Anyone else shocked this was how they chose to use Baird? We can see why it got cut — it doesn't exactly paint Kirk as a sensitive guy when dealing with alien species, but damn if Chris Pine isn't turning his charm up to 11 here.

Star Trek will be out on DVD Nov. 17. [Borders]

In our exclusive interview with Star Trek writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, we managed to pick their brain as to what landed on the cutting-room floor during rewrites. The most shocking was the actual Shatner scene.

Alex Kurtzman: We had a scene with Shatner, and that ended up going.

Roberto Orci: Right, we had a scene with Shatner.

Did that even get tossed around at all?

Orci: We wrote it, it was in the script.

Kurtzman: The very last scene when Spock and Spock meet each other, finally. And elder Spock is convincing young Spock that he couldn't interfere, because it would have diverted [Kirk and Spock] away from their friendship. And that their friendship is the key to the whole sort of shebang.

Orci: He gave him a recorded message from Kirk.

Kurtzman: He [elder Spock] said, "Don't take my word for it." And he handed him [younger Spock] a little holographic device and it projected Shatner. It was basically a Happy Birthday wish knowing that Spock was going to go off to Romulus, and Kirk would probably be dead by the time...

Orci: It turned into a voiceover, at the end of the movie.

Kurtzman: So It was a nod too, but it ultimately felt like a cameo, in a way that wasn't.

Orci: I still liked it [Laughs].

Wow, I really wouldn't have had a problem with this scene as described. I'm sad Shatner wasn't in the final version, I could have done with a little less Nimoy by the conclusion in any case. Oh well, maybe Shatner will appear in the next one. But that's not the only thing that was cut from the script. According to the writers, they had a scene of Spock playing the Vulcan lute, and his mother, that got axed. And they had written a young love Kirk moment. We would have met the lovely Carol Marcus, who actually had Kirk's son David in the original series, as a child.

Orcir described it as, "this whole Forrest Gump, young Kirk growing up near Carol Marcus, thing." Which would have been very sweet, I'm sure, but then ruined the whole, "I'm a drunk jerk" image for twenty-something Kirk years later.

Star Trek hits theaters in the evening on Thursday, May 7.

Design by the amazing Stephanie Fox.

There's something to be said for the unusual mix of traditional - these are, surprisingly, hand-painted, wooden nutcrackers, and at the time of year where the world likes nutcrackers so much they perform ballets about them - and retro sci-fi cheese that these sadly decorative-only festive treats offer. And, at $34.95, they're a surprisingly affordable potential holiday treat. Buy both and create your very own seasonal version of "Amok Time."

Classic Star Trek Nutcrackers [What On Earth]

Over at Ain't It Cool, a reader who attended the Paramount press junket in London reported back on his take on what he saw of Abrams channeling Rodenberry:

We saw the teaser trailer and then we saw what looked to be a very very early version of the full trailer – It showed more footage of Quito as Spock, much more Chris Pine and also some John Cho and Simon Pegg footage. The film looks like immense fun and there seems to be a lot of action in it. There look of the crew and the bridge is spot on and the costumes look like the original but with a more modern and practical twist. We got to see Spock talking to his parent as well and Kirk being told to take more responsibility. There were also a lot of montage scenes involves spaceship battles, gun fights and hand to hand combat. I especially like a short clip where we see the crew running through the corridors of the Enterprise – reminded me of next generation loads.

But if reading that the movie will be action-packed, faithful to the original but not beholden to it and, most importantly, feature hot Vulcan parental-child conversations, doesn't excite you, then maybe you'd be more interested in knowing that the movie's release will also include the first full trailer for Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen.

Between Star Trek, Transformers 2 and GI Joe, I think we can pretty much expect Paramount to own next summer's box office.

Icaddy reports on a Paramount preview [Ain't It Cool]

So after watching the second BSG clip, I just have one question: How come this never happened to one of the Sharons, when Boomer/Athena was flying a Viper? Do the Cylon raiders not recognize Sharon as a Cylon? Or do they just not care, because they know she'll resurrect and there are plenty more of her back on the basestar? Or is Anders just a different type of Cylon than Sharon? I really hope they answer these questions at some point!

More spoilers:

• Not sure if this really counts as a spoiler, but Star Trek will be all about the relationship, and conflict, between Kirk and Spock. [Trekweb]
• A new X-men comic, out next week, gives away the ending of Joss Whedon's Giant-Size Astonishing X-Men #1, which is Joss' final X-comic. GSAXM#1 ends with Kitty Pryde "lost," probably dead, and Peter grieving for her. Also, Scott and Emma survive, but Scott has trouble controlling his powers. Joss' X-swansong is delayed until April 9. Oh, and here's our own Graeme McMillan blogging about it. [Whedonesque]
• And here's some new concept art from The Incredible Hulk, which looks much like the concept art we've seen before, except that you can see more of the Hulk freaking out. [SuperheroFlix]