Last night, I decided to go all the way back to Trek's beginning and watched "The Man Trap" which, as you know, was the first Star Trek audiences were ever exposed to back in 1966. I found it interesting to compare this episode to the new film, as apparently some inspiration was drawn from it.
As you can see from the images below, the shot of Kirk and Spock taking cover on the Narada is lifted one to one from a shot in The Man Trap.
Watching the episode, it felt like a really good follow-up to the movie in the way the characters act. One might say this about many episodes of course, or else praise the movie for following those character traits so closely, but this being the first episode I've seen again after the film, it just deepens my appreciation for what Abrams and co. have achieved.
I also noticed that this is the episode in which Uhura tries to flirt with Spock - something, shall we say, elaborated on in the film.
But the actual point of this comparison is to address some of the critics of the film, those who say it wasn't Star Trek to them, that it was too much of a summer blockbuster, that it didn't discuss issues or go deep thematically. Which, much as I loved the film, is true of course. But it wasn't aiming for that, I dare say. What was important, and this has been said by many, was to bring Star Trek back to a large audience, to create new fans instead of just servicing the old ones. To that end, viewers unfamiliar with Star Trek need to be picked up where they are. Fans of sci-fi in general, young audiences eager for adventure stories, excitement, humor, action... all of which ST always had to offer, but maybe in a somewhat old-fashioned way. You get them be giving them what they look for in movies generally and at the same time, you do this with these characters, in this universe and with the same basic storytelling conventions that the series had: the Kirk-Spock duality for one thing - certainly the focus of the film. Or, and that was a moment that struck me during the film as something very unusual for an action film, but certainly very much in the Trek philosophy: At the end, Kirk offers to save Nero from the destruction of his ship. Love thy enemy... A small moment to be sure, but very Trekkian nonetheless.
"The Man Trap" was NBC's choice to air first, even though its plot in which the crew spend most of their time hunting down and eventually killing a creature that's the last of its kind is somewhat the antithesis of the Trek idea of cherishing the unknown instead of fearing it, or of finding the value and beauty even in those things that are dangerous or hideous. The episode generally doesn't rate that highly in part because of that element. It's only in the very last scene that Kirk expresses a tiny hint of regret that they had just killed the last "buffalo", as he puts it.
But, and here's my thought about the connection to the film: It was what a 1966 audience would've known and expected from sci-fi television: there's a monster, kill it! So first off they got a somewhat conventional story that went for action, mystery, danger to get them hooked while the actual thematic meat of the show was delivered in later shows, such as, two weeks later, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", that they were now willing to get into because that initial episode had endeared them to the characters, the concept, the design... whatever it is that makes you stick with a show.
I imagine a similar thought made STXI the way it was: Introduce the characters, make the audience fall in love with them, give them action, mystery, suspense and juuuust a little hint of what the deeper philosophy of this universe is. Once the new fans are there, the next one will go a lot deeper.
So, is STXI a new "The Man Trap", an entertaining and well-made Trek Lite as an appetizer? Will the next film be a "Where No Man Has Gone Before"? Or am I overlooking some deeper Trekkian moments in the film?
As you can see from the images below, the shot of Kirk and Spock taking cover on the Narada is lifted one to one from a shot in The Man Trap.
Watching the episode, it felt like a really good follow-up to the movie in the way the characters act. One might say this about many episodes of course, or else praise the movie for following those character traits so closely, but this being the first episode I've seen again after the film, it just deepens my appreciation for what Abrams and co. have achieved.
I also noticed that this is the episode in which Uhura tries to flirt with Spock - something, shall we say, elaborated on in the film.
But the actual point of this comparison is to address some of the critics of the film, those who say it wasn't Star Trek to them, that it was too much of a summer blockbuster, that it didn't discuss issues or go deep thematically. Which, much as I loved the film, is true of course. But it wasn't aiming for that, I dare say. What was important, and this has been said by many, was to bring Star Trek back to a large audience, to create new fans instead of just servicing the old ones. To that end, viewers unfamiliar with Star Trek need to be picked up where they are. Fans of sci-fi in general, young audiences eager for adventure stories, excitement, humor, action... all of which ST always had to offer, but maybe in a somewhat old-fashioned way. You get them be giving them what they look for in movies generally and at the same time, you do this with these characters, in this universe and with the same basic storytelling conventions that the series had: the Kirk-Spock duality for one thing - certainly the focus of the film. Or, and that was a moment that struck me during the film as something very unusual for an action film, but certainly very much in the Trek philosophy: At the end, Kirk offers to save Nero from the destruction of his ship. Love thy enemy... A small moment to be sure, but very Trekkian nonetheless.
"The Man Trap" was NBC's choice to air first, even though its plot in which the crew spend most of their time hunting down and eventually killing a creature that's the last of its kind is somewhat the antithesis of the Trek idea of cherishing the unknown instead of fearing it, or of finding the value and beauty even in those things that are dangerous or hideous. The episode generally doesn't rate that highly in part because of that element. It's only in the very last scene that Kirk expresses a tiny hint of regret that they had just killed the last "buffalo", as he puts it.
But, and here's my thought about the connection to the film: It was what a 1966 audience would've known and expected from sci-fi television: there's a monster, kill it! So first off they got a somewhat conventional story that went for action, mystery, danger to get them hooked while the actual thematic meat of the show was delivered in later shows, such as, two weeks later, "Where No Man Has Gone Before", that they were now willing to get into because that initial episode had endeared them to the characters, the concept, the design... whatever it is that makes you stick with a show.
I imagine a similar thought made STXI the way it was: Introduce the characters, make the audience fall in love with them, give them action, mystery, suspense and juuuust a little hint of what the deeper philosophy of this universe is. Once the new fans are there, the next one will go a lot deeper.
So, is STXI a new "The Man Trap", an entertaining and well-made Trek Lite as an appetizer? Will the next film be a "Where No Man Has Gone Before"? Or am I overlooking some deeper Trekkian moments in the film?
