What is more Trek to you?

[Nerys Myk]

-Brett- wrote:

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I'm struggling to understand why people are acting surprised that the sequel to a mindless action flick is a mindless action flick. Maybe the next cycle of hiatus and reboot will result in a more balanced approach, but this particular incarnation of Star Trek is a series of mindless action flicks. Accept it. Or don't. Either way, as long as it's successful, it's unlikely to change.

I didn't find XI to be any more mindless that the previous 10.

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Santa Kang wrote:

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I didn't find XI to be any more mindless that the previous 10.

Absolutely Right(TM).

Making solemn noises about Big Ideas is not the same as being thoughtful in any substantive way. On the big screen - and much more often than not, as the years passed, on television - Star Trek has been about the former.

Anything new to do with Kirk/Spock and the TOS setting on TV or at the movies is automatically more interesting to me than the sequels.

[Greg Cox]

Melakon wrote:

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The future depicted in Roddenberry-Trek was a utopia. The future depicted in Abrams-Trek seems to be leaning toward dystopia.

Gotta disagree. It was a positive vision of the future, but it wasn't utopian. Especially not out on the final frontier.

And I'm not sure an attack on Earth means it's a dystopian future. I'm seem to recall the whale probe causing lots of destruction in TVH, including explosions, broken glass, and the possible end of life on Earth.

[RoJoHen]

To me, Star Trek has always been an exploration of the human condition in the context of crazy space adventures. This new trailer looks perfectly Star Trek to me.

[Chemahkuu]

I seem to remember many monologues from Kirk at the ends of episodes pondering along the lines of how far humanity had to go, to improve, even in his day.

[Greg Cox]

Chemahkuu wrote:

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I seem to remember many monologues from Kirk at the ends of episodes pondering along the lines of how far humanity had to go, to improve, even in his day.

Exactly. The general consensus in TOS was that humanity was still a half-savage, child race with a long way to go.

"We're not to going to kill . . . today."

[The Wormhole]

People really need to let go of the pretentious idea that action and combat are they very things Roddenberry didn't want to have in Trek. I'm not saying Trek has to be as dumb and mindless as Trek XI was, but at the same time people should stop putting it on a pedestal of being some kind of intellectual masterpiece that's not alowed to have action. Even TNG had action packed episodes, and they are among the more popular.

Of course, people should also let go of the pretentious idea that Roddenberry is God, but that's another discussion...

[47]

Keep the canon and go forward after Nemesis.

A reboot will never be Star Trek. Star Trek was TOS, TNG, DS9 and VOY (and the first ten movies). Even ENT wasn't Star Trek, that's why it failed so miserably.

That being said, I liked the movie. But it's not Star Trek.

[King Daniel]

ChristianBobak wrote:

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It's not those things that stop it from being Star Trek, it's the absence of a human interest story to go with those things.

Erm... what about Spock? He basically came out of the closet as an "emotional" after a very conflicted life. There was more humanity in that than just about any of the other Trek movies.

I really liked the Trekbabble they came up with and the amount of effort taken to attempt to explain the technology. They tried to make it seem at least possible. I winced when they ejected the "warp cores" in ST:2009. Is this important to the story? Nah. But the passion for perfection seems to gone.

What was the problem with the warm cores ejecting?

[Greg Cox]

The Wormhole wrote:

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People really need to let go of the pretentious idea that action and combat are they very things Roddenberry didn't want to have in Trek. ...

Amen. As far back as "The Cage," Chris Pike was fighting a giant furry barbarian, threatening to break the Talosian's neck, and Number One and company were blasting away at the hidden gateway with their snazzy laser cannon . . .

Heck, "The Cage" begins with Pike mourning the deaths of crewmen who were lost in a recent battle on an alien world.

There's always been a hefty dose of action-adventure and special-effects eye candy in Star Trek. And that's always what tends to get played up in the trailers and teasers.

(I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there weren't any debates about the ethics of terraforming in the WOK trailer, let alone any character-oriented scenes illuminating Kirk's midlife crisis.)

[throwback]

In TNG, humans were perfect individuals who worked and lived together in a highly advanced society where there was no interpersonal conflict between them. Technology was unchained. So said Gene Roddenberry.

Though I do believe that we will have matured more as a species by the 24th century, I don't think we will ever be a species free of interpersonal conflict. I think that more people will have rights, ex. homosexuals and transgender people will have greater rights than they do now in many parts of the world.

I am adaptable to the changes in films and TV shows. I am enjoying the serialized approach to TV. My favorite shows are Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, and the Walking Dead.

How will I judge the Star Trek film? Against The Batman Franchise, especially the last film. This film had for me the right level of action-adventure versus character moments. (The Dark Knight Rises is my favorite of the three films. It is a well-woven tale.)

[Greg Cox]

throwback wrote:

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In TNG, humans were perfect individuals who worked and lived together in a highly advanced society where there was no interpersonal conflict between them. Technology was unchained. So said Gene Roddenberry.)

That's TNG. The new movies are based on TOS, which was much less utopian--and, arguably, a bit more fun.

[Chemahkuu]

I love how the entire planet, and the whole human race, are being classed as completely dystopian because we see one foggy city, on a dull day. Really?

The first movie had the same city shown several times on beautiful sunny days and I remember people going about their lives quite happily.

[throwback]

I was comparing TNG to TOS. The return to TOS-style humans came with Deep Space Nine, which opened the door to more believable humans. I consider the depiction of humans on TNG as a failed experiment. Another thing that I will not miss is the boring music tracks which dominated Star Trek for such a long time. Give me a rousing score, and I am a happy guy.

I hope that the upcoming trailers are not a rendition of the top moments of the film. I hate it when trailers give away too much. Why don't you leave something for me, trailer man, to see in the film?

[plynch]

An idea or "what-if." Sci-fi, in other words. An issue to ponder, more than just how kewl the bad guy talked or exploded. Preferably some humanity, an ethical choice made well, leaning toward mercy or wonder. "No kill I." "That's why we're aboard her." Save the Ocampa though it strands yor crew. You asked; there's my two cents.