Think you know every aspect of classic “Star Trek?” J.J. Abrams says you don’t.
The director, who last week said he wanted to broaden the appeal of “Trek” beyond the hard-core fan-base, told SciFi Wire that he is writing a new backstory that will draw in new fans but also be fresh for Trekkers.
“This movie is not made for people who know the backstory,” Abrams said. “If you know the backstory, you finally get to see scenes you’ve never gotten to see but have been referenced in ‘Star Trek’. And not just character moments, but mechanical things that people will be like, ‘Oh, my God, that’s cool!'”
Abrams added: “This is a movie that doesn’t start over in a way that is playing with what is known [or] in a way that would upset people, I think, fans of the show. And yet it allows us to … deal with the same characters and have the same fundamental relationships. One of the things that for me was always sort of tricky is [the original show] never dealt with how they came together. Why we cared about them as this group. I mean, this is a movie, in a weird way, about these orphans who sort of come together and form this family. And by the end of the movie, I think you love all of them.”
And while he wasn’t a fan of “Trek” before taking on the project, Abrams says he’s come to appreciate the entire cast of characters.
“If someone had asked me beforehand, ‘Who’s your favorite character?’ my answer would have been ‘I don’t have one,'” Abrams said. “I don’t really connect with any one of them. But now if you asked me I would say, ‘I can’t [choose]. I love all of them.’ I couldn’t answer that question. And it really is, whether it’s Uhura [Zoe Saldana] or Chekov [Anton Yelchin] or Bones [Karl Urban] or Scotty [Simon Pegg] or obviously Kirk or Spock, this group is a wonderful group.”
The characters will reflect the new cast’s interpretations of them. “Like when John Cho came in, I was like, ‘Oh, that’s funny, because he’s this comedian,'” Abrams said. “And he was so good. He was so surprisingly good. And [now] Sulu’s a character, who, … I love this guy. I love how thoughtful he is, I love how kind of brave he is. Kirk is now a guy who I relate to, in a way that I never did. Even though I love now looking at what [William] Shatner did. It’s awesome.”
I see this as a way for JJ to smooth the feathers he ruffled when he said the movie wasn’t geared to us “Trekkie’s”. I’m approaching this movie from the view of what Gene Roddenberry wished he had the money, time, and effects capability to give us originally. And with no TV people telling him he can’t do or say this or that this movie can either let us in to the world we all love and appreciate or Mike will be having servers lock up with comments about how bad the movie is.
I agree with Bill from Albuquerque.
J.J., would you direct an interpretation of Romeo & Juliet if you had never read Shakespeare? I mean, I suppose it would be an interesting experiment, but probably not something to hang your hat on.