Shatner Says Abrams Wants Him and Nimoy In Star Trek XI

For months now William Shatner has made no secret that he wants to be in Star Trek XI, and even Leonard Nimoy has said he would come out of retirement for something substantial. We also know that both actors have consulting/promotional contracts for the film and have spoken with producer JJ Abrams. Now in a new interview with IGN, The Shat says that Abrams is writing them into the script:

They seem to be going in the direction of putting in [Leonard]Nimoy and myself. But in order to do that, it’s a difficult story to write. So they’re in the midst of wrestling with all of that.

He also says that if Abrams wants the original Kirk and Spock, it better be more than just a cameo:

I’m not sure what they’re going to do. But in order to entice Leonard and myself into the movie, it has to be meaningful in some way, so I don’t know what they’re gonna do.

The  Shat is resigned to a new actor playing Kirk, telling IGN

Well, it’s going to happen. It’s not so much the character. You know, it’s that old adage about, "Get me a young Shatner." I’m at the "Get me a young Shatner" moment.

Shatner is at a loss as to who that ‘young Shatner’ should be, but he hopes he will be "young, handsome, funny and rich."  See IGN for the rest of the interview.

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Kirk and Spock deserve a good send off however it’s going to be tricky bringing kirk back from the dead. Perhaps a reset …AKA Bobby in the shower (Dallas).

Well, if Shatner is to be in it substantially, and at his current age (eg no CGI de-aging) then Kirk will have to come back from the dead, which sort of gives a major plot point away for a start…

Argh. Beat me to it Dave.

I think it could be a mistake.Trek is tired.It needs to be totally all new .

for this to work it MUST have the Shat in the film. anything less i will NOT stomach. EXTERMINATE non-shatner fans!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Whatever they do, Kirk needs to be alive post-Generations. It would be the greatest gift Abrams could give to Trek fans who have suffered since 1994.

Kirok,

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Maybe they’ll follow along the plotlines of Shatners Star Trek books….um…..as much as I liked the books that would take like six movies. Nope. I have no idea how they would do it. Probably just have Spock hunt down Kirk in the nexus with some cheesy ” He did it for me, I have to do it for him line, like Picard with Data, in “First Contact”. I don’t really care because I don’t think they can do worse than “Insurrection”. Maybe they’ll have some huge story that ties together all the crews from all the Star Treks and they’re making all the TNG actors seem despondent about their lack of a role and their going to have some code name for the movie like “Blue Harvest” or “The Burly Brawl”, or some BS and it will be the greatest thing ever and touch every Star Trek fan everywhere. It will usher in a new era of hope and commonwealth for the world. Leaving behind it a great sense of love for all mankind and drive mankind to persevere into the future as a symbiotic organism driven by one goal of long life and prosperity for all. Or it could just be a restart with over the top action, a few big stars to draw in the non-ST fans and some dazzling special effects set to a poorly written badly edited story. Wait that was X-men 3…..hell I don’t know.

What about having it pre Generations, post Star Trek VI. A buddy of mine had a fantastic idea of having them attending the funeral of Dr. McCoy, before the launch of the Enterprise-B. Use the CG to fix up Shatner, it won’t be that bad, but have them flashing back to their first voyage on the Enterprise. Having Shatner and Nimoy in some way playing kirk is the only way I will watch this. Having them playing another role would be….illogical.

I for one hate the way Kirk died. I hate it. He should be sent off with a better ending to him, but h3ll that’s just the way it is and you can thank Berman for that one, I’m sure. So, it’s done, history.

If he is going to be back it needs to be done PRE-Generations. End of Story.

The only thing they should do to bring Shatner and Nimoy back is to make this movie occur before Generations. Forget the whole…”let’s find a way to bring Kirk back from the dead crap.” Sorry, even as a fan I couldn’t handle that. So, you have only two choices for a new movie…Make it “Star Trek VII” and it would be placed before Generations in the line, or make yet another movie w/ TNG with either the Enterprise-E or Riker’s Titan, because Frakes will be all over another Star Trek adventure.

It’s going to be extremely tricky to script Kirks return. But they must follow Shatners books post that awful “generations’ Since the book ‘The Return’ by Shatner and others following, Kirk has been alive. It’s the only way I could keep my Star Trek world alive. Thank God for those books. And shame on those that wrote “generations!!

They can do it and usher in a new star trek story line that could take 3 movies to tell with Shatner and Nimoy, Sulu, Chekov and Uhura all with major parts. Bring it on!!

whether it’s pre-generations or post I don’t care. All I care about is seeing Shatner on the screen. If he wasn’t in it, I wouldn’t be going.

Oh, Hathaway… Dr McCoy is alive in the 24th century. He appeared in the very first episode of The Next Generation. So going to his funeral would not work.

>10. B.Hathaway – January 4, 2007
What about having it pre Generations, post Star Trek VI. A buddy of mine had a fantastic idea of having them attending the funeral of Dr. McCoy,

Uhmm, that’s not such a fantastic idea…considering that Doctor McCoy was alive ‘at least’ until the first season of Star Trek: The Next Generation! I’m guessing you and your buddy didn’t watch Next Gen’s pilot, “Encounter at Farpoint”?

As for Nimoy and Shatner. I’ve said it before….they should not be in this movie….it’s time to move on folks. I don’t need another nostalgia trip, which is all the last half dozen movies have been. I am comfortable enough to let go of the past and embrace whatever the future may bring. We have many hours of Shatner and Nimoy on film, it’s time for something different. If a bunch of amateur actors can revive Kirk and Spock in the fan made New Voyages, then surely Hollywood can competently pull it off without relying on gimicks…which is all a Shatner/ Nimoy appearance would be at this point. I hope to the heavens that JJ has some guts and will focus on a new vision, instead of trying to shoehorn the original actors into this script. Make a ‘new’ movie….or don’t…enough of this in between crap.

No offense to anyone, I understand that it would be fun to see Shatner and Nimoy together onscreen again, but doesn’t anyone see how this mindset is actually hurting Star Trek? We have a chance to break free of the constraints and do something new with the characters, but instead…everyone just wants to recycle more Shatner and Nimoy. It’s really no wonder why I’ve pretty much lost all interest in Trek. Credibility is being tossed out the window. I remember watching TOS and believing these people could be real…even Search For Spock was mildly possible….but to resurrect Kirk? Should Spock roll the stones off Kirks grave to find that he isn’t there and that he’s actually Jesus or something?

I’d LOVE to see a nebulously set flash sideways (with a lemon twist) in which Shat-Kirk and Nim-Spock talk about “that other starship.” Then, bring on Matt Damon or whoever and give us a TOS era story with new characters. Sherlock Holmes died. THEN, years later fans got Hound of the Baskervilles. Nobody cared when the story was set. They enjoyed it.
Oh, and while we’re wishing, let’s wish for REAL sfx, no cgi ships. Save the cgi to cover the gaps on the prosthetic make-up — you know, like they didn’t do in Nemesis.

It’s interesting to note the particular flavor of this site–and every Trek site–as the community continues to evolve. I mean, you have your canon-enforcing fanboys at places like the TrekBBS, your standard “Trek as nuBSG” fanboys from the StarTrek.com board, and your fanboys of the various ratings-forsaken series of Trek (ENT, NEM, et. al.) at TrekUnited.

Here, there seems to be a very strong culture of TOS-fanboyishness. Of the 14 posts above me, 14 of them *presuppose* that Kirk should be brought back from the dead and that Generations sucked (well, except for Hitch, who merely makes no sense). The only question that has been raised is how. In general, I have yet to see a poster say that the TNG movies rocked (personally, IX and X are my favorites of the whole Trek movie bunch), and only occasionally someone who says they were even worth watching. There’s an assumption towards “franchise fatigue,” and most of the assumptions mark the “beginning of the end” not at Enterprise, Nemesis, or even “Threshold” [VOY], but way back in the early days, the good times of Trek (DS9, TNG season 5… I’ve even seen a few posts calling *Star Trek III* the beginning of the end). Heck, we even have a poster with the name “PicardSucks”!

On the one hand, this is a really good sign: news about the new movie is obviously bringing out tons of the old-time fans, the ones alienated by latter-day Trek, in droves. It’s a fantastic sign for the movie. On the other hand, as I sit here reading comments every day, I feel like half of the Star Trek canon productions, including some of my favorite moments, are just assumed to be sub-par.

In the final analysis, it doesn’t matter much either way. This certainly isn’t the first Trek community with its own brand of Trekkiness. But it is generally important to note that many assumptions made here are not held by the fanbase in general–to get a full range of opinon and ideas, one will have to venture out of here on occasion.

As for the McCoy’s death idea, I like that a lot. The DirecTV ad showed that Shatner really can be “de-aged” well enough to appear as Old Kirk without looking silly. And it’s a lot easier than finding an excuse to resurrect him. (Not to mention that I don’t *want* to resurrect him.)

I *do* want him in a girdle. ;)

(BTW, Generations was mostly from the pens of Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, not Rick Berman. Berman takes a lot of unfair criticism that really is owed to Braga or even some of the really *good* writers.)

Dang, three posts after I start mine but before I post it. Several of them making some of the same points as I.

McCoy’s funeral obviously won’t work, as pointed out above, but what about… say… Chekov’s? He’s dead by then, isn’t he?

(Plus, did anyone see “To Serve All My Days” from New Frontiers? Or read “Vulcan’s Soul”, Book I? There seems to be a rash of Chekov-killings lately.)

#19, well I for one like Trek fairly broadly. I loved TNG and DS9, I watched Voyager off and on (it was pretty so/so). I will admit I got fed up with Enterprise and the total crap that was being written early on (those guys had no respect for canon), I do regret not watching Season 4 however, and will start watching it when it starts on Sci-Fi next week. TOS is my first Trek (I was introduced to Trek before TNG existed) and so it is sort of my first love as it were. However I really like ST:FC, so I for one don’t just like the TOS movies. I have been to see every Trek movie in the theaters since I was physically able to go to movies and sit still through them (say about age 7 on up).

In a small defense of the TOS bias of the community that formed here; would you expect it not to be? …considering the roots of the site were initially the next Trek movie [which has long been rumored to be about the TOS crew era] and then grew to include TOS Remastered.

Now about this resurection stuff, we all know that can’t work. I quite frankly don’t care to see Shatner or Nimoy in Trek XI, why? because any way they would get them in the plot would be hokey. Either we do a “Generations” type of thing, which I think is amusing that people here suggest something similar when Generations is widely considered a rather poor Trek movie — especially for the TOS characters in it. Or they are written in as totally different characters for the sake of a cheezy cameo. Either way I don’t want it. If they are going to reboot the TOS legacy, then do it, let it stand or fall on its own. Nimoy and Shatner are on board as consultants, let them help where is appropriate and move on. Remember if we let Shatner have his way we get ST:V and a Kirk who rides horses and has a cabin like Bill Shatner not like Kirk.

word, James. i think the kirk death was fine, going to great lengths to resurrect him would be lame, imo.

I’m with New Horizon on this one. Leave Shatner and Nimoy out of it. Give us new actors and let them make the characters their own. Putting Shatner and Nimoy in the film will only reinforce the idea that the new actors are not the “real” Kirk and Spock. And if they do “more than just a cameo” it will only exaserbate the problem.

And people, please, let Kirk rest in peace. He’s dead. He died in “Generations.” Let’s leave it at that. Retconning something that happened in a film 12 years ago will only further stretch the credibility of the new film. Leave it be.

Okay, fine. If they feel they MUST have an actor from the original “Trek” in the new movie, here’s how I think they should do it:
Trek XI begins just after the events in “Generations.” Starfleet is holding a memorial service for Kirk on Earth. The UFP President is speaking to a the huge crowd in attendance. He introduces Spock (Nimoy), who comes up to the podium to address the crowd. Instead of going on about how Kirk and the Enterprise helped shape Starfleet and the Federation, he begins to tell the story of how he first met James T. Kirk. As he relates the story, the scene fades to flashback and we follow that story as it happens. The new actors take over the roles as the story plays out.

I’ll accept something like that. Anything else would do nothing but hold Trek XI back from moving the franchise in a fresh direction.

If we as fans aren’t willing to let “Trek” move forward, it simply never will. Let go of some of your predispositions. The ideas we’ve heard about so far CAN work, but we have to allow them to do so. Let what’s happened in the past stay there, for better or worse, and let Abrams and his people take us somewhere all new, yet familiar.

Can I hear an a-men, y’all? Let me hear an a-men!

This is what I said…you can’t bring Kirk back…he died…it happens (unless you get shot in a torpedo tube onto a Genesis planet.) So, if you are going to put him in a movie, it obviously has to be before Generations. But, if we can just let him rest in peace, there could be so much more that could be done with the franchise. You can read all the Shatner books you want to, but as far as the story line, Kirk died. So, make a new movie with new stuff, new ideas, a new ship and let Shatner and Nimoy sit behind the camera. People are more worried about that then what happens after Nemesis, which was a pretty good movie, even though it didn’t do well. (The only TNG movie that wasn’t good was Insurrection, but each is allowed one that didn’t make par right, like Star Trek IV)

Dear Jimmy Heaney™ who said:

(well, except for Hitch, who merely makes no sense).

Like Timberlake as Jesse James Hollywood, I am bringing SEXY back.

YEAH!!!

Them other boys don’t know HOW to act…

No dude, seriously, I am no longer allowed to say “M_C IN THE P__NTS™ at this site anymore due to poopypants like Bilar™

so i went smartass on y’all in saying:

stnap eht ni cam®.

I assure you Captain, I am quite sane.

best!!

=h=

Jonathan, you CAN bring back Kirk.. wtf is this negative nonsense going on here???

The BRING BACK KIRK campaign, I have always respected. Those dudes had it right, all along. Now Shat™, with the clout, has the creative ear of the next TREK movie team.

DId I see any of you dudes on “Beauty and The Geek” the other night? Holy cow. Talking timelines, canon, and plausibility. THIS is effing HOLLYWOOD, folks… money. Creating the backstory to fit the economics and disposition of the franchise. wtf is going on here?

PLEASE atleast think that this is headed in the RIGHT direction – we have the broad strokes of the artwork. Again, DO YOU THINK THAT THEY ARE WRITING THIS MOVIE TAILORED TO YOU??

this all reeks of poopypantalones.

best!!

=h=

Your one of those guys that people make fun of about Star Trek, go put on your yellow Captain Kirk jumpsuit and leave the babytalk out of this. I”m not a big “canon” guy, i’d just like for the shows, books, movies and everything make sense and go together as a series.

Hey, what is Shat and Nimoy are only “IN” the movie as creative consultants?

Nobody knows the characters better, and who better to coach ;
-Matt Damon (Kirk)
-__________(Spock)
-Gary Sinese(McCoy)

Anyway, here’s something I threw together that might lighten up the mood around here….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeCElSPCEfY

PS-Don’t be dissing Hitch1969 ma brotha.

PPS-Hitch, where did you acquire, attain, ferret out, discover, locate, track down, uncover, chance upon, detect, identify, come across, FIND that cool TM and copyright font?

PPPS-thankyou Anthony Pascale for that excellent article.

You Rock.

I’m with Buckaroohawk. I think his way would work the best to involve one or more of the original actors in the new movie. I suppose you could have Shatner in it playing Kirk’s father or grandfather or something, but that might be as jarring or hokey as some others have suggested his appearance in another role in it would be.

Good Grief lets NOT revisit Generation in any way, shape, or form. A Shatner/Nimoy™ framing sequence is fine. Just let people assume it’s set before Generations. Don’t let Shatner/Nimoy™ dictate the direction of the script and lose story time to pander to their egos. We’ll end up with some POS about Whales visiting God or something.

I was very enthusiastic about new blood and all that, but now I’m beginning to get anxious about this.

Time for another Dr. Boyce Martini™
“What the Devil? Is that ice?”

i’m just happy that XI is in production. i’ve been searching the web for XI since i saw X ;-D

Don’t forget that the nexus in ST:Generations wasn’t a time travel device – it only created fantasies for the person to live. So the whole trip back to stop Soran was Picard’s fantasy. Kirk continued to live on in the nexus.
Abrams could either use that angle or he could simply include some dialogue that canonises Bill Shatner’s ST books – thereby explaining Kirk’s return that way.

SpockBoy™, dude, I hope that wasnt your sister or wifey in that YouTube because I need to tell you that I Speeeeeelunked all over greater hitch1969 at the marvel.

She was hotter than my rectal temperature, bro.

TO answer your question, © symbols are easily constructed with ALT codes 169, 153, 174. code One-One-A. One-One-A-Two-B. One-B-Two-B-Three. Zero-Zero-Zero-Destruct-Zero.

You’re mizznac inda pizznants beeeotch!

=h=

I know! The greatest trick would be to cast Shatner and Nimoy, and while everyone thinks that their reprising their roles. No. They are the villians of the piece. Yes! Um…they could be Orion space pirates who are after um….the keys to the “Doomsday Machine”. Yeah, and Damon and crew have to reach it first cause if they don’t the Pirates will destroy the Federation. Only they have to overcome a giant ameoba, and ensure the death of a hot charity worker before they can stop them….only they are impeded by the intrusion of an omnipotent being who has taken interest in them. Eventually, they build a rudimentary lathe from Christmas lights and plaster and kill those Orion bastards before they can complete their devilish plan to subdue the Federation. God, I feel like I just betrayed Star Trek. I shall go fall on my phaser.

Kirk is NOT dead!!!!! Hasn’t anyone read ‘the Return” by Shatner. He is not dead, and I refuse to believe otherwise!! The writers of Star Trek XI must follow the books written after “Generations” I will never forgive those “generations’ writers. This movie could be the start of a three part movie series with Shatner and Nimoy leading the way!!

Looks like Bill and Leonard are being incorporated into the upcoming Movie’s script after all, with every new snippet coming along…and as someone who wished for them to have one last hurrah, I really hope this comes about…yes, even if it is for nostalgia’s sake. I just truly hope that very careful casting decisions with the new / newish actors taking on their iconic roles are concerned, IF it is a “flashback” style storyline… I also wonder if it will be TOO jarring to have the original actors in the same movie, but will hope it isn’t and just accept it, and go along for what I hope will be a triumph of exciting and good humoured piece of escapism. I’m not too worried that Bill and Leonard will influence any well scripted storyline too much with demands for more screentime, as I believe any good ageing Thespian will just be happy in another crack at some big screen imortallity once again, which will satisfy their existing loyal fanbase, and garner them another.

A DirecTV ad is one thing, but de-aging Shatner for any length of time would be very difficult. If he’s going to appear, along with an aged Leonard Nimoy, they’ll have to face up to it.

Either they set their scenes in the 24th century (given how old Nimoy is now as well!) and brazen out Kirk’s survival or they use the flashbacks to Kirk’s youth to set up some sort of resurrection. Personally, I think it would be a typically Kirk thing to see him dig himself out of his grave on Veridian III. Maybe young Kirk makes a deal with some alien force to go and work for them once his natural lifespan is over.

As far as I’m concerned, Kirk shouldn’t have died on screen. Certain characters have to continue towards an unknown destiny. Spock, like Enkidu, can die. Kirk, on the other hand, can only be alive or dead. I never had a problem with the idea of Kirk being dead in the TNG era, but his fate needed to stay unknown. The last thing we saw of Kirk should have been him sitting on the bridge of the Enterprise-A at the end of STVI. It was a good, open exit for the character.

But nevertheless, we have Kirk ‘dead’ and, if this film is going to be set in the universe of TOS, which often had alien entities resurrecting characters, it’ll have to deal with the fact that a much older, bulkier Kirk is still alive.

“I’m sorry Dave, but Kirk is dead”. A little misquote of Hal fom 2001 but i couldn’t resist the tempation. Anthony your the man. Lets face facts, fans can complain all they want but the movie we end up with will be JJ’s vision. As for Kirk, Spock appearing in XI I personnally hope they do. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again if Kirk appears it has to be pre-Generations.
LLAP

Pre-Generations/Post ST6 would not be good enough. First, the man has aged since then. He’s aged well, but he does not look younger than he did in 1994. Second, the most important thing they need to remedy is the character’s death. Who really cares what Kirk was doing before the E-B launch?

The bitterness since 1994 was caused by Kirk’s death, and any appearance that doesn’t remedy that death would be a disappointing waste of time. Shatner and Nimoy shouldn’t be in this movie to high five and say, “hey remember when we met?” in the beginning and “that was a great story” at the end.

For this movie to be done right, it HAS to be post-Generations, where we see the greatest friendship in Star Trek history begin and how not even death can stop it.

Star Trek is about optimism and overcoming the odds. Kirk cheating death one more time, and Spock showing the human trait of repaying a great debt in the name of friendship in some manner that spans the entire time they knew each other, would be a HELL of a story.

There can be no better story. Sure as hell beats Picard singing to Data or Troi drunk.

I think Mr Pascale’s parallel to Sean Connery in Casino Royale alongside Daniel Craig is right on the money.As I personally would find Shatner/Nimoy in Trek xi alongside new Kirk/Spock as being a distraction for many reasons.One of which,I feel, would introduce an unecessary competetive “who’s the best Kirk” mantle on the new Kirk actor.

I don’t think the movie going general public wants to see ANOTHER Trek film about one of the main characters coming out of retirement or coming back from the dead(now,Kirk).That’s just making another version of “The Search For Spock”.Is that what Star Trek’s become to some of you?Ya gotta move on with the times,grow up.These characters were originally written to be men in the prime of their lives.That’s what the public wants to see.More and more it’s becoming apparent to me that what someTrekkies/Trekkers(whatever) are afraid of is that if they bring on a new younger cast makes them (the trekkie/trekker canon crowd)obsolete and irrelevant.

I don’t care to see any reference to Generations in a new film. As part of the pre-release hype they should bring Kirk back to life in a web-only short film, a DVD in a cereal box, or even a comic book and declare that canonical to the film.

Great,Great,Great news!!!!

People are going to love this.

JJ, please undue the wrong that was done in Generations.

Spock is going to save Kirk fom the nexus. Just as Kirk save Spock in ST 3.

The circle will be complete. And it will give Kirk the ending he deserves. As well as introduce a new cast.

Everyone (old +new fans) wins.

JJ is going to end the bland Star Trek of the last 12 years. He is bringing back the real thing.

To most of the public Shatner + Nimoy are Star Trek. Their appearance gives this film a level of credibility that could not exist w/out them.

Why does Shatner have to be de-aged at all? I have absolutely NO problem seeing a 74 year old Kirk reflecting on his first mission with his best friend….should the story go that route. Just because the character is Kirk, there should not be an automatic assumption that he will be a two fisted, fighting, green babe-bagging, Kirk. All he has to be, is a well written “aged” Kirk for it to work. I’ve seen Kirk in his youth, I’ve seen Kirk in middle age, and I’d love to see the character in his twilight years. There could be so much great drama there. How often has one actor portrayed a fictional character through so many phases of life over so many years?? “but he died in generations!!” some will cry. Generations? Humbug I say. canon Schmanon, who gives a rat’s ass, it’s all fiction. Give me a good story..if it disregards a previous movie, so be it. I say bring on Shatner..bring on Kirk…bring on Shatner as an 74 year old Kirk…let him share the screen with the new young Kirk and give that younger actor credence by having THE Jim Kirk look back at the younger version of himself. Some call it a gimmick….I say, if written properly, it will make the character of James T. Kirk more alive and real than ever before. Bring it.

Jonboc…(joking)They could call it “Citizen Kirk” and instead of saying” rosebud” he could say “Enterprise”.Any student of cinema would know what I’m saying here.

I’m all for not EVEN addressing the mess of Generations… just ignore it and carry on with the older Kirk. If someone wants an explanation, say “read the Shatner books.”