New Trek Sucks So Friggin Hard (Spoilers, Possible Mature)

[thecursor]

I'm back now after leaving for my quadren....quadri....four year hiatus, just in time for me to get so mad I'm about ready to do something violent.

This is the new Star Trek Trailer WWTDD (fair warning- The celebrity gossip blog that hosts this bootleg on it's front page is a little racy and I can't promise there won't be sexy pictures and inane commentary and...god that site is awesome) I hate that trailer so much, I now have a desire to go beat up J.J. Abrams. Anyone with me?

[Alelou]

It would only play half of it for me and I don't feel like downloading it, but my first thought is, oh God, do we really need a child Kirk and a child Spock? Wasn't beginning with a child Archer bad enough?

Star Trek usually suffers when people come in and take it too damned seriously, like Robert Wise did in TMP. Oh well. I guess we'll see.

[justTripn]

I saw a trailer in the movie theater this weekend. I'm still excited.

[Asso]

It would only play half of it for me and I don't feel like downloading it, but my first thought is, oh God, do we really need a child Kirk and a child Spock? Wasn't beginning with a child Archer bad enough?

Exactly.

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Much better resolution now at online now.

And yeah, not that excited here either. I mean, bad boy Jim Kirk, what a terrible cliché! TOS canon tells us he was very serious and studious at the Academy. But I forgot, this is a reboot.

[Aquarius]

I'm going to try to keep an open mind until I see it. I confess to being excited that Simon Pegg is in the cast so for me, that was already a bonus. The guy is just awesome.

[CX]

DO NOT WANT!

[Elessar]

Uhhhoooooooooooooooooooh, I'm so torn. It's definitely not going to look like Star Trek, I think that's for sure. The thing is, I'm betting that if a trekkie could check their preconceptions at the door, they would probably find it an awesome movie. It's just, 'should it be given the title Star Trek, and should it be included in canon', or COULD it even be included in canon. There are obvious things that could pose problems like destroying certain ships and all that stuff, but what about just character dispositions? Can we say, 'That Kirk doesn't act like Kirk', or the same for Scotty or Uhura or Sulu? Or is there room for the devil's advocate to say, "But they're much younger than we saw them in TOS, these are different personalities."?

I think it could be an awesome movie if it weren't being viewed through 42 years of Star Trek expectations. If Star Trek were being born with this movie, I think it could be awesome, and all of us, sci fi nerds who without this having been born 42 years ago would not be Trekkies but simply sci fi nerds, would probably drool and love it.

It looks like basically someone heard all the clarion calls from corners of the Trekkie fandom for Trek to look and act more like BSG and took heed . I know I was one who used to say that, that Trek is too sterile, too clean compared to grittier sci fi like BSG, Firefly or even Farscape. Well, for those of us who were thinking that, now we find out if it's what we wanted .

[Alelou]

Thanks for the much better link!

Well, of course I'll SEE it. I just can't say I'm too excited about a tortured young Kirk. Maybe it would explain all the grandiosity, though...

Takes chutzpah to just call it Star Trek and nothing else. What the hell acronym are we to use for it then?

S

[evcake]

I think Ellesar's points about checking preconceptions at the door have merit. To me Star Trek's ungrittiness has always been one of it's cheifest charms, though. I find BSG's unending grit wearing. Ah, well.
I'll be there, popcorn and deit coke in hand.

[CX]

I think it could be an awesome movie if it weren't being viewed through 42 years of Star Trek expectations. If Star Trek were being born with this movie, I think it could be awesome, and all of us, sci fi nerds who without this having been born 42 years ago would not be Trekkies but simply sci fi nerds, would probably drool and love it..

Sorry, but I can't do that. Despite the fact he obviously wants to pretend he's creating the franchise with this movie, he's not. There are 5 series and 10 movies already. I can't check my brain at the door just because something looks "kewl" and ignore everything else.

[thecursor]

Playing devils advocate: J.J. Abrams has very little control over the film's marketing and this might be the studio trying to mass market a very "Trek" Film. But my first thoughts are...No. Uhura taking her top off is made of fail.

[Pitseleh]

What has me thinking is: Is Star Trek capable of pulling in new fans at this stage? One has to wonder what they're trying to do with this movie, 'cause pulling in new fans to such a well-known and established franchise as Trek is hard. One has to wonder how the long time fans will react to this entirely new approach... especially when it deals with the icons of the franchise, Spock and Kirk. Are they trying to please the long time fans? 'Cause most of them seem somewhat if not completely skeptical and defensive towards this entire project. Are they trying to create a new fanbase? 'Cause they'd have to do something incredible considering they're doing a "prequel". They don't have all the room in the world to play with here. Even if they're young and that could justify them being different, the reference will always be TOS.

Personally, I didn't start as a TOS fan. My first Trek was ENT and from then, I moved to TOS. I'd like to watch this movie, but I don't know if it'll make it to the theaters down here.

[Aquarius]

What has me thinking is: Is Star Trek capable of pulling in new fans at this stage? One has to wonder what they're trying to do with this movie, 'cause pulling in new fans to such a well-known and established franchise as Trek is hard. One has to wonder how the long time fans will react to this entirely new approach... especially when it deals with the icons of the franchise, Spock and Kirk. Are they trying to please the long time fans? 'Cause most of them seem somewhat if not completely skeptical and defensive towards this entire project. Are they trying to create a new fanbase? 'Cause they'd have to do something incredible considering they're doing a "prequel". They don't have all the room in the world to play with here. Even if they're young and that could justify them being different, the reference will always be TOS.

Well, they already kinda went through that when Star Trek: The Next Generation came out. A lot of TOS fans categorically rejected it, because it "wasn't Star Trek." Others kept an open mind and saw its potential, while for other still, TNG was their first exposure to Trek ever.

Granted, it's not a completely fair comparison because that was an entirely different set of characters on a different ship in a different time, rather than a "reimagining" of the original cast and ship. I think Elessar is right in that it's all going to depend on what one expects when one sits down in the theater. If you're expecting Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley, then you might as well forget it. If you go in aware of and accepting that these are someone else's interpretations of the characters and the show, you're gonna be okay. It's just like when some new band does a Top 40 cover of your favorite song. Lots of people won't like it because it's not the same, and others will have no clue about the original.

[leslina]

I really don't have time for a long rant as I need to get my ass to work, but I will say that I will go see this in theaters because regardless of my apprehensions, I am a Trek fan. Having said that, this is the sort of movie that annoys the hell out of me because reboots like these--while they bring a whole new fanbase to the fandom--this new influx of fans is usually F-ING annoying. Typically a young crowd that hasn't a clue and DOESN'T want a clue about the original thing. Anyone remember the X-Men movie? Having been a hardcore X-Men and Uncanny X-Men fangirl, although there were things I liked about that movie, there were also things I REALLY did not like and one of the things that irked me was how the artwork in the canon X books began to reflect what was in the film.

Now, how likely and to what extent is that to occur with this Trek film, I don't know, but I can see DarkHorse or someone else releasing a corresponding graphic novel to this movie just for sheer marketing value and because the precedent exists. But I can just see the hordes of noob fans without any appreciation or respect for TOS saturating BBS and the Pit of Voles aka Fanfiction.net with even more bizarre tales of young Kirk/Spock twu wuv and other sillyness Just my two cents.

::steps off soapbox and shuffles ass to work::