Earlier this week, twelve new images from J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek XI were released online. One of them shows Chris Pine as the young James Kirk climbing out of what seems to be an escape pod from the USS Enterprise which landed within an icy crater.

At first I didn’t think anything of this scene, of which producer Damon Lindelof confirmed occurs midway through the film. Lindelof also alluded that this does not take place on Earth — not so surprising for the Trek universe.

But then pictures taken of this film set in Los Angeles appeared online, namely one that shows a cardboard stand-in of a creature (which most likely will be inserted with CGI later) that looks suspiciously like the Wampa Ice Creature. (A cropped, tiny watermarked version of the image is here at right, but you get the picture.)

Looks like this week’s issue of Entertainment Weekly will feature Zachary Quinto and Chris Pine in their Star Trek XI uniforms as Mr. Spock and James T. Kirk, respectively.

The issue is set to go on sale this Friday, but the cover story might go up on EW’s website as soon as tomorrow [cover image via JustJared].

According to TrekMovie, the cover image shows the characters in their new two-piece bridge uniform shirts, which consists of a gray/black undershirt and a second v-neck shirt over that in red, blue or gold. It was also recently announced that the film, which will be a prequel to the original Star Trek television series and subsequent movies, will have a two-hour running time.

Aside from the EW cover, a bunch of new Star Trek XI images are now online at various websites. Check them out, along with descriptions, here below.

The good folks over at TrekMovie.com have the four new Star Trek XI character poster images, which reveal Karl Urban as McCoy, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, Anton Yelchin as Chekov.

High-res versions of the posters have not been released yet, but TrekMovie plans to have them soon, along with interviews and a possible movie spoiler. For now, check out the low-res version of the posters put together here at right (click for a larger view). [UPDATE: High res now available – click updated image here at right!]

These four new posters were distributed by Paramount at this weekend’s Star Trek convention in Las Vegas. As with the first four character posters — of Kirk, Spock, Uhura, and Nero — that were given out at the San Diego Comic-Con last month, when placed together, the four posters form the Star Trek delta emblem.