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Everything is ship shape. Or something to that effect.

Update: We decided to take down the bootleg and just provide a better quality version of it.  After seeing the trailer in front of Bond this weekend, dare I say it, but I might actually be excited for this version of Star Trek.  Purists be damned.

It’s not the best footage, but since this trailer doesn’t come out until Monday, I figured we’d throw it up.  I’d say it’s hard to tell anything about the plot of J.J. Abrams Star Trek reboot, but it looks huge.  It looks like an epic space opera - in the way that lots of Star Trek fans probably imagined a big screen version of the franchise looking.

I’m not the biggest Trek fan, but I like it enough to believe in the franchise’s potential.  Let’s hope Abrams and the cast delivers.  You can catch this in front of Quantum of Solace and judging by the early returns it looks like a lot of people are seeing that movie this weekend, according to Steve Mason.

AICN head honcho Harry Knowles got an early peek at J.J. Abrams Star Trek. The few shots he saw were without proper CG or color timing. Basically, what he saw was put together raw footage. It also goes without saying that it is impossible to take anything Knowles says without a Grand Canyon-sized piece of salt.

It’s widely known that whatever he writes usually ends with some sort of childish enthusiasm (good or bad?) and verbal diarrhea of praise. Regardless, he’s the one who gets access and has James Cameron on his speed dial and he’s the one who’s seen some scenes.

It all ended with characters arriving on the bridge, under the command of Captain Pike. Sulu was at the helm – and the bridge. And the uniforms… Classic Trek. Nice. Then for the first time in the history of Star Trek, it looked amazingly functional. It echoes that classic Trek look – but imagine if you handed that design to the folks at APPLE and said… Make it really work. I instantly believed in the functionality of everything. That’s hard to quantify, but it is true. Remember when you saw the war room underground on Hoth in EMPIRE STRIKES BACK? How it just felt functional – that’s what this looked. And it looked Star Trek, without looking as cheap as Star Trek. It was a tech-fetishists wet dream.

I will say this – I’ve no idea of what this is going to be, but I got a sense of what JJ is up to. He’s very much reinventing it – the way Robert Wise did – and at the same time – he’s directing the actors with an energy and an aliveness that we haven’t seen. This was exciting, yet strange and it felt somehow… real.

He saw about seven minutes in all and came away, I guess, impressed. No surprise there. But if anyone could reboot the Star Trek universe if would have to be Abrams. Some minor spoilery scenes after the jump. MORE »

There was a bootlegged version of the new JJ Abrams Star Trek floating around, no doubt pirated off of this weekend’s showing of Cloverfield.  However, the quality was pretty awful.  Now it’s up at Yahoo and I think I like it.  Never been much a fan of the series, but I like that they are connecting this reboot to JFK and man’s early quest to explore outer space.

Only time will tell if the cast put together for this one will be inspired or just a trainwreck.

Also: I am more willing to give Abrams the benefit of the doubt, not because of his past track record (which is just about spotless in my eyes) but because of what he did for one dying trekkie, Randy Pausch.  AICN has the scoop on it and um, I think that was a tear in my eye you just saw.

Pausch is a Carnegie-Mellon professor who will die from pancreatic cancer.  He gave a much emotional “last lecture,” which Abrams caught wind of and then offered him a role in the movie.  That’s pretty cool thing to do.  His lecture after the jump. MORE »

I’ll get this off my chest. I am not a Star Trek fan. For whatever reason the show just does nothing for me. I wish I could like it, but I much prefer other sci-fi. I like my sci-fi dirty and on the outskirks. Star Trek has always seemed so nice to me. Maybe that will change with J.J. Abrams take on the Trekverse.

If you’re going to see Cloverfield this weekend, and seriously how could you not be?, the official teaser trailer will be attached to the movie. Moviefone got the first glimpse of the famed USS Enterprise and what’s nice about the picture is that they’ve managed to adhere to canon by building the Enterprise in orbit.

The details are just wonderful and make this feel so epic and legendary. Is it too late to become a Trekkie?

None other than Chris Pine. He’s had some decent roles in a Lindsay Lohan rom-com Just My Luck and as one of the freaky Tremor Brothers in Joe Carnahan’s Smokin’ Aces. Very different roles, but it’s not a leap to say this will be his most high profile role to date, stepping into the shoes of The Shatner as Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise James T. Kirk.

J.J. Abrams has put together an impressive cast so far for this reboot, reimagining, possible time-travelling alternate universe. One thing for sure is that Star Trek has never had this much creative energy behind it for the film franchise. Doesn’t mean it will necessarily be great, or even equal to The Wrath of Khan but it does mean this is a project all geeks can get behind. Which is exactly what studio Paramount was hoping for.

Now, Chris Pine was also attached to director Joe Carnahan’s adaptation of White Jazz, but late last night he posted this message on his blog:

Kids:

The young man playing Junior Stemmons has opted to ‘boldly go where no man has gone before’ and thus, had to bow out of WHITE JAZZ. I’ve been talking to him this past week and knew how tough the decision had to be for him. I don’t envy ever being in that spot but I gave him my full support, even if it meant he didn’t do JAZZ. I get it. You don’t get opportunities like that often and I told him as long as he could control as much of that process as possible and not get sucked into doing lesser sequels as a result of taking this gig, then good luck and God bless.

We’re sure to do something down the road. I’ve already slotted him in for KILLING PABLO.

JC

So that’s that. Must’ve been a tough decision for the actor, but it’s pretty obvious you don’t pass up the opportunity to portray Captain Kirk, even if that might mean you spend the rest of your life attending Star Trek conventions.