Visual Reboots: Ships...but not characters?

[ChallengerHK]

Does anybody else find it odd that the producers would visually reboot the Enterprise, probably far easier to make it look more or less like it looked in TOS, but that they've simultaneously picked an actor who looks extremely liike Jeffrey Hunter to play Pike? I think people would have been pretty forgiving of having Pike look somewhat different, knowing how hard it would be to pick an actor with both skill and a facial match. They chose to match the difficult choice (the actor) and ignored matching the easy choice (the ship). Seems bass ackwards.

 

[Galaxy]

Go check out the thread about the Enterprise in Disco, apparently CBS can not use the original-original, they have to modify the designs. Although is accuracy of that is debatable.

 

[F. King Daniel]

James Frain looks nothing like Mark Leonard, IMHO at least, so I suspect actor likeness probably isn't their highest priority.

I suspect more viewers would be familiar with Bruce Greenwood's Pike than Jeffrey Hunter's these days, anyway.

 

[dahj]

Also Sonequa Martin-Green looks nothing like Sean Connery Laurence Luckinbill.

 

[Krandor]

I actually thought the DSC version of the enterprise looks quite good and respectful to the original.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Does anybody else find it odd that the producers would visually reboot the Enterprise, probably far easier to make it look more or less like it looked in TOS, but that they've simultaneously picked an actor who looks extremely liike Jeffrey Hunter to play Pike? I think people would have been pretty forgiving of having Pike look somewhat different, knowing how hard it would be to pick an actor with both skill and a facial match. They chose to match the difficult choice (the actor) and ignored matching the easy choice (the ship). Seems bass ackwards.

As pointed out, the other TOS characters we've met don't look like the previous actors, so it's not really a trend. Mount's resemblance to Hunter often depends on the angle.

 

[The Wormhole]

James Frain looks nothing like Mark Lenard, Rain Wilson looks nothing like Roger Carmel. It is possible Anson Mount was cast for reasons other than his resemblance to Jeffrey Hunter. Not very likely, I grant you, but possible.

 

[Tuskin38]

Rain Wilson looks nothing like Roger Carmel.

I disagree.

 

[The Wormhole]

There really isn't any similarity at all. Not to mention Wilson is in his fifties and Carmel was only in his thirties when he was in TOS.

 

[Rahul]

One could say, Anson Mount looks at least 25% different than Jeffrey Hunter...

 

[Wowbagger]

One could say, Anson Mount looks at least 25% different than Jeffrey Hunter...

Lock the thread now; this is its apex.

 

[Groppler Zorn]

Does anybody else find it odd that the producers would visually reboot the Enterprise, probably far easier to make it look more or less like it looked in TOS, but that they've simultaneously picked an actor who looks extremely liike Jeffrey Hunter to play Pike? I think people would have been pretty forgiving of having Pike look somewhat different, knowing how hard it would be to pick an actor with both skill and a facial match. They chose to match the difficult choice (the actor) and ignored matching the easy choice (the ship). Seems bass ackwards.

To me it seems like they have rebooted some of the characters - particularly Harry Mudd. When I watch the character in TOS I don’t get the same “psychotic murderer” vibe that I do from his portrayal in DSC. I know people can change in 10 years but I just didn’t buy that the DSC Mudd was the same guy as TOS Mudd - it just seemed like too drastic a change in his character (but that’s just personal opinion). It didn’t really affect my enjoyment of “magic to make...” though - it’s one of the few episodes I really liked - but I think there has been a “characterological reboot” to rival the visual reboot with characters we’ve seen before. So might there be two sub-reboots going on here?

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Go check out the thread about the Enterprise in Disco, apparently CBS can not use the original-original, they have to modify the designs. Although is accuracy of that is debatable.

I think that's been debunked. There was no army of lawyers telling them to change the design. That was all done willingly.

 

[ChallengerHK]

So might there be two sub-reboots going on here?

Interesting question. I can certainly see this. And, BTW, I agree about the change in Mudd's character being far too drastic. Of course,

 

[apepa]

Go check out the thread about the Enterprise in Disco, apparently CBS can not use the original-original, they have to modify the designs. Although is accuracy of that is debatable.

I have my doubts about that. I think there seems to be some weird fear of actually rebooting the franchise; as if they think fans will be more turned off by the word "reboot" than all the blatant continuity problems both this and the Abrams movies present.

James Frain looks nothing like Mark Leonard, IMHO at least, so I suspect actor likeness probably isn't their highest priority.

I suspect more viewers would be familiar with Bruce Greenwood's Pike than Jeffrey Hunter's these days, anyway.

There's only a few minutes of screen time between them.

 

[Mudd]

I think there seems to be some weird fear of actually rebooting the franchise; as if they think fans will be more turned off by the word "reboot" than all the blatant continuity problems both this and the Abrams movies present.

You know, I think that's actually it.

This is all a debate that's being driven by the studio's marketing bullshit. Someone decided that it was important to explicitly slap the "Prime" label on this series to avoid stirring up the trufans. They seem to have rather cynically - and rightly, to some extent - guessed that if they branded the thing properly they could get away with any changes they wanted to make once the canonistas were invested in it.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

So might there be two sub-reboots going on here?

If so, I'm gonna need a flow chart to keep track of everything.

 

[Tuskin38]

Well at least one ship wasn't Re-designed (credit to TrekCore for the image)

Coincidentally the ship also appeared in Star Trek '09.

 

[apepa]

You know, I think that's actually it.

This is all a debate that's being driven by the studio's marketing bullshit. Someone decided that it was important to explicitly slap the "Prime" label on this series to avoid stirring up the trufans. They seem to have rather cynically - and rightly, to some extent - guessed that if they branded the thing properly they could get away with any changes they wanted to make once the canonistas were invested in it.

I find it more frustrating this way. I was in favour of rebooting TOS way before the first Abrams movie was announced. Not only did it make sense to go back to the origins, but 40 years of multiple writers and producers writing for 1 or 2 hours at a time meant that working with the original "canon" (I detest that word) was difficult and contradictory.

And so when they did the timeline split in Trek09 I was actually quite disappointed. The split was obviously a way of rebooting the franchise without actually saying the word, but even then they managed to screw up the pre-Kelvin continuity, so it was all a waste of time in the first place.

And bonus points: If they'd just done it as a straight reboot they could have more easily used Shatner too, and that would have been awesome.

 

[Mudd]

A decent TV reboot of Star Trek would be worth watching at this point. Continual efforts to scribble in the margins of the old continuity are increasingly enervated.