Star Trek XI News: Quinto as "Spock"

As rumors abound, this one is actually true.

As most "Trekkies" are aware, Star Trek XI is in the works, and the story (unconfirmed but widely accepted) is currently being toted as the early days of James T. Kirk and Spock at Star Fleet Academy. This is good news for those of us that are ardent fans of the original Star Trek (now dubbed "Star Trek: The Original Series or ST: TOS).

It was announced today that Zachary Quinto has been cast in the role of Spock. Although he played villain "Sylar" in "Heroes", I'm not very familiar with Qunito as an actor, but most are giving a thumbs up to his selection. Here is a good synopsis on Quinto's acting career.

There are rumors that Matt Damon may be cast as James T. Kirk, but most sites flying this rumor are also stating that Adrien Brody was to play Spock, and Gary Sinise would play Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. Good likeness on Sinise with DeForest Kelley (McCoy), but I don't know that I'd be sold on Damon. Star Trek acting is a franchise-type of role that may warrant additional films and endless convention appearance. A lot of actors want to steer clear of these types of roles because once played, its hard to shake the label.

Star Trek fans have been doing a lot of whining since the writers "rolled back the clock" to launch the Star Trek series "Enterprise" which took place in the Pre-Kirkian era. I was a huge fan of Enterprise and found the criticism of the show pretty narrow-minded; the outspoken fans weren't interested in learning about the "history of Star Fleet" and were more interested in the left-wing stories of transsexual creatures lead by a fema-nazi Captain Janeway. The Janeway character lost me forever, when during one episode she made a sarcastic, condescending comment about both Captain's Kirk and Sulu. After all, who is hell is Janeway, to criticize two the of the greatest Captains in Star Fleet history, hmm? That would be like one of today's generals criticizing General George Washington, General Horatio Gates, or even Nathan Hale. We don't let our heroes (pretend or not) get raked over the coals by non-factor characters that lose ships in the Delta Quadrant.

The problem with the Star Trek franchise in recent years has always been the new age, anti-Christian, anti-war fan base that Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Voyager fostered. Both shows drifted from the idea that good stories, like the ones in Star Trek: TOS, could carry the show without insulting, or scolding the fans with mind-numming liberalism. Yeah, sure - Kirk was a bit of a cowboy - taking risks and kicking Klingon but. And Picard was a big talking wimp, always kissing Star Fleet's rear end and seeking a peaceful solution to every problem he encountered. Don't get me wrong... I am still a fan of TNG, but I loved James T. Kirk. Much probably has to do with the halarity in his protrayal by William Shatner. Shatner just played Kirk so well that he's just hard to beat. Although I have to say the Kirk of TOS was better than the more quirky Kirk in the Star Trek movies.

The only fear that REAL Star Trek fans have is the hope and prayer that character evolution is at a minimum. We don't want to see the kind of re-imaging that was done to Battlestar Galactica (despite its success). Kirk, Spock, Bones, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov - are all time immortal - perfect as they are. They are the holy of holy relics, to be left alone, unchanged by twisted writers with poor imaginations and large agendas.

The current release date for Star Trek XI is set for Christmas 2008. Pray they don't screw this up.