Normally I roll my eyes a little when fans of a given franchise or character pore over even the tiniest bits of news about upcoming movies. Who cares to see photos of the Captain America back lot? Why do we all have to know this second who Joseph Gordon-Levitt will play in The Dark Knight Rises? But when it comes to J.J. Abrams' Star Trek and the still-scheduled sequels, I'm as big a geek as they come, and dying for even a bit of news about when the movie might get going, hit theaters, then hit Blu-Ray so I can watch it every day forever. Not that I'm, y'know, excited or anything.

The news at Screen Rant isn't exactly huge-- they're hearing from "a source close to the production" that Paramount is committing money to pre-production offices for Star Trek 2, based on a look at the new script, and despite the fact that J.J. Abrams is not yet signed on as a director. But it's a good sign of things moving forward and quite possibly meeting the planned June 29, 2012 release date; I could imagine Abrams putting the gears in motion this spring, getting Super 8 out into theaters in June, then running full ahead with Star Trek 2 during the summer.

Watching Abrams move forward with the project methodically and at his own pace, refusing to let Paramount's desire for a sequel rush him, I'm reminded of the way the same studio rushed Jon Favreau into production on Iron Man 2, resulting in a sequel so messy and compromised that Favreau walked away from the franchise entirely. Abrams is refusing to let the same thing to happen to him, and much as I want to see the new Star Trek film soon, I'd rather him do it his own way.