I never really cared much for the idea of the “Star Trek: Academy” movie, one which would take place a decade or two before the original series picked up, with a young Kirk, Spock and McCoy meeting at Starfleet Academy and going out on their first assignment. I’ve heard the concept for a very long time now, as far back as 1992, in fact. It’s a movie concept that has been dredged up time and time again, rumored about every time there’s a new Star Trek project in the offing. It just didn’t seem feasible to get actors who could really pick up those three roles and play them convincingly, not to mention the question of a movie about three young cadets having an adventure. I always figured it was nothing much more than a vehicle for some producer to get a movie made so they could cash in a paycheck.

There must be something to the idea, however. Why the sudden switch? J. J. Abrams has picked up the project and started running with it. You know, the guy who’s responsible for Lost, who’s directing the third Mission: Impossible film. Nothing like a name associated with success to breathe life into a project. Abrams will supposedly be co-writing the movie with writers from Alias, co-producing with Lost producers, and will reportedly be directing the film himself. Abrams has writing credits which include Armageddon in addition to M:I-3. Chances are that Abrams is simply a big Star Trek fan and wants to take on the franchise himself, at least for one movie. Hopefully Paramount will never give it back to Rick Berman, who drove it into the ground (Enterprise only started getting better after Berman took his hands off the series). The last Berman Trek Movie, Nemesis, was unspeakable dreck and flopped at the box office. There have also been rumors that Joe Straczynski of Babylon 5 fame might take over the TV franchise; either he or Abrams would undoubtedly do a far better job than Berman’s stale talents could provide.

Either way, the new movie at least has potential with the new blood. Who knows, maybe they’ll be able to make it work. By the way, I like TG Daily’s name for the film: Star Trek XI: The Inevitable. The film is slated for a 2008 release.