New “Star Trek” actors: Will they pass muster?
The latest crew of the Starship Enterprise is ready to report to the bridge.
A flurry of recent casting announcements revealed the actors who will play younger versions of Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest of the classic “Star Trek” crew in an upcoming movie. Fans have until Christmas 2008 to scrutinize, theorize and criticize.
Most of the actors tapped are unfamiliar faces with just a few credits on their Internet Movie Database listings. The plum role of Capt. James T. Kirk went to Chris Pine, who played opposite Lindsay Lohan in the soon-forgotten “Just My Luck.”
Among the better-known actors is “Heroes” villain Zachary Quinto, who will play Spock, and Karl Urban, Eomer from the “Lord of the Rings” movies (”The Two Towers” and “The Return of the King”) as Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy.
Casting news is all that is known about the upcoming movie, titled “Star Trek.” Hollywood hot stuff J.J. Abrams (”Alias,” “Lost” and “Mission: Impossible III”) has thrown a cloaking device of secrecy around the 11th installment in the “Star Trek” movie franchise. It’s generally thought that the prequel will be about the early adventures of the original Enterprise crew.
Pine, Quinto and Urban are taking over roles made iconic on the 1960s “Star Trek” television show, which aired for three seasons.
William Shatner played Kirk, Leonard Nimoy portrayed Spock and the late DeForest Kelley played McCoy.
Shatner and the other original “Star Trek” actors moved to the big screen in 1979’s “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” Actors from television’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” starring Patrick Stewart as Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, took over the franchise with 1994’s “Star Trek: Generations.”
The franchise spluttered with 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis,” which earned $43 million domestically and $67 million worldwide. No further movies were planned until Abrams’ project got the green light.
Will fans - who are understandably wary after the fast demise of television’s “Star Trek: Enterprise” and the mothballing of the movie franchise - learn to love Pine, Quinto and Urban with the same fervor as Shatner, Nimoy and Kelley?
To get a fan’s perspective, we turned to Lawrence Krauss, professor of physics and astronomy at Case Western Reserve University and author of “The Physics of Star Trek” and “Beyond Star Trek.”
Meet your new Enterprise crew:
Capt. James T. Kirk
Original actor: William Shatner, currently portraying attorney Denny Crane in “Boston Legal.”
New actor: Chris Pine.
Where we’ve seen him: Music manager Jake in “Just My Luck,” neo-Nazi assassin in “Smokin’ Aces.”
Krauss says: “He looks like a fine young man. The key thing is, can he overact?”
Science officer Spock
Original actor: Leonard Nimoy, currently doing Priceline commercials, photography, public speaking. Nimoy will have a cameo as Spock in the new “Star Trek” movie.
New actor: Zachary Quinto.
Where we’ve seen him: Sylar on “Heroes.”
Krauss says: “He looks exotic, which is probably what you want. He’s got that edge. Good casting.”
Dr. Leonard McCoy
Original actor: DeForest Kelley, who died in 1999.
New actor: Karl Urban.
Where we’ve seen him: “The Lord of the Rings,” “The Bourne Supremacy” and “Pathfinder.”
Krauss says: “He’s more dashing than the original McCoy. Maybe in his younger days McCoy was dashing.”
Engineer
Montgomery Scott
Original actor: James Doohan, died 2005.
New actor: Simon Pegg.
Where we’ve seen him: Title character in “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” IMF techie in “Mission: Impossible III.”
Krauss says: [ Pegg usually plays a doofus, but that won’t work for this role.] “Scotty is always on edge, but you feel he can do it. He can’t be too panicky.”
Communications officer Uhura
Original actress: Nichelle Nichols, currently playing Micah’s aunt on “Heroes.” Nichols also appeared in “Are We There Yet?” and “Snow Dogs.”
New actress: Zoe Saldana.
Where we’ve seen her: Pirate wench in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.”
Krauss says: “Uhura should feel very good about having [Saldana] play her.”
Navigator Pavel Chekov
Original actor: Walter Koenig, who appeared on television’s “Babylon 5″ and the fan-made Internet series “Star Trek: New Voyages.”
New actor: Anton Yelchin.
Where we’ve seen him: Zack in “Alpha Dog,” Bobby in “Hearts in Atlantis.”
Krauss says: “He looks like he’s really well-cast. He looks young.”
Helmsman Sulu
Original actor: George Takei, now playing Hiro’s father on “Heroes.”
He is also an announcer on Sirius Satellite Radio’s “The Howard Stern Show” and has appeared in “Star Trek: New Voyages.”
New actor: John Cho.
Where we’ve seen him: Harold in “Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle,” Steve in “Better Luck Tomorrow.”
Krauss says: “I think that’s good.”
Nero
Original actor: None. This Romulan villain is a new character created for the movie. Romulans are a warlike, alien race distantly related to Vulcans.
Actor: Eric Bana
Where we’ve seen him: Bruce Banner in the big-screen version of “Hulk,” Avner in “Munich.”
Krauss says: Bana will make a convincing Romulan “with enough makeup. His ears are already pretty pointy. He could be a good Romulan.”