Yesterday Paramount officially confirmed the long rumored Star Trek movie entitled “Star Trek XI”. More importantly they gave a firm release date of December 25th 2008. With a Christmas release it’s clear that Paramount is taking this venture seriously. Produced by J.J. Abrams (Mission Impossible III), the film will be a prequel to TOS and will feature a young Spock and Kirk in the Academy. Much controversy surrounds the as of yet unannounced choices for Kirk and Spock. This is the first time in franchise history that a major character has been played by a new actor. Added to the fact that both Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner are so closely identified with their Star Trek characters, any choice will be sure to piss a significant faction of Trekkies off. No matter who they choose, any sort of film success will be important in getting Trek back on its TV home. The franchise survived for years after TOS ended on the shoulders of the often mediocre movies while TV has been trekless since the prequel “Enterprise” failed miserably.

Link to Press Release

-Will Bertelsen