Where is the insult you ask? I’ll tell you where the insult lies. I grew up on TNG reruns, this got me into TOS reruns. What has got me hooked on Star Trek was this vision of a utopia universe, the belief that this universe could, some day, come true. And then finally DS9, VOY (even though I find a lot of problems with it, but it was still Star Trek, it still happened in the universe I love, and I still tuned in everyday to see what’s happening in my universe.), ENT (I am actually the few that like it. Because I appreciated what it try to do. It was a prequel, but it respected my universe to enough to not wipe out everything that came before it. ENT even tried to patch up some of the holes left behind by TOS and TNG – how the klingons got smooth foreheads, the origin of the green Orion woman.) All the Star Trek that came before this movie happened in my universe, the alternate universe is only used occasionally as a diversion.
In comes Abrams a self proclaimed none Star Trek fan, with his action/adventure movie (just because it’s in space does not a Scifi make) have the audacity to wipe away my entire youth. And he thinks so little of trek fans’ intelligence to feed us the crap of it’s an “alternate timeline”, your universe still exists (we’ll just never going to tell new stories about it) bullshit. With this new film Abrams basically said fuck you to Gene and all those that follow and believe in Roddenberry’s vision of a utopia future. Some of you will never understand why that this is such a slap in the face. That is because you have not gone through your youth being a nerdy kid that is constantly bullied beaten for being a fan of Star Trek. The trekkies endured the ridicule the beatings in an increasingly epistemological world. But we believe in a better future, the world can be better than what it is. This is what gives me comfort when I come home bloodied. And now Abrams and Co. Have basically said that your vision of a utopia is not good enough and it doesn’t appeal to the masses. We will turn the name Star Trek into another run of the mill action/adventurer. Someone on this forum have even gone so far to suggest that, now Star Trek is another mass consumed product trekkies no longer need to endure the ridicule anymore. Well that just screams “you do not understand”!!! And raise doubt to your claim of being a trekkie, or possibly a self hating trekkie, secretly wanting acceptance from the “cool kids”. Now if wanting Star Trek to be better than a run of the mill action film, and not have the name tarnished sounds elitist. Then I say to you the scars (both physical and emotional) I bear have earned me the right.
Some would argue that Abrams did throw the fans a bone by putting in little gems and reference to TOS. But I would argue most of those references are a comical abstraction of iconic characters, even none followers will understand. Kirk sleeps around with green woman, and now it had finally happened in the film. Bones saying “damn it I’m a doctor not a __________”. Scotty reduced to a bad Scottish accent (thank god they didn’t put a bottle in his hand). Chekov is nothing more than a bad Russian accent now, (well at least he didn’t suggest everything was invented in Russia). Sulu is nothing more than a sword wielding ninja (at least he get to keep his top on). Spock is an emotional train wreck barely holding on to his logic (who would maroon Kirk at an icy planet). Uhura is now the girl friend of Spock (which brings to question the integrity of Spock, for having a relationship with one of his student). Wearing a red shirt is a death sentence. This film portrays the cliché of Star Trek very well and uses it as a punch line. Even the little gem of Kirk being allergic (a nod to TWoH) was handled with comical bubble hands that it cheapens it. So this is what TOS had been reduced to, clichés and comic relief. Now a trekkie is used to being made fun of, and we do have a sense of humour, so we too can have a chuckle at those comical renditions of the characters. But all those cumulated to a slap in the face when Vulcan got sucked into a black hole thus rendering the previous trek universe irrelevant. (If you do not understand why that is such a big deal, you’ll need to understand the importance of Vulcan in star Trek lore).
But being a Star Trek fan and an optimist at heart I hope the future of trek will not be this bastardized version, and trek will return to its utopia version of humanity. For that I can only hope.
For those of you, like me, can’t swallow the kool aid, just remember in the words of Sybok “have faith my friends, there are more of us than you know”.
In comes Abrams a self proclaimed none Star Trek fan, with his action/adventure movie (just because it’s in space does not a Scifi make) have the audacity to wipe away my entire youth. And he thinks so little of trek fans’ intelligence to feed us the crap of it’s an “alternate timeline”, your universe still exists (we’ll just never going to tell new stories about it) bullshit. With this new film Abrams basically said fuck you to Gene and all those that follow and believe in Roddenberry’s vision of a utopia future. Some of you will never understand why that this is such a slap in the face. That is because you have not gone through your youth being a nerdy kid that is constantly bullied beaten for being a fan of Star Trek. The trekkies endured the ridicule the beatings in an increasingly epistemological world. But we believe in a better future, the world can be better than what it is. This is what gives me comfort when I come home bloodied. And now Abrams and Co. Have basically said that your vision of a utopia is not good enough and it doesn’t appeal to the masses. We will turn the name Star Trek into another run of the mill action/adventurer. Someone on this forum have even gone so far to suggest that, now Star Trek is another mass consumed product trekkies no longer need to endure the ridicule anymore. Well that just screams “you do not understand”!!! And raise doubt to your claim of being a trekkie, or possibly a self hating trekkie, secretly wanting acceptance from the “cool kids”. Now if wanting Star Trek to be better than a run of the mill action film, and not have the name tarnished sounds elitist. Then I say to you the scars (both physical and emotional) I bear have earned me the right.
Some would argue that Abrams did throw the fans a bone by putting in little gems and reference to TOS. But I would argue most of those references are a comical abstraction of iconic characters, even none followers will understand. Kirk sleeps around with green woman, and now it had finally happened in the film. Bones saying “damn it I’m a doctor not a __________”. Scotty reduced to a bad Scottish accent (thank god they didn’t put a bottle in his hand). Chekov is nothing more than a bad Russian accent now, (well at least he didn’t suggest everything was invented in Russia). Sulu is nothing more than a sword wielding ninja (at least he get to keep his top on). Spock is an emotional train wreck barely holding on to his logic (who would maroon Kirk at an icy planet). Uhura is now the girl friend of Spock (which brings to question the integrity of Spock, for having a relationship with one of his student). Wearing a red shirt is a death sentence. This film portrays the cliché of Star Trek very well and uses it as a punch line. Even the little gem of Kirk being allergic (a nod to TWoH) was handled with comical bubble hands that it cheapens it. So this is what TOS had been reduced to, clichés and comic relief. Now a trekkie is used to being made fun of, and we do have a sense of humour, so we too can have a chuckle at those comical renditions of the characters. But all those cumulated to a slap in the face when Vulcan got sucked into a black hole thus rendering the previous trek universe irrelevant. (If you do not understand why that is such a big deal, you’ll need to understand the importance of Vulcan in star Trek lore).
But being a Star Trek fan and an optimist at heart I hope the future of trek will not be this bastardized version, and trek will return to its utopia version of humanity. For that I can only hope.
For those of you, like me, can’t swallow the kool aid, just remember in the words of Sybok “have faith my friends, there are more of us than you know”.
