and the PC in late May. The result seems to be a fast pace but simple shooter game with tiny little Starships vying to control points in space. As for what D-A-C might stand for IGN thinks, rather logically, that it stands for the three play modes of Deathmatch, Assualt and Conquest. Below is sections of the article that can be found here. Also all four videos of game play can be found here.

In Team Deathmatch, the first group to 50 kills wins. There is a 10 minute time limit and if it runs out whichever side is closest to 50 is the victor. Players will not have the ability to change the time limit or kill target.

Conquest is your typical point-capture game where you gain control of specific areas of the map by hanging out inside a circle. Two neutral points are found in the middle of the map, and once they are controlled the enemy's base will be unlocked for your capturing pleasure.

The third game mode, Assault, plays out over two rounds as each team takes turns attacking and defending a star base.

You pilot your ship on a flat 2D plane but there are layers of activity going on that provide depth of field. Swiss cheese asteroids can be flown through, or a planet may be slowly exploding in the background. Ships are rendered in 3D and will tilt while turning. There are also some nice lighting effects, noticeable when you fly close to space debris. Don't worry about getting too close -- your ship doesn't take damage from collisions.

When you begin a battle or respawn your ship will be pretty weak, but white orbs can be found floating around a map. These guys power-up your guns, with five power levels available. They also replenish your ship's energy, which is depleted by both firing and boosting. If you take too much enemy fire you'll get a chance to eject in an escape pod, after which if you survive for five seconds you'll immediately respawn with most of your power-ups. Fail to eject, though, and you'll lose everything and have to wait a few moments to rejoin the fight. There are also orange orbs floating about, which provide a one-use special ability like temporary invincibility or a cloaking device.

More Star Trek: D-A-C Info

Abrams Talks Trek With GQ

In the current issue of GQ out on newstands now, JJ Abrams talks about Star Wars vs Star Trek and adding more sex to the franchise which as been missing since the Orginial Series. Below is a portion of the article which can be found here.

You’ve said that when you were a kid, you always preferred Star Wars to Star Trek. Why?
Star Wars was about a character everyone could relate to—the average kid, who started out as a farm boy, suddenly called to adventure. And it was this massive, exciting, fast-paced, thrilling spectacle where he ended up meeting people who changed his life forever, and became this hero. I never really felt like I was Kirk; I never really connected with Spock. So for me, it was a no-brainer.

You hadn’t seen anything past the first few movies, though?
I think I’d seen the first four. I’ve since seen others. But at the time, I’d sort of lost track of Star Trek. It was a shock to me that this would be Star Trek 11.

The movie is a straight prequel—it ties into the continuity of the shows and the other eleven films. Was there ever a discussion of just doing the Batman Begins treatment and starting the story over, so that you wouldn’t be hampered by fifty years of baggage, plotwise?
I think we stumbled on a story that’s a better version of that. We’re telling a story that uses the backstory, the history of the world that Gene Roddenberry created, but doesn’t suffer from that thing a lot of prequels suffer from, where you think, “As exciting as this is, I’ve seen the other movies—I know they live. You can’t get me—I’ve seen Alec Guinness play that guy!” That’s a default problem with any film that’s a true prequel. So this movie is a strange hybrid. We’re not completely restarting everything. Leonard Nimoy’s in this movie, and he’s playing Spock. It connects. And at the same time, it’s its own thing, and it’s alive and vital. But this movie’s intended for people who’ve never seen an episode of Star Trek, so even though it’s not a complete restart, the work we had to do is in many ways the same. You have to make sure you’re giving people a way in, and that requires telling a story that assumes nothing. But if you love Star Trek, there are so many references and allusions in the film that’ll be rewarding, because you’ll finally get to see scenes that have been discussed but never seen before. You’ll finally understand how certain things happened in Kirk’s backstory, or Spock’s. I love that there’s two ways you can experience this film: If you happen to be a fan, it’s fantastic, and if you’ve never seen it before, all the better.

More Reviews, Icons and Stills

IO9.com has posted a new gallery of movie stills that mostly highlights the handsome (or pretty) faces of the Star Trek cast. The full gallery can be found here.

IconFactory has created bunch of new icons for the MAC and PC that are free to download. The image to the top left is what they look like. Makes for a nice change of pace from the normal folder icons at least. Click here to download.

More reviews, pretty much glowing (almost literally as lens flares was a common note), continue to pop up on various websites. Here are three more for your enjoyment.

SyFy Australia

Trek is a big-screen adventure that will thrill and delight old and new fans alike. To be fair to all the previous Trek movies, its budget far outstrips its predecessors, so the special effects, and in particular, sound effects are a class apart (Oscar-winning class). Seeing the film in a brand new digital projection theatre with a decent sound system makes this a truly immersive experience. The dialogue doesn't allow too much subtext - it would be hard to underneath all that action, but it is the absence of the non-verbal complexity that robs this film of a glowing spine to cling to for fans looking for more than just action and adventure. That said, the action and adventure is undeniably top shelf, be it for Trek fans or any other kind of fans. The tone of the film is consistent, if somewhat larger than life. The theme music, which seems to be neither here nor there, is stuck between a martial theme and the original Star Trek theme, and without enough of a singular phrase to create an iconic theme to match the epic pop culture status of the film.

CNet "Star Trek Virgin" Review

The new "Star Trek" film is less an homage to a legendary science fiction franchise than to storytelling in general, back through decades of cinema and television and beyond. "Star Trek" is just plain fun. And I came to appreciate the fact that I was sitting in that theater without prejudice. I was concerned less about whether the cast would live up to the actors who originated their roles, and more about holy whoa, that spaceship just blew up!. There is, however, a flip side to the universality of the new "Star Trek" that Paramount might not love: The fact that it stands so well on its own might mean that it doesn't mint a new generation of Trekkies. Like me, for one. As much as I enjoyed the prequel, I can't see myself Netflixing all the DVDs of the past "Star Trek" TV series and movies.

Gizmodo

Star Trek will disappoint no one. Think of it like Casino Royale was to the James Bond franchise: fewer gadgets, more action and an incredibly pugilistic lead. And lens flares. Lots, and lots, and lots of lens flares. These guys took the original ship, combined it with some designs of the Enterprise-B, then mashed it up with Picard's Enterprise-E and then added a dash of '60s non-Trek Sci Fi. The set design, however, is almost all touchscreen (like TNG), but with a tremendously updated UI. Star Trek is now gritty—it's just more...modern. And more sexy. With this film as the base, I cannot wait to see where the franchise goes from here.

Toshiba UK Star Trek Contest

If you’re in the United Kingdom, you might want to check out Toshiba's Star Trek site where they are running a contest to win a few prizes. The contest is a result of a partnership with Paramount to advertise the new Satellite A350-20Q laptop. Just a note, the picture to the left is the "Lapjack" or skinned version. The press release:

Toshiba UK today announces an exclusive marketing partnership with Paramount’s summer blockbuster movie, Star Trek™, out in UK cinemas in early May. As part of the collaboration Toshiba is launching an integrated marketing campaign including point of sale materials, a range of limited edition lapjacks and online activity, which includes a dedicated microsite containing trailers and clips from the film.

Launching in conjunction with the film’s release, Toshiba has developed a range of POS materials to feature in key retail outlets. After purchasing a Toshiba product consumers will be driven to the dedicated Toshiba Star Trek microsite - www.toshiba.co.uk/star-trek - where they will have the chance to enter a competition to win a zero-gravity flight. The lucky winner will be flown to Las Vegas to visit the famous G-FORCE ONE – a specifically modified aircraft that simulates zero-gravity flights. They’ll be treated to their own flight suit, a regravitation celebration afterwards, plus lots of photos and videos of their once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Fans can also engulf themselves further in the Star Trek™ universe by downloading images and screensavers and watching movie trailers on the Toshiba microsite. The site also offers fans the opportunity to purchase Star Trek™ branded laptop covers that can transform any Toshiba laptop with an exclusive, high quality Star Trek™ design. They are a safe and non-permanent way to personalise laptops and are easy to apply giving a smooth finish with no bubbles.

Star Trek In London

Star Trek has its red carpet premiere with the cast and director JJ Abrams in London. As part of that CNN and Slashfilm each did articles on it.

CNN's article is basically a summary of the story (prequel story, how the Enterprise crew gets together) and the plans to make it accessible for Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike ("[We had] to take something that has pre-existed us for decades, and make it feel legitimate, and vital, and relevant for today," Abrams said). The full article is here.

Slashfilm's article is coverage of the press conference with everyone. Below are a few snippets of Part 1 and Part 2 of the transcript.

what aspect of the original Trek seemed the most insurmountable?
Abrams: I think that the world of Star Trek is so much bigger than anything I’ve worked on before. The scope of it is so crazy and despite it being Star Trek and being a fantasy our goal was really it make the thing feel real and alive and it’s a strange one because it s dealing with a lot of over the top, you know, science fiction, it’s a clear fantasy, but I really wanted to make sure you believe it and the only way to do that is with the characters. So the bigger sort of challenge was to take something that has pre-existed us by decades and make it feel legitimate and vital and relevant for today and the only way to do that is through the characters that these actors, I think, brilliantly portray. None of the visual effects spectacle would matter if you didn’t care about and believe those characters. That was the thing that was the goal we had and I believe that they achieved it.

why Nero didn’t have the typical Romulan crest of ridges on his forehead.
Eric: I inherited my look from JJ and our wonderful designer Neville Page who sent me secretly encoded drawings of how Nero would look and I just went ‘Yep, that looks great’… I don’t know how to answer that question. Probably more for JJ.

[Did] Saldana liked being the only female in the pivotal cast, surrounded by a bunch of blokes.
Saldana: I love it. It’s great. Not every day can a woman get up and go to work and not have to, like, va-voom herself and get there and she’s surrounded by this, like, hotness, sea of like men and still blend in like one of the buddies but at the same time too still be able to remain feminine. And you can only do that in a very responsible, sort of equal like and graceful environment so I’m very grateful to be working with these guys. They’re ‘blokes’ – I like that.

Star Trek: D-A-C Official Information

Paramount Digital Entertainment (the companies new video games division) has released a press release that provides some information on the upcoming tie-in video game for Star Trek. Sadly, what D-A-C stands for remains a mystery. Screenshots of the game can be found here. The game screens remind me of the Star Trek: Armada games from about 7 years ago.

LOS ANGELES – April 23, 2009 – Paramount Digital Entertainment, Bad Robot Interactive, CBS and Naked Sky Entertainment today announced the launch of Star Trek®: D-A-C, coming to Xbox LIVE® Arcade for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this May, and to PlayStation®Network and Windows PC shortly thereafter. Inspired by the upcoming “Star Trek” movie from Paramount Pictures, Star Trek: D-A-C is a fast-paced, top-down space shooter where players take the captain’s chair and engage in intense online multi-player or co-op battles. Pick up and play, then lead your team to victory.

“The upcoming ‘Star Trek’ film has ignited interest among a new generation of fans as well as longtime fans of the original,” said Tom Lesinski, President Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment. “With that same goal in mind, Star Trek: D-A-C was designed to appeal to ‘Star Trek’ fans and gamers alike. The pick up and play arcade-style game play lets fans take the command and boldly go!”

Star Trek: D-A-C allows fans to directly control a variety of ships and pitch battles between Starfleet and the Romulan Empire. Up to 12 players can compete in thrilling team combat. There are three game play modes - single player, online multiplayer and online co-op. For each mode, there are three different game types - Team DeathMatch, Assault and Conquest. Players can choose from three ship types for each faction, including the new U.S.S. Enterprise featured in the “Star Trek” film. Each ship – the powerful Flagship, the nimble Fighter and the devastating Bomber – offers its own unique capabilities for players to master and manipulate as they fight for victory. In addition to featuring the new U.S.S. Enterprise, Star Trek: D-A-C incorporates music and signature sounds taken directly from the new “Star Trek” film.

D-A-C is scheduled to launch May 2009 for the Xbox LIVE Arcade for the Xbox 360, and for the PlayStation Network and Windows PC shortly thereafter. It is rated “E” by the ESRB.

The game will be released in May with a price point of $10 (or 800 Microsoft points) on the XBox Live. Shortly after (probably a week if history is a guide), it will be released for the Playstation Network and PC.

So to summarize the game:
- Arcade space shooter
- Option to play as Starfleet or Romulan Empire
- Each faction has three ship classes with specific capabilities: Flagship, Fighter, and Bomber
- Single player, online multiplayer (12 players total) and online co-op modes
- Team deathmatch (kill all on the other team, assault (take or defend a sector) and conquest play options (take and hold "control points").
- Power-ups and upgrades will be available to turn the tide of battle
- Uses designs, music and special effects from the new movie.

Matt Damon As Kirk?

In an interview (don't know original source), JJ Abrams apparently offered the role of James T. Kirk to Matt Damon.

"I actually approached Matt and we had some discussions, but everything happens for a reason. On the one hand, it would have been great to work with Matt - but at the end of the day, it was such a better move to cast the movie with unknowns…. It is fun to discover the stars of tomorrow, but even more so, just like with the first Star Wars, you didn’t know who those people were when you saw the movie. You believed that guy was Luke Skywalker. You didn’t recognize him from six other movies. You bought into who this guy was. It is a slippery slope when you cast any actor that is somewhat known. We weren’t beholden to any fame meter.”

Wired Magazine Star Trek, Mystery Issue

As part of the return of Star Trek, Wired Magazine turned over editing duties for a month to J.J. Abrams. First is the description, after that is Star Trek and other links of interest from the issue.

Every two years, WIRED creates an issue with the help of a special guest editor. This year the job goes to Hollywood visionary J.J. Abrams, creator of Alias, co-creator of LOST and Fringe, and director of the new Star Trek film, which hits theaters May 8. At first glance, Abrams’ credits may not seem related to core WIRED story topics like tech, business and science. But, says editor in chief Chris Anderson, “What is science but a never-ending detective story? The guest editor’s job is to take our readers to a place they’ve never been before. We learned that mystery is at the center of J.J.’s world, and it’s and a major part of the WIRED world, too.”

More than a year in the making, the May WIRED features a one-issue redesign, mind-boggling puzzles on almost every page and hidden features “that are not apparent at first or second glance," says Abrams. WIRED challenges readers to test their skills with pages of clues, spoilers, games, card tricks and layer upon layer of mystery. Abrams, who says he is a “huge fan of WIRED,” saw his guest editor duties as an opportunity to give mystery a new meaning. “Mystery demands that you stop and consider -- or, at the very least, slow down and discover. It’s a challenge to get there yourself, on its terms, not yours.”

From the world’s leading origami artist to the top puzzle masters, WIRED recruited top talents in a variety of fields for this issue. Contributors include renowned comic book artist Paul Pope, who illustrates an exclusive comic strip featuring a lost chapter of the Star Trek saga. Star Trek concept designer Neville Page gives readers a first look at a new monster, Big Red, a lobster-hued snow-planet scourge that attacks Capt. James T. Kirk.

The details on the issue and online extras can be found here or on newsstands now.

On to the links:
Spock Bio - The full six pages that summarizes the life and times of Spock.
Star Trek's Big Red - 7 pictures of concept art for "Big Red", the large creature that attacks Kirk on the ice planet Delta Vega. It was created by Neville Page who also designed the creature used in Cloverfield.
JJ Abrams on the Magic of Mystery - Abrams discusses love of mystery and putting the issue together. It also helps you understand why it’s just hard to get information about his projects (which makes blogging about them difficult).

Karl Urban On McCoy

Here is another excerpt from SciFiNow (previous talked about here), where Karl Urban talks about his take on Leonard "Bones" McCoy.

"He's a kid from Iowa whose father was a famous captain of Starfleet, who's approached one day by Captain Pike to see if he wants to join Starfleet like his father." Pine told the magazine "His aptitude tests are off the chart and he obviously shows a lot of promise, but hasn't really been doing anything with his life other than getting in bar fights and drinking too much."

"That's huge, though not referenced in this film." Urban said regarding the euthanasia scene in Star Trek V "But his divorce is. He's immediately coming off the back of that. That was always in the back of my mind as well - the divorce as well as that are two incredibly painful episodes to have had to occur to anybody. At the beginning of this film, when we find McCoy, he is literally running away to join Starfleet. At the same time, he has this incomprehensible fear of space flight and space itself. You know, Alex and Robert wrote the most amazing dialogue for me. Lines like, "Space is full of disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence" - that, to an actor, is just gold."

Geek Monthly Covers Trek

The magazines are loving Star Trek as yet another one devotes its issue to Star Trek and JJ Abrams. Below are excerpts that TrekMovie took from the issue that is on newsstands now.

Geek: The plot of this movie really spins off the idea of Kirk having a different background than what we know from the series, something that changes his character, and Chris Pine plays him quite differently than Shatner did. But at the same time you have Karl Urban seeming to get very close to what DeForest Kelley did in the original show. So was there something about Kirk that you felt needed to be changed for him to appeal to a contemporary audience?
Abrams: It’s a critical part of the story, but I guess from the outside looking in what you’ll see is a character that I think is a much more relatable character in the beginning, someone with a more obvious piece missing—he’s aimless, he’s a punk and he starts fights and picks up girls in bars and he’s got nothing to lose. He has potential but without the direction and sense of purpose, and the interesting thing to me is to use the common knowledge that everyone has and that even non-fans know—‘oh yeah, Kirk, Captain Kirk!’ Well when you meet him he’s hardly a captain so we’re playing on the baggage that we inherit which is how does this guy go from here to there? It gives you an in that I never felt I had with the original series which was a way to go ‘Oooh, I’m him! I know what it’s like to be that guy.’ I was never as cocky or action-oriented as that side of Kirk, and I was never as philosophical as the other side of him, so I always felt like he was interesting to watch
but it was hard to relate to him because he was never me. I think the Kirk that we meet is unformed, and the Kirk that we meet becomes the Kirk that we all know. But by the time that happens a massive adventure has transpired and many familiar characters are met and relationships are formed. The Kirk adjustment was made not to say that he doesn’t become that character but to say how he becomes that character.

Geek: The fact that you are using an altered timeline has some fans wondering if this is still our crew, or is this some alternative crew?
Alex Kurtzman: The characters have not changed as characters. They still have all the personality traits that we know of the original bridge crew. I think the gravest mistake would have been to try and reinvent the characters. That would have made everybody, including ourselves, very unhappy. It would have felt like violating sacred ground. This was a way to stay true to canon, and to take the stories in a new direction
Roberto Orci: Their souls are intact. And we would argue that we would have settled on some of the same character introductions, with or without the incursion from the future. In our minds some of the events overlap completely in both timelines.

Geek: Even though things are different in this timeline, like Kirk coming aboard the Enterprise first as a cadet, by the end of the movie every one of the original bridge crew end up where they are supposed to be. Is there some kind of notion that it is their destiny to be on that bridge, regardless of what timeline you are on?
Kurtzman: Yes. In fact there was one version of the script where Kirk points out that it is incredibly odd that they all sort of turned as they would have. Nimoy Spock tells Kirk ‘I knew this character as this person and that character as that person’ and Kirk says ‘wow, those characters are exactly the same ones that I know’ and Spock says something like ‘Fascinating, that must be the timestream’s way of trying to mend itself.’
Orci: It is a nod to destiny. And there is still something like that in the film.

Star Trek Premiere in Kuwait Video

As previously reported, the soldiers in Kuwait received an Easter treat with a visit from the cast and director of Star Trek. Now, footage of that visit is online. Below is a report from Desert Vision of the visit.

The video is seperated into 8 parts and all of them can be found here.

More Star Trek Reviews

Three more Star Trek reviews to read for your enjoyment. Slashfilm found the movie entertaining but ultimately shallow. TrekMovie loved it. IGN found it entertaining but "hampered" by a bad script and executed storylines. Based on all the reviews I have read, it seems that the best approach to this movie is to treat it as the action flick it is being sold as and don't look much deeper than that. Thanks to Brian for the IGN link.

Slashfilm

Ultimately, this film succeeds on two counts. Firstly, it is an ice-creamy indulgence for fans of the original Trek and, as addressed above, offers a lot of giggles on this front. Secondly, however, it works as an accessible, low-effort entertainment for Saturday night audiences. Where it fails is, frankly, just about everywhere else. The film is utterly shallow and offers only a rote portrayal of great tragedy; only a superficial set of motivations for most of the actions portrayed. The human condition may be denoted by some of the drama, but it certainly isn’t explored.

TrekMovie.com

I for one loved it, Star Trek made me feel like a kid again. Is it the best Star Trek film ever? Possibly. In some aspects, there can be no doubt. The scale, the effects, the sound, and much more are at a level never before seen in Star Trek and on par with the best films of the day. Every Star Trek film gets compared to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, which is my favorite as it is with many other fans. It will take a few more viewings to make the final call, but for me, it is certainly in that top tier of great Star Trek films.

IGN

In a way, Star Trek is this year's Iron Man. Both were superbly cast, full of great character interaction and genuine humanity. But the pair were also seriously hampered by badly conceived storylines and humdrum action sequences (remember Tony Stark's rubbish fight with Ironmonger at the end of the film?) that stops them joining the likes of Jaws, Star Wars and Independence Day in the annuls of truly great summer films.

TV Spots #7 and #8

Two more TV spots for your enjoyment. Number 7, called Fate of the World, focuses on James T Kirk and his heroics. Number 8, Rocking, has an emphasis on the action with a rock beat.

Star Trek Virtual Press Conference Today

AICN is repoting that Star Trek is holding a virtual press conference with JJ Abrams, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto today at 4pm Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). For the States that means 11am EST, 10am CST. The conference will be viewable at UStream here or at the embed below. Try that link if the below doesn't work.

Spock Bio From Wired Magazine (Update)

Wired, in their current issue on newsstands, has a 6 issue comic that gives you a quick biography of Spock up to just before his time travel jaunt to the Star Trek 2.0 universe for the movie. Click here for three pages of it.

Update: All six pages of the comic can be found here.

SciFi Now Interview Excerpts

UK Magazine SciFiNow's current interview has interviews with Star Trek Director J.J. Abrams and writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Sadly the interview is not up on their website (limiting considering a potential worldwide audience) but TrekMovie.com has excepts as they discuss their goals for the movie.

JJ Abrams on reaching both new and long time Star Trek fans:

So for me, it was a way to take three groups of people, who represent the whole audience, and say, ‘Let’s bring everyone together and tell a story that starts at the beginning, when Kirk is unformed. When you meet him and he’s an aimless punk who goes to bars, drinks, picks up women, starts fights. Yet you know, and even the neophytes to Trek will watch and say, ‘Kirk? Isn’t he Captain Kirk? How does he go from here to there?’ So for me, it’s giving people a way in to this world in a way it’s never been done. By doing this film with the kind of resources that certainly a Trek film has never been allowed to have before. By delivering on a level of visceral fast-paced action that Trek has never really had at its signature. I think what we’ll take is a story of incredible characters, of incredible potential, of real optimism and wonder, and treat it in a way that provides a kind of emotional connection, visceral excitement, visual spectacle that Trek has never seen before.

Where the characters are at the movie's end:

Yes, the five year mission begins at the end of this film. Not literally; I’m saying that at the end of the movie they’re ready for their five year mission, because this group, when they first come together in this film, is a disparate group. They don’t know each other, they’re just meeting for the first time. Kirk and Spock have a rather contentious beginning to their relationship, and by the end of this experience together, they have become this family. Each of them has put their lives in each other’s hands. By the end of the film, they are now this group that is ready to begin their adventure.

Orci and Kurtzman on how this movie is different then the previous 10:

ORCI: We go back to the origins of the characters, and because it’s an introduction to a world you don’t need to know anything about, is a part of it. The other part of it is that we tell a good human story without using scifi to cover anything up. J.J. has said we made this movie to be a good movie, not a good scifi movie. Just a very appealing adventure. And if that was the goal, we’ll see if we succeeded. That was the intention, not to rely on any crutches of science fiction. When you’re a fan of science fiction, you can rely on things that are fascinating to you, but they might not be as appealing to a mass audience. That can’t be the whole game, there has to be something extra.

KURTZMAN: We are in an entirely different millennium than when Star Trek originated. It was the 20th century when the show began. Cell phones didn’t exist. The future we’re presenting in this movie is much closer to the reality that currently exists than has ever been the case. As a result, it isn’t so much a fantasy, it could be humans traveling in space and accomplishing things. That’s a given now, even on a street level, and because that’s a given now, you have to ask, what is the story?

Star Trek Soundtrack - End Credits Sample

Samples of the Star Trek Soundtrack by Michael Giacchino have popped up online. It is available for pre-order from Amazon. Overall it’s not bad with lot of homages to classic Trek music from the previous movies and also the theme from the Original Series. The below embed (via TrekMovie) includes all three current samples in a mini-playlist.

Star Trek Academy Trailer

Addicting Games has launched a free flash game called Star Trek Academy Trainer. It is a series of puzzle games, using images from the movie, where the goal is to earn as many badges as possible based on speed, skill, timing and accuracy.

Star Trek Paris Conference Report

The world wide tour to promote Star Trek continues for JJ Abrams and cast. This time the stop is Paris, France. TrekMovie.com (sheesh how do they get around) provides the write-up, which you can find here. A few highlights are below.

Question: What was your approach in bringing a series from the sixties to the screen today?
J.J. Abrams: The question we asked ourselves was ’is the sixties vision of the future still relevant today?’ We asked that question for the sets, the uniforms, the communicators that look like today’s iPhones… So we didn’t want to change everything but we took a series of small decisions everyday on every aspect of the production. But technology is not the main point and, like Gene Roddenberry, we paid attention to the characters who are the most important part of Star Trek.

What do you think about your ship in Star Trek?
Eric Bana: Compared to the Enterprise, Narada is a tougher-looking ship. Her bowels are visible. You have cables everywhere. She has a very audacious design. She’s like a living animal. Let’s say they have the Mercedes, I have the Lamborghini!

More Star Trek Website Updates

The official Star Trek movie site has updated its sections.

The Dossier section has added three new images, one for Spock, Starfleet Academy and The Federation. There are still 9 open spots for future updates.

The Enterprise Project, the section were artists redress the Enterprise, has added about 8 new ships bring the total to 16. One of the updates include the "Slusho" Enterprise, a reference to JJ Abrams' Cloverfield. There are still 9 open slots.

Click here to go to TrekMovie which provides the relevant pictures, new movie stills and all three released clips in one easy to look at post.

Star Trek Movie Night

The San Francisco Giants have announced a movie night for baseballs fans going to the game on April 27th against the LA Dodgers. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Your $20 ticket package includes a View Reserve seat in the special Star Trek Movie Night section for the Giants vs. Dodgers game, an invitation to the exclusive pre-game party in Scoreboard Plaza, a free Star Trek foam finger, and a complimentary beverage voucher.

Pre-judging for the "Ultimate Trekkie" costume contest will take place in Scoreboard Plaza and in Willie Mays Plaza prior to the game, with the finals winding up on the field before the first pitch! Break out your best Star Trek gear and join us at AT&T Park.

Humor: Star Trek Gets Ruined

Gizmodo has posted a large gallery of photos of people using PhotoShop to "ruin" movies. My favorite is the use of the Mythbusters to replace Spock and Kirk. Picard going in for a slam dunk is a close second though. The full gallery is here.

Star Trek Comes Few Hours Early

Coming Soon is reporting that Paramount has decided to take a page from its Transformers marketing and release Star Trek a few hours early. Not midnight as is the normal custom but actually at 7PM on Thursday, May 7th. For those (like me) that prefer midnight showings, I get a feeling this will likely result in many theatres deciding not to do a midnight showing.

TV Spot #6 - Going Down

A new TV spot for Star Trek is now online with a huge emphasis on the action.

Dark Horizons Star Trek Review

Dark Horizons, a popular entertainment blog, has posted its review of Star Trek. It’s probably one of the best reviews read so far as while the writer is clearly a Star Trek fan, he approaches the new film from a neutral perspective providing a rather balanced opinion rather the extreme hate it or love I have been reading. That has partly bothered me because this doesn't strike me as a love it or hate it movie. I think most scores from critics and audiences alike will split the difference and judge it as a popcorn movie.

The full review is here.

Star Trek Soundtrack Details

The details, including tracklist, for the upcoming Star Trek Soundtrack by Michael Giacchino is now out via Varese Sarabande.

From producer/director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Mission: Impossible: III, and Fringe) comes a new vision of the greatest space adventure of all time, Star Trek, featuring a young, new crew venturing boldly where no one has gone before. Starring Chris Pine as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Simon Pegg as Scotty, with Eric Bana, Winona Ryder and Leonard Nimoy.

Composer Michael Giacchino, who has served as J.J. Abrams’ musical lieutenant on all his projects, follows the extraordinarily rich musical legacy of Alexander Courage, Jerry Goldsmith, and James Horner, as he boards the Enterprise for her maiden voyage.

In the tradition of Batman Begins, this is STAR TREK for a new generation, and is the most anticipated blockbuster of the 2009 summer season.

Paramount Pictures will open STAR TREK nationwide on May 8.

Varèse Sarabande Catalog #: 302 066 966 2
Release Date: 5/5/09

1. Star Trek (1:03)
2. Nailin’ the Kelvin (2:09)
3. Labor of Love (2:51)
4. Hella Bar Talk (1:55)
5. Enterprising Young Men (2:39)
6. Nero Sighted (3:23)
7. Nice To Meld You (3:13)
8. Run and Shoot Offense (2:04)
9. Does It Still McFly? (2:03)
10. Nero Death Experience (5:38)
11. Nero Fiddles, Narada Burns (2:34)
12. Back From Black (:59)
13. That New Car Smell (4:46)
14. To Boldly Go* (:26)
15. End Credits* (9:11)

Soldiers In Kuwait Get Easter Treat

In a very cool movie, the soldiers in Kuwait got a treat for Easter by getting to see Star Trek a month before the rest of us. On top of that JJ Abrams and entire lead cast were on hand for the showings. One soldier write of the event (see snippet below) and provides a review of the film here.

I am in the Army and currently deployed to Kuwait. We have a movie theater on post that shows “second run” movies, meaning that we get the movie about a week or two after they are released in the states. At times, a special effort is made to show the movie here on the same date it is released in the states. With that being said, I was shocked to see the movie schedule that was published for the first half of April. According to this schedule the new Star Trek movie will have a “special premier” on April 11th. I found it very hard to believe that we would be able to view a big “summer time blockbuster” movie that won’t premiere in the States for another 27 days.

Sure enough, the movie actually did get played today and I was able to get in to see it not just once, but twice. Not only did the movie arrive in Kuwait, but J.J. Abrams and most of the “bridge crew” cast (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Eric Bana and Karl Urban) were here as well.

The cast went out of their way to entertain us before and after the movie was shown. They were more than happy to interact with the soldiers (Eric Bana leaped out of his “reserved” seat and sat next to a female soldier who invited him next to her) and they took their time describing their experiences making the film and answering questions and requests (Quinto obliged a soldier who asked him to call his daughter back in the states and say hello to her). I was truly impressed and grateful in the fact that they went out of their way to thank us and to offer this film to us. I’ll admit that this review won’t be as objective as it could because of the way the cast lent themselves to us. My biggest thrill was walking up to J.J. Abrams after the film and having the opportunity to give him my general impressions of it. How many times does a geek like me get a chance to do that?

Star Trek IMAX Poster and New Photos

Via Slashfilm, below is the poster for Star Trek: The IMAX Experience which is really just an oversized print of the theatrical movie (no special scenes like Dark Knight). Personally I can't decide if the extra cost is worth it or not. As for the poster, it’s just an inverted version of the one sheet from a few weeks ago. In addition there are seven new stills that reveal absolutely nothing. Those can be found here.

Zoe Saldana Talk Uhura

Zoe Saldana, Uhura 2.0, talks about her role in Star Trek with Esquire as part of their "A Woman We Love" feature which includes a few pictures that shows off her sexy side. Below are the Star Trek related portions but the full article and pictures is here.

ESQ: That's in the official Star Trek PR handbook.
ZS: I've developed a real respect for Trekkies.

ESQ: Talk to me after your first Comic-Con.
ZS: I've already had a [fan] come up to the door of my house. And I had a driver for another movie who brought all of his Star Trek memorabilia with him. He opened the trunk and there was this shrine. He had stacks of pictures he wanted me to sign. He ended up being the nicest guy, but it definitely freaked me out at first.

ESQ: That miniskirted uniform has a weird effect on men.
ZS: During the shoot it kept getting shorter and shorter.

ESQ: I'm sure that wasn't intentional.
ZS: Right. For some reason I always end up in casts that are me and a bunch of dudes. But I love it.

In addition, UK magazine SFX, out in newsstands, sadly follows the old business model of driving readers to their paper copy rather than using the paper copy to drive readers to their website. As a result their extensive coverage and interviews with the cast of Star Trek is unavailable for most people in the world. At least TrekMovie.com posted a few highlights and from those I assume the rest is the usual Q&A answers that we have been seeing prop up over and over (what’s it like to play X, what’s it like to direct, work with X, meet with Y and so forth). Click here to view the summary.

A Negative Star Trek Review and Story Summary

It took a while but someone finally posted a negative review of Star Trek. Be aware that the review includes a complete summary of the movie including some really bad news for Vulcan. Overall, as a Trekkie, I think it is probably a good thing that this movie takes place in a seperate Star Trek 2.0 universe from the Prime universe as the changes (and ignorance of canon) are rather substanial in scale.

Initial Thoughts:
Hmmm.... First off, I have to admit that every time i've walked out of a movie I have never been totally impressed. I think it may be due to all the excitement.
I hated Transformers and Wrath of Kahn, but over time they grew on me. Now I love TWOK and am OK with Transformers. I think it just took time on me. So understand that my initial reactions may be premature.

My first thoughts on the film is that it's OK. If you are a trekie and you want to see star trek, then see it. However I was expecting more. If I was going to rate it compared to the other films, i'd put it above The Voyage Home but below TWOK/FC. It is most akin to "The Undiscovered Country" in that it's fast paced but not too serious.

If you were to ask me if I was happy with it, i'd say "No"
but when I think about it, i guess i'd have to say "Yes"

THE STORY (in brief detail, I do miss some plot points):
The basic breakdown is this.
Nero's ship appears in front of the Kelvin from a singularity. It attacks the Kelvin, but Kirks dad takes command and saves the fleeing crew, including the unborn James T Kirk.
Cut to the future. Kirk gets in a fight. He gets told to join starfleet by Pike. Three years later (again... another jump in the future) the Narada picks up Old Spock who also appears out of a singularity
Kirk has now finished 3 years of training. He beats the Kobiyashi Maru when suddenly Vulcan is under attack. A fleet is assembled and they all go to Vulcan and get killed, except for the Enterprise.
Pike is captured, Spock takes command and the Enterprise flees at low warp. Vulcan is destroyed by a black hole weapon. Kirk gets angry and fights Spock as Kirk wants to fight Nero. Spock abandons him on a Vulcan moon.
On the moon, kirk meets old spock (who tells him the future... yada yada yada) and they also meet scotty. They beam back onto the Enterprise and kirk forces spock out of the command.
So kirks in command, the Narada is at earth and it is trying to blow it up using the black hole weapon. Young spock blows up the weapon while kirk fights nero.

Everyone cheers and the Enterprise goes to warp with the overtune of "Space the Final Frontier"

WHAT I THOUGHT ABOUT IT
It's like Transformers, just in the Star Trek universe.
It's fast, too fast. They rush into the story, don't lay any foundations (for the average viewer) and most of the movie is about meeting the characters.
You barely see Nero before he is killed.
The movie is action packed. Lots of fast paced fights, lots of CG and, well, just watch Transformers and you'll know what i mean.

WHAT I LIKED ABOUT IT
The references to Trek. If you are a trekkie, you will LOVE the references. Lots of stuff like "i'm a doctor, not a physicist" and all that kind of stuff. That was great.
The music was ok, but the sound effects were awesome. Going to Warp was AMAZING!
The graphics were also pretty good - you get the feel from the trailers.
The movie is also a bit more 'real' in the sense that they have NOKIA phones, Engineering looks like a factory (like in TOS) with pipes and nuts and bolts, and the ENTERPRISE looks very cool, especially when it warps into Titan and emerges from the atmosphere.

WHAT I DIDN'T LIKE
It was too fast. There was too much focus on action and not enough on the story. Like the latest Indiana Jones, most of the movie was spent doing stuff that didn't matter, like HOW Kirk met Scotty.
Also, you barely see the Enterprise. There is barely a space battle.

NOTES FOR FANS:
- The enterprise fires phasers and torpedoes (which are blue), the first time the 1701 has done so in a movie since Star Trek 2

OTHER BAD STUFF
The Federation know who the Romulus are before Nero appears in front of the Kelvin! This is ****. They arn't supposed to know for a few more years. Yet spock already knows that Vulcans and Romulans are the same species.

Physics goes out the window. True trekies will be pissed off about the Black Hole weapon as it destroys Vulcan but none of the other planets are affected. A convenient super weapon... pft.

There is also a **** ending with the Enterprise ejecting the cores (yes, it has about 5 mini-cores) to escape from the black hole - ala Insurrection.

FINAL THOUGHTS
I was left wanting more. Not more of what I was given, but more from the movie itself. It didn't offer a STAR TREK experiences, instead just a group of people that just happened to be called Kirk and Spock
The story is utter crap and the movie is only saved by the premise of the film itself, that it is a re-boot.
JJ will have to have a much more developed, interesting storyline if he is going to keep the attention of the traditional fan-base, because "STAR TREK" is not aimed at us.

5.5/10

I had a huge rant prepared because I am more than a bit annoyed at some story beats, how Navel ranks (and the experience they imply) are completely ignored disrespectfully for the easy of a story point and other issues but decided not to bother as what came before is sadly irrelevant.

It is a whole new tapestry. The movie is defining 2.0 canon in whatever way the writers and directors see fit and die hard Trekkies will have to accept it or get out of the way. Despite claims, this movie isn't for them; the Prime universe was left mostly alone for that purpose. The movie is for the casual fan that wants an action fix and has casual awareness of the franchise. If the reviews have proven anything, that goal may just be achieved.

New Star Trek Clip and Still Gallery

Omelete, a French website I think, has posted a huge 73 picture gallery of stills from Star Trek. In addition is a new clip from the movie that has Kirk attempting to bait Spock into a fight.

Abrams Talks Trek In Australia

TrekMovie.com has found an interview with Star Trek Director JJ Abrams and some of the cast. The segment is from Today Tonight, a TV program in Australia and provides a brief summary of the Star Trek franchise, includes clips from the trailers and a few seconds of new footage.

Star Trek Phaser iPhone App

Paramount has released an official new iPhone app tie-in to the Star Trek movie. It is a 3D phaser that motion tilts on the screen with stun and kill sounds and color modes. The object of the game is to shoot right or left at moving targets. It is a free app and can be found here.

Star Trek Official Site Updates

The official site for the upcoming movie, StarTrekMovie.com, has added few new features that might be worth checking out. The site now has a dossier section on the characters, bridge panoramas, and gallery of re-designed Enterprise models.

The Dossiers section currently has info on Kirk, Pike, McCoy, Uhura and the USS Kelvin. It includes downloadable wallpaper and little factoids about each character. The bridge panoramas is s 360 degree view of the Enterprise bridge in both normal and red alert mode and provides a look at the consoles which seems to be inspired by Apple in color tone with a few physical switches as a nod to The Original Series but a huge focus on touch panels (much like The Next Generation used).

Last is the Enterprise Model Gallery, that uses the Enterprise model as the base only artists add their own twist to it, usually in the form of a new color scheme or alterations to the shape. Not really sure the point of this section is except as a way for people to see goofy uses of the Enterprise (such as UPS Delivery).