In the last day as part of their People Like Us publicity tour, both director Alex Kurtzman and star Chris Pine have ended up discussing the Star Trek sequel and specifically the arc of Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise, with both noting that the end of the 2009 movie was not the end of their journey to becoming like the crew of the original series. Pine also talked about Benedict Cumberbatch and how his villain brings out the best qualities in Kirk’s journey.
Kurtzman: New Star Trek crew still figuring out who they are
People Like Us director Alex Kurtzman talked to the Hollywood Reporter about Star Trek, and specifically on where the crew is on their arc of becoming the crew of the series…
The Hollywood Reporter: If theoretically Star Trek 2 examines what it means for Kirk to be Captain, how much is the film a Quantum of Solace follow-up that starts right after the first film, and how much does it take place some time after the events of Star Trek?
Alex Kurtzman: I can’t answer your question directly, but I can say the assumption that we did not want to make was that just because he’s in the chair and they’re on the bridge together that they’re the crew that you remember from the original series. They’re not — the crew from the original series had gone on many, many journeys, they were a well-oiled machine in terms of how they function, and these characters are still figuring out who they are and who they are to each other. And I did not want to jump so far ahead that we missed a really important emotional connection to that transition for them.
and later in the interview (in the context of discussing leaving films with open-questions and Prometheus), Alex elaborated on Star Trek and Kirk, saying…
…I tend to look at things first and foremost as a character’s journey from beginning to end, and oftentimes the journey won’t be resolved at the end, it will just be the completion of whatever that moment in their journey is. Jim Kirk, for example, inherits the Enterprise at the end of Star Trek but that doesn’t mean he fully understands what it means to be Captain. It just means, oh, he has the Enterprise now — so now what? He’s never sent men and women to their deaths before, so what’s going to happen when that kind of question comes up for him?
Check out THR for the full interview.
The bridge crew in their places at the end of 2009’s "Star Trek" – but according to Kurtzman – still on their journey to being the crew of the original "Star Trek"
Pine talks Kirk’s arc and Cumberbatch’s Villain
Speaking to MTV, Chris Pine spoke about the arc Kirk takes in the Star Trek sequel noting:
[Orci, Kurtzman and Lindelof] are very good at writing myth and these characters…go on mythic arcs. It is all about growing up. These are young men and women. They are not the crew that we know from the series, they are developing into that. And it is a long way to go there.
Pine also talked about working with Benedict Cumberbatch
It is structured so that the antagonist brings out all of the qualities that need to happen for Kirk to grow…Vocally he is fascinating. He has this resonate voice. He’s got a fascinating face. He’s a lovely guy and super smart. What you want with a bad guy in any film is intelligence. You want to see something firing in his brain so he isn’t just a blood dripping from the fangs sort of bad guy and Benedict brings those kinds of smarts.
Here is the video…
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This sounds great !!!!!
Cannot wait to see Mr. Cumberbatch in this movie!
Re: Kurtzman’s quote: “He’s never sent men and women to their deaths before”.
This is one of those things that really bothered me when Kirk was promoted to captain so quickly. I would think that a person in the military in pursuit of command would have to endure many of the hardships associated with command, including making those tough life & death decisions.
its because its a movie:-)
But again, is was wrong, but still, would it had been better he were commander instead ???
And later promoted to captain???
Maybe, but it wound´t had sold the movie in same way I think…..
would not, not wound´t …sorry :-)
Kirk should’ve been merritoriously promoted to Lieutenant (passed Ensign and LTjg) and sent on to one of the ships he was supposed to serve on (ala TOS timeline) to gain experience. Then have the sequel be a few years later when he’s assuming command and really forming the beginning of the TOS crew. They rushed the first one to bring everyone together; not everyone needed to be in the 2009 film, they could’ve built up to it, IMHO.
@ VZX you are absolutely right. Unfortunately Star Trek has gotten away from many of its naval roots.
Excited to see a bit more emotional growth from this set of characters. The first film was great, but I am definitely excited at the reports of a bit more depth from the next one. Think I’ve got the villain predicted too: Garth of Izar. He’s ex-Starfleet, he’s crazy, he’s got psionic powers…it would be kind of like an evil future Bourne. Plus, the Klingons would be getting involved in the investigation due to (perhaps) some hidden knowledge Garth attained related to Klingon tech/military strategy from his time serving during the Axanar Peace Mission.
I don’t know, but I think I prefer a slower developing arc for the characters. If anything the movie jumped ahead too quickly, with the promotion and all. Difficult to believe. The characteristics should begin to take shape now.
@3 “This is one of those things that really bothered me when Kirk was promoted to captain so quickly. I would think that a person in the military in pursuit of command would have to endure many of the hardships associated with command, including making those tough life & death decisions.”
You must have missed the entire Kirk theme at the first part of the movie where Kirk was kind of genius-jerk-party boy BECAUSE HE HAD SPENT HIS ENTIRE LIFE UP UNTIL THAT POINT dealing and thinking about how his father had made a command life and death decision which ending up sacrificing his life to save his mother, him and hundreds of Starfleet personnel. If anybody gets that at a young age, it is certainly Kirk. Duh! :-)
And enough whining about the promotion please — we’ve debated that to death so many time now on these boards. Boooorrrring!!! Enough!
I am super stoked for Trek 2. I hope by Trek 3 we can move on to the crew as we know them or at least a “well-oiled” machine given the events of Trek 2. Enterprise struggled because it tried to show how Earth turned into the Utopia of the Federation – something that is really impossible from the start and never achieved. I hope that the new cast won’t suffer from the same problem, never quite able to transform the crew from academy days into five-year mission mode…
I’m surprised that no one has griped about the ‘Star Trek 2’ mentions yet. Get used to it folks: most people (correctly) perceive this to be an all-new film series.
Until they give the film a title the media will call it “Star Trek 2” because it is easier than saying “Untitled Star Trek Sequel”. It isn’t really something to gripe about. They used “Batman 2” for Nolan’s second Batman until it got the title The Dark Knight. Cameron’s Avatar sequel is being called Avatar 2 even though it probably wont even have Avatar in the title (IIRC he said he wouldn’t). 2 is just easy shorthand to talk about it, nothing more
10. MJ – June 28, 2012
@3 “This is one of those things that really bothered me when Kirk was promoted to captain so quickly. I would think that a person in the military in pursuit of command would have to endure many of the hardships associated with command, including making those tough life & death decisions.”
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You must have missed the entire Kirk theme at the first part of the movie where Kirk was kind of genius-jerk-party boy BECAUSE HE HAD SPENT HIS ENTIRE LIFE UP UNTIL THAT POINT dealing and thinking about how his father had made a command life and death decision which ending up sacrificing his life to save his mother, him and hundreds of Starfleet personnel. If anybody gets that at a young age, it is certainly Kirk. Duh! :-)
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The only thing that apparently was missed was where ANY of the assumptions you just made were shown. All we know is that Kirk was a punk who didn’t know what to do with his life. Where was it made clear that he was “spending his entire life” dealing with it? Duh?….indeed!
What makes Kirk suited to make life and death decisions? Choosing to put yourself in danger or sacrifice yourself for others is totally different than imposing that choice on another under your command.
As far as the promotion debate……it’s not your place to determine when it’s been discussed enough. I find the angle of his rapid promotion denying him the experiences to help him learn to make life and death decisions to be a valid and fresh angle to the debate. Feel free not to join in if it bores you.
This ties in to what I predicted months ago….it would seem that Kirk will be in a relationship with Alice Eve’s character, Cumberbatch tortures and kills her, Kirk goes apesh*t and fight’s Cumby to the death. It is truly the traumatic experience of young Kirk’s life.
This then explains why James Kirk never falls in love again, freeing him up to go humping half the women of the galaxy in his travels.
Wow, look at that first picture. Is Kurtzman going for the Gene Shalit look?
“>He’s never sent men and women to their deaths before, so what’s going to happen when that kind of question comes up for him?”
Foreshadowing, guys. All this “boldness” talk being tossed around, talk about “big” moves like destroying Vulcan…I think we’re being set up to have a major character axed in this movie. Can’t get any more pointed than that line above IMHO.
The one thing that would put an inexorable wedge/tie between JJKirk and JJSpock would be the death of JJUhura. Then JJMcCoy could serve as the arbiter of their relationship at the end.
Ah…
——————————
TO BOLDLY GROW
—————– Star Trek
;)
I think I’ll see this movie…..Oh, like 20 times
Kirk served in the Federation Merchant Marine Service from enlistment at age 16 to get away from Frank, up until the point we see him again riding his motorbike across Iowa at age 24 or so. Makes perfect sense, and gives him 8 years of qualifying merchant fleet service on top of his 4 at the academy.
.
It makes sense, so it’s the backstory I choose to apply to nuKirk. He’s kind of an O’Brien it seems anyway. If only Boborci would fill in that big gap from crashing his dad’s car in the quarry, to his riding across the Riverside landscape on his bike…. at least in the comic books or something.
#14
Couldn’t have been said any better, Enterprisingguy. Thanks
#11 This will NEVER be the “crew we all know and love” because this isn’t really the TOS crew. This is Kurtzman, Orci and JJ’s view of the TOS crew. Big difference!
In 1966, NBC billed “Star Trek” as the “first adult space adventure.” Shows like “Space Patrol” and “Captain VIdeo” – entertaining shows — had already explored the same territory from a child’s perspective. And why would anybody who wasn’t completely qualified be placed in command of Starfleet’s flagship in the first place?
19. Chris Doohan
Are you in the movie? I’ll keep nagging until you answer. : )
13. Anthony P.
Actually, I was referring to those who insist on calling it Star Trek 12.
“They are not the crew that we know from the series, they are developing into that. And it is a long way to go there.”
They will never be the crew that we know from the series. Alternate universe, remember?
That said, there’s a world of difference between having these characters dramatically play off of each other in a believable way, as opposed to portraying them as so raw and incapable of working together to the extent that it’s no longer understandable why they would have been entrusted with starfleet’s flagship in the first place. TOS (as opposed to the later shows) was often at its best when these people didn’t behave perfectly, but if this version of that crew acts like it’s still in high school, what they would require is adult supervision, not sinecures on the bridge of a ship powerful enough to level planets. We’ll see next year.
Looking forward to Star Trek 12 coming out, I already saw 2.
By “grow as a character” I’m betting that Kirk doesn’t even bother contacting the bad guys to offer aid and just orders all weapons fired.
#6: you are exactly right. trek 09 was just poor storytelling and poor filmmaking. no different than battleship. kirk goes from cadet to captain in the span of a few hours or the course of a few days as the movie timeline goes. what utter BS. it would have been better done over an arc of three movies. most characters on the shows were never promoted over a seven year storyline.
Oh god this film is going to be amazing !!!
Oh god this film is going to be amazing !!! I love chris
Pine what a a great actor and can’t wait to see the batch !!!
14. Enterprisingguy, soon you’ll be suggesting we have civil discourse and indepth discussion about all things Trek, and cease trolling around, seeking to stir up trouble, picking fights, and acting pushy, trying to run the place like we own it. If only we had some kind of model we could base all this on.
The first movie didn’t wow me. I liked it, but I didn’t love it.
I had the feeling after watching The Dark Night of not being able to wait to go back to the theater to see it a second and third times.
I want Star Trek 2 to do that. Please.
I think Star Trek tried to “please too many masters”, for lack of better term.
Is it a movie for trekkies, or non-trekkies? Is it a family flick or action flick? Is it a reboot or not? Change too much, or too little?
I don’t want this next film to be Star Trek doing Star Wars, I just want a bad ass Star Trek movie.
R2D2? Really?
Tainted.
I was hoping that they might allude to some missing period of growth or promotion that took place during the first movie that might provide more depth and context to the events we witnessed. But knowing JJ’s penchant for rapid fire scenes, I doubt he’ll have the time.
I guess there’s a “K” in Knight, huh?
34 moauvian waoul – aka: seymour hiney:
Lol, lol, lol.
I hope so too, but, ya.
Rapid-fire, fast-cut scenes; fast pace music; shouting; running; laser-beams; R2D2… wait… what?
15. Interesting: Kirk hasn’t had his “I can’t be Superman and be with Lois Lane” moment yet. The Carol Marcus story was a very good explanation for that, years after the fact.
32. “If only we had some kind of model we could base all this on.”
Ha! Exactly.
It’s why I get sad whenever talks here turn to politics and ideas of equality, prejudice, bigotry, domatism, ideology and civil rights and Anthony pulls the plug (especially, it seems, whenever gay issues come up). I get that it’s tough to talk through these things without crazy entering the picture. And, of course, we’ll solve nothing here. But, heck, looking at these things is what Trek’s always been about to me…
36. MDSHiPMN – Aw man. You’re killing my buzz.
“……but that doesn’t mean he fully understands what it means to be Captain. It just means, oh, he has the Enterprise now — so now what? He’s never sent men and women to their deaths before, so what’s going to happen when that kind of question comes up for him?”
Okay, I know it’s filmed and done, but no no no no No No NO NO NO! I was willing to suspend disbelief in the last story, thinking that it was possible for some time to pass, for Cadet to Captain Kirk to take care of his legal troubles at the academy, train, qualify, get the Enterprise repaired, or whatever, to gain some experience.Sorry, but Kurtzman is straining credibility even further by suggesting that command in Starfleet is on the job training. My son is in the Navy, and that is a rediculious notion in this day and age, to suggest that turning what amounts to a bunch of kids loose in a starship capable of leveling a planet, and just hoping they don’t foul things up is just ludicrious.
Regardless, I’ll still see the movie….
37 Yeah Jack I tend to agree (since I’m one of those teetering on the brink of extinction) It seems in keeping with the spirit of the show. But I also see where he’s coming from. Maybe if we all behaved better Anthony wouldn’t need to use the hammer. This place can turn into a mosh pit on a dime, and like you said, nothing is settled. Ah well.
Star Trek: The Crew is growing up faces the fascinating villain!………….. ;-) :-)
Very small picture… but Alex seems to have a Salvador Dali thing going-on with his facial hair! :-}
Look, for the final time, Kirk’s fast promotion made sense.
A) He displayed command abilities in trying to stop the drilling of Vulcan. He failed, but defeated a number of Romulan thugs and also saved Sulu’s life.
B) He showed tremendous courage and command ability when he boarded the Narada, saved Captain Pike, and defeated Nero, saving Earth (and quite possibly the entire Federation) in the process.
C) A large number of Federation ships were destroyed at Vulcan. A lot of captains, and first officers were lost. Starfleet was in no position to pass over potential captains, even one as young and relatively inexperienced as James T. Kirk. Had Starfleet not suffered the losses it did, Kirk probably would have only been promoted to lieutenant, maybe commander at the maximum. However, the situation warranted his promotion to captain.
D) Spock Prime most likely put in a good word to Starfleet on Kirk’s behalf. Starfleet would have been foolish to ignore his advice.
CASE CLOSED. END OF STORY. TIME TO MOVE ON!!!!
Mm, that promotion thing, …not buying it. But I do appreciate you positive spin.
#10
That is telling them, MJ. Coundn’t have said it any better myself.
Thank You!
All these sounds amazing! I loved Star Trek 2009 and I can’t wait to see more or the new universe!
Well, Captain Kidd is who he is. It’s been filmed. It’s done, no matter how poor a decision it was (something that could’ve been easily corrected with a short montage of Kirk’s rise through the ranks). But hey, it’s done. I can live with it.
Just as long as he’s a bit more mature in this new one.
Animal House in space ain’t gonna fly again. Swollen hands anyone?
boborci
Not sure if this question is a little too political for this thread so Anthony might delete it but….
I was just reading your Wikipedia bio and it states that “Orci was born in Mexico City to a Mexican father and a Cuban mother. His mother had left Cuba for Mexico after Fidel Castro came to power.” When you write about the villains for your films, do you draw on this experience? Does Castro’s oppression of the Cuban people influence your work in any way?
43. Red Dead Ryan – June 28, 2012
Look, for the final time, Kirk’s fast promotion made sense.
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Sure it did!! If you have no sense that is!
I doubt if he even had time to read the owners manual.
Seriously though, your excuses are paper thin. There were many more senior officers just on that ship alone that were more qualified than a “cadet” whether he showed command ability or not. Why would they be so desperate for captain material anyway if they had just lost all those ships as you mentioned? One ship…one captain. That’s all you need. They wouldn’t be needing replacement captains until they built replacement ships. Which in the movie it appeared over 3 years or more just to build the Enterprise. It was only half done when Kirk went to the academy. So even if he “did it in three” it was more likely 5 years to build the ship.
To make the promotion plausible all they had to do was fast forward the story from when he join Starfleet to him being a LT. back from assignment on another ship for the Kobiashi Maru test when the attack on Vulcan started. It would have easily explained why he was there, it would have given a believable reason to be put on the Enterprise during the crisis, and it would have been much more believable that he would be promoted to Captain for his actions.
Hi there, I’m Intern Bob, and I’ll be performing your brain surgery today. I have not actually done a brain surgery yet, but I got a buddy of mine to reprogram the brain surgery simulator at the university and it was amazing, it was like I could not make a mistake. The dean was about to put me on probation for that little stunt when the bus crashed outside of the office by the gas station next to the orphanage. I was able to save the people in the bus by following the instructions on the emergency door. Man, I’m glad fire extinguishers have instructions on them, it didn’t take any time at all to put the fire out, either. The dean was so impressed that she awarded me my doctorate, told me to skip my residency, and sent me right over here to fix you up. Now, where shall we begin…..
Yep, make perfect sense…..