Lindelof On The Mysterious Harrison
2 min read
Star Trek into Darkness Co-writer Damon Lindelof explained that there is a logical reason for keeping quiet about the villain of the movie.
After the success of Star Trek, the pressure is on to produce a good movie. “If anything, we’ve become more terrified [this time],” said Lindelof. “We kind of got it right the first time; ‘Let’s really not screw it up this time.’ You really have to honor the forty-plus years of canon and legacy that this amazing franchise had before we put pen to paper.”
Lindelof explained why information on John Harrison is so scarce, and it’s not just because Abrams is secretive about his projects. “The audience needs to have the same experience that the crew is having,” he said. “You’re Kirk; you’re Spock; you’re McCoy; so if they don’t know who the bad guy is going to be in the movie, then you shouldn’t know. It’s not just keeping the secret for secrecy’s sake. It’s not giving the audience information that the characters don’t have.”
“I’m working on a bunch of different projects, and I even have to keep secrets about one project from the people I’m working with on the other project,” said Lindelof. “They’ll say, ‘So, seriously, who’s Benedict playing?’ I’ll say, ‘Do you really want to know?’ Then they go, ‘No, no, no, I don’t.’
“They know that if I said it to them, they would have a five-second rush of exhilaration followed by four months of being completely and totally bummed out that they can’t tell anybody else and that when it gets revealed in the movie, it will have been spoiled for them. That’s why they’re called ‘spoilers,’ they’re not called ‘awesomes.'”
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So, basically, he’s just confirmed what we already knew: John Harrison is a code-name.
Meh.
“You really have to honor the forty-plus years of canon and legacy that this amazing franchise had before we put pen to paper.”
The way you honored it by having it all written out of future Trek?
Did they really have to blow up Vulcan *and* Romulus? Sheesh.
Exactly. And that’s just two of many things I dislike so vehemently about these guys’ version.
Yeah, that quote screamed hypocrisy. Even in space you could hear the scream. He should just be nervous, very nervous, about doing a Prometheus to Star Trek.
Romulus did not bother me so much. That could make a good new Trek series. A new Enterprise is sent out to explore the Beta quadrant and help the remnants of the Romulan empire.
Sure hope he is not Khan. Why change the time line so you can come up with “new stories” if all you can do is rehash what has already been told?
I’d prefer them as cool, mysterious enemies rather than victims, myself.
I found some news that the actual cannon character is from another timeline and fell into the black hole spock prime created trying to save romulus. It opened a doorway between multiple universes and times.
The character that seeks revenge for being abandond to mysterious aliens that cannot communicat or feel like we do and received special powers so as a very young child he could survive.
Spoiler Alert——————–
The Characters name is —————–
Charlie Evans!
Or, he could possibly be yet another variation on a known “nemesis” .
Perhaps he’s actually Johnny, the offspring of Harcourt Fenton Mudd, thus making him…
Spoiler Alert—————-
…John, Harry’s son!
Ugh. Ok, I really hope not, for my sake (and the good of the general public). :p
I thought were going to be staying away from the whole time travel/alternate universe thing this time around. They established the alternate timeline in the previous movie so I don’t think they’ll go back to that as a starting point again for this movie.
Could be a Mudd robot which would explain why he is “better in every way” and also why he is “not really a villain” i.e. he is obeying programming and a Mudd character has also been introduced in the countdown comic. That said I don’t think it will be that I think it will be as simple as rebel with a cause who may or may not be a canon character but in a new guise. I just love not knowing.
My God, what have they done? (spoilers below the cut)
http://popculturezoo.com/2013/03/exclusive-major-spoilers-for-star-trek-into-darkness/
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Exclusive: MAJOR SPOILERS For Star Trek Into Darkness!
by Joseph Dilworth Jr. | March 21st, 2013
[WARNING! MAJOR SPOILERS! DO NOT PROCEED UNLESS YOU ARE OK WITH BEING SPOILED!]
With less than two months to go before the release of Star Trek Into Darkness more and more information is beginning to eke out, whether via official channels, folks that have screened footage, extrapolations based on the previous two or by insiders who are now working on other projects. It is by one of those means (we’ve been asked not to give any details) that we bring you the below, exclusive spoilers. I can say that this is a confirmed, trusted source for Pop Culture Zoo, so make of it what you will.
We’ve been told that Benedict Cumberbatch is not playing Khan, Gary Mitchell or Garth of Izar, as has previously been reported, but rather the son of Harry Mudd. The film will reveal, during its second half, that he chose his name, Harrison, because he’s “Harry’s son.” And he’s also an android, from the planet of androids that Mudd found in the Original Series episode “I, Mudd” (further linking the reboot universe to the original timeline)–he’s the new Norman. Furthermore, the identity of the character being played by Joseph Gatt has also been revealed to us. Early reports cited him as playing someone called “GATT 2000″, but this was never explained, leaving fans confused. We now know that he will be #2,000 in the GATT android series. And those cryogenic chambers from the early trailer? They’re android creation machines. The latter spoiler explains the presence of Harriet Mudd in the Into Darkness prequel comic IDW is currently producing, as well as Harrison’s increased strength in the trailers. Our source was more vague on whether we would see Harry Mudd himself in the film, but that we would “learn of his fate” before the end credits rolled. Speaking of the end credits, our source strongly advised everyone to remain in their seats until the credits are done. While we were given no specific details, there were hints that there will indeed be a bonus scene. As to what that will be, I was told to re-watch the final episode of Enterprise for a hint. Pop Culture Zoo is attempting to verify this last part further before we speculate on what this could mean, but have an idea that this might be a huge game-changer for the Trek film series as a whole.
More to come!
I reiterate that it’s stupid and ill-concieved, which given the writers we’re stuck with, makes it all the more plausible.
It’s not that I have any objections to Mudd’s androids or Mudd himself; hell, encountering him about a decade early would make him young enough to bang our teen starlet crew members with impunity by Hollywood standards.
I do however think that there’s an awful lot of groundwork that would need to be laid first, and making Harry Mudd a sinister, vengeful figure (or daddy thereof) would defeat the entire purpose of, well, Harry Mudd. Harry is a big, colorful character who would make a good antagonist in his own right, and confining him to the background or even worse, keeping him offscreen altogether would be a profound waste of a wonderful resource.
…Which would once again be perfectly likely for those knuckleheads and Cueball the Unwritable. (*cough*most of the transformers who weren’t in the movies at all*cough* and *cough*the ending and entirely too much else in Lost*cough*.)
Oh, my throat. Kang just couldn’t swallow it all. *hack*cough*hairball*
Hate to kill that theory but in the Abrams Universe Harry Mudd is now a female Bajoran. This was the reveal in the latest issue of the comic, which has been deemed canon by Paramount and Abrams.