Do People Under 30 Like This Movie Better Than Older Folks?
- Thread starter Aike
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I'm 55 (been a fan since 1966) and saw it with my 2 daughters - ages 32 & 16. We all loved it. The 16YO has never watched any scifi, and we had to explain afterwards some of the Vulcan stuff, but she thinks it was the best movie she'd seen this year till now - she's seen a couple more since - and it was a fun girls' night out together.
I did not find it too fast, never noticed lens flares or shaky cam that took away from the action ( and I do get carsick easily) and thoroughly enjoyed watching all the young people. But then this is my motto: I will not face life like my husband's parents (4 years older than me) who believe their lives are pretty much over since they passed 55.
I did not find it too fast, never noticed lens flares or shaky cam that took away from the action ( and I do get carsick easily) and thoroughly enjoyed watching all the young people. But then this is my motto: I will not face life like my husband's parents (4 years older than me) who believe their lives are pretty much over since they passed 55.
Nardpuncher
Rear Admiral
I didn't read all the other posts, but hasn't this come up 3 or 4 times already??
Each time we see that it's spread out.
I'm 35 and loved it.
Each time we see that it's spread out.
I'm 35 and loved it.
22-year-old female who was familiar with the franchise via pop-culture, but a total non-fan, and loved it.
I'm a character-development kind of person with a moderately low tolerance for excessive technobabble (which is not the same as mythology-building--I'm a sucker for the intricacies of that). This movie delivered and pointed out the few bits of character development that was in the original series (Spock's struggle with his duality being the most interesting one) and made it more epic with better pay-offs in the storytelling; forcing those characters to self-realize in ways I don't think they had. Old Spock's choice to be Vulcan for most of his life works to provide contrast to a film that humanizes his alternate self. I feel the movie took the elements of those characters that are timeless and made a story that exploits the most interesting things about them. The compare-and-contrast element was part of the character development.
If you want my brand of nerd (and I readily admit that I am one) to become a Trekkie, you've got to advertise the more serialized character development aspects of the story. I think that's what had totally gotten lost in the pop-culture discourse. This film reminded the audience that the great thing about Trek is the characters.
Focus on the character journeys, not nacelles, a perfect Utopian U.N.-induced future (so boring--another reason I'm grateful for the implosion of Vulcan--story must have CONFLICT!) and Klingon dictionaries (as fun as they may be), and you will attract more new fans.
I'm a character-development kind of person with a moderately low tolerance for excessive technobabble (which is not the same as mythology-building--I'm a sucker for the intricacies of that). This movie delivered and pointed out the few bits of character development that was in the original series (Spock's struggle with his duality being the most interesting one) and made it more epic with better pay-offs in the storytelling; forcing those characters to self-realize in ways I don't think they had. Old Spock's choice to be Vulcan for most of his life works to provide contrast to a film that humanizes his alternate self. I feel the movie took the elements of those characters that are timeless and made a story that exploits the most interesting things about them. The compare-and-contrast element was part of the character development.
If you want my brand of nerd (and I readily admit that I am one) to become a Trekkie, you've got to advertise the more serialized character development aspects of the story. I think that's what had totally gotten lost in the pop-culture discourse. This film reminded the audience that the great thing about Trek is the characters.
Focus on the character journeys, not nacelles, a perfect Utopian U.N.-induced future (so boring--another reason I'm grateful for the implosion of Vulcan--story must have CONFLICT!) and Klingon dictionaries (as fun as they may be), and you will attract more new fans.
It's come up a few times, yeah, but the idea that people are divided by age group as to whether they liked or disliked the movie (or Star Trek, in general) never seems to hold any water. The evidence is pretty strongly against that being the case.
Speaking for myself (I'm 27 and first saw TOS in my teens in syndication), nuTrek is pretty bad... with a few exceptions (the Kelvin scene and Urban's Dr. McCoy), it's pretty much 'Michael Bay does Star Trek': bad plot, shoddy characterization, shiny tech and lots of explosions.
The original Trek universe is hardly perfect, and it's produced more than its fair share of stinkers over time, but this new movie throws out the cast chemistry and humor of the old series and replaces it with... well, what exactly? I was for this Trek reboot when I first heard about it, since I figured it would be a great chance to mess around with the original setting a bit and tell some new stories, but instead we got Generic Action Flick #442.
PS: Time travel? Seriously?
Me- 40 - loved it
The wife - 42 - loved it
Our friend - 50 - loved it
My former stepson - 13 - loved it.
Doing well across the board so far.
The wife - 42 - loved it
Our friend - 50 - loved it
My former stepson - 13 - loved it.
Doing well across the board so far.
22, disliked it intensely to the point of slumping in the seat and feeling utterly bored by the end- felt it to be as disappointing as Nemesis though for alternate (har) reasons, (mostly down to the emphasis on the Kirk/Spock battle-dynamic instead of a hoped-for focus on the always over-looked char's of Uhura, Sulu and Chekov. 
)
Hey-ho, it made the money, the franchise will soldier on, the prime-trek books will continue. Something to be happy about, yeah?
)Hey-ho, it made the money, the franchise will soldier on, the prime-trek books will continue. Something to be happy about, yeah?
25 years old. Love the movie, better then all Star Trek before.
My girlfriend, 23 years old: Loved it.
My girlfriend, 23 years old: Loved it.
I'm 58 and I've been a fan since day one back in 1966. I love STXI and I've seen it 11 times. Would have been quite a few more times if I'd been able to do a better job of juggling real life.
What I care about is the charactors. To satisfy me, they had to be believable versions of who the TOS chacactors could have been when younger, not clones of who they ended up as in TOS.
And they are. This ~is~ my Star Trek.
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I'm 32 and I loved it. My husband is 46 and a fan of only TOS loved it. My mom who is 72 and a Star Trek fan loved it.
I'm not saying I didn't have a problem or two with some plot points and I'm still not liking how the Romulans were done but I've been somewhat unhappy with the Romulans TNG forward. Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley will always be my Star Trek but these new guys are pretty darn good in my book and I can see them becoming my *other* Star Trek.
I'm not saying I didn't have a problem or two with some plot points and I'm still not liking how the Romulans were done but I've been somewhat unhappy with the Romulans TNG forward. Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley will always be my Star Trek but these new guys are pretty darn good in my book and I can see them becoming my *other* Star Trek.
48 here, been a fan since the original series first aired, and loved the new movie.
Interesting side note, I was in line to see another movie. Behind me were a group of 20-somethings. They were discussing movies and one of the girls said ST was really cool. That's what is necessary to get this franchise going again: a new generation of fans who don't think it's nerdy to like ST. In that regard, the new Star Trek is a huge success.
Interesting side note, I was in line to see another movie. Behind me were a group of 20-somethings. They were discussing movies and one of the girls said ST was really cool. That's what is necessary to get this franchise going again: a new generation of fans who don't think it's nerdy to like ST. In that regard, the new Star Trek is a huge success.
21 and I absolutely loved this movie! I knew almost nothing about Star Trek before seeing this movie and I have since become just a bit obsessed. I started watching TOS just days after seeing the movie and I'm nearly done with it.
My 60 year old dad is a long time fan of TOS, so I took him to see it on opening night at the theater I work at. We both loved it!
This movie definitely converted me!
My 60 year old dad is a long time fan of TOS, so I took him to see it on opening night at the theater I work at. We both loved it!
This movie definitely converted me!
I'm 27, and of the two trekkies in my family, I am the geekier - I (mostly) loved it.
Mom's 55 and the other trekkie - Liked it, but didn't love it. Enjoyment was hampered by the porous story/plot (I agree but it didn't bug me to the degree it bugged her).
Boyfriend's 28 and a non-trek action movie/gamer/superhero genre geek - liked it but enjoyed watching my reaction to the movie more than the movie itself.
Sister's 25 - hates all things science fiction and refuses to see the movie, on principle.
Mom's 55 and the other trekkie - Liked it, but didn't love it. Enjoyment was hampered by the porous story/plot (I agree but it didn't bug me to the degree it bugged her).
Boyfriend's 28 and a non-trek action movie/gamer/superhero genre geek - liked it but enjoyed watching my reaction to the movie more than the movie itself.
Sister's 25 - hates all things science fiction and refuses to see the movie, on principle.
Interesting interpretation. My view of the two of them was that Old Spock had already come to an understanding and acceptance of his dual nature, while his younger self was (of course) still struggling with it. The place young Spock is left at the end of the film is far closer to resolving that than it would have been, but the conflict is still there.
I agree with everything you're saying, but I feel that in many ways Trek has done these things; and if the general public hasn't realized it, then that's more about perception than reality.
In particular, the darker, more character-centric and serialized mode of storytelling is the reason many of us consider Deep Space Nine to be the pinnacle of what Trek has achieved. The collapse of the franchise towards technobabble and purience which characterized later Voyager and parts of Enterprise were bemoaned by many, and I'd be just as glad if those aspects were left in the dust.
To be honest, I'm not the kind of nerd that seems to characterize the fans of all the 'reimaginings' of shows I loved as a kid. I'm 29 myself, born in 1980...if you couldn't have guessed.
I don't think it's as much an age demographic as...just what appeals to some people. I enjoyed the original Doctor WHO era (well, up to the John Nathan-Turner years who was sorta the precedent for RTD's version) and the classic/TNG Trek years.
I don't need overarching plots or character development or anything else. I guess I'm more a science fiction fan than I am a television/movie fan. To me, the need for a good story is paramount (pun unintended...maybe). A good idea, likeable characters. I don't care much about their home lives or their development. I think character development can hinder rewatchability if the mores and values these characters develop are tied directly to the era they're produced.
On the other hand, if you're GOING to do character development, do it right, don't combine it with other things. Either you do a character piece, you do ideas, you do action. Try to do one of those well in your movie.
Modern sci-fi really isn't even much in the way of sci-fi these days, to my view. It's basically just bad soap opera with lasers and robots. And hey, if that's what makes the money, that's fine, I got my classic Trek/TNG and Tom Baker/Jon Pertwee/Patrick Troughton/William Hartnell Doctor WHOs to keep me happy.
I don't think it's as much an age demographic as...just what appeals to some people. I enjoyed the original Doctor WHO era (well, up to the John Nathan-Turner years who was sorta the precedent for RTD's version) and the classic/TNG Trek years.
I don't need overarching plots or character development or anything else. I guess I'm more a science fiction fan than I am a television/movie fan. To me, the need for a good story is paramount (pun unintended...maybe). A good idea, likeable characters. I don't care much about their home lives or their development. I think character development can hinder rewatchability if the mores and values these characters develop are tied directly to the era they're produced.
On the other hand, if you're GOING to do character development, do it right, don't combine it with other things. Either you do a character piece, you do ideas, you do action. Try to do one of those well in your movie.
Modern sci-fi really isn't even much in the way of sci-fi these days, to my view. It's basically just bad soap opera with lasers and robots. And hey, if that's what makes the money, that's fine, I got my classic Trek/TNG and Tom Baker/Jon Pertwee/Patrick Troughton/William Hartnell Doctor WHOs to keep me happy.
Well, yes. Old Spock has accepted his dual nature, but it was a lesson learned much later in life and took much longer than it appears this young Spock is on track for learning. But there is a contrast of the original Spock having not had that loss of his mother and planet at a young age plus hearing Sarek's real reason for marrying his mother, which means that young Spock is able to accept that he does have a human half without feeling the need to overcompensate against it (and even calls Earth the only home that he has left). This event has basically fixed his father issues and the father/son relationship which caused Spock Prime to go down a separate path. Spock Prime's imparting of advice also changes the young Spock's choices.
I'm also of the mind that this was the difference between Spock being closed to or open to a relationship with Uhura. That turbolift scene seems to be when it went from feelings and fear of favoritism to an acknowledged relationship. It's what made the difference between Uhura trying to flirt with Spock and getting nowhere and a Spock who was caught in an enough of an emotional turmoil to be emotionally compromised with the full range of emotions he had been keeping in check. The floodgate, if you will.
Old Spock may have learned about his duality, but he chose to mostly live as and consider himself a Vulcan, not equally both. And this Spock has now acknowledged Earth as the only home he has left (and as he is in his young years in the days of the Enterprise, he is surrounded largely by humans) while old Spock is going to go build a Vulcan colony. Because of old Spock's presence, young Spock doesn't have any duties towards rebuilding Vulcan. And it's probable that he might be let out of his future having been decided for him (T'Pring et al.).
It is intriguing which direction Spock will go.
But yes, this characterization contrast is among the elements that peaked my interest as a fan of character journeys.
I'm also of the mind that this was the difference between Spock being closed to or open to a relationship with Uhura. That turbolift scene seems to be when it went from feelings and fear of favoritism to an acknowledged relationship. It's what made the difference between Uhura trying to flirt with Spock and getting nowhere and a Spock who was caught in an enough of an emotional turmoil to be emotionally compromised with the full range of emotions he had been keeping in check. The floodgate, if you will.
Old Spock may have learned about his duality, but he chose to mostly live as and consider himself a Vulcan, not equally both. And this Spock has now acknowledged Earth as the only home he has left (and as he is in his young years in the days of the Enterprise, he is surrounded largely by humans) while old Spock is going to go build a Vulcan colony. Because of old Spock's presence, young Spock doesn't have any duties towards rebuilding Vulcan. And it's probable that he might be let out of his future having been decided for him (T'Pring et al.).
It is intriguing which direction Spock will go.
But yes, this characterization contrast is among the elements that peaked my interest as a fan of character journeys.
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