But Can He ... Overact?

Rumor has it (and when something starts off that way, you know it's gotta be true) that Matt Damon is being considered for the role of ...... Captain James T. Kirk.

Yes, you read that right. And it seems that J. J. Abrams has William Shatner's permission and blessing for the choice. Abrams is working on the new Star Trek movie, which shows Kirk and Spock as Starfleet Academy students, so obviously Shatner can't play Kirk. Having seen the Bourne movies, I can say that Damon has the chops to play the role, but can he hold a candle to Shatner's over-the-top dramatic acting that made Kirk so ... Kirk-like.

My fear is that this movie is going to end up very Enterprise-ish. They killed that show by trying to create a backstory for everything that ever happened in the Star Trek universe. The only season that was good in and of itself was season 3 (which I have on DVD, by the way), because it was a unique story with a unique set of opponents. If they don't get carried away with creating backstory for what's already been done, this will be a great movie.

I'm not saying that they shouldn't create a few "so THAT'S why they did that!" moments; those are going to happen, and will be expected by the fans who go see the movie. But the whole movie shouldn't be about establishing the future. The series and the movies have been done -- we all know how they go. We want to see something new. This should be the Batman Begins of the Star Trek franchise. If they can do that, the fans will be happy.