"From the very beginning, we talked about wanting to do a Kirk and Spock story." That's "Star Trek" director J.J. Abrams, speaking on how the story for the May hit was originally conceived. The clip below, a brief snippet focused on the Kirk/Spock origin story, comes from the bonus content included on the DVD/Blu-ray, which hits stores today. Check it out.

Abrams and his team, including writing superstars Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, made the right move in focusing on the birth of Kirk and Spock's friendship. It is as essential to the DNA of the series as the name "U.S.S. Enterprise." As much as the two butt heads in this reboot, they have to be friends in the end if Abrams' is to have any hope of pleasing longtime fans. Read more...

--The folks from ComingSoon got a chance to chat with "2012" director Roland Emmerich, who had some things to say about what's next. He's got two projects on his plate: one having something to do with William Shakespeare (details in the article) and the other, an adaptation of Isaac Asimov's "Foundation" trilogy. (ComingSoon)

--Writers, producers and all-around cool guys Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who pretty much have an equity stake in Hollywood at this point, have some things to say about their upcoming View-Master movie. Apparently the idea for the story was born before the classic 3-D viewing toy came into the picture as a peg for a movie, from the mind of "Fringe" writer Brad Kane. Orci then references back to story relayed to the duo by "Transformers" producer Steven Spielberg, whose original idea for "E.T." had nothing to do with aliens. (Sci Fi Wire) Read more...

In these hard financial times, J.J. Abrams is a guy you want as your friend. The entertainment everyman doesn't just slap his name on a project, he invariably brings some old friends along for the ride. The names you're used to seeing are Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, the superhuman writing/producing duo behind nerdfests like "Xena: Warrior Princess" and big budget blockbusters like... well... like Abrams' "Mission: Impossible III."

Since Orci and Kurtzman are busy with about a bajillion other projects these days, Abrams is bringing out a new super-team to deliver a script for "Mission: Impossible 4," which the bespectacled one will at the very least produce. Variety reports that "Alias" writer/producers Josh Applebaum and Andre Nemec will trot out of Abrams' bullpen for "M:I 4." Like Kurtzman & Orci before them, I expect a meteoric rise for the duo. After "Mission" just you wait; they'll pick up the rights from George Lucas for a "Phantom Menace" remake and the world will come together in harmony. Hey... a fanboy can dream, right? Read more...

The rascally writing/producing duo Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are at it again. Those dudes must be vampires or something; they certainly don't sleep, not with the rate at which they drop joy bombs in TV and film. Before diving in with their new hotness, let's rattle off a list: "ransformers: Revenge of the Fallen"; "The Proposal"; "Star Trek"; "Mission: Impossible III"; "The Island"; TV's "Fringe" and "Alias."

Yeah, they're busy. That's not even counting the dozen or so projects they have currently in various stages of development/production. And they've just added one more to the mix: "License to Steal," an action-comedy loosely based on a Salon.com article. Kurtzman and Orci will produce for Paramount. Read more...

It shouldn't come as any surprise that pen has not yet been put to paper on a sequel to J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek." For starters, the first one is still in theaters. There's also the fact that writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have been busy promoting and prepping a few smaller projects. You know, stuff like "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen."

It was this week's Michael Bay spectacle that landed Collider some face time with the writing duo. Kurtzman and Orci obviously aren't revealing any of the specific ideas they have in mind but they did speak rather generally about what their plans are for the next entry in the rebooted franchise. Read more...

"Heroes" star Masi Oka may have had a hand in saving the world (as well as a certain cheerleader), but now he's stepping up to mastermind a plot of his own creation. Not a world domination plot, mind you. Oka has successfully pitched DreamWorks on "The Defenders," a family adventure conceived by the actor out of his experiences playing massively multiplayer online role-playing games, aka MMORPGs a la "World of Warcraft."

Oka will executive produce the project, joined by "Fringe" and "Star Trek" producers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci. The Hollywood Reporter reveals that "The Book of Eli" writer Gary Whitta is already nailed down to deliver a script, and that "Eagle Eye" director D.J. Caruso is "in talks" to helm. The story also reveals that -- surprise, surprise -- DreamWorks will develop a video game tie-in for the feature. Given the long-term costs involved in maintaining an MMORPG, I expect that the game will spin off of the movie's plot in a standalone adventure. Read more...

FROM MTV.COM: As far as summer 2009 is concerned, the red-hot writing pair behind "Star Trek" aren't finished with us yet. Their second strike hits soon with the June 24 blockbuster "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," and these days the screenwriting duo are dreaming about further blurring the lines of pop-culture.

"I'd love to write a scene where Spock meets Optimus Prime," Alex Kurtzman laughed.

"I guess we did," his partner Roberto Orci revealed, making reference to the "Transformers" character who uses TV and radio signals to speak. "Because at one point we have Bumblebee [in the new film] using audio from 'Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan.'"

Continue reading the "Star Trek" meets "Transformers" connection at MTV.com.

They say that knowledge is power. If that’s the case, well, our readers must be some powerful “Star Trek”-loving mofos right now. Centering on the film’s huge opening and the sequel plans already underway, we’ve spent the last week leaking formerly top-secret info on the Captain Kirk scene that was never shot, revealing answers to the film’s burning questions, and running through things you may have missed while watching the movie.

Now that we can safely assume that most of you are past spoiler-warning territory (if you haven’t seen “Trek" by now, um, why?), here’s a few additional tidbits we were holding back. They come courtesy of “Trek” writers/producers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who recently told us about what they consider to have been their two gutsiest choices while writing the script. Read more...

Don't worry, say "Transformers" scribes Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman -- everything you loved about the movie and more will be in the sequel, which they claim has an even better story.

"You want to make a different movie, not just a repeat," Orci said. "It's a different kind of film that the last one. It's not a disaster [movie] paradigm."

What he means is that "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" won't have multiple storylines told from different points of view all converging in one place for the climax. Instead, expect a different kind of narrative with a different emotional centerpiece. Read more...