Leonard Nimoy to Play Spock in Next Star Trek Movie

mcgrew writes "The AP is reporting that Leonard Nimoy will 'don his famous pointy ears again' in the next Star Trek movie, due out Christmas of next year. From the article: 'He greeted the crowd with a Vulcan salute. Nimoy was joined by the newly named young Spock, "Heroes" star Zachary Quinto [Sylar], who bears an uncanny resemblance to Nimoy. Both Spocks were introduced by the film's director and co-producer, J.J. Abrams.'"

Comments

Bringing out my inner nerd...

[lantastik]

I am really looking forward to this flick. J.J. Abrams pretty much has the midas touch when it comes to producing and directing on television. Love it or hate it, Lost and Alias is/was huge successes. Let's see if he can carry that over to this film.

Re:Bringing out my inner nerd...

[UrinalFresh]

don't forget Felicity and Mission: Impossible III! Those were brilliant productions as well!

Quinto looks like Nimoy?

[amigabill]

An uncanny resemblance between Nimoy and the Sylar guy? I don't see it.

Re:The need for money outweighs the need for digni

[LWATCDR]

I hate to say it but I think Star Trek is a case of "Been done to death".
I really liked DS9 because it was frankly so different from STNG. There are so many ways that they could have gone with new Star Trek shows that would have been interesting. What was it like to be a normal person at that time? What was happening on Earth? What would it be like to be a settler on a distant planet? Frankly in the original Star Trek Earth was portrayed as almost a Marxist eden where everybody could just sit around being fat dumb and happy while a few brave souls went out and explored the universe. I loved it as a kid but frankly as an adult I see how it could be very boring to live in a world like that.
Oh well I think it is time for a new Space show. Why not one based on the works of Larry Niven?

Where *is* Spock these days?

[fm6]

The last time we heard from him, he was going underground on Romulus. No update since then. Like a lot of minor TNG, characters the writers just forgot about him.

Re:The need for money outweighs the need for digni

[MightyMartian]

The utopian notions of Star Trek were dumped after ST:NG. There may have been a bit of lip-service paid to it, but by the time of Star Trek: Insurrection, the Federation as the goody-goody government had been ripped out of the plot line. In fact, I view that entire film as something of a requiem to the last vestiges of Gene Roddenberry's vision.

Still, that might very well have been something that a new batch of writers could have worked with. The sketchy idea of Riker commanding a starship that has mutined against Star Fleet as the Federation plunges into some sort of vague, self-serving dictatorship or even civil war might have been very interesting. You could have kept the Roddenberry-esque ideals alive, kept a good chunk of the longest-running and arguably most popular Star Trek cast (I'm a huge TOS fan, but still, the fact is that more people probably identify with the NG cast now), had plenty of opportunities for battles, espionage, idealism and even exploration. I know we would have had to do without Spiner's Data, but I really do think the character had totally run out of steam anyways.

Hell, barring that, I think there was a damn good argument for going with a movie with Captain Sulu. His all-too-brief glimpses in the Undiscovered Country make me think that at least a good action movie could have been found in there.

So many missed opportunities while Berman was permitted to rotate tired time travel and Borg storylines until even many diehard fans just said "fuck it" and turned to more interest fare. The movies became repetitive and dull (just look at the last couple of movies to see how even the actors had clearly lost any enthusiasm, it was clearly "we're doing it for the money" situation). I think everyone knew the franchise was going down the tubes, and wanted to milk it for whatever was left.

I dunno, maybe the movie will be really great, and won't be some sort of Animal House in Space like so many of us think it's going to be. It's difficult to judge something that isn't even in any kind of meaningful production yet. Still, there's many reasons to figure it will be a disaster, and damn few reasons to think it will revitalize what was once the most successful franchise out there.

Re:Let it Die Already

[jdigriz]

Yeah, but notice the complete lack of other things the Federation had: Genetic Engineering -- Due to the Eugenics Wars, Khan Noonian Singh, ooh, scary Utility Robots -- Not one blinking robot walking around TOS Enterprise, why? Afraid of a Cylon revolt? Androids- Apparently only Dr. Noonian Soong and his progeny could build humanoid robots in the Federation (not counting all the hot androids we saw on alien worlds in TOS) Mind-Machine-Interface-- Spock's Brain and Reginald Barclay were flukes!!! The Borg can do it, why not the Feds? Strong AI-- Dr. Moriarity on the Holodeck was a fluke! They had to have a trial to even determine if Data was considered a person. Real Nanotech- Replicator technology kinda subsumed this one. When Intelligent Nanites took over the Enterprise-D it was, say it with me, A fluke! Not to mention a surprise. Cloning -- Sure, there are clone societies on strange new alien worlds, but in the Federation itself? Fuhggedaboutit! Mind duplication, transferrance and storage-- Yes, alien cultures can do it, Data's grandfather could do it, but the Feds? Nah. Money -- Ferengi have to trade using strips of latinum. Talk about hard currency. Massive Interplanetary Engineering-- Ringworlds, Dyson Spheres, Space Elevators. Admittedly a space elevator is obsolete assuming sufficiently large and powerful transporters, but when the Enterprise-D discovered the Dyson Sphere they were like "This thing has substantially more land area than all the worlds of the Federation put together" and then, because the star inside gave off powerful flares, they abandoned it! This from the culture which had metaphasic shielding which enabled them to hang out in the photosphere of a star. Conclusion: The Federation consisted of Interstellar luddites too afraid of the implications of their technology to do cool extropian things. So poor Chris Pike was stuck in his wheelchair beeping away instead of being transplanted into a cloned or android body, or at least being mentally transported into an awesome VR world and communicating in RL as an avatar.

Re:The need for money outweighs the need for digni

[MightyMartian]

Personally, I think Moore's gritty style makes for good stories, but ones that aren't necessarily appropriate for the utopian vision of Star Trek. This is particularly evident in DS9's Dominion War arc, with episodes like The Siege of AR-558. OTOH, the same style works really well for BSG.

I honestly thought the Dominion War arc made the Federation seem much more real. It was such a vague and idealized entity in TOS and NG that I can well appreciate the view that those series could have been propaganda meant to show the Federation as an enlightened state, while DS9 was how the Federation really was (in short, a reasonably well-intentioned but hardly angelic government that didn't just have phasers to attack giant space amoeabas).

I know Roddenberry really hated the direction that Star Trek took once he had lost all meaningful control, but if you look at what he did have involvement in; ST:TOS in particular, you see that he had no problem displaying wars and violence, he simply made the Klingons, Romulans and other baddies the proxies, and always showed the Federation as *reacting* to them, or at least pre-emptively trying to get in their way.

Roddenberry's ideas were noble, but hardly realistic. I think any government with a technologically advanced and well equipped military will always take part in adventurism. They were sending out diplomats on the Five Year Mission, they were sending out a heavily-armed interstellar vessel crewed and commanded by the military. This seems more like the "peaceful" exploration of guys like Admiral Perry.

Prequel Book: Kobayashi Maru

[sampson7]

I actually think this could be quite good. All the original Trek characters had really interesting back-stories that have not been thoroughly explored. There's Mr. Spock and Captain Pike. Kirk as the youngest captain ever in Starfleet. Scotty's being drummed out of the command corps.

In fact, one of my favorite Star Trek books growing up was one entitled Kobayashi Maru, where each of the senior staff takes turns recalling their experiences in Star Fleet academy. It primarily focuses on each of their experiences with the Kobayashi Maru simulation at the academy, but also delves into some personal stories about these folks as young officers about to become Starfleet officers. Sulu's story was extremely moving (at least from my teenage recollections) and well-written. Scotty's was hilarious, and Chekov's was quite good too.

Anyway, if you're looking for a blast-from-the ... er, future, check it out:

http://www.amazon.com/Kobayashi-Maru-Star-Trek-Boo k/dp/0671658174/ref=sr_1_2/103-9039922-7888637?ie= UTF8&s=books&qid=1185566723&sr=8-2

Then again, I also remember Wesley's time at the academy. Ug, those were horrible TNG episodes! Yes, I know, I have the never-ending human capacity for self-delusion. What is it they say about second marriages? The triumph of hope over experience?

Re:The need for money outweighs the need for digni

[Gilmoure]

You mean Will Ferrel.

Time travel... Berman... d'oh!

[Cervantes]

I really hope Berman isn't involved in this movie. I've been a Trekk(ie)/(er) all my life, but, come on, Time Traveling Nazi Aliens? That's when I threw up my hands and gave up hope.

If Berman is involved, I'm sure his next brilliant move will be having that old Asian guy from Heros show up.

On another note... Nimoy is 76? Wow, the heros of the old days get old quick. Of course, this pretty much sets up the movie as "Old guys sitting around the old captains home, thinking about the old days... queue movie-length flashback ... oh no, young doppleganger is in trouble! Will he survive?? Oh, right, we just saw his 80-year-old self. *sigh* .... start Trek drinking game..."