Latest Star Trek film opens in Iowa City

By Diana Nollen
The Gazette

Local Invasion Iowa cast member Diane Schultz of Riverside (left) gets out of a limousine with the help of Riverside Area Community Club President Carol Riggan of Riverside (right) as they arrive for a special screening of Star Trek at the Sycamore 12 Theaters in Iowa City / Photo by Brian Ray, The Gazette

“Riverside Shipyard.” “Riverside Shipyard.” “Riverside Shipyard.”

The whispers rippled through the nearly 300 Riverside residents gathered for a sneak peek at what the future holds for their town – the birthplace of James T. Kirk.

Paramount Pictures invited them to gather last night to see “Star Trek” at the Marcus Sycamore Cinema 12, 1602 Sycamore St. in Iowa City. The movie opens at theaters nationwide Friday, including Galaxy 16 Cine and Wynnsong 12 in Cedar Rapids, Sycamore 12 in Iowa City and Coral Ridge 10 in Coralville.

This latest chapter in the “Star Trek” franchise is actually its earliest chapter, explaining how a wayward Iowa farm boy meets Spock, Scotty, Bones and the rest of the USS Enterprise crew 200 years from now.

The reference to Riverside almost went unnoticed, after two previous mentions of Iowa drew cheers and applause from the crowd.

“Riverside Shipyard kind of snuck up on you,” Mayor Bill Poch, 55, said after the screening.”The next time I go to the movie I will say ‘yea Riverside!’ ”

Steve Miller, 60, of Iowa City, who launched the Riverside/Star Trek connection 25 years ago, called the movie “edge-of-your-seat spellbinding.”

“They mentioned Riverside, although the scenes in Iowa 200 years from now don’t look like Iowa today.” But he wasn’t disappointed. “It’s as good as we could hope for.”

The voyage began in the mid-1980s when Miller lived in Riverside and served on the City Council. He had read in a “Star Trek” book that Kirk was an Iowa farm boy. So he and the council decided to write to “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry suggesting Riverside as Kirk’s hometown.

Roddenberry agreed and officially designated Riverside as “The Future Birthplace of Captain James Tiberius Kirk.”

Lena Popkova, 16, from the Ukraine, an exchange student at Riverside’s Highland High School, was looking forward to the show, dressed for the part in a red Starfleet uniform. “I have seen part of the old movie,” she said. “Today I see the new one.”

Afterward, she declared the movie “great.” “I liked it a lot,” she said “It was fantastic,” with special effects “you don’t see every day on TV.”

Just a handful of audience members came in costume, but many came in style, via five stretch limos and two buses.

And despite all the conflict among the species, Vulcans, Romulans and humans will gather peacefully to celebrate their common heritage June 26 and 27 during Riverside’s TrekFest XXV.

Cecelia Hanley of The Gazette contributed to this report.

2009 Gazette Communications