More Behind the Scenes Video, Concept Art for Star Trek Into Darkness

ILM has posted two more videos to go with their previous "Behind the Magic" vid that shows how they did some of the special effects for Star Trek Into Darkness. The first video below looks into building the future city of San Francisco with some of the details that were considered in building the massive skyline and destruction sequence. The second video looks at creating the red planet and how they incorporated set footage into the film. In addition, io9.com has posted some sweet concept art for the film that has a particular focus on the Vengeance and the architecture for the movie. That gallery is here.

Behind the Magic: Visual Effects of Star Trek Into Darkness

ILM has posted a short video that shows a little bit of how they did their usual outstanding job on the visual effects for Star Trek Into Darkness.

The Making of the STID Space Jump

I do believe the below video is an example of one of those cool behind the scenes vids that was doled out as exclusives so many didn't get to watch it when they bought the Star Trek Into Darkness Blu-ray. Thanks Paramount greed and stupidity. Any case below is a cool, short video that shows how the action sequence was filmed with a cool mix of plain nothing (literally posing before a green screen) to classic practical effects that looks like pure CGI but isn't. (via io9)


Making of Star Trek Into Darkness by itsartmag

Star Trek Alternate Klingon Designs

Star Trek Into Darkness concept designer Neville Page has posted on his website a series of images that show off rejected concepts for the new Star Trek Klingons. Page committed on his designs saying:

This first round of images are some of the development of the Klingons. This was a very important assignment for me because I knew how important it was to the fans of the franchise. It was a delicate balance of respecting the established looks from previous incarnations yet delivering something appropriate for JJ's film... Part of my self induced criteria was to do a cleaner version (especially regarding the forehead) and to make them sexy (or sexier if you already find them sexy!)

You can view the large gallery of designs here. (via io9)

Star Trek Into Darkness Concept Art

The Film Sketcher blog has posted some pretty concept art that was created for Star Trek Into Darkness. The art includes designs for Klingons, the volcano suit and jump suit along with comments from the artists. You can find that here or here.

Star Trek Into Darkness Set Images and Art

Scott Chambliss, production designer for Star Trek Into Darkneses, has posted a 66 picture gallery for the movie. The images are a combination of pre-production designs, set builds and already released publicity images. Worth checking out to see the cool sets built for the movie and get an idea of how many were expanded using CGI. You can find the gallery here.

New TV Spot, Two Behind the Scenes B-Roll For Star Trek Into Darkness

Three more videos for your enjoyment as the North America premiere of Star Trek Into Darkness is just days away from its European release. The first is the latest TV spot and the next two are B-roll footage as Abrams and the cast filmed certain parts of the movie. The B-roll is literally just a guy on set filming them at work.

ILM's Behind the Scenes of Star Trek

Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) has started a YouTube channel that it is using to post interviews and behind the scenes interviews and segments for films they recently have worked on. The two part video for Star Trek has interviews with Visual Effects Supervisor and Second Unit Director, Roger Guyett as they explain their thought process and how they performed some of the special effects for the 2009 film. Sadly the site isn't big on embedding so click the links to watch - Part 1 | Part 2.

Shatner's Star Trek "Cameo"

The scenes that Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman has been released by TrekMovie.com and confirmed as accurate. These scenes have been alluded to multiple times during promotion of the movie and the back and forth between JJ Abrams and William Shatner (who remains angry on not being in the movie as seen by his refusal to see it). Now my understanding is the scenes are in an early draft of the movie but once William Shatner declared he "doesn't do cameos", it was removed from the drafts that followed. Equally important (and lays the blame around), I don't think that version of the script was ever shown to Shatner; therefore he was never given an opportunity to change his mind.

The moments would have been a perfect nod to the fans and a good ending for the film but definitely would have a cameo leading me to think Shatner would have refused anyway. Honestly, I think Shatner's refusal to do even a cameo in the film is basically an FU to the fans as he put his ego ahead of the franchise and the fans that essentially gave him the life he has enjoyed these many years.

For perspective, keep in mind that this movie does follow Star Trek canon by having events begin off screen in the Star Trek "Prime" universe with Nero and the Nerada entering the Star Trek 2.0 Universe and attacking the Kelvin with Spock Prime following 25 years later. As a result, that means Shatner's Kirk remains dead as a result of the events in Star Trek Generations movie so any cameo would have to be through other creative means, in this case with holo-emitter and voice over.

The scene:

Eight New Star Trek Clips

In time for the release of Star Trek on DVD and Blu-ray, eight new clips from the various featurettes that come with the film. They cover such topics as Simon Pegg's accent, casting, Leonard Nimoy, and more. (via IO9)

Star Trek Deleted Scene, Casting Spock Videos

Two new videos have popped up online to help promote the upcoming release of Star Trek on DVD and Blu-ray. The first video is a deleted scene with Kirk (Chris Pine) as he apoligizes to the wrong Orion woman. I think he meant to apoligize to Rachel Nichols's character from the awkward scene in Uhura's (Zoe Saldana) bedroom. The second video from TrekMovie.com is from a casting featurette that gets into the casting of Spock and why they chose Zachary Quinto.

Wrong Orion Deleted Scene


Casting Spock

Star Trek Gag Reel

Below is the gag reel for JJ Abrams' Star Trek that is a special feature on the DVD and Blu-ray edition that hits store shelves in November. This is a prime example of why smart directors, actors and studios should include these whenever possible. The feeling, other than amusement, is an appreciation for the sense of humor of participants. Some feel it takes away from "the craft" but what it really does is show a "human" side of actors and just makes for excellent and easy fan friendly moments that are pure public relations gold. It’s the ultimate win-win situation.

Star Trek - What You Missed

TNMC.org has posted a summary of cut scenes and dialogue that was not used in the theatrical release of Star Trek (but might have been filmed and used as deleted scenes for the disc release). Click here for the full details but below is a summary which assumes you have seen the film already.

Deleted scenes:
- Film opens with birth of Spock and Amanda not please Sarek isn't present then goes to birth of Kirk (just before attack).
- After the Narada destroys the Kelvin, Klingon warbirds decloak and surround it leading to Nero's capture.
- Before Kirk's joyride we meet Uncle Frank (a douche) and brother George who is leaving and says Kirk's follows the rules to much. Later Kirk is washing the corvette and then the joyride (I guess to prove brother wrong).
- cut to Rura Penthe Klingon Prison with Nero and crew as caught trying to smuggle Federation maps to determine when/where Spock will emerge. A slug (like one used on Pike near film's end) is used on Nero to try and torture him into confession why he wants the maps. Nero's (now dead) pregnant wife is used to overcome the torture. Shortly after Nero busts out of the prison with ease to begin his revenge against Spock.
- Another scene shows how Uhura's roommate the Orion Gaila helps him hack the Kobayashi Muru test by opening a message at a certain time to unleash a virus on the program.
- A line is cut on the Delta Vega ice planet commenting on the improbability of the two meeting.
- On approach to Earth, Narada crew considers mutiny since destruction of Vulcan completes their revenge and they just want to return to Romulus. Nero kills Ayel (who lives in the final cut of the film) as he wants revenge against off of the Federation.
- The gun battle in the film originally had Spock getting cruelly violent with the Romulans.
- In Spock meets Spock Prime scene, the written Kirk Prime scene with a holographic video of William Shatner's Kirk singing happy birthday to Spock and congratulating him on becoming an ambassador. Shatner's refusal to do cameos put the kibosh on that scene.

Star Trek Visual Effects Story

CG Society has posted an article on their website that covers how some of the details behind the special effects done for Star Trek by ILM and Digital Domain. Below are a few of the highlights with the full article here.

Highlights:
- Work done in six months, 800 shots from ILM, 150 from Digital Domain
- Many discussions of form following function so attempt to get the science right were possible and give "back-stories for what the ship does here and what the crew stored there."
- Unlike the previous films and series, there are no miniature models in the film, all are digital. VFX Supervisor, Roger Guyett, realized “due to the scale of the film and the compressed schedule, we ruled out [traditional] models early on.”
- The new Enterprise is 2,357 feet (718.41m) long, it’s size much larger than previous Enterprise incarnations.
- The jump sequence over Vulcan represented 250 shots out of the 800 ILM worked on.
- 1/3 of the platform was a real set built at the Dodger Stadium parking lot, the rest was CGI.
- New program called Fracture was created to help realize the destructions sequences used in the film such as the Kelvin. What pattern used in the destruction depended on what was being blown-up.
- Despite the bump summer, budget restrictions forced the effect houses to stick to their original schedule which was why Digital Domain was brought in the help.
- DD's work included the engineer bay pipe sequences, shot at the Anheuser-Busch Company brewery which was much more complicated than you would think (not even going to try to summarize but lens flares played a part in the complications).
- Other DD work included the robot policeman whose mask was digital created as were some of the details on the face of Scotty's alien friend along with his digital tribble.

Shipyard Sketches, Concert, and Orci Talks Shatner

John Eaves' Riverside Shipyards from Star Trek
Found by Trekmovie, John Eaves has posted on his blog his artwork he created as part of the design team for Star Trek. His inspiration was based off of images of the the Navy's San Francisco Shipyards in Alameda. Click the link above for more sketches, old shipyards photos used for comparison and a photoshopped Enterprise-E to help with scale.

Houston Symphony's Star Trek Concert
The Houston Symphony is going to have a concert on July 9th at 7:30 that "will explore the music of Star Trek films and television series as well as other sci-fi classic." The concert will include themes all not just the Original Series but TNG and others and will include music from the current film. There are also two contests to help promote the event. For full details click the link above.

Roberto Orci Talks Shatner Scene
While at William Shatner's Charity Horse Show dinner a little over a month ago, Star Trek writer Roberto Orci talked very briefly about a scene he and his partner Alex Kurtzman wrote that would allow Kirk Prime to return, even if only for a cameo and enjoyment of Star Trek.

Star Trek Concept Art

Artist James Clyne has posted his concept art for Star Trek on his website. To the right is just one example of dozens of pieces, which you can find here. It is all gorgeous and shows were some of the ideas used in the film started from. Clyne has done lots of work for a wide variety of projects so be sure to check his website out to.

TrekMovie Q&A Part 2

Trekmovie.com has posted the second half of the Q&A with fans on the site with Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Part one can be found here. Below are snippets from it but the full transcript is here.

Data: Do you think of bring some characters from TNG era in future Star Trek?
BobOrci: If we can do it organically, perhaps.

TREKKIE369 : Have you guys ever considered bringing Vulcan and Romulus back? And if not, how many survivors are there from both planets?
BobOrci: Recall that in this new Universe, Romulus is still out there, as Captain Pike indicates. As for Vulcan, Spock, in his Captain’s Log, estimates that there are approximately 10,000 survivors.
BobOrci: ...Let’s just say then that the 10,000 does not count off worlders

Capt Krunch: ...why [built the Enterprise] in Iowa and on the ground?
BobOrci: The behind the camera reason related to our goal to connect a general audience to the idea that Star Trek is real and grounded (literally). The idea was based on a fan made picture we found on the internet depicting the USS ENTERPRISE in a shipyard. Alex and I showed this image to JJ, and he locked in on its value immediately.

From an in world story perspective, the idea is that George Kirk’s death caused Starfleet to commemorate his sacrifice with the Riverside Shipyards. We’ve heard the complaint that it is inefficient to build a space ship on the ground, but we figured that any ship that can literally cross the galaxy by warping space and moving faster than light is surely able to what the space shuttle can do — and that is, get into space easily.

MoPo: I understand it was a movie, but wasn’t giving a 3rd year cadet a promotion to Captain (one rank below Rear Admiral) after one mission a little rushed and forced just to get Kirk in the captain’s chair?
BobOrci: Yes it would be if there were no other extenuating circumstances (like saving the world, or the recommendations of Spock Prime and Captain Pike). People said the same about about a one term senator who jumped to the Presidency, (JFK, an inspiration for Kirk, as well as Obama).

Kirk1701: Is Kirk’s origin completely governed by FATE? Doesn’t that dehumanize him — make him more of a ‘tool of the gods’, rather than the blue-eyed humanist hero?
BobOrci: Question of fate has been touched on in article. In my mind, no, we are not relying on fate. Spock Prime pushing to place Kirk in the Captain’s chair is not based on the notion of fate, but on the proven empirical evidence ( from Nimoy’s past) that Kirk has an ability that others don’t.

Ran: As a fan, what were you thinking by destroying Vulcan, Romulus and killing Spock’s mother? Was it really necessary?
BobOrci: We knew it would be controversial for sure, but we wanted to make it clear that the rules had changed, and that we were DEFINITELY in a new time line. As for Spock’s mother… we haven’t mentioned this too much, but one of the inspirations for the Kirk/Spock relationship was the friendship between Paul McCartney and John Lennon. In a way, they were opposites, but they bonded early in life because they both suffered through the loss of A PARENT in childhood.

Logan: How does the Stardate work in the new Star Trek-Movie? It’s shown quite diffierent in the ways seen in the past films and series.
BobOrci: The year, as in 2233, with the month and day expressed as a decimal point from .1 to .365 (as in the 365 days of the year).

Star Trek Tidbits

Just a few odds and ends stumbled upon today.

40 Years of Star Trek Covers
From Gizmodo, a look at Star Trek on the cover of magazines for the last four decades, most of them from TV guide.

Enterprise Viewscreen Comparison
A geeky look at the size of the ships viewscreen through the years. One the original series, the Enterprise's screen was 136-inch with 1.73:1 aspect ratio. TNG's Enterprise-D was 212-inch with 1.92:1 aspect ratio. The new movie's Enterprise (2.0) is a massive 326-inch with 3.25:1 aspect ratio.

JJ Directing Photos
Click the link to look at photos of JJ providing actors with notes and doing director stuff.

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

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.