Tuesday, November 18, 2008

JJ Abrams Star Trek

Well, I just watched the latest trailer to the new Star Trek movie…and I have to say I’m really not sure about it.

I’m the first to admit that the most recent Star Trek films have been absolute crap…but while I’m fairly convinced the new effort will be a good movie, I’m not really convinced it’s going to be a good star trek movie.

Making a Trek movie is dangerous ground for any director. You see, as a Trek fan myself, I have no problem with pointing out that Trek fans are rabid, unforgiving, nit-picking gigantic nerds.

Basically, unless you’ve been a life-long Trek fan, it’s difficult to make a movie even with the original cast. Star Trek fans can, and will, complain just because someone messed up a bit of techno-babble or the plate on a door said deck eight when crew quarters are clearly on deck seven.

So, ‘re-imagining’ Star Trek, with all new actors, sets and a totally original story is going to be dangerous ground. Getting a dedicated trek fan to buy a new actor as Kirk or Spock is going to have a lot in common with trying to convince a fundamentalist Christian that Jesus might have been a woman.

I mean, I was delighted to see Simon Pegg cast as Scotty, because not only am I a huge Simon Pegg fan, Simon Pegg is a genuine Nerd and trek fan. However, John Cho (better known as Harold from ‘Harold and Kumar go to White Castle’) wouldn’t have been my first choice for Sulu. Frat-boy comedies and Trek don’t really mix.

Well, anyway, I’ll definitely be going to see it, but I think the only reason my nerd-alarm isn’t at Defcon 1 is simply because the original series isn’t really my Star Trek. As a child of the 80’s, The Next Generation was my Trek series…and I’d have much more of a vested interest if they’d re-cast Picard or Data.

Anyway, keep your fingers crossed that it won’t suck…unless of course you’re not a Trek fan, because then I don’t give a crap what you think.

3 comments:

Kelly said...

I hated Star Trek - it sucked big donkey balls........having said that, JJ Abrahms rules so iw ill probably watch it.....

MC Etcher said...

If you're going to reimagine it, create new characters. There's no need to reuse old elements and rewrite them.

I'd enjoy the new movie a lot more if I wasn't automatically making comparisons to what came before. They've got a whole world to explore, why re-use?

Paulius said...

I agree with you completely Etcher (and Kelly, you can just go right to hell)...but I think the reasoning behind it is that a re-imagining of the original series is going to sell way more tickets than another spin off.

Let's face it, fans would go and see it even if the trailer made it look like crap. Look how many people went to see the Star Wars prequels even AFTER seeing Episode 1.

To be honest, that's my main motivation to go and see it. Just to see what they change and what they keep.

One thing is for certain...the internet will CATCH FIRE on release day.