Star Trek Sequel Villain (Maybe) Revealed (Probably Not)

One thing is certain, right now J.J. Abrams is either tremendously pissed off, or cackling with maniacal glee.

Karl Urban, overseas promoting his upcoming Judge Dredd remake, let slip the following nugget to SFX magazine when asked about working with Benedict Cumberbatch.

“He’s awesome, he’s a great addition, and I think his Gary Mitchell is going to be exemplary.”

No one seems to know what to make of that sentence, least of all me.

Firstly, you've got to consider the infamous Abrams Mystery Machine.  Everything is a close hold with his people and any actor who's ever worked with him is intimately aware of that fact.  Hell, when they shot the first Star Trek, they wouldn't even let the extras walk off the stage without wearing a black cloak because they didn't want outsiders to see what the uniforms look like, despite the fact that EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT THE UNIFORMS LOOK LIKE.  (It'd be one thing if they made some dramatic change to the uniforms, but they didn't.  They looked virtually identical to the TV show.)  So, in that light, it seems unlikely that Karl Urban would, intentionally or not, wander so far off the reservation as to casually announce the single most sought-after piece of information about the film, especially not on his second tour of duty aboard the Enterprise.

The alternative explanation is that Karl Urban is essentially screwing with us.  After all, a mere two weeks prior screenwriter Bob Orci tweeted a list of characters that would not be appearing in the new film, including Gary Mitchell.  Not only that, but IDW has been printing a line of comics that are considered to be "in canon" with the new film, and they've already used Gary Mitchell in their latest issue, with Abrams blessing.  (A quick glance at the cover reveals that Sherlock is nowhere to be seen.)  It's plausible that Abrams is looking to drum up a bit of buzz heading into Comic Con; frankly, after Simon Pegg came out and said that Cumberbatch definitely wasn't playing Khan, it felt largely like the internet gave up on guessing and decided to just sit on its collective hands until Paramount releases a trailer.

But here's the biggest problem with that theory: Gary Mitchell could actually make for a great villain to revisit because he's got great potential as a character (Mitchell was an old Academy friend of Kirk's who gained god-like powers after an encounter with the Galactic Barrier) and, unlike Ricardo Montalban's Khan, the audience wouldn't be forced to draw nostalgic comparisons to the character's original incarnation.  Essentially, Cumberbatch could really do his own thing, without having to worry about how the role was played 30 years prior.  However, that same reasoning is exactly why Mitchell makes for a bad red herring: he's not the kind of character that inspires excitement.  Hell, I wouldn't even blame casual Trek fans for having to look him up, as he appeared only in the show's (second) pilot before many of the show's signature elements had really come together.  On top of all that, Urban feels like an odd choice to play the patsy.

So I guess I don't really have a good answer here.  Was Urban speaking the truth out of turn, or is he just the latest player in Abrams' marketing shell game?

Flip a coin.

WATCH THIS NOW: Amazing Star Trek Blu-Rays

I don't care if you're a Star Trek fan or not, you MUST watch this clip for the upcoming Star Trek: The Next Generation blu-rays.  The difference between what aired back in the early 90s and what we'll be getting later this year...it's astounding:

Booooo to Entertainment Weekly for not making the clip embeddable!  Click it here instead!

Talk about jaw-dropping.  The original Star Trek series got a similar treatment a few years ago, complete with updated effects and while there was a lot of effort to recreate the style of the 1960s model work, the digital recreations still feel a bit out of place.  What we see here, when the Farpoint creature drifts up from the planet's surface...talk about seamless.

Here's a little background: The series was originally shot on film (as were the effects), then transferred to video tape for broadcast purposes.  In order to get the best possible transfer, editors went back to the original film reels, re-edited the episodes from scratch, and transferred them into digital high definition, along with newly rendered effects work.  Talk about thorough work.

Paramount will release a sort of teaser disc at the end of this month (available for pre-order here!) containing the fan favorite episodes Encounter At Farpoint, The Inner Light and Sins Of The Father.  Individual seasons will be released on blu-ray throughout the year.  You can bet your ass I'll be adding these to my collection.

ELEMENTARY MY DEAR KIRK! Benedict Cumberbatch Is Your New Star Trek Villain

What a way to ring in the new year.

After all of last year's hullabaloo over Benicio Del Toro signing on/dropping out as the maybe-but-possibly-not-Khan villain role in JJ Abram's upcoming Star Trek sequel, it seems that the folks over at Bad Robot have finally found their man.  None other than Benedict Cumberbatch will be stepping in as James T. Kirk's newest and as-yet-unnamed rival.

What's that?  You've never heard of Cumberbatch?  You mean you still haven't seen his brilliant turn as Sherlock Holmes in the BBC's new Sherlock series?  WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?  It's streaming on Netflix right now, and it's only three 90 minute episodes...you have no excuse!  Go ahead, go start "A Study In Pink" right now.  I'll be here when you get back...

RIGHT?!?  The second season started airing in the U.K. on New Year's Day, but we won't get them here for months.  (I'm suddenly terribly depressed.)

Cumberbatch is currently turning heads in his role as Peter Guillam in the nasty little spy flick Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, including one of the most simple yet heartbreaking scenes I watched in a film all year.  Still not impressed?    Well wait till next year, where you'll see him in the second part of Peter Jackson's The Hobbit, doing his motion-captured best as the dragon Smaug.

To be honest, it's more than a little baffling to consider both Cumberbatch and Del Toro as being right for the same role.  While they both have some serious dramatic chops, they also have extremely different energies and charms, so I can't help but wonder what sort of changes the character (whoever he may be) is undergoing as a result of the final casting...

ALL ABOARD THE ENTERPRISE! Star Trek Casting Frenzy!

JJ Abrams' Star Trek sequel is easily the movie that I'm most excited about which has yet to actually begin filming.  It took forever just to get Abrams officially on board as the director, and otherwise it's been largely quiet for the last few months as Kurtzman, Orci and Lindeloff have been working on the actual script.

So, of course, I go on vacation and all hell breaks loose.

Abrams had previously mentioned Benicio Del Toro as someone he was interested in for the villain role, but was terribly non-specific about who or what that villain would be.  Many (including myself) were banking on him playing a Klingon warrior.  I liked that idea because, while there are plenty of great Klingons from the original series, you can just as easily create a new character from scratch.  Plus Del Toro kind of looks like a Klingon already.

So while I was cruising through the Caribbean, Latino Review asserted that Del Toro was definitely in the movie and that he was playing the role of Khan, made famous by Ricardo Montalbahn and his hairless chest & mullet.  While LR tends to have a pretty good track record with these sorts of things (they correctly called Zod as the villain in Snyder's upcoming Man Of Steel), Hitfix wisely followed up with Abrams, who responded simply that the story was "not true," leading Trekkies everywhere scratching their heads in confusion.  The issue was finally clarified earlier this week by Vulture, who reported that Khan is indeed the film's villain, but that Del Toro's deal had fallen apart.

Jeebus.

So, pending an official confirmation from Abrams and/or Paramount, I guess we'll be getting Khan, which is a shame for a few reasons.  First of all, the whole point of creating a new continuity is that it allows you to create brand new stories and characters, setting off in whatever direction Abrams sees fit.  Immediately rehashing old baddies feels more than a tad lazy.  Besides, while Khan was awesome in Star Trek II, his original appearance in the episode "Space Seed" was good but not altogether remarkable.  And besides, WHAT ABOUT THE DAMN KLINGONS?  They're easily the most recognizable/iconic alien race in all of Star Trek, and with good reason: because they're fucking badass.  Is it really going to take three movies before we get to see Chris Pine match wits and wills with Bird Of Prey?  Or, hey, how about inventing a brand new alien threat?  There's no need to stick to canon here, let's get creative!

Here's the good news: There were two more additions to the cast last week.  Smoking hot Alice Eve (who was almost Emma Frost in X-Men: First Class) will play an unspecified, probably original role ('bout time Kirk got some action) while Peter Weller (ROBOCOP!) has signed on for what is assumed to be sidekick role to whoever steps in to replace Del Toro.

In a related story, I am apparently no longer allowed to go on vacation.

MOVIE NEWSABLES: Star Trek, Ghostbusters, Expendables and Remake City

Consider this a test flight for a new feature, Newsables.  Think of it like Lunchables, a collection of bite-sized news items that are all interesting, but don't really contain enough details to warrant their own articles.  Let's do this.

• J.J. Abrams has confirmed, both to Vulture and to Entertainment Weekly, that he will definitely be returning to the director's chair for the next installment of Star Trek.  While the principle cast members are all returning, the script is still unfinished and there are no plot details yet.  He directed the crap out of the first movie, hopefully the script will be a little tighter this time out.

• The official Ghostbusters Facebook page announced today that the classic supernatural comedy will be returning to theaters next month.  No word on the number of theaters, specific locations, how long it'll run, or what kind of transfer we'll be getting.  Clearly the theatrical revisit will be Sony's way of gauging interest in the theoretical second sequel.  My feelings on the matter are well documented.

• Highlander is a really cool idea that was very poorly executed...twice.  I therefore have no real problem with the impending remake scripted by Iron Man scribe's Art Marcum and Matt Holloway.  Juan Carlos Fresnadillo has come on board to direct, which might be good in that it means he probably won't be able to direct the remake of The Crow.  Fresnadillo is best known for directing the largely forgettable 28 Weeks Later.

• Also getting remade?  Point Break.  This time the gang of bank robbers will be extreme sports junkies instead of merely surfers.  Honestly, who cares?  There's nothing particularly novel about the concept here, the only thing that makes it stand out is the dynamic between Keanu and Swayze, and obviously they're not coming back again.  So what's the point?

• Finally, following the news that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Bruce Willis will be returning for larger roles in Expendables 2, Sylvester Stallone has confirmed that Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris will both be appearing as well.  JCVD will reportedly have a sizable showdown with Stallone.  Norris will probably crap out a baby unicorn and melt off Mickey Rourke's face by looking at him cross-eyed.

Happy Birthday Star Trek! A Note Of Thanks From A Lifelong Fan

Forty-five years ago today, the first episode of Star Trek aired on NBC.

Anyone who knows me can attest to the profound influence the show has had on my life.  (I've read the Star Trek Encyclopedia cover to cover, twice.  Yeah.)  Since moving back to Boston just over a year ago, I've reconnected with a group of guys that I essentially became friends with because we were all obsessed with the franchise and even though we're all now adults (relatively speaking) we still talk about Trek with the same nerdtastic glee we had in middle school.

For me, Star Trek served as the gateway drug into the larger world of science fiction.  I was a brainy, unpopular kid attending a Catholic elementary school and not quite buying into this whole "God and Jesus thing."  While I certainly enjoyed the hell out of Star Wars, I loved Star Trek not only for its optimistic view of the future, but for its strong roots in actual scientific concepts that truly fascinated me.  Aliens, time travel, alternate universes, faster-than-light spacecraft...this was the good stuff!  More importantly, it felt real and immediate, while Jedis and The Force were a bit too mystical for my tastes.  The only things I'd ever learned in a science class up to that point had been about the water cycle and diagramming the different parts of a flower.  It makes me drowsy just remembering it.  Once I sunk my teeth into concepts like evolution and the Big Bang, it was as if something clicked in my brain.  This was how the universe really worked!  I was hooked.  After Star Trek I gobbled up all the science I could, and once I got to high school I was eventually able to take classes like Cosmology, Advanced Physics and Astronomy .

If not for Gene Roddenbury, I might never have been exposed to the wonderful writings of Hawking, Einstein and Feynman, or the musings of Neil deGrasse Tyson, Ronald Mallett and Carl Sagan.  If not for the Starship Enterprise, I might not have become so enthralled with computers and technology, a field which is currently paying my rent.  And if not for the great storytelling and larger-than-life cast members, I might not have studied acting and directing in college, leading me to move to Los Angeles and eventually meet my fiancee.

So today  I say thanks.  Thank you to Star Trek, Gene Roddenbury and all the various Enterprise captains (alright, Sisko and Janeway too) for helping to lead me down a path of logical analysis bolstered by a heart of human emotion, just like Mr. Spock himself.  To Trek fans everywhere, fire up your Netflix and enjoy some of your favorite episodes today.  My wish to you is the same I have for Star Trek itself:

Live long and prosper.