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Why did the characters have to be so different?

enlisted person

enlisted person

Admiral
Admiral
Ohura was Spocks ho, and the rest of the crew was a bunch of boy wonder (westley Crusher) types. I rate this one right up with the first epidsode of Scuby Do when they added scrappy.
It had potential but they chose to ignore real trek and go for the money. I can't blame them but I can see a set of pathetic sequels(prequels) already in the making. I hate the whole timeline thing as well. Looked a lot like one of the star wars prequels which I didn't care for either.
 
I didn't think they were so different, overall, from what we'd seen before. Younger and greener, maybe. Only Chekov stuck me as a true "boy wonder," and I found it charming.
 
enlisted person said:
Ohura was Spocks ho, and the rest of the crew was a bunch of boy wonder (westley Crusher) types. I rate this one right up with the first epidsode of Scuby Do when they added scrappy.
It had potential but they chose to ignore real trek and go for the money. I can't blame them but I can see a set of pathetic sequels(prequels) already in the making. I hate the whole timeline thing as well. Looked a lot like one of the star wars prequels which I didn't care for either.
Click to expand...

QFT
 
enlisted person said:
Ohura was Spocks ho, and the rest of the crew was a bunch of boy wonder (westley Crusher) types. I rate this one right up with the first epidsode of Scuby Do when they added scrappy.
It had potential but they chose to ignore real trek and go for the money. I can't blame them but I can see a set of pathetic sequels(prequels) already in the making. I hate the whole timeline thing as well. Looked a lot like one of the star wars prequels which I didn't care for either.
Click to expand...


:techman:
 
With the exception of Chekov, I'm not getting this "Everyone is Wesley Crusher" vibe:

-John Cho is in his 30s and Sulu initially messed up, but more than made up for it twice
-McCoy and Scotty are roughly older than the rest of the senior staff by 10 years and were acknowledged as more experienced than the others. McCoy was already a professional prior to Starfleet
-Kirk entered Starfleet at an older age than his Prime counterpart did. Kirk Prime at that point in his career would perhaps be an ensign or a Lt (if you want to go down the Wesley Crusher route....)
-Uhura turned out to be a voice of reason and deductive reasoning, accomplishing more than Uhura Prime ever did on screen
-Spock is in his mid-to-late 20s and is first officer. Compare that to similarly impressive Will Riker, who was in his early 30s when he signed onto the flagship Enterprise-D... the age gap isn't so huge.
-As well everyone of the big 7 (including McCoy and Scotty) was going through growing pains, one of the primary themes of the movie. If that wasn't the case, Spock's dual heritage wouldn't have been such a primary plot point.

Lest we forget that one of the main themes of the story is that we're seeing familiar characters before they become familiar heroes. They're going to mess up, they're going to be cocky and unsure, but they're also going to grow and mature with experience into the big 7 we all know and love.
 
Dale said:
I didn't think they were so different, overall, from what we'd seen before. Younger and greener, maybe. Only Chekov stuck me as a true "boy wonder," and I found it charming.
Click to expand...

Agreed.


J.
 
Yeah, I don't get this either.

Maybe it's because I teach theatre and every semester I have a "Dueling Hamlets" day (7, count 'em, 7 Hamlets and Ophelias), but each one of these characters was recognizably a version of that character. Even Simon Pegg's "played for laughs" version of Scotty was certainly in there with the Scotty of "Wink of an Eye" or "I, Mudd" or TFF. John Cho's Sulu was a little on the serious side but he had just blown it and would be trying to prove himself.

And to finally ("finally"; what am I thinking?) put a rest to the age thing:

Chris Pine - 28
Zachary Quinto - 31
Karl Urban - 36
Zoe Saldana - 30
Simon Pegg - 39
John Cho - 36
Anton Yelchin - 20

By comparison, here are the ages of the original actors in 1966:

William Shatner - 35
Leonard Nimoy - 35
DeForrest Kelley - 46
Nichelle Nichols - 34
James Doohan - 46
George Takei - 29
Walter Koenig - 30

So, yes, by and large the original actors skewed anywhere from 4 - 10 years older but they were almost always cast older to play younger. Kirk, for instance is supposed to be 34 in "The Deadly Years", 2 years younger than Shatner was at the time.

Bottom line, for me is that this gives us an opportunity to watch these actors grow into these roles. I'm actually disappointed that we won't have 79+ episodes to watch that happen.
 
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Casting in this film was perfect. If there is one thing that critics have been almost absolutely agreed upon it is that the casting for all the characters were perfectly cast. Also, they note that they play their characters with enough homage to their predecessor while not doing it so much to be obnoxious.
 
USS Gettysburg said:
Casting in this film was perfect. If there is one thing that critics have been almost absolutely agreed upon it is that the casting for all the characters were perfectly cast. Also, they note that they play their characters with enough homage to their predecessor while not doing it so much to be obnoxious.
Click to expand...

yep, in fact, I can easily envision a "Casting" Oscar, if nothing else.
 
enlisted person said:
Ohura was Spocks ho, and the rest of the crew was a bunch of boy wonder (westley Crusher) types. I rate this one right up with the first epidsode of Scuby Do when they added scrappy.
It had potential but they chose to ignore real trek and go for the money. I can't blame them but I can see a set of pathetic sequels(prequels) already in the making. I hate the whole timeline thing as well. Looked a lot like one of the star wars prequels which I didn't care for either.
Click to expand...
Aside from all that, how did you enjoy the play Mrs. Lincoln?
 
If the new cast was to merely impersonate the old cast, then what would be the point in watching the movie?

I'd rather just watch an old Star Trek show to see the originals themselves, rather than poor copies of the originals.
 
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