Trek’s new villain Benedict Cumberbatch star is on the rise around the world, but in the UK he has already made the big time. The BBC chose Cumberbatch to kick off their coverage of the Olympics in a short film with the Star Trek villain actor talking about London and the games. Watch it below.
Benedict Cumberbatch Opens Olympics For UK
Here is Star Trek’s new villain Benedict Cumberbatch opening the BBC’s coverage of the Olympics in London.
Thanks to Gareth for tip and Clarie for vid
OK, if Cumberbatch doesn’t have that accent in the new film, I’m demanding my money back.
I don’t care if he’s Khan, Kang, or a Mugatu. He’d better be Britty.
can you imagine a man with that voice turning into a god?
I was in London on vacation 15 years ago. Big city. Kind of crowded, but a fun city nonetheless. The British Museum was an awesome place to visit. Travelled on the double-decker bus.
Hopefully these games are as successful for England as the Vancouver Olympics were for Canada!
Predicition: Cumberbatch will go down as the greatest villian in the history of Star Trek…The guy is that good.
Everytime logic tells me this guy is going to be miscast as Khan or even Mitchell, I see him in something and say “this guy could be to Ricardo Montalbon what Heath Ledger was to Jack Nicholson.” He’s excellent!
Mitchell wouldn’t be miscasting, it would be brilliant casting!
AWWW… charming villain…. awesome!!!
;-) :-)
He is such a BBC favorite isn’t he?
I really can’t wait for his HBO miniseries, Parade’s End to begin. Of course, they will see it first in England. We are lucky to have him in the Trek universe now!
@Punksposcker The Tom Stoppard scripted done with Rebecca Hall? I heard its EPIC! Like the WWI equivalent of Band of Brothers/ The Pacific. Awards bait for sure. Hope it will come soon here.
RAO, very well put!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We here in the States did not get to see this video. Bad NBC.
4. Don’t get carriedvaway. Oscar winner Christopher Plummer is an amazing actor, too. That didn’t make his General Chang Trek’s greatest villain.
@nell I’m in the states and can see it just fine. Don’t know what your problem is. Sorry you can’t see it.
Can’t wait for Cumberbatch in Star Trek! He’ll steal the show no matter who/what he plays. I still hope he won’t be Khan though, a new villain would be better.
Nevermind Dr Who and TNG here’s the greatest cross ‘franchise’ piece of work i’ve ever seen!….
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2180085/The-names-Majesty-Her-Majesty-Queen-drops-Olympic-Stadium-parachute-accompanied-James-Bond-just-WHO-managed-persuade-that.html
Have to say Craig does have the best ever Bond ‘swagger’ about him. Even walking down the halls of Buckingham Palace he doesn’t hold it back! lol
If America hosts the Olympics and follows London’s opening I bet their would be a Star Trek character thrown in their somewhere.
@14 Total_Trekkie2
I think he means on national television, not here on a website.
@12nell
It is kind of sad. Pretty much anything you want to see that’s not originally from the states you have to go online and hunt for it. Because instead of showing the original on television, they’ll make their own–sometimes dumbed down– version of it. As if Americans can’t handle original material from another country.
Glad that trekmovie’s keeping up on this stuff. Over half of the stuff I’ve seen here I wouldn’t have known about otherwise. Thanks guys!
@15 The opening itself is like a geek’s dream. You have a bit of Shakespeare, Peter Pan, Harry Potter, James Bond, Mary Poppins, The Beatles. And to be honest, the industrial revolution reminds me of Mt. Doom. Not to mention the hill with the tree- Bag’s End anyone? Plus you know, Cumby with Sherlock.
@14 Total_Trekkie2
LizardGirl is correct. The NBC airing of the Opening Ceremonies did not include the Cumberbatch video. A friend in England emailed me about it right away, so I was looking forward to it. Thank goodness for Google alerts! LOL I think I’ll go over to NBC’s Olympics page and complain.
None the less, the opening games were really very cool.
For anyone who doesn’t know about Benedict Cumberbatch by now, I think you will be very pleasantly surprised by his performance in ST2. He’s a fantastic actor.
@16. Have you Americans learnt nothing from remaking classic British TV series’? Keep off our stuff, show some creativity of your own!
I just realized that I’ve heard his voice before. He plays Major Stewart in the film War Horse, and he’s the booming voice you hear in the trailer giving that rousing speech that finishes with “Be Brave, Be Brave, Be Brave”.
His outstanding acting, that voice, and such an intense look, are going to make for one of the greatest Trek villains ever regardless of which one he’s actually been cast to play.
As a fan of his from BBC’s amazing series Sherlock, all I can say is that he’d be wasted as Khan (although Gary Mitchell might play better to his strengths); it’s just too bad (and too late) they didn’t create an original role for him instead of fitting him with a retread.
Yes, he’s that good; he’s one of those actors who’d be riveting just reading the phone book…
20. How is “Law and Order: UK” doing over there?
@20,
I know right? I’m American, but I get so mad at this country for trying to make “American” versions of British TV shows. Look at how CBS is making their own version of Sherlock? It’s absaloutly terrible! CBS saw how BBC was making so much money on SHerlock, that they just HAD to make a Sherlock Holmes tv show too so they could get money. And they totally ruined it! Cbs changed John Watson to “Joan Watson” what could get worse than that?
I wish America could come up with their own ideas for once, and stop stealing England’s ideas. Every “American Remake” of British Television is total junk. It’s almost as if America is trying to mock England, and there’s no reason why they should do that. BBC has kept real entertainment, America hasn’t.
Before anyone thinks I’m partisan, nope, I live in the UK and can’t vote for the guy but can I just thank Mitt Romney for coming to London and getting all the cynics of the Olympics and transforming them into zealous supporters.
He’s off to Israel now where I hear that he will be ordering a Bacon Cheeseburger to bring concord between the Palestinians and Israel.
That man is Gold
“Ordering a Bacon Cheeseburger”? I hope not. For one thing, he’d have a hard time finding such a food item. What the Israelis and (Islamic) Palestinians do have in common is that they don’t eat pig meat. Then again, perhaps that’s the plan…;)
Were none of you guys able to see the full Opening Ceremony live from London? Prime, a free-to-air NZ channel, screened the entire ceremony live. It started at about 7.00am (NZ time) Saturday morning and did not finish until about 12.30pm our time. Then they showed the highlights, which included the first half hour of the ceremony, showing the *Queen* along with their top secret service agent, none other than James Bond, 007 (Daniel Craig) parachuting into the stadium, because, according to the reporter, there was no other way into the stadium at this point…You do know that the Queen (and it was her in the helicopter along with Daniel Craig) is a mere 86 years old. Gotta love it! God save the Queen!
Then followed a Mr Bean (Rowan Atkinson) accompaniment to the famous Chariots of Fire theme music, where we got to witness another of Mr Bean’s fantasies…
All in all….LOL! So wonderfully and eccentrically BRITISH.
24 – “Every “American Remake” of British Television is total junk.”
I was about to toss out “All in the Family” and “Sanford and Son,” but then I looked at the bulk of the list and, erm, you’re close enough to being right.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_American_television_series_based_on_British_television_series
26. Rose…
I liked the Mr. Bean bit, but the humor/point of the James Bond / Queen Elizabeth bit eluded me. (Why do a skydiving arrival when the skydiver couldn’t even land in the stadium?) That must be that British humor I’ve never gotten (even though my father was British.)
Overall, I liked the Opening Ceremony, although I did go check email and sports scores during the loooooooong “Guy and Girl Thank Tim” segment.
Those skydivers we saw would have been stuntmen. I am not sure whether they actually landed in a part of the stadium or not, but I can’t see where they could have landed otherwise. I think the humour came from the statement which told us that there was no other way into the stadium for the Queen herself except to come in by parachute accompanied by THE 007 himself.
Anyway, it was all in good fun.
@28. Thorny
Bond and HM Queen Elisabeth II parachuting into a stadium of overhead gantry and cables: WE THINK AHEAD
So a love story was bad for you would it have been better if they were white actors and Tim Berners-Lee was portrayed as George W Bush?
#28 i think that humour isn’t the correct word. Amazement may be better. This is quite possibly the first time we’ve seen Her Maj ‘let her hair down’ a little and get involved in such a way with something from popular culture. It had been kept a total secret. On watching the clip live apparently most thought it was going to be a lookalike who turns and greets 007. When it turned out to be The Queen herself, as i say, amazement was the word.
That the clip was done with such style and a sense of fun only added to the enjoyment.
I can only imagine there were long conversations in the Palace as to whether she should do it but, after a hugely positive reaction yesterday, it was clearly enjoyed by most.
Maybe you do need to be British to get the true measure of it. Trust me, to us, it was priceless.
30…. “So a love story was bad for you would it have been better if they were white actors and Tim Berners-Lee was portrayed as George W Bush?”
!
Where did THAT come from?
I’m a racist conservative now because I said the “Guy and Girl Thank Tim” segment was long?
31. The Queen taking part I didn’t have a problem with, I thought that was indeed amazing. The skydiving bit just seemed… weird. Just a tad over-the-top, literally.
Well, I thought that part was amusing, the very thought of the Queen parachuting. It was intended as a bit of fun. Don’t over analyze it. ;)
#27 we tried a loose remake of the classic ‘Married with Children’. It wasn’t a patch on the original and soon got ditched.
It is odd how UK programmes can prove popular in the States, and vice versa, but remakes often don’t work in whichever direction they go. Wonder why that is?
Top Gear USA i’ve started to enjoy though!
Buzz, I LOVE the UK Top Gear! Have seen every episode.
By the way, my new favourite in a larger car is the 2013 Mercedes Benz E-Class Cabriolet. In Metallic Diamond Silver with a saddle-brown interior.
The Top Gear franchise has made Clarkson a very wealthy man, Harry. He has a large share in the company that co-produces the show along with the BBC. The show is taking a break this year but will be back early next year. I think thats a good idea. Don’t want it getting stale.
Do you have a favourite episode, Harry? I loved the South America Expedition in the 4×4’s. Great stuff. And the USA in cheap motors was good too. Clarkson with a dead cow on his car’s roof!!!!!
And you are pushing against an open door with me and Mercs. I’ve owned a couple of elderly examples. Not quite as elderly as i’d like though!. I’d really like an SL from the 60’s or 70’s or a Ponton. Love ’em!
One day….
This segment was produced by the BBC for their own coverage and wasn’t part of the Olympic opening ceremony itself, so NBC wouldn’t have had any knowledge of it, or rights to broadcast it.
Unlike the ten minute segment which has been widely interpreted as a tribute to the 7/7 attacks, which they chose to cut out.
39. Good for NBC. The hypocrisy of the IOC for allowing the tribute to the 7/7 victims (which had nothing whatsoever to do with the Olympics) but forbidding a long-overdue moment of silence for the Israeli team murdered in Munich 40 years ago is just plain appalling.
Whether or not you saw Benedict Cumberbatch doing an opening depended on who the broadcaster was. Prime TV in NZ is owned by Sky, therefore its sports channel was/is responsible for screening the Opening Ceremony and the games that follow. I never saw Benedict Cumberbatch do his spiel either because BBC1 was not the broadcaster.
It may have been screened, or could get screened here on another channel where the news people are picking up broadcasts of the Olympic coverage from the many channels filming the games, including BBC1.
@39. The 7/7 tribute had as much relevance to the Olympics as James Bond or Mr. Bean did, i.e, nothing. It wasn’t supposed to. The opening ceremony was largely about the host city, up until the parade of nations and lighting of the cauldron.
There should have been a moment of silence as well, but its absence doesn’t mean that other victims of terrorism should be disrespected. Two wrongs don’t make a right here.
Actually, if I remember well the attacks were in the morning of 7th July and London was declared host city in the night of 6th July. It’s related, people were still celebrating.
I agree with the disrespected for the victims of Munich. They deserve something.
I’m guessing the main reason why the Munich victims were snubbed was because of anti-Semitism and racism on the part of the IOC. Jacques Rogge should be ashamed of himself. If they could honor the 7/7 victims, then they just as easily could have done the same for the Israeli athletes who were gunned down forty years ago.
I don’t care what character he’s going to play in the new movie. All I know is that Cumberbatch will knock it out of the park.
And I can’t wait.
That video made me really miss London. I was stationed about 70 miles away from London in the late 80s. Fond memories of Red Dwarf, Radio One and regular day trips to the City.
I hope they cast Benedict Cumberbatch as Adonais and have him basically do every God thing from TOS. Force Chris Pine to kneel, blast Pegg with lightning, hold a voodoo copy of the Enterprise over a flame, etc.
“TAKE A DEEP BREATH”
really Benedict? when you on screen? is it even possible?
that voice !!!!!!!!!!!
Wow. He;s got a great voice. Saw some of that in “War Horse.” Of course, there’s Sherlock. Mesmerizing
Benny, let me freaking love you.
Forgive me. Proceed, everyone.
I agree. Love that Cumberbatch voice.
#46 Yes, indeed. That would be so cool!