Star Trek: New Film And Series Are Finally The Reboot We’ve Been Waiting For

Star Trek is coming back in a big way, and it could be that we Trekkers soon get to enjoy the original series characters in the way we hoped for when the 2009 reboot happened.

While both films were fun action pieces, they weren’t really “very Star Trek.” However, there is now some good news on the horizon from two fronts. First, on the third film:

Star Trek 3 director Roberto Orci teased that the latest film — slated for release in 2016 — would be more like the TV show than either of the two reboot efforts.

“With Into Darkness, they set out finally where the original series started,” said Orci in comments reported by NME. “The first two films — especially the 2009 film — was an origin story. It was about them coming together. So they weren’t the characters they were in the original series. They were growing into them and that continues on in the second movie.”

He added: “So in this movie they are closer than they are to the original series characters that you have ever seen. They have set off on their five-year mission, so their adventure is going to be in deep space.”

The second area where we hope to see more of what made us fall in love with the original series is Star Trek Phase II, the fan series that changes the actors of the original series, but not the characters, nor the style.

Boing Boing recently took a revealing look at Star Trek Phase II, which wrapped up a successful Kickstarter campaign in June.

In the expose, writer Daniel DeFabio visited the painstakingly recreated set of Desilu Studios, where the original adventures of Kirk and Crew were filmed. From the report:

Star Trek fans have long dreamed of joining the ranks of Starfleet, crafting uniforms and suiting up to play the part. Some go the extra mile, creating fan-films to memorialize their star turn. But few take it to the same level as James Cawley, creator of 14 episodes so exquisitely-formed they evoke the 1960s as perfectly as they do the future.

Since 2004, Cawley’s Star Trek Phase II has stood out as an unofficial continuation of the original five year mission of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy—as promised in the original series, but ultimately abandoned in favor of shooting the official film series. Although the Phase II episodes are done on a low budget, Cawley quite likely owns the largest collection of Star Trek costumes, props, make-up and sets (yes, sets, plural) of anyone outside of Paramount Studios. His skill, and an impressive gathering of fellow fan volunteers, achieves surprisingly high levels of faithfulness.

You owe it to yourself, Trek fans, to read the rest here and to check out all the Phase II adventures at the official website.

Live long and prosper, friends!