Critical Success or Commercial Success

[F. King Daniel]

does the new Trek has depth?

Yes it haz.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

It's impossible to make an NCC1701 film that doesn't have a huge amount of social awareness attached to it. More than any other science fiction show Star Trek reached mainstream consciousness and stuck there.

Even young people who have never seen an original Star Trek know who Captain Kirk is, who Mr Spock is, etc. Perhaps depth is the wrong word - rather resonance - since that's what the film is trading on. It would have been a crime indeed to waste that collective memory and even if 2009 isn't all that it could have been, it acquitted itself well and IMO dragged itself back from the pompousness of the original crew movies and back to the sense of fun the original series had.

You're right in saying it has cultural resonance, but that's part of what gives it depth, too. Much like Superman Star Trek is a modern legend, and in retelling you're lent the depth of the predecessor while you're adding your own take and new aspects and depth for future retellings to take and make their own as well. A new version of Robin Hood or King Arthur doesn't detract from the old versions, may add something and is also able to borrow the depth and the well known aspects of the old, either to add to or subvert your existing ideas.

So yeah, Star Trek has more depth than Avatar, which despite it's insane commercial success was a whole lot of flash and very little substance.

 

[Set Harth]

If you're American Set Harth, you are genetically incapable of knowing what that word means.

I am not genetically American.

I'm guessing what you meant to say was "pots and kettles".

Not really. I took no position on the qualities of the pot.

 

[UFO]

Interesting how the question has been turned around from whether nuTrek has depth to whether Star Trek as a whole has depth. There appears to have been a definition change for "depth" as well.

It's impossible to make an NCC1701 film that doesn't have a huge amount of social awareness attached to it. More than any other science fiction show Star Trek reached mainstream consciousness and stuck there.

But would that have happened if original Trek had been at the level of STXI?

does the new Trek has depth?

Yes it haz.

Yeah, Nero sure drilled some crazy deep holes man!

So yeah, Star Trek has more depth than Avatar, which despite it's insane commercial success was a whole lot of flash and very little substance.

As I saw it, Avatar was about the extreme commercial exploration of nature by arrogant greedy individuals and corporations while running roughshod over the rights and values of native populations. You can't get more substance than that! That's substance overload. I guess you missed that because its so trite, yet still (unsurprisingly) very topical.

You seem to be talking about historic richness more than "depth".