posted by Grant on December 22, 2007 10:28 AM in Music
While working at a college radio station, I had the opportunity to run into lots of music that I would not normally seek out on my own. There were a lot of typical indie and emo college-type bands that were a dime a dozen in our rotation. But every now and then I found a little diamond place in the rough by our program director. Super Rad! by The Aquabats is just such a diamond. This song appeared on the band's second album, during the big ska movement of the late 90s. The quick tempo and lively brass make this song a lot of peppy fun. I command you to watch this delightfully low budget music video.
The Wizard has a special place in the hearts of (most of) the staff here at The Weekly Geek. It's a big, horrible, unabashed Nintendo commercial and yet we loves it so. The main love theme or whatever from the movie was by a little Australian new wave band that really didn't do anything else of note. Not that I'd really call being on on the soundtrack of The Wizard "of note". In any case, it's wonderfully 80s and gets stuck in your head for days upon days upon days. Now that it's stuck in my head again, allow me to do the same for you.
I highly enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, and most everyone likes at least the first one. One of the great things about the movie was the fantastic original score. The main theme prevalent throughout the whole of the score fits in so nicely no matter how composer Klaus Badelt arranged it. If you have a chance, listen to all the songs on the soundtrack. But the He's a Pirate track focuses solely on that main theme. And it's so good. Y'know how they say that things that have neat mathematical properties tend to be extra aesthetically pleasing in media such as art and music? Well this is the first song I have ever consciously noticed that seems to fit in both 4/4 and 3/3 time. Go ahead, listen to it and count off. 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4. And then 1, 2, 3, 1, 2 3. It works. It's crazy but it works.
posted by Grant on December 9, 2007 10:17 PM in Rant
Hey there all you Geekkateers. I have an announcement I need to make. I have decided to take a break from The Weekly Geek. I won't bore you with all the details, but it was a little of this and little of that that added up to me wanting to just get away from it all for a while. Now, I can't say for sure if it's temporary or permanent. I don't know that right now. I think there's probably a good chance that I am going to miss all the fun stuff that being a part of The Weekly Geek brings, but I need to step away from the work of it all to focus on other general life things at the moment.
It's been wonderful having the opportunity to invade your iPods and Windows Media Players and other such listening devices week in and week out. It's been great to sit around and talk about video games and stuff and actually have people think it's fun to hear. I thank you all for listening, whether you've been around since we started uploading our radio broadcasts back at CWU, or if you've only recently found us.
I won't be totally gone, though. I've got a few YPS posts pre-written and loaded in the hopper that you'll see over the next couple weeks. And I'll still hang about in our rad forums with our awesome little community.
Thanks again everyone. Please keep visiting the site and listening to the show as there are exciting things lined up for the future of The Weekly Geek.
See you space cowboy...
Don't drive like my brother.
Good night, and good luck.
And that's the way it is
-Gabe out
Kay Ee Why...Why? Because we like you
I'm Kevin Nealon and that's news to me.
Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars
posted by Grant on December 9, 2007 9:17 PM in Music
Into every life, a little metal must fall. And sometimes that metal is glammed up with spandex and big, feathered hair. But despite the poor fashion choices of the 80s, they produced some kick ass tunes. Here's one I really like to rock out to in my car now and again.
posted by Grant on December 8, 2007 8:54 PM in Music
I don't have much to say about this wacky little song other than it's by the guy who was one half of one of the greatest shows ever on MTV, Sifl and Olly. I believe Liam made this song as kind of a private joke to himself and it just took off and reached a healthy level of popularity and has a nice cult status as well. It's fun. Whatever.
And as a bonus since this song is so short, here's Lynch performing the song with a couple of dudes from No Doubt on The Late Late Show.
posted by Grant on December 2, 2007 11:25 AM in Games
Microsoft has finally spilled the beans on the system update that's coming on December 4th. Here's a quick lowdown on the important parts:
As we have been told before, new "Xbox Originals" will be available for download via the XBLA. That means you can get old Xbox games such as Halo and Psychonauts, optimized for your 360. 1200 MS points each. That works to 15 bucks, plus tax.
Also on the XBLA, some of the older games that are already available will now become "Arcade Hits" which means they'll have a permanent price drop. Two important ones are Lumines going to 800 points while Zuma drops to 400.
There will be an expanded bio option for your Gamertag, letting you do more than just have a picture and a motto. You can limit this bios to friends only, if you want. This may be where they implement the ability to change your Live ID, as I heard about last week.
Also, the previously known "friends of friends" will become available, if your settings allow. You can let your friends or anyone see your own friends list.
New controls will let parents set a timer on their kids' Xbox access. Per-day or per-week time limits can be set.
New full-screen movie previews will be available.
There will be more details that will be officially announced at the Xbox Live website upon the release of the update.
Click the jump for the full current press release.
A few years back, Cartoon Network was enjoying a huge surge in popularity. At least, it seemed that way to the outside observer. They were running tons of classic popular toons as well as really starting to create and air lots of great new originals. During this time, CN had an amazing string of "bumpers". That is, little bits between shows that weren't exactly commercials, but just promos for the channel you're already watching. Everything from Aquaman explaining why the channel was the only place where his aquatic telepathy was a useful job skill, to Wonder Woman using her golden lasso of truth on various CN stars, to famous cartoon characters interacting with each other and live people at the "real life" Cartoon Network headquarters.
One of my most favorite bumpers was a little ditty sung by several toon stars such as Brak, Daffy, Johnny Bravo, and Space Ghost. It was a fun arrangement of several names of well known and not-so-well known cartoon characters in groups of rhymes or alliterations. Watch it!
posted by Grant on December 1, 2007 10:30 AM in Games, Music
As much as I know and understand that Squeenix is milking the Final Fantasy series for all it's worth, particularly the over-rated VII, I still really, really like it. Most gamers cringe with a FF7 fanboy goes on a tear about how it's the best game ever, and rightfully so. But it's still a fun game. And I still really love Sephiroth. And I still really, really love his theme music. I'm sorry, I can't help it. It's just so good. I listened to it over and over again in the synthesized version from the OST when I bought it from GameMusic.com. When I got wind of the fully orchestrated version, I found and downloaded it during the glory days of Napster, and eventually bought it on the imported CD itself. But when I heard it at the More Friends concert before E3 2005, I nearly died. Not only did I get to see and hear it performed live with a full chorus and orchestra, but the fucking Black Mages joined in and rocked the house down. And then at the Squeenix booth at the expo the following day, I caught a little bit of that rock/orchestra version during the teaser for Advent Children. And of course, I eventually bought the movie and the soundtrack. And the Advent version of One-Winged Angel is the pinnacle of any version of the song. I love it so much. (Ok, fair warning, going into full-on pathetic fanboy mode here.) I believe I have listened to it more than any other bit of music in my entire life. I feel, nay, I know that it is the greatest piece of music ever composed or ever will be composed.
Ok, I'm done.
Now check it out. Oh, and in case you care, there are probably some significant FF7:AC movie spoilers in this little video.
posted by Grant on November 29, 2007 8:17 PM in Games, Music
Like everyone else who happened to have $170 bucks (actually, only $150 at Sam's Club) and an Xbox 360 in the past week, I have been enjoying the hell out of Rock Band. I am not a big music guy. Lots and lots of stuff passes me by. So there are songs on this game that everyone knows that I am not terribly familiar with or just don't know at all. Today's YPS is an example of the former. I know that I'd heard at least the chorus of Say It Ain't So before, but I think that was about it. Anyway, I've played it a few times on guitar and drums and sung it at least once in the past week and it just won't leave my head. It's extremely catchy and a lot of fun to listen to. It also helps that it's the master track and not a cover, like so many songs for this game. So for those of you without said requisite cash and console, please enjoy the following:
Who are the best people in the world? Our fans, of course! And what's the best place for the best people in world to hang out and talk with each other? The Weekly Geek forums, duh! Go there, pick your screen name, and sign up. There you'll find such riveting subjects of conversation as:
Due to a various array of circumstances, my current Gamertag on Xbox Live is not associated with an email address that is actually mine. I have my own Hotmail address that I want to hook up to it. And from what I had seen around on the internets, there was no way to change it. But I want to change it. So I called up Xbox Support on the telephone to see what I could do to rectify my situation. The fellow I talked to confirmed that there is currently no way to change the Live ID associated with your Gamertag if it's a Hotmail.com or MSN.com email address.
However, he did say that there is an Xbox Live update coming in about a week that will allow you to do so. I think this is pretty big news. I haven't seen anything official announced anywhere about this and the dude I talked to was only a customer support phone jockey, but I think it's worth being optimistic about.
I was just sitting here, fiddling around on the old interwebs with the TV on for no particular reason when who should I see out of the corner of my eye but wacky ol' William Shatner. He's on TV wearing a black robe thingy and talking about shooting lightning bolts from his hands. Y'know what? There really aren't any words. Just watch it.
Some spy pictures have been taken at the set of the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie, and they're fairly good quality, without any watermarking. In them, you can see Zachary Quinto in his full green-blooded Vulcan persona, looking for all the world like Leonard Nimoy's illegitimate son. I knew he was a good pick, at least physically, from the beginning, and this just confirms it. Go check out the site that snagged the photos.
Hey they Geekkateers, I'm here to give you your radical forum update before Amy and I hit the road to drive down to Oregon to celebrate two of my favorite sins, sloth and gluttony. But I'll still be checking ol' interwubs now and again once we get to my parents' place and I expect to see you all having fun in the forums. What? You're not a member yet? Well go on and sign up, sucka. Then you can discuss such intellectual topics as:
We seem to be kind of migrating away from the traditional format of reviews and so I think I'll just go with this one as it flows. Call of Duty 4 is the latest installment from Activision's popular war-based FPS series. Deciding that they've done enough of World War II, they have moved to a modern, current day setting. Rather than fighting around Europe, you'll be shooting people in Generic Middle Eastern Country.
posted by Grant on November 18, 2007 12:01 PM in Cartoons
We're just one episode away from the Day of Black Sun and Team Aang is getting ready to invade the Fire Nation. They find the spot where they plan to meet in the income Water Tribe fleet. It's 4 days before the invasion and they have some time to sit, relax, and do some last minute planning. But knowing the big day is so close, Aang starts to get anxious and bad dreams invade his attempts to sleep.
posted by Grant on November 17, 2007 10:56 AM in Music
Chris introduced me to Halcali a while ago, and I immediately loved them. Halcali is a couple of adorable Japanese girls doing some wacky J-pop hip hop something or other. I don't really know what to call it. All I know is that it's catchy as hell and I played it over and over and over and over for days on end in my car when I first got the CD.
I think Tandem is my favorite from the album, which I can't recall the name of. Here's the video for it, which is quirky and wacky fun.
Chris - The album is called Bacon. Good luck finding it!
Holy crap is it Wednesday again? My, how the time flies. Let's take a little look into our glorious forum and see what is going on. There are a lot of cool people there and it's a lot of fun to talk with them. But if you want to jump into it, you have to register, got it? Ok then. These are some of the current topics:
posted by Grant on November 13, 2007 11:17 PM in Cartoons
Now that good ol' ASN has some nice screenshots for me to steal, it's time for a discussion of the latest episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. A bit late after Halloween, we get a nice spooky episode to enjoy. Once again, on the outskirts of a Fire Nation town, the crew are hanging out in a forest, trying to remain inconspicuous. And this time, they're telling spooky stories. Katara actually comes up with a good one when suddenly a mysterious old lady appears and startles everyone. Who is this lady? And what's been going on in her town? Click on in for spoilers, spoilers, and more spoilers!
Let's face it, the 90s Batman cartoon was friggin' amazing. It was just such a radical departure from any other cartoon of the time. One of the main things that set it apart was the music. It was one of, if not the first cartoons to have new music composed for every single episode. Most of the scoring was composed by the late Shirley Walker. Most of the music was based on the original theme that was composed by Danny Elfman for the Tim Burton Batman movies. The main title theme was a direct variation of that theme, condensed for the opening of the show. Probably one of the best cartoon openings ever, it never even said the name of the show in the sequence. It just used the visual and musical cues to set the mood. I've just always loved this theme.
posted by Grant on November 9, 2007 10:51 AM in Music
In case you didn't know it, I'm a very, very big fan of Weird Al and have been for as long as I can remember. I know it's so cliched geekery to like Weird Al, but I don't care. I really enjoy his music. And most people don't realize that it's not all just parodies and polka medleys. About half of all Al's music is completely orignal. As in, he wrote the music, the lyrics, did the arrangement, everything. And honestly, some of his best work is in his originals. My all-time favorite Al song is one of his originals, from one of his most recent albums, Poodle Hat. I just love everything about it. The tune, the harmonizing, the cadence. Everything about it is just really, really fun.
It doesn't have its own music video so I doodled around on YouTube for a little bit to find a good fan-made one. I think this is one of the better ones. The dude actually put some serious effort into it.
So I'm sitting at home right now, having called in sick to work because of a nasty cold. And I realized that I haven't ever checked out the new Price is Right since Drew Carey took over hosting duties from the legendary Bob Barker. Now, I've always liked Drew's standup and his sitcom was quite enjoyable as well. But this? This is just sad. He really, really sucks as the host of the Price is Right. He doesn't know how to play to the audience, he mumbles and talks too quickly, and he's not excited about anything at all. He's completely phoning it in and just seems like he really doesn't want to be there. I mean, yeah, he's not gonna be Bob, but he seems like he never watched the show before he started hosting. He shouldn't be trying to be Bob at all, but there are some things he should have picked up from him. I honestly think that I could probably do a better job at hosting. Hey CBS, if you wanna prove me wrong, fly me down and give me a try out.
Greetings loyal meatbags! It's time once again jump aboard the Weekly Geek Express straight down to forum town. I promise that our trains are not creepily anthropomorphic and you won't be accosted by a tiny Ringo Starr or George Carlin. I can't make any guarantees about Alec Baldwin, though. That guy is crafty. C'mon down to our station, register, and stay a while. And then talk with all the other passengers about things such as:
This week’s Wayback Wednesday isn’t terribly way back. And it also goes back to Fridays, not Wednesdays. I'm just being all sorts of contrary this week.
All of us wacky Generation Y-ers (or whatever it is they call us) got to watch a lineup of ridiculously cornball family sitcoms every Friday night on ABC when we were growing up. Yup, it’s the TGIF line up. Even if you wouldn’t be caught dead watching some of these shows now, you know you watched them as a kid and you loved them all.
We started out with shows like Perfect Strangers and Mr. Belvedere. Very soon after, came the two big legendary shows. Full House and Family Matters. This was the time that the Juggernaut of TGIF could not be stopped. Week after week of Olsen Twins and Steve Urkel brought down some great ratings for the network. The next big one was Step by Step, which I never really got too much into, even when they had the Urkel crossover episode.
TGIF also brought us the bizarre, but enjoyable Dinosaurs show. Which soon left the lineup to seek its own timeslot. And later on, we got Boy Meets World and Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, each enjoying several seasons.
TGIF also saw its share of tremendous flops, such as Hi Honey I’m Home, You Wish, and Teen Angel.
Let’s take a painful stroll down memory lane through the magic of YouTube.
The latest installment of Avatar: The Last Airbender starts off with the often-used gimmick of having something shocking start off the show that we're right in the middle of, and then cuts to a "X days earlier" scene. It's a little clichéd for Avatar's style, but I really can't think of many sci-fi or fantasy shows that haven't used it at one time or another. So anyway, Toph is suddenly captured by the local authorities and we see that Katara is the one who turned in the little blind Earthbender. Oh dip! What could have brought this on? Why, Katara? Why? Toph doesn't smell that bad, does she?
It's time once again, oh Geekkateers, to show the world that we're not all a bunch of crazy, gun wielding psychopaths just because we happen to enjoy interactive video entertainment. That's right, Child's Play 2007 has officially begun. For those of you who don't know, the crew over at Penny Arcade created a brand new charity back in 2003, where gamers donate money or buy gifts through Amazon to be donated to the Seattle Children's Hospital. Just like everything else PA has done in recent years, the event has grown exponentially and now works with a network of hospitals that spans the globe.
And this isn't one of them phony, shady, "give us some money for our huge paychecks and we might give the rest to some people in need" kind of charity. Absolutely 100% of everything that comes in goes directly to the beneficiaries of this charity. Mike and Jerry don't take even the slightest slice off the top for "administrative fees" or other crap like that.
In a world where gamers are are stereotyped as anti-social, violent, uncaring, selfish, etc., this is our chance to really prove them all wrong. But more importantly, it's a chance to participate in something wonderful and make a real difference in the lives of some children that may be facing the toughest days they will ever experience. Head on over to ChildsPlayCharity.org to find out what you can do to help your nearest children's hospital.
Ooogadie booogadie! It's a Halloween edition of The Weekly Geek forum update? What kind of spooky mischief is going on in our forums? Well, let me tell you all about it to entice you to register and join in the conversations!
And now we announce the grand prize winner for our Legendary Photo Mission Tuesday. The votes were counted and then thrown in the fireplace because this contest was completely subjective based on my own personal tastes, ha! Remember, our theme for this mission was "FLAG CAPTURED!" and we had some spiffy pictures come in all vying for the prize. With no further ado, here is your winner!
Congratulations to Chris Policastro! You win! Shredder has never looked more...uh...flag capturey. Chris will be receiving the awesomely huge Halo 3 Legendary Edition for Xbox 360. And to continue onward with prize giving, here we have the runner-up picture!
Huzzah for Danton Domike, also known as Classybot. You will be receiving a special code for a free download of Geon: Emotions from the Xbox Live Arcade. But the fun doesn't end here. We've got a few more pictures for everyone to see after the jump. Check out the pictures that just barely got edged out for winning stuff!
In the latest episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, we get a huge load of expository back story which adds a great deal to the story that's going on presently. Both Aang and Zuko learn about their forebears and see how it affects their present day lives. We're really starting to get into some serious stuff here, so you should really only click the jump if you've seen the episode for spoilers lurk within.
Overview:Mercury Meltdown Revolution is the third in a series of games that started with Archer Maclean’s Mercury on PSP. This incarnation appears on the Wii and takes advantage of the Wiimote’s motion sensitivity to control your little blob of mercury. Along the same spirit of Marble Madness, MMR is an actiony puzzle game where you have to guide an coagulated ball of mercury around various levels filled with various traps, tricks, and mazes. Oh, and did I mention it’s a budget title? Let’s see if it’s worth your 20 bucks.
Shininess: Being on the Wii, it’s not gonna be the super duper bright and shiny that you might find on the 360. But also being a basic puzzle game instead of an experiment on theoretical physics or a nightmare survival in a submerged steampunk dystopia, it doesn’t really need them new-fangled grafficks that all the kids want. Obviously, if it was on the 360, it’d look sharper, but the game doesn’t suffer for not being so. In other words, the graphics are good enough, but nothing to write home about. Though the way the blob of mercury rolls around and pools against walls is pretty nifty.
The game also has a quirky little soundtrack. Again, nothing to blow your mind, but it’s pretty good. At the very least, it’s not repetitive and irritating which can happen sometimes in lesser known puzzle games.
Funness: I was looking forward to trying out this game, since I love Marble Madness so much, but I was not terribly optimistic. I wasn’t sure how much more they could do with rolling something around a maze. As it turns out, there’s actually quite a bit more they can do with it. There are lots of traps and other interactive objects that give it more depth than just another maze game. I couldn’t tell you for sure how many of these have appeared in the previous games in the series, so I’m going to approach them as if they’re new because they’re new to me.
The main mechanism that I find the most interesting is the color changing. You can roll your little blob into paint sprays that will change its color. There are various gates and pressure switches that will only react if your mercury is the correct color. Sometimes, you’ll have to force your blob to hit a corner and split up into two pieces, make one hit a red spray and one hit a blue spray and then bring them back together to make purple. It’s pretty fun.
Because your blob can split up, just falling over the edge and losing isn’t that simple. If you happen to barely catch yourself right before you’re gonna fall, you might lose some of your mercury, but not all of it and still be able to finish the level. Of course, some levels require you to have a certain amount left in order to activate certain switches and you get more points for saving more when you finish.
There are lots of various obstacles to get in your way, things that push you, things that suck you in, things that blow you up into the air, and things that splatter you. There really is quite a wide variety in this game, so I have yet to run into a level that feels like I’m doing the same thing as another. The game is quite challenging without being annoyingly so.
Worthiness: I honestly think this game is a little gem in the Wii’s library that lots of people are probably going to miss. I’m enjoying it quite a bit. On top of having 150+ levels to go through, there is some replay value in each if you go back and try to get a perfect score on each level by collecting all the bonus icons and trying to make it to the exit point with every drop of your mercury. And you get bonus points for doing it within a certain amount of time. The game also has some unlockable mini-games that are more about survival rather than hitting and end goal. They’re kinda fun, but not that big of a deal. If this were a full-priced Wii title, I’d scoff and move on, but it’s not. This game is a budget title and rightfully so. At 20 bucks, I’d say it’s a worthy buy if you’re a fan of puzzle games, and especially if you liked Marble Madness or Super Monkey Ball. If you’re looking for some games to fill out your Wii shelf, this is one of them.
There's this place you can go on our website where you register your very own personal internets nom de plume can converse with the other patrons of our fantabulous blogcast. It's actually quite near. All you have to do is click this little linky-doo and join the world's greatest forums.
And once you're there, you can with other TWG fans about stuff such as:
Hey Geekkateers! You've got one week left to come up with a submission for a chance to win your very own Halo 3: Legendary Edition. It's a pretty sweet little package, complete with bonus disc and replica Master Chief helmet.
Go here to check out all the details on how to win. Once again, the deadline is Monday, October 29 at 11:59PM, PST.
It's time once again for a little spoiler filled discussion of the latest episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender. We switch gears this week and focus primarily on the main antagonists: Zuko, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee. Do we get to see them rain destruction on the Avatar and his buddies? Are they planning their next moves for world domination? Not yet! Right now, it's time for a beach party!
On Friday night at Carnegie Hall, J.K. Rowling was answering some questions from the crowd about her beloved characters after reading a bit from her latest work, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Anyway, a question about Albus's true love brought forth an answer that the crowd wasn't expecting. Albus Dumbledore is gay.
Now, it's not like the wacky hardline religious types didn't have enough to hate about the evil Harry Potter books with black magic and all. But now they get to rail about a gay character in the books. Of course, this will just draw more attention to the book and sell more copies.
I can see it now. Bill O'Reilly or Michael Savage going off on the inappropriate relationship between the Hogwarts headmaster and the young Harry Potter. Because of course we all know that the homosexual agenda is out to corrupt everything and that being gay automatically means you're also a pedophile and all that crap. /sarcasm
Honestly, it seems like she's had this in mind for Dumbledore for quite a while, if not from the very beginning. And it's cool that she didn't make a big deal of it. If you go back and read the last book, I'm sure there are hints and all that, but she didn't use it specifically to create controversy. She waited until after everyone who was going to buy the book already did to announce it officially, so it wasn't done just to sell more copies. It's just the way the character is.
I enjoy talking with our loyal Geekkateers over in our hippin' and hoppin' forums. If you wanna jump into the action, you need to take a moment to register. It's a swingin' place to be, daddio, and all the heppest of the hepcats are wise to the jive. But what goes on there? Well, I'm glad you asked. Grab a hold of your socks and read on, Joel Robinson.
That's right, we've been hooked up with a Legendary Edition of Halo 3, complete with kitty helmet! All you have to do to enter is participate in the new Photo Mission.
The rules are simple:
The photo must be a photo. Just take a picture with some sort of camera. It can be a digital camera, a scanned-in Polaroid, whatever. You can Photoshop it a bit if you want, but it has to start with the picture you took as the base, and try to keep the 'shoppery to a minimum.
Make the photo fit the theme of the mission whether to the letter or to the spirit. Just make it work somehow. Be creative.
Nothing that's not safe for work. That is, no nudity, shock images, whatever. I really shouldn't have to explain it to you.
To give you plenty of time to come up with something awesome, the mission will last two weeks this time. The deadline is Monday, October 29th at 11:59 PM, Pacific Standard Time.
I'll pick the winner based on which picture I like best.
The mission theme to win the Legendary Halo 3 pack is:
The journey into the Fire Nation continues! But Sokka's feeling bummed. All his friends can bend, but he can't. What's a 5th wheel to do? And what the hell has Iron been up to?
I don't know if any of you are interested in the new Star Trek movie that's due out around Christmas of next year, but some of the recent casting decisions are giving it promise. Not to mention that J.J. Abrams is the guy in charge of the whole shebang. I've never seen Lost, but I know lots of you Geekkateers really like it. Plus, from past interviews and such, JJ seems like he's interested in making a film that honors the Trek legacy, rather than just cashing in on a known franchise.
Spock was the first role to be officially named, with Zachary Quinto stepping into the green-blooded shoes. And they've been saying that Quinto is really diving into the role, spending lots of time with Nimoy himself and really getting to know him.
Uhura and Chekov have also been filled, but not by anyone that I'm familiar with. And just recently, Scotty and Sulu have been announced, and I'm kinda excited by it.
Simon Pegg, whom you may know as Shaun of the Dead has been officially confirmed to play Montgomery "Scotty" Scott. While John Cho (Harold of "and Kumar" fame) has been placed in the role of Hiraku Sulu. The call for Pegg to be Scotty really kinda came out of nowhere, but I think he should do a good job. Hell, he basically was a Scotty-type character in Mission: Impossible 3.
Oh, and our favorite gay deep-voiced Asian superhero daddy, George Takei, has given his support to Cho for the role of Sulu, unconcerned that Cho is Korean rather than Japanese.
So all that leaves us with is casting for Kirk and Bones. Chris Pine and Mike Vogel have both been rumored for James Tiberius Kirk. And the latest on Dr. McCoy is that Karl Urban is the favored choice. But none of this has been confirmed.
Also, I suppose they might be looking for a Nurse Chapel, but no word on that situation at all.
