nuTrek, moving forward....

[Admiral Buzzkill]

definitely a financial success, but not a successful TOS movie

You know how it gets to be a "financial success?" Because so many millions of people liked it, including about nine out of ten long-time Trek fans.

There's no such thing as a "TOS" movie. TOS stands for "The Original Series."

There are TOS-derived movies, and I far prefer Abrams's resurrection of the franchise to most of the TOS-derived films featuring the original actors because it returns to and revitalizes the milieu of the original series. I loved TOS, not necessarily the ever-more-mannered actors walking through one increasingly-creaky movie outing after another. By the time of The Undiscovered Country the original incarnations of the characters had overstayed their welcome, owing more to haphazardly-conceived stories than to any strengths or failings of the actors.

Abrams's Star Trek is a wholly successful film based on the original TV series - almost purely so, with only the slightest of nods to the convoluted later history and continuity of the Franchise.

 

[Wingsley]

I think we're getting a little bit off-topic here, ignoring the OP in this thread.

The issue here is not whether the 2009 movie was a success by any given standard. It's about where you want to see the STAR TREK franchise go from here. Granted, there will be quite a bit of overlap about where the franchise appears to be headed, based on all of the previous movies from 1979 through 2009.

There will also be ongoing concerns about whether the studio will ever be able to get beyond each succeeding movie being nothing but an over-glorified TV episode, which is a point that critics have brought up in the past, and not just for one movie.

But in the end, if I understood the OP correctly, this thread isn't about cheerleading or criticizing the past movies, but instead where the franchise is headed as a result, and what each of us wants to see it become.

 

[thumbtack]

where the franchise is headed as a result

Typically, a studio will demand more of the same and, typically, the producers will deliver just that. Abrams may want to tweak a few things, however, and it's unlikely that Paramount would interfere.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

They'll continue to look to the original series for fodder - characters, situations, locations - while shaping scripts that adhere to the three-act, action/adventure structure that the studios demand for this kind of movie in this budget range.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I think ST09 was a step away from the over-glorified TV episode. . One thing I'd like to see is a good villain with out a personal grudge/attachment to one of our heroes like Khan, Sybok, the Borg Queen, Shinzon and Nero had. Though the Trek movie track record on that isn't too good: Dougherty, Ru'afo, Kruge and Soran didn't quite do it. . Chang was the only one I liked. A faceless threat like V'Ger or the Whale Probe has had mixed results. V'ger never seemed like a threat and our heroes came across as a bit detached from it all. The Whale Probe was more of a set of bookend as the meat of STIV took place elsewhen.

 

[Wingsley]

^ Yes, I agree. The whole "I'm gonna show you / I'll use my super-ship to blow up Earth!" threat has been seriously overplayed. TMP did it with V'Ger, then TMP2 did it indirectly with Khan the Vendetta Guy, then we had a couple of reaction movies after that with the Whalesong Probe threatening to kill everybody on Earth while putting everybody's lights out. Then the 5th movie at least tried to do something new, and it wound up looking like TV show. E-gad! The 6th and 7th movies seemed to have a little bit more of a positive direction, but we still had to wade through battles with the Klingons. The whole Borg thing was predictable and tiresome. (And all of the story was out on the 'net before you could see it in the theatre.) And now the Borg have been replaced by increasingly silly Romulans.

And they all want to blow up little ol' Earth!

It's easy to predict that Abrams will make the next movie a Klingon movie, and the Klingons will try to blow up a certain familiar planet whose name begins with "e" and ends with "h", and I wouldn't be surprised if the new Klingons look even more like Hell's Angels than ever before.

I hope that doesn't happen.

Maybe it's wishful thinking, but if Abrams does something fresh and new and courageous (and why not? he obviously has the studio's favor now) then maybe he'll take that funky new jellybeany Enterprise to the frontier and find a strange new world to explore. That would get my vote.

Best not to hold one's breath, though.

 

[Warped9]

Yep. Much better having Nero wanting to implode the Earth.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

The best hope for a "strange new world" is that Avatar is the most successful movie in history - so the studio might be persuaded by success. That said, you'll notice that the basic structure of the Avatar story and the ST XI story and every other blockbuster movie is the same, so that is what you'll get regardless of premise or setting.

 

[Wingsley]

A truly frightening thought just occurred to me...

Why do I get the sinking feeling that JJ TREK II is going to look like a head-on collision between Jenna Jameson and BARBARELLA?

Horrors! I hope not...

 

[Nerys Myk]

Probably not. Not even sure why you'd even think that.

I've no objection to Klingons. Though from the quick glimps we got of them in deleted scenes and photos they look more like Soviets/Nazis than Hells Angels. Romulans or Klingons vs the Federation on a strange new world would suit me. Since it is Star Trek you gotta have some ship vs ship action. (As long as it doesn't mirror Insurrection.)

 

[Shazam!]

You know how it gets to be a "financial success?" Because so many millions of people liked it, including about nine out of ten long-time Trek fans

Source?

 

[Warped9]

You know how it gets to be a "financial success?" Because so many millions of people liked it, including about nine out of ten long-time Trek fans

Source?

We tried asking that in another thread. Still no answer.

 

[Wingsley]

Probably not. Not even sure why you'd even think that.

I've no objection to Klingons. Though from the quick glimps we got of them in deleted scenes and photos they look more like Soviets/Nazis than Hells Angels. Romulans or Klingons vs the Federation on a strange new world would suit me. Since it is Star Trek you gotta have some ship vs ship action. (As long as it doesn't mirror Insurrection.)

I'm not so sure about that. I think if Abrams really wanted to do something fresh, he could take the Enterprise into unexplored territory to find something like Gommtu from TNG's "Tin Man". The Romulans weren't really necessary for that story. Spock could be the telepathic link, or maybe some other Vulcan on-board the Enterprise. Maybe some living alien ship that could be the cause of a star becoming unstable and threatening to super-nova, and the Enterprise is sent to investigate. And what they find is this living ship.

That's just speculating on what Abrams could do, of course.

It would be nice to see Hollywood try something bold for a change...

 

[Nerys Myk]

If they wanna put Zoe in a zero G strip tease, who am I to object?

 

[Wingsley]

Now that sounds like what I would expect from Hollyweird...

 

[Nerys Myk]

If it was good enough for Jane Fonda and Roger Vadim... (From France not Hollyweird)

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecQaPNDUEZk[/yt]

 

[Wingsley]

Aw, jeez!

That was hilarious!

At least "Hanoi Jane" was 100% natural...

 

[Warped9]

I'm hoping at least they go forward and somewhat upward. Of course it's just as possible for them to go dumber.

But that isn't the point of the thread which is opinions on what folks would like to see and not necessarily what we're likely to see.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

If they wanna put Zoe in a zero G strip tease, who am I to object?

I don't think Saldana needs the work that badly now.

I really expect that Uhura will be heavily featured in the next film - probably more so than any characters other than Kirk or Spock.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Well that would be a step in the right direction. A strong female lead is not a bad thing.