Week Six To Boldly Go Charity Video

Next up to promote the Star Trek To Boldly Go charity is Zoe Saldana and John Cho. I also believe this is the last week to donate for a chance to win a chance to visit the set in Vancouver, Canada.

Pine, Quinto Re-Up for Raise and Star Trek 4 as Star Trek 3 Nears Production Start Date

Star Trek 3 stars Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto have signed contracts that give them significant raises for Star Trek Beyond while also locking the pair down for Star Trek 4. Chris Pine went from under $1 million for the second Trek to $6 million while the the raise for Quinto was not mentioned but The Hollywood Reporter estimates that raises added an additional $10 to $15 million to the film's budget. The news comes just as Quinto and Zoe Saldana recently posted images of them going to costume fittings and what may be the beginning of principle photography based on some reports. However Star Trek 3 producer David Ellison spoke with Collider and said "we start shooting in 10 days and we're shooting in Vancouver and Dubai." More likely set and costume prep has begun in Vancouver as it seems unlikely filming would begin now to just have to close up shop for the Fourth of July weekend so the week of July 6th start date is more credible.

I have to admit I am very surprised by Chris Pine signing on to another movie as he and Zoe Saldana just seemed to really begrudge being part of Star Trek. It always felt like they were going through the motions, faking their interest but really only interested in the higher profile it brought them and it was just a matter of the order they bolted once their 3 film contract ended. Of course part of Pine's re-up could be because his other movie attempts have all fallen way short of expectations as the two Star Trek films are his most successful films to date. Meanwhile Saldana has Guardians of the Galaxy, Avatar 2 and 3 on the horizon. The article doesn't mention the state of her Trek 3 pay or a potential Trek 4 contract so I think its safe to assume she still has at least one foot out the door. Let's put it this way, if rumors start of a character death, I am just going to assume its hers (and nope no such rumor current exists and I am not trying to start one). Star Trek Beyond is set for release on July 8, 2016.

Saldana, Pegg Interviews, Movie Stills and Featurette

Star Trek Into Darkness is now less then a day away from release in the US. The marketing campaign continues. Collider has posted their Zoe Saldana interview from the London premiere here. She spoke about the set jokers, that learning Klingon was harder then Na'vi (from Avatar), and few other things.

Simon Pegg was interview by i09.com and as seem to be the case with him, the interviews seem more details (and somewhat spoilerish) and open then with the other actors. Its like his inner geek causes the interviews to geek out more instead of the often generic nothing questions the others get. In his interview he goes from talking about his "futuristic leisure suit", to talking about some of the Trek nods in the film, the motivation of Scotty pushing Kirk, how movie explores Kirk's too quick promotion, the utopian future of Trek, and Scotty's friend Keenser. That interview can be found here.

EW Star Trek Into Darkness Cover Story and Images

Entertainment Weekly has released images from their feature article that will hit newsstands on Friday (and available via Apple's Newsstand App now) to go with their covers. As usual with a JJ Abrams production nothing specific is revealed but below are the images and highlights from their cover story. One thing of note that has captured the attention of the blogosphere is EW's title to promote the issue as "Voyage Into The New Star Trek Kirk & Khan" that has since been changed to "Kirk and Spock". Some are seeing it as an accidental reveal of a key story point that Benedict Cumberbatch's real character name is Khan Noonian Singh. While I am on the bandwagon that this a true story point in the film, it has not been officially confirmed by anyone associated with Star Trek Into Darkness and I don't believe EW knows either. It was just an easy title to promote the issue and nothing more.

Highlights:

More from Cast on Star Trek Into Darkness

Below are two videos combining interviews with the cast of Star Trek Into Darkness as they talk about the film from Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood. Nothing story wise is really revealed only saying its bigger, better, and gets more into the characters.

Abrams Upset By Set Pics Leak

While at the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday, Zoe Saldana (Uhura) spoke to MTV about the set pictures that were leaked online Friday that potentially revealed a few secrets of the Star Trek sequel. "J.J. was very upset," she said. "I have to say that. It's not going to stop people from intruding, but they are, and it's such a bummer because it only hurts them by stealing away the surprise." Video after the break.

Star Trek Sequel Set Photos

Multiple online websites (MTV, Yahoo, PopSugar, & TooFab) have posted images (below) taken by On Location News of filming on the set of the Star Trek sequel. The images show Benedict Cumberbatch (main villain), Zachary Quinto (Spock), and Zoe Saldana (Uhura) on "a Space Barge set". The action shows Spock's Vulcan nerve pinch failing to subdue the big bad forcing a potential save from Uhura. TrekMovie spotted in the last pic an IMAX camera rig. This strongly indicates that the movie will have at least some real IMAX scenes (vs. post converted) when it comes out next year in 3D and IMAX.

The photos (below) reveal little but allow for a whole lot of fun speculation. Spock is in his blue Starfleet uniform, pretty sure Uhura is in her red Starfleet skirt (a nod to The Original Series), and Cumberbatch is wearing a black shirt that has a Starfleet logo on it or at least a faded version that indicates possibly the location of where the patch use to be before it was removed or ripped off. The villain also seems to be a human or an alien that was modified to look human (a spy?). The big bad also has the strength to take on a Vulcan and shrug off the nerve pinch, something a normal human would not be able to do. Shades of Khan? Or just highly trained?

Zoe Saldana Talks Trek Sequel at Sundance

While at the Sundance Film Festival, Zoe Saldana spoke with various websites about returning to the role of Uhura for the Star Trek sequel. She also briefly spoke about the Uhura and Spock relationship. As usual with anything regarding Trek, the JJ Abrams cone of silence remains in place so no details were provided.

The Vulture Blog:
Let's talk briefly about Star Trek 2. The studio let J.J. Abrams have a little bit more time than most directors would have to prep the sequel, but for a while there, were you like, "C'mon, I want to get back on the Enterprise"?
I kind of was, yeah. The film came out in 2009, we shot it in '07, and now it's 2012. So yeah, around last year, I was like, "Come on, come on already," because I had such a wonderful time working with J.J. and the cast and doing science fiction, which is my biggest passion and my preference as an audience and as a reader, too. But when you're around J.J. and you're around [Avatar director] Jim Cameron, you sense that there's this absolute consciousness that if they don't focus on the quality of what they do, then their formula's not going to work. That's the one thing they have in common; they're amazing storytellers, so J.J. probably would have fought for the time that he needed for the sequel.

Star Trek 2 Losing the "2"

Access Hollywood recently spoke with Zoe Saldana about the progress on the script for Star Trek 2. While she has not read the script, Access Hollywood's source (not Zoe, at least on the record) did to provide some information. Their source indicated that filming will start in mid-January and will not be called "Star Trek 2". This has not been officially confirmed but it does align with a goal to get the film ready for release either by Christmas 2012 or Summer 2013. As for losing the "2", that has been the norm for a while with Iron Man 2 being the only recent except that I can think of for the last few years. Since not news on the story, the universe is the limit on what it will be titled.

“We still haven’t gotten a script yet,” she said of progress on the film, which Access has confirmed with a source will begin shooting in mid-January, and won’t be called “Star Trek 2.” “We’re very excited to read it and get back into space.”

Saldana Considers Sequel Story Points

Zoe Saldana is making the rounds to promote The Losers that is about to hit theatres. While speaking with MTV, she pondered some of the story points that might be worth exploring for the sequel with the relationship between Uhura and Spock.

"It would be interesting to see what they are going to do with it," agreed Saldana, who expects to begin work on the film toward the end of this year. "I really hope they keep [the relationship] and continue to explore it.

"But at the same time too — this is coming from my mother, who is a Trekkie — I could be wrong, but I thought that Vulcans only mate every seven years," Saldana said, referring to Pon farr, which causes both Vulcan men and women to go into heat and forces them to essentially reproduce with their lover or die. "So now that the planet [Vulcan] has been extinguished, it's kind of interesting. Can Spock mate with a non-Vulcan?"

"His mom wasn't a Vulcan," [Loser's co-star Columbus] Short reasoned, "But he can still mate [with a survivor and help the Vulcan population]."

"It's OK [to consider such issues]," Saldana said to her co-star, agreeing to disagree on such geekiness until "Trek 2" comes together. "I love it."

Cast Continue Sequel Talk

As summarized by TrekMovie, three cast members from Star Trek have recently commented about their expectations for the upcoming sequel.

Karl Urban
Q: What do you think of evolution of your character is going to be like in the next “Star Trek”?
Urban: I have no idea. I just know it’s going to be good. I’m really looking forward to getting on board that one and I feel now we’ve introduced all these great characters. It’s going to be really interesting to see where we can take it.

Q: Have you made any requests to the writers about where you want your character to go?
Urban: No, I think that they’re geniuses and you should just let them do what they do. I have officially thrown a genius label on them. I’ve got full faith that whatever they come up with is going to equal and surpass the first installment.

Zoe Saldana

Zoe is hoping to make these films before she does “Star Trek 2.” “Within a month, we’ll have specific filming dates for ‘Star Trek 2,’ ” she revealed. “So we have to do whatever we have to do before the Enterprise comes calling.”

John Cho

I don’t think they’ve written anything yet, some of our writers are on other projects right now, so I don’t think any decisions have been made.

Saldana Provides Sequel Update

Zoe Saldana (Uhura) was at WonderCon this weekend to promote The Losers and while there provided a brief update on the Star Trek sequel and her hope that the sequel will provide more depth to her relationship with Spock.

From MTV:

I think ‘Star Trek. Because that one’s already going into pre-production soon…From what I hear, unless J.J., who’s always full of surprises, is fooling us and just carrying us along. But I do think we are going into pre-production this Fall, to start shooting early next year. And I have a feeling that Avatar is going to happen right after. I am so happy that I am going to play Uhura again and that I am going to playing Neyteri is wonderful, because I have not been able to part with them.

From io9:

I can only hope that in this next film there’s more depth to the Spock-Uhura relationship. And maybe I’ll get to kick some ass!

Her time table pretty much aligns with my guess on how things will shake out for production for the sequel. As always though, everything is subject to change.

Star Trek Cast Talk Sequel Character Development

TrekMovie.com has posted additional videos with various members of the cast of Star Trek as they discuss their ideas for what they would like to see in the sequel. The first video is with Leonard Nimoy (Spock). He believes it is unlikely he will be in the next movie as he served his role of bridging the old with the new and that to his knowledge Shatner has continued to avoid watching the movie. The second video is with John Cho (Sulu), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Karl Urban (McCoy), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and Bruce Greenwood (Pike). Sulu wants to "turn Sulu's battle internal", Zoe wants the opposite with Uhura kicking some butt, Quinto wants more explorations of Spock's dual heritage, Urban wants to evolve McCoy further as the triumvirate emerges, and Greenwood wants to Pike to be on the Enterprise and avoid the chair.

Leonard Nimoy


Cho, Saldana, Quinto, Urban & Greenwood

Saldana Expects More Uhura Action

Sequel talk for Star Trek continues with Zoe Saldana indicating that Uhura will do something rare for the character - which is actually engage in a fight.

"In Star Trek, I had so much fun, but the boys got all the action! J.J. [Abrams] promised me that I'm going to -- [that] in the sequel, she will have at least one little fight. I mean, just [let me] kick a guy in the groin or something!" Laughing, she revealed that there was an enormous ongoing e-mail list among the cast, Abrams, and the Trek producers where they regularly chat and joke back and forth.

My Star Trek Review

This is my first real attempt to do an in depth review of a film. There was two ways to go about writing this, one is as a diehard Trekkie" or as a fan of movies, which is really your choices when deciding to watch this movie. I decided to go with the latter as the first would probably come across as bitter and angry which I am not. Nor is it realistic to what Abrams and Paramount is trying to accomplish with this movie which is restart the franchise for a new generation. So here you go my review of Star Trek.


JJ Abrams Star Trek is a wildly entertaining summer movie that re-invents the Star Trek franchise as an action film. The movie is designed from the ground up to appeal to new fans but provides design, writing and character goodies for those lifelong fans to also enjoy.

The story itself is pretty simple, it is all about revenge and the famed crew of the Enterprise is all that stands between life and death. The movie is sold as a prequel but really it is just uses some rather massive contortions and serendipity moments to get a young cast with familiar character names together on the Enterprise bridge in the roles that most people are at least vaguely familiar with. There is a brief explanation of parallel universes and so forth but let us be clear, this is a complete re-launch of the Star Trek franchise and what came before is simply a place to grab ideas from. This film, in spectacular fashion, makes it clear at one point that it refuses to be beholden to what came before.

The character introductions, while entertaining and cute, really don't service the film in any meaningful way. Spock (Zachary Quinto) and James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) are given character arcs to illustrate growth but as written are without much depth and predictable. The villain himself, Nero (Eric Bana) has the highest body count in Trek history yet his story is weak and typical of a TV cop show where the bad guy kills because someone failed to save those he loved. I think the writers wanted you to feel sorry for Nero but you don't. He is simply there to point the Enterprise at and provide Kirk with a back-story that has some emotional depth. The rest of the core characters all play a useful part in the film in some form or fashion, something that can be difficult when trying to juggle nearly a dozen characters and give each a moment.

The reason the writing works though is because the acting, directing and special effects are executed pitch perfect. While die hard Trekkies may grumble, the actors inhabit their new roles rather well. Chris Pine retains the swagger and confidence that William Shatner brought to the role of Kirk but now there is a level of sadness and anger that Kirk rarely showed. Quinto simply is Spock. He manages to bring a huge amount of emotionally range to a character that is supposed to suppress all of his emotions. It is an honors level acting course in subtle acting through tone and facial expression that is throttled up or down as needed for a scene.

The supporting Enterprise bridge crew of John Cho (Sulu), Anton Yelchin (Chekov), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), and Simon Pegg (Scotty) all inhabit their roles as well as possible, making the most of the few moments they get to shine. At most, my only complaint is Chekov's accent and jokes are a little over the top and maybe the character should take voice lessons between sequels. Eric Bana does the best as he can with his role as the villain but has little to work with beyond look menacing, yell orders and remind viewers that he wants revenge. Leonard Nimoy, as "Spock Prime", exists in the movie to literally pass the torch to the new cast and as usual his very presence brings a gravitas to the role that Quinto doesn't yet have. His role is little more than a cameo but he makes the most of it.

In everything, there are homages to the Star Trek ideas of old. The Enterprise itself, with an exterior design that harkens back to the old design, is updated with a sleeker and more modern look. The bridge, with touch controls, clear screens and a massive view screen retains the center chair captain's chair and front navigator seat is full of lights and plenty of screens makes for an interesting if bright visual. The view screen itself was updated from an oversized television screen to a futuristic windshield (with heads-up display) as the saucer section is showing on the bottom of the screen much like the hood does in a car. The engines rooms retain a clean look but have that cluttered feel that convey a battleship design with pipes showing, stairs to climb, and levers all over the place that one would expect from such a location. The costumes retain the original series design of color denoting department, but now are more flattering and detailed.

Where this film really shines though is the action sequences, special effects and sound. The camera often flies into the action rather than above it, almost as if there was a camera mounted on one of the missiles roaring in to cause destruction. The space battles are not two ships trading single shots like in the other movies, but a burst of massive firepower as they open their arsenals in a fight for survival that causes damage on multiple fronts. The CGI work is spectacular is it captures the beauty of Star Trek with space, the ships and yet also perfectly captures the ugliness when that beauty is destroyed. This is also a film that needs to be with a good sound system as all that sound and fury needs to be properly enjoyed.

This film, while bringing a new look and feel to universe of Star Trek, doesn't forget where it came from with homages all over the place. From the costumes, to the sets, to even the sound on the bridge, there is love for what came before complete with a reprise of the Original Series score at the end. The score, by Michael Giacchino, is homage all by itself as it is full of familiar music from past Star Trek films and shows while adding his own sound to it. If there is one complaint I have about the score it is that it recycles some of his themes too frequently, probably a consequence of Giacchino's television background. However, it does its job, which is enhancing what is on the screen without getting in the way.

The film does have its issues. A lot of it is in the story as you are just expected to accept things just because. Nero was there for Kirk's birth, the somehow disappears for 20 years without explanation, happily returning in time to confront the adult Kirk. Cadets that are just about to graduate are promoted quickly and for no real reason other than they need to get them on the bridge of the Enterprise. The film heavily relies on coincidence to move things along such as Kirk stumbling across Spock Prime and Scotty or technology going form barely functioning to being able to do wonderful things at extreme distances depending on story needs. Another problem is lens flares. The film is full of them. If there is a light source, it is going to cause a lens flare at some point. It occurs in fights, on the bridge, in a hallway, everywhere. They go from an element of the look of the film to a flat out distraction.

The $100 million budget, larger than the previous three movies combined, is all there on the screen. The result is a very entertaining film that leaves you wanting a sequel but really forgetting about the movie moments after setting out of the theatre. The story is serviceable, the cast great, the characters interesting and the special effects spectacular. Star Trek is the perfect popcorn flick to forget the world for two hours. JJ Abrams achieved his goal of bringing a beloved franchise and introducing it to a new generation.

Even More Trek Interviews

More interviews from the Trek cast as they make the TV and print rounds.

Zoe Saldana on Jimmy Kimmel 5/6/09


John Cho on Jay Leno on 5/6/09


Abrams on Charlie Rose


Pine and Quinto


Abrams on Good Day New York

Bruce Greenwood - click link for complete interview

TrekMovie: What is interesting about your character is that even though it was originated by another actor, there was only the one episode. So did you find it was a little easier for you compared to the other guys, as you had a lot more freedom to work with?
Greenwood: There is less of Hunter’s Pike in the history, but having said that, and you know this better than anybody, once part of Star Trek, it is indelible. Whatever imprint you make can’t be undone. I went back and looked at Pikes dilemma as face by Hunter and then I realized it is very different than the dilemma that my Pike faces. Having said that, they are both tremendously passionate people. The risk I was taking was with Kirk and not with my own future per se.

TrekMovie: Fair enough. There is one decision he makes in the film that still has me scratching my head and this is probably a question for Bob [Orci], but when Pike makes Kirk first officer and Spock is like ‘are you joking?’ Did you ask Bob or JJ why is he doing this? Did it make sense to you?
Greenwood: It made sense to me. What I intuit about Kirk’s ability to command can hardly be put into words. It is just that sense that the kid is incredibly rough and has a terrible bedside manner and can be abusive as with the scenario. I was not happy with the scenario [Kobayashi Maru]. We shot something in which I said to him as we are walking away after we get the emergency call, we shot something where I say "cheating is not winning." I had a long conversation with JJ About that and because I felt it was important for Pike to let Kirk know that this was not evidence of a perfect mind — this was not particularly impressive. On a technical level yes, but in terms of the lesson that he was meant to learn, it was more like what Spock says. Having said that, he has a sense of what it is going to take to prevail that is informed by his gene pool.

Simon Pegg gives Scotty a bio

Montgomery Scott was born on March 3rd 2222, in Linlithgow, West Lothian. His parents eventually moved him and his brother Robert to Aberdeen, where his sister Clara was born. An exceptional student Scotty (or Mad Monty as his friends called him) was advanced forward several years in the educational system, meaning his intellectual peers were all at University age, whilst he was a mere 14. As a result, he spent much of his time crawling the pubs of Aberdeen with is friends, drinking and getting into fights about thermodynamics and quantum mechanics with men twice his size. At the age of 16, he came to the attention of professors at the Advanced Relativistic Physics Department at Glasgow University, after disproving the Prerera Theory (regarding photon torpedo detonation) and was transferred to study there for a year (where he really picked up the accent) before being accepted to Starfleet Academy on a scholarship. However he deferred his placement in favor of practical experience in space, working aboard mining ships and freighters, in particular the USS Deirdre, where he fell in love with engineering. Eventually he attended Starfleet and finished top of his graduating year, although the honor was later stripped due to disciplinary action taken against him due to “highly speculative and dangerous experiments with matter transfer”.

Thanks to Brian for the Zoe and Cho links, and TrekMovie.com for the rest.

More Cast Interviews

The Star Trek cast is making the rounds to fill theatre seats for tomorrow's night opening of the movie. Below are snippets from each but click the links to read the whole thing.

Zachary Quinto - Two video clips from ABC. The first clip is an interview were Quinto discusses the movie, becoming Spock, and Trek tradition. After a commercial break, the second clip airs wtih Quinto talking about what would be on Spock's iPod (classic rock and Bob Dylan). Thanks to Brian for the link and info.

Karl Urban (Leonard "Bones" McCoy)

Did you and JJ sit down and decide to go that route with Bones –to make him the one that would be the closest to the original?
Urban: No, actually. We never really had that conversation. As a long-term fan I felt it was important to see some semblance of continuity to the wonderful work Mr. Kelley had done. And really, to me, it is about the character’s attitudes. And there is a certain specific way that the character of McCoy reacts in certain situations and I really could only do my version of what that could be. There were certain character traits that were keys for me. Finding a voice was important. I remember JJ coming up to me one day and he says "what you are doing is wonderful, it is not DeForest Kelley, but it is something that is Bones, but it’s different, and keep on doing what you are doing." I had a lot of fun working on this character. I got to do and say some fun things. I am just very grateful that the character has gone down well thus far. I look forward, if I get the opportunity, to continue to develop it in further installments..

TrekMovie: As a fan. what was your biggest fanboyish moment in making this movie?
Urban: I think it was meeting Leonard Nimoy and being on set the very first day that he became Spock again, the first time in seventeen years. to be this close, as I am to you, to an actor and character of such iconic status who you have enjoyed and has been part of your childhood — to be that close to him was such surreal moment. To hear him deliver those lines in that Spock cadence — I’ll never forget it. I feel very privileged to be part of it and blessed that he was part of our film.

John Cho (Hikaru Sulu)

TrekMovie: Once you got the script, what was it like for you, since Sulu is a little different than he was in the show and has a lot of action. Were you nervous about that or excited?
Cho: A little bit of both. I was thrilled he was out of his chair and getting into the mix. If I had one complaint about the old show, as an Asian-American, I wanted to see Sulu get involved a little more and kick some booty. And this is it, this is happening. I can’t believe I am fulfilling my own personal dream and having Sulu shaking it. And secondly, I was like ‘I have never done this before’, I have never done action before so it was a completely different way of working for me, where I led with my body. Strangely, that stunt work we did a couple of months prior informed everything else. I was surprised by that. That the way my body changed as a result of doing all that training, kind of made me a different person. I was like ‘I like this, I am going with this’ it was a little like an Academy experience for us. It informed how I sat in the chair, how I attacked every line. It was surprisingly useful.

TrekMovie: You talk about getting back into the chair. You and Anton [Yelchin] still do a lot of ‘in the chair’ work in this movie. So you and he worked out some system so you know what does what at that consoles? Like you guys have figured out a system where you know what to do if Kirk says ‘fire the photon torpedoes’?
Cho: Not precisely, but vaguely, yeah. We made decisions and it was building from scratch. I went in there and I called JJ over and I was looking at the set and I said ‘what is the language?’ I realized we are setting something here, we have got to feel confident going forward. The set was an in interesting mixture of the digital vibe of the original show, and kind of the — I hate to bring this up — but the analog vibe of Star Wars. The bumpiness and used feel and the real dials. It was funny, Star Trek was such a smooth sleek view of the future and how do you combine that. Do you depress things? We could have gone in a bunch of ways. We relied on the touch screen more than anything else.

Zoe Saldana (Nyota Uhura)

TrekMovie: You mention kissing aliens, so I can’t help but bring up something. I would say as a Trekkie it was the most surprising thing about this film. Were you nervous about the love connection with Spock and tell me how you prepared for it.
Saldana: I thought JJ [Abrams] was out of his mind when he and Bob Orci and Alex Kurtzman decided to take that route. My concerns was what effect it was going to have on the fan community and whether or not it was going to go according to what they had known for so long. But at the same time there was no way to disprove that something like that had taken place before on the Enterprise. So after I gave myself that permission I allowed myself to go back to the script and read the story and focus on these characters and their journey and it made perfect sense to me. He is half human, half Vulcan, at some point if he was only going to be a Vulcan man, then why even make him half human. You are constantly waiting for him to break. It is that battle that makes Spock who he is and connects Spock to the beautiful friendship he has with Kirk and keeps him connected on a sensitive level when it comes to life. And I felt Uhura was a very commanding and — Nichelle [Nichol]’s Uhura was just so sexy and she always had things together and she had a swagger to her that was absolutely sensuous but confident. And she had already gotten there. I couldn’t necessarily start here there because there would be no journey for her. She was definitely very determined and a very strong woman and really wanted to be on that Enterprise and be the xenolinguistics expert since she was like five years old. So who else but Spock for her to look up to and have an infatuation with, more than Kirk.

Zachary Quinto (Spock)

TrekMovie: I know that you have tried to make this role your own, as directed by JJ and as Leonard [Nimoy] understood. But what would you say is the most different about your interpretation of Spock, and on the other hand what would you say was the most the same?
Quinto: I will take the second part first. I think there are a number of characteristics of Spock that are inextricable from who he is and what his heritage is and what his cultural history is. There is a certain way he carries himself and a certain way that he speaks and way that he relates that is defined ultimately by Leonard, but more than that, by the history of the mythology of the character. For me that was the part of the character that was most similar to the version that Leonard played. I think the versions that were different is that that he is much less at ease about his duality. He is much more in conflict internally and I think he has much less control over the stirrings of his human emotion, and that allowed me a little bit more room to play with then many Leonard felt he had with his experience with the character.

TrekMovie: How did you prepare to literally go where no Spock has gone before? It is very new territory.
Quinto: [laughed] It is new territory, but I think it is very important to our movie. On one hand, I think it infuses the story with a certain levity and a certain humor between Kirk and Spock and this sort of rivalry. Between Kirk and Uhura there is this sort of cat and mouse thing going on. And that is the source of a lot of laughs for me. I think between Spock and Uhura it actually provides a sort of depth and complexity to these characters and relationships that adds a kind of value to this movie and sets it apart from what has come before it. Uhura represents a canvas onto which Spock is able to project the emotions he cannot express. To that end I think it is a valuable device and I think it is well laid in to the evolution of this story and I hope that it is not too disruptive to the die-hard Trek canon fanatics.

Eric Bana (Nero)

Let's talk about your character, Nero. He has such a tragic back story. Did you ever feel like a tragic hero?
That's a good question. Tragic hero? I guess to a degree. I never really saw him as a villain, even though he sort of performs that function for the drama of the story. To me, yeah, he was Nero, leader of the Romulans who has been wronged and is seeking revenge, and that's kind of how I see him so I think. Yeah, I like your description.

I'm curious about your movements in character. You're very aggressive and strong, did you come up with any of those reactions and jumps yourself or was it all planned out?
Some of them were a bit spur of the moment. It was a pretty intense character. I passed out, I think, once during one of the takes, I got so carried away. Lost about twenty seconds, down on the floor, and got up, and the camera was still rolling and it was like, "I guess I just continue now." Um yeah. It was pretty crazy.

Star Trek Interviews of the Day (with Video)

Star Trek cast and director JJ Abrams are making the rounds this week promoting Star Trek that is premiering this Thursday at 7:00pm nationwide. Below are a series of link, summaries, and videos to various interviews. There is one from Nimoy that I am going to cover in a separate post.

IGN interviews Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto - They talk about the characters and working on the film and Quinto talks about working with Nimoy. Thanks to Brian for the link.

Orci and Kurtzman Talk Writing Trek with Time - An intentionally amusing interview where two freelancers try to "duplicate" the duos ability to work together to write a new Trek script that pretty much steals from everything. Not able to embed it so click the link to view.

Orci and Kurtzman Interview with First Showing - I was just thinking "I want that Tron Arcade machine" for a lot of the interview which is nearly 30 minutes long and covers a wide range of Trek writing topics and why some ideas where used for the movie.

Alex Kurtzman & Bob Orci Interview - Star Trek from FirstShowing.net on Vimeo.

JJ Abrams on Colbert Report - The Star Trek director showed up on last night's show. Colbert lets the Trekkie flag fly a bit Abrams approach to the movie, directing some of the characters such as Spock and solving puzzles. Oh and Colbert in Nero makeup.

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Pine, Quinto Interview Each Other - This video didn't work for me but posting it just in case it gets fixed.

Simon Pegg Interview from Collider.com - Entertaining two-part video interview with Simon Pegg (Scotty) he discusses the press junket, playing Scotty, the Hollywood premiere, among other things.

Abrams on Opie's Eye - Video of Abrams on the radio program discussing how newbie friendly it is.

Cast on MTV - Brief interview with MTV where Pine, Quinto and Saldana comment briefly working on the movie.

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?

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.