Is anyone else scared?
- Thread starter misskim86
- Start date
Good Will Riker
Admiral
This is the reason why the public is still going "Soran who?," and "Who/What the frell is a So'na...and a Reman????"
/\Exactly. Abrams is going back to basics. Just think, this time next year, we'll be doing a countdown to the release!
/\ Too true.
Inevitably Treklore has expanded beyond the ken of the casual viewer.I'm a dyed in the wool trekker but I've gotta admit...reading some of these threads I realise just how much I've forgotten about recent Trek.Enterprise in particular has faded so much.
As for the movie.....Hollywood has pimped so many "reimaginings" in recent years.From Scooby Doo to the mod squad.Outside of the Fugitive,has any of them been worth a damn?
Prepare for the moronic 5 second attention from MTV gen,and the choruses of "beam me up.....",but don't expect a Trek resurrection.
Inevitably Treklore has expanded beyond the ken of the casual viewer.I'm a dyed in the wool trekker but I've gotta admit...reading some of these threads I realise just how much I've forgotten about recent Trek.Enterprise in particular has faded so much.
As for the movie.....Hollywood has pimped so many "reimaginings" in recent years.From Scooby Doo to the mod squad.Outside of the Fugitive,has any of them been worth a damn?
Prepare for the moronic 5 second attention from MTV gen,and the choruses of "beam me up.....",but don't expect a Trek resurrection.
I think Abram's TOS reboot is Trek's best chance at revitalization. The franchise's previous path was nothing more than a downward spiral. Rick Berman, Paramount and UPN really dug the franchise into the ground with it's lackluster spin-offs and more recent feature films. They stopped taking chances, they stopped trying to be creative. The plots were dumbed-down or filled with meaningless technobabble or recycled from other series. The characters were poorly developed. The forehead aliens of the week grew tiresome. Even the musical score was uninspired and went unnoticed. Trek's spark was lost.
With Trek XI, there is a chance that the franchise can turn itself around. We've got a whole new creative team in place with J.J. at the helm. Paramount seems to be willing to let him do his thing. There's a chance for something interesting to happen here. I really hope he can pull it off.
Of course, if Trek XI is a failure, then Paramount will probably put Trek on ice for a good, long while. But the franchise will keep going - in the form of novels. Trek lit has gone to some pretty interesting places over the last few years. I could handle getting Trek only in written form.
With Trek XI, there is a chance that the franchise can turn itself around. We've got a whole new creative team in place with J.J. at the helm. Paramount seems to be willing to let him do his thing. There's a chance for something interesting to happen here. I really hope he can pull it off.
Of course, if Trek XI is a failure, then Paramount will probably put Trek on ice for a good, long while. But the franchise will keep going - in the form of novels. Trek lit has gone to some pretty interesting places over the last few years. I could handle getting Trek only in written form.
Kegek Kringle said:
There's more to life than Star Trek.
I don't believe you.
Everything has it's season...esp ST with its large fan base. No matter what happens with Trek XI....and we all hope for the best, there will always be new ideas for trek TV or movies. It'll never be over.
No, the public is going Star Trek what?
Those particular movies didn't fail because of Soran, the So'na or the Remans. They failed because Soran, the So'na, and the Remans were trash.
People don't seem to get it. Abrams doesn't either on this level. It's not about Picard or TNG. It's not about Kirk and Spock. It's not about the 23rd or 24th century. It's about not sucking. NOT. SUCKING. All that other stuff has always been details.
People recognize the names "Kirk," "Spock" and "Star Trek" but don't have strong opinions about them one way or the other - it's all like putty, waiting to be shaped. And they certainly don't know or care whether Kirk's parents were supposed to have died on Tarsus or that no Starfleet personnel before "Balance of Terror" is allowed to look at a Romulan. A movie with strong emotional resonance, kick-ass action, and that seems to be "about something" that they vaguely associate with Star Trek's overarching theme will do just fine.
Even when Star Trek was good it still pretty much failed. The movies weren't huge blockbusters and only TNG got huge ratings. Most people don't give a crap about Trek whether it's good or bad.
Star Trek is about as bomb-proof as you can get in the entertainment business. It is such a diverse franchise, really incomparable. TV series, films, games, books, merchandise. Only Star Wars has a similar breadth, but as great as those films are, TV is God in the modern world. Film is big, but if you're on TV, you are everywhere.
So I agree with other posters who have stated that TV is where its at for Trek. I don't think the new film can make or break it. It can give it a Klingon hypo-spray, and hopefully spark a new series. Or it might be mediocre. I doubt it will be bad.
Look - Insurrection faltered, Nemesis bombed, Enterprise got tanked, and here they are making a new film. This franchise of Star Trek is like an Omega Particle.
I think that the vital signs of Star Trek can be seen in whether it is on TV. DVDs are obviously available, but still, I think as long as one or more of the series is currently on, Trek lives.
So I agree with other posters who have stated that TV is where its at for Trek. I don't think the new film can make or break it. It can give it a Klingon hypo-spray, and hopefully spark a new series. Or it might be mediocre. I doubt it will be bad.
Look - Insurrection faltered, Nemesis bombed, Enterprise got tanked, and here they are making a new film. This franchise of Star Trek is like an Omega Particle.
I think that the vital signs of Star Trek can be seen in whether it is on TV. DVDs are obviously available, but still, I think as long as one or more of the series is currently on, Trek lives.
Some perspective would help here. I'm "scared" of intruders breaking into my house and taking my stuff. I'm "scared" of being laid off. I'm "scared" of my kid getting sick.
I have no reason whatsoever to be "scared" about anything Trek-related, regardless of what happens with the franchise.
I have no reason whatsoever to be "scared" about anything Trek-related, regardless of what happens with the franchise.
Agreed.
The timing of this movie is extremely bad. Sci-Fi, in general, is not very popular at the moment. In fact, it's not popular at all.
Hollywood can just barely get people to watch it for free on TV, let alone spend $30-$40 on it at the theater.
I really don't think this movie has a prayer's chance of making $150 mil. And, it has nothing to do with the cast, though his crew of nobodies isn't likely to help the situation.
Paramount would be far better off waiting until a time when Sci-Fi is more popular (or, at least luke warm) before it does a project like this.
Will this movie failing "kill" star Trek? Probably not. It's hard to kill something that's pretty much already dead from a financial standpoint.
It will, however, pretty much guarantee that it's going to be relegated to fan fiction for quite some time.
Best case scenario is that they pump a little money into online ventures and direct to video productions. It's the direction Paramount should have gone to begin with.
Even if the new movie fails...years from now some other sci-fi Movie/TV show unrelated to trek will start to do really well. And whoever owns the Star Trek name at that point in time will go "How can we cash in on this upswing in sci-fi popularity?" Then, somebody at that company will remind them that they own Star Trek, and a new project will be born.
I don't think sci-fi is any less popular than any other genre - it's just what the funders are prepared to fork out for. If a good idea comes along then it may attract funding. The more expensive it's likely to be the less attractive to the funders. What you need is for JK Rowling or Philip Pullman to start writing a sci-fi series of books
That said, I think Star Trek's days are over.
That said, I think Star Trek's days are over.
The funders would be prepared to fork out money for anything they thought would make any in return.
It's not as though there are a lack of sci-fi entries from Hollywood. They simply don't draw well, whether they are any good or not.
Lord of the Rings wasn't a sci-fi film. It was an epic fantasy based on an extremely popular trilogy of books that had never been done on that type of scale.
While I continue to argue that releasing Nemesis at about the same time as LOTR was one of the worst ideas in a long, long time (and, I think releasing THIS film on Christmas Day is nearly as bad), I really don't think it would have made a whole lot more money either way.
Unless they market this movie specifically toward women (read: Show nothing but trailers with Chris Pine and his shirt ripped off during programming geared toward women) then this movie doesn't really have much of a chance of attracting that demographic. And, in today's movie market, if you don't attract the women, you don't make the money.
It's not as though there are a lack of sci-fi entries from Hollywood. They simply don't draw well, whether they are any good or not.
Lord of the Rings wasn't a sci-fi film. It was an epic fantasy based on an extremely popular trilogy of books that had never been done on that type of scale.
While I continue to argue that releasing Nemesis at about the same time as LOTR was one of the worst ideas in a long, long time (and, I think releasing THIS film on Christmas Day is nearly as bad), I really don't think it would have made a whole lot more money either way.
Unless they market this movie specifically toward women (read: Show nothing but trailers with Chris Pine and his shirt ripped off during programming geared toward women) then this movie doesn't really have much of a chance of attracting that demographic. And, in today's movie market, if you don't attract the women, you don't make the money.
I think that Star Trek makes more money than some are aware of. Running the series in syndication makes money, DVD sets and films make money (even in the face of rampant bootlegging). The merchandise, the prop and uniform selloff. It's not tens of millions, but the point is that Trek is bringing in the bucks, even in a lull like this.
The point about attracting women may be valid, but I saw a lot of women at The Menagerie. Maybe Shatner with his shirt ripped off did bring in female fans, but I don't know. I'm not a Trek fan because of Uhura's short skirt, as stunning as she is. Anyway, I've known a lot of female Trek fans, so there may be a stereotype at work here. They may not be as prevalent at conventions, I don't know, haven't been, but anyway, I don't see Trek dying any time soon. It's certainly not dead now.
It's more of a perennial that had a really strong season, maybe was overfertilized, and has been stunted for a while.
The point about attracting women may be valid, but I saw a lot of women at The Menagerie. Maybe Shatner with his shirt ripped off did bring in female fans, but I don't know. I'm not a Trek fan because of Uhura's short skirt, as stunning as she is. Anyway, I've known a lot of female Trek fans, so there may be a stereotype at work here. They may not be as prevalent at conventions, I don't know, haven't been, but anyway, I don't see Trek dying any time soon. It's certainly not dead now.
It's more of a perennial that had a really strong season, maybe was overfertilized, and has been stunted for a while.
Good or bad isn't the issue; what they need are the elements that make something popular. Recognition of a few crucial elements, ease of understanding what's at stake, a reason to care about the characters, and cool 'splosions are all important factors. If Star Trek can deliver that, there's no reason it can't be as popular as any other type of mass market entertainment.
Of course it would be nice if it were ALSO good.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I am in no way saying that there aren't women who like science fiction. My mother was a big fan of the original Star Trek. Far more so than my dad. (Then again, she wouldn't watch anything other than TOS based programming).
I am simply saying that women have never been the prime demographic for such things. As such, men aren't likely to push the issue to make Star Trek date night at the movies.
Does that mean that movies aimed at men can't be successful? Nope. Die Hard has made a ton of money aiming it's movies almost exclusively at men. So, it's certainly possible to get a movie that will prompt a guy and his buddies to to see it and not care if the girlfriends come along or not.
But, recently, MOST of those successful "male flics" have been movies that are based on franchises that have been successful RECENTLY, or have stars in them that they want to see.
Die Hard 4 was no better than War, but made a ton more money. War will likely do well on video.
I just don't happen to believe there is enough of a demand for another Star Trek film right now to make this sell.
For the record, I happen to think re-releasing Rambo is a bad idea too, so it's not restricted to Star Trek.
I am simply saying that women have never been the prime demographic for such things. As such, men aren't likely to push the issue to make Star Trek date night at the movies.
Does that mean that movies aimed at men can't be successful? Nope. Die Hard has made a ton of money aiming it's movies almost exclusively at men. So, it's certainly possible to get a movie that will prompt a guy and his buddies to to see it and not care if the girlfriends come along or not.
But, recently, MOST of those successful "male flics" have been movies that are based on franchises that have been successful RECENTLY, or have stars in them that they want to see.
Die Hard 4 was no better than War, but made a ton more money. War will likely do well on video.
I just don't happen to believe there is enough of a demand for another Star Trek film right now to make this sell.
For the record, I happen to think re-releasing Rambo is a bad idea too, so it's not restricted to Star Trek.
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