Boldly Going Backwards
Nov. 16th, 2008 03:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
4thofelevenThere’s been some new photos and information released about the new Star Trek movie, including one of the Enterprise. The new trailer’s meant to be online tomorrow. Right now, I remain fairly sceptical about the whole project.
I could go all obsessive-fan, and complain about how I don’t like the changes to the Enterprise design (and I don’t), or how the aesthetic of the bridge in the new photos strikes me as far too visually cluttered (and it does). I don’t like the look of most of the actors, and I remain baffled that Eric Bana continues to get work.
But that’s just the ranting of an old Trek fan, and these sorts of quibbles aren’t why I’m sceptical about the film as a whole. Now, Abrams has been very vague about how – and if – the new film fits into the established continuity. There’s apparently a time travel plot and Leonard Nimoy will be appearing as an old Spock, so it’s not entirely a continuity reboot. On the other hand, the spirit of the film seems to be quite clearly a remake - if nothing else, by returning to the original series setting and characters.
The idea is clearly to strip away the stuff that only hard-core fans like myself are into, and return to the original setting, making it more accessible to a mainstream audience. The thing is – I’m not sure that’s actually going to work out the way they expect. This isn’t Battlestar Galactica; this isn’t remaking a failed series from decades ago, a franchise that has been effectively dead since the original series failed. Star Trek’s already had a very successful relaunch as a series of films, its had a number of successful spin-offs. Maybe the last few weren't too successful, but I’m not sure throwing all of them out and returning to the original series is the way to go.
Why? Well, I showed the new cast photos to a friend to get an outside opinion. And my friend, he’s not a Star Trek fan, never watched the series, only a few of the movies. And his first comment? A baffled “What, Patrick Stewart’s not going to be in it?”
Sure, the ‘mainstream audience’ that this new film seems so desperately trying to reach, yeah, they know of Star Trek and Kirk and Spock and the Klingons and so on. But they’re just as likely to associate Star Trek with Picard and Worf and the Borg, and know of the original series only as that cheesy old show with William Shatner. I’m sceptical that a relaunch that acts as if there’s been no Star Trek since the original series is going to have the mainstream appeal they’re expecting.
I could go all obsessive-fan, and complain about how I don’t like the changes to the Enterprise design (and I don’t), or how the aesthetic of the bridge in the new photos strikes me as far too visually cluttered (and it does). I don’t like the look of most of the actors, and I remain baffled that Eric Bana continues to get work.
But that’s just the ranting of an old Trek fan, and these sorts of quibbles aren’t why I’m sceptical about the film as a whole. Now, Abrams has been very vague about how – and if – the new film fits into the established continuity. There’s apparently a time travel plot and Leonard Nimoy will be appearing as an old Spock, so it’s not entirely a continuity reboot. On the other hand, the spirit of the film seems to be quite clearly a remake - if nothing else, by returning to the original series setting and characters.
The idea is clearly to strip away the stuff that only hard-core fans like myself are into, and return to the original setting, making it more accessible to a mainstream audience. The thing is – I’m not sure that’s actually going to work out the way they expect. This isn’t Battlestar Galactica; this isn’t remaking a failed series from decades ago, a franchise that has been effectively dead since the original series failed. Star Trek’s already had a very successful relaunch as a series of films, its had a number of successful spin-offs. Maybe the last few weren't too successful, but I’m not sure throwing all of them out and returning to the original series is the way to go.
Why? Well, I showed the new cast photos to a friend to get an outside opinion. And my friend, he’s not a Star Trek fan, never watched the series, only a few of the movies. And his first comment? A baffled “What, Patrick Stewart’s not going to be in it?”
Sure, the ‘mainstream audience’ that this new film seems so desperately trying to reach, yeah, they know of Star Trek and Kirk and Spock and the Klingons and so on. But they’re just as likely to associate Star Trek with Picard and Worf and the Borg, and know of the original series only as that cheesy old show with William Shatner. I’m sceptical that a relaunch that acts as if there’s been no Star Trek since the original series is going to have the mainstream appeal they’re expecting.