Capt. Pike is…

Honestly I have no idea. I’m not a huge STAR TREK fan so I wasn’t even aware of who Captain Pike was in the mythology. But today I learned he was the first captain of the Starship Enterprise. I also learned that Pike will be played by Bruce Greenwood in JJ Abrams upcoming STAR TREK. According to the always reliable Wikipedia, Christopher Pike was the original captain of the Enterprise in the “Star Trek” pilot. The pilot was reshot, many of the characters were scrapped and the original actor decided he did not want to return. There had been rumors that Tom Cruise would join the film playing Pike but those, apparently, turned out to be false. The Pike casting is the last big piece of the STAR TREK casting pie to fall into place. Abrams and crew are expected to get filming going later this year with a Christmas 2008 release date. Greenwood can be seen next in I’M NOT THERE and NATIONAL TREASURE 2.