Paramount begins its Trek

By Borys Kit

Anyone who's been within three miles of a Star Trek episode in the last several decades probably has some feelings about Par's upcoming reboot. Yesterday the studio and director JJ Abrams did a presentation offering a surprising amount of material about the new film on the Paramount lot. They've been on a little Star Trek promo tour, doing one of these things in London and then in NY. Yesterday was L.A.'s turn.

So what went down? They showed the trailer as well as four scenes from the movie. Abrams introduced the new Kirk and Spock, and talked a little about the newest installment in the franchise, which serves as an origin story: it basically tells of how the crew first meet and come together on their first mission.

Judging by the reactions, the presentations are achieving their intended effect. The scenes showcased some good sci-fi, with massive ships, aliens, and high-tech vehicles. They were emotional, thrilling, funny, visceral and had some nice twists on what even laymen of Trek mythology would know. Spock made captain? Kirk the first officer?

One thing that raised some eyberows were the comedy bits, which were a bit broad - Kirk gets bloated hands as a reaction to medication, as well as a numb tongue.It seemed over the top, though perhaps it will work in the larger context. (And as one of the actors told us afterwards, Abrams wanted some levity from some of the fast-paced and relentless nature of the movie.)

The movie doesn't open until May 2009 but Paramount is already staring to promote it, going where few have gone before -- with a trailer six months ahead of the opening.

And for those brave enough to go where (minor) spoilers tread, some descriptions of the footage after the jump.

Sequence 1 - Young Kirk is in a bar getting drunk in the middle of farm-country Iowa (which is being used to launch shuttles into space to board starships) and hits on fetching Starfleet recruit Uhura. A fight between him and other recruits ensues (he takes on four of them) and he gets his butt kicked -- blood pouring from his nose and mouth. A captain (Pike, as it turns out, the first captain of the Enterprise) breaks it up, has a heart to heart with Kirk, whose dad he knew, and tells him to join the Academy. "You could graduate in four years, maybe be a captain in eight." Kirk tells him no way, but (of course) changes his mind. He shows up the next day as recruits are taking off, finds Pike, tells him he's going to graduate in three.

Sequence 2: The one that seems to reveal the plot of the movie, or at least part of it. Romulans, led by Eric Bana, are attacking planets using some supreme weapons, and are drilling a tunnel in the planet Vulcan, with the intent of shooting a device that will create a black hole inside the planet, causing its destruction.
Kirk has been banned from the starship - he's a problem recruit - but uses a regulation to bend the rules by getting his pal Bones to make him sick on purpose (if you're sick, you can't be denied entry on the Starship). He of course starts getting all these reactions. Hilarity ensues. The ship is about to jump into hyperdrive to go to Vulcan but Kirk realizes it's a trap and must convince Capt. Pike, who previously kicked him off the ship, of the danger. But wait, he's having all these reactions! And Spock hates his guts.

Sequence 3: We see young Scotty and Leonard Nimoy as old Spock. There is a time travel element to this movie, which has caused much speculation on the Net. Young Spock banishes Kirk from the Enterprise to a wintry planet where he meets Nimoy/Spock, who helps him out and introduces him to young Scotty. What they showed was more of Nimoy/Spock and Kirk meeting Scotty, which was pretty funny, some of the comedy coming from a little short alien that is with the engineer.

Sequence 4: more in the way of plot, but also a great action sequence. As Pike flies a shuttle from the Enterprise to the Romulan ship to negotiate a surrender just outside Vulcan's high atmosphere, Kirk, Sulu, and Expendable Crew Member ( a TV show staple) in red shirt skydive off the shuttle with a plan to land on this small platform shooting a laser to the centre of the planet and destroy it, which would restore communications for the Enterprise and let it fly off to warn the Federation. Whew. Let's just say the plan does not go according to plan.

All of the sequences are well-directed and well-written. Part of the success occurs because this Trek, as opposed to many of the other ones, has some emotional heft; there's not only danger but characters with something to prove. Another reason is that for those with even rudimentary knowledge of the Trek characters, there's a pleasure in seeing them act as their young selves. And producers have done such a great job casting this that it's a joy to see these young 'uns inhabit or tackle roles that were, for over 30 years, the domain of their progenitors.