The IESB website has been slamming the pedal to the metal with a non-stop barrage of exclusive Star Trek spoilers. Among the gems that the website has brought to us in the past few days:
-- confirmation that House actress Jennifer Morrison has been cast in the movie, possibly as Carol Marcus, as well as confirmation that Australian actor Chris Hemsworth will play James Kirk's father in the film.
-- Actor Bruce Greenwood teases IESB about what his character, Christopher Pike, will be doing in the film.
-- And today's latest news: juicy spoilers about the storyline of the movie -- including a new piece of the puzzle that directly connects the time travel element of the new movie with the original series' most memorable episode, "The City on the Edge of Forever."
As IESB reports, the Romulan villain known as Nero (to be played by Eric Bana) uses the Guardian of Forever to travel back to the cadet days of James T. Kirk and murders him before he could become Captain of the USS Enterprise. With Kirk's legendary five-year-mission over before it's even begun history doesn't play out the way we watched in the original Star Trek or in the movies. If Kirk isn't around, who stops V'Ger when it comes back to Earth as seen in the first Star Trek movie? What happens to the Genesis Device if Kirk doesn't battle Khan for it? What happens to Earth when the probe seen in Star Trek IV attacks the planet, and do the Klingons and the Federation reach a peace settlement if Kirk isn't around in The Undiscovered Country? I have to admit the idea of seeing the ramifications of 40 years of Star Trek history without Kirk is a damn interesting idea. It also puts a whole new spin on Bruce Greenwood's cryptic comments to the IESB about why the Trek movie team selected an older actor to play Chris Pike -- suppose if there is no Kirk to take over the Enterprise Pike decides to stay in command of the ship? What would a Captain Pike do differently from Kirk if he found Khan's sleeper ship adrift in space? How would Pike handle the Doomsday Machine? And if Pike were the one sent into the 1930s in "The City on the Edge of Forever" how would have history played out?
IESB also reveals more minor details from the movie including the meeting of the two Spocks and the fact that we're going to see a young Kirk handling the infamous Kobayashi Maru command test.
Every day there seems to be a new reason for me to get my hopes dashed for this new Star Trek or another reason to love it again. Today is a good day.
