How I'm Dealing with this New Movie

[tfarr]

Greetings all... long time lurker finally posting. With this new movie out now, I felt I had to.

I really didn't like the movie. I know a lot of people did... and that's fine. Rather than get into the details and start arguing and complaining about it, I wanted to just voice two quick things:

1) Why am I upset over a movie?

Because I care. I love Star Trek... have since I was a kid watching TOS in syndication and TNG when it first aired. I'm 29 (turning 30 on Friday actually). Again, not wanting to get into the details of this movie, I'll just say that... to me, it just wasn't a Star Trek movie. I feel like something that I've grown up with and loved has just been bastardized. It's not the details.. not the dorky trivial munitia that I'm talking about. It's the heart of it (or lack there of).

The analogy that I've used with my friends is this:

Imagine your favorite food is pizza. Lots of people love it! Let's say though that as the years go by, for whatever reason.. pizza goes away. Maybe it's not profitable anymore to sell pizza. Maybe people ate too much of it over time and kind of lost their taste for it. Whatever. It's gone. Time passes..

Five years of a pizza hiatus later, someone gets the bright idea to re-release pizza. They want to make money and it's just so darn hard to come up with original new ideas for food... so lots of companies just re-hash foods that faded from the public eye. So a new product is made called "pizza." But, it comes in a can in liquid form instead of the traditional pie. It has all the most up-to-date and trendy packaging. When you open it, it sort of smells like pizza... kind of tastes like pizza at first. But it is most certainly not pizza. Oh and it's all nutritional fluff, so you have to eat like 10 cans of the stuff to get any substances from it.

​

2) What am I doing about it?

I'm trying to focus my frustration over this whole thing in a positive way. I know some fans are unhappy with or dislike Rick Berman... but personally, I really enjoyed ALL of the Trek that he produced after Gene passed away. Yes, even Enterprise.

I really feel bad about the way that the movie reviewers keep spouting the tag line "Trek needed a reboot." As if something was wrong with it in the first place? Now, I know that what they really mean is "Trek needed be made mainstream so that the masses could enjoy it and it could make more money." But at any rate, I find the statement (and this movie) to be disrepectful to the people that worked so hard to create Star Trek episodes that stayed true to what Star Trek was.

So, although it's I'm sure it's completely unnessary... I'm chosing to focus my frustration in a positive way and write Rick Berman a thank you letter for his lifetime of hard work and dedication to the Star Trek that was.
​

 

[Dayton3]

I haven't liked a Star Trek movie since The Undiscovered Country and even then I considered it badly flawed.

I haven't enjoyed a complete season of Star Trek, that is where you can look back and say "that was a good year for Trek on television" since Season Four of Deep Space Nine.

Star Trek as a franchise seems to be constantly going from one extreme to the other.

Action! Humor! Character Driven!! There seems to be so little balance in the episodes or movies anymore.

It is as if no one is capable of writing just a good, well balanced, well paced story anymore.

 

[cmdrbolly]

Greetings all... long time lurker finally posting. With this new movie out now, I felt I had to.

I really didn't like the movie. I know a lot of people did... and that's fine. Rather than get into the details and start arguing and complaining about it, I wanted to just voice two quick things:

1) Why am I upset over a movie?

Because I care. I love Star Trek... have since I was a kid watching TOS in syndication and TNG when it first aired. I'm 29 (turning 30 on Friday actually). Again, not wanting to get into the details of this movie, I'll just say that... to me, it just wasn't a Star Trek movie. I feel like something that I've grown up with and loved has just been bastardized. It's not the details.. not the dorky trivial munitia that I'm talking about. It's the heart of it (or lack there of).

The analogy that I've used with my friends is this:

Imagine your favorite food is pizza. Lots of people love it! Let's say though that as the years go by, for whatever reason.. pizza goes away. Maybe it's not profitable anymore to sell pizza. Maybe people ate too much of it over time and kind of lost their taste for it. Whatever. It's gone. Time passes..

Five years of a pizza hiatus later, someone gets the bright idea to re-release pizza. They want to make money and it's just so darn hard to come up with original new ideas for food... so lots of companies just re-hash foods that faded from the public eye. So a new product is made called "pizza." But, it comes in a can in liquid form instead of the traditional pie. It has all the most up-to-date and trendy packaging. When you open it, it sort of smells like pizza... kind of tastes like pizza at first. But it is most certainly not pizza. Oh and it's all nutritional fluff, so you have to eat like 10 cans of the stuff to get any substances from it.

​

2) What am I doing about it?

I'm trying to focus my frustration over this whole thing in a positive way. I know some fans are unhappy with or dislike Rick Berman... but personally, I really enjoyed ALL of the Trek that he produced after Gene passed away. Yes, even Enterprise.

I really feel bad about the way that the movie reviewers keep spouting the tag line "Trek needed a reboot." As if something was wrong with it in the first place? Now, I know that what they really mean is "Trek needed be made mainstream so that the masses could enjoy it and it could make more money." But at any rate, I find the statement (and this movie) to be disrepectful to the people that worked so hard to create Star Trek episodes that stayed true to what Star Trek was.

So, although it's I'm sure it's completely unnessary... I'm chosing to focus my frustration in a positive way and write Rick Berman a thank you letter for his lifetime of hard work and dedication to the Star Trek that was.
​

What if the re-release pizza is fresher, tastier AND more nutritious for you, but you don't like it because it wasn't exactly like it was before?

 

[tfarr]

What if the re-release pizza is fresher, tastier AND more nutritious for you, but you don't like it because it wasn't exactly like it was before?

I'm fine with it not being "exactly" the way that it was. My point was just that if you change X so drastically that at it's very core, it's heart.. it's different.. can you really call it X anymore?

And what has me more upset then the new X existing... is that a handful of the people who enjoy the new X gripe about what X use to be and how it needed to be changed. The criteria that their using to come to that argument bothers me... as I feel that it's disrespectful to the people who made X what it was for so many years.

 

[marc0702]

I really feel bad about the way that the movie reviewers keep spouting the tag line "Trek needed a reboot." As if something was wrong with it in the first place? Now, I know that what they really mean is "Trek needed be made mainstream so that the masses could enjoy it and it could make more money." But at any rate, I find the statement (and this movie) to be disrepectful to the people that worked so hard to create Star Trek episodes that stayed true to what Star Trek was.

​

As much as someone may not like to think so, Star Trek was made to make money in the first place. Yes Gene Roddenberry had great sci-fi ideas and broke grounds with TOS, but I'm sure he wanted to make money with these ideas.

The same goes for Braga and Berman, they wanted to make more moeny with Gene's ideas, and they tried a bunch of different things, and some were good, and some were bad. It got so bad that even the fans were driven away given Nemesis' poor box office.

Now JJ Abrams has turned star trek back into a profitable institution, and we shouldn't like it because its not exactly the same? Isn't that the point?

 

[Ward Fowler]

I didn't like the movie either. I don't care about canon violations, alternate realities, etc. I enjoyed TOS because of the characters. So if this movie had stayed true to the characters, I most likely would have enjoyed it, plot holes and all. However, a few characters were inconsistent with their previous incarnations and a couple were nearly unrecognizable, namely Spock and Scotty. When you lose the characters then you lose what the movie is supposed to be based on. What the bridge looks like doesn't matter, where the ship was built doesn't matter, what the uniforms look like is irrelevant to me. The characters were always what the show and movies were built on. Thanks to the horrible writing some characters are mangled almost beyond recognition.

How am I dealing with it? I'm not. It doesn't really bother me. I'm perfectly content with the fact that many people are enjoying the movie. My tastes simply differ from theirs.

 

[Chess Piece Face]

I know what it feels like when you love this franchise and then it does something you can't stand. You just have to roll with it.

Right now you might love X and hate Y but all things change and eventually you'll get to decide on Z, which you may love.

And the best part is, no matter what happens, no one can take away your X anyway.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

I really feel bad about the way that the movie reviewers keep spouting the tag line "Trek needed a reboot."

That's a rather absolutist statement. Who are "the movie reviewers" that are saying this? I've read countless reviews of the film over on Rotten Tomatoes, and have yet to see one that insults the franchise by saying "it needed a reboot". Many acknowledge that the film is a reboot, but none I've read pass judgement on the rest of Trek.

 

[Peter the Younger]

I hate to say it, but if people really weren't buying pizza anymore (hard to believe, but you know, it's an example), and years later something else came along and replaced it - well, that's how things work. There is nothing certain in this world but change.

 

[-Brett-]

It boggles my mind how anyone could like Enterprise, but dislike this movie.

All of the complaints I've heard, and made about the movie are at least as true of Enterprise. The lack of substance. The pissing all over "TEH CANON". The stuff that makes no sense in the context of the Star Trek universe (or any other context, for that matter).

Biggest difference is that in addition to all of it's other flaws, Enterprise had all the entertainment value of getting a root canal. Despite all of those flaws, Trek 11 was at least entertaining.

 

[TremblingBluStar]

It boggles my mind how anyone could like Enterprise, but dislike this movie.

Personal taste, of course! :-) If Bakula, as an example, simply clicks with someone as a captain, while Pine does not, it makes sense you would like Enterprise and not the movie.

 

[Danoz]

I appreciate your carefully written post.

I think the heart is there, we just need another movie to really bring it out. I consider this introductory to something fun, new and interesting. I mean, one of the first episodes of The Original Series involved Kirk an evil, drunk-malcontent clone created by the transporter system. Don't get me wrong, I love the original series, but like anything else a big part of the spirit you're talking about is both from nostalgia and the long-term growth of the characters over 3 seasons and several movies. Personally, I'm ready to give this new crew a chance! Who's to say that Scotty wasn't wild-eyed and rough in his youth? I disagree with you about Spock, who fits perfectly with how his earlier years have been described. All good things, in my opinion.

 

[Dayton3]

Enterprise and the current movie have something in common.

The early buzz and reviews were originally VERY positive.

 

[Danoz]

It boggles my mind how anyone could like Enterprise, but dislike this movie.

Personal taste, of course! :-) If Bakula, as an example, simply clicks with someone as a captain, while Pine does not, it makes sense you would like Enterprise and not the movie.

I think Enterprise gets a bad rap. And, unlike some, I have a soft spot for Voyager (despite its obvious flaws). Trekkies in general need to be more open and accepting of what we have. One of the only big things in Trek I find unforgivable was Nemesis... which still kind of makes me sad.

 

[tfarr]

It boggles my mind how anyone could like Enterprise, but dislike this movie.

Personal taste, of course! :-) If Bakula, as an example, simply clicks with someone as a captain, while Pine does not, it makes sense you would like Enterprise and not the movie.

Yup. Although I didn't mind Chris Pine as Kirk... and have to say that Karl Urban was great as McCoy. He was the best part of the movie IMHO. The actors, as a whole, did a good job with the material.

My gripe about the movie is just that it lacked a soul. IMO it was pop directing, big special effects, and mass marketing at the cost of telling a good solid story. I'm not saying that other Trek movies haven't fallen short in areas. But they at least felt like Star Trek.

 

[Hambone]

Imagine your favorite food is pizza. Lots of people love it! Let's say though that as the years go by, for whatever reason.. pizza goes away. Maybe it's not profitable anymore to sell pizza. Maybe people ate too much of it over time and kind of lost their taste for it. Whatever. It's gone. Time passes..

Five years of a pizza hiatus later, someone gets the bright idea to re-release pizza. They want to make money and it's just so darn hard to come up with original new ideas for food... so lots of companies just re-hash foods that faded from the public eye. So a new product is made called "pizza." But, it comes in a can in liquid form instead of the traditional pie. It has all the most up-to-date and trendy packaging. When you open it, it sort of smells like pizza... kind of tastes like pizza at first. But it is most certainly not pizza. Oh and it's all nutritional fluff, so you have to eat like 10 cans of the stuff to get any substances from it.​

Suppose you have a lifetime supply of the "old, classic" pizza that you enjoy so much. Why would you care about this "new" pizza, and further, why would you care to keep others from enjoying "new" pizza?

I have hundreds of hours of "old, classic" Star Trek on my shelf (a lifetime supply) that I can enjoy whenever I want to. The new movie (which I enjoyed and will add to my DVD collection) does not diminish them in any way.
​

 

[JoeyDeacon]

It boggles my mind how anyone could like Enterprise, but dislike this movie.

Personal taste, of course! :-) If Bakula, as an example, simply clicks with someone as a captain, while Pine does not, it makes sense you would like Enterprise and not the movie.

Yup. Although I didn't mind Chris Pine as Kirk... and have to say that Karl Urban was great as McCoy. He was the best part of the movie IMHO. The actors, as a whole, did a good job with the material.

My gripe about the movie is just that it lacked a soul. IMO it was pop directing, big special effects, and mass marketing at the cost of telling a good solid story. I'm not saying that other Trek movies haven't fallen short in areas. But they at least felt like Star Trek.

Agreed, it was MTV Trek and nothing more.

When all the hype calms down and a more balanced and logical consensus begins to form, I suspect that many others will form this opinion.

I don't buy the Star Trek 'feel' thing though. Trek in it's purest form was about challenging consensus, it challenged pre-conceptions, that surely was what Gene aimed to do?

This was a poor story with zillions thrown at it to make it look nice, this is the STTMP for this generation.

 

[Augustus]

I too enjoyed pretty much all of Trek, from TOS to Enterprise. Some I liked more than others, some were great and some were just ok and some was horrible.

But I don't think this movie is disrespectful to the past Trek. It pays tribute to it. It couldn't exist without previous Trek. There were so many little things that only hard core fans would know.

Despite my love for the Old Trek, let's be honest, a lot of the story telling, a lot of the characters, the lines and the plots were reused, recycled or just rearranged.
And despite all the shows taking place in the same universe. there is very little continuity in it all.

But at the same time a lot of conformity, meaning there wasn't much a surprise.

I am glad Berman and co gave us what they did and I will always enjoy it. (I recently watched the Augments 3 parter and I loved it.) But Star Trek did need a reboot, at least from a creative and marketing stand point. You need no further proof of that than looking at ENT's ratings and Nemesis' box office.

 

[Augustus]

Imagine your favorite food is pizza. Lots of people love it! Let's say though that as the years go by, for whatever reason.. pizza goes away. Maybe it's not profitable anymore to sell pizza. Maybe people ate too much of it over time and kind of lost their taste for it. Whatever. It's gone. Time passes..

Five years of a pizza hiatus later, someone gets the bright idea to re-release pizza. They want to make money and it's just so darn hard to come up with original new ideas for food... so lots of companies just re-hash foods that faded from the public eye. So a new product is made called "pizza." But, it comes in a can in liquid form instead of the traditional pie. It has all the most up-to-date and trendy packaging. When you open it, it sort of smells like pizza... kind of tastes like pizza at first. But it is most certainly not pizza. Oh and it's all nutritional fluff, so you have to eat like 10 cans of the stuff to get any substances from it.​

Suppose you have a lifetime supply of the "old, classic" pizza that you enjoy so much. Why would you care about this "new" pizza, and further, why would you care to keep others from enjoying "new" pizza?

I have hundreds of hours of "old, classic" Star Trek on my shelf (a lifetime supply) that I can enjoy whenever I want to. The new movie (which I enjoyed and will add to my DVD collection) does not diminish them in any way.
​

QFT

 

[tfarr]

Suppose you have a lifetime supply of the "old, classic" pizza that you enjoy so much. Why would you care about this "new" pizza, and further, why would you care to keep others from enjoying "new" pizza?

I have hundreds of hours of "old, classic" Star Trek on my shelf (a lifetime supply) that I can enjoy whenever I want to. The new movie (which I enjoyed and will add to my DVD collection) does not diminish them in any way.
​

When did I say that I wanted to keep others from enjoying the movie?

All that I've said is that to me it didn't feel like Trek, because in my opinion it lacked the heart and soul of Trek. Said H&S was replaced with modern mass appeal. That's my opinion. If it's different than yours, that's cool.