Tom Cruise to cameo in new 'Star Trek' movie?

Posted Thursday, August 9, 2007 at 4:29 PM Central

by Tim Briscoe

First let it be said that I'm not a Trekkie. Heck, I'm not even sure if the Star Trek faithful are called "Trekkies" or "Trekkers." I certainly don't know who Captain Christopher Pike is in the pantheon of sci-fi series.

Apparently director J.J. Abrams does.

Rumors are flying (IGN seems to have been the first to report it) that none other than Tom Cruise will appear in J.J. Abrams' prequel Star Trek movie coming Christmas 2008. According to the talk, Cruise will appear as Captain Pike, the predecessor to Captain Kirk (William Shatner) on the original TV show.

Actor Jeffrey Hunter played Pike in the unaired television pilot for the show. According to IGN, the Star Trek back story has Mr. Spock serving with Pike for a decade prior to the appearance of Kirk. In reality, NBC simply went in a different direction with the show and hired Shatner after the making the pilot.

The cameo would be a tip-of-the-hat to Abrams who directed Mission: Impossible III for Cruise. It most definitely won't be a favor for Paramount, the studio releasing Star Trek. Viacom (Paramount's parent) honcho Sumner Redstone publicly fired Cruise a year ago due to his wild antics and controversial views showcased in the media.

In official Star Trek casting news, Russian-born actor Anton Yelchin will play the Russian-born character Pavel Chekhov. Yelchin is perhaps best known for his recent role in Alpha Dog.

It was previously announced that Zachary Quinto and original cast member Leonard Nimoy would both portray the Vulcan Mr. Spock in the forthcoming film.

I have watched enough Star Trek to know that Spock is the pointy-eared guy.