Star Trek is a science fiction film directed by J. J. Abrams, written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, and produced by Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk. It is the eleventh Star Trek film and features the main characters of the original Star Trek series, who are portrayed by a new cast. It follows James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) enrolling at Starfleet Academy, his first meeting with Spock (Zachary Quinto), and their battles with Romulans from the future, who are interfering with history. The film is scheduled for release in conventional theaters and IMAX on May 8, 2009 in North America and the United Kingdom.
Development of the film began in 2005 when Paramount Pictures contacted Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman for ideas to revive the franchise. The creative team contrasted Orci and Lindelof, who consider themselves "Trekkies", with casual fans like Abrams, who all aimed to create a film that would interest a general audience. They wanted to be faithful to Star Trek canon, but also introduced elements of their favorite novels, modified continuity with the time travel storyline, and modernized the production design of the original show. Filming took place from November 2007 to April 2008 under intense secrecy. Midway through the shoot, Paramount chose to delay the release date from December 25, 2008 to May 2009, believing the film would perform better in the summer.
Design
The film was primarily designed by Ryan Church and Star Trek veteran John Eaves. Abrams stated the difficulty of depicting the future was that much of modern technology was inspired by the original show, and made it seem outdated. Thus the production design had to be consistent with the television series but also feel more advanced than the real world technology developed after it. Though the Enterprise's bridge maintains an oval shape, railings, the captain's chair, and viewscreen, it has been aesthetically altered with bright colors: Abrams joked it made the Apple Store look "uncool". To emphasize the size of the ship, Abrams chose different styles for other decks on the ship: the sickbay is more modern whereas the transporter and engine rooms are very industrial. The phaser props were designed as spring-triggered barrels that revolve and glow as the setting switches from "stun" to "kill", and the transporter beam effects swirl rather than speckle. Carolyn Porco of NASA was consulted on the planetary science and imagery, while the Cloverfield monster's creator Neville Page reunited with Abrams to design creatures for this film.
The Starfleet uniforms follow the show's original color coding (command officers wear gold shirts, science and medical officers wear blue, and Operations (technicians/engineers) and security personnel wear red). The uniforms consist of a gray (almost black) undershirt, and colored overshirts with slight v-necks. Each shirt has a subtle pattern of delta symbols woven into the fabric, while the badges are pins rather than woven. The undershirts themselves have the Starfleet insignia embossed on them. The female officers' miniskirts are slightly longer than the originals. As a cadet, Kirk only wears the undershirt. Kirk and Sulu also wear extra-vehicular activity suits, which are blue and green respectively. For Abrams, "The costumes were a microcosm of the entire project, which was how to take something that's kind of silly and make it feel real. But how do you make legitimate those near-primary color costumes?"
Lindelof compared the film's Romulan faction to pirates with their unique tattoos and disorganized costuming.
