J.J. Abrams to Revive Star Trek?

Not to out myself as a giagantic nerd, but I’ve been known to watch a few episodes of Star Trek (really just TNG and DS9 – and if you know what those designations stand for, well, welcome to the club). This morning, Variety is reporting some incredible news for fans of J.J. Abrams (Alias, Lost, Felicity) and Star Trek:

J.J. Abrams is becoming the next Gene Roddenberry.
Paramount is breathing life into its “Star Trek” franchise by setting “Mission: Impossible III” helmer J.J. Abrams to produce and direct the 11th “Trek” feature, aiming for a 2008 release.Damon Lindelof and Bryan Burk, Abrams’ producing team from “Lost,” also will produce the yet-to-be-titled feature.

Project, to be penned by Abrams and “MI3” scribes Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, will center on the early days of seminal “Trek” characters James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, including their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and first outer space mission.

Deal reflects Par’s bullishness on “MI3,” which launches worldwide next weekend, and underlines the goal of Paramount chief Brad Grey and prexy Gail Berman to re-energize the pipeline via high-profile tentpoles while revitalizing the Par brand with top-tier talent such as Abrams.

“MI3” is the first pic to be released that’s been greenlit by Grey.

Needless to say, Brad Grey isn’t taking any chances, greenlighting his first tentpole film that is pretty much guaranteed to be a hit. All I know is that I’ll be first in line to see the movie (no costume, I swear!)