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This month marks a year until the release of Star Trek XI. Fans are so excited over this relaunch of the franchise that they can't wait for the official teaser (rumored to precede next month's Cloverfield) — so they've gone and made their own trailers, of which I think this one is the best:

And before that was a fly-by of a remodeled CGI Enterprise that proved to be cool yet false. Even the rabid paparazzi have gotten in on it by snapping some shots of the supposed Kirk and an Orion slave girl.

My curiosity occasionally gets the better of me, but in general, I'd rather avoid all these grovelling for media scraps. No news, rumor, or trailer is needed to sell me on this film, nor can any dissuade me from seeing it. I'm already sold and would like to see as much of the film for the first time upon its theatrical debut next Christmas. What about you?

[Hat tip to the Trek Movie Report Web site.]

Courtesy StarTrek.com comes this article from Entertainment Weekly that the first draft of the next Star Trek film is done. Slow but steady progress, to be sure…

The credits most often associated with J. J. Abrams, the producer and possible director of this film, are Mission: Impossible III and Lost. I'm familiar with neither, though I'm told the former was the best film in the series. Does his style of directing seem to lend itself well to the final frontier? Is it about time we finally got an "outside" director (i.e., someone who isn't a Trek alumnus, like Jonathan Frakes)? Could Abrams finally be The One to bring non-Trekkies to the franchise?

In other Trek movie news, IGN has an interview with William Shatner, in which he states his interest in being in the film; and the appearance of other Trek alumni in the fan film Of Gods and Men has been postponed until April.