Kevin Smith Compares New Star Trek To Wrath Of Khan

Seems like everywhere you find Kevin Smith these days, he is talking about JJ Abrams Star Trek movie. In a new interview with SciFi Wire the director compares Trek’s next adventure to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and he also delved into ‘r word’ territory

 

Smith: Khaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan
The new Star Trek film makers (like those before them) have held out Wrath of Khan as the gold standard for a Trek film, and according to Smith they met that goal. Smith tells SciFi Wire:

I can watch the [Star Trek] movies again and again and again. The TV [series] is kind of sacrosanct for a lot of people, but I don’t enjoy it as much as I enjoy the movies. So this one I enjoyed probably the most since I’ve enjoyed, like, Wrath of Khan.

R word alert
SciFi Wire also reports that Smith ‘lauded the performances of Chris Pine (KIrk), Zachary Quinto (Spock) and the rest of the prequel’s cast,’ but he may raise some eyebrows by invoking a certain ‘R word,’ saying:

I’m all for a reboot, because it just keeps it potentially alive longer

More from Smith at SciFi Wire

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cool. first

I don’t care WHAT the ‘R’ word is. I just wanna see this movie.

19th! xD

Lets hope the final cut is just as good.

I await the trailer with baited breath and do hope that all Trek fans will share the same viewpoint. Though the success of TWOK lay in the character of Khan and the dynamic between him and Kirk. I hope Nero can be comparable.

#4
I’m with you. Sick of hearing about ‘R’ this, ‘R’ that.

All trek-related news so far has been rated ‘R’. ;)

Did anyone who reads this site NOT know this was a reboot?

Vic

I am totally going to see this movie, regardless if people say it stinks or not…but wow, those pictures of the bridge make it look like a Vidal Sassoon beauty salon instead of the bridge of the Enterprise. They must keep Scotty and Co. jumping replacing burned out light bulbs. ;-)

Notice how, in the article reboot was mentioned in the same sentence as prequel?

I bet he just meant rebooting as in giving the series a fresh perspective with new actors. Of Bob Orci has been so adamant that this doesn’t betray canon, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. And even if it does, I won’t care that much, cause Star Trek has never been very consistent.

I trust Kevin Smith’s judgment because he’s an ardent student of filmmaking and he KNOWS the sci-fi genre. His own movies have been a bit uneven, in my opinion (and probably in his, as well), but his fanboy credentials are undisputed.

On a side note, I’ve read some rumors online that real, official images of the new Enterprise may be released early next week. Has anyone else heard anything about this?

Well I’m sick of hearing anything related to Kevin Smith, whoever he is.

At the end of the day what it all means is that Star Trek is back to its best and I couldn’t be happier! :)

Kevin Smith has made some great movies, along with some duds, so I think I can trust he knows the difference between a great movie and a bad one. Plus, he’s a Devils fan! Can’t find any faults there :P

Bringing up TWOK is the Trekkish equivalent to Republicans bringing up Reagan. You have to do it or lose all credibility with the base.

Nemesis was compared to TWOK too, remember? (Though I expect this movie to be much, much better.)

I just want the “R” words to include ROCKIN’

If there are other “R” words, I’m cool with that.

They’ve changed lots already – anyone who says the new bridge is just like the old bridge but different (such as the cast) isn’t strictly correct – it’s a major update let’s be honest.

But if it all gives the same ‘feeling’ as TOS and the film is well acted, plotted and executed, then there’s no harm.

I’d hate some overly complicated sop of a plot twist to ‘explain’ the new bridge lights, the blue deflector dish and why starfleet has hired a new wardrobe designer who just loves those little arrowheads everywhere to keep it to canon. Casual fans won’t mind and the good of the film will have to take priority over keeping us more nostalgic fans fully fed.

Image we get near the end of the film, the Big E is all beaten up and Admiral Nogura comes up and says – “well done boys and girls, we’re going to give her a refit but due to budget cuts we’re taking all the blue bridge lights out and outsourcing the instrumentation to Fisher Price…

“…oh and Button Moon Corp are fitting a 1960s style radar dish out the outside of the hull. Just don’t ask.”

re: 12. Chris M – October 26, 2008
“At the end of the day what it all means is that Star Trek is back to its best and I couldn’t be happier! :)”

So you’ve seen the movie then…

Watch it Mr. Smith or Mr. Orci will hunt you down!

….and the adventure continues…

Kevin Smith again, eh?
Ho-hum….
Let’s face it, the next big news is going to be in about three weeks, with the release of ‘Quantum of Solace’….

If there is one word I hate in Hollywood it’s Reboot or Retcon.

To me retconing the timeline is a step too far to explain how this new film is diff from the Star Trek that we will always love.

I’ll be seeing the trailer this thursday!!! EXCITEMENT!

re-boot or whatever…
I’m just glad it’s not another re-run! (…because that’s all I’ve seen for a long while!)

They compared “Nemesis” to “Wrath of Khan”. I hope this movie will only have the success of ST2 but it shouldn’t be a copy of it!!

It’s in the eye of the beholder, folks, and I’ve no doubt that a lot of long-time Trek fans will consider this movie to be a reboot in significant respects.

my personal opinion is that wrath of kahn was a pretty badly directed film. it hits some good moments, but really just a bunch of action scenes with no real sci fi concepts

ive always thught the st:tmp was the ultimate star trek movie. ok not perfect, it is beautiful and thoughtful

I’m sure BND will agree that Some R words Arrr Acceptable. Too bad the Movie Couldn’t come with an R rating. Diora Baird. HELLO!!!

#25 I agree.
TMP was ahead of its time and gets better with age.
Why everyone is so bent on recapturing the feel of TWOK is beyond me…. oh yeah, PROFIT.

At this point, and after seeing Nemesis recently, this purist says reboot away!

BTW, New Voyages (yeah, yeah…Phase II) has a NEW, new, Spock- the guy who doubled for Quinto! He looks amazing.
Hats off to them!

People read too much into the word “reboot.” In Hollywoodspeak, it simply means taking an old, moribund property and bringing it back to life as an active franchise. There are many ways of doing that, and starting over with a new continuity (as GALACTICA did) is just one of them. The DOCTOR WHO approach — staying in the same continuity but bringing a fresh style and attitude to it — is just as much a “reboot” in the terms filmmakers use, and it sure sounds like that’s the approach Abrams & co. are taking.

We heard this about Nemesis, “wrath of khan….”

I remember reading the leaked script and thinking, this could be a really tense movie (despite all the horrible continuity problems).

Then I watched the movie, and wondered what the hell I was thinking when I was reading the script (maybe it was the excitement of a new Trek film).

All I’ll say, is we’ve been down this road before, everyone saying how good it is, and ending up with a turkey.

Don’t believe anything you read. Just believe what you see.

I have more faith from this team for one reason. There’s no Rick Berman, who didn’t really get any sort of consistent grip of what a Star Trek movie should be.

There is an ‘R’ word for people who have problems with the ‘R’ word.

Retentive.

:p

The opinions on Trek of this guy are diametrically opposed to mine – I think the TV shows are not even in the same league as the movies, which usually weren’t very good because of poor writing, and I think rebooting Trek makes about as much sense as re-writing Shakespeare.
That Smith likes the new movie tells me nothing, therefore.

Ah. Vindication.

I really wish people would STOP IT with the comparisons to Wrath of Khan. We got that load of horse puckey with Nemesucks, didn’t we? Oh, this is a lot like WoK, people will love it because it evokes memories of WoK, the villain is a lot like Khan.

In a pig’s eye!

If I want to watch Wrath of Khan, guess what? I’ll pop in the frakkin’ DVD and, after James Horner’s epic score, fast forward to the battle of the Mutara Nebula or when the Reliant first ambushes the Enterprise. When I go see Star Trek next year, I want a damn good Trek movie–I do not want to watch this movie and be reminded of superior films.

And isn’t that the problem of Trek movies for…well, since Undiscovered Country? The attempt to present a villain who is “like Khan”? the problem is that the writers miss the forest for the trees. Khan wasn’t a great villain just because he was Khan–there’s a LOT going on in Wrath of Khan besides Ricardo Montalban’s scenery chewing and kick-ass space battles. There’s character development and heart–something that too many of the TNG Trek films completely missed.

Reboot away. The old Trek is dead and it is time to resurect it from the ashes. Look at what it did for BSG. This is the best thing to happen to trek.

TrekMovie is swarmed with people who don’t care about Star Trek, tehy only care about Abrams, beacue sthey are Lost, Alias and Felicty fans, not Star Trek fans. And, naturally, they don’t understand importance of canon. And, I also think that some of them are on somebody payroll. Please don’t delete this post (I sholud write this in every post ;) )

Ante, are talking about the phase disrupter canons from Enterprise? Cause, ya know , they totally suck. Bring on the turbo lasers from Star Wars.

Please no more comparisons to Wrath of Khan. I hope it’s better but Trek comparing this or that with Wrath of Khan usually sucks

There were “Wrath of Khan” comparisons when “Nemesis” was being screened… and we all know how well that turned out. So let’s just wait and see.

Comparisons between the new film and TWOK are inevitable, noty just because the filmmakers themselves have evoked it, but because TWOK is, like it or not, considered the high-water mark for the Trek films. It essentially re-launched the franchise after the disappointment of TMP. It brought action, color, and strong characterization back to Trek and provided the fuel to carry these characters through four more films.

Nemesis was also compared to TWOK, and those comparisons are not unfair. That movie does follow many of the same plot concepts as TWOK, but they didn’t work because they were either forced upon the audience (i.e. Shinzon’s connection to Picard), or they were very poorly handled (such as the Reman weapon that takes FOREVER to power up). The fact that the formula didn’t work in Nemesis does not mean, however, that the formula itself is invalid. It’s all in the execution, and just because Nemesis didn’t deliver as promised doesn’t mean the new film won’t either. That’s like saying “Nemesis was compared to TWOK and Nemesis is a bad movie, so TWOK must be a bad movie, too.”

Furthermore, we don’t really know which concepts the makers of the new film might be using as inspiration, so the comparison is a bit unclear. If they’re talking about strong characterization, great interpersonal dynamics, solid action, and a high-stakes threat that has an honest, personal effect on the characters, then everything should be okay. As fans, we should be mindful that we’ve been suckered before, but let’s not write off the comparisons to TWOK because Nemesis didn’t use them effectively. Like I said before, it’s all in the execution. We’ll find out soon if the filmmakers can deliver on their promises.

Would this guy PLEASE stop comparing this movie to other things like Star Wars and KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN? It’s getting very annoying!

34. Ante

You’re an idiot. I care about Trek. I have cared about Trek since I was a child watching it first run on NBC. It was the other way around for me.. after seeing that Abrams was doing Trek.. I started watch his other stuff. I rented Alias and Lost and enjoy it quite a bit. I was already a fan of Transformers and have started watching Fringe.

I understand the importance of canon.. you don’t understand that TOS was fully of canon problems… what they called Starfleet.. what the called the UFP.. continuity errors all over the place. If you cannot keep canon in TOS… at least keep the spirit of it. Is Capt April canon? some say yes, some say no. Is Star Trek 5 canon? Roddenberry says no. Canon is in the eye of the beholder. People say that Chekov in this movie is not canon. Why? Who says he wasn’t on board in a different department before becoming a bridge officer. It wasn’t written anywhere so it is conjecture that I am very open to.

Trek needs updating or it will be dead forever. When you have a show that lasted 5 series (6 if you count TAS), 10 movies… it is hard to keep anything canon. Who cares if it is called a reboot or a reimagining or a redo… just go see the movie and judge it AFTER you have seen it. For all those saying they refuse to see it.. Yeah, right. LoL. You’ll be there opening day.

I was watching some classice Trek on TV this morning. I realized just how dated and 60’s it looked. you CAN’T do that on the big screen in 2008… it would look… stupid. NOTHING about those sets works anymore. For those that want the sme bridge .. the same enterprise from the 60’s… THAT would surely kill Trek for good. And going back to TNG or a completely different new voyages type movie wouldn’t work either. the Next Gen movies killed that with Nemesis. THIS is the only way to make Trek work again now… go back and make it interesting again.

I am a HUGE TOS fan… the show and the movies… by far my favs.. including STV. But I am open minded enough to look forward to some new Trek! It will be weird to see other people in the classic roles.. but some new blood and energy is what is needed. With Kelley and Doohan gone… there is no way we can have an original cast movie. The Undiscovered Country was a great send off for those guys. Time for something reenergized, reinvigorating and refreshing.

Too much hype about this movie will eventually destroy it…

And Since when did Kevin Smith become anything but a big fat nerd? A nerd who’s known for his love for Star Wars, has made b-movies and is pretty much useless…

Sorry but Kevin Smith is way overrated and if HE says it good… that doesn’t count at all to me…

But whatever.. right, people who love Kevin for no reason, probably takes this as a sign from God.

34. Ante – October 26, 2008
“TrekMovie is swarmed with people who don’t care about Star Trek, tehy only care about Abrams, beacue sthey are Lost, Alias and Felicty fans, not Star Trek fans. And, naturally, they don’t understand importance of canon. And, I also think that some of them are on somebody payroll. Please don’t delete this post (I sholud write this in every post ;) )”

Based on what?..Your gut feeling? I love lost but didn’t watch the others. I am here because of a love of the Trek Universe. Your post looks like you are here to troll.

There’s a new Star Trek movie coming out?

What is ‘retcon?’ Can someone explain this to me?

If these guys have the balls to reboot Star Trek, recast leads and redesign the 1701, then they should be able to use the word ‘reboot.’ The word/metaphor only means that you’re shutting down and restarting, either with the same or updated operating system. It’s not like ‘reimagining’ or ‘recreating.’ Or installing a new operating system–which is what I’d call the new BSG.

As for Khan, yes, it’s sacrosanct and represents the high water mark for filmed Trek. Ricardo Montalban’s entire career was mere prelude to his bare-chested, megalomaniacal, soliloquies.

But arch villains in general were never the peak moments of televised Trek, TOS in particular. In my opinion, the majority of the A-level episodes of TOS were rooted in what science fiction author Cory Doctorow calls ‘predicting the present.’ In other words, it was when Star Trek extrapolated current events and science, creating stark choices for Kirk and the crew. “City on the Edge…” was very much about politics and history. Many episodes were about inequality. And the vast majority of episodes were rooted in modernity and Cold War uncertainty about friends and villains, grey morality and spycraft.

The Supreme Court shouldn’t put too much stock in their ability to mine a vein of Montalban in a mountain of Bana. [All due respect paid to Bana–he shouldn’t be called to do the impossible.] If I had pull, I’d send out a memo to all concerned: enough with the TWOK comparisons; underpromise and overdeliver!

I also recall Nemesis being compared to “TWOK”.

Well, it fell far short of that!

Nevertheless, I do not believe films should copy “TWOK”…only be of the same quality of storytelling and filmmaking.

My Portillios Italian beef sandwich with sweet peppers and mozz was as good as Wrath of Khan

I bought a new pair of Nike kicks and they fit so good it was like Wrath of Khan

When I got the bill to repair my Mercedes ML 350 I almost went all Wrath of Khan but then my service specialist fixed it so my warranty cobvered it which was as cool as Wrath of Khan

Kevin Smith is a great guy but his belly is getting bigger than the Genisis Planet in Wrath of Khan

Gigli was so “Nemesis”…

Why does everyone expect the new Trek to be a carbon copy of TOS? We, the viewing audience, are 40 years older, much more sophisticated and accustomed to top rate SFX and CGI and demand a certain level of scientific credibility. Rocket ships with fins,windows and sparklers flaming out the back just don’t cut it anymore!
I can look back at the 60’s episodes and recognize that the budget,special effects,acting and sensibilities were from that era. There is a certain strata of fans that will only accept the canon from that time period. I enjoy the 60s Trek it will always be the original and nostalgia aside I will enjoy the reboot,re-imaging,prequel or whatever you wish to call ST_XI.

#34:”TrekMovie is swarmed with people who don’t care about Star Trek”

Which is why we hang around here talking about “Star Trek,” of course.

#34:”…they don’t understand importance of canon.”

I understand it precisely. I don’t care though – which is entirely different from caring about “Star Trek.”