J.J. Abrams And ‘Star Trek’ Writers Reveal Film Has ‘All The Gadgets Y

[DaboGirl 7]

J.J. Abrams And ‘Star Trek’ Writers Reveal Film Has ‘All The Gadgets You Could Want’

 

Published by Jennifer Vineyard on Tuesday, September 2, 2008 at 12:14 pm.

 

The writers, directors, and producers behind the “Star Trek” reboot guard the secrets of the upcoming movie like it’s their own Prime Directive. Mention anything that could reveal a plot point — like say, moments with Kirk and Spock’s mothers — and they immediately employ defensive maneuvers.

 

“The what? What flashbacks?” writer/director J.J. Abrams asked. “I never said flashbacks.”

 

“We didn’t say there were flashbacks!” teased writer/producer Alex Kurtzman.

 

But that didn’t mean they aren’t willing to give something up — in the spirit of diplomacy, of course. Plot and character development might be off limits (they all refuse to answer the question, “Where does the movie start” except Abrams, who teased, “In the fu-ture”) — but gadgets aren’t. “We intentionally don’t talk too much about the story,” said producer Bryan Burk, “but there’s all the gadgets you could want. No replicators,” since they originated in “Next Generation,” “but there’s warp speed and transporter beams and tricorders and communicators and everything you could want. All the gadgets.”

 

“It’s one thing in ‘Star Trek’ to get all excited and freak out about communicators, but to them, it’s like it’s the new iPhone,” Abrams said. “These are just the tool they’re using.”

 

The writer’s team had “endless discussions” about how to portray the gadgets, as well as all the other details of “style” and “esthetics,” Abrams said. “If you do the bridge of the Enterprise, what does it look like? Does Uhura has the piece in her, or does she not? And if she does, what does it look like? If they have tricorders, what do they look like? Phasers, how do you go from stun to kill, and does anything happen? What does the whole fleet look like? I’m telling you, every day, we were figuring this out, how do we take what we know and love and ‘Star Trek’ and apply it to a modern audience.”

 

Some of these details will be a little more hidden, Burk said, as easter eggs. “There will be appearances of things,” he said.

 

“We have family members who would disown us if we got any of those wrong,” said writer/producer Roberto Orci.

 

At the same time it’s meant for hardcore fans, “it’s designed very much to be seen if you don’t know anything about it,” Orci said, “including the story of how they all met. It’s finally, truly Star Trek Zero in a way. You don’t have to know anything.”

 

What do you want to see in “Star Trek”? What does the movie need to have to be complete to you?

 

J.J. Abrams And ‘Star Trek’ Writers Reveal Film Has ‘All The Gadgets You Could Want’ - 09.02.08

[Eratosthenes 0]

Oh very cool! I wonder how everything turned out. I'm sure the corridors have a LOT more detail than they did in TOS, and they've probably updated the retro TOS styling on the gadgets...I can't wait!!!

[rob39874 0]

I'm hoping the gadgets resemble the TOS ones somewhat or at least look like they came from that idea.