J.J Abrams has signed on the dotted line to direct the next Star Trek film. Pre-Production is currently progressing and shooting is expected to start this winter. The first film’s screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are polishing of the screenplay, being egged on by producer Damon Lindelof. The new film is slated for a possible summer 2013 release.
All of the main cast are returning, but the big question is, is Abrams going to do the decent thing and cast the original Kirk, William Shatner? Of course how to you fit in a storyline which features Shatner playing an older Kirk meeting his younger self? Using time travel is a tired device and it would be a case of deja vu after an Old Spock popped up in the first Trek reboot.
There is one option, have Shatner play a different character, a wise old Admiral dropping pearls of wisdom into the young Kirk's ears. Or, undo the travesty that was the ending of Star Trek: Generations, where the films creators had the cheek to kill off Kirk in one of he most unnecessary and undramatic deaths ever put on celluloid.
Maybe in this new film, we discover that Kirk didn't really die and continued to live on in the Nexus to be rescued/discovered by his younger self. Then they can go off and save a world and defeat some evil alien's dastardly plan, before parting ways which involves the older Kirk returning to his own time period through some gobbly-gook SciFi method.
We do know that the screenwriters, Kurtzman and Orci have been watching lots of old Trek episodes for inspiration. Let us hope they will comfortably surprise us and warm the cockles of our heart with lots of cosy references to the original series, and maybe we may get to see a few Tribbles rolling around the decks of the USS Enterprise.
