SPOILER WARNING: If you intend to watch Star Trek at all, be warned that there will be spoilers in this review [starting with the cast list], so please begin the appropriate evasive maneuvers now. On the other hand, the reviews have been pouring in since April – so join ScoutAreaOnline.com as we blast off aboard the all-new USS Enterprise!

A previous Star Trek-oriented article appeared on ScoutAreaOnline.com: http://scoutareaonline.com/index.php/editorial/54-columns/375-back-to-the-final-frontier-star-trek-movie-puts-franchise-front-and-center.html

Star Trek (2009)

Director: J. J. Abrams

Producers: J. J. Abrams and Damon Lindelof

Screenplay: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman

Original concept: Gene Roddenberry

James Tiberius Kirk – Chris Pine

Spock – Zachary Quinto

Spock Prime – Leonard Nimoy

Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy – Karl Urban

Nyota Uhura – Zoe Saldana

Montgomery “Scotty” Scott – Simon Pegg

Hikaru Sulu – John  Cho

Pavel Andreievich Chekov – Anton Yelchin

Captain Nero – Eric Bana

Voice of the Enterprise Computer – Majel Barrett Roddenberry

With cameos by Winona Ryder, Jennifer Morrison, and Greg Grunberg

After the word got out that the geniuses behind TV smash hits such as Alias and Lost were going to put together an all-new Star Trek film, the fans of the franchise – known as either “Trekkies” or, for some, “Trekkers”, immediately went into speculation overdrive: who will join the rumored young cast? Will William Shatner be part of the film? Will Leonard Nimoy? How faithful will the new film be to the spirit of the franchise? How will the advances in moviemaking technology affect the film? Will there be Tribbles? Who will the alien adversary be?

Well, the long wait is over and the film is beginning to be shown all around the world. Almost all of the questions above have been answered, and so we quickly get down to business: how is this film on its own merits, and how is it as part of a pioneering sci-fi franchise?