The brand new and very shiny crew of the Starship Enterprise boldly went where plenty of other people have been before - Leicester Square - as they premiered the new and very smartly rebooted Star Trek.

Watch video from the Star Trek UK premiere.

Despite trekkie costumes (and Vulcan ears) being reserved for z-listers and fans only, there was a common trend between the two stars of the film - Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine - both of whom were wearing woolen suits despite the unseasonably warm weather. This may have been in homage to their costumes though, as our new James Tiberius Kirk, Mr. Pine revealed: “It was so hot because it was wool, and I remember one of the first things I had to do was a fight scene and by the end of the day I was just itching all over my body. But this suit is cashmere. It’s ironic. It shows that I never learn my lesson.”

Quinto talked us through making the role his own with the legendary Leonard Nimoy also in the movie: “It was an incredible honour to be able to do it under the watchful eye of Leonard, and with his support and his blessing and involvement. It was not only a highlight of this experience, but also of my whole career so far. He gave me complete creative freedom to do what I needed to do, and have my own experience of who I felt this character is, and to make him as I felt was appropriate and beneficial to the story.”

Set for another series of Heroes, Quinto will also try his hand at production following his first break from Starfleet. But, like most of the other cast, he admitted that they were all committed to a second and third installment of the franchise, fans permitting: “We have all signed on for three movies, so if there is another, we will all be involved.”

Big-star baddie Eric Bana was on hand to talk us through playing Romulan nasty Nero: “It’s a huge thrill to be able to turn up in a movie as a villain that hasn’t been seen before. I guess it’s a sense of freedom at not being the moral centre of the film, not having to worry about how the character looks. That was quite liberating.It was a lot of fun.”

Looking gorgeous and thoroughly enjoying her new status as geek girl was Zoe Saldana, who explained the sci-fi credentials which won her the hallowed role of Nyota Uhura: “Every time my mom leaves a voice mail, she says, 'Hi sci-fi queen!' At first it was annoying, but I was raised in a sci-fi environment, I’m a huge geek, so it’s a privilege. I didn’t know that much about Uhura though - I was more part of the Star Wars generation - so it wasn’t until I worked on The Terminal with Steven Spielberg, that I began my Star Trek education and I found out what a trekkie meant and what the conventions were, and then I became a fan of the fans.”

Simon Pegg aired his legs on the blue sparkly carpet in a good old fashioned Scottish kilt. He told us how it felt to step into the legendary uniform: “It felt good. Sexy. I took a lot of pictures of myself in the mirror! I couldn’t have dreamed that it would happen, it seemed so distant from my own sort of what I expected to be in my career - it’s crazy, I can’t even describe it!”

Also doing the rounds were Karl Urban, who plays Dr Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, and John Cho, who slipped easily from his comedy roots inthe Harold and Kumar movies, and into the role of Enterprise helmsman Hikaru Sulu - telling us how George Takei passed the baton: “We had lunch and talked before I started filming. More than anything, he just relaxed me because I was a little anxious. He said 'Hey, John, feel good, go forward. Pretty soon they’re going to say that I’m the old guy that played John Cho, so just enjoy yourself!' That’s the kind of guy he is.”

Director-producer J.J. Abrams, wearing his trademark thick rimmed spectacles, was loving the London reception: ”Honestly it’s just an honour to be here and be part of this and see people here and cheering for Star Trek. I can’t wait for people to see the movie. It was a challenge to bring it to the screen, mostly because the scale was so big, but the cast is unbelievable, and the visual effects are amazing and I am really proud of the work everyone has done.”

And then it was time for Empire to wish the cast the customary "live long and prosper", and beam back to the Starship Empire. Star Trek beams into UK cinemas May 8, and you can read the Empire review in the meantime here.