Derezzed (Daft Punk)

"Derezzed" by Daft Punk

Tron Legacy was below my expectation...but the score was great.... this one here is one of my favorites~

Never Ending Story (1984) (Limahl)

Probably the most memorable song for a fantasy movie... as a kid, my mind sauntered the infinite corridors of possibilities...and in the world where the lines between fantasy and reality are thin...

Bastian Bux, an unbelieving a boy who picks up the book with the intertwined serpents who spends the rest of his reading time being pricked and evoked by a world like never before seen.... The book describes the fantasy world of Fantasia which is being threatened by a force called "The Nothing," a void of darkness that consumes everything...

The character Atreyu sought long and hard to find the Ivory Tower ...the Empress reveals that he in fact succeeded: the quest Atreyu went on was the only way to get in touch with a human child and Bastian is listening to their conversation at that very moment... where the Empress reveals to Bastian that the only way to save Fantasia was for him to say her new name...to believe...

I believed...

Turn around
Look at what you see....
In her face
The mirror of your dreams....
Make believe I'm everywhere
Given in the light
Written on the pages
Is the answer to a never ending story...

Reach the stars
Fly a fantasy....
Dream a dream
And what you see will be....
Rhymes that keep their secrets
Will unfold behind the clouds
And there upon a rainbow
Is the answer to a never ending story...

Show no fear
For she may fade away...
In your hand
The birth of a new day...
Rhymes that keep their secrets
Will unfold behind the clouds
And there upon a rainbow
Is the answer to a never ending story

Tron Legacy...

Another father-son drama, this time, 22 years after the original Tron, Legacy tells of a tale of Sam Flynn who is very much still haunted by his father (Kevin Flynn)'s disappearance finds himself transported to the same digital realm 20 years ago in which Flynn senior now resides.

Legacy will be in 3-D and I hear it boasts superior sight and perception. The trailers gives me the impression that the movie is too sanitized, but I will hold my reservations till movie day.

I've enjoyed watching a few father-son movies over the years:

Star Wars (Empire and ROTJ). Luke and Anakin Skywalker has etched deeply in popular cult. Good vs evil and the retribution of a man once championing the dark side.

Frequency. Dennis Quaid and James Caviesel in a temporal phenomenon of a sort enabling father and son to get to know each other when dad had passed on more than a decade ago. Remember the final scene when dad and son finally gets reunited when the timeline is altered. Funny how temporal paradoxes work.

Pursuit of Happyness (deliberately misspelled). If you recall that word on the daycare centre in which Will Smith sends Jayden Smith whilst struggling with poverty and homelessness. Based on a true story, this touching tale of how a father's sacrifice and tireless efforts pays off.

Tron Legacy hits the theaters on December 16. I doubt this will be a tear jerker, but I expect to be awed by the new range of CGI and 3-D technologies.

Leslie Nielsen (1926-2010)

I remember the man in Airplane (1980) as the hapless, bumbling doctor slapping a delirious passenger about to calm her down. Then there's the Naked Gun (1988), Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). Detective Frank Drebin, the slapstick humor and the satire.

A part of me phased out when I learnt of the legend's death.

I suggested to one of my buddies that the most appropriate way (if we so wished) to commemorate his contribution to comedy and entertainment is to have a Leslie Nielsen marathon. Airplane would be a good choice seeing that was Nielsen's first comedy. The outlandish spoof 2001: A Space Travesty (2001) would be a good seconder, followed by the Naked Gun trilogy. A good laugh out loud session I reckon

Leslie Nielsen, God bless his soul. He brought us lots of comedy and kept us in stitches. He is irreplaceable.

Star Trek XII: Charting the Future

To continue to go where no one has gone before...

The 2009 Star Trek movie was not a let down. I almost always walk into the movies with high expectations. It was nominated for 4 Oscars at the 82nd Academy Awards and won the Academy Award for Best Make-up, making it the first Star Trek film to win an Oscar. Midway through the shoot, Paramount Studios chose to delay the release date from December 25, 2008 to May 2009, believing the film could reach a wider audience...which evidently turned out to be true!

Now that the slate has been wiped clean and the new franchise dubbed "the alternate time line" has taken flight, I greatly anticipate the 2nd installment to be another heart-stopper.

For that, I know that Roberto Orci (Screenwriter), Alex Kurtzman (Screenwriter), Damon Lindelof (Screenwriter), J.J. Abrams (Producer), Bryan Burk (Producer) are involved. It's almost for sure that the drama, character development and action will be present. Still, one has to wonder the premise now for the 12th movie in the Star Trek franchise. Star Trek 2009 took me by surprise. Even non-Trekkies (for lack of a better word) were astounded and I do believe most of the closet cases have revealed themselves after the awesome debut of the new cast. J.J. Abrams' direction was superb, to say the least.

Apart from the sometimes annoying lens-flare, his work takes the audience into a plateau of dynamism and movement. If anything which he can't do is make it less remarkable. I would not render my vote J.J. Abrams polls with vacillation. He's the man for the job. From what I've been reading, the cast in the 2009 movie has signed on.

Word has it that Bruce Greenwood has been husting it for Admiral Christopher Pike. Lest he be strapped to a life-support machine and warps into oblivion as in the Original Series, his reprisal will ever-so guarantee the brass behind Kirk's success. After all, since George Kirk does not live to see James T. Kirk grow up in this time line, Pike is the catalyst in the young captain's career. I really loved his character in the 2009 movie.

Almost nothing has slipped out about the new plot, save as Abrams indication that past stories would not be rejected to form the substratum of the alternate time line sequel. I'm sure fans around the world like me are just dying in speculating the next installment. Could there be a Wrath of Khan tie-in? Who knows? Or does Kirk finds his love interest in Dr. Carol Marcus?



Maybe this time ILM will get the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 sizing right! For the uninitiated, the size of the new starship has been subject of debate. The design size was 366m according to Alex Jaeger of ILM, and this still makes sense, considering that in this case the shuttlebay door and the torpedo launcher would be the same size as on the TMP refit. Also, the hatches would be reasonably tall compared to just 1.8m on a 302m ship. The VFX team at ILM, however, purportedly scaled up the ship to as much as 725m (200%!), the main intention apparently being to be able to squeeze in all the big shuttles.

Shooting is said to start in January 2011, which makes a summer blockbuster release in May 2012 (or thereabouts) a very real possibility, failing which, Christmas 2012 would be a nice present for Trekkers.


Evidently, the Star Trek 2009 movie replica market is not letting up yet. Playmates came out with a few waves of figures and play-sets and of course, the USS Enterprise NCC 1701 starship. Just the other day, I came a across a superbly molded resin core Phaser with chrome and steel plating on eBay. It's 1:1 and the mirror finish does it justice. A nice little, advance birthday present for me I suppose.

Captain America: First Avenger (2011)

If you had been observant, you would have caught the cameo appearances of the famous shield in the Iron Man and Iron Man 2 movies. They have been dropping hints about 4 years and now it seems the icon will be soon a reality on the silver screen.

Born out of war initiative, Captain America was the centrefold of propaganda against the Nazis. The new movie is scheduled tentatively to be released in July 2011 with Chris Evans as the famous American hero.

A synopsis from IMDB.com on Captain America:-

Based on the Marvel Comics character from World War II. A brave, yet mild-mannered young soldier named Steve Rogers, volunteers to undergo a series of experiments for a US army Super Soldier program. The military succeeds in transforming him into a human weapon, but quickly decide that their Super Soldier is far too expensive a creation to risk in combat. So, they decide to put him to use as an army celebrity and parade him across Europe to boost morale by performing in USO shows for American troops. He is even given a costume that bear the colors of Old Glory for the stage. Then, when a Nazi plot reveals itself Rogers must rise up and and become the First Avenger, in order to save his country. Steve Rogers becomes Captain America and he earns his way into the hearts and souls of every American, bringing hope and justice to a war-weary nation. Later, during a mission to Germany to stop his archenemy, The Red Skull from launching rockets at the allies, Captain America sacrifices himself and winds up frozen in ice for almost six decades! Revived, Steve Rogers now must join forces with new heroes and become an Avenger of the modern age.

If so, the sentinel of liberty's role will befit speculation of the plot in the the new Avengers movie (scheduled for release in 2012) which is more contemporaneous with that of the events during Iron Man 2 and the Incredible Hulk. In Iron Man 2, the not so subtle hints of the inception of the Avengers under the guises of S.H.I.E.L.D headed by Nick Fury seems to lay down more elements for a surprise. What more, we're likely to see Mighty Thor on the silver screen within the next couple of years.

In the wake of remakes, most Marvel fans would only seek justice by the heroes portrayed in the movies. They have a predisposed impression from the comics, so the dangers lie when the directors lose sight of that. So far, the Iron Man franchise have been very successful, but I think a lot of circumspect must be had when laying down a series of remakes of superhero characters in light of the expectations of true fans versus the demanding general audience flocking to the cinemas these days. Two kinds of crowds are hard to please.

Predators (2010)

(Click on the poster to go to the movie website)

Predators is this year's on this summer blockbuster release, a sequel to Preadator (1987) and Predator 2 (1990). The 1st movie was a classic pace- setter and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jesse Ventura and Carl Weathers as buffed-up commandos engaging the alien hunter in the dense forests of Central America, that movie was suspenseful and thrilling. Who will forget the luminescent green-blooded alien with its display of hunt tech, including the forearm retractable twin blades, throwing discs which slices through just about anything, the shoulder mounted computer-assisted-targeting blaster and of course, the hallmark face mask HUD.

The sequel to that was so-so by my standards and Danny Glover just about cut it being the hero. Then came the incredibly horrible crossovers in AVP and AVP2:Requeim which had so much potential but lacked the storyline and directing talent. Lame dialogues and lukewarm pace lead to the failures of those two Predator-Aliens crossovers.

The 2010 Predator sequel stars Adrien Brody and Laurence Fishburne and directed by Nimrod Antal. The storyline starts to sound unimaginative and predictable. Humans are selectively abducted and brought to a planet from which these hunter aliens well...hunt them. Another game hunt backdrop, only this time in a jungle on another planet, minus the commandos. If there's going to be any respite from the unforgiving movie critics, the film needs nothing short of a miracle to surpass the high bar set by Predator 1, otherwise it's just going to be a waste of an excellent franchise ruined by lousy scripts and sub-standard directions.

Predators is set to be on the silver screen on July 8th, 2010.

The Force has been with you for 30 years....

Jedi, Sith, Rebels, Imperials, etc. will be coming together on Saturday 29 May, 2010 at the MySciFiFan Star Wars Fan Party to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Festivities take place at the Preview Lounge of Cathay Cineplex Damansara (e@theCurve) from 8pm until 12am midnight including a Fan Film Screening in the Cinema (from 9.30pm).

There will also be special appearances by the 501st Legion, an international fan-based organisation dedicated to screen-accurate costumes of the various iconic characters from Star Wars. Visitors can expect to see the likes of infamous Darth Vader and Stormtroopers from the local 501st Malaysia-Brunei Outpost.


Advance preview of carnival exhibits featuring Imperial Star Destroyers have already landed at the Centre Atrium, e@Curve.

Hasbro is relaunching Star Wars Starship Battles in 2010 on MEGA-scale! Experience the exciting once again by taking command of starfighter squadrons from the Rebel Alliance or Galactic Empire using 3.75 in series toy vehicles from Hasbro in tactical space combat, this time on the largest floor map to be unveiled in Malaysia. Players will maneuver their starfighters, select targets, and fire weapons in attempt to meet their respective mission objectives. Over Rm4,000 worth of toys to be given away!

Iron Man 2 New Movie Posters

(Click here to go to the official website)

Robert Downney Jr. as Tony Stark/ Iron Man in the "Briefcase" Mark V armor

Count down to screening in Malaysia: 4 days

Mickey Rourke's Whiplash profile

Coming Soon: Iron Man 2

The long-awaited sequel is set to be screened in Malaysia on April 30, a week ahead from US screenings.

Looks like the gold-titanium alloy man is bringing with him a whole new range of armor suits and weaponry, namely the Mark IV, V and VI suits and not to mention a new side-kick, War Machine (aka Col. James Rhodes) with a shoulder-mounted chain gun and arm-strapped rocket and grenade launchers. You know it was almost a give-away in the first movie when Terrence Howard (who plays Rhodes) looked at the Mark II for a second, walks away and remarks "next time"....

It looks like the armor variants play an important role both on and off the set. this time Tony Stark would inevitably be developing newer and more state-of-the art armor for dramatic story telling on the screen whilst back here, the toy franchise and licensed merchandisers will be raking in tonnes from toy and memorabilia sales!

Check out HotToys War Machine and Mark IV bust (with lit arc reactor). I hear War Machine will be going for about RM576, with the later release of the Mark IV, V and VI and the half Mark IV bust, you could get for a little over RM300.

The Mark IV armor
(front, side and back profile. Also make reference to the movie poster above)

The Mark V armor
(for some of your who's seen the full trailer, you would notice Tony Start taking out a portable armor in a suit-case...this is the one)

The Mark VI armor
(notice the triangular miniature arc reactor on the chest plate)

For those of you who would be buying an army of Iron Man 2 toys for the kids, don't just spend. Redeem free sneak preview tickets at The Outpost, e@TheCurve (for preview screening on April 29th) when you buy RM200 worth of Iron Man 2 toys from Hasbro.

For display (but not HotToys pricing), you may be interested to pick up an 8-inch Mark VI armor of Iron Man or War Machine (retailing at RM44.90 each) or for a little less at RM39.90 each, 3 3/4-inch figurines (personally, i though War Machine looks fantastic in this size, with matte colors). Cheaper than that, there are several 2 inch figurines going for RM14.90 each, r the less indolent kid, there's always the strapped-on Repulsor for kids aging 4 and up...imagine little squirts going around blasting a bright blue light in your face all the time.

Movie reservations and advance purchases can be made 2 weeks prior to the screening.

Coming Soon: Avatar

James Cameron is making his directorial presence again in the big screen almost a decade after Titanic (which I thought was an extremely overrated romance flick!). Avatar is scheduled for release in Malaysia on 12 December 2009 and is Cameron's latest directorial effort, teaming up with the talents of Sam Worthington and Zoe Zaldana ( who played Nyota Uhura in Star Trek 2009) amongst others.

I've only watched the trailer and thought this movie has potential!

Avatar is set during the 22nd century on a small moon called Pandora, which orbits a gas giant, and is inhabited by the tribal Na'vi, ten foot blue humanoids that are peaceful unless attacked.

The "Avatar Program", a given catchy term, involves human invasion of the resplendent alien world of Pandora, covered in lush and beautiful flora and many dangerous lifeforms. The humans' goal was to simply mine the planet of its valuable minerals.

Pandora Program's pride is the successful lab-grown human-Navi hybrid in which the human brain can be "downloaded" into, giving the superhuman strength, reflexes and most importantly, adaptability to the planet's atmosphere without the need for vehicles of self-contained breathing apparatus. These 'Avatar' units enables man to explore and conquer Pandora in its splendour and dangers.

The panorama depicted by CGI looks fantastic, reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings trilogy and Jurassic Park .

Humans use heavy machinery including dropships, armored personnel carriers, mecha units (resembling Ripley's loader on the Sulaco in Aliens, another blockbuster directed by Cameron) and Osprey looking twin-fan choppers to breach the planet's canopy, defended by the Navi and filled with flesh-eating plants and dragons as if from medieval times.

The protagonist in this movie Jake Sully (Sam Worthington), a wheelchair-bound former Marine signs up with the Avatar Program enabling him to be on two legs again. Jake is reluctant to join the program at first, understandably but goes on ahead anyway as he would be able to walk again, albeit, vis-a-vis another corporeal form. On the planet, Jakes chances upon a female Navi named Neytiri (Zoe Zaldana).

Over time, Jake integrates himself into Neytiri's clan, and begins to fall in love with her. As a result, Jake finds himself caught between the military-industrial forces of Earth, and the Navi, forcing him to choose sides in an epic battle that will decide the fate of an entire world...

I suspect a merchandising line will soon emerge (although there is nothing on Entertainmentearth.com yet) giving movie aficionados and sci-fi fans a new line of collectibles.

I am awaiting Avatar's release eagerly as I have been pining to watch another James Cameron movie. Does the man still have the touch? Well, this, I have to see.

Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince

The problems with books preceding movie adaptations of the novelizations, in my view are two-fold: firstly, readers have expectations of sorts of the movie and secondly the reader knows the conclusion way before the screening. If the movie lacks a good directorial touch, who in the mind of the readers something which is assumed most of time, then the movie can be a real disappointment. Not to mention that many readers and fans are forced to watch the movie for the sake of completing the ritual, notwithstanding the books may have presented a far better narrative for their consumption. To this extent, I think, this phenomenon befuddles us when it comes to the Harry Potter sequels!

The latest movie adaption, the Half-Blood Prince was dark and serious. The blokey British humour and the brighter side of Hogwarts was rarely seen in this sequel. Understandably, the Dark Lord has returned to destroy all and sundry. Only mere mention of him by his minions. There was hardly any screen time for Voldermort. Only mere flashbacks. This movie is a tale of one boy (the chosen one at that) taking on insurmountable odds with less of any respite in the dire circumstances. Must be a superkid of some sort. Having many friends and loved ones killed in the process seem not to deter this young wizard. I did enjoy the Dumbledore-Potter interplay akin to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luke Skywalker. I'm a sucker for master and apprentice duality in movies.

I felt since the plot was already disclosed in the J.K Rowling's novel (although I never read it). the movie naturally didn't require any build-up. As if a plain giveaway, we all knew who the Half-Blood Prince is, almost at the beginning, even by an uninitiated person like me. Even from the outset, Severus Snape was a dubious character and shrouded in secrecy. He was a follower of the Dark Lord and it doesn't take long for one to figure out the most likely suspect. Yeah, he would betray Albus Dumbledore and kill him. (Gee! Like I never would have figured that out!)

The movie's pace was slow and steady. Mostly dark. Boring at times.

It'll be another 2-3 years before Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows makes it on the movie screen, but I am waiting for the finale. I am just a sucker for final-battle-between-good-and-evil scenes! Apart from that, it would be only logical to watch the conclusion having followed the entire series of HP movies. Let's see if Harry manages to destroy Voldermort's Horcrux (like it would really surprise me when he does...see what I mean about books preceding movie adaptations?)

Summer Blockbusters Not So Blockbuster-ish After All

Summer blockbusters are always eagerly anticipated by the movie buffs and the studios which produces them. The former can't wait to see what's in store on the silver screen and the latter can't wait to see how much the weekend openings will gross. Whether it's on 3-D, WIMAX or any other format of presentation, the question which always beckons is whether the movie will be a blast.

As you would know from my previous postings, the "opening ceremony" for me this year is Star Trek. Previously, I have been to all the Trek movies. None of them will surpass the euphoria for this one. The story was good and the elements in the movie was perfect. The reboot of the entire franchise was for me, an ingenious way of ensuring its continuity for posterity and Trekkers like me. It was clever to reset the whole timeline in the Trek universe. A clean slate to start off with. An escape clause, if I may.

Then came the silver screen rendition of Dan Brown's Angels and Demons. Naturally, as I was on the roll, I had to watch it, in anticipation that the entertainment value would closely linger behind the Da Vincci Code. To my dismay, the plot, although supposedly getting thicker, didn't quit cut it for me. It was like watching a modern day Sherlock Holmes mystery relegated against a backdrop of the conflict between the clergy and science. Nothing really fresh. Reading christian literature on the subject, one can find more intrigue. The 'god particle' controversy did not appeal to me all that much at all. In fact, I thought it was a suttle means of convincing the masses that the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a machine of 27 miles in circumference would safely smash atoms at near the speed of light without any dire consequences on planet Earth.

So, a change of taste into Marvel comic characters would do the trick? A resounding NO. X-Men Origins: Wolverine was a forgone conclusion. We all know that Logan will remain alive at the end of the movie. We all know that he's skeleton was infused with adamantium. A man conflicted by his carnal instincts and his will to remain 'human'. A depiction of a constant struggle of a man whose neither here nor there. It's all been played out before in comics and other literature. It's akinned to retelling a story with CGI and SfX. Nothing novel about this rendition of the animal-in-a-man epic. Why don't they make a movie on Charles Xavier (Professor X) or even Erik Magnus Lehnsherr (Magneto)? But of course, violence and action sells more, doesn't it?

Terminator Salvation was next on my list. There was more entertainment value than the preceeding two movies I mentioned, but the again, we all know that Judgment Day was inevitable and John Connor would rise to lead the resistance against Skynet with an outcome unknown till now. The battle rages on. It was the same story told on a another vantage point. We all know he sent his future father, Kyle Reese into the past to protect his Sarah Connor, his mother and the salvation of the human race depended on the events that have past and events to be. A temporal paradox where one cannot exist without the other. Something which would compliment a Star Trek episode very well. Why do they have to unravel the same conclusion over and over again. The machines and humans will remain at war which is seemingly far from any resolve.

Well, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is playing in June. As the title suggests and what more the give away in their latest trailers... Megatron can't die. It's ludricous that the arch nemesis of the Autobots remain "inoperative". I'm keeping my fingers crossed. If this one doesn't do it for me, I'm minded to avoid going to the silver screens for a while...

"Ensign...ahead full..."

He he...Someone actually got me at the special screening of Star Trek on Tuesday nite. I was posing on the Captain's chair for a free poster and some ST goodies.
Fun fun fun!!
(click on the picture to go to the link)

Bond ...James Bond....Is it?

To watch or not to watch...that is the question.
I am mortified by the comments made by my friends who's gone to the pictures. Yee Boon opines its a "waste of time".

Of course, my politically-correct colleague, Sankar (although he hasn't watch the movie) defends the position and preempts further remarks by encouraging yours truly to watch it as an "action movie" and not to expect too much to see the suave spy relishing his shaken (but not stirred) vodka martini as we have known him to be by reason that this Bond is a "diamond in the rough" (after all, its a prequel). Sensible as it sounds, I've always been one who sticks to tradition and identity. An action movie is certainly NOT a Bond flick trait.

Giving the benefit of the doubt will not be easy had I not watch Casino Royale, the first prequel of the Bond family.

Sean Connery set precedent without a doubt, which in his time, took espionage and spydom to a whole new standard. He will always "the" James Bond in my contemplation. The quintessence of a Bond persona is Connery.
George Lazenby was a good try to say the least. Timothy Dalton was not even an attempt and Roger Moore was really entertaining, during a time where the budgets moved the movies half-way accross the world which at that time, was an impressive move for storytelling and dramatics. I did enjoy all the Bond flicks Moore was in. Then came Pierce Brosnan, who projects Bond's persona very well indeed. Then again, many (including I) believes that the torch should have been passed to him long time ago. He does not necessarily make the 'best' Bond, but he'll do.

Nothing against Daniel Craig, but he does look like he can stand in for Jason Statham for a Transporter sequel. And where are all the Bond girls? I mean, the 'real' Bond girls? Something is just artificial about the new Bond films.

I will go watch QOS by reason that it's rumoured the new Trek movie trailer will preceed the movie. According to YB, it does not. I'm beginning to think that the info I got off the net is very less accurate now...but, if I get a favourable confirmation, it'll be a go for me, if not, I will gratefully wait for the DVD

New Trek Updates!

Classic Duo and the "New" Classic New Duo

(...a little surreal don't ya think?)

Space, the final frontier.... Apparently the new Trek XI trailer is out in theaters and is said to play before the newest James Bond flick, Quantum of Solace. I was just having a chat with my buddy (and naturally, fellow Trekkie) Kenny Gordvyn this evening who described the prediliction of many Trekkies for chasing even the slightest glimpse of the teaser trailer back when Cloverfield was on the silverscreen not too long ago. Not suprising, considering the still immense support for the Roddenberry's franchise.

The bridge of the USS Enterprise. Apparently, JJ Abrams wanted all buttons and toggles 'functional' to perfecting dramatic story telling. Facinating!

USS Kelvin (presumably named after William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin,
the British physicist)

So, logic dictates that some will be watching the new Bond flick for the sake of catching the new Trek trailer. After all, the new pictures are out of Trekmovie.com (click on the link) tantalising Trekkies accross the world in anticipation of the movie's release in May 2009. The men in tight uniforms and baggie dress pants are back, with the exception of first glimpse of Kirk's black tunic which JJ Abrams, director of Trek XI discloses that it's part of the story. (remains to be seen...)

Reminiscent of the pose of the original crew of the USS Enterprise

She's beautiful...

What I think I really like about the movie is the "re-refitted" version of the USS Enterprise and Zoe Saldana (hot!) playing Uhura (and for the first time, I found out that her first name is 'Nyota'). Chris Pine plays Kirk whislt the quirky Zachary Quinto plays Spock, the indispensable duo in the classic series. Miracle worker and engineer, Montgomery Scott is played by Simon Pegg whilst Dr. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy is played by Karl Urban. Let's not forget the helmsman, Hikaru Sulu, played by John Cho.


On the other side, Eric Bana plays Nero, a Romulan Commander bent of precipitating war and threaten interstellar peace. Bana looks menacing with those pointy ears, tattoos and the cane he carries around. From Hulk to Romulan.... I think we have a worthy adversary against which the Enterprise's crew will attempt to thwart his plans of destruction.

If the Abrams hold true to his worth, then this movie will be a worthwhile adventure. I am keeping vigilant for updates and news. Hopefully, the latest instalment of the 'boldly goers' will be enought to set phasers to kill!

Star Trek XI (2009); Enterprise Starship Concept

I found these pictures on the new Star Trek Movie fan-page on Facebook. It's the new concept for the Enterprise starship for the latest silver screen rendition of the never-ending space trek According to Trek time-line, the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 was launched in 2245. A Constitution Class starship and she would see 2 captains before the iconic Capt. James T. Kirk, she would be the most famous 5-year mission starship Starfleet will ever have.

The saucer section doesn't look like much different from the original classic Enterprise, but the "streamlined" deflector dish assembly and "aero-dynamical" warp nacelles are the most prominent changes on the new movie Enterprise concept. The deflector dish looks more clunky as opposed to the simple dish-with-an-antennae designed on its predecessor in the 60s. The warp nacelle pylons are slightly widened at the ends and the stardrive section fuselage looks very reminiscent of the re-fitted USS Enterprise in 2272 (just before the V'Ger Crisis).

The spinning Bussard ramscoops are still there. Reminiscent of the original series startship. Of course, as discussed in my earlier posting, it's Roddenberry's 3rd Rule that both warp nacelles must be fully visible from the front.

One thing about her warp nacelles are the visible, dorsal warp coil vanes, which was not seen in the original series. The conspicuous blue glow on the engines is a hallmark of any Starfleet warp-capable starship. Cool. Makes the ship's engines look 'energized', I guess.

According to the Star Trek TNG Technical Manual, the blue light emitting from the warp nacelles is a result of a conversion of subspace fields from the inner surface of the warp coils (made out of, amongst others, verterium cortenide) exiting the outer surface of the coils and radiates away from the nacelles and a certain amount of field energy recombination occurs at the coil centerline and appears as a visible light emission.

STXI is said to be 'under construction' and is due to be out on the silver screen in May 2009. I was slightly disappointed to learn that it wouldn't be out this Christmas as initially planned, but it had to make way for some stupid movie by SonyPictures.