I can’t get over how weird this news is — Simon Pegg (Spaced, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, etc.) has been cast as the new Montgomery Scott in J. J. Abrams’ new Star Trek feature film. It’s a weird bit of casting, but one that I suspected a long time ago might happen … Pegg had a bit role in the most recent (terrible) Mission: Impossible movie, and is a veritable sci-fi nerd, so I’m guessing he was pushing for this for a while.

Can you imagine the dude on the right reconfiguring an matter/antimatter intermix chamber neutron flow configuration diagnostic? Okay, thankfully, they’re ditching all that crappy technobabble-era Trek with this new film, but still?

I’m excited by the change. The rest of the casting for the new Star Trek has been either unknowns or the occasional actor with good potential (and sometimes solid pedigree, like Eric Bana, who will be playing a Romulan villain in the movie). Pegg is the first actor who seems definitely cast against type, and I’m really interested to see what he does with the role.

This movie’s shaping up to be an expensive ($150 million!) experiment, and I’m hoping they pull it off. I’m cautiously optimistic.

Edit: I just changed the title of this post to something clever! Look how clever I am! Clever!