Rachel Weisz Interested in Star Trek Sequel

Academy Award winner Rachel Weisz has expressed interest in a role in the sequel to Abrams' Star Trek in an interview with Collider to promote her movie Agora. The interview covers more than just Trek, below is just the Trek related portion. As a fan of the lovely Rachel Weisz, I definitely like the idea but I don't see it happening.

A lot of Collider readers first discovered you in The Mummy and The Mummy Returns. Would you go back to big visual effects movies again?
RW: Yeah! Yeah! Definitely! Definitely!

Anything potentially on the horizon that you’re looking at, you’re like, “You know what? I would love to do that series.” Like all these different comic book adaptations that are happening. That you go-
RW: Yeah. You know what? I loved Star Trek. I mean, I couldn’t even believe how great, I meant to write (Star Trek director) J.J. Abrams a letter. I haven’t written it yet, though. I just thought- Didn’t you think it was tremendous?
RW: I just thought it was tremendous.
RW: And I’m not a Trekkie. I mean, (Weisz’s longtime fiancé) Darren (Aronofsky) took me thinking, he says, “You’re gonna hate this.” Cause I didn’t grow up watching Star Trek. I mean, I, Dr. Spock, I mean, I vaguely know. But, I loved it. I absolutely—I thought the acting was just phenomenal. Really, really great. So, yeah! No, I’m totally open to doing a big, big blockbuster.

Would you enter in and put your name in the hat for the Star Trek sequel?
RW: Me? I would LOVE to be in the Star Trek sequel! Yeah! I would love to! I better write that letter to J.J.
RW: Yeah, I would love to. No, I was really, wildly impressed by that. I thought it was an incredible piece of work. Yeah. It just had such a freshness and the acting was, the acting blew me away.

Star Trek Adaption #4 Preview

Star Trek Movie Adaption #4 is out for new comic Wednesday and TrekMovie has the cover and first five pages of the issue. The artist, David Messina, also made sure to include the cameo appearance of R2-D2 from the film. Click here to view.

The official comics adaptation of the blockbuster film STAR TREK continues in this mini-series presented by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman!

Witness the final fate of Vulcan as Kirk and Spock battle the evil Romulan, Nero! Brought to you by the creative team behind the best-selling STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN, this series includes scenes not included in the original film!

Star Trek Live Tour Schedule

The Star Trek Live production that is premiering on May 31st at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida has released its full 24 city tour that will got through November with more cities to possibly be added. It does seem there will be two version of this tour, one that is based at the Kennedy Space Center and one that will perform on the road. I assume both will be the same production. The tour is an all ages event that attempts to teach science using the Star Trek as the central story and theme that will incorporate Star Trek footage, special effects, and more.

To learn more about the dates and locations, click here.

Shatner Reflect on Career, Star Trek

William Shatner's career continues to go strong with a pickup for a new comedy series on CBS called @$@% My Dad Says. He sat down with Hero Complex to discuss his long and legendary career career and reflect some decisions he made. Below are portions as he talks about Star Trek, the full interview can be found here.

GB: There will be another "Star Trek" film coming from J.J. Abrams and his team, and I'm wondering what you thought of the first. For me, I loved the spirit of the movie...
WS: I agree with you. That's my opinion too. It was a wonderful ride. I think J.J. Abrams did a wonderful job in enlarging the franchise and constructing a foundation for the sequel. I don't know anything about that sequel. I didn't know anything about the first one. I know even less about the second one. I know less than nothing about the sequel, if that's possible.

GB: If you look back on "Star Trek" with the television shows, the animated series, the feature films, the conventions, the novels -- you guys have been multi-platform in a very interesting way for four decades now.
WS: Across the platforms, you have a unity, which is acting truth -- storytelling. The technological means by which you tell that story change, but if you can follow that, then you can stay abreast of what's happening.

GB: You've been coming to these conventions for years, and though so much has changed in your own life, I imagine the conversations and contacts you have in these settings don't change much.
WS: You're exactly right. They've come here to say hello to me and for me to say hello to them. It's fan communication. It's Twitter in person.

GB: Well, as James T. Kirk you were no stranger to close calls. You practically invented them.
WS: Hah! The way I look at it, my whole career has been a close call.

Star Trek Publishing Plans

CBS Comsumer Products has added new partners to their publishing arm for Star Trek that will to new novels and manuals for 2011 and 2012. “There are always more stories to be told in the Star Trek saga,” said Liz Kalodner, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CBS Consumer Products. “Books have accompanied the Star Trek series since the very beginning in 1968, and these new Star Trek publishing projects will give fans and newcomers alike a new way to explore and indulge in their favorite universe.” Plans include expansion of the Star Trek Online universe, and stories set at Starfleet Academy while the originial crew of the Enterprise (not sure if Prime or 2.0 crew) was training there as cadets. Below are descriptions of the titles.

The Needs of Many (Pocket Books – March 2010)
This paperback novel written by Michael A. Martin and Jake Sisko is based on Star Trek Online, the multiplayer online role-playing game that launched this past February.

IDW August Star Trek Comics

IDW Publishing has released their publishing plans for July. The month will bring two Star Trek comic books and one trade. If you are interested in the books, just let your local comic book store know. For the full details of IDW's Star Trek and other books including GI Joe, Transformers, Angel and more click here.

Star Trek Movie Adaptation #6
Alex Kurtzman, Robert Orci, Mike Johnson, Tim Jones, (w) • David Messina (a & c)
The official comics adaptation of the blockbuster film STAR TREK comes to an epic conclusion in this mini-series presented by J.J. Abrams, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman! Kirk, Spock and the crew of the Enterprise fight to save Earth from Vulcan's fate! Brought to you by the creative team behind the best-selling STAR TREK: COUNTDOWN, this series includes scenes not included in the original film!
FC • 32 pages • $3.99

Nimoy Talks Retirement, Shatner in Sequel

Leonard Nimoy may be making his last appearance as an actor this Thursday on the season two finale of Fringe. He spoke with Movie Web to promote the episode, reflecting on his career, impending retirement and William Shatner's potential to be in the sequel to Star Trek. Below are the Trek related portions of the interview, full interview (worth reading) is here.

You've talked recently about how you're going to be retiring from acting. After you had done Dr. Bell on Fringe, was there something that felt like there was a finality, like you had cleared what characters you wanted to play, or is it just a time and space that you just don't feel like acting is going to open any more experiences for you? Some thoughts on why this show is going to be your last?
Leonard Nimoy: It's really coincidental. It wasn't anything about the Fringe job or the character of William Bell that made me decide I didn't want to do this anymore. It's a coincidence. I've been at this for 60 years. My first professional work in film was in 1950. 60 years, I think, is long enough. I had decided not to do anymore acting and directing several years ago. I was called back to work to do the Star Trek movie, which was very attractive. I thought it was going to be a wonderful film. I read the script and a great handling of the Spock character and an introduction of wonderful new actor to play Spock. Then, J.J. Abrams who is the executive producer of Fringe asked me to do the William Bell character. I thought I owed him that. I'm very glad that I did it because it was an exciting project. It's just coincidental that I decided some time ago that I really didn't want to do this anymore. I just did this last job as a favor to J.J. Abrams. I'm glad I did it. I think we'll see an exciting episode next week. It's a very good note to go out on.

I just wanted to follow-up a little more on the announcement of your retirement, the finale for Fringe next week, and also - there were some lingering reports online that you might actually be in the next Star Trek film. Doesn't sound like that's going to happen, but any word on maybe whether or not your good friend, William Shatner, might be in the next film?
Leonard Nimoy: I have no idea about the next film regarding Bill Shatner. I'm quite sure - I think I can be definitive about the fact that I will not be in it. I have said that I think it's time for me to get off the stage and make some room for Zachary Quinto who is the new Spock and a wonderful actor, looks a lot like me. And I'm very flattered that the character will be continued by an actor of that caliber. He's very well trained and very talented. I have no expectations whatsoever even being asked to be in the next Star Trek film. I cannot speak for J.J. Abrams or William Shatner. If they have a common interest, I hope it works out.

I wanted to find out if you could perhaps tell us what has made a career in this industry rewarding for you, would you say after all these years?
Leonard Nimoy: Well, I set out to be an actor when I was 17 or 18 years old. I left Boston, traveled to California to try to build a career. My very first efforts were very humble. I worked in a Saturday afternoon serial called, "Zombies of the Stratosphere." It was very primitive and very crude, but I was eager to do the work and happy to get it. It's been exciting to me to work on soundstages and on locations all around the world. I've worked with some great, great talents. I worked with a number of Academy Award winners and a number of Emmy winners, with wonderful, talented people. The Star Trek character, Mr. Spock, has been a blessing to me because I find it a very dignified and a positive character and a great role model for a lot of people. I am one very, very grateful guy. Ever since Star Trek put on the air 1966, I have never even had to consider myself with whether or not I would work again. There was always work available to me. So, it's all about gratitude for me these days. Thanks for the question.

Star Trek Nominated for Two MTV Movie Awards

MTV has announced the final list of nominees for the 2010 MTV Movie Awards that will air on the network on June 6th, at 9PM EST. Star Trek had been part of six categories in total including Best Movie, Best Fight and Best Kiss but that has been reduced to two with nominations in the Biggest Badass Star and Best Breakout Star for Chris Pine (Kirk). While none of the other Trek cast members received nominations for the film, Zoe Saldana did receive two for Avatar in the Best Kiss and Best Female Performance categories. Click here to vote for your favorite movie in the various categories.

Biggest Badass Star
Chris Pine
Angelina Jolie
Channing Tatum
Rain
Sam Worthington

Best Breakout Star
Chris Pine (Star Trek)
Anna Kendrick (Up in the Air)
Gabourey Sidibe (Precious)
Logan Lerman (Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief)
Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side)

StarTrek.com Relaunch This Summer

CBS Consumer Products have announced they plan to relaunch StarTrek.com this summer. The website at one time was a prime source of Star Trek information both past and present until CBS bought the website and fired its entire staff without notice in December 2007 resulting in site that has not been updated for two years. At least that is finally about to change as their press release indicates.

NEW YORK – May 5, 2010 – CBS Consumer Products is re-launching the official online destination to the popular Star Trek sci-fi franchise -- StarTrek.com --- this summer with a new web design and added features. The ultimate entertainment destination for all things Star Trek, the comprehensive site will feature breaking news, rare interviews, a robust online community, online store and the official Star Trek database.

Designed to incorporate the very best of Star Trek content across the web, the site will showcase top fan sites and blogs including TrekMovie, TrekToday and TrekWeb. StarTrek.com is being designed by award-winning graphic design and content production web developer Funny Garbage.

Abrams Directing Super 8

If wondering why Star Trek 2 was delayed to a 2012 release date, now we seem to have the answer. This Friday with Iron Man 2 a trailer for JJ Abrams' next project, Super 8, will premiere. It turns out the movie doesn't yet exist as Abrams is writing the script for the $50 million film. He will direct it this fall for a Summer 2011 release with Steven Spielberg producing. This indicates that if he intends to direct Star Trek 2 (which he still hasn't signed on to do), he would not be able to start on that project until early 2011.

Star Trek TOS in 3-D?

The new found love by the entertainment industry for 3-D continues as news circulates that Star Trek: The Original Series is being considered by CBS for the conversion process. Apparently the idea has gone far enough that a few episodes underwent the process to underwhelming results for CBS president and CEO Les Moonves.

It seems, at least based on the article from Air Lock Alpha, that neither Moonves nor the fans have any desire to see such a project continue. Considering what I have heard about how dreadful the process currently is from those that saw it with Clash of the Titans, it seems wise to table the idea. Besides, I think consumers have enough options with the DVD "regular" version of series or the HD and CGI enhanced Blu-ray editions.

Captain's Log Harriman Preview

An untold story from the Enterprise B comes to comic book store shelves this Wednesday with Star Trek Captain's Log: Harriman. The first and only canon appearance of Captain John Harriman was on the bridge of the Enterprise-B shortly before its first mission led to the death of Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. TrekMovie.com has a preview of the covers and first five pages of the issue.

Written by Marc Guggenheim, art by Andrew Currie, cover by David Messina
Captain John Harriman is the commander of the USS Enterprise B. He is also the man many hold responsible for the mysterious disappearance and presumed death of James Tiberius Kirk, the renowned Starfleet captain by whom all others are judged. How does a man recover from killing a legend? Find out in this very special issue! Guest starring Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy.

The Captain's Log series first started in the paperback novels and now is an occasional series of books that focus on the Captains of the Star Trek universe (as technically not limited to just the Federation). The first issue told a story about Captain Sulu of the Excelsior (seen in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country). The next focuses on part time nemesis to Captain Picard and brief captain of the Enterprise D, Captain Edward Jellico.

Shatner: "Play Hard to Get" for Sequel

It looks like the cat and mouse game that William Shatner has enjoyed playing for the last several years in regards to the Star Trek reboot will continue. On the Red Carpet recently asked Kirk "Prime" what if he will be in the sequel to which he replied:

“JJ Abrams and I are Twitter friends. Twitter friends and acquaintances. He’s a wonderful artist and I would love to work with him,” he said. But as for the sequel? “I would play very hard to get,” he joked. “That’s not a no. That’s not a yes. Yes, no, yes.”

I wouldn't hold my breath on an appearance, partly because Shatner doesn't do cameos and partly because there is simply no reason to invite Kirk "Prime" to the show. That ship sailed when Shatner turned down the first movie. The sequel will likely be a real attempt by all involved to blaze their own trail and will invoke as little previous canon as possible.