Star Trek XI News and Gossip Begins

As fans reacted with optimism to the announcement of an eleventh Star Trek feature film to be helmed by J.J. Abrams (story), some facts about the movie have become clearer.

StarTrek.com has confirmed that longtime Star Trek executive producer Rick Berman, who was personally brought into the franchise by creator Gene Roddenberry and worked on all of the second-generation shows and movies, is not involved. "This project is separate from the previously rumored script developed by Eric Jendresen and overseen by Rick Berman," stated the official site. "The former Star Trek producer is not involved in this project."

An Associated Press article on Abrams, who will co-write the Star Trek XI script with his Mission Impossible III collaborators Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, quoted Paramount spokeswoman Nancy Kirkpatrick as saying that original series stars William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy have not yet been approached about appearing in the prequel film, which will reportedly focus on Kirk and Spock's first meeting and their first adventures together.

George Takei, who played Sulu in the original series, six films and on Star Trek: Voyager, noted on his web site that he was "very excited" about the news. "I wonder what Sulu would have been up to in those early days at Starfleet Academy?" he said. "We've lived much longer than we ever thought, and will continue to prosper in so many unimagined ways in the future."

Some people, however, refused to take the news seriously. Dateline Hollywood published a satirical article claiming that Abrams had taken out a restraining order against Shatner and that Star Trek actors from Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) to Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher) had been spotted stalking Abrams, the only exception being Patrick Stewart, who has recently declared his frustration at being so closely associated with Captain Picard.

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