CNN article
- Thread starter A beaker full of death
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Sounds pretty good to me.
Abrams talks respectfully of Trek's characters and themes. And says he wants to stay true to that. But I think that while he won't come out and say it, it's the cheesier parts of Trek he's done away with. At least that's what I read in between the lines when he talks about the movie's look and approach to storytelling. I could be wrong. Please don't throw things at me if you disagree.
Abrams talks respectfully of Trek's characters and themes. And says he wants to stay true to that. But I think that while he won't come out and say it, it's the cheesier parts of Trek he's done away with. At least that's what I read in between the lines when he talks about the movie's look and approach to storytelling. I could be wrong. Please don't throw things at me if you disagree.
That seems to be more or less the same stuff we covered here, doesn't it? There's some paste-in Star Trek trivia added which I don't think the other article had, and some things have been worded differently, but I'm not seeing a huge difference in terms of content. The CNN guy used more reference material in composing his article, but the writers could have been sitting next to each other at the same press conference.
Good for Abrams!
That alone has boosted my faith in this project a 10 fold. The man is more worried about making a good movie that just happens to be a good 'Trek movie, than sticking to a bunch of fanwank and dodgy trivia from the episodes just to keep the fanboys happy.
Sounds pretty good to me!
I think he has the right mentality for this project. The Fanbois may not agree with me...but the more I hear from this guy, the more I like what he says.
I think he has the right mentality for this project. The Fanbois may not agree with me...but the more I hear from this guy, the more I like what he says.
This is absolutely wonderful news!!
This is absolutely true. It's also going to be used (out of context) as a bludgeon to beat the "pro-canon" fans about the head and shoulder by the "everything different" fans.
The thing is, Abrams didn't say anything really referring to EITHER of those positions in that article. What he said is what every one of us should want him to be saying... that he's going to try to tell a good story, as he sees it, not to try to figure out "product" that will meet the needs of some mythical group called "fans."
All the worst entertainment... Trek or anything else... that's come out has been by people who didn't respect the material that they were creating. "Those rubes in the south loooove their Nascar, so if we want to get'em to watch our movie, add a Nascar bit to it! They'll be yelling 'YEEEEE-HAW' as they cash in their foodstamps to buy movie tickets!" That sort of movie is always a disaster. Do the same for Trek and you'll get a disaster there, too.
But don't read this as Abrams saying "I'm not going to give the fans what they want." He didn't say that... not even if some of you immediately decide to put his quote (out-of-context) into your signature lines right next to comments, also taken out of context, by Shatner.
All he said is that his goal is to tell the story HE wants to tell. Which, ultimately, is what every successful storyteller has done. If the guys making the film don't believe in what they're making, it's not gonna be worth the price of the ticket!
His comment has NOTHING to do with "rebooting," or NOT "rebooting" for that matter.
I think Abrams is doing himself a favor by not listening to the Trek crowd. Trying to please some of the more vocal members (who stopped watching Star Trek around the time of Mudd's Passion) would be an exercise in futility. Star Trek isn't LE ARTE. He should be paying attention to the show itelf.
NO WAY!! It is our God-given right to throw things at people we disagree with in here...
The more JJ Abrams speaks, the more I like his attitude towards Trek. I've always said that it's about the STORY and CHARACTER INTERACTION than the trinkets.
I am looking forward to this movie more than ever.
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More Jar Jar!
This is absolutely true. It's also going to be used (out of context) as a bludgeon to beat the "pro-canon" fans about the head and shoulder by the "everything different" fans.
The thing is, Abrams didn't say anything really referring to EITHER of those positions in that article. What he said is what every one of us should want him to be saying... that he's going to try to tell a good story, as he sees it, not to try to figure out "product" that will meet the needs of some mythical group called "fans."
All the worst entertainment... Trek or anything else... that's come out has been by people who didn't respect the material that they were creating. "Those rubes in the south loooove their Nascar, so if we want to get'em to watch our movie, add a Nascar bit to it! They'll be yelling 'YEEEEE-HAW' as they cash in their foodstamps to buy movie tickets!" That sort of movie is always a disaster. Do the same for Trek and you'll get a disaster there, too.
But don't read this as Abrams saying "I'm not going to give the fans what they want." He didn't say that... not even if some of you immediately decide to put his quote (out-of-context) into your signature lines right next to comments, also taken out of context, by Shatner.
All he said is that his goal is to tell the story HE wants to tell. Which, ultimately, is what every successful storyteller has done. If the guys making the film don't believe in what they're making, it's not gonna be worth the price of the ticket!
His comment has NOTHING to do with "rebooting," or NOT "rebooting" for that matter.
The sad truth is, this shows how unqualified he is to address Trek... ANY show that has a following, has an audience. To claim that you don't understand that audience shows that you are either ignorant of it, or refuse to attempt to understand it. He MUST understand the Star Trek audience, because the nitty-gritty truth is, that this is going to be a Star Trek film. If you don't want to try to understand a niche audience, you have no place making a niche movie.
If he REALLY knew Star Trek, he'd know what we want to see, without any guesswork. And if he truly had any creativity, he could take that, and add his own story to it. But he does not, and so he decided to forgo the whole process of understanding the world and fans of Trek.
REALLY?!
Do you honestly think there is a story line out there that will please the Trip.Not.Dead fans and those who think trek ended in 1979?
If any one is showing a lack of understanding of the fan base, it is you.
I guess we should have you make the movie, cause you obviously know what all of us want.
This is absolutely true. It's also going to be used (out of context) as a bludgeon to beat the "pro-canon" fans about the head and shoulder by the "everything different" fans.
The thing is, Abrams didn't say anything really referring to EITHER of those positions in that article. What he said is what every one of us should want him to be saying... that he's going to try to tell a good story, as he sees it, not to try to figure out "product" that will meet the needs of some mythical group called "fans."
All the worst entertainment... Trek or anything else... that's come out has been by people who didn't respect the material that they were creating. "Those rubes in the south loooove their Nascar, so if we want to get'em to watch our movie, add a Nascar bit to it! They'll be yelling 'YEEEEE-HAW' as they cash in their foodstamps to buy movie tickets!" That sort of movie is always a disaster. Do the same for Trek and you'll get a disaster there, too.
But don't read this as Abrams saying "I'm not going to give the fans what they want." He didn't say that... not even if some of you immediately decide to put his quote (out-of-context) into your signature lines right next to comments, also taken out of context, by Shatner.
All he said is that his goal is to tell the story HE wants to tell. Which, ultimately, is what every successful storyteller has done. If the guys making the film don't believe in what they're making, it's not gonna be worth the price of the ticket!
His comment has NOTHING to do with "rebooting," or NOT "rebooting" for that matter.
The sad truth is, this shows how unqualified he is to address Trek... ANY show that has a following, has an audience. To claim that you don't understand that audience shows that you are either ignorant of it, or refuse to attempt to understand it. He MUST understand the Star Trek audience, because the nitty-gritty truth is, that this is going to be a Star Trek film. If you don't want to try to understand a niche audience, you have no place making a niche movie.
If he REALLY knew Star Trek, he'd know what we want to see, without any guesswork. And if he truly had any creativity, he could take that, and add his own story to it. But he does not, and so he decided to forgo the whole process of understanding the world and fans of Trek.
The only problem with that is that despite the fact that we are both Trek fans, we probably want to see very different things...
For BolianAdmiral's comments to be correct Star Trek fans have to be a monolithic group of people who mostly want the same things, which couldn't be further from the truth! As evidenced here, Star Trek fans are come from a huge diverse population and there are such a myriad of preferences, wants and desires, that Abrams would be committed to a mental asylum if he attempted to make a film that would please all the fanbase.
I think when it comes down to it, a good entertaining story will sway most of us anyway. Of course there will be some who would hate it regardless of how well-received it is, but I think most of us, despite whatever our preferences may be, will be pleased to see a fun and exciting story taking place in the Star Trek universe again.
I think when it comes down to it, a good entertaining story will sway most of us anyway. Of course there will be some who would hate it regardless of how well-received it is, but I think most of us, despite whatever our preferences may be, will be pleased to see a fun and exciting story taking place in the Star Trek universe again.
Oh, please. The "world and fans of Trek" is anything but a united, monolithic front. If you polled fifty fans about what would make a great movie, you'd get fifty different answers. And as a moderator of the Future of Trek forum, I can say with personal first-hand knowledge, that all fifty of those answers would result in a film that would make Nemesis look competently written, directed, and produced.
(I kid, I kid...)The Abrams quote you seem to be fretting over isn't too far removed from something Nicholas Meyer said in a New York Times interview 26 years ago, when Wrath of Khan came out. Compare this...
...with this...J.J. Abrams said:
I think Abrams has the right mentality here. Does it mean that this won't be "your father's Star Trek"? Probably. Does it mean it'll automatically be bad? Hardly.Nick Meyer said:
Paramount wants to shoot for more than just the niche audience here. They want Trek to become a multi-million-dollar tentpole for them once again, and the only way to do that is to make it mainstream. Mainstream doesn't necessarily mean lowest common denominator, but it does mean putting forward a story and characters that will appeal to more people than the handful of us who have nothing better to do with our lives than discuss Star Trek on the Internets.