When I first heard that work was beginning on a new Star Trek film, I suppose you could have described my first response as ‘cautiously optimistic’ — however, that reaction would have swayed far more towards the caution side of things than the optimism side.
However, as more and more (non-spoilery) details appear, I’m moving more and more towards the ‘optimism’ side. While there are still a few little details that raise warning flags (for instance, that the script was written by the guys who wrote Transformers), overall, things are looking good.
Recently, director J.J. Abrams, writer and producer Roberto Orci and a fair chunk of the cast and crew spent a little time between shots doing a couple of Q-and-A sessions on the Trek Movie fan weblog. Full transcripts are posted here and here, but they’ve thoughtfully provided an ‘executive summary’ list. All in all, I think there’s a lot of promise here.
- First full trailer currently in the works, targeting early- to mid-summer release
- Principal photography is scheduled to wrap at the beginning of April [about 1-2 weeks more than originally planned]
- Documentaries on the film’s pre-production and production process can be expected on DVD release; Making of… book also discussed
- [J.J. Abrams friend and frequent collaborator] Greg Grunberg will not appear in Star Trek due to his commitment to another film
- About 1,000 effects shots are expected to be used in the film (more than any previous Trek film)
- Target MPAA rating: PG-13
- The two biggest challenges for Abrams were getting a handle on the vision of the future and casting the film
- Humor is a very important aspect in the film (“humor and humanity go hand-in-hand”)
- Abrams’ goal is to make Trek ‘real’ and is thus utilizing sets and location shooting rather than green- or blue-screens wherever he can
- The Enterprise “will be a combo of the physical and the virtual”
- An image of the Enterprise is “coming soon”
- The doors on the Enterprise will go “SWOOSH!” when they open.
- The set of the Enterprise bridge will be stored for future use;
- the movie’s script is about 128 pages long (indicating a roughly 2 hour movie)
- the script took about four months to write
- [Orci] and co-writer Alex Kurtzman will not be making cameos in the film
- James T. Kirk and the film’s villain (Nero) were the most difficult characters to write;
- the TOS episode “Balance of Terror” and the second, third, fourth and sixth films helped shape the writers’ takes on the characters, as did novels by Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens.
- Script shoots for many memorable moments akin to the “Never forget the name of the ship…Enterprise” moment in TNG “Yesterday’s Enterprise”
- Film makers have kept with Trek tradition and brought in academic and scientific consultants (more info on this promised)