J.J. Abrams wasn’t a huge fan of the original Star TrekTV series as a kid, but he does have one unabashed gee-whiz Star Trekmemory: watching the first feature film (1979’s Star Trek: The MotionPicture) and marveling over the big reveal of the Enterprise during along sequence in which James T. Kirk takes a slow-boat tour around theiconic starship. "The coolest thing about it — maybe the coolest thing inthe movie — was when you flew around the ship, you could see all thedifferent panels that made up the ship," says the director of theforthcoming Trek reboot, slated for a May 8, 2009, release. "It wasthe first time I had ever seen that level of attention, that love ofdetail, given to the tangible, practical reality of the ship."
Here, in this exclusive first look at Abrams’ take onthe Enterprise, you see not only his vision of the ship but hisattempt to evoke that sequence from the first film that so captured hisimagination. If you’re thinking, "Wow! It looks the way the Enterprisehas always looked" — well, look at the big Spock brain on you! Abramswanted to take the original TV-series Enterprise and the movie-franchise Enterprise and fuse them together into a new yet familiarEnterprise. His ambition was a ship that felt very realistic, thatcould stand up to today’s F/X standards — and beyond. "If you’re goingto do Star Trek, there are many things you cannot change. The Enterpriseis a visual touchstone for so many people. So if you’re going to do theEnterprise, it better look like the Enterprise, because otherwise, whatare you doing?"
Fans and other interested parties will get more looksat the new Enterprise when the first trailer arrives this Friday,attached to Quantum of Solace. And if you missed the additional 11 Star Trek photos we debuted last month, click here and check ‘em out.
More on ‘Star Trek’:
‘Star Trek’: New Movie, New Vision (the EW cover story)
‘Star Trek’: 11 New Photos
Not all of the ‘Star Trek’ films have been out of this world: A ‘Star Trek’ filmography
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Oh my God! I think JJ and ILM have outdone themselves this time. If the rest of the movie looks this good it’s gonna be awesome! Hard to blow up the tiny image big enough to see all the detail in there – come on EW give us some love i want a 1920 desktop wallpaper to cover my monitors will – this ship is gorgeous!
Dismaying beyond description. Out of respect for J.J., I’ll wait for more images, but that godawful, ill-proportioned engineering hull (the tubular part below the saucer, for all you non-geeks) looks terrible, in this shot. The rest I can deal with — I’m no purist. But that’s just klunky.
I like it. The updates (the modern warp nacelles) are subtle enough. Calm down purists; they’re trying to reboot an ailing franchise here.
“Calm down, purists”? Not a problem here. I like a lot of what’s going on here — but that part of the ship looks a bit jumbled, busy, somehow Not Right, and that’s from an objective design/balance standpoint. I can see they want its shape to parallel the line of the nacelles, which is neat, but there’s other stuff that makes it look overcooked…which is why I wish they’d released another shot. That shuttlecraft smack in the foreground doesn’t help, either.
I actually wish they’d taken the design even farther, and not referenced as much of the previous versions.
Very disappointed. Much to different then what has already been established. The saucer is the only part that works.
No no no no no no !!!
It looks like half of it is missing?
Sooooo wrong.
Wow, that is beyond awesome. Look at the taper in the nacelles and in the engineering deck. Notice how close the saucer section is to the mouths of the nacelles. The bevel on the saucer section and the new, thicker support tower. Very agreeable to this die-hard Trek fan. Well done. I shed a tear.
Meh, I’ll take the Millennium Falcon over that bucket of bolts any ol’ day!
as a life long Trek fan I’ve got to say…help me JJ you are our only hope…….this film is starting to look like it may be able to save Star Trek…..*yes I do know I am stealing a line from that Other series…
I think its very good desgin since this is the first desgin aspect of the Enterprise 1701 Remeber here folks This is what the Enterprise 1701 looked like begfor TOS and the Cage and I bet you half of the stuff here is going to change through out the Movie as well
That is the biggest pile o turd I have ever seen, I’ve better Fanboi Kitbashes than that!
wut. . . Tossing aside all canon this thing is UGLY too many clashing lines. Rim of the saucer looks like a bicycle tyre. All these conglomerate parts that clash with each other. It looks like a Reject lost in space effects prop.
This will take some getting used to.
I’m alternating between love and hate with this.
Me likey.
.. helo, i was wondering when teh next star wars movie is to be on the movie theater??/
It fits the whole reboot feel of the movie. Since this is a reboot, I’m fine with it.
I think it is cool looking.. better than the Enterprise “E” in last movie. But as a fan – I’d prefer them using the same design/shape of the TV version (but updated for HD eyes)
I like it. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with everything JJ has come up with so far.
to qoute Luke Skywalker “What a piece of Junk” Well Abrhams you finally done it you tokk something I loved more than anything and you destroyed it. I was going to your Trek Movie a chance no way now buddy oh and by the way Trek is not an Ailing franchise. 5 series and 10 movies I would say Trek is just fine. Now if the Stupid suits at pararmount would realize that and send “Lost” boy back to his tv shows we trek fans can finally have the true story of how the crew came together and adapt the novel “Enterprise” for screen.
My first impression was positive. I like the look of the nacelles a lot. However the more I look at it, the more jumbled it seems. It doesn’t quite look like it was designed as a whole. Also, the engineering hull is too small. It looks very top heavy.
Two words:
Butt Ugly
the nacelles stink…
Heck the whole design is horrible…
Who was put in charge of the redesign for me send him hate mail?
Or I could send him a leather glove with instructions on how to slap his face with it.
if Scotty was to see this monstrosity he would be freaked out..
He would say: UP YOUR SHAFT!!!!
I don’t know man, I like it. This is one stationary shot – and it looks pretty bad ass in the teaser trailer – http://www.startrekmovie.com
What a far cry from TOS but you know what? You can’t justify the Enterprise’s cheesy look suddenly becoming ST:TMP’s rendition. This is fantastic, definitely giving those original missions a facelift for the new millennium. The naysayers must still trust Lucas to *not* bend Star Wars over like Princess Leia. Abrams and company are giving the Star Trek franchise a much-needed smack of creativity. Bring it on already.
That was a MASSIVE disappointment. The Enterprise was one of the most beautiful ship designs ever. This atrocity looks like it might have a Subaru logo on the back. Why is the neck so far back? There are no more sweeping lines or elegance with this ship. This one sucks to high heaven.
err…
I agree it should be a more detailed and more epic version of the original. Let’s hope that this picture is from and odd angle and that the ship looks a lot better in action. Or, Does anyone see any markings on the hull? We could also hope that this is a ruse, and it isn’t the real Enterprise, just a different class ship that has a similar design to the constitution class.
The saucer looks fine to me, the engines look funky but I can deal with them, but why in the world did they put the neck that connects the saucer in the MIDDLE of the fuselage? That is probably the most jarring thing I can see in the design, it completely messes up the line of the ship! Not a fan of the struts that connect the engines, but they need to fix that neck badly.
I dig it!
Another exclusive thumbnail. i’m starting to hate you, EW
Although I’m full of Treknology trivia and have a great respect for the real-life creative minds behind the Original Series, I’ve never been a purist. I’ve always felt there’s room for expanding on the Star Trek future history, or even taking it in unexpected directions.
But this is just ugly.
I wonder if this is how the first generation Trekkies felt when they saw Captain Picard’s Enterprise? Probably not. That was something new. This is, ostensibly, something old. And it’s ugly. Too bad; I had such high (guarded, cautiously optimistic) hopes.