Oct 9, 2009 06:30 AM
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Tue Feb 9
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Writers Orci and Kurtzman say that talk of a topical Guantanamo allegory in Star Trek 2 was just water-cooler chatter. And J.J. Abrams tells us he wants to steer clear of political message-mongering. But has no problem with "modern issues."
We sat with writers Orci and Kurtzman at the Paramount Star Trek DVD junket eagerly awaiting details on the next Trek. Right away they cleared up recent rumors that they've already created a storyline for the second outing — they have yet to sit down and lock themselves in a hotel room as they did the first time around. As fans of the series in all its incarnations, they have yet to settle even on who exactly they want to include, says Kurtzman, let alone whether to tackle weightier world issues.
But what about the rumored Gitmo plot line? Orci stated that the reports that they're writing a commentary on torture and the Bush doctrine (while never entirely out of the question) are a little absurd, since they've barely begun work on the sequel.
We have nothing. The torture thing was just a 'for instance.' Someone said, 'Modern day issues?' And we said, 'Yeah, sure, modern day issues.'
We're not doing a story about Gitmo. I read on some site that it was going to be about Guantanamo Bay. But now that we've established the characters, we can have a more philosophical allegory, where what's happening in the future represents our world — like the best versions of it in the '60s did with women's rights, racial equality, [and] progressive issues.
We're still just brainstorming internally, and we're going to get together soon and bust our riffs out and see where it takes us.
Also, we'd like to note there was a bit a torture in the first already. So should they revisit this, let's hope they break new ground with it.
In a separate interview, director J.J. Abrams agreed with his writers' remarks, saying that it's never as simple as making a political statement.
"It's not like we're looking to make the second movie some kind of heavy political allegory - I think it's important that there is metaphor to what we know, and that there is relevance. And I think that allegory is the thing that made shows like The Twilight Zone and Star Trek resonate and still vital today."
He continued on, explaining that where the first film was all introductions — to the world, to the characters, to the time period — the second has a duty to go deeper and examine this new world and grow with it.
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