How Much Does JJ Abrams Know About Star Trek

[Nerys Myk]

There's a line from The Music Man about " knowing the territory ". Robert Wise didn't know it;Nicholas Meyer did. Does Abrams? I think he has a limited understanding of Trek, akin to someone who has just learned a new language, but hasn't spoken it their whole life

IIRC, Nick Meyer knew next to nothing about Star Trek and was not a fan of the show before getting the job to direct TWOK.

 

[trevanian]

There's a line from The Music Man about " knowing the territory ". Robert Wise didn't know it;Nicholas Meyer did. Does Abrams? I think he has a limited understanding of Trek, akin to someone who has just learned a new language, but hasn't spoken it their whole life

IIRC, Nick Meyer knew next to nothing about Star Trek and was not a fan of the show before getting the job to direct TWOK.

In the instance of TWOK, the 'territory' is not TREK specifically, but rather Meyer's ability to embellish and invigorate existing characters created by others (a la Holmes in 7%) and to successfully reestablish the Hornblower-in-Space notion that had occasionally floundered and more recently been lost at sea.

 

[trevanian]

They may not have known a lot up front, but they did the proper research. Go read the old interviews and they'll talk about how they went back and watched the show--a lot. They just didn't egotistically move forward with their vision without knowing what came before. Sure, they changed things, but they were mindful of what they were changing.

And Orci & Kurtzman watched the shows and one of them is a fan of Trek Lit. I don't think geek cred is a barometer of whether someone is capable of making a good movie.

John Logan was a big fan...

I blame Berman.

There's enough blame to go around to encompass Baird, Berman and Logan. I think Berman was wrong in his creative calls maybe three-quarters of the time for 15 years or more, but on NEM, the lion's share belongs to Logan's actor-pandering shitwork and Baird still not acknowledging he has never had any business being on a set directing live-action.

 

[Pauln6]

The impression I get is that he watched TOS as a kid when he was too young to understand many of its nuances but he's watched the TOS movies more recently and enjoyed them because of the increased action quotient (and in fairness I think this is important in a movie as opposed to a series). The absence of Chapel and Rand but inclusion of Chekov lends some support to this.

His comprehension of how Starfleet should be organised or what its ideals were meant to represent seem to be very ropey. He seems to have only the most basic grasp of what level of tech existed in TOS or the butterfly effect of changing those parameters. He doesn't seem to understand the way Trek was based on naval tradition or why that mattered.

He seems happy to keep the women in their place though.

Star Trek as a franchise has had numerous series and movies to establish what Trek is. JJ has only had 2 movies to do that.

I think that his stamp is very clear and distinctive and I would not say that the results are bad - they have proved very popular - but I just wish he had injected the same amount of energy without watering down the naval tradition so much and without upgrading the tech (as opposed to the look of the tech) to such a degree. I also wish that he could have taken the bull by the horns and built on the improvements in equality that came out of DS9 and Voyager but he slotted right back into the sexism of the sixties - not in the way the established women are portrayed - they're very good - but in the way that Starfleet is incredibly male-dominated and incredibly human dominated for that matter.

 

[Kruezerman]

It's not sexist.

 

[Cinema Geekly]

It's not sexist.

TOS? Yeah no way!

I mean what with Uhura and all.

Oh and the rule about women not being captains, the numerous female guests that existed solely to wear hot clothes and be swept of their feet by Kirk, and Harry Mudd's wife being a stereotypical nag and so on.

 

[G2309]

I tink he knows the TOS characters well and understands a lot of wat made te origial series appealing. He's certainly brought a lot of te fun back to Star Trek whilst still giving te caacters some good drama.

 

[Kruezerman]

It's not sexist.

TOS? Yeah no way!

I mean what with Uhura and all.

Oh and the rule about women not being captains, the numerous female guests that existed solely to wear hot clothes and be swept of their feet by Kirk, and Harry Mudd's wife being a stereotypical nag and so on.

I meant the movie.

EDIT: It's not OVERTLY sexist.

 

[Cinema Geekly]

It's not sexist.

TOS? Yeah no way!

I mean what with Uhura and all.

Oh and the rule about women not being captains, the numerous female guests that existed solely to wear hot clothes and be swept of their feet by Kirk, and Harry Mudd's wife being a stereotypical nag and so on.

I meant the movie.

EDIT: It's not OVERTLY sexist.

Oh my bad. Apologies.

*facepalm*

 

[Star Wolf]

He knows enough to please this fan who's been enjoying Trek since 1966.

Why? I am middle aged and have only been here since TAS and the syndicated era. We are outside of the target demographic and no longer stand in line and brave the crowds for the all important first weekend box office figures.

 

[Ovation]

He knows enough to please this fan who's been enjoying Trek since 1966.

Why? I am middle aged and have only been here since TAS and the syndicated era. We are outside of the target demographic and no longer stand in line and brave the crowds for the all important first weekend box office figures.

Well, I've been a fan since 1973 and I've already got my ticket for tonight. So obviously it appeals to some of us.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I've been a fan since 1966 - I was in junior high school, then - and paid extra to see this one last night.

 

[Ovation]

Was it worth it? (I mean, with the date and all ).

I've got about 8 hours or so to go before I see it. Thankfully it's in a decent theatre--until it opened, I usually watched stuff at home because my gear is better than what was available in the neighbourhood (especially for sound).