New Star Trek talk

Gene Roddenberry’s stale sci-fi franchise will soon boldly go where it’s already been about a dozen times, but what can both the Trekkies and the non-Trek-care-abouters expect?

Writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman had beans about the project, and spilled a few to MTV. First of all, their flick (definitely being directed by their comrade JJ Abrams) will simply be titled STAR TREK, and will be a “re-imagining” rather than a straight prequel, an attempt to broaden the fanbase. Though it sounds like they want to have their Gagh and eat it too — as Orci says, “We want it to feel like it’s updated and of the now. That’s actually the discussions we’re having now: how to keep the look of the universe yet have it not look like nothing’s new. It’s tricky.” Like that sentence.

The re-energized franchise will reportedly also have soul, technobabble, and more action than any other film entry, but other details are harder to find than a trustworthy Ferengi or a tolerable VOYAGER episode. And while casting is a ways off (despite the planned Christmas 2008 release), the writers did admit to meeting with Shatner and Nimoy, which more or less somehow validates the Kirk and Spock rumors.