Instead of messing up the canon in the jjverse, why can't they simply create new characters, like they did for the next generation? I'm glad that they did this for Discovery; hopefully the new crew will have feature film as well.
wanted to go with themes and characters that were previously established, that a general audience would be familiar with. get butts in seats down at the local theater.
Out of all of the complaints I've seen about the Kelvinverse, this is oddest I've seen. It was explicitly set up in dialogue as an alternate continuity, with no connection to Prime, save Spock and Nero. The only effects on the Prime timeline are the loss of Ambassador Spock and a Romulan mining ship. Disclaimer: I pretty much loathe the Kelvinverse, so I have lots of complaints. This isn't one of them.
Chris Pine IS Captain Hank Sizemore Zachary Quinto IS Mr. Selznick Simon Pegg IS Chief Engineer Quincy "Quint" Farthington IV Zoe Saldana IS Lt. Ariana Curtis Karl Urban IS Dr. Floyd Chumsky John Cho IS Lt. Willard Becker Anton Yelchin IS Ensign Jebediah Jacobson with Bruce Greenwood as Captain Joe Farrell and Eric Bana as Nero IN! Star Trek: Ferdinand - Coming to theaters!!!!! ... doesn't have quite the same ring to it, does it ?
Probably not... to compensate for lack of recognizable crew members, they had to design the Ferdinand to be a Constitution/Dreadnought/Prometheus/Defiant hybrid ship with eight nacelles, forty seven photon/quantum torpedo launchers, ablative armor, primary/secondary/tertiary shields, and multi-multi-multi-vector attack mode (the ship literally splits into fourteen separate sections and takes out the Narada in two seconds. The fans were NOT pleased
Ask the person on the street what they know about Star Trek and it's characters (even if they've never seen an episode ) you'll likely get responses that include the following Ship Called Enterprise Characters, Spock, Kirk, Scotty, McCoy etc.... It comes down to brand recognition, now sure they could have used new characters and told the same story but would it have generated as much interest?
That was a theory which could not be proven since Spock Prime (not TOS and Movie Spock) never returned to his universe. For all we know Spock Prime and Nero Prime didn't create a new Universe but open the door to a series of multi-verses where some appear like what was known and may have drastic alterations of the timeline like ENT and DISCO. The JJverse and the DISCO prime universe looks very similar in designs and visual effects and looked nothing like the real Star Trek universe like TOS and TNG. The Prime Enterprise appearing in DISCO only proves this world is not in TOS universe at all! I'm not sure if the audience really cares about the dialogue mentioned but judge what's relatable to what they've seen. When visuals and lack of creativity match, it doesn't take much to connect what's what?
They didn't mess up canon. They added to it by giving us new versions of iconic (and marketable) characters in a new timeline.
Back in 2009 the Trek franchise was basically a limp dick in need of reinvigorating. The TOS gang were too old (and at that point, Kelly and Doohan were already dead) the last outing with the TNG cast tanked, and none of the other TV shows really had much of a following. A rebooted TOS seemed like where the money was. And it worked, everyone took notice of Trek XI exactly because it had the TOS characters, new actors didn't make a difference. This was Star Trek with Kirk, Spock, Bones and Scotty and the public responded to that more positively than they would have a whole new crew on the Enterprise H.
TOS was nearly the only ongoing franchise that still had the original cast in its last outing. Everything else, from James Bond to Wild, Wild West to what have you had recast, many more than once. I hate to say it, but it was time. My one complaint is actually the reverse of many here: the update of the look and feel of the ship, and its equipment and technology was almost too long in coming. Every other franchise had adapted to new real world technologies, and updated their look accordingly. The actual, original TOS tech in no way reflected what we knew about how technology works, and was dated. Fan series' reflect this dated look in every installment, and even as I enjoy the effort the fan series' go to to entertain, I wish the look had been updated to reflect a better understanding of how the technology would be used. I know there are those who are quite vocal about saying and believing the original TOS tech is supposedly superior, as the idea that simpler control surfaces that do more seems to them to be more advanced, but that isn't the way technology works. For instance, the cockpit of the F4 Phantom is complex for when the aircraft was designed and originally built, but modern military aviators find it simple. The cockpit of the F28, on the other hand, even with several touchscreen controls and display screens, is much more advanced, and complex. This is because more controls need to be in the F28 cockpit to operate the many more things the F28 does. What I'd really like to see is a balance between touchscreens and physical controls all across the ship, but especially on the bridge. There are always those controls that that is the only thing they should do.
I just watched some TOS episodes and they haven't changed a bit. Continuity, that's fine unless you're expecting a show to be made like one in the 60s. That aesthetic is long past its sell by date. Can't imagine what's wrong with new stories with the same characters. Different actors in productions decades later will have very different performances for the same reason the special effects and all will be different. IDIC and all that, it can help.
I Patrick Stewart IS Captain Jean Luc Picard Jonathan FrakesIS Cmdr William Riker Brent Spiner IS Cmdr Data Marina Sertis IS Counselor Deanna Trio Gates McFadden IS Dr. Beverly Crusher LeVar Burton IS Lt. Geordi LaForge Michael Dorn IS Lt. Cmdr. Worf with Whoopi Goldberg as Guinian and Malcolm McDowell as Soran IN! Star Trek: Generations - Coming to theaters!!!!! Worked quite well. Creating their own characters had a great run. 5 spin off series. Star Trek 09 would have worked with new characters. The door had been opened. Hard core Fandom was used to different crews in different locations. Star Trek was the exception for about 50 years. Was the "name recognition" of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy really necessary? Would 09 and the subsequent movies really have earned less if they were based on original characters? For that matter, would DISCO be less successful if it was completely divorced from established TOS/Cage era characters, settings, events, and chronology ?
I think it's water under the bridge at this point. Love them or hate them, those films are done. It'll be interesting to see what they do with the next incarnation. It'll probably be another reboot of TOS but maybe a mix-and-match with all-new characters and characters from other series. Maybe. I think the adaptations will keep getting looser and looser from here on out.
The problem is that any big budget Star Trek film needs to appeal to a much bigger audience than the hardcore fandom. What was that thing in the TOS series bible, "we need to entertain 20,000,00 people or we just don't stay on the air".