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After the colossal flop of "Star Trek: Nemesis," one can be forgiven for believing that the legendary franchise was out for the count as far as the box office goes. But then hotshot director J.J. Abrams comes along with a script devised by the meticulous former-"Alias" duo Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman and suddenly Star Trek is back.

The double act, who met in their senior year at Crossroads School for Arts & Sciences, have made quite the name for themselves in the industry by taking on projects with pre-existing hardcore fanbase that demands nothing but the best and they deliver exactly that. In 2007, the Michael Bay-directed movie "Transformers" annihilated box office competition and remains among the top five DVD releases of the last two years and its sequel is set to launch later in May. Their secret to success: write a small, character-driven story and add some of the big flashy stuff.

"We always try to approach these big action movies from a place of 'Could you remove the robots and spaceships and aliens and whatever it is and take that character story and make an independent film out of that little story?'" Orci recently told The Los Angeles Times. "And if you can and then you sprinkle back in the giant robots, you have something very unique. It's such an amazing feeling to sit in the theater after you worked on a movie with the scope of 'Transformers' or 'Star Trek' and hear the audience react to the visceral experience of a popcorn [movie]. It takes us back to the way we felt when we watched 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' or 'Back to the Future.'"

And for "Star Trek," the pair have stuck to the same philosophy in the hopes that their work will evoke a positive reaction within theater halls when the movie premieres on May 8. Part of that includes a lot of the same relationships of the original series only with a 21st century twist ... plus some tribbles.

"It was scary to try to be funny, but we felt confident that we had to go for it," Orci said. "In the original series, humor and sexiness was a key part of the show. It was in the middle of the 1960s and this liberation of the young. And it was funny too."

The one thing the movie hinged on however was the participation of Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in the original series (not to mention a scatter of other appearances in the spin-off shows). But when they arrived at the 79-year old actors home along with Abrams, the trio were met with a rather suspicious and serious reception.

"It was incredibly intimidating," Kurtzman admitted. "By the end it was very emotional too. We told him that we couldn't do it without him. We told everything and how he was the key to the movie, that the story doesn't work without him. There was a very long silence and he got misty.

"He had retired and turned down many offers to return to this character, so this was asking the greatest gunslinger to strap on the pistol one more time ... his wife told us later that he didn't get out of the chair for several hours [and] that he was overwhelmed by all of it and the decision."

In the upcoming movie, it is expected that Spock (Nimoy) will learn of a terrible and devastating plot to destroy the Federation by altering the past. Unable to accept the end to his way of life, Nimoy himself alters time to prevent this by in doing so will change the future ... forever.

"Star Trek" opens May 8.