“I can’t wait to do this,” proclaims J.J. Abrams, the man behind the hit ABC SF series “Lost” and the Tom Cruise “Mission Impossible III” movie.
Those were the words Abrams used to describe his enthusiasm after leaving a panel he served on at the recent New York Times’ 6th Annual Arts & Leisure Weekend. Of course he was referring to the production that is finally underway for the highly anticipated next big-screen film in the Star Trek franchise.
One of the biggest reasons fans and critics alike are eager for this new Trek flick is Abrams himself and those he has surrounded himself with as the creative wing of the project. Since the debut of the television show “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” and throughout all the movies, the show has been pretty much run by the same bevy of professionals in front of and behind the camera. That is 20-years worth of Trek. Now, for the first time since the original series aired way back in the 1960’s, the world will be treated to a Star Trek from a slightly different perspective, while at the same time, still keeping respect for the canon that has been forged for 40-years.
In an interview with EW.com after the New York Times affair, Abrams confirmed that the script for the film is done and is going through the normal editing process, called “trimming.”
When it comes to the storyline however, J.J. is still being very cool and distant to all inquiries on the matter. All he will indicate at this time is that he promises Star Trek die-hards will love it, and those who know little or nothing about Trek will be very entertained.
”On the one hand, for people who love Star Trek, the fix that they will get will be really satisfying,” he says. ”For people who’ve never seen it or know it vaguely, I think they will enjoy it equally, because the movie does not require you to know anything about Star Trek. I would actually prefer [that] people don’t know the series, because I feel like they will come to it with an open mind.”
Abrams is excited over the script that Alex Christian and Roberto Orci have submitted to him saying, “It is an absolute thrill to work on this project. We really are still like, ‘How the hell are we able to do this?'”
Phil from LI New York says
as long as he doesn’t disrespect the 40 year cannon, i think i’ll be fine with it. The way things have gone with star trek, it’ll either be fantastic or completely suck…. time will tell.
Robert says
I am thrilled by this news. I have been a Trekker since it began in 1966. I loved all the series except for Voyager (I watched it though….needed my Trek fix) I do believe that Abrams will respect the 40 yr cannon of the show.
LL&P
Ari from Boston says
I think it depends on how the folks above define “respect.”
Star Trek’s canon was pretty shaky for a while (as were the sets. *grin*), so while I wouldn’t want Abrams to do anything dramatically out of the blue (Guess what? Spock’s secretly 1/3 Klingon!), but I think there can be some wiggle room with regards to canon.
Dynaverse says
I hope JJ reads the Star Trek movie comments and ideas at http://www.startrek.com