Simon Pegg on Taking 'Star Trek Beyond' in a Different Direction to 'Star Wars'
Writer Simon Pegg has made it clear that he's devoted to his latest project, Star Trek Beyond. And following on from J.J. Abrams' time in the director's seat, there's a very different kind of challenge the team had to tackle.
Abrams has stated that when he made the first Star Trek back in 2009, he made it like Star Wars because that's the world he knew and loved. With Star Wars back in the limelight, there poses the question of how the Star Trek franchise differentiates itself from that.
"Yeah, I think it’s interesting when you look at the original Star Trek, because it is about an idealistic young farm boy who goes off to fight in outer space. There are similar beats in it. It’s no secret that J.J. was always more of a Star Wars fan. I think you just try to create a hybrid. You know, Star Wars is science fantasy, and Star Trek is science fiction, and they’re two different things.
"People often confuse Star Wars and Star Trek — and they’re not the same thing at all. It’s a bizarre and wonderful thing that you can be in Bad Robot now and hear Chewbacca in one room and someone talking about Spock in the other, but they are still very, very different things. I think what you have to maintain with Star Trek is that it’s rooted somewhere in our reality and our universe and in humanity.
"Star Wars is a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. The thing that makes that Star Trek kind of more science fantasy is that it does get — you know, there’s a lot of special effects and fighting. Star Trek could never really afford that in a way, which is why it had to concentrate on other aspects of production. We can do both now. So I think it’s kind of finding a way of having that really fun, spectacular event cinema but grounding it in kind of a — because explosions don’t mean a damn thing if you don’t care about who’s involved in the explosions.
"You can see the most incredible fireworks on a cinema screen, but if you don’t fundamentally care about the people who are in jeopardy, then they’re so unimpressive. You see it time and time again these days."
The film arrives July 22.
Source: Collider
