I've just realized I completely forgot about Eric Bana as Chopper.

That puts a whole 'nuther level of potential on this scenario...

'Bit early for Kung Fu isn't it Kirk?'

You sure about that? It's Abrams, after all. There'll probably be a big Cardassian Polar Bear creature we can only hear.

And it'll probably be made up as they go along. Badly.

Could be fantastic. I only worry about the accent.

Pegg for Kirk!

He does manage it well in The Boys. But then, that is a comic!

My gut reaction to this is I just can't see Simon in the role - he may very well pull it off with aplomb, but I was expecting someone older and a bit more heavy set.

At Starfleet Academy? This is not TOS, which is what makes it interesting.

Well, even in TOS, Scotty was a big feller.

As for the accent, it was never that convincing anyway.

I don't know what to think about that.




Hands up who wants Nick to play Captain Pike!

Beep.

If the current rumours are to be believed, the film is no longer set at the academy, but will be about Kirk and Co's early days on the Enterprise.

Of course, they don't have to stick to what was established in the original series, but I was just expecting someone bulkier, and older, to be cast in the role.

Perhaps the Peggster will have to chunk up, who knows!



Tom Cruise is already in line for a cameo as Pike (see earlier in this thread!).

Should be Ian Lavender.

This is some sort of dream I'm having.

Simon is Scottie?

w00t! or similar.

-m0r

It's brilliant, hilarious and somewhat bemusing all at the same time.

Awesexy.

Amazing news! I'm a huge Star Trek fan...what a wonderful double bonus by having our finest modern comic actor playing a well loved part...

I always love the line in Star Trek VI when Spock asks Scotty about a false problem with the warp engine (an excuse to ignore Starfleet's orders)...his reply always cracks me up:

'There's nothing wrong with the bloody thing..'

What is really spooky was that I came to the end of my Deep Space 9 DVD boxsets yesterday morning (due to the postal strike I have yet to receive the last two seasons) - so while I await these I decided to watch Spaced yesterday...

The bit where Tim says that 'all odd numbered Star Trek movies are S&*T' (Series 1 Episode 4?) - that could come back to haunt him - with Simon in the movie it won't be and he's gonna have to work on a Scottish accent!

Good point!

He was not, he was barrel-chested. There's a difference.

I've never ever ever ever watched Star Trek.....I may start now....

Oh no.

I'm liking the news. i think it's great. Hope he pulls the accent off though. Didn't the original scotty lapse into an irish accent sometimes (i've not seen too much star trek to be honest)

Easy does it, that one might be horseshit. The HR story indicated Pike is a major role, not a cameo.

It's just a rumour doing the rounds. Abrams and Cruise having worked together in the past does seem to be the only thing driving it.

Just what I was thinking.

This news is just....odd yet intriguing.

Sweeeet Lovin it!

Two of my faves . . Trek and Pegg . ..

Brilliant news, love it.

Not who I'd have picked, but now I've read it I can't imagine him not playing it.

...and then I started thinking, well Nemesis already broke that rule, didn't it? Done and done.

I just had a mental picture of Simon playing Scotty in Star Trek 4. He pulled a couple of Tim faces (especially when he said "hello computer" and "how quaint"), hamming up as necessary for the supreme cheese that is the transparent aluminium scene. He was great in it.

As much as I love Simon Pegg, and I really, really do. I don't think he's going to be a good Scotty. I also think he'll be in the film for about 10 minutes...which is also balls.

Still I bet Simon will get paid shed loads to do it,

The last few Star Trek films have been abit pants, so it will be interesting to see what Abrams does with this one.

No, not really.

Despite its faults, Nemesis was still better than Insurrection – so on that score the even number film still won out over the odd.

And anyway, the quote was that odd numbered Trek films were sh*te, it didn’t mention even ones - good or otherwise

Agree to disagree. I cringed several times during Nemesis; Insurrection just bored me. It's a fine line

Glad to know I wasn't the only one thinking it.

That's what my other half said

I'm going to be a bit controversial here...well, not really.

I think this will be Simon's dip movie. Every actor has a movie that really isn't that good and doesn't do too well after a run of hits like Simon's had over the last 3 years and I think this will be his. It'll be the one that Jonathan Ross will say, when Simon's a guest on the show promoting 'Paul' in 2009, "So Star Twek. Were you just not busy with anything for 6 weeks, what?" And Simon will cock his head and grin and just say, "I miss-read the fax. I thought they were casting a new Star Wars film." And with a shrug, he'll put it behind him and then talk about comics and what his favourite sandwich filling is.


Gosh, that was negative.

Interesting, but I think it will be a good move. It depends how comic they want him to be though. Since Scotty did have some funny lines it should work. "I know this ship like the back of my hand" - Doink, oh how we laughed.

Hmmm Nemesis to many fans was just a poor remake of the Wrath of Khan by a director who thought Geordi La Forge was an alien....

I quite like it in parts - the cat and mouse game they play (to a point)....the battle with the Romulans helping out...a stalemate - so I'll just ram the ship...a major character dieing - but sort of given the chance of a resurrection.

Although it does feel a bit repetitive because they emphasied on action and took out so many decent character moments (see the deleted scenes)...Shinzon attacks...hides...they talk...Shinzon attacks....hides again...they talk....GET ON WITH IT!

It did poorly at the box office

To my mind, Nemesis was a generally well written film, that came undone in the hands of a director who didn't understand the subject. For all the faults with Insurrection, I think Nemesis would have been a better film in the hands of Jonathan Frakes - he did do a very good job with First Contact after all.

I'm not going to make any predictions on how good or bad Star Trek XI will be, but I will say there are aspects about it that I'm warming to, and others that I'm uncertain about.

Personally, if Paramount want to keep milking the cash cow and we have to have another film I do think that a re-boot is probably the best option (it certainly wins out over the Romulan War plan that was being floated a year or two ago, and I'm not sure they would be able to build a coherent story around a mix of characters from the different TV shows, which was also mooted a while back).

On the flip side of that, I'm not sure about the writing abilities of Kurtzman and Orci and I'm also not sure about some of the casting.

It's a long way to Christmas Day 2008 however, and a lot will probably change between now and then.

Agreed. I think I'm on record being a shameless First Contact hoo-ah.



Thusfar Orci & Kurtzman have done some pretty solid work on very large, bombastic sorts of blockbusters, and I really really liked what they did with MI:3. What I'd love to see is some of the expertly paced plotting and rich characterization that they brought to their work on Alias, in particular the superb "Double Agent" which guest starred Ethan Hawke as a CIA agent who's been doubled by a nefarious scientist with a DNA-altering device. The opening sequence of that ep, with Olivia D'Abo as the agent's girlfriend in a particularly nasty hostage situation, is one of the most nail-bitingly tense things I've ever seen on TV.

The thing with Simon being in the film is that it smacks of a cynical piece of casting. I don't think he's been cast because they think he's the best person for the role, I think he's been cast to bring in a wider audience at the UK box office.

Let's face it, the main bulk of the audience who will go and see this film are Star Trek fans and general sci-fi enthusiasts. It's not going to appeal much further than maybe a few speculative movie goers. By bringing in Simon they know there's a fan base/comedy audience that will go see the film to see him when, if he wasn't in it, they would otherwise not bother. He's been a bit of a box office darling over the last 3 years and they want to cash in on that. It's a completely cynical move.

If they genuinely wanted him in the film for his acting they'd have given him an original character to play. Instead they want him for his status and thrown him the role of Scotty to create an extra buzz about the film and so far it's worked.


Unless, I'm just being cynical.

I have to admit I've had very little exposure to Star Trek over the years, but my other half did take me to see First Contact at the cinema and I really enjoyed it.
Is that wrong?

Like a few of the others here First Contact is also my favourite Trek film. And by a long way. So much so It's the only one I felt was worth getting on DVD. The script and pacing is spot on. The one with the whales is second. This one more of a comedy fish-out-of-water film. Satisfying with a be friendly to aquatic mammals message. (If they can rescue animals from the past why not bring back a shipfull of dodos? Hell, why not get some dinosaurs? Prob wouldn't be exciting movie though...) [gets carried away with the "if I had a time machine" scenario]

Perhaps Simon was brought in to break the odd-numbered film curse. But being as how current studio philosophy is storyless CGI explosion fests targetted at the lowest common denominator unfortunately I think Tim's Rule will remain intact. The studio could get wise and skip XI and go straight to XII thus guaranteeing success. Except Nemesis breaks this otherwise infallible rule.

Hey, if it's early Trek, will Simon have to sport sideburns and a moptop?

Getting all nostalgic now. Have to dig out my Trek vids.

Anyway, fantastic catch for Simon. Now all he needs is a role in Star Wars 7.

I think it's more to do with the fact that JJ Abrams likes him. Apparently they got on really well when Simon was in MI:3 and, considering Abrams' habit of bringing in people he's worked with before to new projects, it was only a matter of time before Simon was asked to take part.

I don't think they've done it to exploit the market because, let's face it, it's a very small market in terms of the global box office. Simon has only managed to sell one film on his own (Run Fat Boy, Run) and even then it was as much down to the title and the David Schwimmer connection. Hot Fuzz has a following in the US but not enough that it would make a huge difference in sales terms and whilst his casting may get a few people interested, it's not going to be enough to sway all that many people to go and see it, certainly not enough that, in the case the film didn't do well, that it would turn it into a hit.

It also shouldn't be forgotten that there will be some considerable cross-over between Simon's fanbase and Star Trek's fanbase. This thread alone has shown that there is. This is more to do with Abrams liking Simon and Simon being a Star Trek fan than to do with economics since the gain for the film by casting Simon is really not that much.

I think you are reading a little too much into this.

Simon's draw in the UK may be on the rise, but he hasn't had a staring role in a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster so I doubt his pull in the US will be that high and that is the market the film will be aimed at, not the UK one.

Also, whilst it is true that there will undoubtedly be a few people on here who will end up going to see this film - just because Simon is in it - I don't see people in general saying, "Ooo look! Simon Pegg is in that! Let's go and see it!" I think the words "Star Trek" will be a bigger factor in whether someone goes to see the film or not.

I know what you mean, Kelly.

I reckon the studios have gone for him because Scotty's something of a comic character at times, and Simon filled the "comic techie" shoes so well in MI3.

I do think there might be an element of "ooh! He's suddenly become bankable!" but only as a secondary consideration.

I certainly doubt his acting ability came up.


Incidentally, I thought Insurrection and First Contact were OK, I only ever saw Nemesis on fastforward, and I don't think too much about Generations.

It's all about the Khan for me.

I strongly suspect it did!

I think Simon has probably been cast on the strength of his acting abilities, or at least I hope so.

As for MI:3, I loved that film, but having Simon in it took me totally out of the moment. That was a ludicrously overblown action film, played completely straight, which made it hilarious and therefore massively entertaining. Simon's knowing performance really didn't fit in the film, it would be the same as him popping up in Con Air or Face/Off playing a bumbling techie.

If this film has a obviously comic undertone, then Simon could work, otherwise I worry that he'll be as incongruous as he was in his last Hollywood outing.

My point is that I don't think he was hired on the strength of his acting.

Excellent though it is.

Not wanting to speak out of turn for Zoe, but I think we both got that, and I think we both said we disagree! (I certainly did!).

Just clarifying that I think he's a great actor, really.

That's not something I doubt. Ever since MI:3 I always figured that JJ Abrams would give him a role in a future project. I just assumed it would be the right role in the right project. As much as he likes him from working with him, would JJ Abrams have honestly given Simon the part of Scotty were it not for the successes of Hot Fuzz and Run Fatboy Run in the UK since he made MI:3?



I was talking purely about the UK box office. My belief is his casting in a main crew role is simply to bring in a wider audience in the UK. His casting in global terms wouldn't matter as he'll just be seen as the guy who plays Scotty.

That's not a reflection on Simon's acting. He's one of the best actors this country has, but that's not why he's got this particular role in my opinion.



That doesn't make him right for the part. If I'm proved wrong, then so be it.




Probably.




Absolutely. I won't being seeing it.

That's reaching a little bit, isn't it? I mean, you're entitled to your suspicions by all means. But I'd find it a little difficult to issue a verdict on that score unless I had something more to go on.

wasn't that sean connery in the untouchables?