A lot of the information that came out is stuff we’ve already heard or have been hearing rumors of, but some of it is new details. Here is the majority of it:

• The film will definitely be rated PG-13. That doesn’t really surprise me since Star Trek has always been more of a PG kind of movie. There was no way they were going to go R with this one.
• The release date was pushed back because Paramount wants the movie to be a summer blockbuster and not for any other reason.
• The budget on the film is far below the sometimes reported $200M. A more widely reported $160M budget could still be accurate and is probably in line with other films of this nature.
• They went all the way back to the beginning of the original characters because their intent was to “re-invent” the Star Trek franchise. I’m not really sure why they felt that was necessary. I think this explanation is partly BS. I think they went back to the original characters because they thought it would attract audiences already familiar with the characters.
• The script was written with Leonard Nimoy in mind so Spock, as suspected, is probably a pretty pivotal character to the film. Nimoy read and liked the script, of course, which is one of the reasons the film was able to be made. One would assume they would have had problems had Nimoy not been interested in doing the movie.
• Speaking of Nimoy, he actually said that this film, Star Trek 11, is the biggest film he’s ever worked on and will definitely be worth waiting for. He reaffirmed Paramount’s faith in the film as a summer blockbuster.
• Nimoy apparently also mentioned that he didn’t like the death of Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. In fact, he resented it. However, he did say that putting Shatner (Kirk) in this film would have been damaging to the story as a whole so he agreed with the decision not to do it.
• The USS Enterprise will be assembled in space, although parts of it will be assembled on Earth.
• One of the most interesting things revealed was that it was originally Steven Spielberg who read the script and talked to J.J. Abrams about directing it during a set visit to the Transformers set. Abrams mentioned it to his wife, who also helped talk him into the final decision to take on the massive project.

So that’s the gist of it. It looks like we now know with some certainty that Shatner will not be appearing in the film as Captain Kirk. I think that rumor has been pretty rampant so it’s good that they were able to put an end to it early on. I think it’s a shame that his stupid death in Star Trek: Generations is what prevented him from being a part of this project, though.

Any thoughts?

I am Spock, and there is another Spock and there is another Spock. There are a total of three Spocks in the movie and that is all I will say about it

While this might seem like a spoiler there has been widespread speculation that the script calls for a third, much younger Spock to appear in the film. We already knew that Zachary Quinto will be playing the character as a young adult and that Leonard Nimoy will make an appearance as, we can only assume, an older Spock.

Since Winona Ryder was cast as Spock’s mother, Amanda Grayson, the most popular theory has it that she will somehow appear as a flashback or time travel event. Winona Ryder is only a few years older than Zachary Quinto in real life so it would make little since to cast such a young person only to have to age her older if no flashback or time travel event were present.

At any rate, we now know that a young Spock, a baby or child most, will be featured in the story. This will undoubtedly give the Trekkies more to talk about in the coming months. As it stands now, few details of the actual script are known. However, if you’re interested, AICN posted what purports to be an eyewitness overview of the screenplay. I’d read it with a healthy skepticism.

“Star Trek XI” is set for release on December 25, 2008.