Trek news is coming fast this week. Since the release of images of Nero and his pointed ears, it is no longer a spoiler that Romulans are the new Star Trek bad guys, but what about the Klingons? In a new interview JJ Abrams explains why. Plus, in totally unrelated, but still Star Trek film news, Intel has updated their partnership site, including new Kelvin wallpaper images.
Klingons are ubiquitous in Star Trek movies and were the primary or secondary villains in most of them. In one case (Star Trek III) the studio made the film makers change the originally planned Romulan villains into Klingons because it was believed mainstream audiences expect Klingons.
Empire Magazine attended the recent UK Star Trek preview (see their report), but today they added some additional comments given to them by JJ Abrams and why he prefers Romulan bad guys for his Trek [minor spoilers]:
Part of the fact is that they hadn’t seen them for so many years, so that it immediately breaks, for anyone who knows, the rules of Trek to start the movie and have Romulans crossing paths with Starfleet. It jumps in breaking the rules, which I think is kind of fun. That’s not to say it’s not explained and it’s not consistent with canon, given our story, but it felt like we had seen so many iterations of Klingons done that this felt like a way to do something in the familiar vernacular but not so familiar that it felt overdone.
However fans of Klingons, do not despair, Abrams also tells Empire that fans should expect to see some Klingons, although apparently a subplot involving them was removed. More details at Empire.
Intel update with more to come
Back in July at Comic Con, Intel launched a partnership site (boldlygo.intel.com) with Paramount to promote their products and Star Trek. Today the site has been updated with some new animations as well as some new wallpapers of the USS Kelvin. There are now four areas identified to be explored
- USS Kelvin (notes ‘docking soon;)
- Starfleet Database (trailer and image gallery)
- Technology (pitches Intel products)
- Recruitment (sign up for updates)
The two new Kelvin images are in the Starfleet Database. It looks like this is a site to keep an eye on.
One of the new wallpapers
First.
USS Kelvin looks pretty cool. looks more enterprisey than the actual enterprise.
They look like models instead of CGI — I like ’em. :)
I wonder if the nacelles will look backlit like in wallpaper_2.jpg on the Church Enterprise, when she’s going to warp.
Facinating! Intel processors power Starfleet computers…
Striking.
^ Sorry I mean the image above.
Not to shabby, I take it this is a few decades after the NX-01.
Actually, I’d be happier with the backlit glow around the nacelle cap than a fully orange-yellow glowing nacelle cap.
J.J…. We haven’t seen bad Klingons since Star Trek Generations (1994)… Romulans were in the last crappy film (2002). You should have used Andorians.
so….. the nacelle is mounted to the saucer, killing everyone when it is turned on?
“It jumps in breaking the rules, which I think is kind of fun.”
Now that wasn’t a very wise thing to say, was it?
I’m sure they can explain Romulans being in the movie if they’re pirates from the future, but screwing with things “for fun” seems to go against everything they’ve said about being respectful to the source material.
I think I’d rather a total “re-imagining” than a hotchpotch of details that adhere strictly to canon alongside ones that go completely against it. What’s the point of being very faithful to one really minor fact (like the year Kirk was born or something), only to fiddle with something that was actually quite important in the original series (like the Romulans being a mysterious unknown quantity that no one’s seen)?
Cool design of the Kelvin. Looks great… as a 24th century starship. :)
P.S. I don’t want to sound like one of those nuts who jumps on every little comment anyone associated with the movie makes, I just think that that particular comment was a dumb thing to say when a lot of fans are so wary of changes to the Star Trek they’re familiar with.
Do you think the side of Spock’s science station will have an “Intel Inside” sticker on it!!!
I like the design. Gives it an edge. Cool…
Yeah! It really Is so much fun deliberately meddling with canon! And no, this isn’t sarcasm at all. Take me literally! I think it is necessary to finally forget up that canon crap and to move on with maximum creative license…
#11
“It jumps in breaking the rules, which I think is kind of fun.”
Now that wasn’t a very wise thing to say, was it?
erm…
you seem to have missed this bit :
“That’s not to say it’s not explained and it’s not consistent with canon”
wasn’t very wise to read half a quote was it???
— That said, the Klingons do have a presence in Star Trek. “You will see Klingon Warbirds in the movie. Maybe not in the way you expect, but you will see them,” teases Abrams. —
I suspect that we’ll see them in the Kobayashi Maru test.
I agree 10000% with #1.
The “for fun” comments are right on as well.
This team has manifested that kind of arrogance and disrespect ever since Lindelhoff’s “this ain’t your daddy’s Star Trek” comments from early on. It sure ain’t my daddy’s Star Trek. And the more I see and hear, the less I think that it’s my Star Trek as well. They shoulda just called it “Dudes in Space” – it would have given them better liscense to do whatever they wanted and been way more honest.
Intel..Shmentel… Everyone knows the Enterprise computers are powered by Daystrom Duotronic computer circuits! My computer is too… My only beef is every week I have to outwit my computer with a moral logic speech to stop it from going on a killing spree…
Romulans may mean a visit into period of the Romulan Wars something completly missed in Enterprise
What about some Enterprise views: side, front/rear, top/bottom or some shots from other angles to see more of the ship?
#17, of course I read the whole quote, that’s why I said “I’m sure they can explain Romulans being in the movie if they’re pirates from the future”. That’s what I understand the explanation is. They’re not ignoring canon completely, but they’re certainly bending it, so it’s not a great idea for them to be flippant about it.
I like the fact that the Kelvin is clearly an earler generation of Starship than the Enterprise – the nacelle is very different, and the whole thing looks just that little bit lower tech and lunkier.
I don’t like it at all.
I saw that desing before in the trek universe, I don´t remember the name of it.
Is very poor the desing
Wee a new Star Trekky Shippe!
#11: I think it’s more to do with the “Klingons off the starboard bow! LOL!” cliche that the mainstream audience associates with Star Trek than breaking Star Trek/canon “rules.”
Or to put it another way:
“AGAIN with the Klingons…”
#25, you mean the Saladin? Or the Freedom? :p
God I hope this movie is good!!
It would be nice if there were some more widescreen resolutions for the wallpapers….
I hope it just doesn’t suck.
#23
it’s not ignoring canon at all.. it’s part of the plot..
Well, the Intel sponsoring explains the iBridge :)
As I said in other comments: It’s ok to do a completely new version of Star Trek, as long as you don’t try and sell it as the old. However, you have to be consistent with your own “new” canon. Otherwise logical errors will most certainly ruin it for everybody. It just won’t be believable.
The design is pretty… such a shame in can’t go into warp with only one nacelle
I think this guy has made the best manip of the ship, anyone else agree?
http://forums.superherohype.com/showpost.php?p=15964611&postcount=5106
#34
The Freedom-Class could also go on warp with only one nacelle!
The Kelvin looks better in that shot: the nacelle looks less like an eye. I’m warming to it, a bit. The Enterprise, however, looks great. But aesthetics are far from everything. They are, in fact, not that important to any film, let alone Star Trek. They are the feather in the cap, not the feather in the arrow.
Regarding canon, we are told that every ‘violation’ of canon will be explained with a canon explanation. And we now have the ‘given our story’ qualification to whether something is consistent with canon. It seems obvious to me that, with the alternative time-line story, many of the key events that have been established and maintained through forty years’ of Trek are going to be ignored. It’s about changing what you know, remember. The canon explanation would be that history played out differently; and this history is just as important, because we’ve got Star Trek in the title. Ignoring the very difficult philosophical problem of whether time-travel, specifically altering the past, is even logically possible, some fans are not going to be happy. Of course, other fans won’t care one bit if ‘canon’ is violated: if history is rewritten. Of course, much of this history has not yet been depicted in canon. This was probably an attraction in doing an origin story. But we know certain things; e.g., that Kirk reprogrammed the Kobayashi Maru Simulator to make it possible to rescue the freighter. This doesn’t have to happen in the new film, if the past is different.
The key issue in the canon debate, in my opinion, is the final result of this alternative time-line. I.e., does this film end in an alternative time-line to the one in which Star Trek has existed for the vast, vast majority of the show’s history? (There is a well-established and reliable internal Trek chronology, with some inconsistencies, of course.) I could understand the team wanting to do this. It would wipe the slate clean. They would have greater artistic freedom to write the stories and make the films they want to make. It would be perfect for a new run of films, instead of having to work within the restrictive framework at the moment. So, from one perspective, this option is best for the franchise. It would certainly make more of that all-important commodity: money. However, couldn’t this same option be seen as undermining the entire franchise? If all the shows and movies happened in a different reality, doesn’t that undermine their significance?
I really do not know.
(PS: if we could log-on to this site with passwords before we post messages, then that would be great. At the moment, anyone can post with the name Alec, for example, and it might not be me. I suppose I could use a less common name; but this wouldn’t solve the ‘problem’. It’s a problem if someone says something offensive and I get banned)
No, it’s not ignoring canon-it’s actively erasing it. “whoops, old canon’s gone. What are ya gonna do? Pirate Romulans, you know… pesky buggers. Oh, well! Let’s have Spock do something insane like banish Kirk to an ice planet–ya know, something that should get him thrown in the brig–but let’s have him choke the crap out of him first! Oh, and let’s make the Enterprise look completely different–how about hiring the guy who did those awful designs on the Star Wars prequels! That’ll show those Trekkies who’s boss!” I can’t believe Paramount hired a flipping Star Wars fan to make a Star Trek movie. I mean, come on! Really? Really? I can almost hear Alec Guiness in Chris Pine’s ear, “Use the Kirk Chop, Jim!”
Bah, there were a few single-nacelled models floating around at Wolf 359 — Freedom-class starships for one.
No reason why you can’t throw a pair of coils inside a single nacelle housing, right?
The single-nacelled ships are so fugly.
Just a little update on the Star Trek Blu-ray situation. Still there’s nothing definite about Star Trek coming out in blu-ray yet but i have no doubt that it will happen because I just found out that Star Trek: First Contact is the first film available in HD on Xbox Live. Check it out! No, it’s not going to be available on Xbox Live. It ‘s available on Xbox Live right now!
“It looks like this is a site to keep an eye on.”
I’ll say!
I’m going to spend a little time looking around.
I like it!
STAR TREK LIVES!
only 174 days to go!
It looks like an older school science vessel, i know it isn’t one but still
It looks more like the deflector is on top, and the nacelle is below…
JJ:
“Part of the fact is that they hadn’t seen them for so many years, so that it immediately breaks, for anyone who knows, the rules of Trek to start the movie and have Romulans crossing paths with Starfleet.”
Up to now, I’ve been onboard and supportive with JJ, but this comment makes me worry that he doesn’t know enough about the past ST movies and TV series’. The Romulans/Remans were the MAIN villians in the last ST movie, which was roundly condemned as the WORST ST movie of them all!
Why didn’t JJ know this, and if he did know it, why did he select such wimpy villians? If he was going to retread old vilians, I would have prefered to see the Borg or Dominion.
1: I agree 100%
14. Matt
“Do you think the side of Spock’s science station will have an “Intel Inside” sticker on it!!!”
http://img352.imageshack.us/img352/8265/p61fx5cg5.jpg
;)
45. cugel the clever
“The Romulans/Remans were the MAIN villians in the last ST movie”
Errr, like… NO? Remans were the villians, Human was a villian, but no Romulan. Besides, there’s a great bunch of fabulous episodes from all ST series with Romulans in there. So there’s the potential. Just use it. And leave the Klingons in the background.
Looks wicked!
hey cool. So far this article has only partially been overrun by the negative nancys and canon cops. Its nice to see some positive comments instead of the standard ( dare I call it canon) whining and moaning that has hijacked this site.:)