I know this is WAY off topic but since it was brought to my attention via social network, I figured that six degrees of separation still allows me to post it here. <br/><br/> The Star Trek franchise will finally crash. <br/><br/> For those of you who don't know, I was raised on Star Trek. It went off the air the year I was born but technically I could hear it through my mother's stomach. As both my mother and father were avid fans, my early yet formative years were spent watching Kirk seduce green women, McCoy cure all illnesses, even if they were outside his "wheel-house", Spock learn that it's not all about the facts, and Scotty pad his hours so he'd look like a hero by finishing early. I very clearly remember my father returning from the first ever Star Trek Convention in NYC without a tribble, which I specifically remember requesting, but instead with stories of meeting the cast and some acid inspired posters which hung on our walls for years. This of course culminated in my meeting and photo-shoot with Mr. Shatner himself last year. <br/><br/> I watched all 10 of the movies at the theater, sometimes several times. I watched all 6 of the tv series (including the animated one). I will admit that I was a bit lax with Deep Space 9. I almost dumped out of Voyager, but then <a href="http://www.1956packardpanther.com/SevenOfNineJeriRyan.jpg">7 of 9</a> arrived and gave me several more reasons to watch. I was bummed out that Enterprise was cancelled. Any sci-fi show needs time to find itself and I thought Enterprise was heading in the right direction, as long as they got rid of that terrible Bon Jovi-esque title music! <br/><br/> So you can imagine how thrilled I was with the announcement that a new movie was in the works, with no less than Lost creator JJ Abrams at the helm. My excitement was increased dramatically with talks of Matt Damon heading the cast. That rumor was with Abrams stating that Damon was too old for the part. I shook my head at that, assuming he knew best. I was intrigued by the announcement that <a href="http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070111/heroes_l.jpg">Zachary Quinto</a> of Heroes fame would be taking the part of Mr. Spock. But when the final cast was announced, I hung my head and admitted to myself that this was probably the end of the Star Trek universe. It seems that the NCC 1701 Enterprise is going to go into the Black Hole of Abrams re-imagining and come out the other side the NCC 90210 Enterprise. <br/><br/> Check out this cast breakdown: <br/><br/> Kirk - <a href="http://www.playbill.com/images/photos/atheistpre200.jpg">Chris Pine</a> - Ok, it's interesting that his name is Chris Pine and the captain of the Enterprise previous to Kirk was Christopher Pike. But really, this guy is known for not just the Princess Diaries, but the Princess Diaries 2! That combined with that car crash of a Lindsay Lohan movie Just My Luck WAY outweighs his roll in Smoking Aces. <br/><br/> Spock - <a href="http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/070111/heroes_l.jpg">Zachary Quinto</a> - I'll admit that I'm interested in this casting. I haven't seen much of this actor and certainly didn't like him last season on Heroes, but this season he's already shown a bit of range that I'd like to see. I think he may pull it off as long as the script is good and he's doesn't play caricature of Nemoy. <br/><br/> Dr. McCoy - <a href="http://www.sagralisse.mediawood.net/urban/eomer/eomer_rotk_sped_001.jpg">Karl Urban</a> - I think Urban is the most inspired casting. I've only seen him in Lord of the Rings and thought he was great. It will be interesting to see if he can go from scowling seriousness to ironic frustration mixed with gentlemanly humor. <br/><br/> Scotty - <a href="http://img.search.com/7/73/Simonshaundead.jpg">Simon Pegg</a> - Again, not bad casting. If he avoids the caricature we may be alright here. <br/><br/> Sulu - <a href="http://wizarduniverse.com/_images_/004483/johncho.jpg">John Cho</a> - This is where it begins to snowball (keeping in mind that this was announced before the Kirk casting). American Pie's MILF guy #2 and Harold from Harold and Kumar? He's a bit to cute for the part. Sulu was a bad ass with a sword. <br/><br/> Chekov - <a href="http://www.exposay.com/celebrity-photos/anton-yelchin-teen-vogue-young-hollywood-party-xwE9GZ.jpg">Anton Yelchin</a> - I liked this kid ass Bird in Huff. I thought he was great, but again, a bit too cutsey. Granted Chekov's original casting (TOS) was as the "Davey Jones" of the cast, but come on! <br/><br/> Uhura - <a href="http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/wp-content/photos/zoe.jpg">Zoe Saldana</a> - OK, she's hot. But a bit too hot. With roles in movies such as Temptations, Ways of the Flesh and After Sex, it's seems like Abrams may be sexing Trek up a bit too much. <br/><br/> One of the things that made the new version of Battlestar Galactica a critical hit as well as a great boy-show was that not everyone was cast based on their looks. There is some top notch acting talent in that cast, who, for merchandising and promotion is good looking enough but certainly not a bunch of Guess models! <br/><br/> Obviously I'll have to wait and see, but so far I'm not impressed. I feel like Ann Rice did when they took her baby and put Tighty-Whitey guy and Mr. Chisel-cheeks in the lead roles. I hope, like Ann Rice, that I'm wrong, wrong, wrong...
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