I’ve written before about the upcoming Trek movie, Star Trek XI, and now there is some news: Uhura has been cast. Remember the weird voodoo woman in Pirates of the Caribbean? Yup. She was cool, though I doubt she’ll be casting any spells in Trek or talking like Hermes ("Captain! Me manwich!"). But I kinda hope so. [Nuts. The character in Pirates was Anamaria, not the voodoo queen. Oh well, there went a good joke and a Futurama reference.]
Anyway, the cast as it stands now is Zachary Quinto as Spock, Anton Yelchin as Chekov (at least his name is kinda Russian), and now Zoe Saldana as Uhura. Who will play Kirk and McCoy? I’m still hoping for Matt Damon and Gary Sinise. I mean, c’mon. They’re perfect.
Image of Daemon Damon stolen from BritFilms.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Naomie Harris was the one to play the weird voodoo lady in Pirates. Zoe Saldana, who’s been cast for Uhura, played Anamaria.
September 25th, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Not trying to be contrary here, but I think this Trek film may be more interesting:
http://www.startrekofgodsandmen.com/index.php
September 25th, 2007 at 12:35 pm
Steve Buscemi as McCoy! That would make the interaction with Spock absolutely hilarious (think Resevoir Dogs).
September 25th, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Shakespeare could write it with a young Brando staring and God himself directing and this movie would still be a bad idea. It is going to be awful no matter who they cast.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
No matter how awful it could possibly be it will still manage to suck me in like a nerd singularity. So if that’s the case at least let it be Matt Damon. That way I can bask in the reflected glory of my man-crush. Fie on Will Wheaton I say.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
If I’m not mistaken, Zoe Saldana did not play the voodoo woman in the Pirates movie.
That was Tia Dalma.
This chick is the one who played Anamaria, who Jack owes a ship to and is on Jack’s crew.
A much smaller role, to be sure.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
Wow … with so much to work with in the Star Trek Timeline, we are gonna get another Kirk + Spock movie? Yawn.
One day my dream of watching a Trek movie where they aren’t all wearing crappy spandex suits and meeting other humanoid (cheap) aliens will come true.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Monsignor Henry Clay:
> Fie on Will Wheaton I say.
Why? Perhaps he can be one of the “extra” members of the first away team, never to be seen or heard from again.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
The biggest threat to this film is upsetting what has been considered canonical info about the early life of the ST characters. That’s what killed ‘Enterprise’, and I think it is what is going to kill this movie. I hope I’m wrong, but I think this movie is going to suck . . . Hard.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
I think Shatner should play the role until he’s dead. Same with George Takei. He should be demoted and resume his duties on the bridge of the Enterprise.
Now that that is settled…I say Eva Longoria as Deanna Troi and Gary Coleman as Darth Vader.
That should round out the cast nicely.
September 25th, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Darth Vader??? You are getting your sci-fi movies confused, PsyberDave. Of course Gary Coleman would make a great Vader (Luke, I am your little brother).
September 25th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
[...] Tom Sullivan wrote an interesting post today!.Here’s a quick excerptI’ve written before about the upcoming Trek movie, Star Trek XI, and now there is some news: Uhura has been cast. Remember the weird voodoo woman in Pirates of the Caribbean? Yup. She was cool, though I doubt she’ll be casting any … [...]
September 25th, 2007 at 2:16 pm
I assumed that the Darth Vader reference was a joke. (Though you never know. Perhaps he meant “Gary Coleman as Lt. Worf”?)
September 25th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
I won’t be able to watch it without thinking that Spock is going to point his index finger at Kirk’s head, cut the top off of it, and then eat his brain, absorbing Kirk’s womanizing and Judo chopping power. Actually that would be kind of cool really.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Mr. Sulu, go to maximum nerdosity!
Honestly, this is gonna be awesome. Even if the result should turn out bad, it definitely can’t get any worse than ‘Final Frontier’; so, I say: Bring it on!
It would be fun to see Damon as Kirk, but can he do the kirking? How is his touch with the green-skinned Orion slave girls? And: Is the shirt going to come off? (This appears to be my girlfriend’s main interest in the movie, if Damon should star…)
Looking forward to it!
The Jerrylander
September 25th, 2007 at 2:28 pm
PLAYING THE LOCAL COP ON THE BEAT, I HAVE TO SAY ,”OK,MOVE ALONG NOW. QUIT CLUTTERING UP THE SIDEWALK,,,”
Really looking forward to Star Gate Atlantis, Heros, etc., and maybe even Of Gods and Men.
Gary 7
September 25th, 2007 at 2:35 pm
Please please oh please insert BR tag with clear=all parameter after the image, because now it shows weird in Firefox
September 25th, 2007 at 2:39 pm
Oooohhh… I hope they do it as remake of Star Trek: The Motion Picture — this time with a lot more special effects shots of V’Ger, especially when they are flying through the cloud.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
I think I’d rather have the Matt Damon puppet from Team America.
Alien: Identify yourself!
Matt Damon Puppet: (in a monotone) Caaaaaaptaaaaain Kirrrrrrrrrrk….
How about something fresh? Try casting *against* type. Do the whole thing in traditional Disneyesque 2D cell animation. Make it a musical.
And am I the only one who gets tired of seeing the same actors over and over? I’m the only person I know that when a new movie is mentioned does NOT ask “Who’s in it?” unless it’s to help me identify it.
Although Gary Sinise as McCoy… hmmm… maybe.
And where’s my Peter Jackson helmed Halo movie?
>>> This appears to be my girlfriend’s main interest
>>> in the movie, if Damon should star
And people wonder why Hollywood continues to crank out the junk.
September 25th, 2007 at 2:54 pm
>>> Oooohhh… I hope they do it as remake of
>>> Star Trek: The Motion Picture — this time
>>> with a lot more special effects shots of V’Ger,
>>> especially when they are flying through the cloud.
Wow. I hope that was sarcasm.
Hey, and they could call the alien something new, like, oh, NOMAD.
Here’s a good movie idea: Harry Harrison’s “One Step From Earth”
September 25th, 2007 at 3:10 pm
I think Matt Damon’s head has swollen from all the starring. Disturbing…
… and that too.
But the worst is that I look forward to yet another scifi movie.
September 25th, 2007 at 3:19 pm
Hmm. Without the original actors, the new movie will probably experience a warp core breach. Let’s hope the story can make up for that.
September 25th, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Max Fagin said:
> The biggest threat to this film is upsetting what has been considered canonical info about the early life of the ST characters. That’s what killed ‘Enterprise’, and I think it is what is going to kill this movie. I hope I’m wrong, but I think this movie is going to suck . . . Hard.
Ding ding ding ding! Give the man a prize. Hit the nail on the head with that one.
Major… suckage… impending.
September 25th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
[...] Original post by Bad Astronomy Blog [...]
September 25th, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Matt Damon
September 25th, 2007 at 6:03 pm
Yelchin
That’s cool. Not only did they get an actual Russian born actor but a darn good one at that. He was Hank Azaria’s kid in Huff, the victim in Alpha Dog, the near kidnapped Russian kid in Along Came a Spider and Anthony Hopkins’ co-star in Hearts in Atlantis.
I think this is going to be one of the best Trek films ever. Hopefully the astronomy will be good.
September 25th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
For Kirk, maybe the blonde kid from Saved By The Bell, who as an adult was on NYPD Blue.
Also, I want Salma Hayek as a green alien dancer.
September 25th, 2007 at 7:57 pm
Holy crap… Just imagine Kirk going all Bourne Identity on some Romulans ass.
September 25th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
PK, maybe there’s one or two actresses I don’t tire of seeing.
So I suggest:
Jennifer Connelly as a Romulan commander.
You know that I am right. You can feel in your bones the perfection of this casting. I win the thread.
September 25th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
Jennifer Connelly as a Romulan commander.
I’d buy that for a dollar!
J/P=?
September 25th, 2007 at 9:03 pm
Romulan’s
September 25th, 2007 at 9:21 pm
Look, I’m not gonna have to break some heads here over Wil, am I? AM I?
Don’t mess with Wil. He’s hawesome.
September 25th, 2007 at 9:57 pm
You’re right… Damon(sp) is the only viable Kirk in the present coral. I wouldn’t'h’ve thought of Sinese as McKoy until you mentioned it… but now it makes sense…. I’m on.
John
September 26th, 2007 at 12:49 am
Who needs canonical timelines anyway? With all the mucking about with time travel they’ve done they should just be glad to be living in a timeline with three spatial and one timelike dimension.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:25 am
Can’t…. resist…. plugging….
If you want some new Trek, pop over to http://www.starshipintrepid.net and download the pilot episode of Star Trek: Intrepid. As seen on CNN! It’s really rather good!
Disclaimer: I directed it.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:53 am
Yeah but Damon spelled backward is NOMAD. That can’t be good.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:03 am
“Anton Yelchin as Chekov (at least his name is kinda Russian)”
For all most Americans know, Walter Koenig is “kinda Russian”… And Wil Wheaton as a red shirt would be poetic justice, excellent suggestion.
September 26th, 2007 at 8:07 am
I wonder if Wil was ever under consideration for Captain Kirk. That would be too cool. He is a fine actor, and with a better written character it would be very interesting. Of course, I believe at this point he’s older than Shatner was when he begain the role!
September 26th, 2007 at 10:02 am
That Daemon Damon picture is creeping me out.
September 26th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Geoff -
“I think this is going to be one of the best Trek films ever.”
This is rather like saying I think it will hurt less the 10th time I chop off a toe with a lawn mower. Star Trek movie = prime suckage. The only question any sane person asks is: “Just how drunk WAS I when I bought these tickets?”
Hopefully the astronomy will be good.”
Religious fanatics hope their imagination… er… God will smite their enemies. I’m still waiting.
September 26th, 2007 at 11:07 am
I could go for a reimagining or a reboot of the Star Trek continuity. Everything pre-TOS has been fudged up by Enterprise, even with the final episode cop-out of ‘that didn’t seem quite historically accurate.’
I dunno about you, but if I were a human Starfleet officer going through a simsense reproduction of some seminal era in human spaceflight that didn’t grok with what I knew to be history, my reaction would be more along the lines of “what bollocks!” Think the amusement park on the Moon in Futurama.
Anyway. Pre-TOS is out. Post-Voyager (and, more particularly, post-Nemesis) is out because there’s no real conflict yet, and after Nemesis I’ve given up on Trek movies actually taking advantage of the strengths of the franchise and playing on the intelligence of the nerds who will go see them (like, oh, VI and to a slightly lesser extent II), rather than just try to outdo the vapid flash of Star Wars. With no bad guys throughout the entire galaxy to do battle with now that Starfleet can one-shot Borg Cubes, that leaves something extragalactic. It didn’t work for Star Wars EU, and I don’t think it’ll work for Trek.
Unfortunately, the climate isn’t right for the TWOK-era movies either, as the Cold War is over and the Klingon/Federation cold war won’t resonate quite as well. (Admittedly, Insurrection did sort of predate the War For Oil controversy, which is somewhat unfortunate as well). So, after much thought, a back-to-basics TOS-reimagined movie, well done, could be just what the franchise needs to kick it back into gear…
…a decade or two from now. The new BSG is outstanding, but it’s twenty years removed from its fluffy feldgercarb origin.
I’ll go see it, no doubt. Right now all I’m hoping it will be better than the Star Wars prequel series.
September 26th, 2007 at 12:59 pm
I loved Enterprise, but maybe I’m not a big enough Trekkie to get why it was so horrible.
And Gary Sinise is spot-on for McCoy.
September 26th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
I want to see Wil Wheaton cast as *every* character. Wouldn’t it be cool to see Wil all over the screen acting with himself? I’m sure he could do the voices, and makeup and costumes would do the rest.
J. D.
September 26th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Why? Why? Why?
Why remake films or in this case a TV show that don’t simply does not need it. (You know besides the fact they will make millions on the tripe).
It is impossible to improve on the original Star Trek. Not because it is perfect, but because it is iconic. Not that they will come even remotely close to making a good movie anyway.
Why not do something else.
I might not be so negative if Hollywood’s track record was not so horrendous. Hollywood remakes are not just usually worse, they are usually monumentally worse. Think Planet of the Apes, Flight of the Phoenix, etc. (Of course there are exceptions to prove the rule.)
BTW, Phil – Welcome to Boulder. Beautiful day today, is it not?
Alan
September 26th, 2007 at 4:59 pm
What’s with the Wil Wheaton hatin’? Yes, Wesley was annoying. But Wil the actor/writer is all grown up and awesome. check out his blog:
http://wilwheaton.typepad.com
The only ST movie I’ll watch over and over is Wrath of Khan. But I’ll see every one that comes out, sucky or not, since I am a geek that way.
Gary Sinise as McCoy? Genius. The Daemon Damon is scaring me.
September 26th, 2007 at 6:23 pm
It’s interesting to me that the same people who revile The Motion Picture—the only Star Trek movie to actually attempt to be real science fiction (Isaac Asimov was science adviser)—are the same ones who revile movies like Armageddon and The Core for being “stupid.”
Granted, TMP didn’t have a lot of loud boom booms and sparkly lights, but I give it full points for at least trying to be something different. (Referring to the director’s cut, btw)
September 26th, 2007 at 7:29 pm
Nerdlinger, that bra bomb had better work!
Maybe they could age regress every image and have Shatner play Kirk.
September 30th, 2007 at 8:14 am
Matt Damon would be a nice guy for this movie.
I think he has the tallent to make more out of this character than enyone else.
Anyway the mentioned picture is great. I like how Trek fans express their creativity. I mean the funny part of the creativity where even Mr. Spock plays card games on his PC http://gimps.de/wettbewerb/displayimage.php?pos=-193-Mr.-Spock-spielt-Karten
Yours Sincerely.