Watch: Pine, Saldana and Quinto Talk Star Trek Into Darkness Pressure, Romance & Secrecy

Another video interview with Star Trek Into Darkness stars Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto has emerged, this time they talk romance, secrecy and why Kirk has to earn the captain’s chair in the upcoming sequel. Pine also says that he felt more pressure in the sequel, than the first time he took on the role of Kirk. Watch it below .

 

Pine, Quinto, and Saldana talk Into Darkness

Chris Pine, Zoe Zachary Quinto, and Saldana talk to Extra about Star Trek Into Darkness. This interview appears to have been one at last month’s Bad Robot event and doesn’t seem to add much, but it is interesting to see how the movie is being promoted in the mainstream Entertainment press on TV.   

“Extra’s” Ben Lyons asked, "Does it feel like there’s more pressure this time around because you raised the bar so high?” Chris, “I suppose I feel more pressure with this one.” Zach saying, “This one really took me to a new limit.” A new limit for an on-screen bromance as well. Zach tells Ben, “Kirk really earns his leadership. Spock really earns the understanding of friendship.”

Spock also lands the woman, Zoe Saldana. Ben asked Zoe, “There’s gonna be a romantic theme to the two of you?” Zoe, not giving any secrets away, said, “Whether they’re together or not that will remain to be seen. But come on, I’m not gonna ruin the element of surprise!” Zoe continued, joking, “I signed papers, trust me! I will lose a kidney if I say too much!”

The actors were careful not to reveal any specific details about the plot, but on his own impressions of the film, Zach saying, “Even though you think you can imagine how big it’s gonna be when you’re shooting it, it never quite translates to how staggering it is on the big screen.”

Tune in to Extra on TV for more tonight, check local listings.

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I just don’t know about this Spock-Uhura romance thing…but whatever…May just can’t get here quick enough!….1st?

#2! Not too bad. I enjoy watching the clips within the interview, even though I have seen them something like 500 times.

Four years of waiting…

I really like the fact that the actors really seem to enjoy each other. And not just the main actors. All of them really seem to enjoy working around each other and building friendships. I dig that.

#4

I agree. Came here to say the same thing. It makes the whole filmed experience feel that much more believable to me when a cast gets along smoothly.

4-Every version of Star Trek seems to be like that. I don’t know what it is, but all 6 casts seem to genuinely enjoy working with eachother.

Saw the nine minute preview today. Jinkies, Scoob…it looks fantastic.

@1. CAPT KIRK – +1. Unfortunately one of the several inexplicable plot and character choices made by JJ & Co.

#8 – There’s nothing inexplicable about the Spock/Uhura romance. Did you never actually see TOS? First, Spock half human, so he grew up with a human-Vulcan relationship as his primary example of romantic relationships. Second, Uhura clearly flirted with Spock on more than one occasion. Third, there is nothing in canon to suggest a reason why they wouldn’t hook up at some point.

The problem is that JJ & Co. used that relationship so stupidly, such as Uhura’s insistence that she get assigned to the Enterprise (plus her godawful innuendo about oral sensitivity, or words to that effect). But that’s just part and parcel with the extremely sexist style of Trek2009.

From what I’ve seen of the sequel so far, it looks like female officers still don’t get to wear rank insignia. Hard to have sleeve-worn insignia when you don’t have sleeves! Grrr…

The cast is great. I love the new twists. Star Trek would be stale without them. The whole franchise was run into the ground in the later years, so it is a bigger miracle to see it flying high today than it is to see the enterprise coming out of an ocean!!!

fascinating

We have to wait four years. Good thing JJ isn’t a Vulcan, or we’d have to wait SEVEN years in between movies!

9 Paul

I think that was “aural” sensitivity, and I don’t think that was really innuendo. More like fanboys going back and saying, “Uh huh huh…she said oral” I think they handled the relationship perfectly. During the whole Enterprise assignment thing, how many people caught any relationship overtones? I thought he didn’t want to seem like Uhura was a teachers pet. So when they finally spring it on us, it’s a genuine surprise. The turbolift scene is stellar, ans is one of the most emotionally profound scenes in Trek.

#9

It’s “aural senstivity,” as in the ears. NOT “oral.” She’s a communications officer, so aural makes a whole lot more sense. Although, I totally agree with you on the way the relationship is used in the film. Not crazy about it.

@9 Yeah, there was never anything sexist about TOS! C`mon! Sleeves aside however, I wish the women in JJ’s Trek did have a more respectable duty uniform than anything similar to TOS.

“I signed papers, trust me! I will lose a kidney if I say too much!”

So? You have two. C’mon! Spill your guts, Zoe.

good god how did that narrator get the job? i feel like she is talking to a baby which is actually sort of offensive.

I hope they cast a hot Nurse Chapel in the next one and then she and Uhura can cat fight over Spock! That’d be hot!

Anyway, cool.

Sound’s like Fun!.

Zoe Saldana could stir feelings in an emotionless man for sure.

#6: Actually, many of the Voyager cast didn’t like working with Mulgrew, while others didn’t like working with Wang.

#9: Actually, she said “aural,” not “oral.” But yeah, it was a pun on “oral.”

#22

i don’t know why people insist on reading a dirty meaning into that line. She said ‘aural’ because she’s talking about her ears. It’s like Beavis and Butthead laughing whenever someone said ‘tool’ or ‘unit’.

9. PaulB – Dude, I watched every ep of TOS in first run on NBC which might have been when you were a glint in your daddy’s eye, so please don’t try to school me. IMHO: The Spock Uhura romance is a transparent add-on plot point which is only set up to divert Kirk from chasing her. It’s poorly conceived, bereft of reasonable backstory, and an overall distraction. But then again, this Spock has The Cage level of emotionality, so sure, it’s a parallel universe so anything goes, including the Federation being a peacekeeping armada. :P

#24: If that were true, then you’d know that Spock and Uhura had several flirtatious scenes in the original series.

#23: The “aural/oral” pun is very clearly intentional. People are not reading into it.

@25. BulletInTheFace – Only when under the influence of some silly influence or another concocted by some of the worst TOS writers.

well there are fanboys and those that actually know how how to be serious.

#26

So you believe the writers decided to make a blowjob joke, thus implying Uhura attained her position by servicing Spock? Nope, don’t agree.

#27 What “silly influence” is affecting Uhura in “The Man Trap” when she’s clearly flirting with Spock then?

In the episode “Is There in Truth No Beauty” Spock’s thoughts on his crew mates are revealed by the by the Medusan ambassador Kollos sharing his consciousness after a mind-meld:

Spock/Kollos: This is delightful! I know you! All of you! James Kirk, captain and friend for many years. And Leonard McCoy, ha-ha, also of long acquaintance. [b] And Uhura, whose name means “freedom”. ‘She walks in beauty like the night.'[/b]
McCoy: [to Kirk] That’s not Spock!
Spock: Are you surprised to find that I’ve read Byron, doctor?
McCoy: THAT’S Spock!

Wow, Pine and Quinto always look as tho there really trying hard to look enthusiastic. They ain’t no Shatner and Nimoy that’s for sure.

I think I may have bought into Spock/Uhura if there had been a better set up. Maybe an exchange with hot, green roommate about Uhura not quite being able to close the deal, as it were,with tall, dark and handsome. Or at least some bg info that she has some sort of relationship that doesn’t fit the norm. Then, when Vulcan’s destroyed and Mom’s killed, Spock’s emotional response to her would have really worked for me.

Given that the turboshaft scene almost worked, I really disliked the snuggle on the transporter pad. But I still laughed, so I guess I didn’t hate it.

All in all, it’s fairly minor to the rest of the movie.

#29

How familiar are you with these writers? Those sort of jokes are right in their wheelhouse.

@34 That sort of joke may or may not be right in the writers’ ‘wheelhouse,’ but that scene wasn’t played as a joke, which sort of invalidates your premise.

~FS

#35

Doesn’t matter how it’s played; a scene with a bad double entendre comes off as a joke.

36. Agree with you here. Especially right after we’ve seen her get her chest grabbed and then get ogled by the camera while in her bra and panties.

But, it was fun… and I think we go a little overboard with this idea that TOS was as solemn and serious as a funeral.

I was reading a bunch of the reviews of Trek ’09 at IMDB and most people seemed to have been expecting Schindler’s List.

I love Zoe Saldana.

13 TBH I understood that they had a relationship since that scene but that’s because I have a radar for this kind of things lol
but it was fun with my friends because some of us got the hints while one of them didn’t and was “no way!” so when the turbolift scene happened the two of us turned to their direction and said “ha! told ya!”
I think that the writers definitely put some clues before the turbolift and it’s up to you to be able to notice them. I like that it was subtle because if it wasn’t it would ruin the element of surprise, after they were supposed to have a secret relationship.
Another important scene to me is the one where Spock wanted to save his parents and Uhura briefly stopped him at the turbolift. She had called him “Spock” then and he had actually explained her what he wanted to do (the whole “my parents will be among them” sounded personal to me also, like he was admitting to her that he didn’t want to risk his life just because the vulcan elders where there.. he wanted to do that because he wanted to save his family) the way they look at each other felt like there was more to that there…
Notice that when Kirk asked him the same question he dismissed it (this shows that Spock didn’t have to explain himself to other crew members though as the captain the others were entitled to ask him why he had abandoned his post)

31
that scene always had me wonder about Spock and Uhura
it seems like if the medusan ambassador had made him able to admit what he wouldn’t admit otherwise.
I mean, Spock reads poetry and uses it to describe Uhura (and he found the meaning of her name. Yes, Uhura means “freedom” while Nyota means “star”)
I think that he had a soft spot for her
In a deleted scene he offered to teach her how to play the vulcan lyre (that is a compliment as he also said that humans wouldn’t be able to play it and you see later that Uhura is able to play so the implication is that he did teach her)
Of course, part of this subtle attraction between them could be somehow intentional as Roddenberry had actually tried to explore a bit of romance between them if only the time wasn’t so racist and the network dictated that neither Kirk or Spock could have a stable relationship.

Nichelle Nichols:
“I decided then from the character that I read [Spock] that I wanted to be very much like that character but in a feminine way. And Gene said, and I was sharing this with George [Takei] the other day, when I told him that I thought of Spock as my mentor. Because if you remember Uhura was the only one he was able to teach the Vulcan lyre too and he sang and spooffed on Spock. Now, you could have never had a love scene in 63 between Uhura and Spock but there were several hints and [back to Roddenberry] Gene was one in the kind of beginning to follow that and he wanted to do episodes if we had gone past the third year”
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQrHIQhvWNo

In this reality they’re younger and they met each other sooner and under different circumstances (if I remember well he hadn’t been her instructor at the Academy in the other reality and she hadn’t been his TA) so it’s totally plausible that here they got the chance to fall in love and explore what could have been between them had things been different.
In the same way Amanda’s death while sad made it possible for this Spock to resolve part of his issues with his father (the whole “I married her because I loved her” don’t tell me that Sarek’s admission didn’t change something important) perhaps he will also have a better relationship with him this time.

Remember the basis of Vulcan philosophy is “Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations”?
The Spock/Uhura relationship is essentially that.

it was a bad pun however whatever no harm

the Spock and uhura relationship why not? this is not the prime time line! Spock is half-human, he did have a thing for Christine, which OK did not go anywhere however the background to this relationship is different, as someone pointed out Spock is very much like he was in the cage is his shields are not up and his own personal prison is not in place, and again this is not the prime timeline

oh by the way i am so glad the voice over pointed out this is not star wars because i was wondering lol

Do you think Peter Weller is playing Dr. Soong and the andriod in the movie is his?

#34

The entire point of that scene is that she earned her position and that Spock has overcompensated by giving her a less desirable post. The joke doesn’t fit, as it would completely contradict the scene it’s in. Sorry folks, there is no innuendo there.

39. Jemini – January 3, 2013

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations, no one could really say it any better.

So, for the Spock/Uhura detractors, there’s really no valid argument other than the fact that you may not personally like it, for whatever reason. And that’s fine. But it’s a perfectly valid relationship. Spock and Uhura are both geniuses, they both like music, they both speak Vulcan, and there’s enough from TOS to show that a close relationship and an admiration was present. Perhaps in TOS, those Vulcan lyre lessons didn’t lead to anything else because of duty shifts, Spock’s desire not to show favoritism, other relationships, etc. And I don’t care how much Byron Spock has read, you don’t describe someone with the line “She walks in beauty as the night” unless you find them attractive. And Spock must have REALLY liked her, not to describe her as maybe a capable officer, excellent musician, etc.

So lets hear it gang! It almost looks like….JJ & Co….did….their…..research!

42. sean – January 3, 2013

The entire point of that scene is that she earned her position and that Spock has overcompensated by giving her a less desirable post. The joke doesn’t fit, as it would completely contradict the scene it’s in. Sorry folks, there is no innuendo there.

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Exactly. And, I don’t want to be graphic here, but what else would Uhura be talking about? I understand that ponn farr isn’t the limit of Vulcan sexual activity, but really! .And do you think Spock is doing all that, then writing reports to Starfleet Academy about it? “Tee hee….I’ll write THIS in her review, because I want to flaunt to SFA that we’re secretly having a luurrvvee affair.” And then, Uhura demands to be placed on the Enterprise in return for sexual favors? When you look at it as innuendo or a double entendre, it makes NO sense. Like I said before, mostly fan boys going back and watching the scene and chuckling like Beavis and Butthead.

#27: Nope. In early episodes, Uhura flirted with Spock about the moon, asked him to tell her she was a beautiful lady, and teased him coquetishly as he played the harp in the Rec Room. You’re misremembering the series.

Again with this discussion?

Sigh, the character of Nuhura fulfills the purpose of showing the audience that Spock can get laid. She has no other role outside of being slept with and if they removed her affair with her superior officer she would have no scenes in the movie at all given that the role of a language speaker is irreverent on the 23rd century Enterprise UT technology. Outside of connecting calls to people, which is shown in 2009 movie as something anybody else can do too, there is no purpose of her existence.

Therefore – they can’t and won’t do break them up. Now stop moaning.

46. Iva – January 3, 2013
Again with this discussion?

Sigh, the character of Nuhura fulfills the purpose of showing the audience that Spock can get laid.

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Objection! No evidence that their relationship is sexual!

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She has no other role outside of being slept with and if they removed her affair with her superior officer she would have no scenes in the movie at all given that the role of a language speaker is irreverent on the 23rd century Enterprise UT technology.

*******************
I’d object to that too. Uhura is more than a language speaker, she also has vast knowledge of communication protocols, methods, systems, etc. A human being is required to pick up things that a computer can’t. Also, even with language, I’m guessing the translators can’t always pick up subtleties of language that a human can translate, but a computer cant. Case in point, everyone seemed to be under the belief that Uhura’s “aural sensitivity” comment was a double entendre. A computer may not be able to properly discern and convey such shades of conversation. Plus, what other skills goes along with that primary skill that she’d be useful for? You’ve got to know science, engineering, sociology, and maybe other things to do that job. This is probably why we see her on Qo’noS, she probably knows more about Klingon culture than others do. And I don’t think Universal Translators help you READ other languages on signs.

******************************

Outside of connecting calls to people, which is shown in 2009 movie as something anybody else can do too, there is no purpose of her existence.

******************************

Really, this argument for Uhura could easily be said about Sulu and Chekov. You have to sort of find reasons to display the characters. That’s why Sulu goes on the Away Mission, and Chekov somehow knows more than transporter techs that have probably been doing the job longer than he’s been out of elementary school. They have very specific jobs, so if the writers have to work a little harder to fit them in, so be it.

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Therefore – they can’t and won’t do break them up. Now stop moaning.

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Now I don’t believe that. If breaking them up serves an emotional purpose, they’ll do it. It may even happen this movie. I mean, you could say that the existence of Earth and Vulcan present balance for Spock, so they’ll never blow up Vulcan, but that went right out the window last movie.

Tell me again how Kirk’s dad dying led to Spock riding the hobby horse with Uhura?

@ 47. LogicalLeopard

Humans are physically capable of perceiving a fixed range of sound so, no, a human ear is not more useful than technology. Machines operate on a much wider spectrum outside of our perception capabilities for a while now, let alone in the 13rd century.

In a deleted TOS scene we learn that even as a fan she is still incapable of understanding Vulcan music and draws opposite conclusions of what is actually being played because human hearing is inferior to Vulcan and she is just projecting her own wishes and presuming what isn’t even there.

She doesn’t know more about the Klingons than anybody else, she doesn’t even speak Klingon when she’s in her 50s.
Unless you are going to argue that Nero destroying Kelvin somehow affected her DNA and she is now extremely intelligent as opposed to canon.

Enterprise has a full science team on board. Nuhura works in ship maintenance, her technical capabilities go as far as tinkering with her console, nothing else.

Any investigations are handled by the science officer and his science team, because that is what they are trained for and the whole point of having them on the Enterprise.

I suppose she can go down on somebody else if not Spock. Because, really, that is all there is to that characters existence.

@ 48. 750 Mang

The writers didn’t know better.