Abrams: Star Trek Into Darkness Problems
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They used Khan very differently, exploiting the AU premise to make him a manipulated victim. That doesn't make it a mess - just not a remake of Space Seed or Wrath of Khan.
A lot of people forget that the story was written to be accessible to people who AREN'T fully versed in Star Trek lore and don't have a deep familiarity with who and what Khan is. My son and his three older cousins, for example, never saw Wrath of Khan before they watched Into Darkness and so it didn't occur to them that Khan was a bigger threat than Marcus until OldSpock dropped the hint (amusingly, Kirk didn't completely know it either until Khan started whupping his ass all over the bridge).
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To me that's why I felt it was not necessary to use Khan. I mean its like TPTB wanted the best of both worlds. Appealing to fans, a Bermanesque 'valentine' with Khan and a reworked semi-TWOK and toss in Klingons and even Section 31 as well, but also appeal to people weren't well versed in Trek at all, or those who might recognize certain things Trek-related like Khan, Enterprise, Klingons.
Khan's reveal meant nothing to the crew of the Enterprise because they didn't have the prior knowledge. It was meant to have resonance for the audience, those who knew about "Space Seed" but really "Wrath of Khan". Now, why they didn't consult their computer databanks is beyond me, but of course that allowed them to bring Leonard Nimoy back.
To me that's why I felt it was not necessary to use Khan. I mean its like TPTB wanted the best of both worlds. Appealing to fans, a Bermanesque 'valentine' with Khan and a reworked semi-TWOK and toss in Klingons and even Section 31 as well, but also appeal to people weren't well versed in Trek at all, or those who might recognize certain things Trek-related like Khan, Enterprise, Klingons.
Khan's reveal meant nothing to the crew of the Enterprise because they didn't have the prior knowledge. It was meant to have resonance for the audience, those who knew about "Space Seed" but really "Wrath of Khan". Now, why they didn't consult their computer databanks is beyond me, but of course that allowed them to bring Leonard Nimoy back.
Even then, I still feel that Khan's character is undercooked in the story, and even then I think the story would have been better served if the Khan connection was less direct. Just having genetic engineered super soldiers and hearkening the Eugenics stuff without directly tying it in.
As I was watching STID I was really hoping they were going to 180 Khan and have him be an anti-hero instead of a straight up villain. That would have been clever, and it could have worked given the revised nature of events.
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I was cool with them using augments, but I wish they had went with someone like Joaquin ("Space Seed") instead of Khan. There you can have your augment character, can make allusions to "Space Seed/TWOK" while not having to worry about the comparisons between Montalban and Cumberbatch and that might have tamped down on the remixed TWOK stuff in the film as well. And no Spock "Khan" scream.
One thing I did like about STID Khan was when he teamed up with Kirk. I thought that was neat.
I was cool with them using augments, but I wish they had went with someone like Joaquin ("Space Seed") instead of Khan. There you can have your augment character, can make allusions to "Space Seed/TWOK" while not having to worry about the comparisons between Montalban and Cumberbatch and that might have tamped down on the remixed TWOK stuff in the film as well. And no Spock "Khan" scream.
One thing I did like about STID Khan was when he teamed up with Kirk. I thought that was neat.
To me, that's a big problem. Film makers should be writing a movie that appeals to both core fans AND people new to the franchise. A Trek movie needs to both draw in new people as well as retain current fans.
If the STID grading thread of Trekbbs is any indication, they hit both of these targets.
Can't really do that when certain "core fans" are so inflexible that they demand things that fell out of favor a generation or two ago.
And let's be honest. The "core fans" that we're talking about is a small minority of the fan base.
I don't agree. I think they should be making movies mainly for the fans. It's fans that kept Trek alive. Fans that buy movies over and over again. Fans that buy merchandise.
When I think of the amount of money I spent over the past 30 years on Trek, I'm horrified. The drooling stooge that sat next to me going "whoa!" when Carol Marcus stripped isn't going to spend any more money on Trek than he did that day.
The problem isn't with fans that would rather see real Star Trek that's budgeted appropriately to be profitable; it's with studio execs for whom mere profit isn't enough. It's gotta rake in ten quintillion dollars in order to be judged remotely successful. And maybe that's fine; the studio is there to make money after all. But that's just short-term thinking. It's not going to last long. Trek today is forgettable. It's common. It's uninspired. There's no way it lasts another 50 years alienating those of us who actually give a shit about it.
Which Trek fans should they be making it for?
There are about a gazillion different opinions among them about what is Real True Trek and what isn't.
"Core fans" was codespeak for "fans who want the original tone back". It ain't happening. If you were to make a shot-for-shot remake of any of the original movies today it would bomb.
Trek merchandise has never been the same money maker as Wars was. You could buy every single thing they cranked out for Trek and you'd only have a fraction of figures and playsets that Wars produced.
And you say it was the fans that kept Trek "alive". Nah. Trek was limping along since the mid-90s. The only reason it wasn't cancelled was because UPN had such a low bar for success that it could kill the only thing that sorta brought in a few viewers.
That worked until fans stopped caring and no longer kept it alive. Even if it was the "core fans" who stayed through to the bitter end, it obviously wasn't enough.
Eh, it's gotta make money and that means making more than you put in. It takes a lot of money to make these sorts of movies these days. TWoK would probably cost north of 150m if it were to be remade today.
Trek before was forgettable to a vast majority of the population before. True, you had a few iconic characters that were able to cut through the noise but honestly, at last 80% of the country doesn't care.
See, this is the sort of shit that pisses a lot of people off. You're implying that the people who aren't alienated don't give a shit about it. Stop it.
So, what style should Trek go back to? Enterprise? Voyager? DS9? TNG? TOS? Those are all products of their time.
They should make the movies they're going to make.
As soon as we start talking about "who actually gives a shit" and who "kept Trek alive" by "buy[ing] movies over and over again" and "buy[ing] merchandise" as a claim on the future; as soon as we start talking in terms of "the amount of money [we] spent over the last 30 years" as a claim on the future; as soon as we start holding ourselves superior to "that drooling stooge" as if we deserve something more than he does; as soon as we start making noises about being "alienated" due to not being given what we thought we wanted - I start hearing the sound of entitlement.
We're not owed anything. Not any of us. We've got what we already paid for, and that is the end of it. Any new transaction is just that: we can opt to buy, or we can opt not to buy, but we have no claim on being catered to, nor did we ever.
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Did you let them know in time?
Is STB made for you or do you have to wait for the next one?
Exactly - ME. Anyone who isn't ME doesn't understand Star Trek. Anything not made for ME is fatally compromised!
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