Nerd Men of the Month: The (New) Men of Star Trek (Sorry, Uhura)

Sadly, Mr. Quinto was getting tweezed during the taking of this photo.

First, I was going to go with Zachary Quinto. And then Chris Pine. And then John Cho, but then what about saucy Mr. Karl Urban as Bones? Choosing one cast member of the new "Star Trek" movie to be Nerd Man of the Month is like trying to take just one potato chip out of the bag when absolutely no one else is there to judge: it just ain't gonna happen. So this month's Nerd Man selection is a whole gaggle of Nerd Men...and in this case, quality and quantity go quite well together.

As we all know, "Star Trek" rocked in innumerable ways, not the least of which was the assembling of a cast that paid homage to the original "Star Trek" actors and characters without miming or mimicking, creating a vibrant new look and feel for a franchise that sorely needed it. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk channeled his inner Shatner with all of the "I'm more awesome than pants"-ness and none of the cloying hamminess that sometimes threatened to turn Kirk from hero into that uncle you're sort of embarrassed by at Christmas. Zachary Quinto as Spock erased every thought of "Heroes" from my brain (thank you!) by building a quietly powerful portrait of a man trying to find the balance between head and heart. As for John Cho, well, what can I say except "sword fight!" Cho made Sulu the bad-ass he's always been and always will be. Simon Pegg, the first two-time Nerd Man honoree in The Park Bench's esteemed and consequently history, brought the funny and the frenetic, crafting the perfect spazzy Montgomery Scott for the ADD generation. And finally, what can you say about Karl Urban except "yowza," a term I believe was first invented by Shakespeare to describe "a dude I've never seen before but hey, he's really hot and funny in that dry way that makes women want to have mixed cocktails and sophisticated conversation with him." Yeah, you know what I mean.

I'm also going to throw Eric Bana into the mix here because the man is the kind of eye candy that makes dentists go rogue. Sure, in "Star Trek" he was covered in mountains of latex but honestly, look at the man sans prosthetic and I think we can all agree he upped the pulchritudinal tally:

So, for helping resurrect a pop culture icon, for channeling new energy into beloved characters and for generally being able to flex and look good, The Park Bench is pleased to name the cast of "Star Trek" as its Nerd Men of the Month.