So what will fandom do when Star Trek XI is a huge hit?

[Admiral Buzzkill]

This topic is in the hypothesizing spirit of a previous thread. It's a more interesting question, though, for several reasons.

1) A successful Trek XI is considerably more likely than a failure - and given the track records of the people making it, a hugely successful film is a possibility.

2) The answer to "what happens if it fails" is, basically, "everything stays the way it is now." If the movie succeeds, though, everything changes in the world of "official" or "canon" Star Trek.

The studio, having nearly lost its Trek Franchise over the last decade and having gambled a lot of money on this new version, will hitch its star securely to the new vision of Trek. In short order, the world of licensing will change:

New and continuing Trek licensees - comics, novels, mass-market toys and so forth - will be required (in most cases of new licenses) or under heavy pressure (in the case of some continuing licenses) to adopt the new faces and visual designs in all their products.

TOS-era "Kirk" will look like Chris Pine, "Spock" like Quinto. The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701(TM) appearing on book covers and toy shelves will be the version designed by (presumably) Ryan Church and Scott Chambliss. Ditto for uniforms, the bridge and so on.

There will be exceptions - original series and TOS-based movie DVDs will continue to use the original iconography for obvious reasons, and manufacturers of high-priced collectibles will continue to offer Christmas ornaments and models and so forth based on every variation of the Trek Universe. But mass-market toys, games, novels and novelizations and other products will be nuTrek - and for the most part licensees will be more than glad to do this since what they'll be paying for the right to use will be the association with the current huge hit.

By the time the pre-release marketing blitz for Star Trek Twelve starts in, oh, 2010, the imagery and continuity of TOS as we remember it will have been systematically marginalized by Paramount. It will all but disappear from the world of commerce.

This will be...dissonant for lots of folks.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

The suits will all be very pleased.

And so will some of us.

As for the rest of us...

*** cue fight music from "Amok Time" ***

 

[Flake]

Well I have the feeling this movie is going to put Trek back on a par with the big guns back where it belongs. No doubt not everyone in a place like this will be satisfied but hopefully the forums will be awash with positive newbies to sweep away all the negative old timers.

Can't wait for the new chapter in Star Trek.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I expect that most folks who like Trek - not necessarily the majority of hardcore fans on every website - will be pretty happy to embrace the new stuff if they enjoy the movie.

Just as happened with "Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan" in June of 1982, when it turned out that the "Six Million Dollar Man" producer that Paramount had brought in to replace the Great Bird - and who had decided right off to kill Mr. Spock - actually produced a movie they liked.

 

[Jon1701]

North Pole-aris said:
This topic is in the hypothesizing spirit of a previous thread. It's a more interesting question, though, for several reasons.

1) A successful Trek XI is considerably more likely than a failure - and given the track records of the people making it, a hugely successful film is a possibility.

2) The answer to "what happens if it fails" is, basically, "everything stays the way it is now." If the movie succeeds, though, everything changes in the world of "official" or "canon" Star Trek.

The studio, having nearly lost its Trek Franchise over the last decade and having gambled a lot of money on this new version, will hitch its star securely to the new vision of Trek. In short order, the world of licensing will change:

New and continuing Trek licensees - comics, novels, mass-market toys and so forth - will be required (in most cases of new licenses) or under heavy pressure (in the case of some continuing licenses) to adopt the new faces and visual designs in all their products.

TOS-era "Kirk" will look like Chris Pine, "Spock" like Quinto. The U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701(TM) appearing on book covers and toy shelves will be the version designed by (presumably) Ryan Church and Scott Chambliss. Ditto for uniforms, the bridge and so on.

There will be exceptions - original series and TOS-based movie DVDs will continue to use the original iconography for obvious reasons, and manufactures of high-priced collectibles will continue to offer Christmas ornaments and models and so forth based on every variation of the Trek Universe. But mass-market toys, games, novels and novelizations and other products will be nuTrek - and for the most part licensees will be more than glad to do this since what they'll be paying for the right to use will be the association with the current huge hit.

By the time the pre-release marketing blitz for Star Trek Twelve starts in, oh, 2010, the imagery and continuity of TOS as we remember it will have been systematically marginalized by Paramount. It will all but disappear from the world of commerce.

This will be...dissonant for lots of folks.

I tend to agree.

I, for one, am all for it. Hopefully this will be the shot in the arm the franchise needs. :thumbsup:

The last 40 years of Trek is still there - it still exists in my DVD collection and will do so for years and years to come. Its going to be difficult for some people - there will be the odd tear shed, the occasional stubborn arguement, the odd warning given out.

But it has to happen. I think the vast majority of us accept that now. In fact, in think we embrace it.

"If there is to be a brave new world, our generation is going to have the hardest time living in it"

 

[Sharr Khan]

Two reasons I am looking eagerly ahead to this film: A whole new production team, which by extension means the end product is gonna be very different then any "Star Trek" we've seen before.

That right there is enough to enthuse me about this. Though those same reasons are clearly causing a few to blow a gasket.

I foresee a new era for "Star Trek" but a certain segment of fandom will treat it like it isn't Trek since they don't want it to be.

Sharr

 

[number6]

I think if this film is really that good, there will be the usual dozen or so guys around here who will insist on doing everything they can to discredit it and denounce the rest of us as retards who will love anything with "Star Trek" stamped on it. It's happened before, it will happen again and again.

 

[Kegek]

Basically?

Fandom will transform. There will be a whole new cadre of fans - people who became fans from watching this movie. They will be the next generation of fandom for this franchise; some will like some of what came before, some will reject it all out of hand, and some will simply remain oblivious to it, but the Trekkie landscape will be altered.

There will still be the Old Guard, of course, the irredentists clinging to their chosen faith and select parts of the franchise. But that'll be yesterday's news.

In sort, anyone remember the days on this forum when VOY was still on the air, and DS9 and VOY fanatics were locked in violent combat? Board Wars are a-comin', folks...

 

[seigezunt]

^^ I just want to point out that I'm an older fan, and I can't wait for this movie, and feel upbeat so far. So I don't know about this Old Guard stuff...

that said there will be a lot of whining if it's a hit.

 

[xortex]

Like the new coke. Brilliant i tell you, brilliant.

 

[Noname Given]

What will fans do?

1) Nitpick it to death.

2) Claim JJ Abrams and Co. STILL don't really understand Star Trek because <insert fan pet peeve regarding film here>.

3) Expouse on what the production team (whomever it turns out to be); can do to make the sequel 100000 times better, and appeal to ALL Star Trek fans.

4) Claim that if the ideas of '3)' aren't followed to the letter, the sequel will be a HUGE flop/failure.

5) Demand a new T.V. series, while arguing whether it should follow the timeline of the film; or be set farther in the future because, either way, the success of the film shows that enough people are interested to see Star Trek on T.V. again; and that if CBS passes up this golden opportunity, it's run by idiots.

 

[Kegek]

seigezunt said:
^^ I just want to point out that I'm an older fan, and I can't wait for this movie, and feel upbeat so far. So I don't know about this Old Guard stuff...

Chances are, if the film is a hit, I'll probably not like it and be an Old Guarder myself. Transformers was a hit. I didn't like Transformers. Both that film and Star Trek 'Zero' have Orci & Kurtzmann as screenwriters.

Old Guard is here applicable really to those pre-established fans who won't embrace this movie. And we all know that this is going to happen. They may be a minority, but they'll be quite vocal, to be sure.

And of course, my analysis is predicated on Bailey's probable assertion that the film will be a hit. If it is a hit, it will have fans, including those who have never seen a Star Trek production before. The latter is a requirement of the former.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

xortex said:
Like the new coke.

This is not an argument or even a competent rejoinder to an argument - it's a thoughtless cliche, being repeated for the ten thousandth time with no context whatever. Please, do better.

 

[23skidoo]

Even in the best-case scenario, that Trek XI makes Star Trek relevant again, especially for the mass audience who have dismissed it as a joke, it will forever fracture the face of Trek fandom, because you will have those who want to stick with the originals and those who want to move forward.

One thing that might happen, though, is it might also in a perverse way UNITE the already fractured fandom. Right now Trekkies are split into TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT camps, with the occasional overlap and of course the last camp which is "All Series". I think the new film may result in there being only 2 camps at the end of the day: pre-Trek XI Trek and post-Trek XI Trek, and that actually might be better than the infighting we've seen over the last decade or so, taking us back, in a sense, to the simpler says of 1987 when the only fistfights (verbal and otherwise) that broke out were between TOS and TNG supporters.

This assumes Trek XI does its job and is a hit.

If it fails, then it'll simply create an additional faction of fans who enjoyed it and will be forever fighting against those who despise it. Like VOY and ENT fans.

Cheers!

Alex

 

[Jackson_Roykirk]

There are some fans who dislike Nicholas Meyer-led Star Trek films, even though they were financially successful AND popular with the majority of the fanbase.

I suspect If this film is financially successful AND a film deemed worthy by most fans, then there will still be a small number of contrarians who will feel the need to complain about something.

I can also foresee scenarios in which it is a box office hit, yet a large number of the fanbase will not like the film (similar to 'Transformers'). Another scenario may be one in which it is considered by the fanbase to be a high quality "Star Trek" film, but it does not do so well at the box office. If EITHER of these two scenarios occur, you bet there will be a vocal part of the fanbase who will jump up and say "I told you so!"

 

[PDX Trek]

I hope that fandom will go along with it. Like all great mythology, the stories and characters change a little with each re-telling. Hopefully, the success of this film will make it possible for us to keep re-telling these stories and help shape the future of the real 23rd century into something that resembles the core values that Star Trek teaches. (Yes, I'm feeling very optimistic.)

 

[Basil]

While I think your claims are in some cases far reaching -- for instance, I don't think the "imagery and continuity of TOS . . . will all but disappear from the world of commerce" -- I do think most fans will be happy to see it succeed, in large part because success will rely on their participation. More or less, there will be a chicken-and-an-egg reciprocity there.

I'm curious as to why you seem so hostile to "fandom," which in your posts generally seems to be anyone who likes Star Trek but doesn't agree with your vision for it. What did they ever do to you? On the one hand, you argue they are such a tiny, unimportant group that their opinion has little or no effect on Star Trek, but on the other, you constantly rail against them with a level of zeal disproportionate to what you claim is their unimportance. It doesn't make much sense and frankly sounds rather personal.

You don't have to explain, of course, and this is not a personal attack. For the record, there are "fans" who annoy me, who I disagree with, who I choose not to associate with. But most of my friends are in some way Star Trek fans, mostly casual ones, and they're not looking for Star Trek to fail. If anything, they're excited. But in the same way they shrugged at Nemesis and shook their heads at Enterprise, I believe they'll pass on Star Trek if I doesn't seem "right." What does that mean? Well, for them, they want to see something that captures what drew them to TOS.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Basil said:
...in your posts generally seems to be anyone who likes Star Trek but doesn't agree with your vision for it...

You're misunderstanding from the get-go. I don't have a "vision for" Trek. It's just a show I really like.

I'm also usually pretty specific about what's annoying me concerning a particular fannish idea or behavior. In the most general sense, it's the attitude of entitlement coupled with an apparent disinterest in distinguishing between what they want to be true and what actually is with regard to the Franchise.

People who talk about the "Star Trek vision" or "Gene's vision" are almost always blowing some smoke prefatory to making an unsupported announcement about what's "right" or "wrong" with some aspect of some Trek production or Trek-associated personality.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

So what happens if the new movie just does decently? I mean, that's an option, too. Not a failure, but not a mega hit. Then what?

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

MeanJoePhaser said:
So what happens if the new movie just does decently? I mean, that's an option, too. Not a failure, but not a mega hit. Then what?

Well, then we could start a third topic.