I'm not here to debate about the full merits of the new Trek films in comparison to older Trek; I had my fill being angry about Star Trek and Into Darkness, and now I think any lingering anger about the new direction of the franchise is a bit tired sounding nowadays. You either like how things are or you don't, and everyone knows each others' arguments about why they love or hate it.
I've come to terms with what they were trying to do. I see now that it's way more of a reboot of the way the original show was in comparison to the later Berman era. There's plenty of Berma-era Trek to rewatch and enjoy. The brewery engine room was kind of weird at first, but now I accept that this is how things will be. That's all fine. I like the new films.
The only lingering thing that sometimes bothers me is the scaling and pacing of space battles. I think one of the things that set Trek apart from other science fiction franchises is how space battles were treated. Generally speaking, space combat is shown to be analogous to modern submarine warfare. Battles are slower paced, but with a very unique sense of tension and dread. The Wrath of Khan best exemplifies this (the newer films were supposedly most inspired by this film).
Space is terrifying. Spaceships are big, lumbering, semi-claustrophobic beasts that can spring hull breaches and explosions when the shields get too weak to repel incoming projectiles. Torpedoes flicker ominously as they trail towards their target. There's several seconds where all the captain can do is yell, "Brace for impact!" Combat is a back and forth, like a cosmic chess match, with ships hiding behind planetoids. In TWOK, there are lengthy moments where it seems everyone is bracing for the next phaser strike, sitting at their consoles in a state of dread.
When Sisko's old ship Saratoga gets critically damaged and the order is given to abandon ship, they have several free minutes (seems almost like ten minutes or more, maybe) to get everyone into escape pods. Sure, the Borg were probably occupied blowing up the other forty starships engaged in combat, but it gives you a sense that battles are much more methodical. In pre-2009 Trek, shipwide destruction can happen with only a few well-placed phaser or torpedo strikes.
Hopefully this makes a shred of sense. My question, then, is what kind of battles do you prefer? Do you prefer the newer, fast-paced Star Wars style combat? Or do you prefer the older, methodical, sub-style combat? I'm not interested in debating, again, the merits of the new films vs. the old films in a macro sense. This is just about the style of space combat you prefer.
For me, while I find the way the new films went about things exciting and visually stunning, I have to say, I miss a little of the charm Trek battles used to have. I feel like the slower, tension-filled combat of films like TWOK feels more, I don't know, realistic? It just feels like how real space battles would actually happen.
When everything is fast-paced explosions and eye candy, I feel like you lose a bit of tension in the process of speeding things up. Phaser hits simply become little water pistol pea shots that inflict miniscule damage unless you're firing a thousand phaser shots a minute like a Star Destroyer. Even in the Dominion War, DS9's huge fleet battles still gave you that sense of scale. Nothing really moved faster than it should. It still wasn't Star Wars. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge SW fan, but this was one thing that really set Trek apart.
I've come to terms with what they were trying to do. I see now that it's way more of a reboot of the way the original show was in comparison to the later Berman era. There's plenty of Berma-era Trek to rewatch and enjoy. The brewery engine room was kind of weird at first, but now I accept that this is how things will be. That's all fine. I like the new films.
The only lingering thing that sometimes bothers me is the scaling and pacing of space battles. I think one of the things that set Trek apart from other science fiction franchises is how space battles were treated. Generally speaking, space combat is shown to be analogous to modern submarine warfare. Battles are slower paced, but with a very unique sense of tension and dread. The Wrath of Khan best exemplifies this (the newer films were supposedly most inspired by this film).
Space is terrifying. Spaceships are big, lumbering, semi-claustrophobic beasts that can spring hull breaches and explosions when the shields get too weak to repel incoming projectiles. Torpedoes flicker ominously as they trail towards their target. There's several seconds where all the captain can do is yell, "Brace for impact!" Combat is a back and forth, like a cosmic chess match, with ships hiding behind planetoids. In TWOK, there are lengthy moments where it seems everyone is bracing for the next phaser strike, sitting at their consoles in a state of dread.
When Sisko's old ship Saratoga gets critically damaged and the order is given to abandon ship, they have several free minutes (seems almost like ten minutes or more, maybe) to get everyone into escape pods. Sure, the Borg were probably occupied blowing up the other forty starships engaged in combat, but it gives you a sense that battles are much more methodical. In pre-2009 Trek, shipwide destruction can happen with only a few well-placed phaser or torpedo strikes.
Hopefully this makes a shred of sense. My question, then, is what kind of battles do you prefer? Do you prefer the newer, fast-paced Star Wars style combat? Or do you prefer the older, methodical, sub-style combat? I'm not interested in debating, again, the merits of the new films vs. the old films in a macro sense. This is just about the style of space combat you prefer.
For me, while I find the way the new films went about things exciting and visually stunning, I have to say, I miss a little of the charm Trek battles used to have. I feel like the slower, tension-filled combat of films like TWOK feels more, I don't know, realistic? It just feels like how real space battles would actually happen.
When everything is fast-paced explosions and eye candy, I feel like you lose a bit of tension in the process of speeding things up. Phaser hits simply become little water pistol pea shots that inflict miniscule damage unless you're firing a thousand phaser shots a minute like a Star Destroyer. Even in the Dominion War, DS9's huge fleet battles still gave you that sense of scale. Nothing really moved faster than it should. It still wasn't Star Wars. Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge SW fan, but this was one thing that really set Trek apart.
