True, that was obviously a wrong statement by me as there are plenty of more fanwankish episodes. Among the movies STXI is the one which tries most direly to connect itself to the rest of the franchise.
About ENT, in my opinion the series was often good when it focused on genuine 22nd century stuff. I also think this is true in the case of STXI which works in my opinion not because of the 24th century background and the fate stuff. Isn't the great thing about the characters, at least in the case of Uhura and Chekov, that they differ from the first version?
I don't know. It's tough to say, because Star Trek is such a unique animal compared to other franchises. Trek has been around for almost 50 years, yet up until STXI, we never had more than one actor trying to tackle the same character. (Except, of course, in one-off cases like "Turnabout Intruder" or "Rascals" where things were supposed to be 'off'.)
No other franchise I can think of is in that situation. From Dr. Who to Superman, from James Bond to Batman, all of the great long-lived mega-franchises have had multiple actors interpret the role. STXI is our first experience, though, of having to accept someone different as Kirk or Spock or McCoy. So it's harder to judge whether it was done 'right'.
When Christopher Reeve played Superman, had they written a different character than when George Reeves played him? Or was it the same character being interpreted differently by a different actor? (Probably more accurate to say they played different Clark Kents than different Supermans, but that's another matter.) Similarly, when Chris Pine played Kirk, was he playing a different character from William Shatner's Kirk, or was he taking the same character and interpreting it differently?
I'm a firm believer that if you're gonna use the same characters, then they have to
be the same characters. Sure, every actor who plays a role is going to interpret it differently. But that's different from fundamentally changing who the character is.
To go back to my Superman analogy, I've had no problem with George Reeves vs. Christopher Reeve vs. Tom Welling vs. Brandon Routh, etc. But I'm very worried about the upcoming film, because they've decided they want Superman to be dark and conflicted and brooding. They're doing that because it's the current trend in superheroes, of course. But that's not who Superman is. And if you don't want to be true to who Superman is, make a different movie with a different character.
Similarly, I don't expect Chris Pine to play Kirk the same way William Shatner did. But you still need to be true to the essence of who Kirk is. Otherwise, you might as well do
Star Trek: The Fifteenth Generation and introduce a new captain.
