New Kirk and Spock Talk about Star Trek

By Broadside Staff Writer Patrick Wall

Photo Courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic.

“Space, the final frontier...”

These are the words that changed science fiction and entertainment, as we know it.
For over 40 years, Star Trek has captured the imaginations of audiences the world over. On May 8, director and producer J.J. Abrams will bring the popular series back to the big screen with his new film based on the Trek series.

Instead of creating a new storyline for the series, Abrams’ chose to create a prequel focusing on the young crew of the USS Enterprise as they embark on their maiden journey. While he acknowledged the history and intense fandom that accompanies the series, Abrams wanted to make a film everyone could enjoy.

“What I hope with this movie is that you never have to have seen anything about Trek before to really enjoy a comical, romantic, suspenseful adventure,” Abrams said. “But that it also does proud the lasting, brilliant world that [Trek creator] Gene Roddenberry created.”

With a young set of characters comes a young cast. For Chris Pine, the actor tasked with re-imagining William Shatner’s role of Captain James T. Kirk, individuality was important.

“It was incredibly overwhelming to step into Mr. Shatner’s shoes and the whole canon of Trek film and television history.” Pine said. “The challenge was to make it my own.”

Zachary Quinto, whom Heroes fans will recognize as Sylar, had some help for his role of Spock. Leonard Nimoy, who famously played Spock for close to 30 years, co-stars in the film. “I didn’t really feel [the] pressure because Leonard was involved actually and was so supportive of me from the beginning.” Qunto said.

With 10 films and over 40 years of television history preceding Trek, expectations are high. But those involved insist fans will be pleased. Early reviews have been positive, but it will ultimately be the fans who decide if the movie can stand with the others in the hearts and video collections of the Trek faithful.

Recently, Quinto and Pine talked about their new roles and revealed some need to know information about the new Star Trek.

Q: Given that you are living up to a pretty big legacy left behind by the original actors William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, people are obviously going to be comparing the two of you to them, so what sort of pressure did that put on you when making the film?

Quinto: I didn’t really feel that pressure because Leonard was involved actually and was so supportive of me from the beginning and because I had such faith and trust in J.J. and the creative team behind the movie.

Pine: It was always about making this particular version of the movie as great as we could—as best as we could make it.

Q: It’s safe to say that Star Trek has a few fans. So what do you think like you know a real, true [Fan Boys] of the series are going to think about the new movie?

Pine: I think they’re really going to enjoy it. I think you know the—the general counsel that we had behind the scenes was I think indicative of exactly what people are going to find.

You know, we had J.J. who’s kind of the self professed non-fan but then we have—had, you know, these great protectors of cannon like Bob Orci and Damon Lindelof that were making sure that what we were doing, you know, paid tribute and homage to the—to the—you know, again to the minutiae of the original series and to really the—the themes that Gene Rodenberry expressed in the original version.
But then we had, you know, new life—you know, breathed into the series with J.J. who I think—whose perspective is—you know, it’s exactly what he brought to Mission Impossible 3 which is a great sense of character, a great sense of relationships and establishing the characters before—before taking care of the spectacle and the effects of it all.

Q: So at what point were you convinced that this film has the potential to break through the original cult following?

Quinto: I mean the goal was always to—to break through the cult following and draw other people into the experience of the movie. And the point at which I realized that that was possible and/or likely was just when I saw it.

Because I wasn’t—I wasn’t really a Star Trek [fan] growing up myself. And you know as objectively as I could possibly see this film I saw it as a movie, not as a Star Trek movie you know?