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Simon Pegg Says New Star Trek is Going to be Contemporary and Gritty

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By GustavoLeao / 05:19, 27 August 2008 / Feature Films

Yesterday morning, August 26, HardCoreNerdity.com posted an exclusive audio interview with Simon Pegg, recorded at Toronto's Fan Expo Here is a few excerpts.

HardCoreNerdity.com: Star Trek's always been about hope for the future, and there's been some talk that the reasons Star Trek had been on the slide for the last few years is that maybe it's a little too quaint. Maybe, in the post-9/11 world, we're a little too cynical that this kind of world could possibly exist in the future. What do you think about that?

Pegg: I dunno -- I think it's a shame if that's the case, because I think that's what marked it out when it first started. Gene Roddenberry created this vision of an integrated universe, it was way ahead of its time; it had the first interracial kiss, on television, was on Star Trek. The very notion of -- I love the fact that the engineer was Scottish, because Scotland has a history of incredibly innovative engineers. And he [Roddenberry] did paint this really clever future-verse. I think that to suggest that we can't still get there is just kind of giving up. So, I hope that's not the case.

Obviously, JJ [Abrams]'s Star Trek is going to be, you know, it's going to have JJ's stamp on it. It'll be like -- it'll be contemporary, and gritty, but it'll be -- it's very much Star Trek. The bridge was the bridge, it was incredible, but somehow it didn't look like it was built in the '60s. The production design was so cleverly pitched, in that it was completely credible, but still very much like you'd expect. It's very clever. I don't know if I should have said that!

HardCoreNerdity.com:
Franchises have been benefiting a lot from reboots lately -- Batman Begins, Casino Royale -- do you think Star Trek will have that kind of feel, and do you think it's gonna reinvigorate it?

Pegg: I hope so. I think it's very much in that vein. It's very much about getting back to what made it good in the first place. That's what both those films have done -- in Casino Royale and Batman Begins -- they stripped it back down to the beginning and what appealed at the very conception. What happens with things that exist for a long time is they become augmented, and gimmicky, and things change, and they kind of -- they're added to and added to -- to try and make them better -- and it ends up just toppling over, under the weight of its own sort of self-parody -- whereas this is really getting back to it.

I know there's some consternation within the fanbase, but they're gonna see new Star Trek with the original cast. I don't know what's not to be fucking excited about! I am, and I'm in it. And it's in the hands of a person who really cares about it. We had advisors on-set the whole time. If we needed to know what happened on a -- if there was an away mission, and only a certain amount of people went, then who carried the tricorder -- we got it all from the people that really know. And JJ was absolutely at pains to make sure that it's totally and utterly -- and there's a lot in it for the fan. There's a lot of little ironies in there that you'll pick up on if you know the series, and you know the mythology. It's going to be crackin'!

Thanks to 'TRexx' for the transcript.



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Irony Ahoy! | Report this post to moderator
By: TRexx (Odo's file, contact) @ 07:50:48 on Aug 30, 2008

Quote from Simon Pegg:
There's a lot of little ironies in there that you'll pick up on if you know the series, and you know the mythology.


Lots of little ironies, eh, Simon?

But to Canada's National Post you're all, "It's an irony-free zone."

Liar, liar, pants on fire!!

;-)

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Simon Pegs It | Report this post to moderator
By: TRexx (Odo's file, contact) @ 17:59:01 on Aug 27, 2008

Quote from Simon Pegg:
I think that to suggest that we can't still get there is just kind of giving up.


No surprise that a comedian has a keen understanding of human nature.

The cynicism in question is from what a people feel about themselves and their immediate situation, not whether they see outsiders (foreigners) as agreeable. And people tend to wallow, seeking pastimes that resonate with their state of mind, for better or worse.

The gravest losses of 9/11 came afterward, as the homeland government increasingly looks upon its own mainstream citizens as though they are criminals.


"US citizens could be investigated without just cause under a new plan from the Justice Department ... these moves are about solidifying temporary powers that were put into place following the terrorist attack in New York in September 2001"


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RE: | Report this post to moderator
By: Chronic Hussein Harlot (Odo's file, contact, web site) @ 15:30:20 on Aug 27, 2008 | Edit History (1)

Uh-oh. He used the word 'gritty'. Irrational Battlestar Galactica conflations to begin in 5, 4, 3, 2...

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only hollow rhythms resounded from within.




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Good Lord | Report this post to moderator
By: peter0302 (Odo's file, contact) @ 11:45:39 on Aug 27, 2008

'Maybe, in the post-9/11 world, we're a little too cynical that this kind of world could possibly exist in the future. What do you think about that?"

What an idiotic question. The threat from communism in 1970 was far, far greater than the threat from terrorism today. Then we faced nuclear annihilation at a moment's notice. Today we face the same thing that every other civilization has faced since the dawn of time - random acts of violence. Are we really so soft that the remote chance of a few people being blown up causes us to be MORE CYNICAL than the very real chance of all life on earth ending in a nuclear fire?

If so then we don't deserve to keep going because it's survival of the fittest, not the whiniest.


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RE: Good Lord by Gothampunk @ 13:09:36 on Aug 27

It all fits nicely. | Report this post to moderator
By: cdydatzigs (Odo's file, contact) @ 08:12:22 on Aug 27, 2008

Quote:
Obviously, JJ's Star Trek is going to have [his] stamp on it. It'll be contemporary, and gritty, but it'll be very much Star Trek. The bridge was the bridge, it was incredible, but somehow it didn't look like it was built in the '60s. The production design was so cleverly pitched, in that it was completely credible, but still very much like you'd expect.

We had advisors on-set the whole time. If we needed to know what happened on ... an away mission and only a certain amount of people went, then who carried the tricorder -- we got it all from the people that really know. And JJ was absolutely at pains to make sure that it's totally and utterly [right].


-----

These two excerpts further back up my theory that the new Star Trek will follow and respect the existing canon. The characters' back stories, relationships, names and events will all be true to what has already happened. Only the visual aspect of the TOS-era will be subject to a reboot. We will finally have a TOS-era that actually visually fits within the gap between Enterprise and Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

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-- Steve



My film Normal Heights is in: Pre-production (script)


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RE: It all fits nicely. by Gothampunk @ 10:14:27 on Aug 27
    RE: It all fits nicely. by cdydatzigs @ 10:41:50 on Aug 27
       RE: It all fits nicely. by Gothampunk @ 11:14:41 on Aug 27
          RE: It all fits nicely. by TRexx @ 16:33:07 on Aug 27

Gritty... | Report this post to moderator
By: The Magrathean (Odo's file, contact) @ 06:10:48 on Aug 27, 2008

They really do mean it when they say this film will be a bit darker and more gritty to reflect the times. What The Dark Knight did for Batman, this movie will do for the universe of Trek.

Wait until you see the new, enhanced tribbles... They will chill you to the bone!


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RE: Gritty... by OV-101 @ 08:21:11 on Aug 27
RE: Gritty... by Terry212 @ 07:24:26 on Aug 27
    RE: Gritty... by GustavoLeao @ 07:52:24 on Aug 27

Pegging Pegg | Report this post to moderator
By: TRexx (Odo's file, contact) @ 06:00:11 on Aug 27, 2008 | Edit History (2)


My bad, here's the correct Toronto Fan Expo link (not Polaris 22).

I don't see Pegg listed at the website, though.

Anyone who doesn't want to sign up with Hardcore Nerdity just to hear Pegg's interview can scarf the 27-megabyte MP3 file HERE (right-click and save).


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