Friday, April 21, 2006

Lost man to boldy go: J.J. Abrams reviving Trek

Variety reports that Lost co-creator J.J. Abrams has been chosen to produce and direct the 11th Star Trek feature film. Abrams is helmer for next month's Tom Cruise xplodo-fest Mission Impossible III. To make the Lost connection even more trasnparent, Abrams' producing team of Damon Lindelof [who also co-created the hit TV series] and Bryan Burk are helping produced the untitled Trek movie. Apparently the film will focus on the early days of James T. Kirk and Spock, including their initial meeting at Starfleet Academy and first mission into outer space.

All of this is good news, in my humble opinion. Abrams has shown a lot of nous with Lost and his previous TV creation, Alias, plus there's a lot of positive buzz on MI:III. Let's face it, any director with the wit to employ Phillip Seymour Hoffman as its antagonist [just before his Oscar bandwagon got rolling for Capote] deserves some kudos. And, frankly, Star Trek needs the help. Without someone fresh to perform a Russel T Davies-style resurrection, the sci-fi franchise was going to spending a long time out in the wilderness. The new film is scheduled for 2008 - let's see if it can save the Federation from oblivion...

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