'Star Trek' Director and Writers Discuss Sequel

One of the best movies of the 2009 summer season was definitely "Star Trek." The franchise has been completely rebooted and the DVD/Blu-ray of the film will be hitting shelves next month. It may be odd to hear news about a sequel right now, but Paramount is doing a big promo for its DVD release, which is why J.J. Abrams and writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are out talking with press (via Collider). The sequel is just barely being developed, and even though they're still "just brainstorming," the ideas seem to be there, and the three each hint at what we might see in a sequel.

Let’s start with J.J. Abrams talking about shooting "Star Trek 2" in 3-D. Here is a snippet of what the director had to say on the subject:

"Paramount talked to me about doing the first one in 3-D and, having it only be my second film, I was petrified just at the addition of it. I thought it would be another dimension of pain-in-the-ass. I was just like, 'I want to make a decent 2-D movie.'…I’m open to looking at it ’cause now I feel a little bit more comfortable. And, if I, in fact, direct the 'Star Trek' sequel, 3-D could be really fun, so I’m open to it…"

Well with every film new and old getting the 3-D treatment these days, why not "Star Trek," right? But is the film Abrams, Kurtzman and Orci cooking up the kind that will warrant 3-D?

Here are some of the quotes from Alex Kurtzman and Bob Orci about where they are in the scripting process for "Star Trek 2":

Bob: We’re still just brainstorming, internally. We’re going to get together soon and see what happens, and start putting it together.

Alex: Where we’re starting is, “Okay, where are our characters now? What are interesting complications that we can put in their lives? What feels like an organic emotional place for us to get to? How do we want to test them?” And then, you look at everything and start asking, “Who would be the best foe?”

Bob: There are mental exercises we play. You can’t be a fan of this and not sit around and wonder.

Alex: But, the short answer is that we haven’t landed on anybody yet.
So if they can now start to explore some more broader ideas and tests of character in the sequel, where might they go? Let's turn to Abrams, who has a lot of great things to say about a sequel.

"In going forward, the fun of this movie series is that we will have the opportunity, given its alternate timeline, to cross paths with any of the experiences, places and characters that existed in The Original Series, but we have to be really careful, doing that. I don't want to do something that is so inside that only die-hard fans will appreciate. We're just now working on the script and just beginning the process of story breaking, but I guarantee you, whatever the story is and whatever the final movie ends up being, I know it will be something that will work on its own terms and be something that you don't need to know and study Star Trek to get, but if you are a fan, there will hopefully be gift after gift of connections, references and characters that you hold near and dear. At least, that's the intent."

That is a lot of information to digest. I’ve only included small portions of "Star Trek" news from these Collider interviews - if you want to hear more on the subject, or updates on "Mission: Impossible 4," "Transformers 3," "View Master," "Fringe" and "Cowboys and Aliens," you can click on the links below for full transcripts of the interviews.

Interview with J.J. Abrams

Interview with Kurtzman & Orci

What do you think about the latest updates on "Star Trek 2"? do you agree that the filmmakers have their heads in the right place? And what do you think the sequel should be about?

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: Screen Rant, First Showing