I wanted very much to root for the Kelvin movies. I adored the cast and thought they absolutely nailed their roles.
I'm not an actor, neither are many here. But we could all nail those roles because they were superficial marionette stereotypes of the originals spitting out the catchphrases, as a nostalgia teddy bear. "Hey, it's Kirk, he's boinking a green woman. I remember that from way back when! Yeah, I like! And Chekov! He's got the thick accent! I remember Chekov having that from what back when! Yeah, I like! And there's McCoy, he's being potty mouth at Spock. I remember that too! And Spock! He's got a live now and banging Uhura! More! More! Oh their arguing is so domestic and I can relate to that because I'm married! More! More, har har more more!"
Ugh.
I'm surprised they had the creative angle of the alternate timeline angle.
I was NOT crazy about the alternate timeline reimagining of it all, but even when I put that aside the biggest problem for me was that those movies were 'too little too infrequently'.
It's a double-edged sword. It gets them out of the established universe into an entirely new blank slate... so what do they do?
Not much that's memorable and most that was isn't memorable in any positive way.
2009-2016 produced 6 hours of "Star Trek" content. We had 4 villians all with paper thin motivations and the Enterprise being outgunned 3 out of 3 times. I enjoyed the movies enough as popcorn flicks, but they didn't really do much to expand the universe.
Not just the characters, the whiz-bang boom boom accorded the ship had viewers screaming in the 1990s over "Oh, the ship is going to be destroyed. Yet again. Oh I'm so worried for them, but at least we can go har-har over how big and long the alphabet is." Seriously... To think those TNG movies feel like they had any real substance is now made real thanks to the nostalgxplotation of the franchise.
The only thing of consequence was the destruction of Romulus--a storyline that is now 10 years old and that will FINALLY be addressed by a new Picard show of all things.
A bit overdue, and probably not thought out. With luck there will be time and dedicated crafting attached to this new series. The fact they got Patrick "I'm done playing Picard" Stewart back means they impressed him royally with the ideas and plans, or it'll be Stewart's way of doing what Shatner did in 1986 in a sketch comedy show. And/or something else.
If the Picard show was to be conceived and premiered in 2013 in coordination with "Into Darkness" for example, I think the synergy between the Kelvin movies and TV Trek would've worked splendidly.
STID had the marvelous double double cross with Admiral Robocop. The magic blood, Spock becoming Rocky with that punching act, Khan's Magic Blood With Popsicle Stick Singing And Acting, etc, etc... not so much. It was a good movie but it does not stand up to repeated screenings. Oh yeah, along with the Enterprise being pummeled again, Earth's in rabid danger. Is all modern day sci-fi so parochial and timid that it can't get away from Earth as a direct reference point? It was bad enough when Shinzon wanted to go to Earth because... he's so pissed off at the Romulans who made and abused him far worse than anything Jean-Luc had done? Okey dokey...
Unfortunately until CBS and Viacom merge, Star Trek will never reach its deserved potential as a multimedia mega-franchise.
However, Discovery, the Picard series, an animated comedy, an animated children's show and a potential Academy series have me feeling like we could be entering a golden age of storytelling.
In 1966, Star Trek was billed as a premiere adult-themed science fiction series. Now it's aimed at kids because that's all sci-fi seems to be. Amazing, the multitude and multifaceted nature and mere ways of which how the audience changes... to the point that even "Lost in Space" might end up feeling like a more mature, less juvenile sci-fi adventure series for adults by comparison because it's not juvenile... by comparison. That's actually pretty sad. For multiple reasons...
