The Wait is Over: The Star Trek Trailer

Back home, I've got this very interesting book. It's called Star Trek: Phase II -- The Lost Series. For those who don't know, Paramount actually considered making a new Star Trek TV series back in the late-1970s. It was to be called Star Trek: Phase II and be the flagship series of a new Paramount TV network.

But then two things happened to turn Star Trek: Phase II into the next incarnation of Star Trek. Paramount canceled their plans for the network, and Star Wars hit at the box office. Wanting a sci-fi franchise for the big screen, the pilot episode for Star Trek: Phase II was filmed and released in theatres as Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Anyway, Star Trek: Phase II -- The Lost Series details all the extensive conceptual and pre-production work that went into the Star Trek series that never was.

In the book's epilogue, the authors pose a "What If?" What if Star Trek never became the pop culture icon it now is? What if Star Trek were just another fondly remembered TV show from the 1960s that is just now being resurrected and turned into a movie? They paint a scenario where Star Trek is remade as a big budget action film with Arnold Schwarznegger as Captain Kirk, Nicholas Cage as Spock, and Whitney Houston as Uhura.

It sounds a little ridiculous, and it kind of was. But still, that question has rattled around in my head for some time. What if Star Trek never became the pop culture icon it now is? What if Star Trek were just another fondly remembered TV show from the 1960s that is just now being resurrected and turned into a movie?

It seems that JJ Abrams and the makers of the new Star Trek film are trying to answer that question. To me, that question sums up what they're trying to do.





Part of me thinks that this trailer is fan-freakin'-tastic. I've always wanted to see a Star Trek film that was truly epic in size and scope, and it looks like we're finally getting it.

The other part of me is flashing back to the pilot episode of Enterprise. There's a scene in the opening where Trip and T'Pol are in decontamination, 3/4 naked, and rubbing a medicinal ointment on each other. Never had my friends and I seen such gratuitous nudity in Star Trek! We couldn't help but feel that it wasn't...right for Star Trek.

As cool as I think this trailer is, I've still got a quiet little nagging voice in the back of my head going, "This isn't right for Star Trek."

Going back now to Star Trek: Phase II -- The Lost Series, the point that the authors were trying to make with their "What If?" scenario was that they attributed Star Trek's longevity with the fact that Star Trek has always been able to change and adjust to the times.

But has Star Trek truly adapted to the 21st Century? Or is it just catering to fads?

We'll know for certain on May 9