I'll admit, I don't care for the direction Star Trek has gone, under Abrams. But I wonder if given the choice, would current Star Trek fans have preferred this to be Pike's story and not a re-imagined Kirk story? We only get to see a worn Pike in the first pilot. Kind of like Kirk in TWOK. It would interesting to see Pike's early days commanding Enterprise.
I'm not really a fan of Bruce Greenwood as Pike. I really wish they would have had him play a different character.
Actually, I'd have liked to have seen Kirk's early days commanding the Enteprise, reimagined or not (which is what we're essentially getting). If Abrams had decided to reboot Trek with Pike, Spock, Number One, Boyce, Tyler, Colt and that crew, I think folks would've raised holy hell. It would've been a WTF moment. Abrams made the logical choice (a bold and confident one, too), and has apparently made it work beyond anyone's wildest expectations.
While it may have been interesting to see some adventures with Pike and his crew, it would not have played well with a general audience. What you have to think about is the general audience in mind, who normally think of "Star Track" with "the pointy ears guy" and "Beam me up, Scotty". The way Abrams and Co. went was the best possible direction, and the gamble worked.
General audiences go to see movies all the time with characters they don't know. I think the only reason to not create a new crew, is to gain support of the base. But I don't think the base would care either way. They'll either like it or not. Just like they like or don't like having Kirk and crew.
Not to sound curt, but I'm part of the fan base, and I would've cared. A lot. Without Kirk and Spock, there would be no "Star Trek" fifty years later. No disrepect meant to any other flavor of Trek (many of which I like) but Kirk and Spock are "Star Trek", and if you're going to completely start over, why start anywhere else?
All it would have done is caused most people to ask "Why didn't they use Kirk?" or "Will the next movie feature Kirk?"
Yep. The idea of a new version of Kirk and Spock was exciting. Pike, or the fiftieth other spinoff crew? Not so much.
No problem. I agree without Kirk, Spock and McCoy, there would be no Star Trek. But there are many saying that many fans will go see the new movies at the theater, even if they don't care for the reboot. And unfortunately, I'm sure that is probably true.
It more than likely is, but you're talking about fans there. What must make sense in the making of a major motion picture is having more than fans go see it. If it isn't worth the money to make it (and make a profit from it), it won't get made, or at the most be made as a fan film. There is a huge difference between a TV series (where something like an early adventures of Pike may work) and a movie, where something like Star Trek has to be done as right and as profitable as possible, or it isn't going to happen. If there is even the slightest hint that it won't make the money back, it won't get made.
This. A Pike movie would have a tough time topping Marvel Comics Star Trek: Early Voyages in my book.
"The base" will show up for any Star Trek film. The general audience is more likely to show for a movie with Kirk and Spock, because those are the characters associated with Star Trek.
Pike is essentially a one-shot character that an entire mythology has been built around through fandom. But general audiences would be saying "Pike?! Who the hell is this guy? Where's Kirk? Where's Picard?"