BILL: The Future Begins: The Backstory, Review, and Continues

To those who were following my "Future Begins" blogs, sorry I didn't have the time to finish all the blogs I wanted to write. So, now I figured I will give the back story on the new Star Trek movie and a short little review of the movie, hopefully without giving away and spoilers.

First of all, I found out about this right before the movie came out, but Paramount produced an "Official Movie Prequel" to the new Star Trek movie. This was called "Star Trek: Countdown". If you were almost like me and let this one sneak by, let me give you the quick story.

The Stardate is 64333.4, putting the story in the near future of the Next Generation time. Nero and his crew (all with hair and no markings) are mining decalithium in the Hobus system, which is deep in Romulan territory. Suddenly, the star begins to break apart. Nero orders a withdrawl, but a solar flare pushes gravimetric readings off the scale, and causes interference with everything. They are not able to pull in the drill platform in time, so Nero orders a shuttle to launch, warp to the platform, beam off the crew, and warp back. When they get back, the Narada goes to warp as the sun envelopes the system destroying everything in the system.


Back on Romulus, Spock has lived on Romulus for 20 years with his Reuninification effort. He has opened many minds, and finally was not only to come out in the open, but to become a legal resident of Romulus five years ago, where he has the job of the Federation ambassador to Romlus. But there is still some racism. He addresses the Romulan Senate about the supernova in the Hobus system. Not only is it unstable, but will grow as it consumes matter. Spock estimates that it will consume the entire Romulan empire in a matter of weeks. He tells of an option to take decalithium and convert it to something called Red Matter, but the technology to do this only exists on Vulcan. The Romulans believe this is a Vulcan plot to get their decalithium. Even when Nero addresses the Senate and confirms the supernova, no one believes them. The Senate forbids anyone to do anything on the matter.


Nero loves the Empire second only to his family. So after telling his pregnant wife about his conflict, she understands, and Nero goes to Spock. He offers all of his trust to Spock and his plan to save the Empire. He gathers his ship and crew, and with Spock, they are off to the Kimden system to mine the decalithium. While mining, the Remans attack. They board the Narada, and take everyone hostage, when a Federation ship arrives to save the day. The U.S.S. Enterprise, under command of Captain Data. Data was resurrected when his neural pathways were able to establish themselves in the B4 unit. Data has his team to beam off the weapons onboard the Narada. Then he boards the vessel with his own team. They take back control from the Remans.


Unfortunately, they have only gotten 78% of their target load of decalithium, and with a power conduit destroyed, the mining was off. Captain Data confiscates the Remans decalithium under the Federation Rules of Engagement. Enterprise repairs the Narada and then escorts them to Federation space. Under way, Nero is offered diplomatic rights, and he comes aboard the Enterprise for a tour, dinner, and the ability for research, where he looks up Federation history and captains. To make matters worst, Data informs Spock that Hobus star has the potential to threaten Federation Space and the Federation has authorized a covert mission to the Hobus system to deliver the weapon themselves, instead of trusting the Romulans.


Both ships arrive at Vulcan, where Spock and Nero are not allowed to beam down, until the Federation and the Vulcan High Counsel sends consent. When they arrive, Spock is criticised for his decisions to leave Vulcan for Romulus, and they do not trust him. The trust comes from the Federation Ambassador to Vulcan, Ambassador Jean Luc Picard. They take their needs to the Vulcan Science Counsel, but the Science Counsel refused to give up the secrets of the Red Matter for Romulan use. They were convinced they would turn it into a weapon.


Nero is mad and leaves Vulcan to help Romulus evacuate, but he leaves the decalithium for Spock and Picard to beg the counsel to turn into Red Matter. Picard reveals the one thing Spock has been hiding. The person delivering the Red Matter will be on a suicide mission. The ship would never be able to pull away from the singularity. That's why Spock always knew he was going to pilot the ship. Data interrupts telling the group the Hobus star has gone critical. Nero arrives in time to see Romulus and his wife get engulfed in the star.


Federation medical ships arrive to help the survivors. Nero tricks them into lowering their shields and by saying he will beam over his wounded. Instead he beams over mining explosives and destroys the ships. He find the Romulan High Counsel, and kills them to get information about the plans for what the survival plans were for Romulus.


In mourning, Nero and his crew follow tradition, they shave their heads and place markings on their skin. But a real Romulan mourning, as the marks fade, so will the mourning. Nero and his crew decide to make the markings tattoos. Their mourning will never fade, all that is left for them is revenge. The Narada goes to a location and sends out a signal. A large starbase uncloaks. It is the "Vault", a highly secret military base. The Narada is outfitted with retrofitted Borg technology implemented with Romulan designs. This gives the Narada the best in sensors, weapons, shields, warp speed and cloaking ability, plus with nanotechnology, the ship will repair itself.


Back on Vulcan, the Science Counsel has agreed to make the Red Matter, and the Federation has gotten Spock the fastest ship they can get their hands on, and the best ship to handle the stresses of the environment, with the ability to handle the Red Matter. A ship called the "Jellyfish", it was created by a Starfleet Engineer who left Starfleet to produce his own designs. A man Geordi LaForge, who delivers the ship to Vulcan. The Vulcans modify the ship for the Red Matter. As they do, there is stories of ships disappearing between Romulus and Vulcan. Picard has started a distraction for Nero. Spock says his goodbyes and leaves in the Jellyfish for Hobus.


A Klingon Armada finds, surrounds and uncloaks around the Narada. It is under the command of General Worf. They open fire, but cause no damage. The Narada cloaks, then starts taking out the Klingon ships with one shot each. Finally the Narada uncloaks and demands Worf to get in a shuttle and come over to surrender. Worf comes over with a boarding party and attacks. But Nero and his crew quickly get the upper hand and almost kill Worf. The Enterprise arrives on scene. Nero offers the return of Worf. Enterprise lowers shields to get Worf, and as he is beamed over, the Narada attacks, but Enterprise gets shields up in time. Although engines are offline. Nero figures out what is going on and leaves the Enterprise to go intercept Spock.


Spock arrives at Hobus, delivers the device which makes the unique singularity, or black hole, and absorbs the supernova. The Narada arrives, but immediately gets sucked into the black hole, along with the Jellyfish. And this is where Countdown ends and the movie begins.


About the movie, all I can say is WOW! This is a wonderful breath of life into the Star Trek genre. Even though there are many changes between the Star Trek storyline as we know, and the new beginning, but these changes are explained. There were a few things that did puzzle me. First of all, why is Chekov on the bridge? Chekov took over the bridge when Riley was sent to the weapons room in Season Two of Star Trek. But here he is from the beginning. But again, this can be explained with the changes in the storyline.

Secondly, Uhura goes into a bar and orders a list of drinks. Including a Slush-o, which is the mysterious drink from the movie "Cloverfield". But she also orders a Cardassian drink. The Federation doesn't meet the Cardassians until the Next Generation. If you put it into perspective, almost 129 years in the future of this time. How do you order a drink of a race you have not meet yet.

Thirdly, I know everyone has seen the scenes, even in the previews, even the first shots, even the first website ncc-1701.com, all showed, the Enterprise is being built on Earth. In all of Star Trek history, all the ships were built in space. It was said that the ships could not handle a gravity environment. The pylons the engines were built on would not be able to support the engines in a gravity environment. But yet, here it is, being built on Earth, then it is assumed that it is sent up to a large starbase orbiting Earth. Why need a starbase if you are not going to build in space?


Finally, everyone in Starfleet knows what a Romulan is, and what it looks like. But yet, the original series "Balance of Terror" made a big deal about how it was the first time the Federation had ever seen a Romulan and how they look like a Vulcan.


In a recent interview, J.J. Abrams did address this fact, and how they knew about the Romulans as far back as the Kelvin: ""It's not mentioned in the scene on the Kelvin, but they are aware of it," Abrams confirmed, agreeing with the sharp-sighted fans. "Because later in the movie, Kirk mentions that they were Romulan. And we very purposely begin the film with a moment that, for fans of 'Star Trek,' is a left turn from the timeline they are familiar with." For anyone who thinks they "caught" Abrams, however, the director is quick to point out the opposite. "For fans of 'Trek,' yes, the Romulans appearing breaks with what is known to be 'Trek' canon. But that is on purpose.""


But if you take out those nitpicks, the movie is amazing. The amount of humor is amazing and it is put in the movie in a believable way. It is not slapstick, but you can actually see this happening in life. I was almost in tears when Kirk was being taken to the Enterprise for the first time.


The actors are perfect. I am still a little indifferent over Uhura, but I like the attitude she has in regards to Kirk, but unsure of her closeness to Spock. But Spock, Kirk, McCoy are perfect. They bring the characters to life perfectly, and under the new "timeline" with all of it's differences. Sulu and Chekov are also wonderfully done. It was great to see these characters brought to a larger supporting role.

Of course, Rachel Nichols makes you believe for the first time that Orion women are as sexy as they are supposed to be in Star Trek legend.

And the best character, the Enterprise herself. She looks like a "suped-up" version of the 1960's model. And it holds true with the changes J.J. Abrams has put in. After the Kelvin meets the Narada, Starfleet learns, adapts and "beefs up" their ships in respect. Thus is born the new Enterprise.


But being a huge Star Trek fan, I always knew there was something missing. Especially after Star Trek acknowledged it and still did nothing to fix it. In Star Trek II, Spock mentions that Khan is fighting two dimensionally. At that point you realize, every Star Trek battle was two dimensional. It was like watching the ship battles on Pirates of the Caribbean. Two ships pass each other firing. This movie has now added the third dimension. It has been long missing.


The storyline is one of the best Star Trek has had, but you got to pay attention to it all. There are still a couple of things I missed that I need to go back to see what I can find. There are many tributes left through the movie. First of all, the hidden Tribble. Even the cast did not know it was there. But apparently somewhere in the scene where Spock and Kirk meet Scotty for the first time, there is a tribble. Also, when Bones is in sickbay, he calls to Nurse Chapel.

Another tidbit, there is a scene where the Enterprise comes out of warp around Vulcan and ends up in a debris field. People may have to wait for the DVD release of this movie, but there is what J.J. Abrams has said is a "Blink-and-you-miss-it Easter Egg". Somewhere in the debris field is something "cool". There are many other tributes and Easter Eggs. From shapes of glassware in the bar, signs throughout the Academy, and even the computer screens. Again, more use of the DVD player.

One of the main subthemes of the movie is destiny. The writers researched destiny and quantum mathematics and found out that there is a mathematical basis to destiny. In the writers words, the strange ways everyone comes together, is because they are destined to be together, and the timeline is now trying to mend itself.

The next movie will continue this unpredictable future. The one name that is being thrown around most for the next movie is bringing in Khan Noonien Singh. According to J.J. Abrams, in the new timeline, Khan may never reach Ceti Alpha V.

Finally, let me add this: now that the timeline of the future is different, there is talk of bringing back Shatner in the next movie. He would play the new future Kirk, it is possible in a flash forward, a stunt J.J. Abrams has loved on his show "Lost". But for those wondering about this movie, Shatner was originally thought of, and here is the interview that discusses the "never filmed Shatner scene:"

"If you've seen the new "Trek," you know that Nimoy portrays the original Spock in a series of scenes that has the character traveling to an alternate dimension and making contact with younger versions of the Enterprise crew. In one heart-tugging moment, "old" Spock addresses "young" Spock and explains their eventual friendship with Kirk; in the Shatner version, however, young Spock was to be more skeptical.

"Elder Spock tells young Spock, 'I couldn't tell you the truth about what's happening, because if I had, I would have robbed you of the benefit of realizing the greatness that you and Kirk will achieve together — and the amazing friendship that you'll have. You had to discover that for yourself, and I couldn't get in the way of that,' " Orci's writing partner, Alex Kurtzman, revealed. "And in our original version, younger Spock says, 'I'm still not sold.'"

Elder Spock said, 'Well, don't take my word for it,' and he handed him a little disc — a DVD, really — that projected a hologram, and then he walked away. And the hologram was of Kirk," Kurtzman continued. "It would've been Shatner.

"The scene was an attempt by the writers to adhere to "Trek" canon — which depicted Shatner's Kirk as being killed in 1994's "Star Trek: Generations" — yet still give him a presence in the film via a final recording he had taped before his death.

"If you follow 'The Next Generation' [TV show], elder Spock went off to Romulus to be an ambassador in two episodes called 'Unification 1' and '2', and [our] idea was that it was a long, long mission, and Kirk would have died by the time he returned to Earth [because they] just wouldn't have the same lifespan," Kurtzman explained of the Vulcan. "And so [this DVD] was essentially Kirk sending Spock a goodbye."

"It was a 'happy birthday' message [with Kirk saying], 'This is the last time I'm going to be able to wish you happy birthday, so I want to tell you how much you've meant to me and how amazing it was that we had all these adventures together,' " Kurtzman said of the alternate ending, which would have provided the last act with a powerful voice over the film's final scenes.

"That narrative, that voice-over," Kurtzman said, "became a link [to be heard] over [scenes of] this new crew coming in ... a young Kirk accepting the medal and becoming captain of the Enterprise."

"Ultimately, the Shatner ending of "Star Trek" was abandoned for a whole variety of reasons. "Whereas our elder Spock had a very organic reason to be there, we didn't have that same benefit with Kirk," Kurtzman explained. "Because Kirk died in the movies — he died in canon — it was very hard to come up with a way to bring him back in the movie that didn't feel contrived.""

For now, let me end here. Hope everyone has stayed awake. I will keep you up to date as new information about the sequel comes up.

Bill: Houston, I have an Issue

"The world is in trouble and we must fix it. We must do something now." This seems to be the current trend. "Go Green" or "Help the Environment". Everyone seems to care. The only problem I have, where was all of this years ago? This is something I followed years and years ago. I remember the debate back in the late 70s and early 80s. Plastic bags were first being introduced. You were given the option of paper or plastic. Most people chose paper. Paper was stronger and could hold more groceries than the plastic bags. But even back then, there were rumblings about how plastic won't degrade and fill up our landfills. There was discussions of how this could cause more problems than it would fix. But how do you rank the world against corporate greed? Plastic bags were cheaper to buy than paper. It wasn't long before paper bags were placed under the counter and out of sight. Instead of being asked "Paper or Plastic?", you were asked "Is plastic alright?" It was easier to say yes, than to make the request for paper. It didn't take long for the question to be dropped completely. Then the paper bags left the stores. All choices taken away, but still the debate about the dangers of plastic remained.

Through my college years, I attended seminars about the environment, saving the wetlands, global warming, and the dangers of plastic. Here it is 20 years later and now more people are becoming concerned. The problem is that it has become worse than the experts predicted. With plastic invading the food chain, litter everywhere, and the North Pacific Gyre, AKA The Plastic Vortex, AKA Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which has a density of 6 times to 1 of plankton. In case you missed it:
















But yet, our society is a disposable society. For us, it is easier to throw things away, than it is to recycle or reuse. Manufacturers have it more convenient for us to be disposable. Overpackaging became an issue. More trash. It was the easiest way. But after 30 years, what have we learned? We are still talking about what needs to be done, instead of doing something about it. Yes, grocery stores are beginning to bring in reusable bags just to say they are green. Making you purchase bags to save the environment. Is that still helping? It's still like hiding the paper bags under the counter. Instead of the manufacturers or the retailers taking any of the responsiblity, they have shifted the responsibility to the consumer and said that they are "going green". It is still up to you to buy the bags, and remember to bring them in. Plastic is still the readily available weapon of choice. What has that brought us?





Even if we can think of changing our ways, can we get away from making the same mistakes. SciFi's "Battlestar Galactica" had it right when they said, "All this has happened before, it will happen again." Thirty years of warnings and no changes. But just throwing away and littering doesn't stop there. Living this close to NASA, where all the top minds work, what have I learned?

As the Space Shuttle program comes to an end, a new beginning is starting, or is it? Back in the late 70s, NASA wanted to create a ship that was reusable. To a degree, they accomplished their mission. A vessel that is about 2/3rds reusable. But now is time for the shuttle to retire, and we want to go back to the moon and beyond. But the problem is how? NASA is still full of people from our disposable society, and they can't think of anything different. So, what have they come up with? The Constellation project with the main powerhorse being the Ares rockets. Bigger than the Saturn rockets that first took us to the moon, but now it will require two rockets.... One Saturn put up the Lunar Excursion Module and the Command Module. Now it will take the Ares I to take up the people and the Orion Crew Vehicle. Then the Ares V will blast off unmanned with the Altair Lunar Lander. Now granted, the Ares V has the reusable shuttle solid rocket boosters, but all in all, a majority of both rockets will be destroyed before leaving Earth's orbit. And again, only a size slightly larger than the Apollo Command Module will be returning to Earth. Lots of waste. Then you have the Altair Lunar Lander. It is bigger than the Apollo Landers, but again, less than a third of the ship will return to from the Moon's surface. Not only are we littering Earth, we have plans to return to the Moon to begin littering there once again.

To top everything off, one of the astronauts once said something about sitting on top of a machine to propel him into space with 1000s of parts being assembled by the lowest bidder. The new moon missions will have EVERYONE on the ship land on the moon. The Crew Module will stay up in orbit, unmanned, on remote. I remember one of the last automated Mars missions that crashed into the surface. If that is a possibiltiy, why would you want to have your only chance for survival being left in the hands of someone who can't see what's going on? Or why trust that nothing can go wrong with the lowest bidder? I would leave someone behind for emergencies.

After 25 years of reusable ships, we have returned to waste. Why? And on the subject, why haven't they thought about how to use some of the waste they have made over time. The shuttle is getting ready for it's 126th flight, with 134 flights planned before retirement. That is 134 destroyed external tanks. At 153 feet tall, and almost 3 stories thick, you are talking about 20,502 feet if you lined them up end to end. 553,554 cubic feet of wasted space. Couldn't there have been some way to keep them up in orbit, linked them together for something? You would think with a little modifications after taking the tank up, you could design something. And even Skylab's main laboratory was just an open tank. Seems like a lot of lost planning and opportunities.

8 of the 9 final shuttle missions will be dedicated to finishing the International Space Station. All of this work to finish supplying materials to the station by 2010, so the station could be completed by 2011...to be abandoned by 2015. There is a plan in effect for the destruction of the space station. Again, waste. With thoughts of going back to the moon, why not find a way to get this deeper into space? Then if a event like Apollo 13 happens again, there is a safe haven, say close to half way. A safe place to stop until help arrives. But again, no one thinks of things like this. It is easier to throw away than to plan to keep.

Finally, in a time when Star Trek and Star Wars are big. Why hasn't anyone gotten inspiration on these? Why not build a ship that stays in orbit? Why not have this ship go back and forth? That way you would only need small ships to get you from surface to ship and vice versa? It is more reusable. It could have modules that could easily be switched (hey, you have big arms on the station), that way you could customize the missions. You could carry more payload in one trip, taking less trips to build the moon base. Once the design was completed and proven, you could build a second one with more shielding for the missions to Mars.

I don't know, maybe it's just wishful thinking. Wanting it all, wanting the world to be safe, and wanting people to think.

BILL’S: The Future Begins, Posters and Updates

The poster's for this movie have taken several directions:

First teaser poster:

Then came:

And the newest vision:

For those keeping up, a couple of weeks ago, it was announced that all scenes on the bridge had been filmed.  The bridge set is now torn down and put into storage, in case there is a sequel.

Anton Yelchin said in an interview that his scenes were completely done.  All of his scenes are on the bridge.  But one of the most useful lines he said in the interview was that it was hard to stare at a green screen and pretend you are looking at a Klingon.  So, I guess that confirms that the Klingons will be returning for this movie.

Another update, the release date has been moved from December 25, 2008 to May 2009.  There have been many reasons given for the move.  First of all, the competition in December 2008 is too much.  Going to May 2009 only puts it up against two big movies at this time. 

Another reason for the move is that they want to film additional scenes.  In an interview with Eric Bana, he voiced concern over his role in the movie stating that it came out as a cameo rather than an actual supporting role.  There is belief that his scenes will now be expanded.

That's all for now.  Hopefully, Tuesday I will be able to get some of the paparazzi photos of the set on this blog.  Keep watching.

BILL'S: The Future Begins, Will Kirk Retun?

Shatner Is Asked Is There Any Chance He Will Be In The New Movie

---

Shatner Returns To The Bridge Of The Enterprise

BILL'S: The Future Begins, Part VII: Supporting Cast

Eric Bana as Nero

- Lucky You

- Troy
- Hulk

Tyler Perry as Head of Starfleet Academy

- Why Did I Get Married?
- Daddy's Little Girls
- Diary of a Mad Black Woman

Jimmy Bennett as Young James T. Kirk

- Evan Almighty

Spencer Daniels as George Kirk, Jr.

Clifton Collins, Jr as General Ayel

- Capote

- Tigerland

Chris Hemsworth as George Samuel Kirk, Sr

Ben Cross as Sarek

- First Knight
- Chariots of Fire

Winona Ryder as Amanda Grayson

- A Scanner Darkly
- Girl, Interrupted
- Dracula
- Mermaids
- Edward Scissorhands
- Heathers

- Beetlejuice

Jennifer Morrison as Winona Kirk

- Mr. & Mrs. Smith
- Surviving Christmas

Marlene Forte as Unknown Transporter Chief

- "Lost", TV Series
- "C.S.I.", TV Series
- "Jericho", TV Series

Rachel Nichols as Orion Slave Woman

- The Amityville Horror (2005)

- Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd

Also known cast includes:

Sonita Henry as Unknown Doctor

Randy Pausch, James Cawley, Chris Doohan as Unknown Starfleet Officer

Leonard Nimoy as Older Spock

*** Interesting note: Chris Doohan is the son of James Doohan who portrayed "Montgomery Scott" in the original series.

BILL’S: TFB (The Future Begins) Part VI: Action Figures

So the rumors going round at the moment are that Playmates has picked up the license to the upcoming JJ Abrams Star Trek movie. But what's the truth?...

Well I can say without a shadow of a doubt that Playmates does indeed have the license.

"You sound pretty confident about that," I hear you say, "how can you be so sure?" The simple reason is because I got to see the actual figure lines today.

And yes, I did say lines because, there is more than one. The figures themselves were early protoypes, so keep this in mind.

Whilst I'm not entirely sure of the scale of the figures (surprisingly, scale isn't a question distributors get asked about) but personally I put the main series at 6" (and I'm usually pretty good at scales). The majority of figures had not yet had articulation put into them, but I'd be guessing that you should be looking at something similar to the old Playmates Star Trek line.

As for the line up, I saw most of the crew: Kirk, Spock, Scotty, and I think Uhuru, Bones. Most of them were dressed in their Starfleet outfits, which seemed very similar to the designs from the original series. There also seemed to be a few other outfits for characters, as well as someone who looked like Sarek, who seemed to feature in all the Star Trek lines I saw today.

As well as what I'm calling the 6" line, there was a larger line with real cloth outfits. Again I have to guess at scale and this is the one I'm least sure on, thinking it between 9" and 12".

The final line looked to me to be a 4" line. Now the figures I saw weren't articulated and I have no idea whether the final pieces will or not, but what was on show with them was a couple of playsets.

One was the bridge of the Enterprise, with the second one being the transporter room. Both seemed like they would come with some form of electronic effects, but these were early, early prototypes with the electronics still hanging out the back of them. What makes me think the 4" line will be articulated was the fact that the bridge had a Kirk figure, sat at his chair, and it seems stupid to me to have a playset with a non-articulated kirk figure in a sitting pose. But then I could be wrong.

The movie isn't out until Christmas 2008, so we have a LONG wait ahead of us, but I've seen plenty of protoypes in my time at Action-Figure and my takeaway impression was that if you're a fan of the old Playmates Star Trek line, then you're going to love these lines

Playmates: So Who's Got The New Star Trek Movie?
Posted by adrian on Wednesday, January 30, 2008

BILL'S: The Future Begins, Part V: The Corridor

If you stay on the ncc-1701.com website long enough, the offline camera will show the above hallway. The photo has been enhanced for brightness. This site is now linked from the official website. You can see a flashing red dot on the official page. If you press it, it will take you to the "Shipyards" page.

Also, today the Forums at the official website went live.

BILL'S: The Future Begins, Part IV

Just to introduce the new cast members



James T. Kirk is played by:

Chris Pine

-Smokin' Aces
-Just My Luck

Spock is played by:

Zachary Quinto

-Heroes, the series

Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy is played by:

Karl Urban

-The Bourne Supremacy
-The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
-The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

Montgomery 'Scotty' Scott is played by:

Simon Pegg

-Hot Fuzz

-Shaun of the Dead

Captain Christopher Pike is played by:

Bruce Greenwood

-National Treasure: Book of Secrets
-Firehouse Dog

-Deja Vu
-Eight Below
-The Core
-Nowhere Man, the series

Hikaru Sulu is played by:

John Cho

-Harold & Kumar Escape from

Guantanamo Bay
-Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle

Pavel Chekov is played by:

Anton Yelchin

-Alpha Dog
-Hearts In Atlantis

Nyota Uhura is played by:

Zoe Saldana

-Guess Who
-The Terminal

-Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the

Black Pearl

-Drumline

BILL’S: The Future Begins, Part III

Found a great shot of the Enterprise under construction. Click on it to get the full picture.

BILL’S: The Future Begins, Part 2

The same day I made my bootleg post, Paramount began working on the Official Star Trek site. Today, they updated it with a high definition version of the trailer. Much better than the one I posted. Go check it out.

Also, in the light of Cloverfield, websites are starting to pop up. The first one allows you to watch the construction of the Enterprise as it happens. Go check out the construction of the Enterprise

But in a darker note, I have started finding out that a script has been leaked to the internet. According to this script, once again, the background of the Star Trek lore has been forgotten. Traditionally, the first Starship Enterprise was seen in the Star Trek: Enterprise series. But according to Aint It Cool News and TV Guide, this is no longer the case. The NCC-1701 Enterprise seen in the Original Series has been revealed to have been built at Area 51 on Earth. I wasn't convinced, so I watched the high def version of the teaser trailer. First thing I noticed was there is plainly a city in the background over the construction going on. Then I realized that there is supports holding up the construction site. If this had been built in space like the Star Trek: Enterprise was, it wouldn't need construction. Then came the slap in the face. I realized the welder shown right up front is on the saucer section of the Enterprise. Yes, he is standing on the outside. And he flips up his protection mask, with no problem. If this was in space, well, he would be dead. So it does look as though the ship is being constructed on the Earth and will launch from here.

Still going to give it a chance, although I am not happy with the change......

BILL'S: The Future Begins

Okay, it is a bootleg. Very bad quality, but I was told about this and had to see it for myself. Hopefully the a better quality will be up soon, but for now I am jumping out of my pants......

BILL’S: Kirk’s Father and Update to Save Face

KIRK'S FATHER AND NEW VILLIAN

Variety.com is reporting two more confirmed cast members of J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" movie. Australian actor Chris Hemsworth will play James T. Kirk's father, George Kirk. At 24, Hemsworth is three years younger than Chris Pine, who is set to play Jim Kirk, so the father role is likely to be portrayed in flashback.

In addition, a Latino actor who has played several vicious parts — including a gangbanger in "187," a hitman in "Traffic" and real-life killer Perry Smith in "Capote" — will join the Trek universe in the villain's camp. Clifton Collins Jr. will be "Ayel," the cohort and general to Nero, played by Eric Bana. Collins, 37, has a lengthy resume that includes a recurring role on Abrams' Alias.

Filming on the eleventh "Star Trek" film began last Wednesday, and will continue through March.

According to Variety, Hemsworth just wrapped the independent feature film "The Cache," opposite Sean Bean. Collins' credits include the upcoming indie features "The Perfect Game," "Horsemen," "Sunshine Cleaning" and "Still Waters." He just booked a supporting role in "Brothers" opposite Jake Gyllenhaal and Tobey Maguire.

UPDATE: Variety.com originally stated that Winona Ryder will play "the Vulcan mother of Spock," which was in error — unfortunately, one that has been replicated by many other news outlets around the world. The print version of Daily Variety Friday morning correctly identified the character as "the human mother of a young Spock," and the online story has since been corrected.

BILL'S: They Ruined It!!

Okay, they ruined it!!!! I dunno, they must think one movie is more important than 40 years of Star Trek canon history!!!!!

They just signed Winona Ryder as the VULCAN mother of Spock!!!!!

Amanda was HUMAN!!!!! Every background story about Spock and his family from the original series to The Motion Picture and The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home to the two episodes "Sarek" and "Unification" on The Next Generation all dealt with Spock being half human and how he was treated and segregated among his people and his own family, especially his father...... McCoy always teased him on being a half breed. Kirk used half breed comments to show Spock that all was not well when it seemed everything was right......

And now he is all Vulcan.....

Winona Ryder Goes Trekking
By Gina Serpe Today at 1:24 am

For Winona Ryder, it's a fine line between pixie-like and Vulcanesque.

The actress has become the latest boldface name attached to J.J. Abrams' highly anticipated reboot of the Star Trek franchise, signing on to star as mother to a young Spock.

It will be Ryder's biggest studio film since 2002, when the two-time Oscar nominee costarred in Mr. Deeds with Adam Sandler and S1m0ne with Al Pacino. Ryder laid low for several years following her shoplifting arrest and has only appeared in a handful of mostly independent films, most notably in Richard Linklater's 2006 rotoscope-animated feature, A Scanner Darkly.

Variety reports the erstwhile Heathers star will play the Vulcan mother of the Starfleet logician, sending Trekkers into a tizzy. Abrams is messing with a key element of the Star Trek canon: In all previous installments of the franchise, Spock's mother was human, not Vulcan (the pointy ears come courtesy of his father's side of the family).

As conceived by Trek mastermind Gene Rodenberry, Spock's mother was Amanda Grayson, a teacher who met and married Sarek, the Vulcan Ambassador to Earth. The two later decamped to planet Vulcan. Spock's maternal unit was first introduced in a 1967 episode of the original series and portrayed by actress Jane Wyatt. Wyatt reprised the role in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

The 36-year-old Ryder will mother Heroes' Zachary Quinto, an actor just six years her junior. It's unclear whether movie makeup magic will make up the age difference or whether Ryder's character will only appear in flashback. Original Spock Leonard Nimoy is also slated to appear in a cameo role, though it's unclear in what capacity.

No official details have been released about the film's plot, other than it will revolve around the Starship Enterprise crew's first mission together.

Ryder's addition signals the end of casting. In recent weeks, Abrams beamed up Chris Pine (Kirk), Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy), Simon Pegg (Scotty), John Cho (Sulu), Zoe Saldana (Uhura), Anton Yelchin (Chekov) and Eric Bana (the nefarious Nero) to the film.

Shooting is scheduled to begin on the film this month and is expected to last through March 2008. The film is slated for a Christmas 2008 release.

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