In the new issue of Empire magazine, Star Trek Into Darkness star Simon Pegg gives some more insight into Benedict Cumberbatch’s ‘manipulative’ John Harrison. There is also a new image of Cumberbatch’s villain. More below but beware of (minor) spoilers.
Pegg: John Harrison Manipulates Kirk and Crew
The new Empire Magazine has arrived for some subscribers in the UK and a few bits of the coverage of Star Trek Into Darkness have come out. First up (via CumberbatchCOffeeKlatch Tumblr) is a scan of a new exclusive image.
John Harrison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and Dr. McCoy (Karl Urban) – possibly getting a blood sample or skin sample or maybe repairing an injury
And here are a couple of quotes (via CumberbatchWeb Tumblr).
Simon Pegg on Benedict Cumberbatch’s John Harrison
“It’s a modern take on terrorism in a way. It looks at why Benedict is doing what he’s doing. There are motives that make you think he’s not a bad guy and alliances form. All the time we’re being puppeteered by this John Harrison, even Kirk falls for it. He manipulates us as much as the audience.”
Benedict Cumberbatch on director JJ Abrams
“JJ is truly irritatingly talented. He’s focused and passionate but at the same time he’s got a killer sense of humour, stand up level very sharp. He’s a polymath & a doodler. He’ll say “what do you think of that?” And by the end of the week it’s a Nickelodeon cartoon. He sculpts 3D sculptures on his iPad and then beat boxes in his downtime. He has a superlative light and energy”
More Star Trek Into Darkness coverage in the May issue of Empire.
May issue of Empire with fold-out ‘Into Darkness’ cover
Been a while…. FIRST!!!
(Need to buy the damn mag!)
WTF? a porthole?
…it’s SUPPOSED to be a FORCE FIELD =(
I’m still in awe at the Empire cover. Love it.
@2
what?
With his strength and intellect, can he not punch that glass?
force field “door” on the brig
So there have been some nits about the plexiglass or transparent aluminum (or whatever it is brig) not being a force field. I have a thought. Have you considered how unrealistic that was to have a force field all the time? I mean wouldn’t it be far more realistic to have a glass one with the force field as a backup if the sensors detected the glass being broken. Like the hull breach force fields that snap on in an instant if the hull if breached. Think of the energy consumption to have them running non stop the old way.
Now I don’t know if that’s how they are doing it but to me it makes the most sense. You say you want science fiction well to me the science part says to conserve valuable energy and fuel.
A 24th century Dr. Lecter?
I am so inspired. Or, did I? (personal joke)
Presumably, it’s not glass. It’s transparent aluminium or something similar. Having said that, can he punch through it? We’ll have to wait and see… Does he want to punch through it? Ditto.
good thing Dr. McCoy didn’t ask for a stool sample
@7 Aaron:
I think you’re right. I would think the transparent aluminum and force field would back each other up. Wouldn’t you want to have something else if there was a power failure?
Harrison’s in the Hulk pod.
Heh! Good one, Anthony!! =D
#9
Sorta like Loki in Avengers, we know he can get out anytime he wants, adds to dramatic effect, I suppose.
If the Avengers had something to contain the Hulk, I guess, by the time Star Trek comes along in the future, the technology is better and can hold a super human rogue agent hell bent on freeing his master Khan.
10. Sisko is the Prophet
Your name originally appeared as Anthony Pascale until I refreshed. NO LIE and that was a bad blue note you left.
Not sure why some people are that worked up about a physical barrier in the lock up. A force field would require a isolated source and dedicated backups to prevent it from failing. How many times have we heard a captain order power to be diverted? If the juice fails you have prisioners running around the ship – won’t happen with a physical barrier. If the ship is attacked, the safest place to be is in the lock up – the rest of the ship loses life support and everyone dies, but our prisioner is nice and cozy behind his force field.
oops, i mean Sisko is the Prophet
because force field is COOL! =D
@7. When you consider that a starship is an enclosed ecosystem, not only are you going to not want to be wasting energy, you are going to recycle as much of your raw materials as often as possible. People toss off flip answers to questions about how stuff gets done assuming there are unlimited sources of energy and raw materials in space to just waste of things life widespread use of replicators.
Most intriguing image yet. Very curious about the results of that blood test, particularly since it has the power to cure terminal diseases…
It will also be interesting to see Harrison pull the wool over Kirk’s eyes, Kirk’s pretty astute when it comes to reading people, so I’m curious what angle Harrison uses to get to even him. Undoubtedly related to the ‘family’ line from the trailer. Harrison spins it to where the crew of the Enterprise is at risk if he (Kirk) doesn’t help him, which Kirk would fall for. And it would follow tradition. In TOS, Kirk has put his crew above Starfleet before (“Where No Man has Gone Before”, “Amok Time”, etc…)
free, unlimited zero-point energy! =D
#2. “WTF? a porthole?
…it’s SUPPOSED to be a FORCE FIELD =(”
There was a planet Vulcan in TOS as well, and Kirk had green eyes…and communicators had gold metal antenna and Bones had blue eye shadow. Allternative timeline is the only explanation necessary.
Because Phil, Star Trek was never about the limited potential of our dreary lives. It was about the human existence in a future world filled with endless power and adventure.
Simple backup systems. Seems a bit technobabble to me. The original Star Trek was way beyond that.
I remember a Star Trek where a Phaser in the right hand could waste thousands. Now there’s a Trek plotline I’d like to see again on the big screen.
What’s wrong with Transparent Aluminum, folks?
So Benedict is playing a “good terrorist” ? That is an interesting take.
#24 MJ:
Scotty bartered the formula to the guy with the ‘quaint’ keyboard (who then went on to copyright it?) Teasing. Truthfully, good point.
11. brobertsumc – I agree. That thought was in my head as well but didn’t make it into the post.
19. Phil – Good points. I hadn’t thought about the fact the an enclosed force fielded area could require its own individual life support as well.
#9 – how do we know he didn’t invent the thing?
From the side, Karl Urban looks exactly like DeForest Kelly in that picture.
There’s another pretty interesting Harrison’s photo in that CumberbatchWeb Tumblr site that Anthony linked.
It’s from the aftermath of the fight with Spock
Very interesting. BC’s injured, ripped shirt, perhaps blood. Looks out of sorts for the 1st time.
I’m a doodler. Hire me to direct the next one.
The caption on the picture reads “…– possibly getting a blood sample”
I’m wondering if instead McCoy is inserting/removing a subcutaneous transponder (similar to that used on Kirk & Spock in the TOS episode Patterns of Force).
It’s probably just me, but the device in McCoy’s hand seems to be touching Harrison’s forearm rather than the inside of his elbow…
I very much doubt he’s a “good terrorist” when he’s spouting phrases like “I will walk over your cold corpses.”
Ya know?
I’m just really hoping that his hand doesn’t grab McCoy’s and pull McCoy up and hold him hostage or some dumb thing
@24. Nothing at all. As a matter of fact, something similar exists now…
http://www.ohgizmo.com/2012/05/09/did-you-know-that-transparent-aluminum-exists/
dumbass jj hole.
thank god he’s not injured on head, leg or has thicker arms :-) or is another species.
What on earth is Cumby going on about there!
And that ‘prison cell’ is clearly the one intended for people who have arm injuries. They have specific cells depending in injury.
Starfleet think of everything!
It could be a force field and the porthole is a device that McCoy pushed into it to block the field and allow access.
“Beatboxes in his downtime…” Hahaha! Yeah, we all saw that in 09’s gag reel.
I say it again, that Empire cover is beautiful.
I bet its a holographic forcefield, made to look and feel like a solid, clear wall, but then the porthole access could be pushed into it from outside.
I bet McCoy takes some kind of ring and puts it on the force field and then the hole apears, then when he takes it away the hole disappears so it is a force field after all
It’s good to see Bones ..being a Dr., not a……… I think my only complaint about the portrayal of any of the characters is that it seems that every shot we see of Spock, he has some some form of weapon in his hand. Spock is now the man of action, not merely pure logic. Logic goes a long way with a phaser rifle in your hands. Actually everyshot of everyone seems to have a weapon at hand. I know this fits in with the STARWARS mentality of the new TREK and that is fine, ACTION sales tickets!.. And TOS Kirk didn’t shy away from a phaser in his day…thats certain. Spock, on the other hand, was different…though he did use his hand(s) well..haha…was primarily a man of peaceful means…I’ve seen plenty of scenes of Spock running, falling into volcanoes, getting his ass kicked by Harrison, and toting phasers in every way. I hope we see him in a mindmeld, or scanning with a tricorder, or translating some linguacode…or something scientific….just to keep him real. That was the appeal of Kirk/Spock ….one was the brains..the other braun..one emotions and the other logic.
I always assumed that the barrier was transparent aluminum. That should work for most races, even Klingons. I bet even Harrison couldn’t get through that.
He probably gets out when the ship starts blowing up. Or if it indeed crashes, that would do it too
RE: Empire Cover.
I like how they are all wearing the traditional colored uniforms. I just wish the women were wearing long sleeves and pants, cuz those dresses, while sexy, are stupid.
43: Yes McCoy does doctor stuff all the time in every old episode or movie!
Haters gonna hate
As far as transparent aluminum or such vs a force field, I would rather depend on something that won’t vanish in case of power failure.
Also… Happy Birthday Leonard Nimoy!
43. CAPT KRUNCH – March 26, 2013
It’s good to see Bones ..being a Dr., not a……… I think my only complaint about the portrayal of any of the characters is that it seems that every shot we see of Spock, he has some some form of weapon in his hand. Spock is now the man of action, not merely pure logic. Logic goes a long way with a phaser rifle in your hands. Actually everyshot of everyone seems to have a weapon at hand. I know this fits in with the STARWARS mentality of the new TREK and that is fine, ACTION sales tickets!.. And TOS Kirk didn’t shy away from a phaser in his day…thats certain. Spock, on the other hand, was different…though he did use his hand(s) well..haha…was primarily a man of peaceful means…I’ve seen plenty of scenes of Spock running, falling into volcanoes, getting his ass kicked by Harrison, and toting phasers in every way. I hope we see him in a mindmeld, or scanning with a tricorder, or translating some linguacode…or something scientific….just to keep him real. That was the appeal of Kirk/Spock ….one was the brains..the other braun..one emotions and the other logic.
***************************
I think there’s something you’re forgetting here. You have a base character, Spock, who is all of those things you described. But have you considered the effect of the loss of Vulcan had on Spock’s character? I mean, besides being there for the traumatic death of billions of Vulcans, and no doubt sensing some of that telepathically, but having his own mother die before his eyes too. That’d make someone a bit more militant.
But really, that only is an explaination if we actually see changes in Spock’s character. The clips don’t prove anything. Spock is a Starfleet Officer, and if you’re on a warlike, hostile planet like Qu’noS, he’s not going to say, “Oh, forget all of that regulation nonsense about carrying a phaser, I’ll just wait for the Klingons to get close and pinch them!” He doesn’t look like he’s carrying a phaser when chasing the dangerous likeable terrorist Harrison. And as for scientific, how much more scientific is jumping into a Volcano with a super ice cube? Which I believe is Kirks’ dismissal of a scientific technobabblish answer from Spock about how it works.
By the way, is anyone else astonished that we’ve got a little over a month and a half till the premiere, and we STILL don’t know who John Harrison is?
And not only do we not know who he is, we don’t have a good understanding of exactly how hsi character is going to work – in terms of, how is he a terrorist, yet, manipulative? How is it going to play out? Who is he going to seduce, under what pretenses, and for what reasons?
It’s gotten to the point where I think most of us have stopped guessing (my last guess was Arne Darvin *LOL*). I think this indicates what a great movie it’s probably going to be.
Dammit DennisR you beat me to it. Having a access a prisoner for minor things without taking down the field would be a lot safer.