In 2009, “Star Trek” seemed to be over. The last feature film in the franchise was 2002’s “Star Trek: Nemesis,” and that film was staggeringly unpopular, earning less money than any other “Star Trek” film before it, even counting for inflation. Then, in 2005, the last lingering Trek series, “Star Trek: Enterprise” was canceled after only four seasons, a full three years shorter than the three previous Trek shows. The world, it seemed, didn’t want “Star Trek” anymore. Indeed, in a warlike post-9/11 world, a pacifist sci-fi series that vaunted diplomacy and equality was no longer welcome.
J.J. Abrams managed to make “Star Trek” relevant again by upping the violence. His 2009 reboot film not only recast the familiar original series characters with younger, sexier versions, but he shifted the action into overdrive, including more shooting, explosions, punching, death, and cataclysm. This was a “Star Trek” film for people who were familiar with some of the characters and iconography from the 1966 TV series, but who never had the patience for its heady sci-fi stories or multicultural underpinnings.
To connect this “Star Trek” to its forebear, however, Abrams hired Leonard Nimoy to reprise his role as Spock. Credited as Spock Prime, the older Vulcan was able to visit his younger self (Zachary Quinto) thanks to a rift in the spacetime continuum. Spock’s presence in Abrams’ reboot was sort of like getting the Pope’s blessing, an assurance to old-school Trekkies that, yes, this was indeed connected to the “Star Trek” you remember.
And there was a stage in the film’s production when further connections would have been provided. At a 2008 appearance at the Supanova Pop Cultre Expo, covered by an article in TrekMovie, Nichelle Nichols — Lieutenant Uhura on the original series — was visiting the set of “Star Trek” in 2009, and Abrams had a great idea for a cameo. Sadly, the plan simply never made it to the page.
