With new actors playing the famous crew of the Starship Enterprise, J.J. Abrams’ reboot of the Star Trek franchise is sure to be polarizing. While many will welcome a Trek for a new generation, many others will mourn the absence of William Shatner and company. Still, most of them will surely pluck down their ten bucks to see it on opening day out of loyalty and curiosity. A bit of that curiosity was satisfied over the weekend as a trailer for the upcoming films leaked onto the web. Watch it below.
Directed by Abrams, Star Trek will focus on the early voyages of James T. Kirk and his crew aboard the USS Enterprise. Chris Pine (Smokin’ Aces), who bares a passing resemblance to a young William Shatner, is playing Kirk, while Zachary Quinto from TV’s Heroes dons a set of pointy ears as Mr. Spock. Simon Peg (Shaun of the Dead) is Scotty, Karl Urban (Doom) is Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy, John Cho (Harold and Kumar Escape from Guantanimo Bay) is Sulu, Anton Yelchin (Terminator: Salvation) is Pavel Chekov and Zoe Saldana (Avatar) is Nyota Uhura. The cast also includes Winnona Ryder, Bruce Greenwood and Eric Bana.
Created by Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek debuted on CBS on Sept. 8, 1966. Though it enjoyed only a short run before cancellation, the show has become one of science-fiction’s biggest icons and has spawned a number of spin-off series and ten feature films. Abrams’ fresh take was originally slated to hit theaters on Christmas day, but Paramount pushed it back to May 8, 2009.
The original TV series was updated with new digital visual effects and brought back to TV on 200 stations in 2006. The move was aimed at making the show more palatable for younger viewers by replacing some of the low-budget ’60s effects. NCM FATHOM, CBS Home Entertainment and Startrek.com even screened a re-mastered, HD version of the two-part storyline ‘The Menagerie’ from the show’s first season in a special one-night event in select theatres last year.
