A little comment for the cool kids

[El Chupacabra]

Yeah, you know who you are. The ones who think us old time fans who didn't like the movie are in some way said as a result.

Now, what about years ago, when half of you were bullied and school and you were never quite normal. Stood out from the crowd? A bit of a geek because you liked Star Trek and not football or shopping like the other boys and girls? Yeah? Sound familiar? That's because you were people who decided it didn't matter what was popular, you just wanted to like what you wanted to like.

Well, here we are. The majority like JJ Trek, but there is some of the majority that are attacking those of us who choose to disagree. Now I feel like I, and the other long term fans, have built up enough respect for sticking with the franchise decade after decade that if we choose not to like something our opinions should be respected.

So those of you who think you are one of the cool kids now because JJ Trek is cool, and think its ok to insult a ridicule, should maybe stop and remember that to each his own. That's how you became fans in the first place.

Wow. Theres some real demons there that need facing. I was ridiculed for the size of my nose and would have given up my left bollock for someone to have made a big snout sexy. Still would.

What if some long term fan like the new film because it ticks their boxes? So what if it has mass appeal, that doesn't dumb it down. Theres nothing wrong with being popular, and swimming again the tide serves you no favours.

I'm sorry you were bullied for being a geek but that shouldn't determine your identity and lifelong loyalty to a TV show. Indeed, if being a trekkie was the only thing you were bullied for you should be dammed grateful it was something you could change or hide. Many aren't so lucky.

At the risk of bullying you further, such a reaction to a film really isn't that healthy and you should look at your loyalties and outlook on life in general. Its just a TV show, sometimes excellent, sometime poor but often mediocre. I don't know what to advise you, maybe try some of those normal activies the scary people do. Get some perspective maybe?

Actually I wasn't bullied for being a geek. I was bullied at school, but only in my younger years and never when I was properly into ST....and now I have been a successful lawyer for 11 years, am engaged to be married and have built a nice home for me and my partner. Star Trek has never played an active part of my life as a whole, nor affected the progress of it.

I have no problem someone liking the new film and respect their opinion. My question is why can't some of them respect mine? That's really all I'm asking. All this crap I'm now reading about how I have bullying issues is laughable. I'm just saying its a little pathetic that others feel that they need to attack those people who don't like the film.

Some perspective please my dear.

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

Understood. But I wish people would stop assuming that all "old time fans" are universally offended by the movie.

To be honest, those fans who stubbornly dislike any aspect of the new movie and state that in every other topic do seem to be TOS fans.

That being said, even my mother (fan of TOS since it first aired) loves the new movie.

I agree with you...

but going back to what I said about TOS fans from the 1960s, 70s and early 80s...I think that there are true TOS fans who were first exposed to Star Trek through TNG and became TOS fans only after being a fan of TNG. Then there are TOS fans who started watching in the 60s and 70s and were 10, 15 or 20-year veterans of Star Trek fandom before TNG came along.

I think those are two groups of "true TOS fans" that are very different from each other.

I'm in that "TOS veteran before TNG was made" group.

 

[El Chupacabra]

I'm in that "TOS veteran before TNG was made" group.

As am I. In fact I was so loyal to TOS that I was lukewalm on TNG unless it's Third Season came along.

 

[Thrawn]

Yeah, you know who you are. The ones who think us old time fans who didn't like the movie are in some way said as a result.

Now, what about years ago, when half of you were bullied and school and you were never quite normal. Stood out from the crowd? A bit of a geek because you liked Star Trek and not football or shopping like the other boys and girls? Yeah? Sound familiar? That's because you were people who decided it didn't matter what was popular, you just wanted to like what you wanted to like.

Well, here we are. The majority like JJ Trek, but there is some of the majority that are attacking those of us who choose to disagree. Now I feel like I, and the other long term fans, have built up enough respect for sticking with the franchise decade after decade that if we choose not to like something our opinions should be respected.

So those of you who think you are one of the cool kids now because JJ Trek is cool, and think its ok to insult a ridicule, should maybe stop and remember that to each his own. That's how you became fans in the first place.

Yeah. You're such a victim.

 

[Stone_Cold_Sisko]

I think any threads that don't have to do with the actual movie, and are "fans who like/dislike the movie are..." should be shut down and locked. including this one.

 

[El Chupacabra]

Yeah. You're such a victim.

See, this is what I'm talking about. What part of you feels compelled to be malicious?

 

[Butters]

Yeah, you know who you are. The ones who think us old time fans who didn't like the movie are in some way said as a result.

Now, what about years ago, when half of you were bullied and school and you were never quite normal. Stood out from the crowd? A bit of a geek because you liked Star Trek and not football or shopping like the other boys and girls? Yeah? Sound familiar? That's because you were people who decided it didn't matter what was popular, you just wanted to like what you wanted to like.

Well, here we are. The majority like JJ Trek, but there is some of the majority that are attacking those of us who choose to disagree. Now I feel like I, and the other long term fans, have built up enough respect for sticking with the franchise decade after decade that if we choose not to like something our opinions should be respected.

So those of you who think you are one of the cool kids now because JJ Trek is cool, and think its ok to insult a ridicule, should maybe stop and remember that to each his own. That's how you became fans in the first place.

Wow. Theres some real demons there that need facing. I was ridiculed for the size of my nose and would have given up my left bollock for someone to have made a big snout sexy. Still would.

What if some long term fan like the new film because it ticks their boxes? So what if it has mass appeal, that doesn't dumb it down. Theres nothing wrong with being popular, and swimming again the tide serves you no favours.

I'm sorry you were bullied for being a geek but that shouldn't determine your identity and lifelong loyalty to a TV show. Indeed, if being a trekkie was the only thing you were bullied for you should be dammed grateful it was something you could change or hide. Many aren't so lucky.

At the risk of bullying you further, such a reaction to a film really isn't that healthy and you should look at your loyalties and outlook on life in general. Its just a TV show, sometimes excellent, sometime poor but often mediocre. I don't know what to advise you, maybe try some of those normal activies the scary people do. Get some perspective maybe?

Actually I wasn't bullied for being a geek. I was bullied at school, but only in my younger years and never when I was properly into ST....and now I have been a successful lawyer for 11 years, am engaged to be married and have built a nice home for me and my partner. Star Trek has never played an active part of my life as a whole, nor affected the progress of it.

I have no problem someone liking the new film and respect their opinion. My question is why can't some of them respect mine? That's really all I'm asking. All this crap I'm now reading about how I have bullying issues is laughable. I'm just saying its a little pathetic that others feel that they need to attack those people who don't like the film.

Some perspective please my dear.

OK, forgot the bullying issues.

I can't speak for everyone, but the general reasoning given by the haters just doesn't ring true.

I was in a similar boat with the BSG finale. On the night it aired I was livid, even now I can't see how anyone liked it. The haters were labelled atheist scum, but the remaining forum activity reveals far more than any poll could.

But I digress. Not liking this film because its not TOS is a bit silly. Obviously its not TOS and TOS is nearly 50 years old, the massive fan base of the original series is gradually dropping off the mortal coil. Without new fans, trek will wither and die. The TNG era has fizzled out with a splut of bat armoured starship technorubbish. ENT was uninspired and way behind the curve of comtemporary television. Trek was dead and needed a rebirth. It needed new exposure to a new audience of a new generation. It had to appeal. It did this and it did this well.

The other argument I'm hearing is that its dumbed down. Star Trek maybe held on pedastal by some but its hardly the height of intellectualism.

What does this film dumb down? What is so intellectual about the rest of Star Trek that is lacking in this new film?

The argument seems to be that trek isn't mainstream because the masses aren't intellectual enough to see its appeal, and therefore the popular appeal of the new movie somehow proves its intellectual defecit and should best be avoided, lest one catches the ignorance bug from the lowest common denominator.

You're welcome to your opinion, but if your argument is that this film sucks because the original was better, then you've got to expect some resistance.

I dislike the lens flares and the brewery engineering by the way. It has faults, but it retains enough trek to keep the name IMO.

 

[Thrawn]

Yeah. You're such a victim.

See, this is what I'm talking about. What part of you feels compelled to be malicious?

What part of you feels compelled to invent malicious intent where none exists? Have you MET the internet? Uselessly strong opinions are what makes the internet function, and being on the receiving end of a lot of people with unusually strong opinions that aren't yours is pretty much a fact of the medium.

Just express your opinion, don't give other people shit for the way they express theirs, and don't stage any patronizing interventions to tell everyone else how rude they're being. We're not exactly arguing about world peace here, and there are mods with that job anyway.

 

[TrekGuide.com]

I am an "old-time" fan, having seen all 736 episodes episodes of "Star Trek," and there have been a lot of good episodes and a lot of bad episodes.

This new movie I'd group into the "good" category.

When you rank it against such stinkers as "The Alternative Factor" or "Spock's Brain" or that Voyager episode where Lt. Paris "evolved" into a salamander, this new movie is certainly on the other end of the spectrum.

Now, there are some people who, for personal reasons, just hate time travel stories for one reason or another. But most of my favorite Trek episodes involve time travel, including this new movie.

That doesn't make me a "cool kid." It's just that this new movie has a lot of the elements I like in other Trek episodes.

And I appreciate all the nods to continuity to the previous 735 episodes that were included in this film. You can see the effort made by the producers to draw in us "old-time" Trekkies.

 

[Dieks]

I have no problem if you saw the movie and didn't care for it. De gustibus non diputandem est.

What I have a problem with are the fans who refuse to see it and then condemn it because it's not the "real" Star Trek. Whatever that is since I thought Trek was science fiction. I've been watching Trek since '66 and thought the movie was fun and entertaining. But then...that's just my opinion.

 

[iguana_tonante]

The majority like JJ Trek, but there is some of the majority that are attacking those of us who choose to disagree.

Nobody is ridiculing you (or any other) because you disagree. You are ridiculed because you are being a whiny bitch about it. You know, silly stuff like "cool kid", "abomination", "outrage"...

 

[Greg Cox]

I think those are two groups of "true TOS fans" that are very different from each other.

I'm in that "TOS veteran before TNG was made" group.

Me, too. I used to plead with my dad to let me stay up past my bedtime to watch STAR TREK during its original run on NBC. And took a hundred mile road trip to see THE MOTION PICTURE on its opening day . . . .

I was a hardcore, convention-going, novel-reading Trekkie long before TNG was a gleam in a syndicator's eye . . . . .

But I doubt that opinions on the movie break down along those lines.

 

[T'Bonz]

One thing I learned about bullies and people who make fun of you. It didn't have to be Star Trek. They would find anything to justify their insecurity.

I had one surname as a child, and was made fun for it. (Never cared. Small potatoes.) Mom remarried and I took on another surname. Kids made fun of THAT name. The lesson learned was that kids will make fun of anything. Don't let it get to you.

As a Star Trek fan from junior high on, I was really lucky. I found like-minded people, we were geeks instead of nerds (meaning we figured out how to function socially) and we had a big enough group that we didn't have to worry about interacting with bullies and such. We kept to our own (and no, we didn't harass less popular "groups" or "individuals," even though they were there.)

Pretty much, if you blend in, more or less (don't stand out spectacularly) and you project a "I don't give a damn what you think of me," most bullies don't bother with you. They are looking for the vulnerable. Once I learned that lesson, my school life improved 100%. Fortunately I learned that around age 12-13.

 

[General_Phoenix]

Just a reminder: some of us "old time fans" think this is the best thing that's happened to Trek in years.

And I haven't been bullied at school for over thirty years . . . . .

I think it's the best thing to happen to Trek in years as well. I am 32 years old, I came on board during The Next Generation era - although technically I was watching re-runs of TOS cause of my mom, but whatever.

I can't really make a comment on the cool kids, but when I was in school I was more of a metal head/geek than anything else (not much has changed in that regard)

 

[Chess Piece Face]

Yeah, you know who you are. The ones who think us old time fans who didn't like the movie are in some way said as a result.

Now, what about years ago, when half of you were bullied and school and you were never quite normal. Stood out from the crowd? A bit of a geek because you liked Star Trek and not football or shopping like the other boys and girls? Yeah? Sound familiar? That's because you were people who decided it didn't matter what was popular, you just wanted to like what you wanted to like.

Well, here we are. The majority like JJ Trek, but there is some of the majority that are attacking those of us who choose to disagree. Now I feel like I, and the other long term fans, have built up enough respect for sticking with the franchise decade after decade that if we choose not to like something our opinions should be respected.

So those of you who think you are one of the cool kids now because JJ Trek is cool, and think its ok to insult a ridicule, should maybe stop and remember that to each his own. That's how you became fans in the first place.

Look at you creating a little exclusive subgroup for yourself that is in no way cool. This entire post has nothing to do with Star Trek. Get over yourself.

It's a movie that:

some old fans like
some old fans hate
some old fans think is ok
some new fans like
some new fans think is ok.

That's all there is to it. Stop with the whole "I'm in a special group" bullshit.
Grow up.

 

[Shatmandu]

The thing to remember about Freedom of Speech is that the next guy also has the freedom to loudly disagree with what you think.

You can't have the freedom to yell "That sucks!" without someone else having the same freedom yelling "YOU suck!" right back.

Joe, who sucks

 

[Dale]

Just a reminder: some of us "old time fans" think this is the best thing that's happened to Trek in years.

And I haven't been bullied at school for over thirty years . . . . .

I add my signature to this statement.