By Quinn Bender
While a small but vocal band of die-hard Trekkies have denounced the new Star Trek film for abandoning established story lines, Leonard Nimoy has been quick to defend the new adventure, saying the essential tenants of peace, tolerance and cooperation in Gene Roddenberry’s creation should always take precedence over the minutia of story details. At a press conference in Los Angeles last week, he said true fans would understand that.
“I have to point out there is great authenticity in this movie. It’s a brilliant cast they’ve put together here. I’m an admirer of all the cast in this movie,” Nimoy said.
“Over the years I’ve often been asked, ‘what contributes to the longevity and interest in Star Trek, and what makes it successful?’ I think one of the things that’s easily overlooked is the fact all of the people on this Enterprise crew, all of the people involved in various characters in Star Trek, are highly educated and highly professional people. They are for the most part scientists, and they really know how to do their jobs. I think people admire that… each makes their own contribution to the solution of a problem.”
In its more than 40-year history, Star Trek has carved out an iconic place in modern pop culture as the only ongoing story that encapsulates the awe, wonder and bold audacity of the human desire to explore the universe. The original TV series was not a hit when it first aired, but later caught on among the ever-growing legion of fans who responded to its compellingly funny, contentious, charismatic personalities and its five-year mission to peacefully engage new worlds and cultures. The new film marks the first time fans will learn how exactly that mission began.
In order to achieve greater freedom in the writing of the story, an alternate universe is introduced, where the writers aren’t chained to the decades of plot development.
This movie’s release marks the first time in 18 years that fans will again see Nimoy assume his now legendary character. He admitted to great disappointment when not invited to share the screen with Trek helmer William Shatner in 1994’s Star Trek: Generations.
“Frankly I had felt marginalized for a long time. I haven’t been asked to be involved with Star Trek for about 17 or 18 years. This felt like somebody had said: there’s a value to you that we’d like to take advantage of and do something with. It felt good. It felt good. Frankly, I felt appreciated.”
In the new adaptation, he added, fans will see countless homages to the original series, a striking but reinvigorated portrayal of the familiar characters and a storyline in tune with the vision of creator Gene Roddenberry.
“When we were making the series it was about what issues the writers were going to tackle in Star Trek that they could not tackle in other television series. Those were the things that made Star Trek interesting for me. In this film I think it’s a question of vengeance. It’s the defeatism and emptiness of vengeance.”
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