Will 'Star Trek' prequel follow 'Star Wars' example?

Sorry, Star Warriors. I've always been more of a Star Trekker. I even count the second "Trek" movie, "The Wrath of Khan," (1982) as a favorite over the second, and best, of the original "Star Wars" movies, 1980's "The Empire Strikes Back."

I just needed to get that out there so you know where I'm coming from when I say that I have a bad feeling about this. (OK, paraphrasing a line from "Star Wars.")

"This," of course, is the forthcoming "Star Trek" movie prequel that's coming Christmas 2008 from "Mission: Impossible 3" director J.J. Abrams and screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman.

At this point all that's really known about the movie is some confirmed casting:

• Zachary Quinto, the evil serial killer Sylar on NBC's "Heroes" as a younger version of Spock

• John Cho ("Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle") as Hikaru Sulu

• Simon Pegg ("Hot Fuzz") as Montgomery "Scotty" Scott

• Zoe Saldana (Drumline") as Nyota Uhura

• Karl Urban ("Pathfinder") as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy

• Anton Yelchin ("Alpha Dog") as Pavel Chekhov

There's an abundance of "pretty faces" in this cast (enough to rival your average CW TV drama), but the one bit of casting that really seems to have Trekkers up in arms is Chris Pine, recently of "Blind Dating" and the Lindsay Lohan vehicle "Just My Luck," who will play James T. Kirk.

I had thought he might be Christopher Pike, Kirk's predecessor as the U.S.S. Enterprise captain. Pine certainly bears a striking resemblance to the late Jeffrey Hunter, who played that character. (A scrapped "Trek" pilot starring Hunter was re-edited as the two-part episode "The Menagerie.")

But Paramount Pictures confirmed this week that Pine will indeed play Kirk.

What has me worried are rumors that the film's plot is time-travel-related and that Kirk isn't one of the main characters. If the gossip can be believed, Romulan assassins travel to the past to kill Kirk. (At one point in development, Mike Vogel was supposedly stepping into William Shatner's boots.)

And then there's a character called Nero, to be played by Eric Bana. That certainly sounds like a Romulan name.