El Mayimbe Checks Out The Star Trek Presentation! By El Mayimbe on November 18, 2008 El Mayimbe here...   So tonight Paramount Pictures had a special presentation of some really cool footage from J.J. Abrams "Star Trek" here in NYC just like Warner Bros. Pictures had with their "Watchmen" footage a few weeks ago.   A select few film journalists in the area were in attendance.  We caught up with ComingSoon's Ed Douglas, Mike Sampson from Joblo.com and Kel and I finally got to meet AICN's Harry Knowles who is cool as hell and a fellow Captain America fan.   Personally, I can get used to these sneak peeks.  They treat you well at these events and spoil you.  The only bad thing about these cocktease presentations is that just as you're getting into the story - boom CUT!  You gotta wait till the movie comes out to see the rest.   The director J.J. Abrams was in the house and looks like he was loaded on Red Bull.  He walked the audience through the presentation and gave the origin of how he came aboard the project.  Like J.J., I wasn't a hard core Trekkie but after seeing what I saw, I can definitely get into Star Trek this summer.  I totally understand the minor beef that some Trek purists might have with certain elements of the film because I'm the same way when it comes to G.I. JOE, but I feel Abrams' take will make Star Trek and that universe more accessible and universal to audiences.   Overall, the footage was really REALLY hot and there looks like there are gonna be some stand out performances.  For example, Bruce Greenwood's PIKE owned every scene he was in.  Excellent presence.  Fellow Dominicana Zoe Saldana smoldered the screen and looks like she is gonna kill the role of Uhura.   So here is a quick breakdown of what was shown:   Scene 1: Growing up, we used to have a saying, the guys who can fight and fight well, fight like James T. Kirk - "Yo, don't fuck with me because I can get down like Captain Kirk!"  In hip hop culture, Captain Kirk never lost a fight. Corny I know, but in this scene we see a young Kirk get down in a bar fight after hitting on Uhura.  In a nutshell, this scene is the CALL TO ADVENTURE scene where Pike recruits Kirk to join the Federation and naturally Kirk refuses at first. Kirk then drives his motorcycle in that shot from the trailer where he looks at the Enterprise being built and makes his decision to join Starfleet - our ACCEPTANCE OF THE CALL scene.  Very Joseph Campbell.   Scene 2: Three years later, we catch up with Bones and Kirk where Kirk has a serious infection of sorts and has chicho hands. A bad side effect. Bones sneaks Kirk onto the sick bay of the Enterprise.  Kirk has a gut instinct of some impending danger for Pike and the Enterprise and warns Pike.  We also get to see John Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov, a pretty cool intro to the crew overall.   Scene 3: Easily my favorite preview scene because we see Leonard Nimoy as Spock. Kirk has somehow hooked up with "Future Spock" after being kicked off the Enterprise by Zachary Quinto's "Young Spock" We also see Simon Pegg as Scotty. Kirk seems to be stuck on this Ice Planet and needs to get back to the Enterprise with Scotty's help.  Future Spock tells Scotty that his trans wrap theory (which Scotty has yet to discover) is correct and I guess that is how Kirk will get back.  Nimoy's Spock does that famous Vulcan hand sign that Kel and I for the life of us can't do. Nimoy looked really cool in his signature role.   Scene 4: A bad ass action scene. We get to see Kirk, Sulu and a red shirt go on a sabotage mission to stop the Romulans from drilling a hole into Vulcan.  We also get a quick glimpse of Winona Ryder as Spock's mom.  Kirk, Sulu, and the red shirt do a serious Halo drop from Space into Vulcan's atmosphere. Upon landing on the drill, a showdown ensues and we get to see Sulu blaze a sword like Storm Shadow. In other words, Sulu is a bad ass sword wielding ninja in J.J. Abram's Star Trek!  Them Romulans are some ugly motherfuckers and get pwned by Kirk and Sulu.   Overall, I had a great time and think the film is gonna play very well across the board. Again, the footage looks really hot.  With Star Trek, Transformers 2 and G.I. JOE, Paramount will be able to literally print money next summer.   A special shout and thanks to Paramount's Tamar for hooking it up.   In the meantime, you can follow my updates on TWITTER! Source: Latino Review Comments Commented By: F. Jackie Abraham on 2008-11-18 10:04:38 Will Sulu be gay in this version also? wtf? Commented By: joe morrison on 2008-11-18 12:12:33 sulu wasnt gay in the original tv series or ST movies. Its a part of his real life. Commented By: F. Jackie Abraham on 2008-11-18 13:58:33 OK.....So Sulu will like women in this new film. Cool! Will he smoke pot and hang out with an Indian fellow? at F.Jackie Commented By: Joe morrison on 2008-11-18 16:06:29 hahahahah "yo J.T....where is the boong?" "i dont know..but can you drive us to the next whitecastle?" xD COOL! Commented By: 420band on 2008-11-18 17:44:43 Does he get to fuck the bag of weed this time? I can't wait Commented By: oseymour on 2008-11-18 18:49:26 I'm the biggest star trek fan and I think this will be a great movie.....away missions and time travel were always my favorite part of star trek How about... Commented By: F. Jackie Abraham on 2008-11-18 19:08:25 Chris Meloni should play a cracker alien that Sulu encounters in outer space! I hate to seem anal but... Commented By: Grammarnazi on 2008-11-18 19:10:27 "Paramount will be able to literally print money next summer." I get it, you're going for impact... but is it so hard to find something to say that doesn't sound idiotic? Maybe you just need to look up the definition of literally. SF is dead Commented By: Howard on 2008-11-18 19:30:39 SF is about the future this is about the past.... No way Commented By: John Watts on 2008-11-18 19:31:33 Sorry, but no one is going to be able to pull William Shattner and Leonard Nemoy! Jess http://www.privacy.es.tc Ukons on 2008-11-18 19:31:48 Go to Ukons.com + report a GOOD DEED. Go to PandaBearz.com + report a random Act of Niceness! Trailer Commented By: Spiffy on 2008-11-18 19:36:55 These are just screen shots from the trailer. Commented By: mike m. on 2008-11-18 20:11:45 The New Enterprises to clean! There is no grit to it. The outside looks about right but the inside looses some appeal to the old heads that have been around from the beginning. I like the story line idea that Abrams want to show they all meet, it is just the entire of the ship I just can't get with Glad you used my screen captures Commented By: Bodhi on 2008-11-18 20:57:56 I'm honored you used the captures I made from the preview in such an excellent article. I'm really looking forward to the movie. http://www.bodhipaksa.com/archives/050809 uh...what? Commented By: Cory on 2008-11-18 22:25:14 "SF is about the future this is about the past.... " Explain Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow to me. Science Fiction isn't limited to a certain time period. Grand Pubaaa Commented By: bastard_son_of_kirk on 2008-11-19 01:35:55 I hate to give this away but... Sulu plays it straight for the first 2/3s of the movie, then he announces to the rest of the crew he's gay after Kirk catches him fraternizing (a no-no for officers) with several enlisted bum chums in the communal shower and then he surprisingly marries ___ (sorry, can't say which guy, I don't want to spoil the movie for you). ok cool Commented By: fanboy d on 2008-11-19 08:40:11 nice. this movie should be a whole lotta fun. but, i wish the g-i joe love would stop creepin into reports on other movies, insults our intelligence, that movie is gonna suck hard Commented By: F. Jackie Abraham on 2008-11-19 09:03:22 Will Sulu be saying, "Oh My" throughout the film?