J.J. Abrams wasn't a huge fan of "Star Trek." But by the time he finished directing and producing the new film version, he had gotten hooked. "I didn't think it was physically possible for me to be nerdier than I already am," he says.
After influential work in TV ("Lost" and "Alias") and movies ("Cloverfield" and "Mission: Impossible III"), Abrams, 42, was up for re-creating a pop-culture classic - even if it meant facing pressure from "Star Trek" fans and curiosity from sci-fi newbies. The movie, which makes over the franchise with young actors, opened last night. We talked by telephone earlier this week.
Q. You have quite a resume of sci-fi works. How did that come to be?
A. Ever since I was a kid I loved movies and shows about mad scientists and crazy experiments and robotics or bizarre time travel stories. Whether it's things like "Frankenstein" or "The Fly" or "Planet of the Apes," I loved that kind of stuff.
Q. How familiar were you with "Star Trek"?
A. I had never seen any episodes of any "Star Trek" beyond the original series and I was not really of fan of the original "Star Trek" but I had a lot of friends who were. I knew enough that Kirk was the captain and Spock was the Vulcan and the Enterprise was the ship.
Q. How did you educate yourself?
A. The studio, Paramount, asked me if I was interested in being involved as a producer. My first reaction was that it was a cool challenge to be involved in a version of "Star Trek" that I would actually be excited about. So I called Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci who are two writers that I worked with before and I got to them and my producing partner Bryan Burk and Damon Lindelof, who created "Lost" with me, and the five of us started working on a story. . . . Having not seen the series and the majority of the films, I didn't want to become such a student of "Star Trek" that I would be making what would feel like the 11th film. But at the meantime I needed to be doing my homework.
Q. How much fan input did you have? Any crazy letters? Death threats?
A. Most of the input from fans came just from the Internet, seeing posts and hopes for what the movie might have or things they were afraid of. Most of the time it was nice . . . more a confirmation of what we were doing.
Q. Was there anything about the original series that you felt was untouchable?
A. There were certain things that would be sacrilege to change, like the general silhouette of the Enterprise, the look of the uniforms, the phasers, the communicator, the paradigm of the bridge.
Q. Why do you think people are still obsessed with "Star Trek" after for so long?
A. One the great things that Gene Roddenberry created was a vision of the future that is optimistic and that combines the collaboration of people of different religions, cultures, races, and species. Also that natural sense of wonder and going beyond what you know and discovering new civilizations . . . it is human nature to discover whatever it is that is beyond our knowledge, and because of technology being what it is, I think there is this false idea of people being all knowing. If we let ourselves remember to go boldly where no one has gone before, it's not just a cliche statement but an amazing and wondrous idea.
Q. Have you ever been to Boston?
A. Oh yeah sure, I have gone a lot. My wife went to Simmons. I love the whole city. There is not one particular area, but we are huge Red Sox fans.
Danny Deza can be reached at ddeza@globe.com 
