OK, we've spent most of the last half-hour trying to figure out whether to fulfill today's geek/showbiz news quotient with either the whole thing about how people were saying that Brandon Routh was out as Superman but it just turned out that people were misinterpreting (and then blogging about) an article in Variety or something about how we doubt that the Golden Globe Awards are going to happen now that the Actors Guild has announced that their members will not be appearing (out of solidarity with the WGA), but neither of those is half as interesting as this: Diary of a Mad Black Woman powerhouse Tyler Perry is the latest bizarre addition to the Star Trek reboot. And dig this: not only will Perry be playing the head of the Starfleet Academy, but rumor has it he'll be administering some discipline to young James Tiberius Kirk for an offense that Trek fans will be well familiar with.
Tyler’s character is overseeing some kind of Starfleet courtroom/assembly event where young Kirk is facing expulsion from Starfleet. It turns out that the Starfleet prez didn’t look too favorably on Cadet Kirk for “cheating” on one of his critical tests.
Now, either you already know what the test that Kirk cheated on is, or you don't. We'll not belabor the point either way, and just say that from what we've seen of the Madea movies, we can only hope that they're not letting Perry write his own lines, or else young Kirk better be ready for some seriously simpleminded homespun wisdom. (And isn't that what McCoy was for anyway?)
And just so we're keeping tabs, Perry is the latest in a long list of highly illogical actors to be announced for the Christmas 2008 film, including Winona Ryder, Simon Pegg, John Cho, and Clifton Collins, Jr. It's a fine list, to be sure, but we do notice one quite important role has yet to be cast: sexy green alien lady. Hmm... isn't Rose McGowan available these days?
Previously:
The Galactially Hot Women of Star Trek (TOS)
No William Shatner Cameo in New Star Trek