TVSquad

I knew that the new Star Trek movie was going to be an origins story, but I didn't realize how far back they were going to go.

The first trailer (not counting that lame teaser trailer that debuted months ago and was only aimed towards hardcore fans who get off on Enterprise blueprints) for the movie is now available. It is attached to some copies of Quantum of Solace (though, sadly, not the place where I saw QoS the other night, damn it) and Paramount has also released the official version online so we don't have to sit through YouTube videos that someone shot in a dark theater.

Some images are up at EW.com for the new Star Trek movie starring Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock. There are also some interviews in the along with an article pushing the revamp of the franchise.

It was a mistake pushing the release of the movie from Christmas Day 2008 to May 2009. This sort of movie would do much better in a December release. Now Star Trek will simply be another movie among all the other summer tentpoles.

In the article, J.J. Abrams describes himself more of a Star Wars fan than a Star Trek fan and that may be reflected in the movie. I'm ambivalent about that idea. On one hand, Star Trek always seemed more a thinking person's franchise whereas Star Wars was always about fights, chases and space explosions. On the other hand, fights, chases and explosions seem to be more popular in sci-fi movies than cogitative fiction.

Star Trek: Enterprise didn't work so well as a prequel. Let's see if this movie does better.

Since it's Star Trek Week here at TV Squad (the original series, that is), I thought I'd post the first official teaser poster ads for the movie that show what Chris Pine and Zachery Quinto look like as James. T. Kirk and Spock.

Now, it's wrong to judge a book by its cover, or in this case a movie from a teaser poster. But if we can judge the movie on the casting of one of the major parts and/or the makeup used on that actor, then this movie looks awesome. Quinto (Sylar on Heroes) is a terrific choice to play a younger Spock. I say "younger" and not "young" because Quinto is only a few years younger than Leonard Nimoy was when he debuted as Spock on NBC in the 60s. There's not a lot of info about the plot of the movie, only that it takes place before the original show and involves Starfleet, so I'm not sure exactly how young Kirk and Spock are supposed to be (plus we're talking about a half Vulcan here so getting into those details are probably pointless).

But what about the guy playing Kirk?

To many people, William Shatner is a beloved TV icon. To others, he's a shameless self-promoter, a commercial pitchman for everything from margarine to hotel rooms. Few feel neutral about Shatner, so this story may come as something of a surprise. William Shatner rarely watches himself on TV and film. Like a lot of actors, when he works, he's in the moment and doesn't go back and study what he did and why. It's been working for him. As Denny Crane on Boston Legal, he's won two Emmys in the last three years.