Will Trek XI be TOS lite due to PC?

[Proximity_Phaser]

TOS has a caveman reputation (womanizing violent Captain, funny drunks, the big three are white males, etc.) and TNG went out of it's way to avoid such antics.

Some would say that this turned the vibrant, primary colored trek of TOS into a haze of cranberry and tan (to quote another poster).

Can Trek XI avoid both extremes? Is there a happy medium between the caveman 60's and the PC 80's? Should JJ revert to coctail hour, miniskirts and sly asides about yeomen?

 

[Lord Garth]

You're exaggerating both decades but we're in an in-between period of sorts right now.

If you really want two decades that contrast each other in every possible way, look at the 50's and 70's not the 60's and 80's. You'll never see such a huge difference within the same amount of time as there was between 1959 and 1970 again.

 

[seigezunt]

Lord Garth said:
You're exaggerating both decades but we're in an in-between period of sorts right now.

If you really want two decades that contrast each other in every possible way, look at the 50's and 70's not the 60's and 80's. You'll never see such a huge difference within the same amount of time as there was between 1959 and 1970 again.

very good point.

and we now live in an age where we are tripping over ourselves to prove how NOT-PC we are.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Kirk is violent? There are popular characters today who would be locked up on the psych ward if they really existed. Compared with TV leads like Tony Soprano and Dexter Morgan, Kirk's a creampuff.

They can satisfy the demands of political correctness and still have TOS just fine. Mainly, they have to abandon the tradition of treating alcoholism as a joke.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Compare him to Jack Bauer. Kirk never tortured.

 

[Proximity_Phaser]

Very true, Kirk compared to some of the "heroes" of today's shows is a pacifist...but I'm pretty sure the popular conception is that of a man with a green babe in one hand and a phaser in the other. So, to make a 2008 hero out of Captain Kirk, do you Bauerize him?

While I agree that the 50's and 70's are further apart, neither decade had (new) Star Trek on TV, and the 60's and 80's did.

Is there something about the characters today that a modern general audience would find hokey or outdated? TOS layed a lot of Duty, Honor, Starfleet stuff pretty thick, is that now quaint?

 

[SeamusShameless]

There was new Star Trek on tv in the 70s, it just wasn't live action and most people disregard it.

 

[Lord Garth]

One thing I hope we see is a woman in command of another starship. I don't like ENT but I have to have to give credit where it's due as I was pleased when I heard about Captain Hernandez.

 

[Proximity_Phaser]

SeamusShameless said:
There was new Star Trek on tv in the 70s, it just wasn't live action and most people disregard it.

My bust for forgetting TAS. I'd say it has more in common with TOS than TNG, for the sake of my PC STXI discusion.

 

[seigezunt]

Proximity_Phaser said:

SeamusShameless said:
There was new Star Trek on tv in the 70s, it just wasn't live action and most people disregard it.

My bust for forgetting TAS. I'd say it has more in common with TOS than TNG, for the sake of my PC STXI discusion.

Not exactly. For instance, you'd have never had seen Uhura get a shot at command in TOS like she did in the Lorelie Signal. There were little touches of more 70s-ish diversity and idealism in TAS, if slight.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Didn't every male have to be knocked out of commission before she got that shot? Somehow, I think it's not exactly fodder for the theme to Maude.

 

[number6]

Brutal Strudel said:
Didn't every male have to be knocked out of commission before she got that shot? Somehow, I think it's not exactly fodder for the theme to Maude.

"God'll get you for that!"

 

[Brutal Strudel]

 

[gastrof]

I wouldn't say "alcoholism as a source of humor" played a role in TREK.

Even Scotty wasn't depicted as an alcoholic, tho' he did like a drink.

Kirk liking women? A measure of violence? Oh please! As mentioned above, today's movies, shows, and characters outdo TOS by a mile.

The question really is, will they have to "sexy up" and "violentize" TOS to make it attractive to modern audiences?

Since TREK films and shows have continued to be made until recently, I doubt there'll be any problem making TOS2 appealing to today's movie-goer.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

If the question is, "will this movie reflect the values of forty years ago, 'progressive for their time' or not" the answer is most certainly:

No.

Not unless the producer and studio have a cunning plan to retrieve an audience from the year 1966 to watch the thing.

 

[number6]

UWC Defiance said:

Not unless the producer and studio have a cunning plan to retrieve an audience from the year 1966 to watch the thing.

Most of that audience has been boycotting any and all Trek from Paramount ever since!!

 

[Tamek]

Number6 said:

UWC Defiance said:

Not unless the producer and studio have a cunning plan to retrieve an audience from the year 1966 to watch the thing.

Most of that audience has been boycotting any and all Trek from Paramount ever since!!

I've heard rumors (untrue of course) where they have their own forum they lurk in right here on TrekBBS!

 

[Lord Garth]

Guys, movie, not other posters. Don't drag this off topic.

And I won't allow a "forum vs. forum" atmosphere. It stops now.

 

[Tamek]

^^ Acknowledged.

The author of this thread does have a point. TOS was *anything* but politically correct.

It was the first TV show to show an interracial kiss.

Women were, while not necessarily in positions of authority, definitely in positions of power and valued contributors to their peers.

There was the episode with the two guys who were black on one half of their body, white on the other...and the episode was an in-your-face parable about the potential consquences and pointlessness of racism.

I hope Trek is not TOS-lite or Bauer-ized because of the times...I hope Abrams makes it in-your-face again.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

UWC Defiance said:
If the question is, "will this movie reflect the values of forty years ago, 'progressive for their time' or not" the answer is most certainly:

No.

Not unless the producer and studio have a cunning plan to retrieve an audience from the year 1966 to watch the thing.

The only social attitude that does not translate from the late 60s to now is the sexism--not so much the mini-skirts (we have cat suits today and ENT was not shy in showing us Trip's toned legs and buttocks) as:

Pike's grumbling about a woman on the bridge.

Kirk's comment about Lt. Palamas leaving the service upon finding a man.

The tendency of professional women to entirely subordinate their professional judgment to the staus of their nether region (see: "Space Seed," "Who Mourns for Adonais" and "The Enterprise Incident").

"Turnabout Intruder," revisionist retcons aside.

Most other things TOS got "right" (or "left" ), down to Spock busting Chekov's balls for making a racist joke about Klingons in "The Trouble with Tribbles."