Why it is important some people are unhappy

There seems to be two camps on this board now - those that are unhappy about how the new film will screw with established Star Trek, and those that tell those people to get over it. Aside from the fact that Trek is personally important to some people there is a very valid reason that an unhappy fanbase is critically important.

The success of a new Star Trek venture is akin to the success of a political campaign. If you don't motivate your base and get a large turnout of your base you won't win. Many believe that a big reason McCain lost the presidential election is that the Democrat base was supermotivated, and the Republican base was undermotivated. Grabbing new voters or bringing people over from the other side is important, but it isn't how you win. (I DO NOT want this thread to degenerate into a political discussion, I'm simply using politics as an analogy). Star Trek isn't much different. Whether it is a new show like Enterprise or a movie like Nemesis that both fell short, success depends on repeat business by the fanbase. With fan support established you can work on expanding it.

Take The Dark Knight as an example. It didn't make all that money on one-time tickets sales. It made so much money because of return sales. I saw the film three times in the theaters myself. In order for Star Trek to have a future on the big screen or small screen this movie has to do better than be profitable; it has to make much money. The way it will do that is with repeat business from the fanbase, and first time viewers that simply think it is so good it is worth paying for a second time.

I suspect that even the people that are genuinely mad at this effort will go to see the film once, at least out of curiosity. But if they don't, and if the base does not turn out more than once, the film probably will not be as successful as it needs to be. That is why Abrams and crew have always tried to be so clever with their language about this film, i.e. not a reboot, not a reimagining, more of an origin story, etc. They knew that they had to keep longtime fans in their camp. The problem is that the product doesn't seem to reflect their descriptions, so far.

Enough of the movie has leaked out that we know that they've tinkered with things a great deal. Now, whether that bothers you is not the point. The fact is a lot of fans are bothered by it, and that's the last thing Abrams needs. He needs an energized fanbase that will support this thing so that it can succeed. You build upon your base, not in spite of it.

So, feel free to give people a hard time for their hard feelings about how the filmmakers have messed with canon and ignored thirty years of design heritage. But by downplaying fan displeasure you ignore a looming problem, in my opinion. Just ask Brannon and Braga.

 

It's just the fact that it is anoying to hear people obsess over pointless minutiae.

 

The problem with the comparing of Trek fans with a core base of a political party is that the core fan base of Trek doesn't have any power and it isn't strong enough to affect any change.

It actually has the opposite affect. If a movie or show is made only to appease and make the core fan base happy it will be a project that will be doomed for failure. Because the core fan base doesn't have the numbers to carry a major motion picture. So if Trek is to survive they need to bring in not only the core fan base but casual fans and new fans and the general audience as well.

 

...which is a good thing.

 

But the fan base hasn't been alienated - only a small percentage of it - and those will watch it time and again, just to bitch.

So it's win-win for the production company!

And this also misses the point that this film has been budgeted on the basis of attracting a mainstream audience - sure they will lose some hardcore but that's the gamble the studio is willing to take.

 

God bless you, sir.

You have hit the nail squarely on the head.

 

like the fist of an angry god!

/wait, wha-?

 

Or Rick and Berman.

 

I think someone should point out as well, for the sake of the original analogy, that Sarah Palin was an attempt to pander to the Republicans' "base" and they're getting shit now for running the worst campaign in modern history.

FWIW

 

dude, like...whoa...DUUUUDE!

 

+eleventy billion.

I stopped reading at this bit of uninformed propaganda.

 

Then what exactly is a message board for?

Poster 1:

Man that Trek XI looks great!!!

Poster 2:

Nah... I disagree.

Moderator:

Well. Everything has been discussed. Thread closed.

You have this pro-XI crowd that seems afraid of even the slightest dissension concerning this film. I just wonder why?

 

some people will never learn. for fuck's sake: IDIC (not idiotic)

 

.

 

blaXXer, anti-everything

 

I love how some people are so worried about Abrams "destroying" Star Trek. Have they forgotten what VOY, ENT, INS and NEM already did to the franchise? Nothing Abrams could possibly do could be worse.

In fact this one trailer has likely excited a great many MORE people than ever watched those crappy spinoffs and movies to begin with.

 

Uhhh WTH are you going on about?

The reason Trek has failed is the hardcore people have tuned out with the attempts to make the series more "mainstream" with Enterprise and Nemesis.

Abrams Trek isn't appealing to those people (the hardcore fans) and it seems like the only people that are excited about this crap are the ones who stayed with Enterprise. I wouldn't call Enterprise people the base of the fandom.

 

If it is annoying, I believe it a "I love to hate that" sort of thing, because people who bring up objections to the movie that have nothing to do with pointless minutiae get little to no response. People seem to be enjoying arguing over whether or not pointless minutiae are worth arguing over - which is kinda pointless minutiae in and of itself.



Meanwhile, in response to the OP - just as with the political parties' bases, no one really knows what the Star Trek base is. My bet is that the studio is guessing that there is a large contingent of people out there who have, over the years, felt some affection for TOS - people like my sister. She watched TOS from time to time up until she was about 20, she cried during TUC because she hadn't been to a Trek movie a while and she was sad to see the character she loved had become silly parodies of what she remembered, and she's interested in this new movie because it involves Kirk and Spock and she's interested in seeing what they do with it. My mom, a viewer of the original run of TOS, might go see this movie (she hasn't seen the trailer yet, knowing her tastes, I think it will dampen her interest honestly). But these folks have not cared at all about any of the spin off material. Even my dad might have an inkling of interest for the 60s nostalgia of the whole thing though he's probably only ever seen 10 TOS episodes in his life. But Kirk and Spock are pop culture icons, so they have draw.

Then there's all the folks who love TNG or DS9 or VOY or ENT, or some combination thereof - they'll probably all go to see it 'cause it's Trek. The number of hardocres who boycott completely is likely to be minimal - most will go see it no matter how they bitch. Though I must admit to being undecided and waiting for full reviews of the movie - not because I'm so hardcore but because Trek has just sucked for ten years and Abrams and Orci's work deserves a massive 'meh' IMHO. However, I'm interested enough in how stories evolve and I know enough about Star Trek to really be able to pick that apart and that may be enough to get me into a matinee show.

Then there's the people who may conceivably be drawn in by the Gossip Girl hotness of young, pretty stars angsting and getting it on, plus space battles and 'splosions. Remember we're in a culture where the War of the Worlds remake a few years ago made truckloads of money.

Chances are this flick will make plenty, spawn a few sequels and do what Paramount wants it to do, which is extend the franchise a little bit longer.

 

I'm not sure, if you got the point of my post?

I saw it nine times in theatre and loved it, not for VFX(thought they were great), but because I think it to be one of the best and up-close stories of family survival and of personal change. Not in a very deep form, but a very effective way of putting that story in front of the masses in a cool scifi flick. Not sure what the bit about our culture is though...