Star Trek Officially in Theatres

It is now 7:00PM on the east coast of the United States so Star Trek has officially premiered in theatres. So what did you think?

Leonard Nimoy Interview

The legendary Leonard Nimoy talks Star Trek, canon, Shatner, Fringe, Quinto and more with TrekMovie.com. The interview does contain spoilers. Parts of it is below but the entire interview can be found here.

TrekMovie: The thought I came away with [for the new Trek movie] is that this feels like 1982 again to me. It feels like when Nick [Meyer] and Harve [Bennett] came in and said "let’s shake things up."… They kind of created a new bedrock, a look and tone, that flowed through a series of films. You changed things up in the second one, but certainly that series in the 80s was more based on the 82 film [Wrath of Khan], than on the 79 film [The Motion Picture].
Nimoy: I think that’s fair…the second Star Trek movie put the franchise back on track. The first one derailed us, it didn’t do us any good. Perhaps some people made some money. The second one put us back on track and what happened, unintentionally, we didn’t realize that we were at the beginning of a trilogy. That the three films, II, III and IV, told a story that had and arc to day and they hung together in an interesting way. III was obligatory, we had to get Spock back and IV was the completion of that cycle. After that, the films became somewhat of ‘toss something in the air and see what happens.’ And were not so grounded in continuity. But I think this film — I am not saying it is going to start a trilogy — but I think it is doing just exactly what you are describing. It creates a whole new way of looking at Star Trek. A fresh revitalizing of the franchise.

TrekMovie: In a sense your character is an embodiment of the single timeline from "The Cage" through to episode you did on The Next Generation ["Unification"]. And they tie into that in this film, with you left on Romulus and all that. But you go back and what they have done is this kind of alternative timeline. What do you think of this notion of going back, but also kind of creating this open-ended new Star Trek future?
Nimoy: Well the alternative timeline gives them license to escape from canon concerns. I can’t see people saying ‘they shouldn’t do that because…’ or ‘that doesn’t tie in to such and such’ because it is a different time and place. Am I right about that?

I don’t want to speak for JJ [Abrams] and Bob and Alex, they are certainly capable of speaking for themselves. There is no way in the world that a Star Trek film will please every Star Trek follower or fan, no way. And to try to would be a death sentence, you just can’t. You twist yourself into pretzels over ‘what are they going to say about this’…for god’s sake what are people going to say about Uhura and Spock having the relationship they have in this movie? What? I thought it was wonderful and touching and effective. I saw JJ quoted very recently on fan complaints of the kind you are referring to and what he said was something like "stay home and be angry" so just don’t see the movie, if that is what your life is about and that is the way you want to envision your relationship to Star Trek and the world, fine. This is a movie. It is a movie! You want to go see it — chances are you are going to enjoy yourself if you open your mind to it. If you go to see it to find fault and to point out the things you think are inconsistencies, chances are you won’t have a good time and you would have wasted your time and money so why bother? But if you go to it with an open mind, I think chances are very very good you will see very well made and interesting movie. The characters are all accessible. I think they are all well portrayed by very talented and intelligent actors. I’m impressed with every single one of them. I was shocked to see Winona Ryder so effective as Spock’s mother — I didn’t think it would work, I couldn’t envision her in the role. This really works — that wonderful scene between see and Zachary when he semi-apologizes for negating his human side and asks that she not take it as an insult, is so wonderful. They are both wonderful. I can’t see any reason to worry anymore about the people who are going to say this isn’t right. I am not worried about it.
[It is a reality a die hard trekker such as myself has to deal with. It is a whole new playground. Either enjoy the new digs or go back to the old playground. I plan to play in both.]

TrekMovie: ...you noted that modern films are much more complex these days. So in looking at this film, at the plot and the time travel, and how it is spanning over many years, how do you feel about the complexity of this film?
Nimoy: In January I bumped into an acquaintance who said "how is the Star Trek movie?" and I said "I think it is great" and he said "did you direct it?" cause he really didn’t know, and I said "I wouldn’t know how." Which is true. The technology is so advanced over what we were doing when I was directing, I’d have to take a training course. I’d have to sit down with people and say "how do you do these shots?" I could learn how to do it, but going in I wouldn’t know how. It is extremely complex and sophisticated now. The budgets are multiples of what we had to work with originally, even in the movies, and light years over what we had on the series. It is a different world. And I have said this about JJ and I think this is the rock bottom core about what is going on here — there are some directors who can do that very very big canvas, like a Michael Bay for example, stuff that is big and bombastic. There are some directors who can do intimate, inter-character relationship moments. And not a lot of directors can do both, and I think JJ can. He has a sense of the action and the vision of the size and the scope of the thing, and he also gets down and in touch with the very very essence of what is going on with characters, and he does it extremely well.

TrekMovie: The scene you had with Zach [Quinto], did you say that was your first day on the job? That very emotional scene?
Nimoy: Yeah, that made it difficult. I hadn’t found my legs yet as an actor in the movie. I was OK. I don’t think it created a problem, but it took some focusing to get grounded in that scene. I think it worked out fine, I think the scene is very good. [laughs] but at the time I wish it came later in the schedule.

TrekMovie: There is so much talk about you and Zach and how you guys are like adopted father and son. He says he made the role his own, which is true…Once you mentioned that he did something that blew you away. I am curious now that I have seen the film, what was it that you went ‘oh that is really interesting’?
Nimoy: His relationship with Uhura, he played something that I was quite touched by. So did she for that matter. They both were terribly available for each other. I was really affected by his final moment with the Vulcan council when he rejected their invitation to go to the Vulcan Institute, and the way he said "live long and prosper."

TrekMovie: He almost said it as if there was a word that was supposed to come after, like "you bastards."
Nimoy: Or go f–k yourselves, to be specific

TrekMovie: but you were OK with that?
Nimoy: It caught me by surprise, but I thought it was terribly effective.

Star Trek Bits and Pieces

Random bit of news here and there regarding Star Trek. Some of it from TrekMovie.com.

Top 10 Star Trek Movie Moments - An interesting rundown of the greatest moments in Star Trek history. I don't necessarily disagree with the choices, just the order. I would have placed The Undiscovered Country sign-up much higher in the list (at #2) and replaced their number 2 choice with the destruction of the Enterprise in Search for Spock. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Experience The Enterprise - Website provides a virtual reality tour of the Enterprise using your webcam and printout. Below is a demo or click the link to check out the website.


For those that care, video of Chris Pine and William Shatner meeting on April 25th.


The Onion "Reviews" Star Trek - Hilarious video parody of that bashes the movie for being well made and entertaining.

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'

A Fan Plea - Humorous music video where die hard Trekkers plea that Abrams not "f*** up" Star Trek.

Star Trek News of Note

Star Trek enters its final marketing push with cast appearing on the airwaves for both TV and radio, along with new videos and other attempts to get those seats filled this weekend as Wolverine, suffering from lackluster word of mouth, is not going to be the competition everyone thought it might be but it did set the high mark that Trek wants to vaunt over with a $87 million opening weekend.
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Radio Happy Hour (9PM EST on Tuesdays) is in the middle of its three week Star Trek event where they interview a few of the supporting cast from the upcoming movie. Here is their breakdown:

April 28: Actress Sonita Henry plays the Starfleet Doctor that helps deliver James T. Kirk, the future Captain of the Starship Enterprise
Link to listen: Sonita-Henry-of-Star-Trek
May 5: Actor Greg Ellis plays Chief Engineer Olsen AND special guest Adam Nimoy co hosting for the night.
Link to listen: Son-of-Spock-Adam-Nimoy
(May 7: movie releases)
May 12: Faran Tahir plays Captain Robeau
Link to listen: Faran-Tahir-of-Star-Trek

More info here and subscribe via iTunes here.
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Here is the list of scheduled Star Trek related appearances for this week.

Monday 5/4: “Live with Regis & Kelly” (Syndicated) - Zachary Quinto
Monday 5/4: "The Late Show" (CBS) - Chris Pine
Monday 5/4: "Charlie Rose" (PBS) - JJ Abrams
Monday 5/4: "Colbert Report" (Comedy Central) - JJ Abrams
Tuesday 5/5: "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (ABC) - Zachary Quinto
Tuesday 5/5 “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (Syndicated) - Zachary Quinto
Tuesday 5/5 “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” (NBC) - J.J. Abrams
Wednesday 5/6: “Bonnie Hunt Show” (Syndicated) - Zachary Quinto
Wednesday 5/6: “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” (Syndicated) - Chris Pine
Wednesday 5/6: "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (ABC) - Zoe Saldana
Wednesday 5/6: “The Tonight Show” (NBC) John Cho
Thursday 5/7: "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (ABC) - John Cho
Friday 5/8: "Jimmy Kimmel Live" (ABC) - Chris Pine
Friday 5/8: "Tavis Smiley" (PBS) - JJ Abrams
Friday 5/8: "The View" (ABC) - Leonard Nimoy
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New movie stills, Entertainment Weekly covers and behind the scene photos can be found here.
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JJ Abrams wants you to watch Star Trek on the IMAX. Personally, since no special footage I just don't want to cough up to 2x ticket price. Course after watching the movie, may change my mind on that (and therefore buying a ticket twice which I doubt Paramount will mind).

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From TrekMovie, this cool CGI render from Tobias Richter (of The Light Works) that shows off the USS Kelvin and the USS Enterprise as they fight off a Romulan attack.

Fedcon 2009 Opening Ceremony Animation from Tobias Richter on Vimeo.

Star Trek Hollywood Premiere Videos

Paramount and TrekMovie.com have videos from the Hollywood premiere of Star Trek last week.

This first video from Paramount gives you an idea of how strange the whole thing is as hundreds of photographers (the noise in the background of the video below) literally yell in an attempt to get a good picture of the stars as the walk down the carpet and do mini-interviews for upcoming magazines and news programs to help sell the movie. It makes you wonder what is going on through their heads during the whole bizarre process.

These next videos, from TrekMovie.com, gives you snippets of interviews with the new movie cast as they answer a few questions each. The second video is past Star Trek alumni talking about Trek and the new film.


Also click here to view a photo stream from the premiere from the fine folks at TrekMovie.com.

Official Star Trek Movie Credits Tidbits

TrekMovie.com received the complete credits list from Paramount that provides some minor spoilers with previous Trek alumni in the film, cast and crew family, homage and other trivia. Below is some of the stuff I found interesting but TrekMovie's more detailed take can be found here.

- Majel Barrett Roddenberry receives her final screen credit as the Starfleet Computer. Her name is separated from the rest of the cast list.
- not listed is Chris Doohan (son of James who appeared as background in Star Trek TMP). Although he has no lines, he appears a few times in the transporter room.
- There are two ‘barflies’ credited: one is J.J. Abrams’ father, Gerald W. Abrams and the other is James McGrath, Jr., JJ’s father-in-law.
- J.J. Abrams’ “good luck charm” and best friend Greg Grunberg revealed he was able to work himself into the movie, and we now know the role he played: that of Jim Kirk’s stepdad (voice only).
- Carnegie Mellon professor Randy Pausch, who died of cancer last summer, appears in the movie as a Starfleet officer on a bridge. The credits reveal that Pausch specifically played a crew member aboard the USS Kelvin.
- ‘Madea’ writer/producer/director/actor Tyler Perry plays Starfleet Academy president Admiral Richard Barnett, his first acting role in a film he didn’t direct
- Stargate Atlantis’ Paul McGillion is credited as Barracks Leader
- Diora Baird (on Maxim’s Top 100 Hottest List) has touted her role as an Orion in the film, but she does not appear in the credits. [Funny that, a D-lister trying to ride on unearned coattails.]
- Rachel Nichols‘ Orion has a name: it’s Gaila. Interestingly, that was also the name of the Ferengi arms dealer played by Josh Pais in the DS9 episodes “Business as Usual” and “The Magnificent Ferengi.”
- Trek language creator Marc Okrand was a Romulan and Vulcan consultant on the film.
- The main titles were designed by Andrew Kramer. He also designed the main titles for FOX’s Fringe. [Working with Abrams means working with Abrams in the future for both cast and crew.]
- Two songs heard in the movie (”Josh Greenstein” and “Awasoruk Jam”) are listed in the as being “Written & Performed by Cyrano Jones.” As every Trek fan knows, Cyrano Jones is the name of the intergalactic trader responsible for introducing tribbles to the crew of the Enterprise in “The Trouble with Tribbles.”
- Lastly, the film is dedicated to the memory of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991, and his wife, Lastly, the film is dedicated to the memory of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, who died in 1991, and his wife, Majel Barrett Roddenberry, who died in December., who died in December.

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

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.

Star Trek World Premiere Tickets For Fans

Last week Paramount announced that the world premiere for Star Trek would take place at the Sydney Opera House on April 7th. At first it was described as an invitation only event but now Paramount has said that tickets will be available for fans that want to attend (assuming you live or willing to travel to Australia).

The event will be attended by Star Trek director JJ Abrams and several cast members include Eric Bana (Nero), Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock), and Karl Urban (McCoy). The tickets will be a limited allocation, but the number was not specified.

“Although we have a tremendous demand for tickets to this event, we are delighted to be able to make some tickets available to the general public so that they can share in the excitement of this unique World Premiere screening of STAR TREK here in Sydney,” said Mike Selwyn, Managing Director of Paramount Pictures Australia.

The limited allocation of tickets will go on sale from 9.00 a.m. Australian Eastern Daylight Time (AEDT) on Monday, March 30 and will only be available online via www.sydneyoperahouse.com or by phoning Sydney Opera House box office on +61 2 9250 7777.

Tickets will be $100 each plus booking fee and each ticket purchase will entitle the purchaser to a bonus souvenir STAR TREK theatrical poster.

Good luck to those trying to get the tickets.

Star Trek World Premiere In Australia

Paramount Pictures has announced that the world premiere of JJ Abrams' Star Trek will be at Sydney Opera House's Concert Hall on April 7th. The film will be rolled with JJ Abrams and cast members Eric Bana, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban along with 1,600 guests.

"This highly anticipated premiere marks only the third occasion that a film has debuted at Sydney Opera House and the first time a film has premiered in the Concert Hall at the acclaimed venue."

"Not only are we honoured to have J.J. Abrams and the cast here in Sydney for the World Premiere of the stunning new STAR TREK, we are also very excited to present this event at one of Australia's—and the world's—most famous locations, Sydney Opera House," said Mike Selwyn, Managing Director of Paramount Pictures Australia.

Makes you wish there was a contest or something to fly out a few Trekkies to participate in the premiere. On the bright side with that many early eyeballs, the reviews should start coming in shortly thereafter. Thanks to Brian for the link.

New Images of Enterprise's Interior

The official website has updated with a "Panorama" feature that allows you a 360 degree view of portions of the new USS Enterprise. The features include a zoom in feature so you can get a close look at control panels and other details. For now it is just "Corridor A" and "Corridor B" but more will be added later.

Star Trek Officially To IMAX

The IMAX Corporation has officially announced that Star Trek is coming to IMAX theatres confirming previous rumors.

"Star Trek", which chronicles the early days of James T. Kirk and his fellow USS Enterprise crew members, will be digitally re-mastered into the unparalleled image and sound quality of The IMAX Experience® with proprietary IMAX DMR® (Digital Re-mastering) technology. Paramount Pictures will be the exclusive distributor of the film to IMAX theatres worldwide.

"We're excited to share the enhanced IMAX version of this film with the millions of dedicated fans who have been anticipating this release since production began," said Rob Moore, Vice Chairman, Paramount Pictures. "The IMAX Experience adds that extra level of excitement to an already action-packed film, giving moviegoers a premium 'event' at the multiplex."

Added J.J. Abrams, "I'm thrilled that audiences will be able to experience this new, epic world of 'Star Trek' - with an incredible cast and mind-blowing visual effects - on what is, obviously, the most remarkable film format in the world."

"'Star Trek' combines top Hollywood story-telling talent with space exploration, and each is very conducive to The IMAX Experience," said IMAX Co-Chairmen and Co-CEOs Richard L. Gelfond and Bradley J. Wechsler. "Expanding our relationship with Paramount Pictures to include this film strengthens our 2009 slate, and with the continuing rollout of digital IMAX theatre systems, we will be able to offer the fan-base more locations to experience the epic first journey of the USS Enterprise in the most immersive way."

"Both 'Star Trek' and IMAX have taken audiences to far away places they would normally not be able to go, and in this case, it's space - the final frontier," added Greg Foster, Chairman and President of IMAX Filmed Entertainment. "J.J. Abrams has created a powerful movie that has fans worldwide feverishly anticipating its release. We are thrilled to partner with Paramount Pictures to bring J.J.'s exciting vision of this incredible space adventure to IMAX screens.

The movie will bow at IMAX theatres on May 8th, 2009.

Paramount Comments on Star Trek Move

Paramount has commented to the BBC about the move of the new Star Trek move from Christmas day to May 08, 2009.

From the article:

"Summer is where you see the Star Wars and the Transformers," said studio spokesman Michael Vollman. "Star Trek is in that league."

Paramount insisted the decision was a vote of confidence in the production and was not related to the recent Hollywood writers' strike.

"Star Trek is in fantastic shape. This is all about box-office potential," said Mr Vollman.

The film had been in production without its screenwriters available to make revisions.

The studio is aiming to release Star Trek on 8 May 2009, putting it in the middle of some strong competition.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine, starring Hugh Jackman, is scheduled to open a week earlier.

And a week after Star Trek will come The Da Vinci Code prequel, Angels and Demons.

Star Trek Release Moved To May 8, 2009

According to Variety, the release date of Star Trek XI has been moved from December 25, 2008 to May 8, 2009.

The move is pretty significant as the month of May is usually the biggest box office month of the year and often a huge sign of confidence in the potential of success a movie. For example, Spider-Man sequels, Pirates 3, Mission Impossible III, Shrek 3 and other huge movies in the last few years where released in May. More significantly, currently Star Trek has no new release competition for that date. On and I should mention the expected competition the following week is Angels and Demons, the sequel to The DaVinci Code.

The drawback of the change is that first week of release will be make it or break it for the franchise and any chance of further movies. With the studio's leap of faith with its biggest budget ever ($100 million) for the series combined with its high profile release date, if the movie fails to debut with boffo numbers chances are slim that they will greenlight another.

For you disappointed Trekkies, the extra 5 months will be long, but now that Star Trek is suddenly a summer tent pole movie for Paramount, the attention it be given will probably be unprecedented in the history of the Star Trek franchise which can hopefully only lead to good things in the future.

Note: The Poster pic is me using mspaint to modify the date, not an official new poster form Paramount. If grab, would like credit since don't want to ruin the image with a watermark.

Star Trek Budget Size

According to Moviehole, the budget of Star Trek XI has grown from a franchise high of $130 million to an even higher $150-160 million. The previous record was held by Star Trek: Insurrection with its $70 million budget.

It could be easily argued that probably the single biggest reason for the recent movie failures of the Star Trek franchise (other then lack of imagination) was the lack of budget to fully realize the existing visions of the film. The unspectacular death of Kirk (betting budget reasons), the eh ending to Insurrection, the crappy space fight in Nemesis (not the ramming, just the idea of the Enterprise holding its own against that large a ship, it should have been an armada vs Nemesis and Enterprise ramming it as a desperate gambit at the end of a losing fight with the carcasses of the armada floating in space).

I digress, but the point is that past films suffered tremendously do to lack of budgets (and story). Abrams will no longer have that excuse if this movie tanks. Considering the most successful box office movie was Star Trek: First Contact which took in $150 million worldwide, XI has an uphill battle. Its helped that back then that a lion's share of the box office came from US alone and now its 50-50 to 90-10 overseas depending on the movie. If this film doesn't make at least $300 million box office before its said and done, then its a good chance it could take the franchise with it for the foreseeable future.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog that will attempt to track the news regarding the upcoming Star Trek XI. The movie is rumored to be a prequel to the original Star Trek series that explains the "origin" of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. At least that's the rumor because the writers of the script, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, are being tight lipped as is everyone else involved with the film. Shooting is supposed to start this fall with a Christmas 2008 release date.