While promoting his role in Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Simon Pegg says that he knows about the story for the Star Trek sequel but hasn’t heard any confirmation of many of the previously reported rumors regarding the film’s villain. Pegg also talked about his hopes to get more serious. Watch the video clips below. [Potential SPOILERS below]
Pegg jokes about Scotty sex scene – says he hasn’t heard anything about Khan
Simon Pegg was at the same publicity event for Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol. The actor told MTV he hadn’t yet read the script (as of last week) and he didn’t know what roles were being played by Peter Weller or Alice Eve, however he did say he was "excited to be working with Robocop." Pegg also joked about getting "large sex scene with Scotty and some green chicks."
Getting serious Pegg says that he does know about the story for the Star Trek sequel, but hasn’t heard a certain name come up:
I haven’t heard the name Khan come up. That is not to say it might not come up, but I have heard no mention of him whatsoever.
Watch the video
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Pegg wants to get serious
Simon Pegg’s background is in comedy and it would be fair to say that his role as Scotty provided much comic relief to the Star Trek movie. This is also true of Pegg’s role in the Mission Impossible films and of course he has written and starred in a number of other comedy TV shows and films. However, the actor is now hoping to get more serious. In another MI4 interview (with BBC Radio) Pegg said he would like to do more serious work if he is "allowed to," noting that comic actors are sometimes limited in the roles they are offered.
Last summer TrekMovie spoke to Pegg about getting more serious with the role of Scotty. In that video interview Pegg noted:
When I took the role of Scotty, I never looked at him as a comic character as such. He has always been a whimsical character, because of his background and is almost like an ethnic minority on board ship. There is something lyrical and fanciful about him. There is something about him that has whimsy, they all do at times even Spock. But I always thought that was what was in the script, he was marooned on that planet for a long time and he got on the ship and everything was kicking off and his reaction was almost like our reaction to it all. So yeah I absolutely hope so. I don’t think Scotty is a comic character at all. In this Star Trek he was thrust into everything, and he learned all this stuff about his own discoveries. He was brought on board the ship where everything was crazy and for him, that was a comic situation. I would like to hope that in future adventures he can find the sort of depth and seriousness that James Doohan had to tackle in the series.
I rarely comment but this is spot on for me. James Doohan was one of, if not my favorite actor from the original movies because he was serious. When Mr Doohan punched his comical lines like “Up your shaft” and “How else can I keep my reputation as a miracle worker?” it made him so believable because people have bad days, or like to show off a bit. Simon captured everything about Scotty I enjoy in a youthful sense, now it’s time to show us why he’s Starfleet’s finest engineering mind aboard the Enterprise.
Looking forward to another great Pegg performance in this film.
Pegg is great but even in Mission Impossible they overplayed him at times and made him look the comic fool rather than a competent guy with a sense of humor.
I hope they don’t do that with Scotty again. Lets see his sense of humor but lets believe he also has a serious sense about him too.
And get rid of that jar jar binks inspired side kick, please.
Why is every totally-CGI supporting character immediately compared to Jar Jar? Have some imagination and faith. Keenser is probably an excellent part of the Enterprise engineering crew; he’s the only one that fits underneath the vats. ;D
Like to see him have the combination of, yes, some humor, but also a brilliant engineer and head of his department, who could go toe to toe and get things done when it was called for.
Saw nothing wrong with Keenser. Many people have said how they were sick and tired of the “forehead of the week” aliens and wanted something different, but when the new guys give us something different, these same folks bitch and complain and make the comparisons to Jar Jar Binks, which I think is just plain ignorant and wrong.
At one quarter the size, Keenser is ten times the character Jar Jar Binks is.
I want to see Scotty take on the role of second officer as he was in TOS. typically when Kirk and Spock left the ship…Scotty was left in command. I want to see the Scotty we saw in the last film as well as the more serious Scotty we saw as Kirk’s Chief Engineer and third in command (is that right? second officer…third in command?)
I also hope to see Scotty get more serious in the sequel. Trek of the past may be something between Shakespeare and donning a cape and pretending to be Superman (who said that?), but Trek never had a resident ‘fool’ or jester.
As a kid watching TOS I loved in when Scotty got to take command of the ship. I was always thinking to myself “somebody’s gonna get their rear end kicked now!”
@4 Keenser was NOT a CGI character. That was a short person in very impressive prosthetics. The only thing that was CGI of Keenser that I could tell was his eye movements.
Also, about the article: here we go… Peter Weller in the sequel? Didn’t he already play Terra Prime guy J Frederick Paxton from Star Trek Enterprise? LOL
They should get Charlie Sheen as the villain LMAO as a boozer ex-friend of Pike’s who goes psycho and starts a war against Starfleet based on him thinking Starfleet screwing him over LOL
@8 I beg to differ. Voyager had a resident fool/jester. His name was Neelix LOL also, at times Enterprise played Phlox as one, and DS9 did a fairly good job of casting the whole Ferengi race as the Quadrant’s resident fools/jesters
it would be nice to see scotty a little bit more serious. in the original series he also was not a funny guy. a few jokes are okay, but the character ist not funny!!! scotty always was at least also serious. hte best joke of the original scotty was: “for you i will make it in ten minutes, not 2 hours” or something like that… .;)
oh yes,… about khan. who seriously wants to see him again? i mean, there was khan in the series, there was khan in st 2 and a kind of next gen khan in nemesis. that is a lot of khan! do we really want to see more? i do not think so…. ;)
A more serious Scotty? Here’s hoping! But to do that they will HAVE to ditch Keenser, who was not a character as such but just there to be a foil in order to turn Scotty into a clown.
Dump the sidekick. Bring back our ‘badass’ Scotty from TOS. Please.
@4. I don’t think every cgi character is caompared to jar jar.
But in the case of Keenser, a totally pointless character other than being cute for kids. The problem with tv trek towards the end was that it brought the geeks into the show.
One upon a time trekkies were the nerds who watched the show with some obsession and great characters were in the show. Then at some point almost to pay homage to the fans characters seemed to be more like the trekkies. Geeks saving the universe.
That may sound cool but people want heroes. The same reason people prefer to see Scotty played more seriously. It helps you take the entire concept more seriously.
So from that perspective Keenser is for the geeks, more of a pigs in space in the star trek universe. A totally bad judgement on adding a new character to the enterprise.
Not to take away from the fact that the first film was excellent but that character added nothing and would detract from the real adventure.
As another poster said well ” Trek never had a resident ‘fool’ or jester”. If i’m in the mood for some keenser i’ll go see the muppets.
Just my opinion but i think you’ll find that is the consistent view of many trekkies.
Uh 13….don’t knock Shinzon…don’t knock the character for the colossally inept handling of Nemesis by Stuart Baird and John Logan…had Frakes directed Nemesis it probably would have been a great film, with some story tweaks… plus Tom Hardy might never have been cast in Inception and now in The Dark Knight Rises had it not been for his exposure in Nemesis.. but you bring up a good point about Khan…
Star Trek 2013 certainly needs more Scotty scenes.
8.
I believe that was said by Brent Spiner in one of the Blu Ray special features…
16.
Agreed that Baird’s mishandling of Nemesis severely damaged it…there was alot of potential there. AND they cut out alot of good character moments that had every right to be in the final product. Tom Hardy was fine, but I almost prefer a concept they toyed with briefly…that Shinzon would have been Picard’s double w/ Patrick Stewart playing both, which would more closely mirror the Data/B4 story.
Well…Pegg has Chris Doohan’s support.
But, still, I love Pegg in other stuff but his protrayal of Scotty is the only one that didn’t work for me from the new cast. Pine, Quinto, Urban, etc., were all perfect. But I just didn’t buy Pegg as Scotty.
Here’s hoping that can change with this next one.
20 “Well…Pegg has Chris Doohan’s support”
That he does. He told me that he read the script the other day and loved it.
Props to Bob and Alex
PS I loved Pegg’s Scotty
I’d like to see Scotty get more serious. I think Simon Pegg has it in him to become a solid, serious actor.
Just look at Tom Hanks, no one thought he would ever be a heavyweight actor back in the old days.
Mr. Stewart as Shinzon – at least by the middle of the film – would’ve been so much better. No disrespect to Mr. Hardy, who did really well with his role. The B4 plot was annoying. Data became silly in the films, as did Worf, which is a shame since both were such rich characters in the series. NEM was a disappointment because it forever killed off TNG and that era’s stories. That’s unforgivable.
I agree with Pegg. There have been plenty of comic actors taking on serious roles (Tom Hanks, Robin Williams). There is nothing wrong with some comic relief here and there. But I would love to see Kirk tell Scotty “you have the conn” and for Scotty to tell some know it all ambassador to shove it. Pegg clearly wants to try his hand at some more serious acting, and I say let him. If Robin Williams can do “One Hour Photo” playing a character completely opposite to Williams personality, Simon Pegg can play a more serious Scotty.
21: Chris: I know it’s different for you since you know Pegg and was present in his performance on set, but there is something about your dad’s portrayal of Scotty that is so special that I guess never can be compared to. Scotty was always my favorite character and the reason why I got a degree in physics. Maybe I am just holding on to the past too much.
It could be Keenser that’s the actual villain. He could of invented transwarp drive. There’s an accident on the nu excelsior and he gets radiated and turns into a rock monster. He then plots a course to the galactic barrier and Enroute he encounters the Botany Bay and revives khan. The Enterprise is on the tail of the nu Excelsior and discover that it not the galactic barrier but in fact the Nexus. Certain things transpire then there’s Kirk PRIME. He takes on khan in a dual of spouting shakespere. Kirk obviously wins and drops khan at ceti alpha 5 or 6 (please don’t bash I can’t remember which 1 he did end up on. roll credits. Hope I haven’t spoiled it too much for you
23. What is more unforgivable, the awful death of Kirk or the awful death of next gen over a few films punchlined by nemesis, a crew that the public were fond of but after Nemesis were just not interested in anymore.
At least Kirks death was quick.
But then Kirk was also much more popular.
It is a complete waste of Pegg’s talent to make Scotty too serious.
28.
Agreed.
And if you watch TOS, Scotty was (for the most part) a larger-than-life, semi-comical character anyway. At first (when I saw ST09) I thought Pegg was playing it too broadly, until I went back and watched some TOS and realized that Scotty was simply a broad character.
I think “Lights of Zetar” and “Wolf in the Fold” were the only truly serious showcases for the character (and even those were sprinkled with Doohan’s natural warmth and charm). And while I agree that Doohan’s Scotty is a beloved character (he was always one of my favorites as a kid), I warmed up to Pegg’s as well and look forward to a more balanced portrait of our favorite engineer in the next movie…
Frankly, I’m more intrigued by Pegg’s noted ‘lack of Khan’ (to Pegg’s knowledge, anyway). For me, that’s a very good sign for the new movie.
I was sincerely hoping that the powers-that-be weren’t going to just serve us warmed up Khan leftovers…
25
For many of the people who grew up watching the original series, there is only one Scotty, and I completely understand that. When I heard that they were casting the new movie, I was on pins and needles waiting to see who they would cast. Although I thought someone like Paul McGillion would be a nice fit, I felt that they wanted someone a bit more well known. Then, I heard that they were considering Ricky Gervais! Yes, I was happy to hear that that was just a rumor. Don’t get me wrong, I like Ricky, but not as Scotty. When they finally picked Simon, I was ecstatic!! My family and I all liked the idea of Simon Pegg in that role. Was his take a little different? Yes, but in a good way. I believe he captured the essence of Scotty, while adding his own unique flare. I am so glad that he accepted that role, as I can’t think of anyone else who could pull it off.
#21 – “20 “Well…Pegg has Chris Doohan’s support”
That he does. He told me that he read the script the other day and loved it.
Props to Bob and Alex”
Chris – I thought that none of the cast had seen or read the script yet. So have my favourite conifer, Quinto, Urban et al also seen the script yet? If Simon Pegg has, then surely these other three, in particular, would have as well?
Or, is this an Ooops moment for you?
As for Doohan’s Scotty, for some reason, the visual impression I have in my mind most of the time is one of a bright, talented, smiling, slightly off-the-wall personality.
Ooops, only to the fact that maybe I shouldn’t have said it.
Damn those tequila truth serum shots.
hmmmm… OK… great…. “the most amazing script” like said JJ Abrams… so I guess CP, ZQ and Karl have also seen the script the other day … :-) :-)
Tequila? Now scotch, that’s a real mans’ drink, lad!
WHAT THE FIRST MOVIE LACKED was a clever explanation of the complete absurdity of having a completely inexperienced crew assume positions on the Flagship by mere coincidence. Left alone, it is almost a joke at how so many rookies took command positions in a single day
It must be addressed in the next movie how, although TIME was changed, destiny has not. This crew was suppose to be together–otherwise its as dumb as a billion lens flares inserted as a coping mechanism for Abrams thought that Star Trek wasnt exciting enough as is.
Great movie though, uneven but great. I also say ditch the Villian idea. Star Trek doesnt need to be Batman with constant predictable cuts to a crazed maniac
I think Pegg could be amazing as Scotty as long as the writers don’t use the character to be the comic relief – in the original series, Scott was funny but not for the sake of being so.
During TOS and the original movies, Scotty always took his job seriously. But he never took himself too seriously. That was the real charm of the character, and a real testament to James Doohan.
28–I don’t think anyone here wants to see an all serious Scotty. I think #37 has it down. It’s fine for him to have funny moments, but it would be dissappointing if Scotty just became your “Odious Comic Relief” character.
#33 – Well, it’s not before time that these guys saw the script they’ll be acting out. Now, they can all go away and have a nice Christmas while thinking, “Oh cripes, that Bob Orci guy has me doing…WHAAAT?!”, “Oh crap, how am I supposed to pull that off?”. Do not fear, my fine new Star Trek cast, you’ll do just great!
Chris Doohan – Your secret is safe with us. None of us posters will blab a word to anyone, isn’t that right?
#36
If I remember correctly there were lines of dialogue cut from the movie that explained that very thing…the universe was trying to “align” itself as best as possible despite Nero’s accidental incursion. I think Spock Prime was to quiz Kirk on who was on the enterprise with him, and offer some sort of explanation.
I think…
Every ship needs a mascot.
who else is going to catch the mice and rats going after the grain in the budgineering department?
its an ancient tradition that must continue.
here in NZ we have a number of interesting ships mascots for anyone who is even vaguely interested check the link:
http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/war/mascots/other-mascots
Yep, here in the NZ military history we’ve had dogs, cats, monkeys, slow lauris (nocturnal mammal), goats and even a bloody owl as mascots
If you can have all these, then there is no reason why you cannot have a Keenser.
And if it all goes tits-up the crew can eat him!
Happy Trekkin’ holidays my gorgeous friends of Trek
31: Well, to give Pegg the benefit of the doubt, he had the least amount of screen time amoungst cast in the last film, so maybe there wasn’t enough time to let his Scotty shine.
I’m glad your family accepted Simon Pegg. That means a lot. I’m looking forward to seeing him in the next one. I think that Pegg’s wishes of being more serious stems from the criticism of his goofiness in the last one. It shows that he understands and wants to give the character more respect than just comic relief.
Dougray Scott would have made a good Scotty.
44. Great call.
I do like Pegg of course and i would see a film with dreadful reviews just because he was in it.
But i could totally see Dougray Scott playing Scotty.
Simon did a marvelous job portraying an Engineer Scott that had been exiled to the equivalent of a year-long Antarctic research station with only a hermit-like Keenser as another sentient being nearby (and some tribbles). Imagine if Jimmy had to portray Scott isolated for a year in Antarctica who suddenly gets to hop on board the most advanced tech in the UFP?
I think Pegg *nailed* that Engineer Scott, and portrayed him wide-eyed and excited just as Doohan would have, had he first portrayed Scott in a production made in 1960, 8 years before TOS.
totally agree with those that have said that pegg’s scotty needs to show his serious/technical side a bit more in the next film. a bit of levity is perfectly fine as long as it doesn’t “cheapen” the character that doohan so finely portrayed. “fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me”. loved when he took command on the bridge.
i thought pegg’s “i’d rather not take sides” line on the bridge was great. sly with a bit of attitude.
on the other hand, the scene of him manning the transporter room started off great and he delivered his lines perfectly for the situation but then the writers cheapened his performance by having his “logical” coordinates beam kirk and spock right into the middle of a romulan bee hive. it made for a good following action scene but diminished scotty’s perceived technical prowess.
33: Sorry, Chris. I hope I didn’t get you in trouble. It’s that whole “mystery-box” thing…
It’s all about how the humour is conveyed: Simon Pegg was awesome in the hilarious Hot Fuzz, but played the role commendably straight, which was funnier than if he’d been hamming it up!
The problem with people’s view of TOS, from my perspective, is that in season three of the TV show and some of the movie,s the characterisations of the cast broadened somewhat and became caricatured: Kirk was hammier and scoring with babes all the time, Scotty was remembered for getting drunk and saying ‘It’s green!’ McCoy and Spock had their catchphrases . . .
ST:TMP went too far in the other direction IMO, but I think the kind of portrayal of the characters I like best is that of season one. The characters weren’t icons then: they were believable soldiers and gentlemen and ladies who were great at their jobs and still able to have a drink and dish out the banter!
48
Truthfully, I don’t think anyone would get angry at me for saying that someone read a script, + It’s not exactly a spoiler alert. Had I gone into the details of the script, that would be a different matter.
By the way, I have no idea what the story is about.