Okay, so it’s no secret by now that J.J. Abrams is doing the next Star Trek film. It’s also known to be kind of a prequel that attempts to re-boot the series. As an old school Star Trek nerd (Kirk totally kicks Picard’s ass. Sorry, but it’s true. On the other hand, Picard doesn’t start an interstellar war by accidentally shtupping the alien warlord’s favorite concubine), I’m mildly excited about this. I figure Paramount has gone to some pretty extreme lengths to ruin the franchise so, at the least, it will be interesting to see how Abrams digs his way out.
The casting was announced some time ago and this is actually the reason I’m writing. If you haven’t heard, iFilm runs down the list right here.
Chris Pine will be sitting in the captain’s chair. I’ve never seen him act, but he resembles Shatner enough to get the preliminary nod. Zachary Quinto as Spock is dream casting, pure and simple. He’s got the look and he can do emotional detachment like nobody’s business. John Cho as Sulu? Like Pine, he’s got the look. Gotta see if he can pull off the rest. Which brings us to Simon Pegg as Scotty.
Cue unexpected record scratch.
What? Are you kidding me? I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m definitely a Simon Pegg fan but he’s about as appropriate for the role as Dame Judi Dench. He doesn’t have the look, maybe he can do the accent, I don’t know. My big fear is that Scotty will be played strictly for laughs.
For a while there, there was a rumor floating around that Paul McGillion (Stargate: Atlantis’ Dr. Carson Beckett) was being considered for the role. This made me happy. McGillion has the look, he can definitely do the accent (McGillion was born in Scotland and emigrated to Canada with his family at the age of two) and he has the support of the late James Doohan’s family. Alas it was not to be.
At any rate, my enthusiasm for the flick has cooled a bit. At least we’ve got Cloverfield to look forward to.
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