I’m torn over the idea of a new Star Trek movie. On one hand, I love Trek and would like to see it carry on. On the other hand, I only want to see it carry on successfully. Since yesterday’s announcement of Berman leaving Paramount wasn’t about Rick Berman, I can only be half-hopeful about the franchise.

The latest rumor on Star Trek XI carries on the two trends that scare me the most about the film: the idea that this will be a new vision of Trek aimed at a new audience and the idea that it will be a reinvention of the Kirk/Spock characters we’ve known for years.

But Kirk and Spock aren’t the only ones being revised. According to a story TrekMovie ran a few days ago, they’ve managed to find out some additional characters and information about the plot of the film. Apparently some more of Kirk’s crew will be making the leap to the new picture as well, namely Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott (originally played by James Doohan) and the third member of the main character triangle, Dr. Leonard McCoy (originally played by DeForest Kelly). Unfortunately, unlike the idea of Kirk and Spock original cast members William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy appearing in the new movie, both Doohan and De have passed on, apparently leaving their characters to be put in new hands.

But the familiar crew of the Enterprise aren’t the only names being tossed around. Kirk’s predecessor as captain of the Enterprise, Christopher Pike is also being mentioned as a character. Assuming the film sticks with some semblance of the canon, this makes sense since he preceded Kirk and Spock served under Pike. This would place the movie close to the beginning of Kirk’s reign as captain.

However, the time of the movie is still in question. So much in question, in fact, that it appears the film might be jumping around in time, which could allow Shatner and Nimoy to make an appearance. TrekMovie is listing various locations from throughout Kirk’s career including the Enterprise, the USS Farragut (where Kirk served as a Lieutenant), Starfleet Acadamy, and even Kirk’s home state of Iowa. Truly this appears to be an origin story centered around the early years of James T. Kirk.

Now keep in mind that none of this is completely official yet. Expect Paramount to start announcing casting here in the next few months, although they could potentially wait as late as San Diego Comic Con now that they’ve pushed back to a Winter 2008 release instead of a Summer plan.