While the most recent announcement from the Abrams camp claims Trekkies will be waiting until at least 2012 for the next installment of our favorite space-exporation series, that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun in the mean time. With rumors about a possible Captain Kirk cameo running rampant  prior to this past May's release, and with Spock's appearance in the film we wondered, what other characters from previous casts might be good additions to the new story line? We took this question to some leading Star Trek bloggers to get their opinion. They could pick any character from any generation of the series—we've got plenty of time to use our imaginations so why not go nuts. Check out their thoughts below, and if you'd like to add your insights, feel free to comment.


Michael Hinman, Airlock Alpha: A whole new "Star Trek" universe at the movies means we can bring back some awesome characters, and probably in a new way.

If I were to bring back any character, it wouldn't just be a single character, but instead who I feel were the best bad guys of all time: The Dominion.

Introduced and pretty much limited to "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," The Dominion were led by a race of shapeshifters who were tired of going planet to planet, being persecuted and hunted by "the solids." They established an empire in the Gamma Quadrant through military might from the Jem'Hadar and then tried to keep the masses calm through the public relations and administrative work of the Vorta.

Sure, first contact with the Dominion happens well after the demise of Kirk and Spock's Starfleet careers, but this is a new timeline, and new possibilities. And bringing The Dominion to the big screen would create an amazing foe for not just the USS Enterprise, but all of the Federation and even the Alpha Quadrant.

Jerad Formby, Hey Star Trek!: One can see the temptation in the Abrams camp to throw the fans some sort of “bone” and acknowledge the bloody noses their movie gave so many. Perhaps if they throw in a Data or a Seven or a Sisko or a Geordi or a Shatner Kirk they just might go a long way toward repairing their relationship with the haters.

There is no need. They need to respect the model they presented us in May and stick to their guns. It is completely unnecessary to pander to the grieving fan base and frankly; we’re not even sure how much good it would do anyway.

If they want to give our nerd love a reach around, we would suggest a character that exists within their alternate timeline. As Archer is probably too old, we humbly submit T’Pol of “Enterprise” for an appearance. She could easily play a surviving Vulcan enroute to a new colony or as a confidant to young Spock.

This role would make no difference to new viewers but would cause all of us nerds to grin. This cameo would support what’s come before and more importantly, support what’s to come.

Besides, she might even be hot.

Fred, My Star Trek Scrapbook: J.J. Abrams' NuTrek has successfully launched, recapturing to a remarkable degree the exuberence and dynamics that made the source material so engaging. Including Leonard Nimoy as the original Spock was a necessary plot point to legitimize both the similarities and the changes. By doing this, the story explained why things were the same, yet different. And in so doing freed future stories from the chains of continuity that bound the "Star Wars" prequels and prevented any real threats to the main characters.
 
So, now that the old is new again, where to from here? That's the decision weighing upon the shoulders of the scriptwriters this very moment. Should they retell old stories in a new way, or show us new ones? Do we really WANT to see other original series stars showing up like Nimoy?
 
Although I'm not for any other series actors from any of the other shows making a cameo, if I had to choose, it would be... believe it or not... Guinan, from "The Next Generation."
 
This character is the only one that could show up without any convoluted script wrangling. She is long-lived, and we know that she was alive as far back as Mark Twain's time. And she is still alive in Picard's time. She is aware of timeline shifts and changes. And a cameo from her would be a neat nod that shows she is aware of what has happened, and possibly even gives some advice to one of them that helps keep things going as they should. Plus it would be great to learn that Kirk and Spock also encountered her in their own time.


Angela, SciFiChick.com:
I’d like to see Guinan make an appearance in a new "Star Trek" film. She’s been around Earth’s history enough, so it’s at least plausible. She’s an interesting character, with a vastly unexplored past. Guinan was a part of "The Next Generation," but there’s no reason why she couldn’t show up with this alternate original cast. She’d also most likely remember the original timeline, and how things were supposed to be. Could be fun!


Bret Filipek, Slice of Sci Fi: Though there are a number of great characters in the "Star Trek" universe that would be fantastic to see in the next movie, the one character that springs to mind is one that wasn't a major character in any of the series. In fact, he was in only one episode. In thinking of all the possibilities, the one character that kept creeping to mind was from the original series episode, "Shore Leave." The character was, as far as I can recall, the only one that we knew as ever pulling one over on James Kirk. The character was Finnegan, the upperclassman tormentor of James Kirk during his Academy days.

Though he was only seen in the one episode, there was clearly a history between Finnegan and Captain Kirk that was both antagonistic and prank-filled all at the same time. Seeing Finnegan, in some form or fashion, getting the best of a young Captain Kirk and exploring the background and history of that relationship in just a bit more detail than we were able to gather in his few scenes in "Shore Leave" would be fun for die-hard fans and interesting enough to people who don't know or remember that character.