The last several months (really years) has been one long dry spell of useful news on the Star Trek sequel front. Suddenly today multiple pieces of information has come out that might be of interest to fans such as a new cast member, no TOS cast invited, Khan reportedly out (again), and Trek will not film in real 3D.To start, it looks like Captain Pike will return. Sequel writer Bob Orci posted on TrekMovie.com "Spoiler alert! We wrote a part for Greenwood. Let us hope he says "Yes!". No additional details but Bruce Greenwood has indicated he is up for doing the sequel but would prefer not to be stuck in the wheelchair.
Showbiz 411 reports that sources close to the production have said that none of the original cast members have been offered a role on the sequel. So any hopes of William Shatner reprising Kirk or some cameo appearance are dashed. This isn't a surprise as Abrams pretty much said this when promoting the first movie, that Spock Prime's appearance was for story reasons and as a hand off to the new generation of actors.
On the rumor front, Badassdigest is reporting that "an inside source" is telling them that Khan is not the sequel's villain but that the film will not have a traditional villain suggesting but will focus on an Original Series characters. The suggestion seems to be a character that isn't outright evil but circumstances led to bad actions that were typical of the series with suggested examples being Gary Mitchell, Harry Mudd, and Trelane. I believe this possibility more than a Khan but I still expect to see a new villain and not a re-imagination of an old one.
While making the rounds promoting Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, J.J. Abrams spoke with MTV (video below) about the sequel. As usual he was silent on the details but he did comment on the status of pre-production and Star Trek post conversion 3D and IMAX.
It’s a little early to be talking about ‘Star Trek,’ but I will say that they wrote — the three writers, Damon [Lindelof], Bob [Orci] and Alex [Kurtzman] — they wrote the most amazing script, and I’m thrilled to get a chance to direct it. It’s totally mine to screw up, so if you don’t like it, it’s completely on me. Our sets are almost done, so we’re going to go back and start shooting next month."
"We’re shooting on film, 2-D, and then we’ll do a good high-end conversion like the ‘Harry Potter’ movie and all that. Luckily, with our release date now we have the months needed to do it right because if you rush it, it never looks good. We were talking about [shooting in IMAX] and I would love to do it. IMAX is my favorite format; I’m a huge fan," he added.
Harry Mudd was a thorn in the flesh to Kirk as Q was to Picard. However, Trelane could be considered as a foreshadowing of a Q entity. Gary Mitchell would be too much like Ilia from ST:TMP. In trying to stay away from the other movies, I doubt this would be the choice. My vote for the "villain" would be Mudd.
ReplyDelete