Star Trek's Abrams Beams Down to Rome

By: Ariel David (Courtesy of: The Associated Press)

Trekkies, perk up your ears, both pointy and regular: We are about to reveal how it all started. Director and producer J.J. Abrams visited the Eternal City on Friday to give a sneak peek of the early years of Capt. James T. Kirk and the other characters who warp around the galaxy in the upcoming Star Trek movie.

The prequel, set to open worldwide in May 2009, explores how the starship Enterprise and its iconic crew set out on their interstellar journey, adding a good dose of space battles and dastardly aliens. "My goal was to make a movie about the emotional lives of these characters," Abrams told reporters. "We've seen a million ships fly by the camera, but nobody is going to care about the ship if they don't care about the people inside."

Abrams hopes the movie, which is aimed at revitalizing the 42-year-old franchise, will appeal not only to die-hard fans but to people who didn't follow the original 1960s adventures of Kirk, the logical alien Spock and their fellow explorers. "I want fans of Star Trek to come watch it, but the truth is I made the movie for future fans," Abrams said at the presentation in a Rome theater. He and his footage made similar appearances across Europe this week.

Star Trek fans — and they are legion — have been eagerly anticipating the movie for more than a year. As excited as they are, however, many have expressed trepidations that the film will be a "reboot" and will reconfigure the fictional history of the Trek universe they have followed so ardently. Abrams and his writers have promised to be faithful to the spirit of Star Trek and its fan base. Still, the director of Mission: Impossible III and creator of TV's Lost and Alias acknowledged that he was no Trekkie before starting the project.

"It was never my thing," he said. "I have become a trekker having fallen in love with the characters." The preview and four Star Trek scenes were strictly controlled, with security keeping out cameras and other recording devices. This much we can say: The brash and womanizing Kirk had a less than glorious start to his career, since the film introduces him as a bar-brawling biker in 23rd-century Iowa.

The movie follows the young troublemaker, played by actor Chris Pine, as he meets up with his future crew, getting off to a rocky start with most of them, including Zachary Quinto's edgy and hostile Spock. The peek given Friday also featured plenty of action sequences, including a hair-raising space dive and a sword duel at high altitude above an alien planet as the crew battle the villains led by Eric Bana. The movie is also likely to enthrall fans with inside jokes, including a scene that pokes fun at the accent of Russian character Chekov, as well as a cameo by Leonard Nimoy, who reprises his original role appearing as an aging, time-traveling Spock.

The original Kirk, actor William Shatner, will not appear in the movie. In its first incarnation, Star Trek ran from 1966 to 1969 before it was canceled. An animated series was made in the 1970s, followed by four sequel series between 1987 and 2005. The original cast reunited for six feature films between 1979 and 1991 before yielding the big screen to the younger cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation. But popularity waned, and no Trek feature film has been released since 2002.

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November 17, 2008

Batman: The Brave and the Bold is an Enjoyable, Kid-friendly Dark Knight

By Z (Courtesy of: Wired)

There is no prouder moment in a GeekDad's life than when his first child discovers the uber-nerdy world of traditional comic book heroes. Thankfully, my son's transition into the realm of superheroes occurred at approximately the same time as the debut of Cartoon Network's latest take on the Caped Crusader himself, Batman: The Brave and the Bold.

Taking its name from the long-running DC team-up series The Brave and the Bold, this show streamlines the concept by inserting fan-favorite Batman into the primary role, with one or more secondary heroes joining forces with Bats to combat the evil du jour. But traditionalists beware: this is not the brooding Dark Knight to which you've become accustomed in shows like Batman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, or The Batman.

This kinder, gentler Batman, now voiced by comic actor Diedrich Bader, is complimented by a bold, bright animation style that's obviously geared toward younger viewers. And while his temporary teammates might not be on par with Superman and Wonder Woman, they too seemed handpicked to appeal to the playgroup set.

The debut episode of Batman: The Brave and the Bold opens in medias res with a blue and gray clad Batman and an equally dapper looking Green Arrow in the clutches of a laughable (and ultimately disposable) supervillian. It's a none-too subtle nod to the unbridled cheesiness of the 1960s live-action series, but thankfully this Batman is no Adam West.

This team-up, however, proves to be little more than a teaser, and the meat of the episode concerns the exploits of Batman and the new Blue Beetle as they attempt to liberate a peaceable alien race from an interloping tyrant. These amorphous ETs revere Blue Beetle, as his predecessor has apparently died in their service, and insist that Batman is his sidekick. Sure, it's a running gag that wears a little thin, but your kindergartner will love it.

If this edition is any indicator, there's a lot to love about the series. Kids will dig the action and the introduction of new (at least to them) heroes, while parents can rest assured that the violence has been significantly pared down. The final fight sequence between Blue Beetle and Kanjar Ro, for example, is more or less limited to a series of wacky still frames, as opposed to the anticipated fully-rendered throwdown.

This more comical take on crime fighting, coupled with an intentional pop art style and brassy soundtrack, gives the show enough retro appeal to differentiate it from the rest of the pack, but doesn't dull an otherwise modern sensibility. In fact, the only portion of episode one that I didn't find wholly enjoyable was the occasional inclusion of the now obligatory CGI elements. My son, on the other hand, seemed totally enthralled.

Batman: The Brave and the Bold whitewashes over those pesky elements of angst and vigilantism, and again paints Batman as a hero for all ages. It's the kind of series that seems custom made for GeekDads and their brood. Just be aware that next week's episode will feature both the wisecracking Plastic Man and super-intelligent simian Gorilla Grodd, so, y'know, there's probably going to be some poo-flinging jokes.

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Show Schedule

23 November 2008 - 11:00

Fred Van Lente, co-author of Marvel's cult smash The Incredible Hercules, visits Fictional Frontiers to talk about his latest efforts: including the upcoming X-Men: Noir and Dean Koontz's latest Odd Thomas graphic novel.

Edward M. Lerner, critically-acclaimed author and NASA-contributing engineer, talks about his latest effort, TOR publishing's Fools' Experiments. A long-time contributor to Larry Niven's Fleet of Worlds' series, Fools Experiments' examines the implications of what could happen if a computer program became self aware...and seeks revenge on its makers.

Michael Hague, one of America's finest illustrators of children's fantasy books, reveals the sources of his inspiration, and talks about becoming one of the definitive modern artists of J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit.

TORn (theonering.net), the premiere fan website on all things Tolkien, returns to discuss the latest from the lands of Middle Earth.