Bruce Greenwood answered some Trek questions. The veteran actor told “I am the second incarnation” of Chris Pike. [actually counting Sean Kenney. Greenwood would be the third] Greenwood said that he is due on the set in three weeks and that he already had his costume fitting saying “I think there will be a certain nod to the 60s.” Although he remains as tight lipped as everyone in relation to the project he did confirm the we would
see him in the famous ‘Pike Chair,’ telling MTV “that’s been done.”In a separate interview with. Greenwood stated he wasn’t a Trek fan but that he was going to “do the research on Pike and Hunter.” IESB asked about how Greenwood was older than the original Pike. Jeffrey Hunter but the new film was going to be a prequel. Greenwood replied with a grin “Yes…. So what?”
He isn’t necessarily older than the original Pike as seen in the FLASHBACK scenes originally from the first pilot The Cage and used in The Menagerie. Spock states in that particular episode that the footage they are watching was 13 years prior to that episode. I know about as much as the next guy as far as the new movie is concerned I suppose but it would seem to me that the events in the new movie are approximately 6-8 years prior to the original series based on the fact that Kirk supposedly becomes a captain by the end of the film. Given that set of cicumstances. Bruce Greenwood’s age wouldn’t be too far off. Besides haven’t we seen people playing characters younger and older than themselves plenty of times before?
Of course this isn’t the first time someone at IESB either didn’t have their facts straight or hadn’t thought it through before actually asking some of the stupid questions I’ve seen them ask.
He looks about the age I’d expect Pike to be when he hands over the Enterprise to Kirk. Perhaps we’ll see the scene referred to in The Menagerie when Pike is promoted to Fleet Captain. In “The Menagerie” Kirk says that was the previous time he met Pike. (Then Commodore Mendez describes Pike as being about Kirk’s age which is so obviously impossible Mendez must have been mistaken.)
A bit sad that my role as “the chair” will not be on screen. I just had the bulbs upgraded to LED’s & a new coat of black acrylic paint applied…….
Greenwoods a good choice I think. He was very good in 13 days & the Core both were leadership roles and he came across as believable.
Cannot wait to see how/if they “retro” the Pike era Enterprise & uniforms perhaps. Maybe we’ll get a nod to the 60’s as the Big E is pulled into space dock for retrofit into Kirk’s era that would be a nice touch.
#9 Anthony is always the voice of reason. I agree. Sometimes age matters sometimes it don’t. :-) Seems at least one storyline in the film takes place on the Enterprise commanded by Pike likely just prior to Kirk’s ascendency to command and of course it’s reboot of the franchise so the character’s age can change.
Craig. I was not referring to you in my #21 post. When I wrote that someone else named Orion W___ (the second part of the name was very offensive) had #20 and she/he was asking why she/he was getting edited - then that post was apparently deleted haha.
Pizza. I could definitely see Hilary Swank as a Vulcanoid or other authority role. She’d be great. I wonder if they have finished all of the casting already and just aren’t telling us who the rest are?
I’m glad there are differences becoming apparent. If it’s a good movie it’s a good movie. I just wish it was THIS Christmas. Ah weel there’s “Of Gods and Men” coming. And Ultimate Computer in the pipeline too. Plus. Menagerie this week. Oh it’s great to be young and beautiful and a Trekkie.*
*Nichelle Nichols told me to my face it was “Trekker” but I think she’s in the minority on that one. I’d call myself Sally for her but I think most people say Trekkie.
The tidbit I’m taking from this is that the costumes will have a “nod to the 60’s”
YES! I’m very excited to see hoe they pull this off from a production design props and costume angle. The visuals are so much a part of the story and the vibe and merging the 60’s palate and look with something that feels fresh and modern from our new vantage point is a real creative challenge. Glad to hear this!
Alright. Consider this. The pike chair happens after the oringal pilot. The one that didn’t air and became the menagerie. This unaired pilot is being considered cannon to say that Pike commanded the enterprise before kirk. So Pike would not be in the chair at that point and Kirk would not meet him the the chair or he would not be so utterly surprised to see him in it latter on in the managerie (every fan who gives a crap about believable continuity would shreek at that). Besides any B-story about having to be put in the chair would take too much screen time (in my opinon) in a story that even Kirk is rumored to just have a bit part.
#33 I believe Enterprise’s two parter “In a Mirror Darkly” gives us the best hint of what the movie may look like. I thought I would be destracted by the 60’s color palate to the more modern looking NX-01 Enterprise color palate. But I was not destracted at all. I think the main key was the lighting of the sets in that episode. They were the same bright colors from the sixties but shoot and lighted in a way that made something so simply looking now. More advanced looking and streamlined. I personaly loved how many of the first season episodes where they had more dramatic lighting and that purple gel lighting off in the background. And also that almost cloudy dream like image in those early episodes.
Also (sorry to post again so soon). I just thought of this If the story was Pike and Spock centric and not Kirk and Spock centric then would that not meen that McCoy would not even be on the ship so consequently not in the movie (or a bit part) I think giving the role of McCoy to Simon Peg means that it’s going to be a larger part then this scenario allows for. So what do you guys think about that?
#40 It can be Spock and Pike centric and still include Scotty (SIMON PEGG). McCoy (KARL URBAN) and all the other characters since it is set in an alternate reality and only Nimoy-Spock is grounded in the old timeline…
That said #39 is absolutely right. Lighting is everything and the old sets and unifiorms can be turned into highly modern ones just by a few minor modifications. Just look at Superman’s suite from Returns. It’s still blue red and yellow but it doesn’t look outdated at all…
# 33 - I think you are right Luke. I take it from Bruce Greenwood’s comments that we’re not going to see TOS uniforms/costumes that were also in Trials And Tribbleations and In A Mirror Darkly. The uniforms will be different but with with a nod to what the crew wore in TOS such as the badges and colours.
Hey. If Greenwood’s Pike is not gonna be in the famous ‘Pike Chair’ and he’s a lot older than when Jeffrey Hunter/Sean Kenney’s Pike was supposed to be confined to that chair perhaps somewhere in the movie. ( perhaps at the end or the beginning ) we will glimpse a Spock-altered timeline where he saved Pike from his Delta radiation fate and thus we see an older but undisfigured Captain Pike in Bruce Greenwood?
Pure speculation I know but I can help my mind racing with all the possibilities…really looking forward to this movie!!
I think the age is fine… The Pike era cannon really is only very loosely established to begin with and who is to say that Pike didn’t command the E for 10 more years before getting ‘the chair’… Not the electric chair… well maybe… was that thing electric??? I don’t know. But you know what I mean. The 10 year gap between the original pilot and Kirk taking command would also be a good reason for the uniforms changing and the sets changing from all grey scale to the more colorful flamboyant things we see in TOS. As for tight rubbery supermanish outfits… He whatever as long as we get some mini-skirt action too!!!!!!!
Costumes actor ages ship modifications… minors such as these may be important to fans who major on them but what really matters in the theater next year is… the heart of this movie.
Will we well up when we see young Spock making his way among humanity? Will a shiver go up our spine when we glimpse young Kirk becoming the legend? Will the chills electrify our scalps when the Big E is seen in all it’s big-screen glory for the first time?
Will the years of accumulated affection for these characters be used to the best advantage and the story written in a moving way to harness these feelings or will it be just another sci-fi actioner with the same names as the old show?
This may be the last chance for a Star Trek movie that not only captures the magic of the original at it’s best but to take it further where it has never been.
Let’s hope that Abram’s is up to this and we as well as the average person who has watched TOS casually over the years come out with our hearts swelled with the joy at seeing it come to life.
I especially like when you say. “will the chills electrify our scalps when the Big E is seen in all it’s big-screen glory for the first time?”
Hell if I feel anything like THAT. I’ll go back to the theatre repeatedly buy the movie when it comes out on HD-DVD watch it over and over on my new 60 inch Pioneer Elite plasma and NEVER leave home again!!
Herr Ballz… You got that Pioneer Elite 60″??? How do you like it?? I was going to buy that but opted for the Mitsubishi Diamond 65″ DLP instead. It was a tough choice for me but theMitsu was roughly half the price and other than slightly crisper blacks on the Pioneer I couldn’t tell the difference. If you haven’t yet get the new HD or Blu-ray 2001 A Space Odyssey your tv will never look so good!!! It might be the single most visually stunning HD film I have ever seen!!
Whatever happens. I predict that not until the END of this movie will we see Kirk and the whole principal cast on the bridge of the E red accents and all wearing the classic black-collar uniforms. Up to that point we’ll see some type of post-Archer era hybrid uniforms which we seem to have evidence of already. At least that’s what I’m hoping anyhow- that they make it all fit.
I don’t like the notion that the new Star Trek should be viewed to exist in some sort of ‘B’ Timeline as opposed to ST:TOS’s ‘A’ Timeline. That doesn’t make any aesthetic changes any more believable to me.
A fresh look ( costumes/space design/etc. ) will not invalidate the old series as long as the characters and the integrity of the universe we are all familiar with stays intact.
View it like this: a movie/T. V. Show based on Robin Hood will look different and have some different sensibilities if filmed in the ’30s/’50s/’80s etc but they will all still be essentially be telling the same legendary tales of a particular period of ( fictional ) history.
So with the new Star Trek we will be viewing the stories of the characters we all know and love but now through the lens of the 21st century as opposed to the lens of the ’60s.
The ’60s ( and subsequent ) Star Trek will remain just as much canonical as the any new Star Trek ( unless severe changes/contradictions are made ) only the technology to tell stories of that ‘fictional future’ has advanced in the past 40 years hence the changes in the ‘look’…am I making sense?
Two different things. First the story. We’ve heard ‘the’ alternate time line story that ’sorta’ resets the series. So an older Captain Pike seems to be quite right. As Kirk is mysteriously absent in the time line it’s quite possible that Pike is not in the wrong place at the wrong time and misses out on the chair with the lights.
The Design will likely pay homage to the past but with a huge breath of fresh air to make it more realistic. The whole concept of Star Trek’s design is that it’s what the future may be like. So yeah transporters & hypo-sprays will still be there - but everything else IMO is open for change.
#70 “The whole concept of Star Trek’s design is that it’s what the future may be like. So yeah transporters & hypo-sprays will still be there - but everything else IMO is open for change.”
Exactly. And that was the case in 1966 when Matt Jefferies used a very practical approach by designing futuristic starships devices and controls that were both functional and looked good. They didn’t HAVE to be functional. They didn’t HAVE to make sense. But they did. No one ever explains how incerdibly handy and functional Spock’s 3 wheeled-one handed viewer control works on the science station. He simply uses it. But if you look at it closely you see an ingenious one handed control capable of many different functions by simply turning the wheel and or the various size knobs attached.
Trek’s “vision” of the future was already established in 1966 there’s no reason to greatly revise it. Give it a fresh coat of paint and use the construction techniques of today. Make it biggger and better. But the design is part of the signature “look” of the TOS universe don’t turn it into Star Wars just because you can.
With the costumes a nod to the 60’s I hope it’s Pike and his crew’s uniforms from “The Cage” they look more Star Fleet especially the women in pants (Number One) not mini-skirts. Not a nod to Kirk and the crew’s 60’s uniforms they look more like costumes than uniforms. But anything can be improved to look better I guess if it’s just a nod.
re 23: this scene from the core is also the only one i remember… and the look on his face when he is concentrated… just like pike!oh and is that alfre woodard (lily sloane from st8) in the mission control center?
if there’s one thing i would liketo see in trek then it is pikecause with his best friend spockthe enterprise will rock!
Actually there’s 3 terms used by the fans: ‘Trekkie’. ‘Trekker’ and ‘Trekist’. I used to be MUCH more involved in Trek fandon than I am currently (Anime will do that to you!) and another fan that I dated back then put the differences this way:
1) A ‘Trekkie’ are the ones that eat drink and fart Star Trek. The guy that legally changed his name to ‘James T Kirk’ is a good example. ‘Trekkie’ is probably the oldest term and the one that the media picked up on so it’s the only one that most of the public is familiar with especially with the recent ‘Trekkies’ movies.
2) A ‘Trekker’ goes to the conventions dresses up etc but has a normal life outside of the cons. 90% or so of the fans fit here.
3) A ‘Trekist’ goes to the cons but doesn’t dress up (maybe Spock ears). Instead they sit around in the Hospitality Suite discussing the economical ramifications of warp-drive technology or why Spock smiled in “The Managerie’.
She was a major fan (was involved in setting up some early cons in the MidWest and producing fanzines) so I’m sure she knew what she was talking about. Of course this was 20 or so years ago so the terms may have evolved especially due to the Internet.
It will be glorious or fall flat on it’s face. Hope it all works…It is ironic that many of you can’t wait to see the BIG E in all it’s glory for the first time. You do mean the TOS look? Of course if they really redesign things too much you won’t have it. Funny as that is. Do we know what 23rd designs will be like anyhow? They could be into the look of the 1930’s for all I know. I do really like some of THE CAGE and WNMHGB look and color scheme. It seems to really have grown on me through the years. Anyway I will at least see some retro TREK along with some BSGR on the big screen in the next few days. What a Scifi TV week on the big screen! Who would of thought the 21st century would be so scifi cool! ;)
Anyway it sounds like this film is moving in somewhat the right direction. I won’t have an opinion till I walk out of the showing next Dec. Beam me up!
I also did a lot of research and finally bought this beauty about a month ago. I don’t know much about electronics and got some expert to set me up with HD-DVD Player. Monster cables. Energy speakers. 7.1 surroundsound…. the whole shebang! I love the picture quality when you watch an HD movie like The Mummy…. I’m waiting patiently for more flicks to come out on HD as I want to build my movie library with that format. You were smart to buy an equal quality T. V at a better price… me. I tend to spend money like a drunken sailor!
I love my home entertainment set-up so much I will be very selective on going to the theatre in the future the exception of course being on Christmas Day. 2008! Thanks for the heads-up about 2001 A Space Odyssey! I didn’t even know it was out but will be sure to get it!
Just because we don’t see the “chair” doesn’t mean we won’t see his accident …
However thinking about it if Kirk had only met Pike when the keys to the Enterprise were handed over it does seem to imply that Pike’s training mission accident happened shortly afterward when he had been promoted to Fleet Captain and would be more likely to be a special advisor on a cadet training mission as opposed to out there cowboying around the galaxy.
I suppose they could save the accident for a sequel to launch us into the sequel’s plot by automatically and instantly maiming one of the primary characters from Trek 11 giving us an instant emotional response …
Lord Garth thanks for the suggested titles…. here’s one that I’m sure you know about….. FORBIDDEN PLANET in HD-DVD!!
That’s the very first movie I watched on the new T. V and I nearly wet my pants. I enjoyed it so much! It’s wild to watch an old classic like that with the clarity and detail of today’s technology! Boy. Roddenberry sure owes a lot to that movie for how he formulated Trek!
Needless to say when TOS is released later this month in Remastered HD. I’ll be the first in line!
84#”The Cage” was done in1965 but in 1966 “The Menagerie” Spock states that the footage (The Cage) is 13 years ago when Pike was captain of the Enterprise. If Jeffrey Hunter was 39 in “The Cage” then in “The Menagerie” he would be 52 in the chair with lights. 39+13=52 The movie is closer to the end of Captain Pike as captain of the Enterprise and Kirk becoming captain so Pike would be closer to 52 than 39. Greenwood at 51 isn’t that bad.
84# The Cage back in 1965 with Jeffrey Hunter was 39. But in 1966 in The Menagerie Spock states the footage (The Cage) of Captain Pike on the Enterprise was 13 years ago. So in The Menagerie Captain Pike in the chair with the flashing lights he would be 52. The new movie is closer to the end of Captain Pike as captain of the Enterprise and Kirk becoming captain. I guess Pike would be 49 or 50 in the movie. Greenwood at 51 isn’t that old.
Greenwood’s age is fine- but waitaminute will Blade Runner be coming out in HD?? Now THAT will be a REAL reason to get a player- Toshiba or whatever!Back to style- DS9’s T&T ep made it WORK and STAYED true to the aesthetics. ENT screwed with the aesthetics in the wrong direction and blew the retro thing totally. THAT’S what I’m afraid of here- JJ straying so far as to becoming distracting sort of the way TMP did back then…
Going retro the 60’s is too old TV and it wouldn’t look right on the big screen. Look at the Borg in Next Generation on TV and compare it to the Borg on the big screen in First Contact. You would have to improve on it for the big screen. STAR TREK is always changing it’s the future it was 1966 then now it’s 2007 we should be able to see more detail of the uniforms ,the bridge the Enterprise etc..
The story may be great but if they change the Uniforms or the Enterprise too much it will distract from the movie. Imagine if the movie is set during the first season and the uniforms are all green jumpsuits. I can just imagine people leaning over to their neighbors and say “can you believe they have Scotty in Green not red?” and the. “what did I miss oh the Enterprise it looks like a Borg ship.” Change is good but too much change and it just won’t work right and yes bring on the Miniskirts!!!
Some of you may remember the ABC Miniseries. “Rich Man Poor Man.”It was filmed in 1975.
Ed Asner played the father…he was 46 at the time. His younger son. Tom was played by Nick Nolte who was 34 at the time. His older son. Rudy was played by Peter Strauss who was 28 at the time.
So the father was only 12 years older than the actor playing his younger son and the actor playing the youngest son was actually six years older than the actor playing his older brother.
The Nolte and Strauss roles required them to “age” from high school days through their mid-to-late 30s.
You know the only bit of uniform that we see (or might see. IF it’s the uniform) is a bit of green and a bit of blue peeking above the collar of the overcoats in the “spy” photos from the Trek set.
But the green looks a bit muted and the blue isn’t too bright…and at least a few cast and/or crew members have teased about nods to the 60s uniforms.
So…I think Abrams has very similar uniform styles but muted and more palatable by non-1960s standards…and the “old” Spock (Nimoy) comments about the colors “seeming so much brighter in my memory.”
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Related article:
http://trekmovie.com/2007/11/10/greenwood-talks-pike-and-uniforms/
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