There has been a lot of discussion (probably spread over various threads) about JJ’s vision for this film and his interpretation of Trek as a whole. If you look through the various comments he’s given in different interviews, and judging from the descriptions of scenes that have come out, it’s plausible that a major intention for him was to take Star Trek and give it the big screen, high gloss treatment it never received before.
I don’t have a problem with that.
I always felt like the previous Trek outings could have benefited from bigger budgets. I also don’t see much of a problem with JJ wanting to update or revise the look but keep the “veneer” of the Treks we all know in terms of the style of the uniforms and the ships, etc.
What I do take issue with is JJ’s attempt (though the jury is still out till May) to turn Trek into some kind of high-octane, multi-million dollar action film. It seems that on every level, JJ wants this film to be his Star Wars. He clearly infers this in all his interviews. Star Trek was never silly. Star Trek was never parody. The parodies came later. The look of the original series might seem dated to some, but the ideas behind the majority of the stories were always (for the most part) anything but silly. This is one of the universally accepted reasons why Trek has endured for so long.
The first page of Roddenberry’s writer’s guide for TNG clearly states that Trek is not about space battles – it’s about characters and ideas. Intellectual ideas wrapped in an action adventure show. Now maybe there is some great character chemistry that comes out of these new actors and maybe there is a high concept, thought provoking story that drives the film, but I don’t see (or hear) JJ talking about that. The only thing that seems to have excited him was the chance to “amp up” what he saw as a premise lacking proper execution.
And that’s what worries me.
If this is the case, then really, what’s the point of doing this film? I’m sure it will be fun, and exciting for two hours. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of cute, inside Trek references – swashbuckling Sulu, Admiral Archer, et all slapped in between massive CGI… but will it really take Trek in the direction it needs to go?
I don’t have a problem with that.
I always felt like the previous Trek outings could have benefited from bigger budgets. I also don’t see much of a problem with JJ wanting to update or revise the look but keep the “veneer” of the Treks we all know in terms of the style of the uniforms and the ships, etc.
What I do take issue with is JJ’s attempt (though the jury is still out till May) to turn Trek into some kind of high-octane, multi-million dollar action film. It seems that on every level, JJ wants this film to be his Star Wars. He clearly infers this in all his interviews. Star Trek was never silly. Star Trek was never parody. The parodies came later. The look of the original series might seem dated to some, but the ideas behind the majority of the stories were always (for the most part) anything but silly. This is one of the universally accepted reasons why Trek has endured for so long.
The first page of Roddenberry’s writer’s guide for TNG clearly states that Trek is not about space battles – it’s about characters and ideas. Intellectual ideas wrapped in an action adventure show. Now maybe there is some great character chemistry that comes out of these new actors and maybe there is a high concept, thought provoking story that drives the film, but I don’t see (or hear) JJ talking about that. The only thing that seems to have excited him was the chance to “amp up” what he saw as a premise lacking proper execution.
And that’s what worries me.
If this is the case, then really, what’s the point of doing this film? I’m sure it will be fun, and exciting for two hours. I’m sure we’ll see a lot of cute, inside Trek references – swashbuckling Sulu, Admiral Archer, et all slapped in between massive CGI… but will it really take Trek in the direction it needs to go?
