'Star Wars' Fan Abrams On Making New 'Star Trek'

Although more of a Star Wars fan, J.J. Abrams wanted to make a better Star Trek.

As reported by Yahoo! Movies, Abrams found something in Star Trek that appealed to him, and wanted to improve upon it. "It was an opportunity to take what I think has been a maligned world to sound crass, a franchise and treat it in a way that made it something that I wanted to see," said Abrams "To take the characters, the thoughtfulness, the personalities, the sense of adventure, the idea of humanity working together, the sense of social commentary and innovation, all that stuff. To take it and apply it in a way that felt genuinely thrilling."

Improving Star Trek means appealing to more than just the devoted Star Trek fan. "The whole point was to try to make this movie for fans of movies, not fans of 'Star Trek,' necessarily," said Abrams. "If you're a fan, we've got one of the writers who's a devout Trekker, so we were able to make sure we were serving the people who are completely enamored with 'Star Trek.' But we are not making the movie for that contingent alone."

Abrams went on to explain why he felt that reaching out beyond Star Trek fans was necessary. "You can't really make a movie for them," he explained. "As soon as you start to guess what you think they are going to want to see, you're in trouble. You have to make the movie in many ways for what you want to see yourself, make a movie you believe in. Then you're not second-guessing an audience you don't really have an understanding of."

Redoing Star Trek means updating the 1960s characters for the modern day. "It's a chance to see what Kirk and Spock would look like done now," said Abrams. "What's thrilling about it is how great the cast is, how remarkably talented and funny and just spot-on they all are."

An actor from one of Abram's childhood favorite movies, Star Wars, paid a visit to the Star Trek XI set according to TrekMovie.com. Harrison Ford (Han Solo) dropped by during the last week of shooting on the film to have lunch with Abrams. He is just one of several actors who have paid visits to the set during filming, including Tom Cruise and Steven Spielberg among others.

To read more, head to the articles located here and here.

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