Regular readers of The A.V. Club's Newswire have probably been wondering where my frequent, pointless, who-gives-a-fuck updates about Star Trek have disappeared to lately. (No? You haven't been wondering at all? Aw man, that hurts.)
In any case, there's a little bit of news to report: Harry Knowles over at Ain't It Cool was recently invited by director J.J. Abrams to check out seven minutes worth of rough cuts from his upcoming Star Trek movie–the one that will reboot The Original Series. First off: The film's release date has been pushed by Paramount from Christmas of this year to May 8, 2009 (a move that, says Knowles, Abrams doesn't seem to happy about). As for the clips themselves: Abrams gave a peek at a scene of Winona Ryder holding an infant Spock. (Knowles: "A baby with Spock ears is kind of amazing to look at." Um, yeah, I guess so.) He also screened a scene of young Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and McCoy getting their post-Academy-graduation assignments in a giant Starfleet hangar–including a brief exchange between Kirk and McCoy that supposedly sets the tone of their friendship for decades to follow.
But best of all, according to Knowles, were shots of the Enterprise, of which he says: "…the interior of the ship… was very shadowy and very much like that of an old diesel submarine… It just felt aggressive and frankly… badass." And the bridge? "…for the first time in the history of Star Trek, it looked amazingly functional. It echoes that classic Trek look–but imagine if you handed that design to the folks at Apple and said… Make it really work." In other words: They've got iPhones for tricorders.
For those who just can't wait till May '09 for a fresh fix of Trek, the online miniseries Star Trek: Of Gods And Men has finally unveiled its third and final installment. There are dozens of such Trek fan-films floating around, of course, but Of Gods And Men has enjoyed an unprecedented level of involvement from Trek alumni–including on- and behind-the-camera action from Tim "Tuvok" Russ, Nichelle "Uhura" Nichols, Walter "Chekov" Keonig, and many others. Russ, who directed the miniseries, is trying to set up a screening with Paramount in hopes of convincing the studio to make Of Gods And Men canon and release it on DVD.
And finally: Let's all take a moment to congratulate George "Sulu" Takei and his longtime partner Brad Altman on their recent engagement following California's legalization of same-sex marriage. Boldly go, friend, boldly go.