Director Kevin Smith Wants Khan In Star Trek XII

[Stephen of Borg 2]

MTV posted new interviews with director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Jay and Silent Bob Strikes Back) in which he talks about the new Star Trek movie. Here are excerpts.

 

 

 

"I think what makes that movie work chiefly - aside from, of course, the talents who all came together behind it - is Chris Pine," Smith said when he stopped by the MTV News offices. "That dude is astounding. To be able to invoke Kirk without doing a Shatner impression? That performance was so electric and so wonderful to watch."

 

"The opening 10 minutes of that movie are astounding," he said. "It's, like, everything could go downhill after that, and you would still leave that movie going, 'That movie rocked.' But, luckily, it doesn't really go downhill. It maintains that energy throughout."

 

Smith liked the idea of bring back the character of Khan in the sequel. "Maybe they have to go another way with it," he said. "With [Jack] Nicholson's Joker, you had the scenery-chewing, over-the-top, wonderful Joker performance. And then Heath Ledger gives this 180-degree, creepy but wonderful Joker performance, so maybe they need to go that route. Like, if Ricardo Montalbán's Khan is always beloved because it's so over-the-top and operatic, maybe you get somebody who's a little more coiled-spring."

 

 

 

Just as important as who could play the new Khan, Smith told MTV, will be the power of Chris Pine, to pull off Shatner's memorable line about his enemy.

 

 

"It's really going to come down to if Pine can sell, 'Khaaaaan!' " said Smith. "And I'm sure he will be able to."

 

http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/05/13/Dir...e-as-Kirk.shtml

[Jack_Bauer 1]

Wouldn't be my first choice, but Khan is still out there in this alternate timeline. Of course, this potential encounter would be more Space Seed than Wrath of Khan.

 

I still think the Klingons are far more likely to be the villains. And they wouldn't necessarily have to be TOS-style Klingons, they have a possible out in that presumably not all Klingons were infected with the Augment virus before it was cured. They just couldn't use established TOS Klingons (so no Kang, Kor, or Koloth, most notably).

[Voyager recruit 0]

I would think that, given the conflux over the first film-not a critique, just an observation, obvious there...I do rather wonder how a 'Khan remake' would be received-and I put that in a colloquial way, as this is an alternate reality...where J.J. and co. feel 'anything could happen'-my words...it could be interesting, even exciting, yes...I can see Young Jim really get down in the dirt with Khan here, no holds barred..intense, in the way I would think this earlier version-not that the Jim we have long known could not do whatever he had to..just a certain intensity of youth...and one would think, an equal ferocity from Khan...who's not exiled, with the whole galaxy, he believes, at his fingertips...I would imagine they'd have this nearer-to TOS battle royale in the flesh...now that would be a fight to see...and what kind of ship would Khan get THIS time...?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

V'Ger, Kahn, that whale probe thing, "God", the Borg, and the Dominion are all still out there waiting to be discovered. (So are all the time travelers from the different serieses if you accept that everything that happened before the attack on the Kelvin still happened that way.)

 

Part of what made Kahn interesting as a villan, however, is it had the Space Seed backstory. Any future Kahn story would have to have finding the Botany Bay and whatever becomes of her crew wraped up by the end of the movie. It could be done, but it wouldn't have the same impact. Kahn was uber-ambitious, and maybe a bit excentric, but he was still rational in Space Seed. He didn't become the crazy person in TWOK until the loss of his common-law wife and much of his crew under decades of harsh conditions and isolation.

Edited June 5, 2009 by Lt. Van Roy

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I would almost rather they stop making Star Trek movies than to go back and start playing with all of the old stories. If thay MUST have an alternate timeline in order to come up with new stories then come up with new stories. Don't go fooling around with what's already been done.

 

That's one of the things about Hollywood that annoys me today, they have no imagination anymore. They have to go back to old movies and do remakes or sequals or "reboots". Hollywoods brain power is dead.

 

Along these lines (all the remakes and such) I just discovered that they're even making a sequal to "The Last Starfighter" for next year.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

I just discovered that they're even making a sequal to "The Last Starfighter" for next year.

 

According to Wikipedia: "Wil Wheaton, known for his portrayal of Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, had a part in the movie, but his scenes were cut. However, his name still appears in the closing credits and he can be seen as the tallest child running through the trailer park in one of the earliest scenes. Marc Alaimo, who played Gul Dukat in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also appears as one of the assassins in human disguise sent to Earth to kill Alex Rogan by Xur (before the disguise is "detected" and erased by a nearby Last Starfighter game). Kay E. Kuter, who played Enduran, also appeared on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Cytherian, and on an episode of Deep Space Nine as the Sirah. Meg Wyllie who played the Keeper in the Star Trek pilot The Cage appears briefly as Granny Gordon."

 

Oliver Stone is also making Wall Street 2. (The original title was "Money Never Sleeps" based on a line from the first Wall Street.) Again, according to Wikipedia: "In the film, Gekko (once again played by Michael Douglas) has served his prison sentence and is warning everyone about the fall of Wall Street. No one listens to him so he devotes himself to mending his relationship with his estranged daughter. An ambitious, young Wall Street trader is engaged to Gekko's daughter. When his mentor unexpectedly kills himself, he suspects that a hedge fund manager is responsible. He seeks revenge and asks Gekko for help. Gekko agrees in return for help reconciling with his daughter. The film spans from June 2008 to the federal bail out." The film has been in "development hell" for quite a while but that is the current idea for the film.

[ensign_beedrill 0]

Nooooooooo!

 

I think Khan might be an interesting idea... way way far down the line in the future if the new movies ever go that far. Bringing Khan in for the very next movie would be a bad move. It's not original and it would send the message that they've run out of ideas. I am sure there are many, many stories that they could write that don't involve Khan. Plus, bringing in and talking about the Eugenics Wars now would be rather outdated. Weren't they supposed to have happened in the 1990s?

 

It might be neat to see him on down the line and see what they do with him. I agree that he would have to be different for it to work, otherwise you get "Space Seed" again. I've already seen "Space Seed." But save him for later.

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

Granted Roddenbury had no idea Trek would be around for as long as it has, but I think the franchise blew it by not retconing why the Eugenics Wars didn't happen in some canon way.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I just discovered that they're even making a sequal to "The Last Starfighter" for next year.

 

According to Wikipedia: "Wil Wheaton, known for his portrayal of Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation, had a part in the movie, but his scenes were cut. However, his name still appears in the closing credits and he can be seen as the tallest child running through the trailer park in one of the earliest scenes. Marc Alaimo, who played Gul Dukat in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, also appears as one of the assassins in human disguise sent to Earth to kill Alex Rogan by Xur (before the disguise is "detected" and erased by a nearby Last Starfighter game). Kay E. Kuter, who played Enduran, also appeared on an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation as a Cytherian, and on an episode of Deep Space Nine as the Sirah. Meg Wyllie who played the Keeper in the Star Trek pilot The Cage appears briefly as Granny Gordon."

 

 

I had known about Marc Alaimo (because they mentioned his name in the directors commentary on the DVD) but didn't know about Wheaton. I also knew about the Cytherian, his look is pretty distinctive and hard to miss. I hadn't realized that Granny was the Keeper though.

[ensign_beedrill 0]

Granted Roddenbury had no idea Trek would be around for as long as it has, but I think the franchise blew it by not retconing why the Eugenics Wars didn't happen in some canon way.

 

Especially when they brought in the Augments in Enterprise!

 

I read the first book of the Eugenics Wars novels and it was actually very well laid out. It talks about the creation of the genetically enhanced kids and ties in a lot of history. I never did get my hands on the second book, which I think is about the actual wars and the launching of the Botany Bay. But if it was at all like the first book, it probably did a good job at explaining why we weren't aware of the war. I should check that out, come to think of it.

 

Anyway... maybe that would make a good movie! The Eugenics Wars!

[Voyager recruit 0]

I would be perfectly fine with an original 'Newtrek' story for the next film....

[MrPsychic 1]

What I think everyone is missing is that it appears that this whole talk of Khan in the next movie is a joke. Notice how every report about it has somebody laughing when it's mention?

[He Who Shall Not Be Named 2]

Anyway... maybe that would make a good movie! The Eugenics Wars!

It would make a great movie, but only for the diehard fans who memorized every line of dialog in TOS. The rest of the movie-going audience will have no idea what the Eugenics Wars are.

 

Heck, if you mentioned a eugenics war to most people in a general, non-Trek sense they would ask "You mean they cut off men's testicals and then send them to fight?" (Uh... no, those are Eunichs. I'm talking Eugenics. You know, genes and stuff.)