Nimoy Speculates On Possible Involvement In Trek XI…Fascinating

nimoy.JPGLeonard Nimoy spoke to the Ottawa Sun about his upcoming appearance at Fan Expo Canada and took the opportunity to expand on his recent comments about Trek XI. As someone who has been around the block with Trek, he sees a lot of similarities between today and the 70s before Star Trek: The Motion Picture, telling the Sun “there was this great demand and no product.” Nimoy now reveals that both he and William Shatner have been contacted by Paramount regarding Star Trek XI, and he speculated as to why they have been showing renewed interest in the original Kirk and Spock.

The head of production at Paramount called my agency to tell them about this project and they are aware of Bill’s and my contribution to the franchise, and they’d like us to know they might want some involvement. It was all very, very general…They might possibly want Bill and I to set up the story as a flashback. But that’s just conjecture on my part.

Although he says he is retired, it does sound like he may be open to the possibility of being in Star Trek XI. Nimoy even joked that after a new actor plays Spock he may have to write a new book entitled ‘I Am Not Necessarily Spock.’ (he has previously written a book titled ‘I Am Not Spock’ and then other titled ‘I Am Spock’) Shatner himself has repeatedly said he is ready to go if he gets the call. TrekMovie.com has reported in the past that Trek XI producer JJ Abrams and William Shatner have had at least one meeting regarding Star Trek XI.

Ottawa Sun: New Spark in Spock

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Nooooo…. It’s full of adverts :(

YES!!!!!!!!!! :-)

OMG OMG … “They might possibly want Bill and I to set up the story as a flashback.” OMG OMG OMG

Flashback?That’s the corniest suggestion I,ve ever heard.Might be good for a cheesey Happy Days re-union …Shatner at the starfleet all you can eat buffet “Yep ,Spock r’member the time you…”

If I were offering Paramount advice, I would cast them as their respective grandfathers (Nimoy would play Spock’s human grandfather, thus avoiding the Vulcan make-up). Or at any rate, include them in the film, but as other roles. This seems to be the usual form with movies that remake ancient TV shows, after all.

Lighten up people.

I think this is great – would you rather the original G’s not be involved?
Pus – I stilll havent healed from all the ontological damage from TNG – it was like going to catholic shool all over again.
I cant wait for this stuff. My GF. has never seen the original series.
How uncool is that?
I didnt know anything about any of this till I was hipped to this link by a runnin potna from the New Orleans 70’s and 80’s fan scene.
Now I have a couple of things to look forward to and a site to keeps tabs on… so to speak.
Thanks for the portal!

That was supposed to read “Plus…” not Pus.
See what I mean about the TNG PTSS.
( Post Traumatic Sequel Syndrome)

While I think it could be fun and a great nod to the fans, the problem with Shatner and Nimoy setting up the film as a flashback is that their presence might detract from the audience’s suspension of disbelief that Actor X is Kirk and Actor Y is Spock. Now, I realize that Abrams isn’t aiming to depart from continuity, that this film takes place (somewhere, sometime) within the canonical Star Trek universe… but it seems to me that there needs to be SOME degree of distance between Old Trek and New Trek in order for New Trek to stand on its own two feet. The characters in the original Star Trek are so linked to their actors (more than actors, co-creators really; the credit is due) that if they’re going to have continuing adventures, they need to be somewhat set apart. Otherwise Matt Damon (or whoever ends up being cast) isn’t going to be allowed to portray James T. Kirk, he’s going to have to imitate William Shatner. And let there be no doubt: after forty years of Star Trek and about one hundred and fifty million spoofs and skits and parodies, no one on this green Earth except William Shatner can deliver lines in “Shatnerspeak” and expect to be taken seriously, let alone carry a major motion picture.

Then again, I could be wrong. Maybe if it’s handled seamlessly and the new actors find the right balance (emulation, not imitation), a flashback could be a great tie-in. But there’s never going to be another William Shatner, there’s never going to be another Leonard Nimoy, another DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, etc. and I think the last thing Abrams needs to do is to rub that in peoples’ faces.

Indeed.
But keep in mind – Nimoy said that he was just speculating.
Could they simply want Shatner and Nimoy for off-screen purposes?
Or would that be out of the question?

I really hope they don’t pass on this opportunity.

The studio needs to,and rightly so,respect these actors.They were the first to interpret the Kirk and Spock characters.They won’t be the last.Just as Sean Connery has a successful body of work ,We still offer professional allocades to him for his interpretation of the James Bond character in film

One of the most memorable moments from Young Indiana Jones was when Harrison Ford did a wrap-around story to an episode. And, Young Indiana Jones still worked. I think Paramount would be very wise to involve Shatner and Nimoy, It would lend Star Trek XI significant credibility and solidify the film as canonical. And, would establish the bridging mechanism for a new film series with new actors…. there is alot of story to tell, essentially the first year of the 5 year mission, arguably, is completely untold. Kirk’s first mission on the Enterprise…. Spock switching captains… a burgeoning friendship at the cusp of the final frontier…. It all would make great storytelling. Just avoid the academy days. Kirk and Spock were not students at Starfleet Academy together. That much is already canon.

I’d love to see Shat & Nimoy one last time. I would also love to see anything that suggests that Kirk’s crappy death in Generations was not really the end for him.

@ Anthony

Yeah, I know ’bout the icons… I was referring to adsense :(
Ah, well :)

No, No wait… The new Kirk and the New Spock have their New Adventure, but by the end the Enterprise is scap metal, so this unnamed old “Captain” and his unnamed “First Officer” (who happens to also be a vulcan) give them their ship, which happens to look just like the Enterprise… no, wait, that’s Starsky and Hutch.

My opinion: Go forward, not back. Time to destroy the Borg.

Hm, just compare the TNG movies to the TNG series. All these films didn’t reach the quality of this great series. But it happened different to TOS. The character development had its own continuity, ist was progressive the older they got. And Abrams said he wants to fill some holes in he chronology, and that he wants to lean on the classic star trek novels (for example Reeves-Stevens’ “Federation” or Dillard’s “The Lost Years”). I would really appreciate it, if the trek movies would suddenly reach the quality of the novels. that would be justice for all the lost-quality-years since 1994 (except of DS9 that was really great in the last 4 seasons).

Shatner and Nimoy are going to appear post nexus. It will not simply be a bookend story.

They will have things to do in this film.

@Anonymous
Kirk was killed after he came out of the nexus. And before he came into the nexus – just remember – spock and mccoy haven’t been aboard the Enterprise-B. So the couldn’t have met each other before or after the incident. But in the first Shatnerverse-Novel “The Return” was a great scene between Spock and McCoy in a kind of church. And Spock starts crying etc. We also see the other character’s reactions when they get the message of Kirk’s “death”. Very interesting was Spocks visit in the damaged Enterprise-D saucer section on veridian III….Such detailed and uncommon things we want to see in a trek movie.

You will see something similar to that in ST XI if all goes well. This is going to be a special film.

@Anonymous
Details? :-)

Well, in fact you can make everything in Star Trek, because it stands for the IDIC-principle (Infinite diversity in infinite combinations) . I guess thats the reason why it has so much incarnations (TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT). But it’s quite difficult to explain the feeling when you watch those old episodes. TOS, TNG and even DS9 had this special drive – this high morality. And the characters always thought about the correctness of their decisions, so that it seemed believable/ true to the audience and kept in mind. Star Trek TOS and especially TNG and DS9 (-> DS9 is the best trek if you like to combine a mainstream-compatible mix of Roddenberry’s utopical/ moralic stories and action-orientated realism/ political stuff) are made for a grown-up audience. And it seemed that VOY, ENT and the TNG movies were trying to catch much younger TV-watchers. The consequence was, that the quality of the former drama-stories(!), the dialogues(!) and the discussion(!) on morality decreased to a very low and kid-compatible level compared to the other (almost philosophocal + successful) productions. Thats the only reason why Rick Berman finally was fired, and it’s an irony that he really didn’t need to change the style of production into a kiddy-franchise in 1994, because at that time Star Trek was on the hightest point of popularity. Picard & Co. were icons at that time. And no one could just imagine that they would lost their status with the last 4 movies. So it’s my hope that STXI makes it right and leans on the quality/ style/ magic(! – thats the right word to describe the feeling!) of the novels or the first three series/ 6 movies. Only with the magic of those “old” productions Star Trek XI could continue the continiously growing success that Star Trek had from 1966 to 1994 (no matter the crew that might be involved – or ok, the original is better than any copies in new uniform). It’s not a coincidence or even the fault of the audience/ fans that the last 11 years (1994 to 2005) went wrong!!

Hey Anonymous, no offense here or anything, but it sounds as if you’re talking out of your wormhole.

As beloved and respected and recognizable as Shanter and Nimoy are, they’re 75 year old men and there’s no way Paramount is going to have one of their major motion pictures star 75 year old men. Not in the age of the iPod. Not in the age of Paris Hilton: The Album.

Additionally, any attempt to resurrect post-Nexus Kirk (either through Shatner’s storyline or something new) would be so dependent on a familiarity with Trek history, that it seems out of line with the what we know of the philosophy behind this whole production (ie staying true to the series BUT attracting a broader audience). Then again, the Star Wars prequels did well enough and I’ll be damned if half of the people watching them had any idea what was going on.

@Spock’s kidney
The don’t need to fight evil klingons etc. and no one would expect this. Their characters are more than that. So just watch “Boston Legal”. Shatner is still cool and till today I couldn’t see there any fights. Also in Shatners novels the characters are extremely(!) changing so that Kirk for example doesn’t want to get in command of a starship anymore. So a resurrected Kirk could be very interesting.

Spock’s Kidney,

I don’t that Shatner and Nimoy would be the stars of the new film. But, I do believe that they will be in it as Kirk and Spock.

Surely, it can’t be from before the Generations era. They look so much older. While I’m sure this guy has no idea what he is talking about. His theory (or inside info) does seem to make sense.

I think that pretty much everyone who is going to go see a Star Trek film is very familiar with the characters history.

Besides this whole story was about Paramont going to Nimoy and Shatner and asking for their involvement in the film. I’m sure they weren’t asking them to be the key grip on the movie. I’m sure they were asking them to appear in the film.

Who knows, maybe this guy is right on the money? It kind of makes sense to me.

You’re right, anything’s possible!

I guess I’m just a little cynical. I think, as huge as the Trek fanbase is, after years of poor performance on both the big and small screen, Paramount isn’t going to think twice about taking certain “forward” (and I stress the quotations) moving steps to broaden the audience.

And no, ha, I don’t think Shatner and Nimoy are being signed on as key grips. I do think they’ll be in the film, but the “bookend” appearance seems a lot more likely to me… that or *shudder* a lame cameo at the end like in the Starsky and Hutch remake.

This isn’t a remake so lets not use that horrible word. I would adore the idea of seeing Nimoy and Shat return to their iconic roles one more time. A flashback story would be perfect.

Spock’s Kidney:

Many would argue the reason for Star Trek’s poor performance is because Shatner and Nimoy as the iconic roles (Kirk/Spock) were not in the films or tv series.

You just can’t take these legendary characters out of the franchise and expect it to not miss a beat. These guys are worldwide icons that are not easily disposed of.

ST was always character driven. And if you take your most beloved characters (Kirk/Spock) out of the franchise (In Kirk’s case simply throw him off a cliff) and replace them with bland interchangeable characters the franchise will suffer. And it did.

ST needs Kirk and Spock to survive. And the best way to give the new film credibility is to bring back Shatner and Nimoy (even if in cameo’s) as Kirk and Spock.

I think Paramont is finally getting it.

Well, I ask myself how they’re gonna do this! Will it be an interpretation of Kirk and Spock or will it be an imitation!? That’s the question of the day!

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