Star Trek Update

Posted by on 2008/11/14


by Irma Arkus

J.J. Abrams’ version of Starship Enterprise has finally been revealed, as have the first scenes of the acclaimed production. In his interview with EW.com, Abrams recalls his initial awe of the ship’s exterior while watching 1979′s Star Trek: The Motion Picture: “when you flew around the ship, you could see all the different panels that made up the ship…It was the first time I had ever seen that level of attention, that love of detail, given to the tangible, practical reality of the ship.”

Abrams promises an equal attention to ship’s detail. We, on the other hand, promise to latch onto anything he says, and print funny stories about nonsense like what the ship is going to look like. Why? Because we can’t wait to see the new Star Trek film.

Click on image above to see larger photo.

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  • http://www.ep-hi.net/blog/ Ben

    grizelda, I think that some people who are existing fans would like to see a modern treatment of “more of the same.” It’s really impossible to please a dyed in the wool fan at this point probably. Nonetheless, I will go on complaining and acting like it is possible.

    J. J. certainly has his share of B.S. on his C.V. He may make “cool stuff,” but it’s not consistently good. Refer to Kirk driving a motorcycle off a cliff.

  • http://www.ep-hi.net/blog/ Ben

    Of course the producers will try to popularize Star Trek for financial reasons.

    This means that they will give up the conventions of the old shows in order to get more people into movie seats. The producers know that it will take a drastic reworking to make the memories of the old series fade from the public’s memory.

    J. J. Abrahms was given the directing job because he’s not a fan. A non-fan will not mind retooling the franchise, and will be more willing to make concessions that will make the film more saleable. (Contrast with Peter Jackson who was a lifelong LOTR fan). This will probably mean a formulaic plot with lots of explosions and very little in the way of the diplomacy that made TNG great.

    Depending on the quality of the film, the old fans might go along with this or they might not. I think that the general public might be harder to woo, considering that ‘Star Trek’ is synonymous with ‘nerd’ in most circles.

  • irma

    Ben,

    You are right on the money on this one. To restart the Star Trek franchise, they are continuing with mantra used for Voyager and Enterprise, as it seems to me that they are rabidly focusing on creating new audience and fans, instead of nurturing an existing fan base.

    This is a wise thing to do, for any franchise that is attempting to restart, grow, and expand, however, the previous attempts to do so failed at capturing long standing fan culture that very much consists of rabid followers. In fact, the Star Trek franchise has not gained any new fans, but alienated old ones as well.

    JJ Abrams has produced some captivating, border-line sci-fi material, and I do believe that he is one of the men equipped for the job. But his disinterest and lack of appreciation for Rodenberry’s principles for founding the series itself, will be simply touting the current attempts at “updating the materials.”

    Even though I am not one of those rabid fans, I do appreciate Star Trek, in its original as well as following incarnations, simply because of the admirable framework it offers for the future. I can bet you anything that the future of Star Trek will very much resemble that same apocalyptic vision of economy that we watch every night on the news. And that future sucks.

    We will all watch this film. Whether we’ll also get to leave with something to think about, and look forward to for years to come, is highly questionable. But tickets sales is all that matters…for now.

  • irma

    Ben,

    You are right on the money on this one. To restart the Star Trek franchise, they are continuing with mantra used for Voyager and Enterprise, as it seems to me that they are rabidly focusing on creating new audience and fans, instead of nurturing an existing fan base.

    This is a wise thing to do, for any franchise that is attempting to restart, grow, and expand, however, the previous attempts to do so failed at capturing long standing fan culture that very much consists of rabid followers. In fact, the Star Trek franchise has not gained any new fans, but alienated old ones as well.

    JJ Abrams has produced some captivating, border-line sci-fi material, and I do believe that he is one of the men equipped for the job. But his disinterest and lack of appreciation for Rodenberry’s principles for founding the series itself, will be simply touting the current attempts at “updating the materials.”

    Even though I am not one of those rabid fans, I do appreciate Star Trek, in its original as well as following incarnations, simply because of the admirable framework it offers for the future. I can bet you anything that the future of Star Trek will very much resemble that same apocalyptic vision of economy that we watch every night on the news. And that future sucks.

    We will all watch this film. Whether we’ll also get to leave with something to think about, and look forward to for years to come, is highly questionable. But tickets sales is all that matters…for now.

  • marissa

    Don’t understand exactly what is going on with this Star Trek craze. I know it’s JJ, but really, MI 3 wasn’t that great of a movie, and his presence alone doesn’t guarantee my ass in theatre chair. so there…

    Also, it’s kind of brazen to do the whole Enterprise do-over. DS9 was a fine production, and it never became a source of inspiration for filmmakers. I kind of wish it did, because there was enough there to pull me to watch at least a made for TV film. But no. Sisco was black, therefore, unworthy of their considerations. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll wait nicely for Dollhouse, and Star Trek geeks, new and old alike, can do their thing too.

  • macita33

    I have to admit though…the ship does look great!

  • chadhater

    I think JJ Abrams will do magic. If they got us to watch 3 seasons of Lost without a semblance of an explanation, I am sure that they can get us to absorb some guys with pointy ears on screen. The ship looks great, and quite frankly, this is probably the last breath the franchise of Trek will take anyways!!!

  • http://www.ep-hi.net/blog/ Ben

    I have to admit that I’ve never seen “Lost.” As a writer Abrams went from quite good in ’91 with Regarding Henry to apocalyptically bad in ’98 with Armageddon. I am inferring from this that he is not someone you can count on to make quality work.

  • irma

    Lost was weird, and still is. It’s a well written drama mystery with science fiction elements that writers themselves didn’t explain to themselves (or us), until the end of third season. Abrams has his good and bad moments. MI3 was crap. Lost was good. Alias was OK for a while. Actually, Alias was awesome for a while…and then it turned into MI3…booo!

    I must agree, Abrams is someone who does not guarantee delivery of the “good stuff” every single time. But then again, this movie is so hyped that I thought that it may be a South Korean scheme at selling copies of accelerated growth of William Shatner’s clones.

    I just hope the hype is justified.

    Sincerely,
    Irma Arkus

  • grizelda

    dude! Where have all you guyz been? In caves with Bin Laden or something??? JJ makes cool stuff. I don’t care if he’s a fan of Trek. I know that recent “fans” of Trek ran this show into the ground. No more fans of Quantum Leap or shitty writers who are “the biggest fans in the universe”!!! I want good writing, and I think having JJ on the job is pretty much a guarantee that such thing may even happen. Who cares if he is all about the Trek???!!!