Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto :: The boys of "Star Trek"

Hotties Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are, in fact, going where two men have gone before. But if this week's Trek-hype is any indication, the two relatively unknown actors are steaming up the imagination of fans more than their predecessors ever did. The actors talk about the filming, their futures, and taking on two of the most beloved film characters of all time.

Chris Pine as James Kirk

William Shatner's James Kirk disliked formality, always pestering people to call him "Jim."

Chris Pine, the actor who inherited the role as brash Starfleet officer Kirk in the new "Star Trek," likes to show respect for the guy who came before. Pine calls his predecessor "Mr. Shatner."

He talks about paying "homage to what Mr. Shatner'd done, because by no means, at no point did I want to hit people over the head with some awful impression." He muses on how his young Jim Kirk gradually develops confidence in the way he sits in the starship Enterprise captain's chair, slowly "finding the physicality that Mr. Shatner brought."

He discusses Shatner subtleties he did want to incorporate and even gives his forerunner his own adjective, noting "there's a certain way Mr. Shatner carries himself, especially the way he walks around the deck of the bridge, the ways he sits in the chair, that are very, very Shatnerian."

While Pine, 28, shows great regard for Shatner, Leonard Nimoy and the other originators of "Star Trek," he never was much of a fan of the "Trek" TV shows and movies.

"I'd seen a few episodes here and there over the years, and I just never got the bug," said Pine, a veteran of live theater who had a handful of TV credits, some independent movies and a few studio flicks behind him before shooting to celebrity when he was cast as Kirk.

The son of Hollywood actors Gwynne Gilford and Robert Pine and grandson of 1930s and '40s movie actress Anne Gwynne, he co-starred in Lindsay Lohan's romantic comedy "Just My Luck" and had a role in the Vegas crime thriller "Smokin' Aces."

"Star Trek" puts Pine and his co-stars under severe scrutiny by fans. Though Nimoy returns as the older version of Kirk's first officer and best pal, Vulcan scientist Spock, director J.J. Abrams and his crew have taken the franchise in some wild new directions.

They add surprises to the characters' relationships, twists to the crew's backgrounds and a youthful flair to the whole endeavor. Pine's Kirk starts out as a James Dean-like motorcycle rebel who requires some heavy coaxing before he considers joining Starfleet.

"I'm sure some people will like what I did. Some people won't. Some people will think the Kirk that they see is not their Kirk, and if that's the case, that's the case," Pine said. "The story and the message is so wonderful and positive, why not share it with a whole bunch of different people? If that means altering certain things in the tradition, the story line, the legacy, so be it. If that offends some people, so be it. But I really do think what we've made is very accessible."

Should there be sequels, Pine and the rest of the new cast are signed for two more "Trek" movies. All are game for a potential trilogy, but they are uncertain about anything beyond that.

"We always get asked the questions: Are you prepared to do 100 years of `Star Trek' conventions? Are you prepared to be associated with this role for 70 years?" said Pine, who next will be seen in the viral-pandemic thriller "Carriers."

"Look, I had a lot of fun making this. ... But I hope my career is defined by its longevity and the diversity of roles that I'm able to bring to life. I have no problem being associated with these people, this role, this story, this series, but it's certainly not the only thing I want to do with my life or my acting."

Zachary Quinto as Spock

Zachary Quinto does a fine Mr. Spock on screen, but the new "Star Trek" co-star isn't sure what sort of Vulcan he would make in real life.

Vulcans control their emotions, and that's something Quinto acknowledges he does not do among those closest to him.

"People that know me in the most intimate way and my most inner circle of friends and family and relations know me to be pretty expressive and pretty articulate about how I'm feeling," said Quinto, who landed the role as the new Vulcan brainiac Spock in director J.J. Abrams' update of the franchise. "I like to talk about that kind of thing."

Alongside Chris Pine as the new James Kirk, Spock's best friend and captain on the starship Enterprise, Quinto has inherited one of the most beloved characters in science fiction. Among the many alternations in Abrams' updated "Trek" universe, there's brashness and tenderness amid the new young Spock's logic and reason.

While Quinto's half-human, half-Vulcan Spock does not necessarily like to talk about his feelings, he definitely has them, revealing his emotions in a passionate and even fierce manner that Leonard Nimoy's Spock rarely got to do in his decades with "Star Trek."

Even so, Quinto has to keep his emotions in check for most of the movie. Quinto said it was the hardest part of his job on "Star Trek."

"To feel and to create a charged internal emotional life and to have to hold it, to have to hold both ends of it and really not give any of it away, that for me, who's a pretty emotive person in my life, was a challenge," Quinto said. "Especially when the rest of the cast didn't have to abide by such restrictions."

Actually, one other cast member had to abide by the same rules. Nimoy returns as the older Spock, playing most of his scenes with Pine's Kirk but sharing some moments with Quinto toward the end.

Nimoy said he felt almost a "father-son relationship" with both Quinto and Pine. Whether or not Nimoy appears in future "Trek" movies, he said Spock was in good hands with Quinto.

"He's well-trained, he's very intelligent, and he projects an inner life which I found useful in the character, and I was very comfortable with that," Nimoy said.

Before "Star Trek," Quinto, 31, mostly had credits in live theater and television. He had a recurring role on "24," co-starred in the short-lived Tori Spelling comedy "So noTORIous" and is best-known as the mysterious serial killer Sylar on "Heroes."

Nimoy's character, dubbed "Spock Prime" in the credits, is a centered, stately figure, at peace with the conflict between his emotional human half and his logical Vulcan side.

Quinto's younger version, though, is a more volatile figure, involved in a surprising relationship with a crew mate and unable to fully control himself after personal tragedy strikes.

"He's much more unstable. He's much less comfortable with the duality that exists within him," Quinto said. "He's much more pulled in different directions. That for me as an actor is really rewarding."