'Star Trek Into Darkness' Star Alice Eve Reveals Her Favorite 'Original Series' Episode

Paramount Pictures

A lot of times you hear about stars getting cast in major blockbuster franchises who actually weren't fans of that franchise before signing on. Even director J.J. Abrams has said repeatedly that he wasn't a fan of Star Trek before helming his 2009 reboot. But this is not the case with Alice Eve, who plays Dr. Carol Marcus in Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness (out May 17). When she was a little kid, her grandfather introduced her to The Original Series and she's remained a fan ever since.
"I liked Shatner, of course," Eve says at a press event for her new Tribeca Film Festival indie Some Velvet Morning. "But there's such an approachability to [Star Trek creator] Gene Roddenberry's genius. He hardly gets any credit, but he invented everything we use now. The communicators from The Original Series are basically just cell phones. Samsung won the lawsuit Apple filed against them [claiming Samsung's tablets infringed on the iPad's copyright] by showing that Star Trek had featured tablet computers years and years before the iPad. To say that you’re not a fan of Star Trek, is to say that you’re not a fan of everything that services you in our society. Which you may not be, but in that case, good luck to you."
With that level of fandom, it was no trouble picking Eve's brain for her favorite Trek episode, and she offered up her fave without hesitation: "Charlie X" from The Original Series. "It’s one of the earliest episodes from Season 1," Eve says. "I love Charlie [played by Robert Walker, Jr.] and the way he's a little kid in a teenager's body, acting out tantrums. And that moment when Shatner leans in to give Charlie some advice, because Charlie’s in love with Yeoman Rand and he thinks he’s never going to get her, it’s so great. Shatner says, 'Be gentle and go slow.' Have there ever been better words of advice given to a young man in love?" 

NBC

Eve's fandom is primarily limited to The Original Series, and she doesn't claim to be as familiar with its spinoffs, or even its previous movie incarnations. "I can’t say that I know the lexicon as intimately as a lot of people, so I may be unworthy of being called a Trekkie," says Eve. "That would be doing a disservice to the people who really are Trekkies. But what drew me to Star Trek originally is how intelligently thought out a universe it is, and that's also why I'm so happy to be a part of this film."
She shouldn't be so hard on herself. Anyone who's this enthusiastic about Trek deserves at the very least to be an "honorary Trekkie."
Check back soon for more from Eve on her daring new film, Some Velvet Morning.