We get a closer look at the cast sans Spock. I found this pic over at Doppelgangland and I loved the updated but retro look so much, that I just had to post it here. I think Karl Urban is a little too big to play a convincing Bones but let’s wait and see. Chris Pine is not what I would expect someone who is to reprise a role made ‘immortal’ by William Shatner to be but then the poor guy has his work cut out for him. Simon Pegg as Scotty – I think is a poor choice! No offence to Pegg fans, but he just won’t do. But the new Uhura (Zoe Saldana) is beginning to look a lot like Nichelle Nichols to me!

I can’t believe I missed this completely despite reading a lot about the actors who are replacing the old cast of the Star Trek : The Original Series era. I mean I knew who was playing Captain Kirk, Bones & Spock and that Eric Bana is playing the villanous Romulan but I can’t believe that I missed out this!

John Cho is playing the role made famous by George Takei; that of Hikaru Sulu! The 36 year old comedic Korean-American actor, famous for his role as ‘Harold’ in the Harold & Kumar movies & American Pie series will be at the helm of the USS Enterprise. Finally, someone who I know and approve for a role in the movie.

Well, it’s just a little peek into what will be shown as the bridge of the USS Enterprise in the new Star Trek movie. That’s Captain Kirk (Chris Pine) in the seat and Dr.McCoy (Karl Urban) standing pensively behind him. Not sure if sexy legs behind them is Uhura or someone else. You can see Spock (Zachary Quinto & his Vulcan ears) in the foreground and half of Sulu (John Cho) at the helm.

Star Trek : The Motion Picture, the beginning of what is now a series of 10 movies, with a 11th in the making (which as we Trekkies know, is a prequel). I have finally got it. After a long search, which lasted almost 2 years, I found that someone had uploaded the movie in Veoh.com. Thank you, someone! Bolstered by the cult status of the original series in the 1970s and the success of Star Wars, Gene Roddenberry decided to make a full length feature film, bringing back the original series characters. Let’s start : A massive energy cloud destroys 3 Klingon ships and a Starfleet monitoring station, Epsilon 9, that it encounters en route. The cloud seems to be heading for Earth. As the nearest ship in the intercept range, the USS Enterprise is assigned to stop the destructive alien force. Admiral James T. Kirk assumes command of his former vessel, much to the dismay of the current captain Willard Decker. Meanwhile Spock, who is on his home planet of Vulcan, does not complete his kolinahr ritual. His failure to complete kolinahr and purge his emotions has led him to seek his answers on the Enterprise and the feeling of a conciousness that seems to be emination from the cloud.

Before Spock’s arrival on the Enterprise, tensions are high on the vessel, mainly due to Kirk’s unfamiliarity with the recent changes made in the refitting of the starship. An imbalance in the calibration of the ship’s warp engines resulting in the formation of an artificial wormhole. And testing of its new systems goes poorly, including a malfunctioning transporter that kills the science officer and one other. The ship has a new navigator, Lieutenant Ilia, an emphatic Deltan, played by the late Miss India Persis Khambatta. Decker has had a romantic past with Illia and it is obvious that they both have feelings for each other. The Enterprise intercepts the alien cloud, survives its initial assault, and journeys inside the cloud, finding a vast alien vessel, which draws the starship inside. An alien probe appears on the bridge and attacks Spock after he tries to prevent it from gathering sensitive Starfleet information.

if i didn t care movie

The probe abducts Ilia and is replaced by a robotic probe version of her (with Ilia’s memories buried in it’s mind. She says that she has been sent to study the “carbon-based units” (humans) by a living machine called V’Ger. V’Ger claims to be looking for its creator and that it is going to merge with it. Meanwhile, Spock takes a spacewalk into the alien vessel, and attempts to telepathically mind meld with it. In doing so, he learns that the vessel is V’ger itself; a living machine. He also comes to terms with his emotions, realizing that the pure logic V’ger represents is “barren… cold”. The ship travels to the center of the V’Ger, to where the main part lies and to their astonishment, they discover that V’Ger is actually Voyager 6 – an unmanned scientific probe, which was (fictitiously) part of the NASA Voyager program, and launched in the “twentieth century”.

The damaged probe was found by an alien race of living machines, who mistook it for a god and interpreted its programming as instructions to “learn all that is learnable” and return that information to its creator. These machines made V’ger into something capable of fulfilling that mission, and “on its journey back it gathered so much knowledge that it achieved consciousness itself!” And now, since it has fulfilled its mission it needs to bring this information to its creator. In the climax of the film, V’ger (in the persona of the Ilia probe) merges with Commander Decker and then vanishes into a higher realm of being. Earth is saved and the crew of the Enterprise go on to another adventure.

The movie grossed $82,258,456 in the U.S. and $139,000,000 worldwide, considered to be disappointing, considering its large $46,000,000 budget. The film was nominated for three Academy Awards, for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Best Effects and Best Music.
Footnote: It has been suggested that the alien race of living machines were the predecessors of the Borg. In the movie when the probe Ilia tries to resist the programming given to it because of residual memories and feelings for Decker. When V’ger becomes aware of this, it is aware that “the resistance was futile, of course”.

Star Trek V : The Final Frontier, which is, as the title says, the 5th of the Star Trek movie series and 5th with the Original Series cast members. I haven’t seen the one that comes just before Final Frontier, Star Trek IV : The Voyage Home. So that movie and the very first one are now the only two that I haven’t seen of the series. The cast includes William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Captain Spock, DeForest Kelley as Commander (Dr.) Leonard McCoy, James Doohan as Commander/Captain Montgomery Scott, George Takei as Commander Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov & Nichelle Nichols as Commander Uhura. Guest starring are Laurence Luckinbill as Sybok, David Warner as John Talbot, Todd Bryant as the Klingon Klaa, Spice Williams-Crosby as Vixis & Cynthia Gouw as Caithlin Dar. The movie stars on the desolate planet Nimbus III, where Sybok, the half-brother of Spock and a renegade Vulcan who had embraced his emotions as the path to true knowledge leads his gang to capture Klingon, Federation & Romulan representatives, who are based on the planet.

Kirk, McCoy & Spock are on shore leave in Yosemite National Park and their vacation is cut short as they are called on to mount a rescue mission. Uhura & Scotty were in charge of repairs of the Enterprise, which weren’t completed when they get the orders for the mission. Upon arriving at Nimbus III, Kirk, Spock & McCoy mount a rescue operatio of the hostages, but they learn that it was only a ploy by Sybok to take control of a Federation spaceship. Sybok uses his unique ability to share with and help conquer a person’s greatest emotional trauma to gain the trust of most of the crew. McCoy accepts the experience, reliving his father’s death (he euthanised his father to end his pain, but learned afterwards that a cure had been developed a short time later). Spock also accepts the experience, reliving his birth (being half bred of Vulcan and Human, he was never fully accepted by his father). However, Kirk denies Sybok, telling him that the pain experience is what makes them Human. Klaa follows the Enterprise in his Klingon bird of prey.

Sybok takes control of the ship and heads it to the Great Barrier, an energy field, to reach a mythical planet called Sha Ka Ree, where a mysterious God-like entity awaits. Giving back the command of the ship to Kirk, Sybok leads the Enterprise through the barrier and to a planet. Sybok, Spock, Kirk & McCoy head to the surface on a shuttle and approach on foot on the barren planet until an entity appears in front of them. The entity asks them how they got there and when told of the Enterprise, it demands that the ship be brought closer to it, so it can spread its wisdom throughout the galaxy. When the skeptical Kirk questions the entity’s motivation (“What does God need with a starship?”), it turns malevolent, harming Kirk. McCoy and Spock rush to his rescue, and even Spock has to ask for an answer to the question. Sybok then realizes that the alien entity is actually the manifestation of his own arrogance, seeking to escape the Great Barrier.

I liked that a lot, God=Arrogance

Realizing his mistake, Sybok sacrifices himself to delay the evil being long enough for Enterprise to launch a torpedo. However, while Sybok was killed, the entity wasn’t, and the Enterprise had enough power to beam up two people. Kirk tells Scotty to take Spock and McCoy, leaving himself on the surface of the planet with the entity. Spock was able convince the Klingon ambassador to order Klaa (who followed the Enterprise into the Barrier and to the planet) to rescue Kirk rather than kill him. Klaa’s Bird-of-Prey suddenly de-cloaks and destroys the alien with a phaser blast. Kirk is beamed aboard, where he receives an apology from Klaa himself, who admits that his attack on the Enterprise was not authorized by the Klingon government. The crews of both vessels and Sybok’s captives enjoy a peaceful celebration of their newfound détente. The film ends with Kirk, Bones, and Spock resuming their vacation in Yosemite National Park.

The last movie featuring the cast of the original Star Trek, Star Trek VI : The Undiscovered Country is also one of the best in the entire series. Also it hold a dear place in the hearts of Trekkies for nostalgia reasons. I downloaded this movie, having already seen it twice. It is funny in places and has some great moments. The stars of the movie : William Shatner as Admiral James T. Kirk, Leonard Nimoy as Captain Spock, DeForest Kelley as Commander (Dr.) Leonard McCoy, James Doohan as Commander Montgomery Scott, George Takei as Commander Hikaru Sulu, Walter Koenig as Commander Pavel Chekov & Nichelle Nichols as Commander Uhura. It also stars Kurtwood Smith (the dad of Eric Forman in That 70s Show) as the President of the Federation and Michael Dorn as Colonel Worf – grandfather of the Klingon Worf (from Star Trek : TNG & also played by Michael Dorn). But we have classic villains in Christopher Plummer as General Chang, a Shakespeare quoting Klingon, Martia played by former supermodel Iman and Lt. Valeris played by the sexy Kim Cattrall.

The setting of the movie is the attempt at peace by the Klingons lead by Chancellor Gorkon, as the explosion of Praxis, the moon, has damaged the Klingon planet’s atmosphere. Starfleet has chosen the Enterprise to escort the Chancellor’s ship to Earth, much to Captain Kirk’s dismay as he despises Klingons after the death of his son at the hands of Kruge (Star Trek III : The Search for Spock). Nevertheless he heads over to meet the ship and invites the Klingons aboard the Enterprise to dinner.

Later after the Klingons return to their ship, it seems as if the Enterprise fires on them. The artificial gravity is affected and while they float inside their ship, two people beam aboard, seemingly from the Enterprise, and kill the Chancellor and a few other Klingons. Kirk & McCoy beam aboard to try and save the Chancellor’s life but in vain and they are taken prisoners by Chang. At their trial on the Klingon homeworld, which takes places despite efforts from the Federation to extradite them, they are found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment on a mining & forced labour camp, where prisoners who attempt escape die due to the fierce cold & snow. But they meet an alien shapeshifter name Martia (played by Iman), who helps them to escape, only to betray them. But Spock latches onto the duo of McCoy & Kirk just in time. Meanwhile, on board the Enterprise the search is on to find the culprits who assassinated the Chancellor.

The search finds them dead and upon investigating, Spock & Kirk discover that Lt.Valeris, a Vulcun who Spock was grooming to be his successor on his retirement. He is apparently disappointed at this betrayal by his apprentice but he conducts a mind-meld to find out a prototype Bird of Prey was the one responsible to firing at the Chancellor’s ship and that it can fire while cloaked while other Klingon ships cannot & that several StarFleet senior officials were involved in the plot to kill the Klingon Chancellor. They hold a grudge against the Klingons and do not want to enter into a peace with them, rather use this testing time to bring them to their knees. From captain Sulu of the USS Excelsior, Kirk finds out the new meeting place of the peace treaty. As they head out there, General Chang confronts the two Starfleet ships with his prototype bird of prey and damages both ship. However a
modified torpedo manages to nullify the Klingon’s advantage and the ship is destroyed. The Enterprise crew along with help from Sulu get to the treaty just in time to prevent the assassination attempt on the Federation President and apprehend the guilty parties. Now branded once again as heroes the crew are on the ship when they find that they have orders to get back to Starfleet and the ship is to be decommissioned. With one last act of defiance, the crew sets off for one last ride before retirement.

I bought the cd for the movie Star Trek X : Nemesis, the tenth feature film based on Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek vision. Starring : Patrick Stewart as Captain Jean-Luc Picard, Johnathan Frakes as Commander William Riker, Brent Spinner as Lt.Commander Data, Michael Dorn as Lt.Commander Worf, LeVar Burton as Lt.Commander Geordie La Forge, Gates McFadden as Commander (Dr.) Beverly Crusher & Marina Sirtis as Commander (Counselor) Deana Troi. The tagline states what hard core fans like myself fear – A Generation’s Final Journey Begins – this appears to be the final Star Trek movie with the cast for the TNG series (as it proved to be).

A very successful tv series, TNG era has made 4 movies; all of which I have seen and loved but Star Trek X : Nemesis was a failure commercially due to a few reasons beyond the actual story. The movie starts when a Romulan senate is assasinated as a result of a milatry coup and is now controlled by a Reman warrior named Shinzon. Meanwhile, the Enterprise crew is getting ready to say goodbye to the newly wedded Riker & Deanna as Riker has been promoted to Captain of his own vessel. Enroute to the Romulan homeworld, the Enterprise investigate a planet where they get energy readings from and find the seperated parts of an android that looks just like DATA. After reassembling it, the crew understand that the anderoid is a prototype of DATA called B4. They are then assigned to meet the new Romulan Preator, Shinzon, on a diplomatic mission. On meeting Shinzon, the crew and especially the Enterprise Captain are stunned to find that the warrior is actually human and a clone of Picard!

Shinzon seems to want peace but infact wants to destroy the humans and the Romulans. He was cloned by the Romulans in order for them to kidnap Picard & then replace him with Shinzon at a later stage so they can have a spy among the Federation. However, when that plan was abandoned, a child Shinzon was abandoned in a Reman mine where he was taken care of my the slave race. With Shinzon at the helm, the Remans gradually built up momentum and they finally took power. Now, Shinzon is dying as he needs a full blood transfusion from the only matching donor – Picard. He is captured by the Remans and freed by Data later in a thrilling fight scene on the alien ship. A showdown occurs when the Enterprise is attacked by the warbird and is later joined by two Romulan ships who want to dispose of Shinzon. One Romulan ship is destroyed and another paralyzed. Picard goes to Shinzon spaceship to stop the Reman from destroying the crew by activating a super weapon. DATA joins the fight, in which Shinzon is killed and bravely sends the captain back to Enterprise while he is destroyed along with the Reman spaceship.

At the end, B-4 who has been downloaded with all of DATA’s memories is possibly touted as a replacement, without actually mentioning it. Since he is an android and now has all of DATA’s memories, it might only a matter of time when it could be as if DATA was never killed. With that optimism in mind – the crew bid farewell to Riker who is about to take command of the USS Titan as captain, along with Troi.