Who of you changed your minds?

[M'Sharak]

no mind changing here. expected to love it and I do. Canon violation and blah blah blah and all.

You should restart as a poll.

Can I do that?

I think so, though I've never made a poll so I can't help you. but I know you can put a poll in after you start a thread.

Actually, no. With the old software, you could add polls on the fly mid-thread, but vBulletin will only accept one along with the opening post of a thread. That and the fact that the poll feature does not allow for multiple questions have been seen by some as the biggest drawbacks to the change in software. Making a poll now basically means starting another thread.

 

[Possum]

Put me down as someone who fully was expecting to despise it. I remember hearing about a year ago or so- something about seeing the crew together at the academy and I was appalled. Then I pretty much forgot about it until I saw the trailer at a theater a few months back. I remember lamenting to my mom and husband (both Trek fans) that "I don't want to see it because it WILL be horrible but I HAVE to see it to see just how bad it is!" I was picturing what had been done to some other favorites of mine- The Wild Wild West, Bicentennial Man, and I, Robot. I couldn't picture the movie to be taken seriously by the creators. I was afraid it'd turn out to be a mean-spirited joke on the fans.

About a week before it came out I saw the "Disease and Danger" clip and said "Oh my... that is McCoy" and it looks like it has potential. Halfway through the movie I was buying the nuCharacters as the old characters and was totally converted. Second viewing better than the first as I was able to watch it instead of comparing it to TOS.

I think this new version has caught the spirit of the TOS series. It feels more like a sequel to the series in a way than the original cast movies do. And I can totally handle that this is an alternate timeline- we've had plenty of those in TOS and TNG and DS9- we are just going to get a whole series of movies of it.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

In the beginning I was enthused, yay new Trek flick.. enthused but realistic. Because well.. see previous 2 films.

In the middle I was nervous about the setting, the Academy.. and, spoiler free, resigned myself to meh-ness. Yes la la la it will be Trek which is good and it will be meh which is to be expected.

Then.. the trailers.. whoa this looks like it could be GOOD. But hey, it's just a trailer, let us return to an expectation of meh-ness.

Opening Day. May 7nth. First showing of the morning.

And.. TOTAL BESOTTIFIED, INFATUATED, OBSESSIVE, OMG-THIS-IS-SO-TOS CONVERSION.

Still in love.. ::

 

[Kirk1980]

I hoped it would be fun. My expectation was that it would be fun but incredibly dumb with enough plotholes and bad writing to make me laugh later.

And it lived up to each and every one of those predictions.

 

[NileQT87]

I wasn't remotely a fan of Star Trek. I've been a Warsie for years. Trek to me was boring technobabble of the Picard era (though Data at least showed promise to me as a character in what I saw of First Contact--the last half). Shatner has been the butt of many jokes. And granted, I'm enough of a pop-culture nerd to know the basics of the Trek iconography and quite a few of the characters. Most of what I knew about the original series was from the '70s SNL sketch with Belushi as Kirk and Aykroyd as McCoy (I was a big Belushi/Akroyd fan). When I thought of Trek, I envisioned characters debating endlessly or giving orders on the bridge. I really didn't hear much about character dramatic plots (which is my favorite kind of storytelling) and Trekkies are known for being technical.

Also, I kinda was familiar with Jonathan Frakes because of his appearances on Roswell (The Convention--there's some funny 'they got Frakes instead of Shatner and Nimoy' jokes--and Secrets and Lies--Max auditions badly for a Trek role even though he's a real alien).

Anyway... The first time I heard about this film, I think was when the actors were announced. I do vaguely remember hearing about Winona Ryder being in it (big fan of her in her Beetlejuice, Great Balls of Fire! and Edward Scissorhands days). I definitely hadn't heard of any of the other people in the film. However, I had seen the famous Sylar chases Claire scene in Homecoming back when it first aired. But you barely even see Quinto's face through the shadows there, so I honestly didn't have Quinto's face in my memory. Spock was definitely the first I had really seen of him act and what made me look up the rest of Heroes. And Eomer does ring a bell as well.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure I was probably rolling my eyes when I heard they were making a Star Trek film. It definitely didn't sound like my thing a few years ago. It was everybody's rave reviews on another forum that I belong to (Buffy/Angel fandom) that made me decide to give it a shot. I LOVED it! And immediately seeked out Quinto's other work. I also started watching some of the TOS episodes online.

Believe me, I was expecting to go on a few more years before a current movie did anything for me. The last new movie I enjoyed was Sweeney Todd!

 

[Kirk1980]

Well, as this is the most Star Warsian Trek ever (take that for what you will), I'm not surprised Wars fans enjoyed this Trek.

The one very large positive I'm taking from this despite not being a huge fan of what was done with the franchise is that it's getting new viewers of the older material and hopefully showing them a good time.

 

[rbnn]

I thought it would be mediocre. I'd been disappointed by nearly every big "event" movie of the past decade. I was awestruck when I finally saw it, up to five times seeing it now.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

awestruck

mmmm....awestruck.. I like that.

 

[Ovation]

The timeline has been irrevocably altered, and the saga of Star Trek will now unfold differently. Where does that leave the established movies and hundreds of television episodes that followed?
.

The timeline is new and separate. The original (insofar as that applies) is still there--in fact, it is the source of the new one (Nero comes from the "original") and we have onscreen evidence that it continues to exist (Spock came after Nero--if Nero's trip to 2233 had "altered the original", then Spock could not have followed him through). It is true that any immediate future on-screen installments of Trek will not return to the "original" timeline, but that does not mean the original is gone (in-universe--I'm not referring to the fact that all the DVDs are still available).

All the preceding adventures of the past 40 years led to the incident that sent Nero and Spock back--the film's story could not occur without those events.

 

[NileQT87]

All the preceding adventures of the past 40 years led to the incident that sent Nero and Spock back--the film's story could not occur without those events.

I absolutely see it this way and I really love the concept of it. Back to the beginning. For old Spock, it opens up the question of how you use that vast 155 years of knowledge. It opens up the question of regrets he had about his own life or things he wished he had experienced. Might he guide his younger self with the knowledge gained over his lifetime? Or will it be more about giving technological secrets and stopping baddies before they fully emerge? Or will he choose to not say anything at all?

For these reasons alone, on a philosophical level, the older Spock has an amazing arc that could be explored BECAUSE of his ability to go back to the beginning now and do it over, knowing what he already knows. And of course, you get one Spock's choices and already-lived life juxtaposed with the unfolding results of where different circumstances and choices would have lead him.

There are new adventures for the younger versions of these characters and also a new adventure for the older Spock, too. He essentially gets a second chance at life for a second set of himself and his old friends (he's the last of them with his Vulcan lifespan--am I correct?).

I hope the sequels or future tie-in material does something with this concept. It's nice that the end of Spock Prime's story will be spent with those of his past.

 

[indranee]

Can I do that?

I think so, though I've never made a poll so I can't help you. but I know you can put a poll in after you start a thread.

Actually, no. With the old software, you could add polls on the fly mid-thread, but vBulletin will only accept one along with the opening post of a thread. That and the fact that the poll feature does not allow for multiple questions have been seen by some as the biggest drawbacks to the change in software. Making a poll now basically means starting another thread.

oh! hmm... I had no idea of the change.

 

[indranee]

Well, as this is the most Star Warsian Trek ever (take that for what you will), I'm not surprised Wars fans enjoyed this Trek.

The one very large positive I'm taking from this despite not being a huge fan of what was done with the franchise is that it's getting new viewers of the older material and hopefully showing them a good time.

nope. it's YOUR theory. and it doesn't hold much water.

I was never a Star Wars fan. I'm an original, syndicated-run-in-the-1970s Trekkie. I love this movie and think it captures the spirit of TOS.

 

[indranee]

The timeline has been irrevocably altered, and the saga of Star Trek will now unfold differently. Where does that leave the established movies and hundreds of television episodes that followed?
.

The timeline is new and separate. The original (insofar as that applies) is still there--in fact, it is the source of the new one (Nero comes from the "original") and we have onscreen evidence that it continues to exist (Spock came after Nero--if Nero's trip to 2233 had "altered the original", then Spock could not have followed him through). It is true that any immediate future on-screen installments of Trek will not return to the "original" timeline, but that does not mean the original is gone (in-universe--I'm not referring to the fact that all the DVDs are still available).

All the preceding adventures of the past 40 years led to the incident that sent Nero and Spock back--the film's story could not occur without those events.

but Spock, like Nero, was already in the "timesling" of the black hole. that could mean that he (like Nero) was separated from any effects on the original timeline, no? just playing devil's advocate here. I'd like to believe that the original timeline, as the writers have said, is still around.

 

[Steven Of Nine]

I fully expected to hate and I've seen it three times. Funny thing is, the movie was everything I expected it to be. Somehow, I just didn't care.

My feelings, exactly. When I first saw the poster for the film, the white one, with a starfield-backed "Star Trek Dec 2008" I was really excited. When Abrams was named director, I had mixed feelings. Can't stand Lost or Alias. And when they pushed the film back from December to May, I got a bad feeling.

Then, over the 15 months until it actually came out I got more and more and more excited, and expected to be crushingly disappointed.

In the end, the movie is full of silliness, plot holes, ridiculous concepts and canon violations (shut up!!!!!)

And, like the Strud, I don't care. I may even buy a BluRay player, just to see this film in 1080p.

 

[startrekwatcher]

I pretty much went in with zero expectations since I intentionally went out of my way to avoid any spoilers, trailers, interviews or early reviews so I never came into this forum until after I saw the film. So basically I had no high expectations that weren't meant nor did I have low expectations that were surpassed.

I was pretty much open to anything just so long as it was well written and entertaining. Ultimately, it wasn't as good as I might have liked but it wasn't awful. It just treated everything as a means to an end for the sake of action or spectacle.

 

[Kirk1980]

It is HARDLY my theory, Indranee. Not even remotely.

Abrams himself stated he liked Star Wars more than Star Trek and the parallels are easily there for the viewing.

I'm not making a judgement in that statement but let's at least be honest about what was in the film.

 

[indranee]

except it sucks balls. I am NOT a Star Wars fan. I love this movie.

so it's BS.

 

[Kirk1980]

Your emotions run high, don't they?

Well, since logical discourse is out...um...hm.

 

[indranee]

no, I just have a built-in BS-detector.

 

[Kirk1980]

Ah, delightful.

Insults and calling it BS. Classic tactics.

Do you want evidence or would anything brought into this discussion be handwaved away since you're obviously a tremendous fan?