Group shot comparison

[datas_cat_spot]

Chekov and Sulu are definitely the weakest. It bothers me how curly Yelchin's hair is, they couldn't have fixed that? That and Pine's blue eyes. Not a difficult change. Also I think Pine looks less Kirk-like with his hair puffy like that. Shatner's always had that "wet" look on the show. Saldana looks great. She just has different hair but that's fine for a younger Uhura.

 

[Cyke101]

Problems with the bridge set aside, they do look the part. They're a damn fine collection of actors. I have a feeling they're going to be extraordinarily successful at pulling this off.

It's good to see, even as photographed evidence, that Trek's tradition of really great casting for the senior crew continues to this day.

Oh, sure, no movie or show is ever going to say, "We don't care, we just hired whoever we could get." But say what you will about the quality of some of the spinoffs, I'll just contend that the one thing all the crews have in common were really strong casting choices.

 

[Cyke101]

Chekov and Sulu are definitely the weakest. It bothers me how curly Yelchin's hair is, they couldn't have fixed that?

I'd like to point out the possibility that, in the future, people will be able to switch from straight to curly with the flick of a switch.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Chekov and Sulu are definitely the weakest. It bothers me how curly Yelchin's hair is, they couldn't have fixed that? That and Pine's blue eyes. Not a difficult change. Also I think Pine looks less Kirk-like with his hair puffy like that. Shatner's always had that "wet" look on the show. Saldana looks great. She just has different hair but that's fine for a younger Uhura.

Hair style and eye color. Is that what it's come to? I've heard the same lame, superfacial arguements about actors who've played Superman. What matters is what these actors bring to the table with their interpretations of these characters.

 

[ST-One]

Chekov and Sulu are definitely the weakest. It bothers me how curly Yelchin's hair is, they couldn't have fixed that? That and Pine's blue eyes. Not a difficult change. Also I think Pine looks less Kirk-like with his hair puffy like that. Shatner's always had that "wet" look on the show. Saldana looks great. She just has different hair but that's fine for a younger Uhura.

Yeah?
They are different people.
What did you expect? That they put latex mask over their heads and some nifty CGI so that they look like Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and co.?

 

[Good Will Riker]

I'm especially impressed by Karl Urban, i'm really getting a McCoy vibe from him.

No. His hair is parted on the wrong side. Boycott! Boycott this film, I say!

So is Brandon Routh's hair, which is parted on the otherside compared to Christopher Reeve.

But, man, I sure am happy that a Korean American gets top-billing in a Star Trek film.

 

[Cyke101]

I'm especially impressed by Karl Urban, i'm really getting a McCoy vibe from him.

No. His hair is parted on the wrong side. Boycott! Boycott this film, I say!

So is Brandon Routh's hair, which is parted on the otherside compared to Christopher Reeve.

But, man, I sure am happy that a Korean American gets top-billing in a Star Trek film.

I am, too. But there's a weird thought in my head: a Korean American carrying the role of a half-Filipino that was originally played by a pure Japanese-American.

Say what you will, but I think that makes Sulu the most culturally-intertwined character in all of Trek

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

Chekov and Sulu are definitely the weakest. It bothers me how curly Yelchin's hair is, they couldn't have fixed that? ...

The whole point of the 'Chekov' character is that he is young. Koenig's 1960s Davy Jones/Monkees haircut was supposed to underscore that fact. Now it's 2008 and to underscore the youngness of Chekov in this film, he has a haircut that resonates as "young-looking" with a 2008 movie audience. Looking like a 1967 Davy Jones in 2008 would be pointless.

In fact I'm pretty sure they even made Yelchin's hair curlier than it usually is (at least in other films I've seen him in).

But, man, I sure am happy that a Korean American gets top-billing in a Star Trek film.

He only got top billing because his name isn't "Yun", and Eric Bana's name is listed alongside Nimoy's under "with...".

 

[datas_cat_spot]

Chekov and Sulu are definitely the weakest. It bothers me how curly Yelchin's hair is, they couldn't have fixed that? That and Pine's blue eyes. Not a difficult change. Also I think Pine looks less Kirk-like with his hair puffy like that. Shatner's always had that "wet" look on the show. Saldana looks great. She just has different hair but that's fine for a younger Uhura.

Hair style and eye color. Is that what it's come to? I've heard the same lame, superfacial arguements about actors who've played Superman. What matters is what these actors bring to the table with their interpretations of these characters.

Yeah?
They are different people.
What did you expect? That they put latex mask over their heads and some nifty CGI so that they look like Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and co.?

You guys are getting too defensive. I couldn't be more excited about this movie right now so the sarcasm isn't needed. I'm only saying it's very easy to give Pine a pair of contacts to give him dark eyes. These are subtle things that help sell character. Would your average moviegoer be able to tell you Kirk/Shatner has dark eyes? Probably not. But it's a good bet subconsciously something can look "off" especially with something as important as eye color. It's obvious that the crew on this show has gone to great lengths to achieve an impressive level of detail so I don't believe contacts would be a huge burden. Possibly Yelchin's hair... I saw the BTS footage from Iron Man of Favreau getting his hair "straightened", and it does seem like kind of a pain in the ass. I'm only nitpicking because on the whole I'm loving what I see so far.

 

[ST-One]

Chekov and Sulu are definitely the weakest. It bothers me how curly Yelchin's hair is, they couldn't have fixed that? That and Pine's blue eyes. Not a difficult change. Also I think Pine looks less Kirk-like with his hair puffy like that. Shatner's always had that "wet" look on the show. Saldana looks great. She just has different hair but that's fine for a younger Uhura.

Hair style and eye color. Is that what it's come to? I've heard the same lame, superfacial arguements about actors who've played Superman. What matters is what these actors bring to the table with their interpretations of these characters.

Yeah?
They are different people.
What did you expect? That they put latex mask over their heads and some nifty CGI so that they look like Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and co.?

You guys are getting too defensive. I couldn't be more excited about this movie right now so the sarcasm isn't needed. I'm only saying it's very easy to give Pine a pair of contacts to give him dark eyes. These are subtle things that help sell character. Would your average moviegoer be able to tell you Kirk/Shatner has dark eyes? Probably not. But it's a good bet subconsciously something can look "off" especially with something as important as eye color. It's obvious that the crew on this show has gone to great lengths to achieve an impressive level of detail so I don't believe contacts would be a huge burden. Possibly Yelchin's hair... I saw the BTS footage from Iron Man of Favreau getting his hair "straightened", and it does seem like kind of a pain in the ass. I'm only nitpicking because on the whole I'm loving what I see so far.

Since when are eye-color and hair-styles essential parts of a the character?

 

[datas_cat_spot]

Hair style and eye color. Is that what it's come to? I've heard the same lame, superfacial arguements about actors who've played Superman. What matters is what these actors bring to the table with their interpretations of these characters.

Yeah?
They are different people.
What did you expect? That they put latex mask over their heads and some nifty CGI so that they look like Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley and co.?

You guys are getting too defensive. I couldn't be more excited about this movie right now so the sarcasm isn't needed. I'm only saying it's very easy to give Pine a pair of contacts to give him dark eyes. These are subtle things that help sell character. Would your average moviegoer be able to tell you Kirk/Shatner has dark eyes? Probably not. But it's a good bet subconsciously something can look "off" especially with something as important as eye color. It's obvious that the crew on this show has gone to great lengths to achieve an impressive level of detail so I don't believe contacts would be a huge burden. Possibly Yelchin's hair... I saw the BTS footage from Iron Man of Favreau getting his hair "straightened", and it does seem like kind of a pain in the ass. I'm only nitpicking because on the whole I'm loving what I see so far.

Since when are eye-color and hair-styles essential parts of a the character?

Appearance-wise there isn't really a whole lot. Clothes. Hair. Eyes. What else is there? I can only assume they like Pine better with blue eyes just like they like the bridge better with more lights. I'm only talking about the appearance of the characters right now for obvious reasons.

 

[ST-One]

Appearance-wise there isn't really a whole lot. Clothes. Hair. Eyes. What else is there? I can only assume they like Pine better with blue eyes just like they like the bridge better with more lights. I'm only talking about the appearance of the characters right now for obvious reasons.

Which isn't important... also for obvious reasons.

 

[datas_cat_spot]

Appearance-wise there isn't really a whole lot. Clothes. Hair. Eyes. What else is there? I can only assume they like Pine better with blue eyes just like they like the bridge better with more lights. I'm only talking about the appearance of the characters right now for obvious reasons.

Which isn't important... also for obvious reasons.

Just so we're clear; The appearance of the characters isn't important?

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

...I can only assume they like Pine better with blue eyes just like they like the bridge better with more lights. I'm only talking about the appearance of the characters right now for obvious reasons.

Or maybe they liked the actor, and he happened to have blue eyes.

 

[erastus25]

Just noticed this - does anyone else think Chekov looks a lot like Crewman Green from The Man Trap?

 

[datas_cat_spot]

...I can only assume they like Pine better with blue eyes just like they like the bridge better with more lights. I'm only talking about the appearance of the characters right now for obvious reasons.

Or maybe they liked the actor, and he happened to have blue eyes.

I'm fairly sure they like Chris Pine lol. My initial post wasn't an analysis of what they like about Kirk's appearance, rather what I like about it (or don't like in this case).

 

[ST-One]

Appearance-wise there isn't really a whole lot. Clothes. Hair. Eyes. What else is there? I can only assume they like Pine better with blue eyes just like they like the bridge better with more lights. I'm only talking about the appearance of the characters right now for obvious reasons.

Which isn't important... also for obvious reasons.

Just so we're clear; The appearance of the characters isn't important?

The important thing is that the actor looks the part (and that doesn't mean like the actor that portrayed the character before).

 

[datas_cat_spot]

Which isn't important... also for obvious reasons.

Just so we're clear; The appearance of the characters isn't important?

The important thing is that the actor looks the part (and that doesn't mean like the actor that portrayed the character before).

I agree. Contrary to general consensus, Brandon Routh really looks nothing like Christopher Reeve aside from being tall, dark, and handsome yet I had no problem believing he was playing he same character. I see no reason for the cast of Star Trek to be unable to achieve the same result especially since they're all better actors. Superman and Kirk are dissimilar in the sense one has been portrayed by numerous actors and depicted in print a thousand different ways, and Kirk has only been played by Shatner. So Pine has no choice but to look like Shatner to look like Kirk. I think he looks like a leader in those shots so I'll try and focus on that.

 

[ST-One]

Just so we're clear; The appearance of the characters isn't important?

The important thing is that the actor looks the part (and that doesn't mean like the actor that portrayed the character before).

I agree. Contrary to general consensus, Brandon Routh really looks nothing like Christopher Reeve aside from being tall, dark, and handsome yet I had no problem believing he was playing he same character. I see no reason for the cast of Star Trek to be unable to achieve the same result especially since they're all better actors.

Agreed.

Superman and Kirk are dissimilar in the sense one has been portrayed by numerous actors and depicted in print a thousand different ways, and Kirk has only been played by Shatner. So Pine has no choice but to look like Shatner to look like Kirk. I think he looks like a leader in those shots so I'll try and focus on that.

Here I have to disagree.
Just because it took until now that another actor played Kirk (officially, at least - to me James Cawley is as much Kirk as Shatner) I see no difference between Kirk, Batman, Superman or Bond.

 

[datas_cat_spot]

The important thing is that the actor looks the part (and that doesn't mean like the actor that portrayed the character before).

I agree. Contrary to general consensus, Brandon Routh really looks nothing like Christopher Reeve aside from being tall, dark, and handsome yet I had no problem believing he was playing he same character. I see no reason for the cast of Star Trek to be unable to achieve the same result especially since they're all better actors.

Agreed.

Superman and Kirk are dissimilar in the sense one has been portrayed by numerous actors and depicted in print a thousand different ways, and Kirk has only been played by Shatner. So Pine has no choice but to look like Shatner to look like Kirk. I think he looks like a leader in those shots so I'll try and focus on that.

Here I have to disagree.
Just because it took until now that another actor played Kirk (officially, at least - to me James Cawley is as much Kirk as Shatner) I see no difference between Kirk, Batman, Superman or Bond.

In all cases, I see the characters being bigger than any actor. The distinction I see in this situation, is that I'm under the impression Pine is playing the same version of Kirk in the same continuity. Shatner won't be in this movie, but I'd like to think he could walk into a scene and there wouldn't be an eye color discrepancy (I realize how trivial this is). It sounds like Nimoy and Quinto do share a scene, and if Quinto had blue eyes without some sort of explanation it would be distracting. I don't see Daniel Craig as playing the same version of Bond as Connery, so his blond hair and blues eyes is a non issue.