Star Trek Fundamentalism

[Kirk1980]

Yeah but both sides are guilty of going over the top with their pronouncements and denouncements.

It seems to be more a tact against people who are against what has been done based on the same information the people who like what has been done to point out the naysayers haven't seen the film yet. Even if the reasoning isn't OTT.

 

[Franklin]

Yeah, I wish that particular bit of 'wisdom' would die already.

NOBODY'S SEEN THE FILM.

Therefore, nobody should have an opinion one way or the other based on that sort of logic.

Well, to be fair, I think it's the IDEA of the film in the first place (especially the direction in which they decided to take it) that puts some people off. That doesn't predispose one to be positive of what one sees after that.

No one can debate the contents of the film. Many of those looking forward to it are just taking it on faith that it could be a really good film, too. I'm looking forward to it, but in the back of my mind, I am scared it won't work or the story will stink. But that's just how I roll about things in general.

I don't like everything about the execution that I've seen so far (the cosemtics department bridge pictures, for example, and THE GLARE! THE GLARE!). But, I'm not going to begrudge someone for lapping it all up. It's been a long time since there's been any Trek like this. And it's the first time it's ever been done on this scale. I can't blame folks for being very excited.
I also can't blame folks not being able to let go of something that is of a time four decades ago. We romanticized the hell out of TOS. To some, it is practically perfect in every way. To change it is heresy. To some, it may have even been a freaking way of life. This movie is a reminder that people grow older and all things end. That can't be easy for some to take, either.

 

[Plumster]

Yeah but both sides are guilty of going over the top with their pronouncements and denouncements.

It seems to be more a tact against people who are against what has been done based on the same information the people who like what has been done to point out the naysayers haven't seen the film yet. Even if the reasoning isn't OTT.

There are people here guilty of a total overreaction to this topic generally.

And that more than justifies the title.

 

[SGCSG1]

Like I said, fuck them and fuck what they did to Trek

You tell em. Starting sites like TrekToday, Trekcore, Memory Alpha, and whatnot. Bunch of cretins.

It's sooooo niche friend and sooooo geeky.

The studio want mainstream and they don't want geeks. We're finished whether you like it or not. We'' have fan productions, fan fiction etc but we'll never have Voyager again.

Hurrah..!!

I've figured out what pisses off the pedants and it's because this time I don't think the fan base will make or break the film and there's a few of them that HATE that.

Fan power brought it back in 1979 - it did not bring it back this time.

They HATE that.

They HATE the fact that JJ is bigger than they are and that this has a momentum of it's own removed from what they think or want.

They see themselves as Trek and all that surrounds it. It's obvious to anyone who tries to engage with them.

All the major Trek actors allude to it at some point or other in their biographies - the fans and their reaction to the destruction of the Enterprise - the fans and their reaction to Sulu Captaining the Excelsior - the fans and their reaction to the death of Spock - the fans and their reaction to Nimoy/Shatner directing etc.

The fans were the actors allies and little snippits would get released before anything happened if the actors did not approve of what they were asked to do. Roddenberry was the 'brains' behind so much of that - the old letter writing campaign - pressing the flesh at conventions etc.

That core of fans hates the fact that they have nothing to do with or any hold over this movie - and that's why the opinions by certain 'fans' is so negative.

I think fandom may well split after this movie because nothing they do or say has any relevance within the studio today. They cannot make or break this film - only Joe Public can do that now and they hate that- the dirty little secret is out and it will finally be seen for what it is. It's either niche entertainment or it's about to go seriously global in a way that it has not for 20 years. That, of course, was a whole generation ago.

In some ways - the chickens have come home to roost. Trek toward the end of it's last run was not relevent to many at all - it was relevent to a few.

This film is the acid test of that rationale - radical and different production values are being mooted in place of tired and worn out methodology that entertained an undemanding few so long as it had chubby and aging actors turning out for another payday.

Patrick Stewart looked as bored as anyone could possibly look in his last two outings as Picard. What future was there in that?

You will see the future come May 2009 - and it's a future that NONE OF THOSE NICHE WEBSITES YOU MENTIONED HAVE ANY INFLUENCE OVER.

You might love it, you might hate it.

I hope you all grow up.



__________________

This is the best post I've seen in a LOOOONG time.

 

[SGCSG1]

I would rather see Star Trek slip quietly in to history with it's honor intact, than to see an legend raped and dishonoured by those who care not for any thing but money and their own warped sense of entitlement to a franchise that is a living legend.

The Star Trek of my youth will die this May. What come after will no doubt be great science fiction, but Trek will be gone forever.

Idiocy and narcissism like this are what make J.J. say, 'This isn't a movie for Trekkies'. God Bless him.

 

[M'Sharak]

Yeah but both sides are guilty of going over the top with their pronouncements and denouncements.

Quite true, but I think that both of those sides (or are there more than two?) represent only a very small fraction of that group who think of themselves as Trek fans. Most Trek fans, I suspect, are somewhere in the middle and really wouldn't mind if those people out toward the extremes would stop yelling quite so much.

Yeah but both sides are guilty of going over the top with their pronouncements and denouncements.

It seems to be more a tact against people who are against what has been done based on the same information the people who like what has been done to point out the naysayers haven't seen the film yet. Even if the reasoning isn't OTT.

There are people here guilty of a total overreaction to this topic generally.

And that more than justifies the title.

There have been some rather strident examples of overreaction, no question. Whether that really justifies the title is another question, but I think that we've about exhausted the usefulness of this topic. There have been moments, I'll grant, where there was productive discussion and open exchange of views, but most of that was pages and pages ago, so why don't I just close this now?