In May of 2009, the 11th movie in the Star Trek franchise, simply called “Star Trek“, will make its debut. It’s being directed by J.J. Abrams of “Lost” and “Cloverfield” fame, and unlike previous Trek movies this is going to be a prequel to, well, just about everything (except Enterprise with Scott Bakula). It’s going to be a “re-imagining” of the original series which in and of itself is quite controversial among hardcore Trekkies like myself. The Enterprise itself, along with places, characters, relationships, and back stories are all going to be tweaked.
The plot of Star Trek, while not fully publicized yet, is to tell the story of how James Kirk (played by Chris Pine) came to join Starfleet, meet Spock (played by Zachary Quinto), and become the youngest, most infamous captain in Starfleet history. All of this under the guise of a time travel story in which the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy) sets things in motion by going back in time and meeting with the young Cadet James T. Kirk at Starfleet Academy on Earth.
As I said above, there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the plot and the re-imagining of a number of things about the Star Trek universe. For example, one of the major sticking points is that the primary enemy in the movie will be a Romulan named Nero (played by Eric Bana). While the Romulan race was well-known when Kirk was in the academy (see the Earth-Romulan War for more on that), factually speaking no one had ever seen what a Romulan looked like until the Original Series episode, “Balance of Terror“, in which we all discover that Romulans look just like (and in fact are directly related to) Vulcans. That’s a big change to what is considered to be “Trek Canon“.
Another controversial change to the canon of Trek is the location of the USS Enterprise’s construction, based on the theatrical trailer. It appears that, despite the fact that the original Enterprise’s dedication plaque says it was built in San Francisco on Earth, the trailer seems to point out that the Enterprise was constructed in the middle of rural Iowa, where Kirk grew up. This could be untrue, however, as it’s not entirely clear from the trailer although it looks very much like it’s in Iowa.
Among other things, the design of the Enterprise (pictured above) is noticeably different. Personally, I love the new design. It makes a lot of sense given what technologies we have now versus what was believed to have been possible back in the 60′s. A lot of the design elements make sense from a continuity perspective as well. For example, the change to the warp nacelle struts – much thicker and angular than the original – gives a more realistic sense to the kind of load that they could bear versus the old struts that seemed to be extremely thin and undersized.
The look of the new bridge (pictured above & below) is a huge diversion from the original design – or of any Star Trek bridge design for that matter. First and foremost, the forward viewscreen on the bridge isn’t a solid piece of metal but indeed a large, wide window that has a projection/holographic overview displayed on it. It’s quite amazing and really gives you a sense of openness. The new bridge is also a very sterile white, unlike the original bridge which was grey and surrounded by very harsh red and black elements. It gives it a more open feel and in some ways makes me think of how the interior of the Space Shuttle looks – very clean, very white, very efficient.
So, will it stand up to the expectations of hardcore Trekkies like myself? Will it be a box office flop? Will it actually attract a diverse, non-Trekkie audience like J.J. Abrams is aiming for? I hope so. I’d really like to see the Trek franchise start up again. Living without new Trek for these last few years has really sucked and I for one look forward to new stories that boldly go where no one has gone before.
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