Leonard Nimoy to Play Spock in Next Star Trek Movie 289
mcgrew writes "The AP is reporting that Leonard Nimoy will 'don his famous pointy ears again' in the next Star Trek movie, due out Christmas of next year. From the article: 'He greeted the crowd with a Vulcan salute. Nimoy was joined by the newly named young Spock, "Heroes" star Zachary Quinto [Sylar], who bears an uncanny resemblance to Nimoy. Both Spocks were introduced by the film's director and co-producer, J.J. Abrams.'"
The need for money outweighs the need for dignity (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Bringing out my inner nerd... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Bringing out my inner nerd... (Score:5, Insightful)
I wish it wasn't cool to be a curmudgeon.
So, What's It Gonna Be? (Score:5, Insightful)
AND, we all know which is more likely...
Re:wondering (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The need for money outweighs the need for digni (Score:5, Insightful)
The problem became evident when it was clear that he had nothing beyond what he had done for ST:NG, so just kept going down the same road, endlessly repeating the plot lines with ever-decreasing effectiveness. It was tolerable during the ST:DS9, mainly because the writing was reasonably good and the characters sufficiently interesting to hold our attention.
Both the late-TNG and DS9 have heavy influence from Ronald D. Moore (who now does Battlestar Galactica). Berman and Moore had a falling out during the first season of Voyager. The fact that Star Trek went steeply downhill just then can't be a coincidence.
Personally, I think Moore's gritty style makes for good stories, but ones that aren't necessarily appropriate for the utopian vision of Star Trek. This is particularly evident in DS9's Dominion War arc, with episodes like The Siege of AR-558. OTOH, the same style works really well for BSG.
Re:Quinto looks like Nimoy? (Score:5, Insightful)
JJ Abrams plotlines... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hooray? (Score:2, Insightful)
Firefly with Whedon is the closest thing to a spiritual heir to TOS that I've seen.
Re:Quinto looks like Nimoy? (Score:5, Insightful)
Even if the director isn't up to snuff, a good actor can still get inside your head and switch off the disbelief circuits.
Ewan McGregor [wikipedia.org] didn't a think like a young Alec Guinness [wikipedia.org], but the young Scotsman did a rather remarkable job of vocally channeling his ghost. Not exactly an impression mind you, but somehow you could hear in his performance an echo of Sir Alec saying things like "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."
We've reached a point of diminishing returns in CGI when it comes to adding credibility. It's up to direction and performances now to put a movie over the top. My favorite of the Harry Potter movies is Cuaron's Azkhaban. The big "magic" effect at the end was just a bright light. There was literally nothing they could have put up on the screen that by itself would convince you that Harry was doing awesome magic. But by treating magic with restraint through the movie, the director sold the finale.
If this Quinto guy plays Spock in a way that is recognizably Spock, he'll be Spock.
I wonder though.
At the risk of sounding a bit of a lunatic, something about Nimoy's portrayal of Spock seems Jewish to me. The reticent Vulcan savant trying, not so much to fit in but coexist with the human majority reminded me of the Jewish scholar or physician in gentile society. So I looked up the other actor who played an Vulcan in an utterly credible Spock mold. Mark Lenard was also the son of immigrant Russian Jews. I can even convince myself, if I try, that there is a microscopic echo of Yiddish in Nimoy and Lenard's "Vulcan" accent.
I'm not saying of course a gentile actor can't do it. Kirstie Alley was a credible Vulcan. I thought Tim Rus' Tuvok was one of the best parts of the spotty Voyager series. But it is a curious coincidence that the two actors identified with the most famous Vulcan characters are children of Russian Jews.
Re:The need for money outweighs the need for digni (Score:2, Insightful)
The writers still gave some support to the Federation Utopia in Enterprise, with Cogenitor [wikipedia.org]. They meet an alien species, and instead of charging weapons, they become friends and work together in exploring a nearby star. The episode would have worked without any conflict at all.
Unfortunately, Trip had to do something stupid (why is the dumbest man on the ship also the chief engineer?) and cause a bunch of problems. Throw those bits out and you'll have a wonderful episode that brings back a sense of wonder to space exploration.
Re:Nimoy had better watch out (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hooray? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:The need for money outweighs the need for digni (Score:5, Insightful)
All in all, it was probably a good thing that the Borg assault was delayed. While "Best of Both Worlds" caused a few minor continuity problems with "The Neutral Zone" season 1 finale, it greatly benefited from Michael Piller's temporary departure at the end of Season 3. Knowing that BoBW would be the last episode he would ever pen, Piller created an impossible situation for other writers to get out of. It was partially brought about by his frustration with Star Trek production at the time, but the effect was pronounced. BoBW is still remembered as one of the best cliffhangers of all time.
Of course, the story doesn't end there. During the summer months, Roddenberry managed to patch things up with Piller and brought him back on board. As a result, Piller was forced to find a solution to his own impossible plot! Whoops.
Another thing to keep in mind was that The Next Generation was originally launched on a tight schedule, reusing a lot of the work that had gone into the previous Star Trek: Phase II plans. (Phase II was the unproduced Star Trek show that became the Motion Picture.) As a result, all the characters had personalities that were not their own. Troi sat in for Illia, Riker sat in for Decker, Data sat in for Xon (they killed him in the first few minutes of the movie due to Nimoy signing back on), Crusher sat in for Doctor Chapel and McCoy, and Picard was Captain Pike revived. Worf was thrown in to show the resolution of the Klingon issues, Tasha Yar was a strong female character (originally auditioned for by Sirtis while Crosby auditioned for Troi!), and Wesley was intended to be a reflection of Gene as a child.
It took a bit of time and effort for all the characters to finally fall into place. But such is the way of things when productions are pushed into being on a tight schedule. Gene departed this world during the fifth season of TNG. Which explains why TNG started to run out of momentum in Season 6.