1. Paramount is so confident that the new Star Trek movie will be a success when it opens five weeks from now that they have already commissioned a sequel, to be produced and written by the same guys who made the current movie. They are currently aiming to release the sequel in two years. – Variety
2. Paramount has released new trailers aimed at the action-movie and kid-friendly crowds, and the ads contain new images of pointy-eared babies and planetary destruction, among other things. – TrekMovie.com (x2)
3. Some of my fellow Trekkies, incidentally, have complained that all the planetary destruction feels too much like Star Wars – the Death Star and all that – and not very much like Star Trek. But to that, I would reply that the villain in one of the previous movies, Star Trek: Generations (1994), wiped out not just planets but entire systems, and of course the original series included episodes such as ‘The Doomsday Machine‘, in which the destruction of entire planets might not have been shown, presumably for budgetary reasons, but was certainly part of the plot.
4. Speaking of planetary destruction, the third and fourth issues of Star Trek: Countdown have shown how the loss of his homeworld turned the Romulan character Nero into the revenge-seeking villain that we will see in the movie. – Ain’t It Cool News, TrekMovie.com (x2, x3)
5. Paramount has also released several images from the upcoming set of movie collector’s cards made by Rittenhouse – and some of those images seem more spoiler-ish than anything we have seen so far. – MTV Movies Blog, TrekMovie.com
6. The town of Vulcan, Alberta – which I visited with my family two years ago – was hoping it could host the world premiere of the new movie, and they even had Leonard Nimoy himself campaigning on their behalf, but alas, it was not to be. For one thing, the town doesn’t even have a movie theatre. No worries, though; the studio says it will arrange a screening for the residents of Vulcan in nearby Calgary. The actual world premiere will take place at the Sydney Opera House in Australia on April 7. – Canadian Press (x2), Calgary Herald, Globe and Mail, Reuters, TrekMovie.com
7. People are already beginning to speculate that, if the new movie is a success, it could lead to a new TV series. – Hollywood Reporter
8. Harlan Ellison – who wrote ‘City on the Edge of Forever‘, one of the most acclaimed Star Trek episodes ever – is suing CBS Paramount for failing to pay him for using elements of that episode in their merchandising. – Variety, TrekMovie.com (x2)
9. More and more Star Trek fans are putting command chairs in their living rooms. – New York Times
