Voices From Krypton

JOHN, PAUL, KIRK AND SPOCK: THE NEW FAB FOUR

The new Star Trek succeeds on a number of levels, one of which (and it’s fairly significant) is the establishing of the relationship between Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk and Zachary Quinto’s Spock. As was the case with William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy, there’s an instant rapport between the two actors that translates on screen. And in terms of the characters, there is a whole new level of connection made by the fact that Nero is responsible for the death of Kirk’s father and Spock’s mother. Interestingly, the inspiration for this, according to co-writer Bob Orci, was the relationship between Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
   “We looked at John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s friendship as part of our model for Kirk and Spock,” says Orci. “They were opposites and they bonded very young because they both lost their mothers when they were teens.  They might not have actually gotten along at the time had it not been for that kind of a bond. They were the only ones who kind of understood each other’s pain about having lost their mother, so they were definitely an influence on Kirk and Spock.  You know, Star Trek and the Beatles were products of the ‘60s, so sometimes you have to tie it all together.”
    So, which of the Star Trek team is Lennon and which is McCartney?  “The more you read about them, the more you realize how they each had elements of the other,” Orci notes. “The Yin and Yang each have elements of the other color within their spot. I think it depends on the day. On the one hand you can say that Lennon was the intellectual like Spock, but on the other hand he was also kind of the leader of the band, so you can say he was Kirk in that way. And certainly Paul had more of the Spock haircut and the eyebrows. I guess we’ll be able to answer that one later, when we see how Kirk and Spock develop.”
   But Orci considers this question a moment longer before adding confidently, “You know what? Spock is Lennon, because Paul is the optimist who can kind of see through the pain and still keep his chin up. That’s Kirk. Spock is a little more fatalistic with his logic, as John Lennon was.”

Check out the book Trek Classic: The Unofficial Making of the Original Series by clicking HERE.

STAR TREK: THE UNFILMED PREQUEL

As J.J. Abrams’ version of Star Trek has proven, the idea of new actors taking on the roles made famous by William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley  and company seems like something of a no-brainer. But this wasn’t the first time the idea was broached, producer Harve Bennett and screenwriter David Loughery having worked on a prequel following their efforts on 1989’s Star Trek V: The Final Frontier.
     “Every time they went to make one of those Star Trek movies,” explains Loughery, “the producers and the studio always ran into the same problem in getting the original cast together. The reasons for that were money, power, creative differences, ego, health, unavailability… all of those things. [Producer] Harve Bennett always had this ace up his sleeve, which was if we can’t get everybody together for one of these Star Trek movies, we should do a prequel.”
   Starfleet Academy, which ultimately fell aside in favor of 1991’s Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, chronicled the story of a young James T. Kirk, a Spock who is estranged from his parents and becomes the first Vulcan to attend Starfleet Academy, and Leonard McCoy, a 30-year-old doctor who attends the Academy after having pulled the plug on his terminally ill father and is searching for meaning his his life. Michael Curtiz’ 1940 film The Santa Fe Trail served as an inspiration for what Bennett envisioned as the classic triumvirate’s first trek. The film which could have been made, according to Bennett, for $27 million. would also have avoided the hefty multi-million dollar salaries of Shatner and Nimoy, as well as the escalating payments made to the other cast members.
   David Loughery explains, “When I heard about the idea, I thought it was terrific.  Not from the point of view of recasting, but from the point of view of storytelling, because I worked so closely with the characters on Star Trek V, that the idea of doing an origin story – where you show them as young cadets – was tremendously exciting. What it was, was a real coming of age story. In outline form, it was the story of Kirk and Spock meeting for the first time as cadets here on earth. We’ve got a young Jim Kirk, who’s kind of cocky and wild. He’s not exactly what you might think starship captain material might be. He’s like one of these kids who would rather fly hot planes and chase girls. Spock is this brilliant, arrogant, aloof to the point of obnoxiousness, genius. It’s this mask he’s hiding behind to cover his own conflicting human emotions. He’s an outcast, he left Vulcan in shame against his father’s wishes and, like all adolescents, he’s trying to find a place to fit in, but he keeps screwing it up.
    “Over the course of this story,” he continues, “which is one year at Starfleet Academy, Kirk and Spock are sort of put to the test and they begin as rivals and end up as friends and comrades who learn that they have to combine their talents for the first time to defeat a deadly enemy. In the final scene, where they say goodbye at graduation and go their separate ways, we’re able to see the legend that these two boys are going to grow up to become. We felt that there was a powerful story there, one that the audience would be interested in. We’re always interested in young Indiana Jones and young Sherlock Holmes, and how they started and came to be who they are. This was sort of the way to explain Kirk and Spock and where they came from.”

To learn more about the history and voyages of Kirk and Spock, check out author Edward Gross' book Trek Classic: The Unofficial Making of the Original Series, a comprehensive behind the scenes look at the 1960s show featuring a complete episode guide and interviews with dozens of writers, directors and producers. For more information, just click HERE.

STAR TREK SEASON ONE ON BLU-RAY

J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek has the ability to reawaken the dormant Trekkie within you. That’s certainly the feeling you get as you walk out of the film, suddenly aware of why you had fallen in love with the franchise in the first place. Kind of like that moment at the end of Wrath of Khan, when Bones asks Kirk, “You okay, Jim? How do you feel?”, to which Kirk responds, “Young. I feel young.”

There’s a sense of Trek giddiness that struck this writer that hasn’t been felt since the months and weeks leading up to the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture back in 1979. And while that film, in many ways, took away a bit of the joy, this new one merely makes you hungry for more. Thankfully the taste for that particular meal can be satiated with the CBS/Paramount release of season one of the original series on Blu-ray.

On a creative level, season one of Star Trek was all about the bringing together the elements that would come to define the show, and its evolution is obvious as the season unfolds. Along the way we start to sense the depth of the Kirk/Spock relationship, which manages to be given even more weight thanks to the addition of the Abrams film.

And part of the key to the Blu-ray set, as inadvertent as it may have been, is that it serves as the natural follow-up to that big screen adventure. In particular, one should check out the episodes “Where No Man Has Gone Before” (the second pilot, and the first to team Shatner with Leonard Nimoy) and the first regular episode shot, “The Corbomite Maneuver.” It’s a whole new experience following the feature film as the actors are still discovering themselves, and the characters each other.

MEDIA GEEK: STAR TREK TRAILER PREMIERE

Click Image to Enlarge

For More Media Geek, Click HERE.

THE HISTORY OF STAR TREK, PART 1: THE DESILU CONNECTION; AN INTERVIEW WITH OSCAR KATZ

With all eyes focused forward to the release of JJ Abrams' 2009 take on Star Trek, it seems like a good time to go back to the franchise's beginnings. Over the next several months, Voices From Krypton will offer a wide variety of audio interviews chronicling Star Trek's long history. We kick things off with an interview with the late Oscar Katz, the former Desilu executive who recognized the talent of Gene Roddenberry in general, and the potential of Star Trek in particular, and who played a significant role in convincing Lucille Ball and the Desilu board of directors to take a chance on the concept.

LOOK FOR THE HISTORY OF STAR TREK, PART II ON MONDAY MARCH 31ST

MEDIA GEEK: POOH TREK

CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE

STAR TREK: ERIC BANA & CHRIS PINE

One announcement and one rumor in the world of Star Trek today. First of all, Eric Bana (Troy, Hulk) has been cast by J.J. Abrams in the role of “Nero,” presumably a Romulan villain who, if rumors are true, is the one leading a mission into the past to destroy Captain James T. Kirk and the Federation itself.
   Interestingly, during the making of Troy, Bana made a comment regarding the saga he was involved with that could fairly easily be applicable to Star Trek as well: “I think one of the reasons it’s lasted so long is that it’s a story you can lay over any period of time, and there’s a lot of relevance. I’m sure that’s why it’s stood up for so long. And it’s a thoroughly entertaining story. It has so many elements we can all relate to. Of revenge and love and love for country, love for family, ego – so many elements there, that it’s completely timeless.”
   One slightly disconcerting thing about Bana’s character: the Romulans have long been viewed as a an allegory for the ancient Romans, which is all well and good and plays very nicely. That being said, does the villain of the piece really have to be named “Nero?” That seems about as subtle as the original series’ “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield,” where two aliens try to kill each other because although each of them has a face that’s literally half white and half black, one of them says of the other in explanation of his hatred, “Isn’t it obvious? He’s white on the wrong side!”
   The rumored casting concerns actor Chris Pine, whose credits include The Princess Diaries 2 and Just My Luck, in the role of the aforementioned Kirk. At the time of the latter’s release, Pine expressed that he did feel luck had played a certain part in his career to date.
    “I took part in a theater festival in Massachusetts two summers after I graduated college,” he explained. “Then I was in Los Angles thinking, ‘I am going to go to New York.’ I had decided that I would not have a chance of a film career, so I was about to make the move. I bought a plane ticket and found a place to live in New York, packed my bags and, of course, the universe told me that I was not meant to go. Suddenly a week before I was supposed to leave, I had three job offers and one of them was my first movie. I think when you go and ‘throw it all away’ and stop getting attached and you say, ‘Whatever happens, happens,’ you don’t invest too much in anything in particular, and things work out.  As an actor, it’s easy to be so self-critical, saying to yourself, ‘Am I good enough? Am I good looking enough? Am I smart enough?’ Yet here I am, so I am lucky.”

PAUL MCGILLION INTERVIEWED ON "STAR TREK"

In an interview with Scotland's The Express, actor Paul McGillion, best known for his role as Dr. Ernest Littlefield on Stargate: Atlantis, explained that he had indeed auditioned for the role of engineer Montgomery "Scotty" Scott in J.J. Abrams' new Star Trek film. "I can't tell you a whole lot," he said, "but I can confirm that I did audition for the role of Scotty. It was obviously thrilling to go in and read for that character, seeing as I grew up watching Star Trek with my family. I don't want to sound cliched about it, but it would be a privilege to try to follow in James Doohan's footsteps." The article also makes note of the fact that Star Trek is scheduled to start filming on November 5th.

STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION AT 20: PRODUCER ROBERT LEWIN

During the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation, the joke was that Paramount should have installed a revolving door at the studio gates to make way for the arrival and departure of the show's various producers. One of those producers was the late Robert Lewin, who in this intreview conducted 20 years ago reveals some of the challenges that the show's staff faced.

TNG AT 20: JOHN DE LANCIE

As Star Trek: The  Next Generation celebrates its 20th anniversary, the timing couldn't be better to pull out some old interviews conducted at around the time the show was first in  production. In this brief interview, actor John De Lancie (forever branded "Q:" by Trek fans) considers the notion of whether or not Star Trek could capture lightning in a bottle a second time.