Chris Pine, Star Trek’s new Kirk, isn’t at Comic Con, but in a promo interview for his new play The Lieutenant of Inishmore, Pine talked about the Star Trek sequel. Chris wants more humor for Kirk and he has his eye on Zoe Saldana and the Kirk, Spock, Uhura love triangle. Watch the interview below.
Pine: Wants more humor for Kirk & ‘one shot’ at Uhura
On the Red Carpet interviewed Chris Pine and got him to talk about the Star Trek sequel. Pine started off saying he didn’t know about sequel shooting in January (a rumor TrekMovie already reported wasn’t true). But Pine did talk about what he would like to see for Kirk in the sequel:
Kirk is so much fun to play. He is such a fun bad boy. Kirk has got a great sense of humor and I would love to see that explored more. If I know JJ [Abrams] well, I think he would be willing to explore that. I don’t know what that means, but I think that…the great thing about Kirk is that he can fall on his face, pick himself up, run into a door again, pick himself up again, and you still hopefully like the guy.
Pine also talked about the "love triangle" with Kirk/Spock/Uhura, noting:
I know…I want at least one shot at Ms. Saldana, Please! God have mercy. Maybe her in her little Avatar outfit. But yeah, we will see what happens. That would be some good conflict.
Pine also talks about his film Unstoppable and the next Jack Ryan movie, plus his future goals of climbing Everest, and appearing in a Broadway musical. Here is the video.
VIDEO:
Hope to see him at some cons in the near future!
First!
Why is Chris Pine climbing a mountain? Because he wants to make love to the mountain.
Noo…no conflict between Spock and Kirk…nooo! We have been there in StT:09, nooow, Kirk, Spock and McCoy become this unbreakable trinty, a rock against which the waves of the universe break.
Plus we could do with more mature humour, not painful action movie humour. Kirk needs to grow into a Captain, he has to accept the responsibility he has, he isn’t a cadet anymore, the lives of everyone on the Enterprise are in his hands. That doesn’t mean it isn’t fun, but he has to be responsible. I guess what I am saying is we want Kirk humour (as in the Shat himself) not summer movie humour!
@ #2-Apollo
i was thinking the same thing
I hope Chris focuses more on getting the writers to tighten up plot holes and logical inconsistencies. Stylistically, I loved the first (new) film, but there were two things I just couldn’t swallow.
1) Kirk getting promoted immediately to captain from cadet just seemed so completely ridiculous that I’m still up in the air as to whether it ruined the entire movie for me.
2) The transporting onto a ship traveling at warp speed. It makes no sense, and had never been introduced as a concept before. The transporter was only introduced to save money on filming landings etc. in the original series… it’s use should be becoming more limited, not expanded. The idea that you can now beam onto a ship traveling faster than light is just stupid.
Uh, Kirk goes after the big shot women, not some yeoman under neath him, Pine.
I want Kirk to choose between his true love (The Enterprise) and Uhura — with Uhura having a moment, maybe recovering during a fight scene which Kirk saves her, shows a different side that cares deeply… and realizing they could be together, but his heart is elsewhere.
Given Kirk’s lusty ways with others, you could psychoanalyze his precocious nature for some time. But maybe Kirk is just seeking the “One” (who may be Uhura)… and can never have her. And his only love, the Enterprise, can never truly express that love back.
Twisted and weird, I know.
@3
I agree completely dear! We don’t need (nor want, for most of us) a love triangle. We have more than enough of those in everything else on film. The legendary Trek trio needs to come together, I think (hope) the next film focuses on that more in the next movie. And on how the crew grows into a family.
I think that’s what’s most needed. And it would give the characters more of a chance to become more serious. Yea, humors great and much loved, but the crew seriously being the legendary crew of the Enterprise would be fantastic.
#5
Yeah, really, what’s the point in having a starship if you can just transport at light speed to another star system? I want Starfleet, not the Iconians (see: TNG: Contagion, DS9: To The Death).
#9
Number five here. True that. Basically, in the new universe you can just beam from planet to planet.
#10
On the bright side, it is a lot like Sliders–a show I really loved watching as a young whipper-snapper. But it’s definitely not Star Trek. Bob Orci, are you listening?
What we need to focus is Pine’s Kirk to mature and the Kirk,Spock and McCoy triangle I have faith in the writers to do that
I’m still not entirely certain that Chris *gets* Kirk.
A “love triangle” with Kirk/Spock/Uhura in which Kirk and Spock are both fighting for the affection of Uhura, is probably the worst thing they could do in the next movie. It is so cliched! I really don’t want to see the two main male characters fighting for the love of the sole female character. It is not a romantic movie! If the two main characters are involved in such a love triangle, it will be automatically a major plot part and I really prefer typically sci fi aspects over love triangles!
Never mind what Pine said, but look at his appearance. At times during the interview, I was very much reminded of a young Shatner circa WNMHGB. Sideburns and all! Spooky!
And, yes, even more of a young Kirk clone now than how he looked in the movie!
A frickin’ love triangle?
No. Thank you.
This is Star Trek, not Young and the Restless.
Great idea Chris!
#5
“1) Kirk getting promoted immediately to captain from cadet just seemed so completely ridiculous that I’m still up in the air as to whether it ruined the entire movie for me.”
The next movie should hang a lantern on this and make it a point of story and character development. Maybe have it revealed that Kirk was only promoted to captain because of the intervention of Spock Prime. If they genuinely believe Spock Prime is from the future, then his opinion might carry weight – especially if Starfleet were trying to coax technological data from him (he already gave them an advanced formula for beaming).
I might have a crewman get in his face about it and note that it was only politics and testimony about future returns that got him in the captain’s chair.
It would be nice to see punky-Kirkster – leader of Muppet Babies in Space show some humility, to see his uber cockiness recede in the face of what he comes to realize is a large responsibility, with many opportunities to screw up, and with many watching eyes hoping that the brash cadet-captain will do just that. It would be nice to see the triangle of Spock-Bones-Kirk form in the context of this maturation.
The problem with the Pine’s Kirk is that he is written and performed as the cultural bumper-sticker of James Kirk. We’ve spent decades joking about the womanizing, brash, prime-directive-be-dammed captain, that our collective memory has lost sight of the bookworm, work-a-holic, duty bound, by-the-book captain. Shatner’s Kirk, for example, hooked up with significantly fewer women than our pop-cultural memory suggests.
The new movie, however, is aimed at the center mass of our vague pop-cultural memory of the show, because its makers seem almost desperate to make Star Trek fun again. Unfortunately, our new Kirk is more like a frat boy than a Starfleet Captain. In fact, his character is somewhat off-putting. Kirk isn’t supposed to be heavily back slapping everyone in order to to prove he is the coolest guy in the room – he is supposed offer a glance and a wry quip because he is the coolest guy in the room.
Just compare the “bite-the-apple-because-I-am-so-dammed-cool” scenes from TWOK and the new film. In ST II, Kirk coolly remarks that he doesn’t like to lose and casually takes a bite of fruit. In the new film, Pine, dripping with hubris, violently bites a huge chunk out of an apple and chews it rather sloppily after making a “shooting-pistol” hand gestures at exploding Klingon cruisers. The former is restrained and cool and funny. It is one of the best scenes in the film. The latter is childish and overtly arrogant.
The next film really needs to fine tune the character of Kirk. A bumper-sticker is fun for a joke, but does not make for sustained reading. Pine’s Kirk has grow if he is to earn sustained viewing.
18
Well said!
“The former is restrained and cool and funny. It is one of the best scenes in the film. The latter is childish and overtly arrogant. ”
Step back from you’re hero-worship and take Kirk-Prime off high special place you for him for a moment and look at this rationally.
The several points of reference that you have given us are woefully out of context.
Reason Being: Kirk in TWOK (Which takes place in early 2285) had been in star-fleet nearly 30-35 years at that point. Logically, the person in question would be mature and seasoned, and quite frankly doesn’t act like a ‘frat boy’ as you put it, and rightly so, I might add.
But Kirk-09 isn’t the same Age as Kirk-Prime in TWOK. They haven’t had the same experiences (yet), nor do the two have the same upbringing, which has an even greater effect on how a person behaves in adult hood and some people take that for granted.
Kirk in the 2009 film is just that: A frat boy. A brash, young man who has a delinquent streak from growing up in a broken home, and from what I can gather from what his step-father said when he stole the car, an Abusive step-father as well.
The monumentally vast difference in Age and experience make comparing the two quite irrelevant. One is a Mature, seasoned veteran, the other is a Cocky Young man who’s Green as grass.
You can’t even compare the two in the same time frame the movie takes place in (2258) either, since the two took vastly different paths when they entered star-fleet.
The 2009 film finishes in 2258. Kirk-Prime at this point had already completed the academy (starting in 2250, graduating presumably 2254), attained the rank of Lieutenant and is serving on the Farragut. That means that Kirk-09 started the academy 5 years /AFTER/ Kirk-prime did (2255), completed 3 years (bringing us to 2258), and during a crisis, rose above and beyond what was expected of him and proved that he was capable of performing the task entrusted to him by Pike.
Speaking of his Academy training: We don’t know what kind of education Kirk-09 received before enlisting in the academy, but judging from his first conversation with Uhura and from the statement by Pike mentioning his “Aptitude” levels were off the charts and that he was a “Genius Level” repeat offender, it was substantial. Having gleaned that information, its plausible that he could complete his academy training faster then others.
Concerning Kirk’s promotion – I am under the impression that he, McCoy and Uhura graduated from the Academy as Lieutenants. A field promotion from Lieutenant to Captain seems a bit more feasible, Imho.
Maybe Harry Kim should have been born into that time(line). ^^
#5
The novelization of the film implied that Kirk was about to graduate from the academy and that upon graduation he was to become a lieutenant junior grade officer. In fact, I believe a number of the cadets like Uhura and Sulu got promoted to lieutenant as well. So the leap from lieutenant to captain isn’t as drastic as cadet to captain.
Pike says in the bar that Kirk could be an officer in four years and have his own ship in eight. He only takes three years to graduate the academy and obviously gets promoted to captain following his taking command and saving Earth in the movie. If Prime Kirk can be forgiven of his offenses from STIII by saving Earth from the Whale Probe and given command of the Enterprise, then surely ST09 Kirk can be allowed to keep command of the Enterprise after he saved Earth too. I’m sure both Pike and Spock Prime vouched for his natural command ability as well.
Plus, it might have also been a big PR boost to let the officer who saved Earth keep command of the ship he saved it with. Starfleet would surely need to recruit more cadets to replace the officers killed at Vulcan, and having Kirk as a role model would certainly make sense.
Regarding the transporter, only Spock Prime showed the ability to transport someone from one system to another or to a ship at warp speed. If you listen to Scotty, his theory was to transport someone from one planet to an adjacent planet in the same system. In the movie, we only see Scotty transport someone the distance from Saturn to Earth.
So I believe that the whole transporting at warp or between star systems was a onetime thing and it was obviously too dangerous to have practical applications as Scotty was obviously almost killed. If someone other than Spock had transported them, they might have materialized in a bulkhead or the engines or something.
The only thing they are capable of doing now is transporting over long distances inside a star system which is something Scotty would have probably figured out to do eventually, but Spock gave it to him a bit early. I believe this is what Kirk meant by Spock cheating by changing history, which was giving Scotty the knowledge to make his transwarp beaming work. This gave them a tactical advantage so the could beam onto Nero’s ship from a safe and undetectable position in the solar system.
A smoker should not try to climb Everest
Chris Pine was the wrong casting choice.
#2 – Because it’s there…
24. Why do you say that
Oh no, please no love triangle !
I think Chris Pine was a great choice. I think he pulled it off nicely as Kirk. He is no Shat but he did a great job.I think he should leave Uhurah alone and at some point he should realise that the Big E is his First Love. But I also think that he should meet Carol Marcus and have the love affair that will of course bring about David.
Kirk scores with alien women around the galaxy, not subordinates. He can’t love ’em and leave ’em if they’re on the ship!
Wow, tough to come up with new stuff to say.
I agree that Chris Pine is a great Kirk. (Not the Kirk I’ve love all these years, but still a great Kirk.)
I agree that the whole “Who’s nailin’ Nyota?” thing needs to quietly go away. Kirk’s romances should be organic to the story. They might even get him and the crew into trouble so we can watch them get out.
I very much agree that the next movie should be more mature. Let’s see one we’ll still want to watch 30 years from now.
Love triangle = lame.
Don’t let this become Star Trek 90210
Even Kirk should know enough to keep his pen out of the company ink.
One humourous bit or so is ok…but Star Trek should not be pure comedy. It’s not time for a Trouble With Tribbles or even a Star Trek IV.
The next one should be mostly serious. After they get a few of these under their belt…sure…why not? A light hearted one would be ok.
Right now, I want to see new aliens that they meet during a mission.
I think Chris Pine is just trying to be funny about wanting a shot at Uhura. I dont think this means there’ll be a “Twilight in Space” type love triangle either.
32 – He didn’t know enough in the cases of Dr. Helen Noel or Lt. Marlena Moreau, but they weren’t bridge officers.
yes throw in a young Carol Marcus that would be great :)
Yes, by all means, pass Uhura around like an old hat–NOT.
NO LOVE TRIANGLE. Under any circumstances.
My dad has a great saying–you don’t s**t where you eat.
Kirk, remember that!
“…I want at least one shot at Ms. Saldana, Please! God have mercy.”
You’re not the first guy to say that prayer buddy.
Maybe one of the few to have it answered though.
If I may suggest, Amber Tamblyn for Carol Marcus!
I think #34 Celeste is right, he was just joking, especially when he says “her in her little Avatar outfit.”
I am curious about what they will do about Spock/Uhura’s relationship. They can’t pretend like it didn’t happen. They have to either continue it or end it. I think they painted themselves into a corner with that relationship; I wish they had not gone there. The bridge crew should all be professionals, not banging each other (especially not Spock. Lord have mercy).
“not banging each other “, that’s Kirk’s claim to fame. Hated that about Star Trek, Roddenberry’s obsession with 60’s ‘free love’ nonsense. Kirk doesn’t love anyone but himself, whether it’s the Fat Shat version or the Chris Pine version.
Probably the wrong site to comment on Kirk having a sense of humor on, Chris. The majority of people on this site absolutely love Kirk as the hyper ego, over the top almost to the point of paradoy that James Cawley pawns off on the less then choosy fanbase.
@34: Joking?? But… but…. this is STAR TREK he’s talking about!!!! How DARE he!!!1!
I loved that Kirk is young a bit of a renegade: loose cannon getting into trouble with the law that shows he has flaws and will hopefully grow out of that Pine you were brilliant as the young Captain please keep the humour intact but be serious as well because that you are captain you have to
be responsible.
One of you guys pointed out how kirk’s cadet to captain trick should be a major subplot to the next movie. I think that that is a very good Idea…. and as far as bringing in previously done secondary characters such as marcus. I think that would be fine. Don’t base the movie on any previous threads or characters, but to have them as a subplot would be fine. Kirk talks about the woman in passing, or we see them together for a short scene, there is a whole minor subplot based on a budding relationship. that would work. If the whole story hinged on Marcus, or Kahn, or Sybok, or any other previously mentioned/done secondary character like that, I think that would be bad
(I just had to say something to #19 as well, just imagine that I wrote a really long post)
There is one thing we have to realize about NuKirk as people have been want to call him. First, Pine’s Kirk begins his adventures about 4 or 5 years earlier then Shatner’s kirk did (at least with the Enterprise). Two, NuKirk has been given a generally more rebelious nature do to the fact that his father died. in TOS, Kirk’s father was alive and kicking to see him through the acadamy. He probably had a steadying influence on the man, which gave willingness to buckle down and be bookish during the acadmy. I obviously don’t know your life but just imagine how things might be differently if your father had died when you were born, or your mother had….etc. I would probably affect your life quite a bit…don’t you think. Thus license for a different interpretation of the same genetic code (if you get my meaning)
OMG!!!……AWESOME CP!!!….I can’t wait for Star Trek Sequel!!!!
#46 indeed so. But is he still *our* Kirk given such changes in his background?
This still bothers me and I can’t comfortably circle it in my mind.
NO on a Kirk/Uhura romance
For the love of God, this is not the “Twilight” series. No love triangles or any of that crap.
Aren’t they supposed to be professionals, working together, rather than sleeping together?