Likely Trek XII director J.J. Abrams said yesterday that if it were up to the studio, the new film would have been shooting already — but there was just no way to realistically accomplish that.

“[In] theory we could have done that,” he told the LA Times. “But what all of us [the creative team] were concerned about is the release date be the master we were serving. Nothing is more disheartening than something going in front of the camera before it’s ready. The crew can feel it and the cast can feel it. It’s just a heart-attack machine.”

For the full interview, head over here.

Trek writer Roberto Orci admitted this week that 3D films give him a headache — but it seems likely he won’t have to suffer through that for the new Trek film.

“I bet the technology will get better and better and it will be a harder choice to decide,” Orci told Collider. “For right now it is still cumbersome and it is still unbelievably expensive. Some movies wouldn’t be able to get made if it was just going to be made in 3D and some movies shouldn’t be made in 3D.”
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According to the Digital Bits, CBS may be preparing a Star Trek: The Next Generation – Remastered package for release on Blu-Ray sometime in 2012.

A challenge for any release of TNG in high definition has always been that, unlike the Original Series, the show was edited directly on low-resolution video. Presenting the series in high-defintion would probably require redoing the editing from scratch, and then adding new special effects. Fans may be able to judge whether or not CBS will be able to pull this off as soon as this year, as the Digital Bits noted that the studio is currently working on a sampler disc containing four episodes that might be made available as early as this year

At the San Diego Comic-Con this weekend, Trek XII writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman revealed they’re currently expecting the film to start shooting early next year.

“I think probably in January,” Orci told Cinepremiere (via TrekMovie), “but every time we say ‘we will be shooting any second now,’ we are not, but it is going to be soon.”
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He may have left Star Trek behind him, but former Enterprise showrunner Manny Coto proved this week he’s still got a lot of science fiction concepts stuck in his head.

“I would reboot Star Trek, with a young William Shatner,” Coto told the Hollywood Reporter, when asked which show he’d most love to reboot. “We clone William Shatner: If I start now, in 15 years, we’d have a young Kirk. Someone’s has to talk to Shatner to give up some DNA before he dies because it’s not that far away in terms of geekdom. Fifteen years is not a long time, 15 years will be here before we know it and we could have a young Captain Kirk. Do you think my wife would agree to carry it to term? That’s interesting. Honey?”
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The final day of Creation’s Las Vegas Star Trek convention saw the reunion of six Star Trek: Enterprise actors as well as some clowning around from Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s Sir Patrick Stewart (Captain Picard) and Brent Spiner (Data).

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An elementary school in Louisiana looks as if it would fit right into the futuristic world of Star Trek.

Viewing the school from above, South Polk Elementary School in Leesville, Louisiana looks like a Constitution class starship.

Even the blueprints of the school put one in mind of a starship.

Artist Devorah Sperber has created another Star Trek sculpture made out of spools, chenille stems and semi-translucent beads.

In the lobby of the Microsoft Studio D office in Redmond, Washington is a unique sculpture, which appears to show the crew of the original series materializing before their eyes.

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George Takei and his husband Brad Altman urge same-sex couples to complete the 2010 census and show America how many of them are in a marriage or consider themselves married even if not legally wed.

Takei, complete in a Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan uniform, urged fellow gay couples to participate in the census. “[You may ask] why I’m still wearing this Starfleet uniform,” he said. “It’s to get you to actually listen to this important message, that affects how our community and marriages such as ours are viewed by this nation. Be counted!”

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In what certainly has to be the smallest scale ever for a science-fiction ship model, two scientists have constructed the USS Enterprise in a one-billionth scale.

The scale model of the Enterprise is so tiny, that it can only be seen by an electron microscope.

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Star Trek XI has added to its list of award nominations with the word that the Visual Effects Society has nominated the film in two categories.

Nominees were chosen in twenty categories in film, animation, television, commercials and video games.

Star Trek XI will be facing off against the popular Avatar, which received eleven VES nominations in seven categories.

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Patrick Stewart‘s days as Captain Jean-Luc Picard are now behind him.

Fans at DragonCon last weekend got the word from Stewart himself that he will probably return in X-Men, but don’t expect to see Jean-Luc Picard again. Audiences “had not seen the last of Xavier,” said Stewart.

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