I was looking at the line up of the new movie 's cast; Chris Pine as James T. Kirk, Zach Quinto as Spock, Simon Pegg as Scotty, Karl Urban as Bones, Zoe Saladan as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu, and Anton Yelchin as Chekov. Where is Yeoman Rand? Where is Nurse Chapel? Where is Gary Mitchell? These people played important rules in the early Trek series. I know Mitchell was only in the one episode, but it was written that he and Kirk went back years together. (I believe he was even the XO before Spock) So why have these people/roles not been cast yet. Andf unless Chekov is written as some kind of cadet or intern, how the hell is he even in this movie? Isn't this suppose to be the early voyages of Kirk as first captain of the Enterprise? How many years was he Captain before we even see Pavel? But my main question is what happened to Gary Mitchel, Chapel and Rand? I hope this movie doesn't blow, but I have my doubts already.....
There is one iron-clad certainty about the new movie: No matter how good or bad it is, some people will still bitch about it incessantly.
Well, I won't miss them from a continuity standpoint, but most of these type of films (and this is basicly going to be a "Top Gun Trek" in a lot of ways i suspect) need the "loveable rouge" character just for tension relief - and Mitchell would be a great character for that. Still, I can see where the suits don't want to add to the classic cast for all the stories they might tell before "WNMHGB"
They aren't essential roles for Star Trek. Rand was just a Yeoman, and we still don't really know what her duties are. Chapel was just a Nurse. These roles can be any character and essentially are stock roles. Gary's role was just for a plot and was needed for that plot only and doesn't really need to be shown anymore. It might be nice to see them, but they are not essential roles like the trio are.
Rand was introduced as coming on board during TOS (can't remember the episode - it's where Bones changes Kirk's diet) Probably with her fiance. She didn't come aboard until "what are little girls made of" where she was looking for her lost love. He is the only one that should be around. And if not - there needs to be a reason stated. I happen to agree here - ensigns to advance rapidly or they don't advance at all. Chekov came to the screen in the second year (when Takei was filming "green berets") - and he really should have been a lt jg in the third season.
You've already got the Big 3 plus the Little 4 to make room for, and the bad guy, and the plot, and the SFX, and you're wanting to throw in 3 minor characters as well? Too many characters is fine on a TV show where they can pop in an out weekly, but a little harder in two hours.
"The Corbomite Manuver" IIRC. And now that I think about it, Rands first appearence was the first aired Trek episode "The Man Trap". (Trek nerd trivia)
Casting isn't finished, actually. TPTB have told the casting directors to get a move on, as they need to start filming really soon.
Quite honestly, the main cast members are more important that some character from the pilot episode. I mean, there's a whole list of one-off characters that you could argue should be included in the movie. The truth is, no one really cares about them more than they care about Kirk et al, and rightly so. As for Rand and Chapel, they were basically set dressing like Uhura was.
As long as they get Orson Welles as Unicron again. Orson Welles should be Unicron in every movie. At least, if they want me to fuggin watch it.
Kurtzman and Orci are also executive producers. Reno and/or JCD can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that allows them to make corrections on their own preexisting script regardless of the strike.
Ah. Okay. Then let's hope the current draft is better written than STTMP. Then again, just about anything would be...
I hate to say it but judging off of what I've heard about the project thus far, I think that would be cool too. But, for some reason, I get the feeling the marketing department in Paramount will win. They view releasing this movie on an anniversary year for Star Trek will be yet another cash cow. We could always have some fun and create a poll here to see who predicts more closely how well it does when it is released.
Theoretically, they could do a lot of production work that might normally come at the end and maybe shoot stuff they were certain they wanted to keep as is and gamble that the strike would be over in time to stay on sched, couldn't they?
^Kelso and Mitchell would make more sense than Scotty, Bones and Chekov. You could also throw in the "cute little lab assistant" a.k.a. Carol Marcus.