| |
|
 |
| |
 |
|
|
| |
There are many great
features available to you once you register at TrekUnited,
including:
- Richer content, access to many features that are
disabled for guests like commenting on our news
articles.
- Create your own blog, or personal gallery.
- Access to a great community, where you can interect
with like minded individuals.
- Access to our chat room, and guest chats.
- Access to our network of sites, including Galactica.com.
- Access to our submit news feature, members can
try their hand at online journalism.
- It's simple, it's easy and it's free
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 |
|
|
|
|
Faran Tahir talks Federation Captain, er, Captain Robau |
|
|
|
Written by Derek Kessler on
Wednesday, 16 April 2008
|
|
|
|
 Several months ago we learned of a role in Star Trek (2009) named "Federation Captain." And more recently we learned that the role would be filled by Pakistani-American actor Faran Tahir, who you can catch in two weeks in Iron Man, and now we know a little more about Federation Captain, specifically that his name is Robau.
The Deadbolt: It’s turning out to be an awesome year for you since you’re also appearing in the new Star Trek movie, too. What can you tell me about your character, Captain Robau?
Faran Tahir: Robau is a new character. He has never been seen in this saga. Of course they’re keeping Star Trek very, very secret and I have to respect that. I think the idea is this - that it’s such a known storyline that if we can reintroduce it with a fresher look, with a fresher approach, a lot of it is going to depend on how much surprise is in the actual movie. So, all that I can say about it is that my character is the captain of a ship.
The Deadbolt: So, with the Captain title, I take it you’re a good guy?
Faran Tahir: I’m a good guy. I’m one of the Federation captains, which is great for me because it came on the heels of doing Iron Man, playing a bad guy. So I’m not getting typecast as the bad guy, which can be an issue. He’s a good guy and it’s a nice heroic storyline of this character. He commands a ship, which has not been seen in the saga before.
The Deadbolt: So that marks a couple of firsts for you in this film. How does it feel to play the first character of Middle Eastern decent?
Faran Tahir: You know, that’s funny that you say that because just a couple of days ago a friend of mine - I’m kind of a Trekkie, but some of my friends are like real Trekkies so of course they go to all of these blogs - sent me this link to a blog that has like 500 blogs on it just on that fact. It’s an actor of Middle Eastern decent playing a captain, which hasn’t happened before. There have been other characters of Middle Eastern decent, but there has never been a captain. And a lot of the discussion on the blogs was about the fact. At least for me, personally, it’s great because it is a context in which my ethnicity is not being discussed as an issue. To me, that’s great - about a character in a story who’s trying to get Task A, Task B, Task C done. And you’re not dealing with the color of his skin or whatever, we’re not dealing with all of that. We’re working on a very even playing field and the blogs were also about that. It gives us hope, in a way, if you look at it as the realities of today hopefully will not be the realities of tomorrow.
The Deadbolt: That’s what Star Trek is all about.
Faran Tahir: Exactly, and the way J.J. cast this thing. He cast me in literally four hours.
The Deadbolt: Was that because you guys worked together on Alias?
Faran Tahir: Yeah, maybe. You know, I wasn’t going to dig it out. You know, leave a good thing alone, man. [laughs]
The Deadbolt: How faithful is this Star Trek to the original series?
Faran Tahir: It’s very faithful, all of the characters are there. You do get new insights into them and you get things that so far people have probably pulled together from their own research. Some of those questions might be answered and some of them might be challenged, where people thought up certain histories they created. Some of those might be challenged; some might be corroborated. It’s a nice mix. The feel of the movie is great, at least the part that I had. It has a very robust feel to it. It’s very tangible. The ship that I command has a lot of muscle to it. It looks like a capable thing, you know. So yeah, I think J.J. knows what he’s doing. He has a really great vision and a really great way of executing his vision. I think a lot of people will be very pleasantly surprised.
It also reintroduces the franchise to a generation lost and I think he kept that in mind. How can we bring in this generation that hasn’t grown up with it? How can we make it and not just reintroduce it, but let them own it a little bit so that they feel they’re not looking at this story, which was so big with their older brothers or their uncles and fathers? How can this age group also go, "Yeah, we’re a part of this. We understand it."
|
[via: The Deadbolt]
Discuss: TrekUnited Forum
|
|
|
|
|
"Inter arma enim silent leges."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
