By GustavoLeao / 13:13, 13 December 2007 / Star Trek: Nemesis

The latest issue of Sci Fi Magazine features an exclusive interview with Star Trek movie writer and producer Roberto Orci and executive producer Bryan Burk. Here are few excerpts

"There are five of us originally involved, Bob Orci, Alex Kurtzman, myself, J.J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof, and respectively we are across the board as far as Trekkers go." Burk said "But we all felt it was an incredible world that has existed for 40 years, and like some other great franchises, be it Batman or James Bond, it needed a boost by finding a new approach to the story and the world. It was too great to let it go away or continue on its current path."

Regarding the movie storyline, Orci said "There were many, many elements of the story that we had talked about just theoretically, if ever Star Trek were to come back. There was lots of stuff we wanted to do, and that was a blessing. Normally you dont have that much investment and research for a project you get hired to do. One of the things we fought for is that it not be called Star Trek 11. Because even if you were a fan back then or you haven't seen the last few [movies], with that title you might think it's like tuning in to Lost now and that you'll never catch up. So it's so important to get out the message that this, in a way, is Star Trek Zero. Its a reintroduction. We designed it so that if you know everything about Star Trek you will have one kind of an experience, because you will pick up on all kinds of references. If you are not a fan, those things will be an introduction, and it wont require you to know anything."

About the new cast playing iconic characters, Burk said "We went to all the original actors when we were casting the younger versions of themselves. Nimoy was totally on board with Zachary Quinto, as Shatner was with Chris Pine. Nichelle Nichols loved Zoe Saldana, and George Takei loved John Cho. It just feel like the baton was being passed in a very respectful way from them to us".

And wwhat about the rumors of William Shatner making an appearance in the movie ? Orci explains "There's two things. One, from our point of view we are still hoping to find a way [to put Shatner in the movie]. Secondly, one of the difficulties that was brought up and discussed with Shatner, when we all met him and pitched him ideas, is that Trek fans are sticklers for their canon. Unfortunately, Shatner's Captain Kirk was killed in Star Trek VII, so the difficult there is not just ignoring that or explaining it away in an unsatisfactoty way merely to get him back in. That is the struggle - the rigors of canon and not phoning it in just to have a cameo. From my point of view, its a very long shoot, and things can change. It's just whether we can figure it out."

"Our goal is twofold" says Orci " One is to make sure that the fans, who have been stewards of the continuity and who are some of the most intelligent fans of any franchises ever, that they be satisfied with anything that has the name Star Trek on it. But more importantly, the goal is really to introduce casual fans and people who dont know Star Trek at all to this universe and to connect it to today. The goal of Star Trek is that if you dont like sci-fi or know Star Trek, this will bring you into the world."

You can read the full article here.

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