Can New ‘Star Trek 3’ Co-Writer ‘Scotty’ And New Director Pull The Core Fan Base Back?

Star Trek 3, Paramount Studios’ third installment of the immensely popular Sci-Fi franchise and continuing from the original Star Trek movie series, just solidified its new writing team with Simon Pegg, reports MTV.

On the heels of this and another recent announcement that Justin Lin will direct the film, BreatheCast reports that the reason for the all new behind the scenes cast is because Paramount hopes to bring back the core fan base who Abrams alienated when he directed the last two Trek films.

Simon Pegg, the English actor and writer who is better known as the character, “Lt. Com. Montgomery Scott,” or “Scotty,” to Trekkies everywhere, is one of four co-writers joining the all-new Trek writing team, reports the Christian Post. With Doug Jung of Dark Blue fame leading the way, fellow co-writers Patrick McKay and John D. Payne will round out the writing of this much-anticipated, but still untitled Star Trek script.

Chris Pine, better known as the young version of “Captain Kirk” in Star Trek and Star Trek: Into Darkness, released in 2009 and 2013 respectively, joked in an interview with MTV that there would probably be, “Vast, vast Simon Pegg monologues.” He also said that Scotty (Pegg) writing the script would be “perfect.”

“What we enjoy about it is that we have a laugh. We want to make sure that that’s still embedded in there, so to have Simon writing it is the perfect fit.”

Not to worry, though, Pegg will still play Scotty in the upcoming Star Trek 3 film, according to the IMDB.

Also new to the overall Trek team is Justin Lin, who will replace J.J. Abrams as director. According to ScienceFiction.com, this announcement came after Roberto Orci was announced as Abrams’ replacement, but “issues with the script” saw Orci abandon ship, in what would have been his directorial debut.

With Abrams’ credits including Fringe, Lost, and Mission Impossible: III, and with his reported alienation of the core Star Trek fan base, Lin, who is well known as the director of the Fast and the Furious film franchise, has some huge shoes to fill.

Although MTV reports that Abrams is too busy working on the latest Star Wars installment to direct Star Trek 3, other outlets report that it was harsh criticism that sent Abrams packing.

DailyTech.com reported that Abrams had to apologize to fans after them – and his wife – criticized him for overusing a specific special effects technique called “lens flare.” During the apology, Abrams admitted he had a problem and that he had hit rock bottom with the special effects “addiction.” However, even though he reportedly hired LucasFilms to edit the flares out of Into Darkness, more than 850 remained.

“But I know it’s too much, and I apologize. I’m so aware of it now. [I showed my wife an early cut of Into Darkness] and there was this one scene where she was literally like, ‘I just can’t see what’s going on. I don’t understand what that is.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I went too nuts on this.'”

This was apparently only part of the problem. Critics pummeled Abrams for the similarities between the Star Trek and Star Wars franchises, despite the movies’ successes at the box office.

According to WhatCulture, when Abrams tried to expand the Star Trek fan base with “casual moviegoers” who might not normally pay to see a science fiction film, he “Star Warsified Star Trek.”

While his plan did bring in a larger audience and big bucks at the box office, when he dumbed down the plot, it succeeded in alienating and offending the core fan base who wanted nothing to do with the “nonsensical science and the rubbish plot.” To date the film has taken in less than $500 million, and Paramount is said to be cutting the Star Trek 3 budget by $20 million, reports Blastr.

Did Paramount bring Lin and Pegg into the fold in the hopes that Lin’s success with Fast and the Furious and Pegg’s familiarity with the Trek plot lines and science – not to mention the fans’ love of Scotty – will carry over to the newest installment of the Trek series?

Image from Paramount Pictures