The Spy Who Doesn't Love Me
- Thread starter FabiusMaximus
- Start date
darkwing_duck1
Vice Admiral
Even though I'm clearly in the minority, I'm going to post my opinion...
JJ is showing a great deal of DISresepect for the fans by being so secretive. By now, we should have had set pics, a look at the new ship, and more than the dribble of plot details we have recieved so far.
Trek fans have NEVER been asked to "buy a pig in a poke". It is customary to give us a modicum of information and allow us to examine it and determine if this is something we want to see. Our response to the information has also customarily (when it is LISTENED TO by the producers) been useful in fine tuning the film to make it better.
An obsession with "secrecy" and "no 'spoilers'" is in my mind an indication that they are not confident in their film.
But that's just my opinion.
JJ is showing a great deal of DISresepect for the fans by being so secretive. By now, we should have had set pics, a look at the new ship, and more than the dribble of plot details we have recieved so far.
Trek fans have NEVER been asked to "buy a pig in a poke". It is customary to give us a modicum of information and allow us to examine it and determine if this is something we want to see. Our response to the information has also customarily (when it is LISTENED TO by the producers) been useful in fine tuning the film to make it better.
An obsession with "secrecy" and "no 'spoilers'" is in my mind an indication that they are not confident in their film.
But that's just my opinion.
I disagree completely. For one thing, there's no need whatsoever, from an economic point of view, for the filmmakers to "allow us to examine it and determine if it is something we want to see." If there's any segment of the viewing public that's a shoe-in to see this movie, it's Trek fans. And we all know it.
But beyond that, I have trouble understanding the attitude I sometimes see from fans that we're somehow an institution or a kingmaker that "deserves respect." Come on. Yes, there are a lot of people who like (love!) Trek, and are wrapped up in it to varying degrees. I have been, and will be one of those people. But the notion that the filmmakers somehow need to come by and kiss our rings and receive our blessing is a deeply twisted view of what's necessary to make a good movie.
And what's more, the filmmakers this time around have been extremely engaged with the fans in several venues, including press interviews as well as more direct back-and-forth online (see Trekmovie.com in particular). The only thing they haven't done, as far as I can tell, is leak the plot. And I'm perfectly happy with that.
I would dearly like to see photos of the cast in costume, and the bridge. But they are under no obligation to provide me with those, and not seeing them will not be detrimental to my moviegoing experience. When I see the film in 2009, I may hate it. I may think it's mediocre. I may love it. But none of those possible outcomes will have anything whatsoever to do with how much "respect" I felt was paid to the fans in managing the buzz during the previous 18 months.
[Edit] One other thought: waaay back in 1982, I didn't even know that the uniforms had been redesigned for TWOK until I saw a photo accompanying Time Magazine's review the week that it opened. But I didn't feel like I was being asked to buy a pig in a poke -- I felt excited to see a new movie.
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My guess is they are just trying to max out the hype. The higher the level of security, the more people will consider the film an exceptional event, and moreover it will abet "conspiracy theories". I personally think they are taking themselves and XI a wee bit too seriously. 
Nowhere Man
Commodore
we still got comic con in august and some other things in between, so hopefully they'll give us something soon
I think it's just too early -- they don't want these details about the film to be "old news" by the time we should be visiting theatres.
We've got over a year to go. Abrams will want to release details at such a time that people are still excited about them when the film comes out, and that's true regardless of how confident he is in the film's quality.
If it were coming out next week, I think you'd be right to complain about not seeing any stills or more footage, but we're over a year away. Give him time.
I've also noticed a relative media lull ever since the release date was postponed. I suspect they put a hold on some of their plans for exposure in light of this decision. Otherwise, the teaser trailer would have been followed by more and better, instead of just hanging out there on its own for months.
Come on! These are Star Trek fans we're talking about! They don't need anything close to a leaked script in order to pass judgment!
Star Trek fans are renown for being able to pass judgment based on practically no information at all, in fact!
The idea that keeping a tight lid on things will build anticipation and interest resulting in greater ticket sales may work but the opposite isn't necessarily true. That is, releasing some or even a great deal of information will cause apathy and result in poor ticket sales. If that were the case, why is it that so many bestselling novels are turned into successful movies? An easy analogy would be the Harry Potter books-turned-movies. These well-written stories have been the basis for blockbuster movies. Those who crave info on the next movie need only buy the novel and read it as the vast majority of the scripts have followed the books.
In STXI, we know that the familiar characters won't be killed off so that in and of itself limits the amount of tension that can be created. That doesn't bother me because so much is unknown about the era chosen that there are countless opportunities for great background tales. But, would it be so bad if a Trek movie was based on a Trek novel? Would it ruin the next movie's chances for success if JJA let loose with general info on the plot or perhaps a cast photo or two? Not a chance! IMHO, it would only generate more anticipation and interest. This total secrecy stuff is nonsense and it guarrentees nothing.
In STXI, we know that the familiar characters won't be killed off so that in and of itself limits the amount of tension that can be created. That doesn't bother me because so much is unknown about the era chosen that there are countless opportunities for great background tales. But, would it be so bad if a Trek movie was based on a Trek novel? Would it ruin the next movie's chances for success if JJA let loose with general info on the plot or perhaps a cast photo or two? Not a chance! IMHO, it would only generate more anticipation and interest. This total secrecy stuff is nonsense and it guarrentees nothing.
The only “customary” way in which this is done is in the form of previews, of which I’m sure we will have the usual allotment by the time the movie premiers. Abrams is under no obligation, customary or otherwise, to spoil the entire movie for us in advance. I realize this leaves open the possibility that millions of people could be severely emotionally traumatized and psychologically scarred by seeing a movie they didn’t like, but that’s a risk I, for one, am willing to take.
Agreed. For a great, fairly recent example of this, look at the "Lord of the Rings" films. We knew a great deal about the visuals of those films before they came out, and of course we all knew about the general storyline (though granted, many in the "general audience" may not have). Had the LOTR folks NOT done that... if they'd kept everything super-duper-secret... the audience, in general, would have been expecting a typical "fantasy elves and orcs" movie... ie, a b-movie cheesefest. The fact that it was treated much more... elegantly? Realistically? Whatever... well, the fact that it was treated as it was really did the movie series a LOT of good.
People saw the Moria Orcs months before the movie hit... and the reaction wasn't "oh, the surprise is spoiled." The reaction is "oh, wow, this might actually be GOOD, not stupid like I was expecting!"
Well, that's not NECESSARILY a given, you know. It's possible that this movie will permanently "alter" everything we've known for 40+ years (as some folks on this BBS are inclined to gleefully repeat ad nauseum). I don't think that's really what's going to happen... but it's definitely POSSIBLE.
If that were true... they really COULD kill somebody off, or permanently alter them.
But more likely, I suspect, is something more along the lines of the "fake deaths" we've seen... Chekov in "Spectre of the Gun" or so forth... at the end, it's all "reset" back to normal. I'd consider that a bit annoying if they really went that way, but not so much as if they really do "delete Trek history" as some folks here seem to want to badly.
Ultimately, I'm HOPEFUL that what we're going to see is going to fit in nearly perfectly with what we know... and, in fact, will fit in far better than any of the other Trek we've seen for the past nearly 30 years. I'm hopeful, but I know that there's no guarantee.
As a side note... I found myself having a bit of an epiphany today. We have all been making an assumption about the Enterprise as seen in the trailer... that it's supposed to represent the TOS-era ship.
What if that's wrong? What if what we're looking at is actually the TMP refit, in an alternate timeline... one where Kirk didn't command the 5-year-mission, where the situation at Organia wasn't resolved as it was, where LOTs of things were impacted due to Kirk being absent.
That puts the entire sequence into a different light, doesn't it? We've been ASSUMING that the sequence shown represents something pre-TOS... but that's just an assumption. This could very easily be post-TOS.
I was just going to say the same thing. Beating the "Time" review by several months - and totally blitzing the likes of poor old "Starlog", which had been kept in the dark until they could release a "Movie Magazine" a few days before the film's premiere - was a Japanese language edition of "Supervisual" #3.
A Japanese-speaking friend brought a copy of "Supervisual" to a Star Trek convention in the February and, although we already knew there was a young female Vulcan in the crew, it was our first look at Saavik, Spock, Kirk and McCoy in their new uniforms, in about three small colour photos. We were fascinated by the metal insignias and the Canadian Mounties look to the actual uniforms. Knowing how much effort had gone into TMP's costumes, we were astounded that director Nicholas Meyer had dispensed with the existing Starfleet wardrobes.
The only "news" about ST II until then had been the title ("The Vengeance of Khan"), the casting of Ricardo Montalban, rumors of a weather machine being stolen - and Susan Sackett (at a UK convention) leaking the news of Spock's death (which caused Nicholas Meyer and Harve Bennett to rejig the script, and add a phony Spock death to the Kobayashi Maru scenario).
I agree that it's unlikely that none of main characters are killed off and I hope the story does fit neatly into established Trek history. On a different topic, has it been stated that the Chekov we see is actually Pavel and not his brother, Pioter (sp)? Wouldn't that be a twist?? All along we keep hearing him called just "Chekov" assuming it's 'our' Pavel. Then, near the end, he dies some horrible and perhaps heroic death and we learn that it wasn't Pavel but instead his older brother. That's when they introduce Pavel for the next flick.
You are not.
"Those who do not learn from history..."
I think JJ Abrams & Company have it right. Create an atmosphere of anticipation for the movie. Sure I'm having withdrawal pains like so many others, but that is a good thing.
Besides, if poor JJ reads this board, he is probably afraid that anything he leaks will be instantly pounced upon like sharks to a surfer. Repeatedly torn apart and criticized by crazed fans. Hopefully he doesn't read TrekBBS and will create the fervor by releasing just the right amount at the right time to ensure a box office success.
I think JJ Abrams & Company have it right. Create an atmosphere of anticipation for the movie. Sure I'm having withdrawal pains like so many others, but that is a good thing.
Besides, if poor JJ reads this board, he is probably afraid that anything he leaks will be instantly pounced upon like sharks to a surfer. Repeatedly torn apart and criticized by crazed fans. Hopefully he doesn't read TrekBBS and will create the fervor by releasing just the right amount at the right time to ensure a box office success.
Do'h!