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Abrams says original Trek inaccessible?!

Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

I see Trek characters as I see Indiana Jones, James Bond and Superman. I look up to them, I want to somehow be them, I ,in a childhood way, idolize them...but I still don't identify with them. That's OK.
[Inigo Montoya]I do not think that means what you think it means.[/Inigo Montoya]
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

^^ No sarcasm or anything, but maybe I do need to know what precisely that means. I'm seeing it as meaning you feel that they are similar to you in many ways, that they have the same world-view and that you feel you'd do similar things in similar situations.
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

^^ No sarcasm or anything, but maybe I do need to know what precisely that means. I'm seeing it as meaning you feel that they are similar to you in many ways, that they have the same world-view and that you feel you'd do similar things in similar situations.

They were intended as role models. They're heroic. Heroes are supposed to be. I think you are just to embarrased to admit it. ;)
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

Gene Roddenberry said that they were all bits of him. The brave airline pilot, the down-to earth human, the screwed up emotional teenager.

So which character had others do the work for them and then take all the credit for it?
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

Gene Roddenberry said that they were all bits of him. The brave airline pilot, the down-to earth human, the screwed up emotional teenager.

So which character had others do the work for them and then take all the credit for it?

Gene Roddenberry set the whole thing up. He laid down the guidelines. He wrote about 8 of the scripts. He approved scripts and vetoed things he didn't like. He was the ultimate authority behind the thing. He must have been, cos he was consultant on the films. He made it what it was. Harve Bennet said: 'it's his baby'.

No doubt you are the new authority and will rewrite the whole thing to suit you!?;)
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

Everything someone says "worries" someone or another around here. Abrams has yet to say anything about this movie that worries me in the slightest - and the more I see of the actual movie, the less that anything he or anyone else says about it makes any difference whatever. It's on the screen or it ain't, and all the philosophizing and explaining and excuse-making matters not one whit.
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

He must have been, cos he was consultant on the films.

Where he was paid handsomely to be publicly genuflected to and then politely ignored while the producers made their movies.

Roddenberry was not only a credit hog, he was deficient in rewarding many of those who worked hard for him in practical terms. Read about Robert Justman's unsuccessful pursuit of the producer's title and compensation on the original Star Trek as one example.
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

Gene Roddenberry said that they were all bits of him. The brave airline pilot, the down-to earth human, the screwed up emotional teenager.

So which character had others do the work for them and then take all the credit for it?

Kirk, of course.

why do you think the rest are all mad as hell at him?

(I know, I know, it's the Shatman. same difference, really).

PS. JJ not identifying with the TOS characters is fine by me. I don't identify much with his Lost characters, either. to each her own.
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

I'm seeing it as meaning you feel that they are similar to you in many ways, that they have the same world-view and that you feel you'd do similar things in similar situations.
And you don't feel that way about any of the crew?

You don't have to have a majority in common to "identify", you just have to have a point of connection.

But I wasn't really trying to have a semantical argument. I just wanted to quote Inigo Montoya. :D
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

It says on the official site and TrekWebthat JJ didn't identify with ANY of the characters in TOS.

http://www.trektoday.com/content/2009/04/abrams-star-trek-for-a-non-fan.html

Some of the things he has said are a bit worrying.

I mean, how can you NOT identify with these people?

It seems to me that the present generation are trying to wipe out all that happened before. I was in a bar the other night and put on some 80's tracks. It nearly caused a fight. I don't think when I was that age, I hated EVERYTHING pre 1978.

They just seem to HATE everything before Reagan and Thatcher. I hope it doesn't warp ST, though ST is so good, I doubt it will.
I think people are reading too much into and worrying too much about these comments... first the "Abrams felt left out of Trek" and now this. It's nothing to worry about. All he was saying is that original Star Trek didn't quite click for him like it clicked for others.

And, just because you easily identified with characters doesn't mean everyone can... I would be lying if I said that I was really able to identify with any of the TOS folks.
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

Not this again! The very OP about Abrams reminds me of that LBJ quote: "I could walk on water tomorrow and the Washington Post will say that I can't swim."

My favorite character in all of Trek is Dr. McCoy. Not Spock, not Data, not the Doctor, not Seven, but McCoy, the Original doc. But part of that favoritism came from him pointing out things to Spock and Kirk that nobody (even myself the viewer) ever considered from a moral standpoint. If I could relate to McCoy, if I saw myself in McCoy's shoes, I would never be able to make those points that only McCoy could make. He was much more advanced than me, which I admired and which I couldn't admire if I related to him. And I'm certainly nowhere near the curmudgeon he is.

Sympathizing or feeling or laughing with a character? That's one thing that depends on writing and acting. But actually relating to him? He's not my best friend, y'know. And yet I still love him.
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

I identify with all of the TOS bridge crew, save for Uhura. I liked her, but I found her behavior even more alien than Spock's a lot of the time.

(Like that fan dance from ST:V. Dude, WTF?)

But I can see why J.J. can't identify with any of them. I don't recall any of the crew wanting to scoop out our brains with a melon baller and eat them. 'Cause you know Abrams is one of them. ;)

Abrams couldn't identify personally with the characters. "...I'm none of those guys," he said. "I'm not Kirk for sure. I'm not Spock. I'm not Bones. I wasn't really Chekhov. I'm not Uhura. Sulu's not me. I didn't have me in there, so it was a very objectified experience watching that show."

That whole article pissed me off and totally annoyed me! :scream: Oh really there was no "me in the show huh"...well poor JJ! What the hell have black people and other minorities been going thru since they didn't have characters etc...to relate to in most of television & movie broadcast history! He really has no freakin clue what he's talking about and what it really feels like to not relate and to be truly left out!!! What an ass!

For god sakes it was the most ethnically diverse - forward thinking show going and he couldn't relate to anybody huh? So if there was a short jewish guy with glasses on the bridge then he could of related? What a stupid ass thing to say...I would of much preferred him to just say " I never like the original series much"... NOW THAT I CAN UNDERSTAND!!! But this tripe...nonsense!

I'm still trying to figure out what this putz has even done to merit this project...what alias?? Felicity??? WHATTTTTTTTTTTT??????????
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

oh I don't know. I didn't identify much with any character in SW either. didn't keep me from appreciating it although I'd never spent actual cash on anything SW-related (never saw the movies -- except for the first one -- in an actual theatre or even bought or rented the dvds etc. I have seen them all on cable though). but, given half a chance (I write for a living), I wouldn't mind writing one of those.

a writer/filmmaker etc. should be able to separate his professional ambitions from his personal likes and dislikes.

it seems as if JJ did precisely that.
 
Re: duplicate topic - merged

It says on the official site and TrekWebthat JJ didn't identify with ANY of the characters in TOS.

http://www.trektoday.com/content/2009/04/abrams-star-trek-for-a-non-fan.html

Some of the things he has said are a bit worrying.

I mean, how can you NOT identify with these people?

It seems to me that the present generation are trying to wipe out all that happened before. I was in a bar the other night and put on some 80's tracks. It nearly caused a fight. I don't think when I was that age, I hated EVERYTHING pre 1978.

They just seem to HATE everything before Reagan and Thatcher. I hope it doesn't warp ST, though ST is so good, I doubt it will.

maybe that is why he has writers who are fans.
fans so much they have read a lot of trek lit.
 
Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

I'm still trying to figure out what this putz has even done to merit this project...what alias?? Felicity??? WHATTTTTTTTTTTT??????????

Produced many TV series that had various degrees of success (Felicity - 84 episodes, Alias - 105 episodes, Lost - 98 episodes and counting), with a fourth on the air right now (Fringe). Three of those have science fiction themes. He produced a moderately successful monster movie (Cloverfield - $170 million take on a $25 million budget), and directed a moderately successful spy film with some moderate sci-fi elements (Mission: Impossible III, $397 million take on a $150 million budget). And, most importantly, he made a pitch to Paramount that they liked.

What qualifications did Rick Berman have when he took over The Next Generation? Or did Roddenberry have when he was given the reigns by Desilu to CREATE it?
 
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Re: JJ didn't identify with the characters??

I'm still trying to figure out what this putz has even done to merit this project...

Maybe he just didn't run away fast enough when Paramount threw out a net trying to catch someone willing to risk their career by wasting time on the worn-out, passe Star Trek franchise. :rolleyes:
 
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