Time Travel

All this talk of the great sci-fi franchises commingling (although, to be precise, "Star Wars" is more of a fantasy film than pure science fiction and it takes place "a long time ago," not in the future) will not sit well with some purist fans. Abrams, for instance, took some heat for daring to say that he wanted to import anything from "Star Wars" to "Trek," and he has been careful in public comments to modulate that early statement -- and he's always careful to refer to fans as "Trekkers," not the unfashionable "Trekkies."

"These are people who really care about these characters and these stories and the details," Abrams said. "But I have to tell you, I'm not going to make a movie that tries to make every hard-core Trekker happy, because it's not possible. I'm making a movie for fans of movies. I want it to be an adventure and fun and sexy and scary and epic and intimate and everything. I feel a great responsibility to these characters and everything that has come before, but I need to make a film that is not paralyzed by all of that."

Each of the three franchises faces new challenges. Critics have not been kind to Lucas, and many longtime "Star Wars" fans were aghast at the flimsy characters and disquieting flippancy in "The Clone Wars," both the movie and the series -- the presence of a sidekick who refers to Anakin Skywalker as "Sky-guy" isn't exactly enhancing the gravitas of a franchise that once aspired to be a melding of Arthurian legend and Flash Gordon zip. There's no need to even mention Jar Jar Binks.

"Star Trek," meanwhile, left television in 2005 when "Star Trek: Enterprise" fell into a ratings black hole, a whimpering end after logging 18 consecutive years with at least one of its permutations on the air. The new "old" crew will have to prove itself at theaters -- no small feat, especially since this franchise is attempting to pull a somewhat retro-future look to fit its time frame (it follows a young Kirk and company in their Starfleet Academy days and shortly after). The biggest challenge may be for Pine, who needs to play Kirk, not imitate Shatner.

"That is exactly what he's done," Abrams said. "None of the actors are doing impersonations of the original cast. If they did, it would be a disaster."