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Bringing the Cool Back to 'Star Trek'

posted: 259 DAYS 8 HOURS AGO
comments: 34
filed under: Movie News, TV News
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Star Trek
EW
The most famous nerd-fare of all time, 'Star Trek,' has spawned 5 spin-off TV shows, 10 feature films, hundreds of novels and literally thousands of Fan Fiction stories, a themed Vegas attraction, comic books, parodies, and multiple documentaries about fans of the 'Star Trek' universe - and all because of a huge and rabid fan base. Chances are, if you're not a Trekkie, you know one... whether or not he or she admits it. Despite the growing number of fans for a 40-year-old franchise, it's not cool to love 'Trek.' Yet. That's where J.J. Abrams comes in.
The unassailably cool creator of 'Lost' and 'Fringe' is bringing 'Star Trek' back for a new theatrical release in May - it's a prequel to the original series, with a hot, new cast including Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, and Chris Pine. Entertainment Weekly snagged a visit to the set -- Read their exclusive interview to learn how J.J. Abrams brings the cool back to 'Star Trek.'
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EWs 'Trek'-xclusive

    'Star Trek' hunk Chris Pine is seen here in this exclusive outtake photo from Entertainment Weekly.

    Entertainment Weekly

Here are some of the highlights from the Entertainment Weekly interview.
J.J Abrams on the appeal of making the 'Star Trek' movie:
"I don't think people even understand what Star Trek means anymore."
"I think a movie that shows people of various races working together and surviving hundreds of years from now is not a bad message to put out right now."
"In a world where a movie as incredibly produced as The Dark Knight is raking in gazillions of dollars, Star Trek stands in stark contrast. It was important to me that optimism be cool again."
Zachary Quinto (Spock) on 'Trek' and politics:
"This is a franchise that offers hope for unity — and so does Barack Obama. When this movie comes out, and Obama is president, hopefully there will be some parallels."
J.J. Abrams on William Shatner's YouTube post on being left out (though his character died in a 1994 film):
"I don't know how my life has become a thing where William Shatner talks to me through YouTube. I was such a huge fan of his, but we wrote a scene for him in the movie and it didn't feel right. And he said to us — he said publicly — that doing a cameo didn't interest him. Which I totally appreciate. But we did try."
2008-10-16 14:43:34

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STaRgAzEr33154

04:53 PMNov 01 2008

Stark Trek has always been cool..Loved watching the original series as well, even though it was way before my time..don't think the new movie will be as good as the others..the new group of actors have some pretty *big shoes* to fill...long live Trekkies!!! to the one poster..yes Star Wars is great too, but both shows/movies are totally different story boards concepts..there's room for both!!

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thealphacenturi

04:44 AMOct 18 2008

Craigslistaka - He's not "knocking" Shatner anywhere, that's dumb to even imply. BTW, most of the fanbase have been knocking Shatner on their own for a while!

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thealphacenturi

04:39 AMOct 18 2008

Okay, here's to replying to some of the comments.Caddblue: You need to do some research on the actors ages, you'd find that many are in their mid to late 20 all the way up to 40. So they ARE all "in the middle." Not to mention Leonard Nimoy who is in his late 40s.ChellEss - How or what purpose would Kirk's resurrection serve? His death has probably been turned to ashes on Verdian 3. It's a Spock centric story.Bpickering316 - Unless you have something to back that up, then don't bother.Cloakndagger55 - That's Entertainment Weekly's doing. They do a lot of airbrushing to their photo subjects.Sdave7596 - That makes no sense, sorry. The original Star Trek had it's "pretty boys." So.. no.

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Sdave7596

11:02 PMOct 18 2008

Never was a "Star Trek" fan, but the movies featured many of the original performers. Now the anwer is to bring in two pretty boys?

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Gobluespartyon

03:12 PMOct 17 2008

Star trek sucks the whole series from TV show to the movies will Star Trek over end, I do like the actors. Star Wars is million times better than Star Trek May The Force be with Star Wars. Hereos is awesome TV show better than Star Trek ever was.

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Cloakndagger55

02:58 PMOct 17 2008

Talk about pancake makeup. It's so bad it could be bisquick. Spocks' whole head looks like it's plastic. Are you sure that's not an action figure?

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Bpickering316

08:40 AMOct 17 2008

This movie will kill what is left of the Star Trek franchise.

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CaddBlue

07:45 AMOct 17 2008

Why do they choose such young actors. Gheesh! Your either 20 or 65 these days.What happened to all the people in the middle?

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Chell Ess

03:00 AMOct 17 2008

He didn't try hard enough- to get Shatner. I suspect the whole film won't "feel right." These guys look like they're dressed for Halloween. I think Kirk's "death" on film was stupid, and maybe Shatner deserves to be punished for taking the money to play that scene. I'd prefer it if they're doing this film, they resurrected Kirk and had him appear alongside Nimoy as Spock. So I'm not excited about this film.

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Arvig

01:36 AMOct 17 2008

Elk521 posts this: "If this is About a Movie , Just what the Hell Does Onama have to do with this...Well Unless it's a BOMB LIKE OBAMA IS."Amazing, how your post manages to be right on target by asking WHY Obama (or even Onama. :P ) was mentioned, and then in the next line manages to fail epically by missing your OWN point and bashing Obama. WHY should ANYONE comment about Obama, McCain, Biden, Palin, or any other politician in a post about a Star Trek movie? And before people say anything, yes I'd say the EXACT same thing if the post was bashing McCain. I am VERY non partisan when it comes to pointing out the banal stupidity of political bashing.

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