Simon Pegg on playing Scotty - and the first look at the new Enterprise?

There's a surprisingly large demographic of people, mainly but not exclusively young men, who have a powerful enthusiasm for sci-fi movies and the action figures that are spun off from them.

Among this community Simon Pegg is revered as something close to a god. He has come from that very community, as evidenced by his breakthrough comedy Spaced which was packed with geek lore and movie references. He has gone on to write and star in two movies that appealed not only to the type of earnest young men who frequent Forbidden Planet but a lucratively wide cross-section of the film-going public.

Pegg's list of credits and cameos is a veritable catalogue of  geek favourites: Doctor Who, Grindhouse, Mission Impossible 3, and Land of the Dead to name but a few. He's really hit the pinnacle of geek stardom though by being cast as irascible engineer Montgomery Scott in JJ Abrams' relaunch of the Star Trek franchise. There are already five Simon Pegg action figures for sale in movie geek emporiums across the land, Scotty will be his sixth. There's no greater dream for the geekier sort of fellow, and Pegg's evident fanboy glee just enhances his likeability. There are more to come too, as he reveals in this interview with MTV that he's signed for at least three Trek films:

“You have to commit to a series of films and that puts you in a situation where the studio has some control over what you do. I called up J.J. [Abrams, of course] and I said, ‘The idea is amazing but I’m worried.’ And he said, ‘What’s the worst that can happen? We hang out every three years and make a fun film?”

In this interview with Collider the Fanboy Superstar good-naturedly rates his favorite Trek series, and lets slip some small details about his next collaboration with Sean of the Dead / Hot Fuzz director Edgar Wright. Of course it will be good. But how good?

In other Trek news, i09 think they might have the first video of the Enterprise in flight. I'm not convinced, personally - the ship gets closer to us without appreciable changing size and I think we are looking at some deft fakery rather than a piece of genuine Star Trek XI footage. What do you think? Does this have the ring of sci-fi veracity to you?