Do you think this movie will make Star Trek 'cool'??

[The Rock]

I know the whole idea of this movie is to try to get Star Trek to appeal to mainstream moviegoers. With that being said, if this movie is a massive success, will it actually turn Trek from being nerdy into being "cool" (like how The Matrix USED to be before it turned nerdy thanks to its two sequels) and more socially acceptable? What do you think?

 

[wamdue]

it might help the franchise in the UK, the casting of Simon Pegg has been on news (radio) a few times, I dont know about the US, but it will make it cool in the UK.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

If the movie is both intelligent and kick-ass/action, and makes a boatload of money, then YES, Star Trek will be cool again. Nothing is cooler than well-earned success.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

I'm buying extra strong underwear just in case... the wedgies... begin again.

 

[Dale]

Star Trek, and those of us who are its fans, have already been defined by this culture. It will never be cool. It will never be anything but fringe. It worries me that the budget for this film is so big because I firmly believe Trek is incapable of making the mainstream crossover and if it doesn't reach profitability that will spell the end for Trek for a very long time.

 

[johnconner]

Brutal Strudel said:
I'm buying extra strong underwear just in case... the wedgies... begin again.

dalehoppert said:
Star Trek, and those of us who are its fans, have already been defined by this culture. It will never be cool. It will never be anything but fringe. It worries me that the budget for this film is so big because I firmly believe Trek is incapable of making the mainstream crossover and if it doesn't reach profitability that will spend the end for Trek for a very long time.

It CAN reach mainstream crossover - for reference, see ST IV: SAVE THE WHALES - but the idea that everyone will start liking it is unrealistic. I may be splitting hairs here, though; when I think mainstream crossover, I think how much money was banked, not how cool it was. (TWOK was much cooler than IV anyway, IMO.)

Star Trek often takes brains, and when it doesn't it actually shows brains being taken - by hot go-go girls, no less. Shows like Star Trek, Heroes and Lost sometimes break the mold, but the Alpha Betas of the world will never stoop so low as to go to a Tri-Lam party, if you get my gist.

 

[Dale]

johnconner said: the Alpha Betas of the world will never stoop so low as to go to a Tri-Lam party, if you get my gist.

That's just my point, but more artfully stated.

 

[Jono]

It won't make Trek as a whole cool, but it could make this one movie (possibly its sequels as well) cool. As for the older stuff, it will still be considered kinda nerdy and uncool.

 

[DarKush]

The movie has the potential to perhaps set up a series of sequels and maybe even bring Trek back to the small screen. However, I doubt it will make Trek 'cool', anymore so than the string of comic book movies have increased readership in comic books, which I don't think they have, or at least haven't created a consistent increase in readership. If anything, new or casual fans will be drawn to the movies only.

One of my concerns about the new film is that it will jettison a lot of what has made Star Trek "Trek" before in the name of bigger explosions, etc. in the attempt to appear 'cool' to the general audience.

 

[Michael Chris]

No, it won't be seen as cool, I'm almost certainly certain.

 

[Mordock]

dalehoppert said:
Star Trek, and those of us who are its fans, have already been defined by this culture. It will never be cool. It will never be anything but fringe. It worries me that the budget for this film is so big because I firmly believe Trek is incapable of making the mainstream crossover and if it doesn't reach profitability that will spell the end for Trek for a very long time.

I think it's important not to conflate Star Trek-which was designed to be, has been, and if the fates are kind, will once again soon be popular mass entertainment-and Trek fandom, which will ever be a subculture. To put it another way, Return of the King winning Best Picture won't keep people from thinking you're weird if you write all your interoffice e-mails in Tengwar.

 

[Dale]

I feel that Star Trek has been so closely identified with "us" over the years that it will never be able to become mainstream entertainment again. Star Trek is now and forever shall be "what Trekkies watch" And although it once tried to be popular mass entertainment, I don't think it ever really achieved that status back in the day, either. It was, after all, cancelled after three season, and it only got the third season on the power of our pleas for its survival... in fact that may be the moment when it crawled out of the mainstream and into our waiting arms to be alternately coddled and spanked over the years.

I predict no return of the salad days... because I don't think they were ever really there to begin with.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

TNG had amazing cross-over appeal in the early nineties: it was a bit of a fad, like fence pole sitting and pet rocks. Problem is, we fans took the faddish moo-cow mentality of the hoi polloi as validation and felt bereft and betrayed when the herd moved on to something else. We've been yelling "come back, Shane" to the pretty, vacuous masses ever since.

Mordock said:
I think it's important not to conflate Star Trek-which was designed to be, has been, and if the fates are kind, will once again soon be popular mass entertainment-and Trek fandom, which will ever be a subculture. To put it another way, Return of the King winning Best Picture won't keep people from thinking you're weird if you write all your interoffice e-mails in Tengwar.

Good point. But I'll wager that 10 years from now, most people will wonder what they and the academy were thinking as they move onto the next patch of dandelions.

 

[Flake]

Well they have to make it cool or else it might not be a success. They are spending $150 million, they don't spend that kind of money if they plan on just the fans seeing it.

Those holding out for retro 60s sets should forget it, its gonna look cool, new, updated - there's no doubt about it IMHO.

 

[Outpost4]

Make it cool to be a geek?

I doubt it.

 

[Franklin]

Brutal Strudel said:
TNG had amazing cross-over appeal in the early nineties: it was a bit of a fad, like fence pole sitting and pet rocks. Problem is, we fans took the faddish moo-cow mentality of the hoi polloi as validation and felt bereft and betrayed when the herd moved on to something else. We've been yelling "come back, Shane" to the pretty, vacuous masses ever since.

Mordock said:
I think it's important not to conflate Star Trek-which was designed to be, has been, and if the fates are kind, will once again soon be popular mass entertainment-and Trek fandom, which will ever be a subculture. To put it another way, Return of the King winning Best Picture won't keep people from thinking you're weird if you write all your interoffice e-mails in Tengwar.

Good point. But I'll wager that 10 years from now, most people will wonder what they and the academy were thinking as they move onto the next patch of dandelions.

To pile on this thought:
I could see the movie be the next Johnny Come Lately. The casting has actually been rather shrewdly in this direction, too, catching Quinto from "Heroes" and some good up-and-comers (especially if Pine is cast as Kirk).

But, I can't see high school kids and college sophomores going around saying, "Live long and prosper" while perfecting their Vulcan salutes. I don't expect a lot of Vulcan trick-or-treaters on Holloween 2009, either.

Then again, youngsters piled onto the Tony Bennett bandwagon a few years ago. So who knows? Respect? Maybe. Cool? Nah. It's very much a flavor of the day world these days.

I'd settle for a movie that has the same broad appeal TVH had. But "Star Trek", cool? Herberts?

 

[SeamusShameless]

Star Trek is and always has been cool. Plain and simple, and I don't give a shit if people call me a dork. I'll agree with them.

 

[OmarB]

Cool, no. It's something that can cross over but with a winter release non-trek fans are not gonna make a point of leaving their homes in freezing temps to see what they might think is nerd-faire.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

OmarB said:
Cool, no. It's something that can cross over but with a winter release non-trek fans are not gonna make a point of leaving their homes in freezing temps to see what they might think is nerd-faire.

You are really hung up on the winter issue, OmarB.

That's the third time in ten minutes I've seen you make that comment.

Winter must be really fucking severe where you live.

 

[Dale]

Agreed. People who live in snowy, freezing climes usually don't let that stop 'em from doing what they want to do.

That said, I don't believe this is going to be any kind of "recruitment rennisance" for new Trek fans... it may have some crossover appeal and curiosity draw that other Trek films did not, but it's not going to make Trek mainstream.