Some small bites of news on J.J. Abrams upcoming cinematic reinvention of the "Star Trek" franchise today.

Actor Kelvin Yu has already filmed his speaking role as a Starfleet medical technician, whilst Holland-born boxer turned actress Lucia Rijker will begin shooting her role as a Romulan communications officer.

Space.Com reports that NASA planetary scientist Carolyn Porco, leader of the Imaging Science team on NASA'S Cassini mission at Saturn, has joined the film's production team to ensure the scientific accuracy of the movie's astronomical scenes.

A report about the toy tie-ins for the film is up at AICN and describes both the new look Enterprise and an alien ship - "It's a little more 'organic' than the original one and I think the two warp engines and the 'bite' taken from the central body are a little bit bigger. The floor of the new transporter room is red, by the way. Also shown was another spaceship. It resembled an octopus and could have appeared in one of the Matrix sequels."

Finally, Eric Bana has confirmed that he hasn't shot his role of the villain Nero in "Star Trek" yet - "I haven't even started yet. I just go in at the very end and do my cameo."