Anyway, my comments about “Enterprise” were not really meant to bash all non TOS. I liked enterprise as a whole, but LOVED the Coto episodes. Whereas it seems many people did not like Enterprise much at all until the end. But regardless of my likes, Enterprise WAS canceled for SOME reason.

So let’s put away the phasers, take down the “Bashing” signs, and argue over IMPORTANT things now, like “who will play Kirk?” now that the Star Trek XI has the green light!

Perhaps you, R. April ? (#78)

For a new actor to do well as Kirk they MIGHT not need Shatner to do a cameo, but certainly if done well it could really help.

(Or it could suck, yeah I know)

If the new actor is excellent he will be convincing REGARDLESS of a Shatner appearance. Given so many people like Shatner these days why not just keep him in? A good script is a good script and if a GREAT script comes along that calls for both a younger and older Kirk, who better to play the older Kirk then ol’ Bill “The Shatman” himself?

I do wish to see a new actor play a young Kirk, but one who could surpass Shatner in that role. And as long as Shatner is still alive that ain’t gonna happen. They may do the role justice and bring their own spin to it, but unless they are VERY lucky they will not surpass what Shatner has done. Not because Shatners acting is so great (or poor for that matter) but because he has become, along with his Kirk alter ego, a true American icon. (Not bad for a Canadian, eh?)

Now if you were being hired as an actor you would probably try to focus on doing your job to the best of your abilities, as any pro would. But there would be no way to escape a comparison to Shatner.

For better or worse it would generate a TON of publicity just to recast the role. With Shatner in the movie as an older version of Kirk you could bridge the generations and expand your target market. Once again, the script would have to dictate this. No last minute rewrites to add Shatner and Nimoy in “just because.”

It would be great to do a TOTAL re-imagining of TREK and, hey why not have an R rated film while were at it and tackle some adult themes?

Paramount does not have the balls to give a total face lift to their cash cow however, so the best we can hope for is a slightly fresh take on a (hopefully) maturing franchise.

And regardless of how much I wish to see new actors in those old roles (I am starting to think Matt Damon might actually make a pretty good farm boy from Iowa) I still want to see Shatner one last time.

I suspect a lot of ticket buyers feel the same.

-RA

Go ahead and have all the old actors back with no newcomers. That will surely fail.

Go ahead and try all NEW actors (again.) THAT will fail again too.

Have a mild reboot similar to Battlestar Galactica but with no major character changes-just character explorations.

Answer some questions along the way.
Was Kirk always a ladies man even back home on the farm in Riverside?
What was it like for Spock to be only part human when he joined Starfleet against his Father’s wishes?
What happens to Captain Pike (and Robert April too ;-) when Kirk takes command…

How did Kirk become the greatest Starship captain EVER??????

Answer these questions. Do it with all new actors playing younger versions of the characters that we love. Use Shatner and Nimoy to connect it to TOS without blindly following canon. Add to that a character driven script and make sure there is a REASON to feature Shatner and Nimoy. Book ends would be lame.

(BTW, Shatner is waaaaaaaaay better now as an actor then he EVER was back in the day! Yes he is old. Yes he would need a larger Starfleet uniform then he did back in 1960’s-but he is so darn funny, he makes you laugh! Check out his salute to George Lucas on YOUTUBE. He stole the show!

Any way, a movie like this would have the best of both worlds. And would get MY $10 at the box office.

-RA

” For star Trek to be sucessful it needs to be TOTALLY NEW and cut loose from all that old baggage.Get into the CHARACTERS not the ACTORS.”
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Great Idea! All new unknown actors, bold new adventures, new ship, new time period. This might just work!!!!!!

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Oh wait. That was the last series, called “Enterprise.”

The whole idea does not appeal to me, in case you can’t tell.

Let’s get on with the story…