Why does Abrams keeps giving the middle finger to Trek fans?

[SalvorHardin]

I was browsing through TrekMovie and found this little Q&A with Shatner that is relevant to the topic.

UGO: And as Abrams did this road show, he had a little bit of a prepared statement and his talking points. The type of thing you don’t see of Shatner’s Raw Nerve.

WS: Yes.

UGO: And the jokey way he decided to break the ice was, ‘I never was a fan of Star Trek.’ It’s the first thing out of his mouth.

WS: Uh oh.

UGO: How do you react, when you hear that?

WS: Well, he lies through his teeth. Because he was a “big fan of Star Trek.” So, JJ Abrams is trying to cast himself as a nouveau entre into the Star Trek universe. But I know him to be an old admirer of the show.

UGO: Well, he’s got to clear himself of the perceived stain. There are some people who think Star Trek is just for the mouth-breathing nerd. It’s a marketing ploy that either he devised or someone who devised for him and told him to say and it is what he’s running with it.

WS: Nobody tells JJ Abrams what to say, I can tell you that much. He’s got to broaden the base of the audience. And, I’m really being facetious when I refer to him as a long-time admirer. But he’s doing the best he can. You and I both recognize his trying to broaden the base of the audience, so that people will come to see it as an adventure.

UGO: Why do you think there is a little bit of a stigma to Star Trek?

WS: I think because the audience that has remained there has been so passionate in the affection for the show, that people who don’t know why they’re so passionate think of them in negative terms. And so if you’re known to like Star Trek, you’re linked with this group of people who wear costumes.

 

[Vigilance]

OMG Abrams will just *not* stop flipping us off!

CS: What can you say about about working with Leonard Nimoy?
Abrams: It was really just a dream experience, working with him. He is everything you want him to be. He's funny and incredibly thoughtful and was surprisingly open and receptive to direction. He's just got an amazing wife and family and working with him was literally... Like the other day we were doing some ADR and he was there and because we weren't shooting anymore I was standing there and I just looked at him while he was doing his thing. I wanted to burn it into my head. It was so great to get to work with that guy. He's just an amazing man and is terrific in the movie.

http://www.comingsoon.net/news/startreknews.php?id=46917

 

[trekkerguy]

I was browsing through TrekMovie and found this little Q&A with Shatner that is relevant to the topic.

UGO: And as Abrams did this road show, he had a little bit of a prepared statement and his talking points. The type of thing you don’t see of Shatner’s Raw Nerve.

WS: Yes.

UGO: And the jokey way he decided to break the ice was, ‘I never was a fan of Star Trek.’ It’s the first thing out of his mouth.

WS: Uh oh.

UGO: How do you react, when you hear that?

WS: Well, he lies through his teeth. Because he was a “big fan of Star Trek.” So, JJ Abrams is trying to cast himself as a nouveau entre into the Star Trek universe. But I know him to be an old admirer of the show.

UGO: Well, he’s got to clear himself of the perceived stain. There are some people who think Star Trek is just for the mouth-breathing nerd. It’s a marketing ploy that either he devised or someone who devised for him and told him to say and it is what he’s running with it.

WS: Nobody tells JJ Abrams what to say, I can tell you that much. He’s got to broaden the base of the audience. And, I’m really being facetious when I refer to him as a long-time admirer. But he’s doing the best he can. You and I both recognize his trying to broaden the base of the audience, so that people will come to see it as an adventure.

UGO: Why do you think there is a little bit of a stigma to Star Trek?

WS: I think because the audience that has remained there has been so passionate in the affection for the show, that people who don’t know why they’re so passionate think of them in negative terms. And so if you’re known to like Star Trek, you’re linked with this group of people who wear costumes.

That acompanied by your signature and the numerous interviews, everyone of which he states all the good of Trek and why he likes it and decided he should take this on... yeah people just want to bitch.

 

[Vigilance]

Here's another middle finger straight from the man himself.

Has he no shame?!?!

"We've made a pact not to discuss any specifics," he tells Empire. "But Star Trek is something I grew up with and love. I feel there's still a great movie to be made, another proud chapter in the history of Star Trek. We've got a lot of exciting new ideas."

Abrams admits that he has been remiss of late in keeping up with the aging franchise.
"To be totally honest with you...I haven't even seen [the most recent Star Trek film], Nemesis," laughs Abrams. "I feel like the series disconnected for me at a certain period, and though I will have to watch and see everything that was done, I want to see what not to do as much as anything. But as someone who works on a show that has a very loyal and vocal fan base, I do understand the need to be respectful. I think we can do the fans proud."

 

[Devon]

I think Abrams is starting to alienate too many people

I agree. 10 people is 10 too many.

 

[SalvorHardin]

Here's another middle finger straight from the man himself.

Has he no shame?!?!

"We've made a pact not to discuss any specifics," he tells Empire. "But Star Trek is something I grew up with and love. I feel there's still a great movie to be made, another proud chapter in the history of Star Trek. We've got a lot of exciting new ideas."

Abrams admits that he has been remiss of late in keeping up with the aging franchise.
"To be totally honest with you...I haven't even seen [the most recent Star Trek film], Nemesis," laughs Abrams. "I feel like the series disconnected for me at a certain period, and though I will have to watch and see everything that was done, I want to see what not to do as much as anything. But as someone who works on a show that has a very loyal and vocal fan base, I do understand the need to be respectful. I think we can do the fans proud."

I got another one here from an interview in the UK on Sky Movies Channel:

Abrams: First of all Star Trek is an incredibly optimistic world that Roddenberry was basically positing that not only do we live, but we thrive. And not just racially, but inter-species.

The idea of ‘Star Trek’ is trekking through stars and trekking through space and discovering the final frontier and it is something you take for granted or may think is silly, but when you actually think about that notion it is a very optimistic one.

So part of what I love about the world of Star Trek before you even get to this film, I love its optimism

 

[Devon]

I have pretty much lost all interest in this movie. It looks like "enterprise" just on the big screen. I might borrow my neighbors DVD if he decides to rent it when it comes out on DVD.

Sorry to hear that your finances are grim.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

I think Abrams is starting to alienate too many people

I agree. 10 people is 10 too many.

Especailly when they consider themselves the true fans.

 

[Vance]

Are the indirect insults really neccessary?

As I said before, it's much less that Abrams' film is rubbing me the wrong way, than the behaviour of a handful of supporters of the film who seem to be wanting to draw battlelines over it.

So, tell me Hartzilla2007, Devon, et al, what would you like to do to the people who don't like the film? Harass them? Get them banned? Beat them up? Kill them? I would like to know where the line's drawn because I'm honestly having a hard time telling if some of you even have one anymore.

 

[trekkerguy]

Are the indirect insults really neccessary?

As I said before, it's much less that Abrams' film is rubbing me the wrong way, than the behaviour of a handful of supporters of the film who seem to be wanting to draw battlelines over it.

So, tell me Hartzilla2007, Devon, et al, what would you like to do to the people who don't like the film? Harass them? Get them banned? Beat them up? Kill them? I would like to know where the line's drawn because I'm honestly having a hard time telling if some of you even have one anymore.

A bit of trolling to relax in the evening hmm?

 

[Jax]

I hope JJ keeps pissing off fans because we give out so much to the people behind TREK, that we probably do deserve a bit back. STAR TREK needs to be a movie for movie goers and not for TREK fans.

 

[trekkerguy]

I hope JJ keeps pissing off fans because we give out so much to the people behind TREK, that we probably do deserve a bit back. STAR TREK needs to be a movie for movie goers and not for TREK fans.

Agreed. Star Trek was never designed to sit up on it's high horse above the common folk and laugh at them as they drooled. Star Trek was always the scifi show the average person was able to relate to, and the moral tales, canon, continuity... etc. were an added bonus to those who followed more closely or simply a result of good writing.

 

[Vance]

A bit of trolling to relax in the evening hmm?

And you're just proving my point. What's it to you, to take it so personally, that some long-time Star Trek fans may not like this reboot? Why do you feel the need to literally hate them over it?

 

[trekkerguy]

A bit of trolling to relax in the evening hmm?

And you're just proving my point. What's it to you, to take it so personally, that some long-time Star Trek fans may not like this reboot? Why do you feel the need to literally hate them over it?

Umm... ok. Well I've never hated any other Trek fan for any reason,
and havn't taken anything aside from your last two posts personaly.

I've strongly disagreed, and probably at times made harsh remarks towards their opinions.
But we all do, that's part of the debate sometimes.

I'm sorry that you have taken that so personaly.

 

[M'Sharak]

Are the indirect insults really neccessary?

As I said before, it's much less that Abrams' film is rubbing me the wrong way, than the behaviour of a handful of supporters of the film who seem to be wanting to draw battlelines over it.

That sword cuts both ways, as I sure you're well aware.

Supporters of the film have had no corner on the drawing of lines any more than those openly critical, and I suspect that a few of the more vehemently critical may have got the first punches in. Ultimately, it really doesn't matter who was first; most posting here decline to take an extreme stance on either side of the question and wish the baiting from both extremes would stop.

As far as your little taunt here:

So, tell me Hartzilla2007, Devon, et al, what would you like to do to the people who don't like the film? Harass them? Get them banned? Beat them up? Kill them? I would like to know where the line's drawn because I'm honestly having a hard time telling if some of you even have one anymore.

...I haven't seen anyone expressing such desires and I'd suggest that any such hyperbolic inferences would be better left alone right now. That sort of tactic is one I really don't want to see employed here -- not by you, nor by anyone else.

 

[Vigilance]

Are the indirect insults really neccessary?

As I said before, it's much less that Abrams' film is rubbing me the wrong way, than the behaviour of a handful of supporters of the film who seem to be wanting to draw battlelines over it.

So, tell me Hartzilla2007, Devon, et al, what would you like to do to the people who don't like the film? Harass them? Get them banned? Beat them up? Kill them? I would like to know where the line's drawn because I'm honestly having a hard time telling if some of you even have one anymore.

Really, it's the supporters' fault?

You were the one who kept beating the drum of the one quote Abrams made "I was never a fan of star trek", which is out of context.

But you took even that out of context quote, and perverted it into something even worse, taking the extra leap to claim that, in your opinion, he is actively HOSTILE to trek.

So I actually dug up quotes, followed by others, that show what we all know, even you I suspect, that if he didn't love trek, he wouldn't have made this movie to begin with.

But now suddenly, having been confronted by several quotes from Abrams that he has a great deal of affection for trek, now you've moved onto it being the fault of people who are optimistic about the film.

You don't want to see the movie. Fine. That's a subjective choice.

Stop looking for someone to blame for your arrival at that decision.

Abrams giving you the middle finger isn't the reason, nor are other fans who are looking forward to the movie.

Chuck

 

[SalvorHardin]

Are the indirect insults really neccessary?

As I said before, it's much less that Abrams' film is rubbing me the wrong way, than the behaviour of a handful of supporters of the film who seem to be wanting to draw battlelines over it.

So, tell me Hartzilla2007, Devon, et al, what would you like to do to the people who don't like the film? Harass them? Get them banned? Beat them up? Kill them? I would like to know where the line's drawn because I'm honestly having a hard time telling if some of you even have one anymore.

Really, it's the supporters' fault?

You were the one who kept beating the drum of the one quote Abrams made "I was never a fan of star trek", which is out of context.

But you took even that out of context quote, and perverted it into something even worse, taking the extra leap to claim that, in your opinion, he is actively HOSTILE to trek.

So I actually dug up quotes, followed by others, that show what we all know, even you I suspect, that if he didn't love trek, he wouldn't have made this movie to begin with.

But now suddenly, having been confronted by several quotes from Abrams that he has a great deal of affection for trek, now you've moved onto it being the fault of people who are optimistic about the film.

You don't want to see the movie. Fine. That's a subjective choice.

Stop looking for someone to blame for your arrival at that decision.

Abrams giving you the middle finger isn't the reason, nor are other fans who are looking forward to the movie.

Chuck

quoted because I agree 100%

 

[Devon]

I didn't catch Vance's posting that included my name the first time until it was quoted just now. But on a personal level the fact that he thinks I (and I'm assuming anyone else he mentioned) am in the line of thought about wanting to ban or kill people who oppose this movie lends credence that his accusations, just like the ones against J.J., are unfounded and plain ridiculous.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Are the indirect insults really neccessary?

As I said before, it's much less that Abrams' film is rubbing me the wrong way, than the behaviour of a handful of supporters of the film who seem to be wanting to draw battlelines over it.

So, tell me Hartzilla2007, Devon, et al, what would you like to do to the people who don't like the film? Harass them? Get them banned? Beat them up? Kill them? I would like to know where the line's drawn because I'm honestly having a hard time telling if some of you even have one anymore.

I'm sorry aren't you the one with the post the said that the people who like this movie in fact hate Star Trek.

Also to people who don't like the new film my post was not directed at you just the ones that automatically think that anyone who likes the new movie isn't really a fan.

 

[Qonos]

Are the indirect insults really neccessary?

As I said before, it's much less that Abrams' film is rubbing me the wrong way, than the behaviour of a handful of supporters of the film who seem to be wanting to draw battlelines over it.

So, tell me Hartzilla2007, Devon, et al, what would you like to do to the people who don't like the film? Harass them? Get them banned? Beat them up? Kill them? I would like to know where the line's drawn because I'm honestly having a hard time telling if some of you even have one anymore.

Do you actually read what your fellow posters post, the ones who hate the film i mean. Yeah these guys post some jibes but when ever other thread is being derailed because the new E is a polished turd, or building on the earth is obsurd, it gets a little tiring to see that. Also when peole who've NEVER made a movie in their life,or write sketchy fan-fics say they can do better than writers who've written million dollar blockbusters, and directors who made a better Godzilla movie than Tristar did it gets a little unnerving. It's called an ego check. Nobody here is going to be shooting anyone else from here in the movie line when the film comes out.. Calm down.