Pegg Is A Self-Described Sci-Fi Geek

TrekToday · March 16 2008, 12:33 AM

Simon Pegg considers himself fortunate to be working on a show of which he is a fan and looks forward to doing it again every three years.

As reported by TrekMovie.com, from an interview posted by Collider.com, a fateful email lead to his role as Scotty in Star Trek XI. "I got back from New York and switched on my phone to find an email from J.J.," said Pegg. "It read, simply, 'Do you want to play Scotty?' I didn't say yes straight away. I called J.J. and said, 'this is a huge commitment. I don't know if I should.' J.J. simply said, if the worst thing that happens is we get together every three years and have a great time, what's to worry about. I was convinced after that."

Pegg is sensitive to the fact that his character Scotty was done first by James Doohan. "I'm very aware that the character of Scotty belongs to James Doohan," he said. "The man is a legend and it will always be his. Anything I do is a tribute to him." He met with Chris Doohan, son of James. "I actually got to meet his son Chris, which was a real treat," said Pegg. "He told me a few stories from the old days, not least actually being on set when they were shooting 'The Trouble With Tribbles'. He gave me a little bit of dilithium crystal from the show. I felt honored."

Being a fan of Star Trek means that Pegg has his favorite Star Trek series. "I would say the original [series] because it's the original," he explained when asked to rank the shows in order of preference. "[Then] TNG because it reignited the franchise, Voyager because of Seven of Nine, Deep Space Nine because of that fantastic throwback episode, the cartoon [The Animated Series] because I remember it vaguely, and lastly, Enterprise because I never saw it." Pegg went on to give "an honorable mention...to Star Trek: New Voyages which can be found on the 'net which has to be one of the most amazing examples of fan based dedication out there."

His favorite Captain was (not surprisingly) James T. Kirk. "I would say Shatner's Kirk is my favorite Captain because he created such a brilliantly charismatic character."

To read more of the interview, head to the article located here.

Jack Bauer · March 16 2008, 03:34 AM

GEEKS UNITE!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

tomalak301 · March 16 2008, 06:31 AM

I don't know, but for a geek I would have expected a bit more substance when he ranked the series. Yeah it's a tad bit picky but still.

MadBaggins · March 16 2008, 02:48 PM

TrekToday wrote:

Simon Pegg considers himself fortunate to be working on a show of which he is a fan and looks forward to doing it again every three years. As reported by <A class="link" HREF="http://trekmovie.com/">TrekMovie.com</A>, from an interview posted by <A class="link" HREF="http://www.collider.com">Collider.com</A>, a fateful email lead to his role as Scotty in Star Trek XI. "I got back from New York and switched on my phone to find an email from J.J.," said Pegg. "It read, simply, 'Do you want to play Scotty?' I didn't say yes straight away. I called J.J. and said, 'this is a huge commitment. I don't know if I should.' J.J. simply said, if the worst thing that happens is we get together every three years and have a great time, what's to worry about. I was convinced after that."Pegg is sensitive to the fact that his character Scotty was done first by James Doohan. "I'm very aware that the character of Scotty belongs to James Doohan," he said. "The man is a legend and it will always be his. Anything I do is a tribute to him." He met with Chris Doohan, son of James. "I actually got to meet his son Chris, which was a real treat," said Pegg. "He told me a few stories from the old days, not least actually being on set when they were shooting 'The Trouble With Tribbles'. He gave me a little bit of dilithium crystal from the show. I felt honored."Being a fan of Star Trek means that Pegg has his favorite Star Trek series. "I would say the original [series] because it's the original," he explained when asked to rank the shows in order of preference. "[Then] TNG because it reignited the franchise, Voyager because of Seven of Nine, Deep Space Nine because of that fantastic throwback episode, the cartoon [The Animated Series] because I remember it vaguely, and lastly, Enterprise because I never saw it." Pegg went on to give "an honorable mention...to Star Trek: New Voyages which can be found on the 'net which has to be one of the most amazing examples of fan based dedication out there."His favorite Captain was (not surprisingly) James T. Kirk. "I would say Shatner's Kirk is my favorite Captain because he created such a brilliantly charismatic character."To read more of the interview, head to the article located <A class="link" HREF="http://www.collider.com/entertainment/interviews/article.asp/aid/7226/tcid/1/pg/2">here</A>.<center></center>

Voyager above DS9. I'm going to burn my Hot Fuzz DVD.

Mutenroshi · March 16 2008, 06:09 PM

You do realize there are people of feel that DS9 is not "Star Trek"?

Kegek · March 16 2008, 07:24 PM

Hey, the fact he even knows about the animated series (and New Voyages) make him geekier than your average person, even if he's way below the level of geekiness of your average TrekBBS poster. His observations are pretty interesting, especially proving that to the quasi-casual viewer Seven of Nine did get name recognition. She's the only character from any show he mentions. It also confirms that DS9 is often best known for "Trials and Tribble-ations", at least out there. Where I am, DS9 is best known as the one with Colm Meaney (and is still pretty popular), but that's perspective.

Captain Robert April · March 16 2008, 09:42 PM

This was the one aspect of Pegg's casting that I was not in the least bit concerned, since just from watching "Shaun of the Dead" I could tell he was "one of us."

It was trying to figure out why he got the pick over Paul McGillion that has me flummoxed.

Pensive · March 16 2008, 10:25 PM

Captain Robert April wrote:

It was trying to figure out why he got the pick over Paul McGillion that has me flummoxed.

Same here.

ITL · March 16 2008, 10:47 PM

I, however, was unflummoxed.

ChristopherPike · March 16 2008, 11:03 PM

As expected he's never seen ENT and so get's everyone's vote because of it.

Pioneer · March 17 2008, 01:12 PM

Pensive wrote:

Captain Robert April wrote:

It was trying to figure out why he got the pick over Paul McGillion that has me flummoxed.

Same here.

Ditto. Paul McGillion wouldn't have needed to be "convinced" to play Scotty.

ChristopherPike wrote:

As expected he's never seen ENT and so get's everyone's vote because of it.

As expected? Anyone who hasn't seen all of Star Trek, including Enterprise, isn't a Star Trek fan. End of story.
That's right. Simon Pegg isn't a geek, he's just pandering to the geeks. He's a fake geek. He's a feek™!

tomalak301 · March 17 2008, 06:14 PM

Pioneer wrote:

As expected? Anyone who hasn't seen all of Star Trek, including Enterprise, isn't a Star Trek fan. End of story.
That's right. Simon Pegg isn't a geek, he's just pandering to the geeks. He's a fake geek. He's a feek™!

So even though I've been following Star Trek since I was four, I've never seen the animated series so that doesn't make me a Trek fan. Who knew?

Pioneer · March 17 2008, 08:34 PM

tomalak301 wrote:

Pioneer wrote:

As expected? Anyone who hasn't seen all of Star Trek, including Enterprise, isn't a Star Trek fan. End of story.
That's right. Simon Pegg isn't a geek, he's just pandering to the geeks. He's a fake geek. He's a feek™!

So even though I've been following Star Trek since I was four, I've never seen the animated series so that doesn't make me a Trek fan. Who knew?

I did. And now, so do you.

The Animated Series is available at stores or via NetFlix. They're actually pretty good.
So go get caught up, pseudo-fan (Psan™).