Star Trek To Return Christmas 2008 358
Tycoon Guy writes "Paramount today announced the new Star Trek film is scheduled for release on Christmas Day 2008. The studio also confirmed the film will be directed by J. J. Abrams, who said the film will 'embrace and respect' Trek canon, but will also 'chart its own course.' Also today, rumors are out claiming Matt Damon, Adrien Brody and Gary Sinise will play Kirk, Spock, and Scotty, respectively."
I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:3, Interesting)
What about a DS9 movie?
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Funny)
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Funny)
I hear Shatner is in negotiations.
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, what I found interesting as how much liked the Original Series. My wife got me the first two seasons on DVD for Christmas, and there are some episodes they made in the way-back-when which kick the crap out of anything that came later. The Doomsday Machine has got to be my favorite all-time Star Trek episode. You actually forget that they're battling a giant badly-rolled cigar.
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Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:4, Funny)
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:4, Insightful)
On the other hand, whether it sucks or not certainly has an impact on my enjoyment.
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Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Informative)
(Warning: spoilers)
At the end of the series, they dismantled basically the entire crew (Sisko ended up in the celestial temple/wormhole, Odo went to join the great link, Garek stayed on Cardassia, Dukat died, etc. They'd need to either use a different cast (which would suck) or come up with an excuse to reunite everyone (which would most likely seem ridiculously contrived), which makes a DS9 movie relatively unlikely.
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Informative)
1. Avatar 1-2
2. Section 31: Abyss (haven't read)
3. Gateways: Demons of Air and Darkness (haven't read)
4. "Horn and Ivory" from Gateways: What Lay Beyond (haven't read)
5. Mission Gamma 1-4
6. Rising Son (haven't read)
7. Unity
8. Worlds of Deep Space Nine (three books - haven't read)
Again, from the list above (cribbed from a post on trekunited.com by "wildcard1377") I've read seven of the books and only missed a few references while still enjoying the primary arc of the story. I'll get to the rest at some point when I have time to get down to the "big bookstore" and grab them up, but I definitely recommend the ones I have read to DS9 fans.
Re:MAT DAAAAA-MON MAT DAAAAAA-MON 8-O (Score:4, Funny)
Triumph robot dog voice: You have read this deeply into an article about the casting of a Star Trek movie.
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Dominion Federation War Movie (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:4, Insightful)
Well, since Babylon 5 is over, what storyline would they have to steal? I suppose the writers at Paramount could just ask JMS to please write a few more episodes, so they'd have something to copy from, but I hear he's pretty busy these days with other projects...
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Funny)
Starring Will Smith [imdb.com] as Cisco, Macaulay Culkin [imdb.com] as quark, and Wilmer Valderrama [imdb.com] as Dr. Bashir
Re:I've got a bad feeling about this (Score:5, Funny)
One correction... (Score:4, Funny)
"Fire the GOD DAMN PHASERS AT THOSE MOTHERFUCKERS."
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I don't want to see "Snakes on the Defiant"
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Gah (Score:2, Insightful)
oh good (Score:5, Funny)
It's great that the guy charting that course is best known for a show called LOST.
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Re:oh good (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063935/plotsummary [imdb.com]
So...serious?
Re:oh good (Score:4, Interesting)
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Fuck these casting people if these are indeed the actors for these parts. Here's a real winning lineup.
1. Kirk to be played by none other than Mark Wahlberg (for the Kirk-esque physique if nothing else)
2. Spock to be played by Christian Bale
3. Bones to be played by Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost, for the countr
LOST in space (Score:5, Funny)
Re:LOST in space (Score:5, Funny)
I don't get it: why is the latest Enterprise the NCC-4 8 15 16 23 42?
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Well, at least we can be sure that there will be a sequel, since most probably at the end of the movie people will just look to their neighbors and see that I-don't-have-a-clue-what-just-happened look on their faces.
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More properly, "Embrace, Extend, Exterrrrmmminnnnaate!!!"
Oh, that's gotta happen. Will Smith as The Doctor. Shatner as Davros. Wil Wheaton in a cameo with a red shirt.
Scotty != Bones (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Scotty != Bones (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Scotty != Bones (Score:5, Funny)
or
"This is normally a 5 hour surgical procedure, but I'll have you buttoned up in two!"
Comment removed (Score:3, Funny)
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Which Dax: Curzon, Jadzia, Ezri, or whatever host lived at the time of Kirk?
(If you just want to see Terry Farrell (the actress who played Jadzia), you ought to just hope she's in it as a different character.)
Fascinating... (Score:3, Funny)
Matt. . . (Score:2)
Re:Matt. . . (Score:5, Funny)
Damon, Matt..... so the Ferengi are in it too?
Lets just hope the audience doesn't just walk out screaming:
We've been Khaaaaaaaannnnnnneeeedddd!!!
Gary Sinise?!?!?! Gary Sinise?!?!?! Gary Sinise?!? (Score:5, Informative)
Oh jeez... (Score:2)
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Not too bad. (Score:2, Interesting)
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After having gone back and watched all of ENT (in order), I've actually come to the conclusion that it didn't suck after all. Perhaps it's still not quite up to DS9 or later-TNG standards, but I think it gives TOS a run for its money (that could also be due to the fact that I'm young, so I'm not viewing TOS through the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia).
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The Navigator (Score:5, Funny)
Funny One:
http://www.videosift.com/video/George-Takei-respo
I wonder who will replace our flamboyant navigator.
Good news! (Score:2)
Re:Good news! (Score:5, Funny)
Hey. Stop it. (Score:5, Insightful)
Quit it.
Star Trek was a fantastic series - heck, I enjoyed all of the runs, which is more than a lot of fans would claim - but if you want to bring back the brilliance and optimism of Roddenberry's world (FTA), you don't do it with a "when-they-were-young" storyline which would most assuredly contain:
1 - A necessarily predictable storyline, to the extent that we know who manages to pull through into their later years.
2 - Shameless references to the more familiar versions of the characters (e.g. A young Scotty trying unsuccessfully to fix a coffee machine and making references to a lack of available power OMGHILARIOUS.)
So yes.
Stop it.
Okay?
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kill it (Score:5, Insightful)
It was good, well in places it was great, but not everywhere, but all they are doing is trying to get more money from a story that has been told and retold until they are inescapably trapped in a quagmire of ever repeating storylines.
Enterprise was a good example. They assembled a team of great actors, then forced them to regurgitate shit storylines until even the diehard fans started to cry out in pain. Its the only star trek where if I see its on I won't flick over to watch it.
If they left it for a decade or three that might be good. Let the dust settle, let some fresh talent tackle the story in a new way.
Re:kill it (Score:4, Insightful)
-Graham
Re:kill it (Score:5, Interesting)
You clearly suffer from what I like to call "Bad Theme Song Syndrome." The theme song was so unbelievably not-trek that you couldn't get over that (and your misplaced nostalgia: no trek has ever been the height of literary greatness) and enjoy some good television.
Further, there was only one character who was static and uninteresting, but still miles ahead of the previous character played by Scott Bakula.
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Re:Hey. Stop it. (Score:5, Funny)
How about: "Star Trek: The Crusher Adventures", in which Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton, of course, who is about the right age now) uses his Traveller powers to explore far reaches of the Universe. During the first six or seven episode, Wesley roams the known part of the Galaxy to round up a crew of ultra-geniuses whom he can also teach the Traveller gifts. No Vulcans, since they are too "logical" for such advanced knowledge, and no Klingons because they are too stupid. Several humans, of course, such as Mature-Guy, Black-Guy, and Hot-Babe, and several aliens, such a Plaster-Face, Funny-Hair, and a CGI-generated energy-based lifeform. Perhaps even Orion-Slave-Girl. While originally being able to travel without any visible means of transportation, Captain Wesley decides in season 2 that it would be a good idea to have a cool ship, as a place to call home and to transport aliens and goods. As an hommage to his mentor, he calls it the USS Traveller.
I am joking, of course, but I would not be surprised to find that this has already been the subject of several novels and a whole lot of fanfic.
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Been there, done that. [wikipedia.org] Actually, come to think of it, there's no storyline that the Trek folks could come up with that someone won't say is ripped off.
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They aren't the most cunning warriors in the empire. They get in alot of trouble, sent on a mission to protect the backwater sectors. But it all works out in the end.
(Cameos by Dorn and Frakes)
Captain Riker: "These have to be the stupidest klingons I've ever met!"
First Officer Worf, holding forehead in his hand, just sighs...
Mostly as a Lone Gunmen-esque action comedy, complete spoken in thlinganHol with subtitles. It could work!
emmmm...No (Score:2)
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Re:Hey. Stop it. (Score:4, Funny)
- Scotty has wry humor and uses the sentence "I'm an engineer, Jim, not a *" all the time.
- McCoy maintains that logic is the answer to everything.
- Spock has slept with every female on the planet.
- Uhura can fix any machine in half the time she should be able to.
- Kirk is rarely seen without a metal dongle in his ear. And a mini skirt. Starfleet Academy wasn't his most glorious time, you see.
Also, every character who wears any kind of red uniform cannot be killed by any means whatsoever. Indeed, Starfleet is experimenting with ship plating made of redshirts.
I can't say those actors are a bad choice. (Score:3, Insightful)
Also TNG is good but yeah I'm not a circle jerk star trek loon (sorry guys, I know I should leave now)
honestly I don't see a need for anything to be re-made BUT - well gee wizz those 3 actors are pretty darn good for their roles.
could be interesting.
Boldly going where we went in the Sixties... (Score:5, Insightful)
So what does the franchise need? A couple years of laying fallow after the abysmmal Nemesis? (I am one of the few nuts who dutifully went to see that flick in theaters. I wanted to like it very badly. It was an even numbered Trek episode after all! But what did they give us? Picard expounding upon the appreciation of finer things in life, such as joy-ridding through pre-contact societies in a monster truck.) Well, Nemesis did suck, but its Enterprise that really killed Trek off. Sure, maybe it got better in its third season, but who was watching after the first two seasons?
Now, I'm sure we could debate the finer points of why Enterprise lost its audience for days. However, I would contend that there was one insurmmountable problem with the show that made it a sure fire failure.
TV Series #3 aboard the freakin' Star Ship Enterprise.
The Star Trek universe is vast and filled with limitless possibilities. Why keep going back to the same bloody ship? Give us a border-patrol ship with the rejects and misfits of the acadamy instead of a bunch of the same boringly perfect people. Heck, dive into the seedier side of the Trek universe. Give us a show about the orion syndicate or privateers. Heck, even Maquis terrorists would be a change. (Voyagers crew didn't really count since they were perfectly assimilated into perfect star trek life from day #1.)
Is this against Gene Roddenberry's vision? It's against his vision for the *first* Star Trek show. However, if the fellow were alive today I'm sure he'd realize it's time to move on and open up other aspects of the Trek universe instead of retreading the Enterprise yet again. Just because the setting is less than ideal doesn't mean your characters can't tell inspirational tales. (Likewise, despite its "perfect" setting one could easily critisize Enterprise for turning the Vulcans into hypocritical pricks and relentlessly extolling superiority of mankind like aryan suprecists.)
That being said, not only are we going back to the Enterprise (If not in this movie, certainly in the sequels, profits allowing), we're retreading the same characters! It's possible J.J. could make a good movie, but frankly, be choosing to do yet another retread of the same tired old Trek he's really making things more difficult for himself.
Re:Boldly going where we went in the Sixties... (Score:5, Funny)
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Just watch Firefly and imagine Star Fleet logos on the Alliance uniforms.
Gritty can be good, but it's not Star Trek (Score:5, Interesting)
The thing is, what sets Star Trek apart from other sci-fi shows is exactly that it isn't gritty and believable. It is sci-fi in a near-perfect universe. The ships are clean inside and out, and the uniforms are pressed immaculately (unless the bridge is already on fire). When an entire starship blows up, the crew of the Enterprise take it stoically. Whole wars go on, yet the main characters are mostly unaffected either physically or emotionally. Poverty is eliminated. Medical science can cure almost anything.
Compare and contrast with any of the other major future/space sci-fi series in recent years, from Babylon 5 to Battlestar Galactica. Consider the obvious plot device of killing off a character...
[[[Warning: Spoilers for early Star Trek films, early TNG series, Voyager finale, Babylon 5 season 4 and early reimagined BSG series follow]]]
In the TNG episode Thine Own Self, Troi is training to become a command officer, and is faced with a dilemma of sending a friend to his death to save the ship in a simulated test. In the Babylon 5 episode The Long Night, Sheridan sends a whole group of Ranger ships to certain death for real, with no guarantee that his plan will even work. He asks the captain of the lead ship whether he's married, after he's given the order. The episode later watches Sheridan sitting in his office listening to the radio chatter as they all die.
In the final episodes of Voyager, we see an alternate Janeway sacrifice herself for the good of her ship. It's brief, and then we're back to celebrating. In B5, Sheridan is told long before leaving for the Shadow homeworld that if he goes there he will die, and deliberately chooses to go anyway. The story arc of the consequences of that decision runs right up to the final episode, Sleeping in Light, set 20 years after the main story. That last episode contains one of very few TV moments that still brings a tear to my eye.
In one of the early Star Trek movies, Kirk's son is killed by a Klingon. Kirk swears and makes a pained expression. In BSG, Adama's son is killed in an accident, caused by the negligence of someone very dear to him, and we see the consequences and how they both have to live with it.
[[[End of spoilers]]]
You can look at many other issues from the series the same way. In Star Trek, we have hints of underclasses. In B5, we have the area of "down below", which features prominently in several episodes, where real people suffer real problems because of real mistakes. In Star Trek, when a shuttle is in trouble we bounce it off an atmosphere and tractor beam it home. In BSG, it crashes or explodes, killing or stranding whoever was on board, even if there are major characters involved. In Star Trek, admirals are good guys or traitors. In BSG, we have the whole Pegasus story arc, where very bad stuff happens because two good people have different perspectives.
Basically, the thing that makes the Star Trek franchise different from everything else is the fact that their universe is clean and tidy and full of good people Doing The Right Thing(TM) and with a happy ending to each episode. Many other series have done Gritty Realism(TM) already, probably better than anyone in the ST world ever will. They should not go there.
Resuming (Score:4, Interesting)
Resuming, it'll 'embrace and extend'. I just hope the warp drive keeps compatibility with earlier versions.
Film by committee (Score:5, Insightful)
I can't be too wrong that they will come out with a mix of references/cliches from the original series, in attempt to please the fans, and also try to modernize everything, to make it look plausible for a new audience.
The result would likely be something like the upcoming Transformers movie. Pissing off both the fans and the new audience looking for a serious movie in attempt to please both.
It doesn't matter however, since a new Star Trek movie isn't about movie making. It's about reusing a very very popular brand to sell many tickets. Even if it sucks, many people will go to see it.
Old news (Score:2)
This is an old rumor from StarTrek.com. I've known about for few months now. This article just confirms CBS' support for the fan movie.
I think any true Star Trek will be glad to see Rick Berman and Brannon Braga won't be involved in the movie. I hope JJ Abram calls in support from Majel Roddenberry if she can help out. No one knows Gene's dream better then her.
Also, check out StarTrek.com's article [startrek.com].
Maybe next year, CW will have some Trek marathons to advertise the new movie.
Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obligatory (Score:5, Funny)
Kirk: "Yes Spock, looks like we need a montage".
Probably another time travel episode (Score:3, Funny)
The plot: Kirk, Spock, and crew travel back in time to early 21st century Earth using the tried-and-true slingshot effect. They are arrested by police for their suspicious activities as they recon various historic landmarks in the United States. When a policeman removes the dew rag that Spock is wearing around his face, Kirk must convince him that Spock's appearance is due to a childhood accident in which his nose was caught in a mechanical rice picker.
Who are these uninitiated? (Score:3, Funny)
Guys, you've already lobbed ten of these over the fence and saturated 2nd tier television stations with reruns of the myriad TV versions. ANYBODY (okay, anybody who was older than 6 when the last one came out) who is likely to see this stinker is pretty going to have to know at least the basics about Star Trek - except perhaps for that Bedouin family that's been lost in the deserts of Cleveland since the Korean war ended 24 years ago.
Of course, they'll probably have to find a mysterious advanced technology device from the past, with a drawing of Kirk embedded in its design along side a warning. No worries, that's actually Kirk's sister. Spock's father will play a role in having deceived the Andorians into helping form the Federation, and his mother will have hidden his lost sister away behind a mysterious hatch on a jungle moon. Everything will go topsy-turvy when the Klingons take off their masks and turn out to have been from Secion 31 the whole time, and everything will end with no satisfying explanation having been given for any of this. But by that time, everybody will have forgotten why they entered the theater in the first place.
New Star Trek Movie? (Score:2)
* Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted!
* Reason: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
I just hope (Score:3, Funny)
Battlestar Dramatica? (Score:5, Insightful)
OTOH, if the Enterprise crew needs a showdown debating the finer points of depression, suffering, love triangles, class struggle, and generalized angst, Adama's crew will lick 'em good.
Just like bringing "I love Lucy" back (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:Just like bringing "I love Lucy" back (Score:5, Interesting)
Warships need to be hardened. The Galactica is the right idea - heavily shielded cables.
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To do the same kind of shock today would need a female Muslim character in charge of the photon torpedoes, a gay security chief, and a Frenchman for captain.
This Movie Will Rock If They Cast Ben Affleck As (Score:2)
Don't forget (Score:2)
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Re:Don't forget (Score:5, Funny)
Surprise news (Score:2)
Interesting Casting (Score:2)
A better casting for Spock (Score:4, Funny)
Kirk: Spock, what is your analysis of that space anomaly that is about to assimilate this ship?
Spock: Whoa!
They're too old (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Beating a Dead Horse (Score:5, Funny)
On a humorous note, imagine John Madden playing Spock:
Did someone say April 1st? (Score:2)
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And make it postapocolyptic?
Alright, between TOS and TNG, we added the holodeck, we fleshed out the transporters and assorted technobabble a LOT, formed an alliance with the Klingons, added cloaking technology, made the communicators tiny, eventually added a holographic version of the viewscreen -- and that's just what our own race discovered.
It wouldn't necessarily satisfy all Trek fans --
Re:Matt.. Damon.. as Kirk?! (Score:5, Insightful)
<trekkie>Actually, you'll find at least one episode in which Kirk switches bodies with a woman. That woman is Kirk, and most definitely is not played by Shatner.</trekkie>
But seriously, give the man a chance. It could be much worse -- at least they aren't trying to replace Picard. Matt Damon can laugh, I imagine he can act, and he certainly can do physical violence. All he really needs is the arrogant swagger. Because that's really what Kirk did -- swagger arrogantly, get his shirt ripped, beat up the alien, and fuck the hot alien chick -- in other words, just like Riker.
I don't like them replacing Kirk, but I don't think Matt Damon is such a bad choice.
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Besides, Riker was wrong. a lot. he did have a lot of obvious Kirk mannerisms, but he missed being a kirk-like figure by a large margin; Kirk was set up and described repeatedly as a Tactical Genius, War Hero, and the best problem-solver the fe
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