Refusing to rest on laurels earned anywhere from a few years to decades earlier, Hollywood found a way to revive interest and eventually capitalize on old, tired stories – or stories that just can’t go any further – using fresh new casts to showcase the how-it-all-began story called the prequel.
Most notably, George Lucas found this technique particularly useful when he created the Star Wars prequels with episodes I – III. Was Darth Vader scary? Well, Darth Maul makes Vader look like Mike Brady.
It was only a matter of passing star dates that the original James T. Kirk and Crew would get a good dusting off and Star Trek (or possibly Star Trek XI for the uber Trekkies) is the result. Now Sci-fi geeks everywhere will learn exactly how James Tiberius Kirk got to be captain of one of the most famous Star Fleet vessels ever to go where no one had gone before.
The Crew You Know and Love
Spock, Dr. “Bones” McCoy and of course the infamous intergalactic ladies man – Captain James T. Kirk are all here. This movie – coming off the 7 year old heels of Nemesis, the final film in the franchise to star the cast of the Next Generation and 15 years after the last movie with the aged crew of the original series.
So Trekkies rejoice – on May 8th, 2009 for the first time since sipping Romulan ale in front of that console television, hearing the signature, sparkly theme and the echoing voice of the captain, “Space…the final frontier," the greatest space story ever will finally be told - from the beginning.
In the early days, the sometimes poor acting, cheesy set designs and obvious California back-lot outdoor scenes passed off as some distant planet with a name impossible to spell were overlooked.
Today, there will be none of that…spoiled by spectacular special effects generated by sophisticated computers and make-up designs applied by the most accomplished artists in the biz. Star Trek promises and delivers all the splendor of Hollywood at its best.
The Boy Who Would be Captain
Star Trek takes a trip back to the earliest years of a mischievous, authority-figure-challenged boy…a boy who gazed into the stars knowing that one day he would be up there…exploring…finally finding “his place” in the universe. A boy who would enter Star Fleet Academy and remove the shackles that confined him to his own tiny world.
Meet the young Vulcan Spock, who is as stubborn as his commanding officer and much more emotional than the Leonard Nimoy character known in the original series. Spock’s emotional outbursts are induced by the young James Kirk…and that appears to be why they have such a strong bond – a symbiotic relationship beginning with two young hot-shots; decidedly different from their peers.
A Legendary Crew - All New Faces
File in the rest of the old favorites - engineer Scotty, Dr. “He’s Dead Jim” McCoy, Sulu, Uhura and the Russian navigator Pavel Chekov. It has all the makings of a great film that tells an even greater story – one that Trekkies the world over have been waiting many moons to see. Leonard Nimoy even makes a guest appearance – much to William Shatner’s chagrin…he wasn’t asked to appear.
Not much else is known about this movie outside of sneak peaks in the trailers. J.J. Abrams is the man behind the machine and he’s managed to keep it very hush-hush. Outside of a few whispers from untrustworthy insiders and a cracked door or two during editing, no one has seen nor heard enough to offer anything concrete in terms of plot or action...or even how many groovy intergalactic hotties Kirk manages to bring back to his ready room. What is known is that the heroes are going be pitted against a Romulan terrorist named Nero - who tries to wreak havoc on Star Fleet's careful balance in his rise to power. In May the whole plot will explode on the screen in this 11th installment of Star Trek.
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