Star Trek XI -The Movie, a Preview

Good news, Trekkies! Director J.J. Abrams has announced his cast for the new Star Trek movie, tentatively titled Star Trek XI. Abrams is critically acclaimed for his work directing series on ABC such as Alias, and the hugely popular, perpetual-cliffhanger, Lost.

The story line sets place very early in the Star Trek storyline, dating as far back as to tell the tale of the earliest adventures of Capitan Kirk and Mr. Spock. Speaking of the characters, let's get to the who's who.

Filling the shoes of the eternal William Shatner is Chris Pine; the man who starred along side Lindsay Lohan in Just My Luck. The only real piece of work he has in his portfolio is playing a crazed German hitman in Smokin' Aces, along with a guest appearance on a few popular TV shows. It waits to be seen how well he can command attention on the silver screen, but I think his generally similarity to Shatner is what is really going to win the hearts of Trekkies.

Next up is everybody's favorite Vulcan, Mr. Spock, played not only by Zachary Quinto, who is a little better known. If you don't know his name, you might recognize him as the villainous Sylar from "Heroes", or Adam Kaufman from "24." Star Trek fans will also be ecstatic to hear that the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy will also be making an appearance somewhere within the movie.

One of the biggest names making the cast is Simon Pegg, playing as none other than Scotty, also known as Montgomery Scott. He is easily one of the more experienced actors on the cast, having starred in Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, Pegg was probably chosen for his humor and wit. Not many can argue that he's got the personality for the part, and with some hair dye or a wig, he'd be a dead match.

Speaking of big names, does Karl Urban ring a bell? It should if you've seen Lord of the Rings, Chronicles of Riddick, or Doom. The star is going to be playing Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. Urban was apparently a toss up due to his size and build compared to the late DeForest Kelley. Facially, I can see where they could be father and son, but as far as body structure, I have to say Urban is definitely more "built." Either way, I think Urban has shown himself to be a decent actor, and will probably fit into the part rather nicely

When you open your hailing frequencies in the morning, who is the first person you think of? Personally, I think of Lieutenant Uhura, being played by Zoe Saldana. I don't have much to say about her, except that she was in Drumline, a movie about drumming with Nick Cannon. Other than that, she gave a rather decent appearance in Pirates of the Carribean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. As far as looks go, she's almost a dead match with the original Uhura, Nichelle Nichols.

And who can forget Mr. Pavel Chekov, the eager young Russian? Chekov will be played by Anton Yelchin, a native-born Russian himself. I have to say, I've heard the least about him, and he seems to be an up-and-coming actor. I must say, I imagine that there is no better way to break through into acting than a major project like Star Trek. We'll just have to wait tight and see how he does.

Perhaps the larges surprise for me was the selection for Lt. Sulu, apparently being played by John Cho, from Harold and Kumar go to White Castle. IGN had this to say "John Cho is an odd choice for Sulu. There really wasn't a younger Japanese-American actor available for the part? He might turn out to be a surprisingly satisfying choice but for now we can't see Cho as the swashbuckler-wannabe Sulu."

Shooting for the movie started just this month, so Trekkies can expect to be beamed up on Christmas 2008.

Posted by Justin "Q-Y" Rhinehart.

Special thanks to IMDb for maintaining such an excellent service.

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