Why a reboot was necessary (IMHO)

Discussion in 'Star Trek Movies: Kelvin Universe' started by Charles Phipps, Jun 13, 2013.

  1. Sindatur

    Sindatur The Gray Owl Wizard Admiral

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    Yea, STID is set 1 year after ST'09.

    I think most great bonds are formed well before 1 year in the trenches together. Matter of fact, most great bonds are formed pretty early in a relationship.

    I can't imagine a Captain and First Officer who haven't formed a great bond within a year serving together will ever form a great bond.
     
  2. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Unfortunately that gets old and dry real fast. They were already running out of ideas in TOS, and after TNG that was 10 years of episodic stuff. It didn't leave much for VOY and ENT to work with.

    No, it's not. Just because you think your franchise needs a reboot doesn't mean you don't get to play with its past a bit.

    Maybe thinking that was the cause of you finding no emotional resonance in it. Just a thought.

    I'm sorry but that's just not true.
     
  3. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That's so silly I had to take a few seconds to reboot my mind before answering. Seriously ? Many movies you'll like LESS after watching more than once. Does that make it a great movie ? I'd rather a movie that grows on me, like many Trek movies, than movies that I appreciate less and less, like The Dark Knight.

    Yeah, but by that logic NO comparison can ever work, because you necessarily compare things that aren't each other. Otherwise it's not a comparison. :rolleyes:

    I'll add my own example: music. Music is the kind of thing that grows on you over years. You can find a piece of music quite mediocre on the first listen, but ten years down the road you love it. Movies can also be like that.

    That's not what he said. He said you can rearrange a franchise to make the product more marketable, while retaining enough of its original "spirit" to appeal to the old guard.

    I did.

    The only reason why I watch movies and television is because I want to be entertained. Thinking, I can do on my own, and I don't need anyone to try to imprint morality onto my brain. Trek should stick to entertainment.
     
  4. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    I don't know about you, but people in bright pajamas are usually the last folks I take morality lessons from. :lol:
     
  5. CorporalClegg

    CorporalClegg Admiral Admiral

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    :rofl:
     
  6. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I think NKirk and NSpock's relationship is "barbed" as opposed to being shallow. NKirk and NSpock have bonded in the fact that NKirk avenged the destruction of Vulcan, which NSpock is grateful for. The two of them have a prickly relationship, however, because NSpock is trying to do things by the book and NKirk is fully willing to engage in criminal activity as long as it's for the greater good. Falsifying documents goes above and beyond what should be expected from bending the book and OKirk would have beaten the crap out of his younger self for that (or phasered him on stun).

    They're friends but Kirk is the guy who wants to cheat on a test (and, in fact, is literally that guy).
     
  7. throwback

    throwback Captain Captain

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    Belz,

    I am flattered that you thought to include some of what I had written back on page 2. However, I have a question. Did you read my complete post, or did you latch onto the first sentence and ignore the rest?

    I do not find fault with people rebooting a franchise. I have come to accept that this is the normal in today's Hollywood. My issue is with how it was done for Star Trek: Into Darkness. This issue is shared by others, so I am not alone in my opinion.

    In my post, I mention two films - Batman and The Dark Knight. (I erred when I wrote The Dark Knight Rises; this was the film I meant.) Both films involved Batman's arch nemesis, the Joker. These films, however, went different directions with the history and depiction of the Joker. They were successful films for their day. More importantly for our discussion, the director and writers of The Dark Knight didn't feel the need to lift whole scenes from the first film, so that they could alter them to meet the demands of the new film.
    I believe this is the sin that the director and writers of Star Trek: Into Darkness committed.

    I won't be wading into the discussion about whether or not Kirk and Spock were friends. I don't have enough personal experience in that arena to make a qualitative judgement on their friendship.
     
  8. CorporalClegg

    CorporalClegg Admiral Admiral

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    I wonder about that:

    http://www.collegehumor.com/video/3391864/batman-vs-the-dark-knight-trailer

    I concede the obvious that this meant to be humorous, and trailers =/= film. However, that doesn't diminish its significance. Nolan borrowed plenty of visual cues from Batman to create visual parallelism. I could write up a whole long analysis with screencaps and the whole works, but it'd just be a waste of time. I think the video is enough to make the point. He didn't use dialog, but it was unnecessary and would have just been superfluous.

    I will also add that TDKR was bloated with both visual and verbal cues from his previous two films.

    In Abrams case, the dialog was important because it added clarity and weight to the scene and its thematic significance. Without the familiar lines, the two-way mirror is just a pane of glass. Non the less, the visual juxtaposition is still the primary component here because, in motion pictures, the picture is ALWAYS the central artistic element.

    It's pretty nearly impossible to find a film--any film--made within the last 60 years that didn't lift a scene, visual, or line of dialog from someplace else. TWOK, I might add, had plenty of all three. This is the reality of the art form.

    I think people are so upset over the radiation scene because they believe it infringes upon something they hold beloved and sacred. I'm sure there was a literary scholar or two who, after leaving the theatre in 1982, introduced palm to face.
     
  9. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    That was a few days ago. Page number doesn't matter. It's not like it's a three year-old post. Anyway, you're welcome.

    No, I read it. Why ?

    I have come to accept it, also. I understand why it's sometimes necessary, though often I think they are overdoing it. There's no arguing with the financial success of the strategy, however.

    My issue was not with your opinion that this bothers you, but that it somehow tears down the reboot argument. Trek wasn't rebooted because they ran out of ideas and had to reboot, because then they'd still be out of ideas (and I'm sure many could make the argument that they actually are.) Star Trek was rebooted to make it more accessible to new viewers. Re-using old villains, mirroring scenes or plots from old movies or shows, etc. does not work against this idea.

    I believe we can say that Into Darkness did something very different with the few elements it re-used. It's my opinion that people are taking what is an admittedly important but short moment of the film and blowing it out of proportion.

    They could have, though. That they didn't was a choice, not an indication that doing so was a bad idea.
     
  10. slappy

    slappy Commodore Commodore

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    I like the reboot, but I honestly think that a smartly written film/tv show could accomplish everything Trek 09 did without a reboot. If you think about it TNG did just that.
     
  11. BillJ

    BillJ The King of Kings Admiral

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    Problem is you completely eliminate any thrills from seeing Kirk and Spock in danger because you know they go on to work on the Enterprise for another thirty years.
     
  12. Ryan8bit

    Ryan8bit Commodore Commodore

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    A coworker of mine who wasn't really into Trek said he was amazed by how his wife would get so pulled into a Trek episode because of its teaser, knowing full well that the main crew would never die (save Tasha, of course). Sometimes people go into things knowing the outcome and they just don't care except for how it's told, hence adaptations of books or other various prequels. I'm not sure if anyone really expects Kirk and Spock to die for good, reboot or not. It'd be interesting if they did, but I just don't see it unless that's the end.
     
  13. Gojira

    Gojira Commodore Commodore

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    Star Trek was in critical condition and on life-support. JJ Abrams saved Star Trek and there is no doubt about it. His movies have been a breath of fresh air and they rekindled what it felt like to watch Star Trek for the first time once again.
     
  14. throwback

    throwback Captain Captain

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    I think that JJ Abrams has stabilized the patient; however, the future is still murky and it is still too early to say if he saved the franchise. This film made significant in-roads on the foreign market front, yet it struggled with the 18 to 24 demographic. For the franchise to succeed, it needs to make itself appealable to this demographic.
     
  15. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    I do believe that's a realistic way of putting it.
     
  16. TenLubak

    TenLubak Commander Red Shirt

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    Not enough battles? Star Trek is about peace and humans being able to avoid resorting to violence when possible, I always loved how Star Trek I was film about a unknown attacking earth, and Kirk WILL NOT attack it. Instead they attempt to learn about it, to communicate. That will more times than not, if sucessful, preclude the need for battle. So to me, Star Trek's mission has always been one of peace.

    That one reason why I love it so much more than say, a franchise called Star WARS. That title alone is a turn off.
     
  17. Hugh Mann

    Hugh Mann Lieutenant

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    You're going to have to explain how the idea that a movie should be able to impress on the first go-around in order to be considered a good movie is silly, because it doesn't make sense. I don't even see how this is something you can seriously argue. I can get behind the notion that a good movie (as opposed to J.J. Abrams' movies) can reveal additional layers of goodness with each watching, but the idea that your opinion of a movie can go from bad to good just by virtue of repetitive viewing seems utterly stupid.

    What a silly thing to say. That's like saying we need to get kids to eat healthy by taking healthy snacks and making them more "appealable" by deep-frying them and lathering them in chocolate.
     
  18. Belz...

    Belz... Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Because it can become a good movie on the second viewing. See how easy that was ?

    Well that's the problem of your limited experience, then, because it actually happens in real life.
     
  19. Ovation

    Ovation Admiral Admiral

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    Oh look. This has already been addressed and debunked. You could at least try to come up with a new complaint.
     
  20. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Star Trek is many things. It's why Wrath of Khan was better received than TMP.