Paramount Pictures announced today that they have signed J.J. Abrams (of TV's Lost and Alias and the upcoming film Mission: Impossible III) to produce and possibly direct the next Star Trek film.I guess it was inevitable, after Warner Brothers' recent success with the latest versions of the Batman and Superman films by hiring a hot young director to bring some fresh thinking to a film franchise that has lost its way and fallen on hard times lately.
According to Daily Variety, which broke the story in today's edition,
the project will center on the early days of seminal "Trek" characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.
After reading some web comments like this, I wonder if doing a prequel of the original Star Trek series will be an exercise in nostalgia, much like watching the Star Wars prequel trilogy, where audiences cheered for the appearance of characters from the original films like Yoda and Jabba the Hutt. But because Kirk and Spock will be the main characters in this film, I think there is far greater chance for things to go horribly wrong.
I can't imagine going out of my way to see this new Star Trek movie. I don't watch Lost (although I'd like to see MI3, if only because they shot major scenes on Flower Street in downtown Los Angeles), and I stopped paying attention to Star Trek after Next Generation went off the air. Watching Insurrection in the theater was the last straw.
