The past three weeks have been wild and woolly as the principal cast of the new Star Trek movie has been confirmed and announced. Much will be written about these actors in the coming months as they begin rehearsals next week, then begin filming in a shoot that will stretch into next March. For now, here are your new Star Trek cast members!
CHRIS PINE as Captain James T. Kirk
ZACHARY QUINTO as Spock
KARL URBAN as Leonard McCoy
SIMON PEGG as Montgomery Scott
JOHN CHO as Hikaru Sulu
ZOE SALDANA as Uhura
ANTON YELCHIN as Pavel Chekov
LEONARD NIMOY as Spock
ERIC BANA as Nero
There you have it! There will be many more cast members announced in the coming weeks but this completes the main cast.
...ahead warp one!
A month ago TrekMovie.com reported that CBS issued a licence to a funeral products company to help send Trekkies into the afterlife. Today at the Funeral Directors Expo in Vegas (complete with costumed characters from Star Trek The Experience) Eternal Images revealed these new products. They have an approved prototype of the urn and a sketch of the casket. See below for higher res image.
Star Trek urn (available late 2007)…click to enlarge
UPDATE:
A piece of outer space named for George Takei is in kind of a rough neighborhood for somebody who steers a starship: an asteroid belt.
“I am now a heavenly body,” George Takei said Tuesday.
An asteroid between Mars and Jupiter has been renamed 7307 Takei in honor of the actor, best known for his role as Hikaru Sulu in the original “Star Trek” series and movies.
Still rockin’ in outer space and on Earth.
William Shatner once said that the role of Kirk in JJ Abrams Star Trek Prequel is "uncastable". I happen to agree to some extent with that statement. Shatner didn't mean that no one could do the job, just that the character became so synonymous with Shatner himself that anyone you got to play Kirk would actually be playing William Shatner playing Kirk.
So no matter who they choose, someone is going to have issues with it. I am undecided about the most predominate casting rumour for Kirk to date.
Well, allegedly Mike Vogel has been cast as James T. Kirk for JJ Abrams’s upcoming STAR TREK movie.Rumour or not, the fact that Vogel is currently working with JJ on the mysterious Cloverfield movie makes you wonder if his experience with Vogel would influence such a casting choice? It wouldnt be the first time a director would choose an actor he has worked with before.How true is it? I have no idea at the moment. It certainly seems like IESB is confident about their source, and Vogel is starring in CLOVERFIELD/1-18-08/etc. right now, so maybe JJ saw something he really liked as those dailies came rolling in.
I don't know Vogel well enough to imagine him in the role. Do you think he would do the job well?
Us Weekly threw a bash at Opera last night, hosting hot young actresses like Amanda Bynes, Miley Cyrus, and Nichelle Nichols?! The original "Star Trek" Lieutenant was the talk of the party. As one TMZ insider said, "Uhura stole the show!"
I'm going to be real honest with you here, because it's late and the PG-13 side of me is itching to break loose. The only thing I remember about Haven (aside from some nice blue water) was Zoe Saldana. And, technically, I'm not talking about her performance. Should she eat more? Sure, but aren't most Hollywood actresses flirting with an eating disorder at one point throughout their career? Zoe's cute, she looks good, and she's also about to co-star in one of the most talked-about films in the month of July -- Star Trek XI: The Flashback Episode. (That was a joke; not the real title -- in case you thought about IM'ing your Trekkie group.)
Saldana will be playing Uhura, "which means freedom in Swahili" (thanks Variety!), and acts as a member of the bridge crew on the U.S.S. Enterprise. Variety adds that the character also rose to the rank of commander. Saldana takes over for Nichelle Nichols, who played the character on the original Star Trek series, as well as in six Star Trek films. Star Trek XI will follow the Enterprise crew during those oh-so-important wonder years, back when the gang first met and, presumably, took on their first mission -- which (and don't tell ANYONE I told you this) apparently has to do with Kirk and Spock being placed in charge of finding out exactly what J.J. Abrams is calling his damn monster movie. Interesting ... and I like the cross promotion. Heroes star Zachary Quinto and Anton Yelchin have already signed on to play Spock and Chekov respectively, while the original Spock (Leonard Nimoy) has also hopped onboard to play something (I like the Enterprise janitor, but I'm not writing the thing). Star Trek XI will arrive in theaters on December 25, 2008.
By Michael Santo
Executive Editor, RealTechNews
Eternal Image says they design “Brand name funerary products that celebrate the passions of life,” and those passions apparently include Star Trek. Today they announced an agreement to design, manufacture and market a line of Star Trek branded funeral products.
From their press release:
“After launching our company in 2006 with sports, collectible, religious and pet branded items, the agreement provides us with a tremendous opportunity to enter the entertainment industry category with an extremely popular and well-loved brand,” said Clint Mytych, CEO Eternal Image.
“These licensed-image Star Trek products offer true fans a unique expression of their commitment to the franchise. For many years fans have asked for these types of products - or made their own - and we believe the Star Trek audience will embrace the idea which will create a very strong demand,” added Mytych.
We Say: They have already started designing products and expect to ship urns and caskets by late this year. If that’s the case, I would hope (expect?) to see a photon torpedo type casket, a la Spock’s casket in Star Trek II (pictured above).