I just hope they avoid...

[Star Treks]

I am working through a vague fear here. I apologize for the lack of specificity and for the length. Let me know if you have any idea what I'm talking about.

I promised myself I would avoid seeing anything about the new movie except the trailers. I wanted to try to keep most of it a surprise. But, of course, I have been unable to avoid the lure of trying to learn more, because I am de-Trek-hydrated. So I've looked at the precious few photos, read the comments by people who've seen the rough cut, read the articles, and so forth.

All in all, there's still not a heck of a lot to go on, but from what I've seen, I'm excited: I like the look of the bridge, the cast at least looks good (we'll see how they pull it off in real time), and it sounds like it's going to be a fun, exciting, audience-friendly movie, which is what I'm hoping for.

The only vaguely unsettling feeling I'm getting is that this could be a somewhat... well... it's hard to explain exactly, but I just don't want this to feel like a movie aimed squarely at teens. I haven't seen a lot of Abrams' work, but certainly I felt Cloverfield was kind of immature and did not really do anything for me, and I'm not really thrilled about his new Fox show. So so far I'm not really a fan.

I dunno, I guess there's a certain sort of cheap, really non-theatrical entertainment style that I don't want to see this movie exhibit. I can't really define what makes something have this quality, I can only name some things I associate with it - just about any UPN or WB or CW genre show (like Smallville, for example); Xena; that Terminator tv show; movies like Jumper or Transformers or even most crappy comic book movies; and just about any movie aimed at teens.

I'm just hoping that with this young cast and the idea of trying to rejuvenate the series and get some new fans, I just don't want them to go too far towards what I might call a glossy, un-filmic kind of movie. I want this to be a movie that not only I, at 25, and my brother, at 18, but also my Trek-loving mom in her 50s can enjoy - and none of us go for cheap garbage (sorry if that sounds elitist).

So I think this movie will be good, I hope it will be great, but I just hope this doesn't turn into "Phantom Menace," "Daredevil," "Cleopatra 2525," "The Transporter," "The Chronicles of Riddick," "Alien vs. Predator," or the first season of "Enterprise" (anything like the 3rd or 4th seasons of Enterprise is acceptable).

 

[Sector 7]

I am really into Fringe, evidently I'm right because the ratings are good. I never got hooked on Lost, though it was/is a ratings winner. Therefore, I am anxiously awaiting JJ & Co's take on Star Trek. I can't get any worse than the last several years of Trek on TV. I want it to be a money maker, because it means new life will be given to a dead franchise that I have loved since I was a kid.

 

[Eric Cheung]

I think the target audience of all the more successful Trek movies were probably similar to the target audience for most summer blockbusters, which is to say a pretty broad spectrum of people. I wouldn't worry about the movie being like Phantom Menace though, because Trek has always been about adults professionals doing their jobs and I don't think this movie will change that.

Star Wars was largely about young people being trained as Jedis (even Anakin was considered too old). Luke and Leia were basically teenagers and the movies had an along-for-the-ride, on-the-job-training, feel that wasn't quite the same tone as Trek. For those reasons, I think Star Wars were geared younger than Trek.

The biggest crossover hits for Trek were II, IV, and First Contact (TMP was also a huge hit, but isn't quite as much a part of mainstream pop culture in the way that the other three movies are), so if this movie courted the audience in the same way as those movies I think we can feel safe about the tone and feel of this film.