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Just curious, what's everyone's opinion on JJ Star Trek?


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#1 Jay K

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Posted 18 March 2013 - 05:03 PM

Hey guys, I searched for a thread on this matter, but couldn't find one, so my apologies if there already is.

I'm just curious what everyone's opinion is on 'nu' Star Trek? I'll write my thoughts up in full at some point, but I can sum it up in three words, if I'm honest: I hate it. In my opinion, it's as much Star Trek, as Star Wars is Jane Austen. Everything that I loved and enjoyed about 'old' Star Trek (and by that, I mean TOS, TNG, DS9 etc), is vacant from these new films. I know everyone loves a good action movie, and Star Trek has served up plenty of them, but it's never been as senseless as the stuff I saw in JJ-Trek. To me, it felt shallow, and like it was designed from the ground-up to tap into this current 'cool-geek

#2 richpit

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Posted 18 March 2013 - 08:18 PM

I really liked the 2009 movie and am very much looking forward to the new one. I think Star Trek was in dire need of a "rebirth" and JJ did it very well with a good young cast.

I was a big TNG fan, but my favorite series is still TOS. I can watch them over and over...something I can't say about TNG.

#3 Daysleeper

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Posted 19 March 2013 - 02:54 AM

I didn't like the JJ-Trek for various reasons. First of all, I had a problem with the way the characters were portrayed. They looked like caricatures of the originals. The actors were chosen well (except Quinto, in my opinion), but they couldn't save the stupid plot. The second problem I have with it is that it's just a loose sequence of action scenes. If I recall the best Trek movies (and episodes), they were character-driven or story-driven. The action sequences were kept at a minimum, but that made them even better! When I saw JJ-Trek, I wondered how he would be able to top the opening scene. Well, he wasn't. It just went down from there. That said, I'm happy that people got interested in Star Trek again through JJ-Trek and that the movie was quite a hit. I don't mind people enjoying it, I just didn't. At all.

After having seen the trailer for the upcoming JJ-Trek, I'm not going to bother watching the movie. It looks even worse than the first one.

I really like all the Star Trek shows. I've watched all of them several times (including the animated series), and I think each one has a reason to be what it is. I like them all for different reasons, but my favorite is TOS followed by Enterprise (yes, I'm serious! In my opinion, this show was closer to the original idea of Trek than any other of the spin offs.).

#4 JMW326

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Posted 19 March 2013 - 07:30 AM

I loved the new Star Trek movie and am really looking forward to the next one. I think it was a great way to breath new life into the franchise.

#5 FHC

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Posted 19 March 2013 - 01:29 PM

QUOTE (JMW326 @ Mar 19 2013, 08:30 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I loved the new Star Trek movie and am really looking forward to the next one. I think it was a great way to breath new life into the franchise.



Ditto

#6 TheHSBR

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Posted 19 March 2013 - 07:48 PM

I enjoyed many parts of it and disliked many parts of it. Let me break it down:
Dislikes
1. I dont like the lens flares done the way they were...too many, too overpowering of the screen. Done in moderation I would be OK with
2. I dont like that these actors are probably not stick together for the long haul. Where does this leave us after Trek 3 (if we get that far)?
3. I dont like JJs commitment to this project. its 2013 and we are finnally getting a sequel. 4 years is a dangerously long time to wait in todays market. we'll see though
4. I dont like that JJ isnt a fan. On the flipside O/K are huge fans and they wrote as such so they alsmost cancel each other out.
5. I hate the industrial look of many parts of the ship including engineering and communications. If thats what the future looks like, Ill sign up for command training in Starfleet.
6. No Shatner

Likes:
1. The people chosen to play the roles are great in them.
2. People who complain that the script is contrived or forced might want to watch Crash that won best picture. Didnt their lives come together in much the same way that this crews did? Did people call that forced? No, they called it a best picture. So yes I like how the crew intersected and came together.
3. I love how they captured the original characters while at the same time making them their own. Wasnt Scotty playing a fool of himself as we got to STV and ST VI. I see no difference.
4. I love that the intergrated Borg tech into the Narada, and even if it was only mentioned in the comics, looking at the tech itself is distinctly borg influenced.
5. Orions...yes.
6. I really enjoyed the look of the bridge and is exactly the type of place Id want to command from. Flashy, futuristic, clean. it may be my favorite bridge with Voyager placing a close second, although the Prometheus bridge from VOY is also really cool.
7. Changing this world enough to set it on its own course/reality
8. Leonard Nimoy
9. Starfleet phasers /uniforms were a great homage but also nicely updated (however i did not like the flipping action of the phaser...seriously a power setting was beyond them?)

#7 Jay K

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Posted 19 March 2013 - 08:53 PM

JMW, FHC, HSBR, what were your favourite shows?

#8 Commodore Kor'Tar

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Posted 20 March 2013 - 04:39 PM

I enjoyed it, and am looking forward to STID in May. I have also been keeping up with the adventures of the NuEnterprise crew with IDW comics.

#9 JMW326

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Posted 20 March 2013 - 05:57 PM

QUOTE (Jay K @ Mar 19 2013, 09:53 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
JMW, FHC, HSBR, what were your favourite shows?



Honestly I'm a huge fan of all of them.
I would probably rate them as so:
Favorite to least favorite.
TOS
DS9
Voyager
TNG
Enterprise

I watch episodes from each on a regular basis. Mostly from DS9, Voyager and TOS.

#10 TheHSBR

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Posted 20 March 2013 - 08:33 PM

Favorite to least:
VOY
ENT
TNG Movies
DS9
TNG
TOS Movies
TOS

#11 Prometheus

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Posted 20 March 2013 - 11:52 PM

I personally love all the incarnations of Trek...Some I like more than others for various reasons but each has a special place. I for one think JJ and the gang have given us a bright new future for Trek...Its hip, its fun, its well done....and most of all its a fresh take on a great idea... I think everyone will agree that Trek needed an infusion of energy and imo we have definitely recieved that in spades.... I am really looking forward to the release of Into Darkness... I cant really do a favorites list because Im constantly changing my mind....lol... Though I am going back and rediscovering Voyager and I really love all the great stories this show had.... DS9 was by far one of the coolest
.. I think a lot of that had to do with Ira Behr being such a rebel and wanting the show to make its mark and be different...such a great story arc with the Dominion... I always think of In the Pale Moonlight as just a great episode of television...really was a human story. See ... I really like all the shows and films for different reasons... The saddest thing was that Enterprise didnt hit its stride until it was too late...if only Manny Cotto was hired earlier...In a Mirror Darkly was some great Trek!!

#12 Jay K

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 12:07 AM

I suppose one thing that bothers me, is reboots. There's various reasons for that, but the main is that I can't look at this new crew, and see the old characters. My hopes for any future TV show, are that it's a new crew, and is set around/after Nemesis. Like LeVar Burton recently said, Trek should be moving forward, and be in touch with science to the fullest.

TNG gave us the ipad/tablet computers (for one), so I'd want any future show to have just as much foresight as well. smile.gif

#13 Prometheus

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 12:21 AM

QUOTE (Jay K @ Mar 21 2013, 02:07 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
I suppose one thing that bothers me, is reboots. There's various reasons for that, but the main is that I can't look at this new crew, and see the old characters. My hopes for any future TV show, are that it's a new crew, and is set around/after Nemesis. Like LeVar Burton recently said, Trek should be moving forward, and be in touch with science to the fullest.

TNG gave us the ipad/tablet computers (for one), so I'd want any future show to have just as much foresight as well. smile.gif

I totally agree with you Jay K.... a friend of mine and I were talking about this the other day...Trek kind of parallels our society... when the original Trek aired it was during the turbulent 60s...and many social messages were addressed incognito... ie aliens with one side white one black the other vice versa...by the time TNG rolled around things had become more calm or one may even say enlightened...and the show reflected that...it was a more reflective show... I think slowly as economic and social things transpired...mainly post 9/11 people began to change...in many ways we are kind of in a 60s redo and I guess its appropriate that Trek would return to its roots during this time...also a redo or reboot....but also not quite the same as the first time as it is an alternate universe.

#14 Jay K

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 06:59 AM

One, small update. Just watched the latest trailer, and then I saw on trekmovie that they/someone had discovered a hidden URL in the trailer (a bit.ly link, that redirects to a new poster for the film). That link was hidden in the scene were, for some reason, Carol Marcus is wearing nothing but her underwear. Screenshot I found (it's from the trailer, but all the same, might not be appropriate - NSFW etc):
http://i.imgur.com/RNOVwMp.jpg
I mentioned the word 'shallow' in my first post, well this plumbs the depths of that for me. In no way am I denying that I am a red-blooded - and heterosexual - male, but hiding the easter egg in a Star Trek trailer next to the 'babe'? I doubt that appeals to most Star Trek fans (especially the female ones). :/

But screw it, I won't go on, I'm off to put some more windows on the E, and I might stick First Contact on, as I haven't watched it in years. smile.gif

#15 JMW326

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 11:10 AM

To each his own I guess. I plan to watch it and hopefully enjoy it as much or more than the last one. Shallow? because of someone in their underwear? I guess I don't get that. ToS had scenes with Kirk without his shirt several times and you cant tell me it wasn't to try and appeal to women viewers. Not to mention short skirts and go go boots for the women. I dont see the new universe doing any more than the old with the exception of showing things they only talked about in the original. Oh well.

#16 Jay K

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 12:00 PM

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't criticizing it just for that, we all know how sexy Trek can be - but what I suppose I'm saying, is that it's never been such a focal point as it is in that trailer (perhaps except T'Pol in Enterprise, that scene in quarantine, maybe?). Needless to say, when I showed that trailer to my sister earlier, who's in love with Trek as much as me (admittedly, through me brain-washing her on it as kids, but not to a 'spend

#17 Destructor!!!

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 12:33 PM

Sigh.

Yes, Star Trek has always exploited womens' bodies for the viewership figures. One would just hope that as time went on, maturity (the dictionary meaning of maturity, not the censorship meaning) would increase.

But this exemplifies the popcorn n' brainlessness model that JjTrek has espoused from the beginning.

To answer the question:

I liked, or even loved, select parts of the first film. I was irked, insulted, or enraged by others.

The Kelvin scenes at the beginning were nearly perfect. Nero's behaviour was pretty inexplicable, and the Kelvin seemed too large and industrial on the inside, but the whole scene was so exquisitely urgent and emotional, that it set a very high bar. The rest of the movie chose to limbo under it.

My relationship to Trek has always been more about the world, the tech, the ships, than the characters. I love the characters, but what jazzes me most is the sense of immersion provided by the consistency and the reality of the world.

I grew up on TNG. I hate it when people write technobabble off as nonsense used to patch holes in a script. Voyager started to lean that way, but most of the time, it's an interpretable technical language. If you know how the ship works, you have some idea of what they're trying to do.

So when you're reducing a temporal rift to a "black hole" (which, if you know your black holes, this clearly was not), and then further to the laughably absurd "lightening storm in space", you're not just dumbing it down, you're planting a sign that says "JJ had this concept of 'Lightening storm in space', which he loved, so we shoehorned those exact words into the script". You're breaking the fourth wall.

I'm babbling, my thoughts are not in order.

Suffice to say:
The science was bullsh*t. The convenient crossing of paths of all these characters was bullsh*t. The magical invention of a planet near Vulcan was bullsh*t. The absurd change in Starfleet construction techniques and scale to satisfy a child-minded director were bullsh*t. The lens flares were bullsh*t. The Enterprise's weapons felt weak and inconsequential - what was with the tinny-ass sound of the torpedoes? Bana was under-utilised.

What'd I like? The effects were very good. The Narada was terrifying and cool. Urban was excellent, Pegg is always fun. Nimoy and Hemsworth plucked at my heartstrings. The Kelvin was a good, consistent-looking ship.

Malformed thoughts... I'm suffering from sunburn and ... I don't know, something else, that's sapping my concentration.

Final thoughts: The first film was probably utterly gutted by the writers' strike. There were so many rewrites and plot-hole corrections that needed to be made, perhaps this one will come off a little more sensibly.

#18 Jay K

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 12:53 PM

99.9% is the number that relates to how much I agree with you, man. I came back here to edit my post to include one last thing, but I'll do it in this one (see paragraph below). But yes, nice post dude. Only part I disagree with you on is Simon Pegg (love him in Brass Eye/comedy, but he's not Scotty). Also, whilst you've reminded me, there's a nitpick I had with the first reboot movie that I'd forgotten - when Nimoy-Spock sees Kirk for the first time, I had a tear in my eye ready to run at hearing him say, "Jim?", but he instead he says his full name. Kevin Smith mentioned how that bothered him as well just randomly, so add that to my list.

The thing I was going to say was, regardless of how I feel about the new Trek movies, they are doing one good thing, and that's generating interest in the franchise as a whole. If that's the reason we'll be getting model ships for years to come, then so be it. smile.gif

#19 Destructor!!!

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 05:23 PM

Oh yeah, totally.

Even if I think they're disrespecting the franchise's history of moral or ethical or intellectual integrity, anything that brings new fans to the wealth of existing Star Trek is a good thing... and despite my rant above, I did enjoy the first film, and I paid to see it about three times, as well as buying the Blu Ray, and a few Playmates toys.

I'll probably do similar for STID, and I'll similarly moan about the glaring lack of respect for our collective intelligences on display there, too.

#20 TheHSBR

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Posted 21 March 2013 - 09:26 PM

I love that Easter egg and isn't doing it as an Easter egg better than throwing it in the trailer? Also if TOS is your favorite trek doesn't this fit in with pretty much every episode in the later episodes? Some may not be dressed provocatively for our standards but for the time in which it was produced it was very much so.




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