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First Contact Vs. Star Trek XI

Which do you prefer?

  • First Contact

    Votes: 88 53.7%
  • Star Trek XI

    Votes: 46 28.0%
  • Like them both equally

    Votes: 26 15.9%
  • Dislike them both equally

    Votes: 4 2.4%

  • Total voters
    164
What I find surprising is how badly Star Trek XI is fairing in all these polls recently. A few months ago it felt like heresy to make any form of criticism of this movie, let alone argue it was mediocre compared to some of the other Trek movies (which the polls seem to indicate as the general opinion at the moment). At the time it was being supported so vehemently by what seemed to be the overwhelming majority that I am truly amazed at how quickly this has changed. :vulcan:

I am shocked beyond belief as well. When the movie came out, this forum went fucking apeshit over it. Now when the hype has died down most seem to have a better look at it compared to the other films.

Me though, I prefer STXI, it had Nimoy in it :techman:

I think it is because there are fewer people visiting the BBS than back in May.

But it´s not just the new movie that is being criticized right now.
I see a lot of negativity towards all things Trek now on Trekmovie as well. The comments about Star Trek:Online and the Nero comic are very negative.

This is an interesting comment and I'm inclined to agree with it. However, I would like to put it in more relative terms. For example, go to the respective series' forums, especially for DS9 but also TNG, and you will find a lot of positive posts critically praising the shows and what they stand for. The negativity tends to be quite strong towards newer incarnations of Trek (say from 2000 onwards). As it stands, I find a lot of that negativity is not unjustified. Trek XI was not bright when it comes to intelligent writing. I can see why many felt this film was of great enjoyment to them (mainly for its action, fx and fun, maybe even the nostalgia) but its not exactly a gem of meaningful drama.

In addition, I find the fact that some people are turning sour towards the online game also quite understandable as it seems to be highly convoluted in its added background story and the look of the game appears to be strongly at odds with the three series this is meant to be based on (TNG, DS9 and VOY). Instead of basing it on the Star Trek that is there and many hold dear they go out of there way to embelish and as a result they leave much less that is recognisable. Which seems very odd, considering this is meant to be a game based on the value of the licence.

Everyone involved in making Star Trek these days seems to be obsessed with the idea that it needs to be substantially transformed so it can be cool, which to me translates into making it simple and flashy. This is an accelerating trend that has been going on I guess since Jeri Ryan joined the cast of Voyager and has been accelerating ever since. This is not to say its all been crap but the frequency of telling worth while and interesting stories seems to have declined proportionally.
 
I like them both equally. Both films captured the flavour of a Star Trek movie, had some great action moments, some fun with the characters and were both very satisfying to watch. FC is definitely the bast of the TNG era, and Star Trek is a worthy film to enjoy alongside TMP and TWOK.
 
I think the only movies I'd place Trek 09 over would be...er, only MOVIE... would be Nemesis.

Nemesis was just plain brutal.

Trek 09 just failed.

The difference being that with fifteen years of background with actors who'd played the same characters for fifteen years you'd expect some mild level of competence. There was none.

Trek 09 is just as dismal a failure but at least it had the grace of being almost entirely brand new.

According to the BO, and the fact that it reignited the Trek franchise, I would say it's a great success.

It's only a dismal failure to those who didn't like it, but if you look at the actual numbers, it was a great success.
 
If I cared about numbers, yep.

But since I don't, it doesn't factor into my decision as to their worth.

Specifically: why would I care about how much money they made? I have no investment in the franchise financially. I make no profit or less on its success or failure.
 
If I cared about numbers, yep.

But since I don't, it doesn't factor into my decision as to their worth.

Specifically: why would I care about how much money they made? I have no investment in the franchise financially. I make no profit or less on its success or failure.

Well you specifically said the movie was a dismal failure...according to the things that matter in the movie industry, it was not AT ALL a failure.

You can say you didn't like it, but to say it was a failure is inaccurate. It was one of the most financially successful, and best reviewed films of the year.
 
I am not a part of the movie industry.

Therefore, it was a dismal failure in my view. Whether or not the money and critics agree is not my issue.

If you're a part of the movie industry, my apologies.

If you want to argue it was a success financially or critically, go for it, I'll agree.

But for me, that information is inconsequential to my opinion.

Not trying to be mean, just tired of box office figures and critical reviews being trotted out as the winning argument.
 
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I am not a part of the movie industry.

Therefore, it was a dismal failure in my view. Whether or not the money and critics agree is not my issue.

If you're a part of the movie industry, my apologies.

If you want to argue it was a success financially or critically, go for it, I'll agree.

But for me, that information is inconsequential to my opinion.

Not trying to be mean, just tired of box office figures and critical reviews being trotted out as the winning argument.

Okay, you didn't like it.
In your opinion, it was a dismal failure.

Your opinion is not shared by the majority who went to see it, now that may not matter to you, but it matters to those of us who went to see it and enjoyed it, and to those who are glad to see more Star Trek on the horizon. Love it, hate it, doesn't matter, the cold, hard numbers are what make the decisions by the big brass, and they consider it a rousing success, which means there will be more. You are, of course, free not to like it too.

J.
 
Love it, hate it, doesn't matter, the cold, hard numbers are what make the decisions by the big brass, and they consider it a rousing success, which means there will be more.

And this helps Star Trek, how? You may throw Star Trek on the title and numbers it made at the box office, but try convincing anyone that it's premise makes for a good Star Trek story. I don't think it does.

Some evil guy wants to destroy everything ≠ STAR TREK
 
Love it, hate it, doesn't matter, the cold, hard numbers are what make the decisions by the big brass, and they consider it a rousing success, which means there will be more.

And this helps Star Trek, how? You may throw Star Trek on the title and numbers it made at the box office, but try convincing anyone that it's premise makes for a good Star Trek story. I don't think it does.

Some evil guy wants to destroy everything ≠ STAR TREK

It helps the name continue on, at least.

Maybe eventually they will make a Star Trek I enjoy and consider successful entertainment for me again.

I welcome that day.
 
Love it, hate it, doesn't matter, the cold, hard numbers are what make the decisions by the big brass, and they consider it a rousing success, which means there will be more.

And this helps Star Trek, how? You may throw Star Trek on the title and numbers it made at the box office, but try convincing anyone that it's premise makes for a good Star Trek story. I don't think it does.

The premise works for me, as it was less about Nero and more about the crew. Hell, the plot to TVH doesn't sound like Trek at all (especially after the weight of the previous two films)... yet you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who hates the film, either. If XI didn't satisfy you, then that's cool, but you also can't deny that it satisfied a great number of Trekkies, who helped contribute to those numbers. That enthusiasm by Trekkies is itself a great help to Trek as a whole.
 
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What will really make or break the reboot of Trek is to see how successful ST: XII is. ST:XI had the job of introducing newbies to the characters, universe etc. The next film will have the job of using that introduction and carrying on with it.
 
Hell, the plot to TVH doesn't sound like Trek at all
But it feels like Trek, whilst XI doesn't.

Yet I'm sure there are a great number of Trekkies do think it feels like Trek to them as well. Sometimes it's either "premise yes, feel no"; or "premise no, feel yes," isn't it? And it's not like XI is the only Trek film that can fall into that debate either.
 
Yet I'm sure there are a great number of Trekkies do think it feels like Trek to them as well. Sometimes it's either "premise yes, feel no"; or "premise no, feel yes," isn't it? And it's not like XI is the only Trek film that can fall into that debate either.
And I'm sure there are a great number of Trekkies who believe that the plot of Trek IV is very Star Trek.

To me, the Trek XI premise is so weak that had it been a TNG film or something from Enterprise it would have been mercilessly ripped to shreds.
 
Yet I'm sure there are a great number of Trekkies do think it feels like Trek to them as well. Sometimes it's either "premise yes, feel no"; or "premise no, feel yes," isn't it? And it's not like XI is the only Trek film that can fall into that debate either.
And I'm sure there are a great number of Trekkies who believe that the plot of Trek IV is very Star Trek.

True, but now that I think about it, we can also apply the premise vs. feel imbalance to films like TMP and TUC as well. And really, it doesn't invalidate anything in the process, either. If we had a Trek film of just Kirk, Spock, and McCoy sitting all day talking over coffee and bagels, it definitely wouldn't be a Trek premise in a traditional sense... but it would probably have one heck of a Trek feel to it.

Of course, for a lot of Trekkies out there, there weren't enough spatial anomalies or technobabble in TVH for their liking.

To me, the Trek XI premise is so weak that had it been a TNG film or something from Enterprise it would have been mercilessly ripped to shreds.
And to me, the premise of Trek XI wasn't so much about fighting Nero as it was more about seeing how the (albeit revised) origins of the crew -- Nero is an excuse for them to all come together and the way it was executed is fine by me. We see coming-together stories in the pilots for every Trek spinoff but never really for TOS, so it was nice to see that in a sense. It's not like we're dealing with Spock's Brain or Code of Honor here, episodes that are universally reviled. Rather, there seems to be quite a lot of even like-dislike discussion, back and forth, about XI, which is a heck of a lot more than many Trek episodes can say.

We'll have to agree to disagree.
 
To me, the Trek XI premise is so weak that had it been a TNG film or something from Enterprise it would have been mercilessly ripped to shreds.

It would be only be ripped by the same people who are ripping it now. And everyone else who likes it would be saying the same things they're saying now.

Some people don't want change and some people are comfortable with it.
 
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