Trek Tidbits: Church’s Jellyfish + JJ Talks Success + Bob & Alex Talk Sequel + Trek In Space + more May 22, 2009
by Anthony Pascale , Filed under: Great Links, Star Trek (2009 film), Star Trek sequel (2012) , trackback
Star Trek is headed into is third weekend and yet it still makes news. First off we have a new image from Ryan Church of Spock’s ship. Also JJ is talking about how he thinks they made the film a success and Bob and Alex are talking (a little) about the sequel. Plus Star Trek is back in space, on the Jimmy Fallon show and even inspiring parenting advice and more.
Church’s Jellyfish
Star Trek designer Ryan Church has updated his website with a big image of Spock’s Jellyfish, which includes what could be an early design of the Narda or possibly a Romulan missile.
Check out Spock’s ride
JJ Talks Star Trek Success
In a new interview with AICN, Star Trek director JJ Abrams talks about the success of the film and more. You should read the whole thing, but here is an excerpt:
Quint: Well, you seem to inject a lot of the adventure of a STAR WARS into the STAR TREK universe and you are also able to figure out the one way to reboot it where you kind of take away any arguments you have about bastardizing or going off canon. You were able to find a way to give yourself freedom to have fun with the movie and not be so tied.
JJ Abrams: I think that the convention of breaking away from the timeline, which just obviously gave us the freedom to tell a story that wasn’t constrained by canon, but at the same time… and the weird part is that we also had to embrace it, because that’s what we were inspired by and we had to honor it and make sure that we weren’t insulting, as much as we could, the fans of TREK.
And we knew no matter what we did, that there would be some percentage of STAR TREK fans that would hate it. We just knew that there was no way to make everyone happy and yet it was important that we try and so that was the approach. The other weird balancing act is that it was simultaneously its own thing, but it was also adhering to what has come before. It was a vision of the future that needs to work in a way that was relevant for today, but also was a vision of the future from fifty years ago, so there was a lot of bouncing back and forth. There was a brand new cast and yet it also had a character played by one of the original actors, so it was a strange backwards/forwards original piece that was also trying to adhere to what came before, so there was always this bizarre dance going on between trying to make something that was just purely its own piece and also something that was honoring and… what’s another word for it? Just being true to what had come before and that was, I guess, the biggest challenge of the movie.
More from Bob and Alex – including sequel debate
Can you get enough from Star Trek writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman? Well Newsorama has a new interview with the pair. Much of it is stuff covered before, but it is a good read. They also give an update on the sequel development:
NRAMA: At this point, with the success of Star Trek, it’s inevitable that there is going to be a sequel. What kind of discussions have you had about that and where do you see the franchise going?
Orci: We’ve had a few discussions. We are superstitious and think it’s bad luck to talk about your next project before you fully introduce the first one to the world. We’ve had a few little preliminary discussions, dinner, and stuff.
Kurtzman: The nice thing about the reaction has been that people are embracing the idea of it being an unwritten future and therefore the next movie isn’t entirely predictable, yet there are expectations of seeing familiar elements like in the first one. We’re just debating whether that’s the right paradigm to continue or try something different.
Atlantis crew’s Star Trek wake up call
On Wednesday NASA’s Mission Control woke up the crew of the Shuttle Atlantis with the theme music from the Star Trek: The Original Series, composed by the late Alexander Courage. One of the astronauts replied back to Houston: T
That was a great wake-up call for the whole crew. I’d just like to say to every one on the great planet Earth, ‘Live long and prosper.’
You can listen to the wake-up call and reaction at NASA.gov.
ST09 Bits
Even more Great Links:
- BabyCenter’s Dadler column thinks Vulcan mind melds would be great for parenting
- CBSNews.com’s Editor-in-chief has yet another column comparing President Obama to Spock
- ReelzChannel thinks it has found 5 Ways the Star Trek movie crips from other films
Finally, Tu-Spock
Here is a skit from Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, with his notion of ‘Tu-Spock’, half Vulcan, half gangsta rapper.
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Comments»
nice! Number 1 for once :-)
Jellyfish is a cool ship.
Can’t wait for the sequel!
I dig that texture on the Jellyfish. Did it have that in the movie? (I honestly don’t remember if it slowed down enough to notice, and by that I mean both the film _and_ the ship …)
I dig it, though.
I hope we get Chris Pine doing the ST monologue at the start of the next one!
Chris Pine was great, he’s really a talented actor. His performance was amazing.
by the way, I was first but I got deleted?
Whatever you may think of Ryan Church’s design for the Enterprise, you can’t deny that the man know how to PAINT. :)
Hope Pine gets to do the Monologue and hope there is more Klingions and Mention of the Prime Directive!
Just got back from my second viewing. With a little time for perspective…. Chris Pine steels the show… and the rest of the cast is excellent… especially Urban as McCoy…. just splendid. I needed time to digest it all after waiting so long…. being a long time trekmovie.com viewer… especially after the news of the delay from Christmas ‘08… that was a practical prison sentence.
anyway… second review is just as good as first impressions. the altered time line stands … and puts ALL cannon issues to rest for the sticklers that haunted these forums over the last two years.
I can’t tell you what a relief it is to see there monikers absent from these threads.
can’t wait for the sequel….
and … just a little thing… loved how Pine crossed his legs when he got in the chair at the end of the movie… for me… that was a nod to both Kirk..and Shatner … calm, cool, collected.
Lodown
#8-If you keep an eye on Pine, he does do Shatner more than once in the movie. There are some pauses in his sentences in certain spots, some looks, posture, etc. he just “feel like Kirk” for me! I’m really looking forward to seeing him in action as the captain from the beginning to end of a movie.
Wow, unlike the Enterprise, the Jellyfish pretty much stayed the same from concept to reality.
Bring on the Doomsday Machine for the sequel. Seriously. Make it epic and show entire solar systems being consumed by the thing. No human or alien as the bad guy, just this ruthless, planet-devouring machine built by some ancient civilization. A cold, mindless threat that must be defeated.
I laughed exactly one time during Tu-Spock…at “Dilithium Cristal.” Everything else was stupid but that was genius.
Doomsday Machine would be awesome, but they won’t do it because we already saw planet destruction in the first one.
My theory is, they’re going to do Klingons. Perhaps with good amount of Federation ships destroyed and Vulcan gone. The Klingons will use this opportunity to invade the federation. Especially since they wouldn’t be able to accept having 50 of their ships to destroyed.
I have to admit that I’ve grown fond of the new Enterprise design. It’s different, with changes in proportion and color to set it apart from the original. It’s wise to do so, and I think the talented people involved in this movie knew exactly what they needed to do. Thank God they didn’t let fans put the movie together.
10
No rehashes! New stories!
Haha, that “Tu-Spock” video had just enough lens flares to look authentic! :D
Wait, wait, wait…JJ’s going to adapt THE DARK TOWER??? Stephen King’s Dark Tower??! SWEET!!!
The yellyfish also shows the basic warp-drive design of vulcan ships – you still see some design similarities with the ships shown in Star Trek: Enterprise.
In my opinion: Vulcan ships are far more cool than Federation….(-;
Two sequel preferences, in terms of the old and the new:
1) I think Harry Mudd would make a great sequel supporting character. If they do an exploration-based plot, I have a feeling it may tend towards the Indiana Jones-style adventure/romp motif and the morally ambiguous conman is a staple of that type of story.
The risk is doing him as camp but I could see a more subdued and dangerous Harry Mudd (with all the necessary comedic elements) played by someone like Paul Giamotti.
The nice thing is that it would give them something familiar to play with which would give them more license to create a totally new villain and new worlds for the movie to take place in.
2) This is going to sound odd but I think everyone is sick of the Borg, I think it’s better to hint at or bait people with Klingons for a few films so they have a trump card left to play later and the last two films have been Romulan centric.
So if they did have a familiar villain, I think it should be a top notch Trek villain but one who is NOT typically familiar to Kirk: Gul Dukat.
He frequently polls as a favorite Star Trek villain, if not THE favorite. But he is not really that usable in the Prime universe after the DS9 finale.
Cardassians are in contact with the Federation at this time. The length of their lifespans are unknown but Dukat’s career in the “prime” universe includes some rather insane promotions and demotions (he had risen and fallen and risen and fallen again through the Cardassian ranks by the time DS9 started and wasn’t visibly any younger when Kira was a child). So he could be a contemporary of Kirk’s.
What works for me here is:
- He has built in appeal as a top Trek villain.
- Cardassians have never been given the full cinematic treatment.
- Dukat vs. Kirk seems like a new idea, a new conflict.
- Dukat is the anti-Kirk. He frequently alternates between obeying and disobeying orders. But whereas Kirk violates orders for principle and compassion and friendship, Dukat will generally follow very, well, sinister orders and when he violates orders, it’s for totally different reasons. Dukat, like Kirk, is a bit of a womanizer and a charismatic leader. And going with the new film Kirk’s origins, they have something new in common, having both lost their fathers.
But I think a danger in any classic crew Trek story is how you portray Kirk both as a soldier and as a rulebreaker, how you balance the leader and the rebel. Dukat makes a nice mirror for Kirk in this regard since he could kill thousands and rationalize it as “just following orders” and yet he’s also not above violating orders himself or employing creative gambits either.
Dukat could make a great foil and a classic cinematic villain and do it without being a retread since Kirk has never encountered Dukat, making for something old and something new. And the beauty is that anything confusing or inaccessible about Dukat is not present in this era or this timeline, making him the kind of character new audience members can “get” in five minutes and yet still find themselves discovering new levels and layers 90 minutes in.
I think they should just do a tv show and release a new movie every 2-4 years like the olympics. This way we get to see the 5 year mission unfold in this new time line and the movies can deal with popular episodes of the new tv show. JJ is a kick ass tv and movie director he can be our new Rick Berman *gasp* and Bob Orci and Alex Khurtzman can be our Brannon Braga and Ronald D Moore. Since Heroes is losing popularity and Lost and Fringe maybe gone soon, give us this new rebooted version of Star Trek every Monday, prime time, dare I say NBC?
We will just forget about everything that came after TNG and pretend this is the series that came after, “All Good Things…”
Releasing a new Star Trek movie will not appease everyone you have gotten hooked to your space drug, we need more dammit.
I want to see new Star Trek in the sequel, no rehashes from TOS. The Doomsday Machine is a fabulous episode for instance, but it’s been done. Don’t make this like a comic book franchise where all the speculation is about which known baddy will be in the next movie. And don’t do something about Klingons. They’ve been done to death.
Something new, please. Though an appearance by the Gorn would be nice, haha.
I agree with Ian – something new, the Klingons have been over exposed. Unless they turn the tables and the Klingons have the upper hand, technology wise etc making them much more of a threat. I have to admit the Gorn idea would be fun.
And more of spock and uhura would be great. we need to bring more females into the trek movie experience. Bigger box office. Let uhura sit in the captains chair and orbit a planet a couple of times or something.
To Mr. Bob Orci,
As a Star Trek fan who was literally born the same year TNG went on the air and went on to grow up on it I have to say you have my immense gratitude for creating this amazing movie. Thank you along with the rest of the ’supreme court’ for making Trek relevant again… especially towards people in their twenties or younger who never had the opportunity to get into it when they were kids while watching Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers like I did. It was an amazing experience watching Trek with good friends of mine who didn’t know Trek, be introduced to it, and see them love it.
QUESTION:
Khan has been a rumored potential future storyline. Back when the TOS ‘Space Seed’ episode aired Ricardo Montalban did an amazing job portraying the East Indian character of Khan Noonien Singh. Of course, back then there was a short supply of talented Indian actors in the U.S. If you guys chose to go the Khan route, would you consider casting an Indian actor for the part? One neat thing I hope you guys would kick around is a major bollywood star. Amitabh Bachchan is a name well known throughout most of Asia and would increase viewers of Trek immensely throughout the entire region. His presence in advertisements alone in India is profound itself. The man is simply a legend in Asia.
Check out this video with him in it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9POtcSGa6gQ
Doesn’t that just scream Khan to you? Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amitabh_Bacchan
It could be Trek’s Heath Ledger to the Joker.
Back to the simple question though, Are you guys open to consider Indian actors? I think it would work out better than attempting to recast Ricardo Montalban.
Also the theme to Enterprise was played to wake up STS 125 today. :-D
It looks like that Gungan Sub From SW Episode 1, not surprising though both movies were on par with each other.
Oh and It wasn’t Built By Geordi.
Khan was already done. Let’s not turn the next Star Trek into the Superman series of mistakes.
this whole trying to top a Villain from one movie to the Next is wrong. That’s what they did with the next gen films. TMP was Epic and grand scale. It could have been more Exciting in places, and no Bald Chicks.
ST: IV that was a great movie as well. they need to come up with a bigger Idea of a Villain, or crisis altogether.
32 –
It’s not usually the villain aspect of the story that ruined some of the later Trek movies, it was the execution and premise (or lack there of) itself. i.e. Nemesis wasn’t a great movie… though it happened to have a main villain in it. It’s not like if you took that villain out your left with a better movie.
Dear Mr Orci
Thankyou for the new movie.
For the sequel – please please read Desolation Island by Patrick O’Brian.
You could easily wangle klingons into that *type* of story.
No Khan. Please god. Go with your new universe and do something original.
Thankyou
No Khan, no Klingons, no TNG/DS9 alien species. The TOS universe is plenty big enough without dragging in crossover characters. Let TOS have it’s day in the sun for Pete’s sake- stop trying to inject characters from inferior 80’s and 90’s series into it.
Klingons have been done to death and their value as proxy Russians is past it’s expiration date. Ditto for Romulans, the proxy mysterious Chinese in the cosmic Cold War.
I vote once again for the Mirror Universe, especially as a tool for re-explaining the multiverse concept that the general audience is having a hard time understanding. Don’t retell “Mirror, Mirror”, have an entire ship cross over and fight it’s double. It would be especially wonderful if the origin of the brutal Mirror Universe was explained as the result of Edith Keeler living in that alternate future Spock got a glimpse of.
If boborci doesn’t want to go that way, then I suggest using the goto guy in the public conscience – Harry Mudd.
24.
lol
That was a really good ep
I like the idea of an Indian actor for Khan. Here are two additional suggestions here:
1. Lou Diamond Phillips. He is now in his late 40’s and is more grisled in appearance — he would make a great Khan.
2. Rodney A. Grant (played Wind In His Hair in Dances with Wolves). Now in his late 40’s as well — he stole the show as the forceful brave of the Lakota tribe in Dances.
Please, respectfully, no Khan, no Shatner, no Nimoy
NEW stuff please.
Given the large scope the sequel will have, wouldn’t it be great if two villians could team up to take on the Enterprise Crew. Wouldn’t it be cool if V’ger was headed to destroy Earth, and as the Enterprise Crew trys to forestall V’ger, Gorgan (from And the Children Shall Lead) appears and gets the younger crew persons like Chekov to rebel and align with V’ger.
Church’s glamor shot of the Jellyfish makes it look more like a Vulcan ship that I previously noticed…
For the sequel, I’d really like to go back to a less villain-oriented plot and more of a mystery/weird-lifeforms based story like Operation — Annihilate!
One more time-travel story and we might as well rename the franchise Time Trek.
Or the Devil in the Dark — CG can really do non-humanoid looking life well these days.
I just hope the next one adds more moral dilemmas than action. It’s been far too long.
Bring on Commodore Decker and the Doomsday Machine please! Or some Klingons!
Either would do nicely!
34-
Gorgan (from And the Children Shall Lead) appears and gets the younger crew persons like Chekov to rebel and align with V’ger.
The concept of a CGI’ed Melvin Belli on the big screen fills me with… an emotion. I cannot put a name to this emotion, but it is definitely there, and it is not a pleasant feeling.
Anyone who say “War of the Worlds” (2005) will recognize the lineage of the Jellyfish….
Lets NOT remake the classics for future movies
Thats do new stuff.
some Andorian vistitors would be cool!
generally I am not in favour of reharshing old characters and stories, unless they are drastically different – gender, powerwise.
keep it simple with not too many new races, have some Klingons and Romulans involved
Man, I wish that ending monologue had featured Shatner’s voice.
Or, better yet, have it be like that final episode of Enterprise, where it was a bunch of voices- Bakula, Shatner, Stewart.
Heck, if they ever do the original timeline again it’d be cool to do all the various captains of the Enterprise doing the monologue- Pine Kirk, Shatner Kirk, Harriman, Garrett, Picard, and finally Data.
Another thing I noticed/ wished was different: the music during the final scenes, when he shows up as Capt, I wish some notes of the original theme had played, but slightly off key or incomplete, then when Spock shows up and offers to be first officer, the theme becomes complete as if to say everything is right once again. Just something I was musing about during my latest viewing.
You know what…there were a couple of good ideas on this board and I wanted to throw in my support. And then a comment or three.
1. Gul Dukat as a main character in a sequel (not necessarily the next one)…
This is actually rather inspired. That would be a really twisted son of a bitch to let loose in a movie. No one would know what hit them. One of the best parts about it is that he is the one main villain in Trek that would be just as effective with the crew not knowing who he is as he would have been if his exploits were well known to them. Khan, for example relies heavily on his revenge factor. He has to encounter Kirk and then be out of the picture for years before he becomes the true force and one of cinema’s greatest villains.
Dukat actually has great potential as a one off OR as a reappearing character. It would have to be Marc Alaimo though because no one could possibly portray that character as well. He is a smart villain, a very layered personality…and this is what Star Trek movies need in villains now (if they are going to continue to have villains). Comparatively, Dukat would break the cliche to what has come before. Some Trek movie villains have been very good and some less so, but let’s face it, they have become somewhat predictable as a whole.
One other thing: I’ve introduced several people of varied tastes to the Trek universe through dvds and Dukat is the villain the majority of the newcomers seem to respond to most. That has to mean something. Weyoun was another one that many found to be cool, but if he were to appear, that would mean the Dominion has to invade the Beta Timeline and that may be too much to handle.
2. I am intrigued by the possibility of Amitabh as Khan. It isn’t the choice that immediately comes to mind, but the more I think about that, the more it makes some sense. Certainly on the global marketing side of things it is genius considering he is one of the most famous actors in the world.
The only problem is that he is in his 60s and we’d likely need someone younger for the role. How about his son?
I can see Khan being in two movies…one to set up the character and then the 2nd to be the epic revenge flick that everyone has been trying to make. The actor portraying Khan will need to be capable of convincing dramatic and physical scenes in at least one if not both of those movies.
A negative towards using Khan is the fact that Trek film writers have been trying to use the Khan archetype for years. There have been several Trek villains recently that have gone on that revenge angle with varying degrees of success. So, yes this may be feeding cliche to use him again even if he would be awesome. Unfair but true.
With all that being said, I also need to mention that I understand those who would prefer to have new stories and new characters, I agree. But…not yet.
This is an alternate timeline which, by its very nature, brings all that has come before back to being fresh as a newborn baby. Or, at the very least, a favorite childhood toy you rediscover on ebay.
What some of you seem to be missing is that one of the real strengths of this movie was the treatment of the previously KNOWN characters. Nero was really the major new element and he was not among Trek’s strongest villains….and to be fair, he didn’t need to be. He was catalyst in this film and nothing more.
Most of the movie villains in the past have been NEW characters and many of you complained about them.
Let’s keep with what worked in this movie. The production crew definitely has made it work with known characters, so why not continue to build upon that? all the while throwing in a few new elements here and there so the universe can continue to expand based on those new tangents… something Star Trek has been doing for a long time.
.
My personal hope for a sequel? A blending of “Errand of Mercy” and “A Private Little War.”
There’s plenty of room for Prime Directive quandaries, fights with the Klingons (both on ground and in space), and maybe even a hot villager for Kirk to romance. Make the lead Klingon either Kor or Kang, and I’m pumped. Omnipotent lightbulbs who resolve the conflict are optional, … and I’d rather not use them at all.
No more villains hellbent on revenge, please. At all. Every Star Trek film post-STV:TFF has had some variation on that theme and to varying degrees.
That’s part of what makes “Errand of Mercy” attractive to me. Kor (or Kang) can be the lead “bad guy,” but he’s not motivated by revenge — he’s just doing his job.
Tu-Spock’s Dilithium Krystal. I love it!
Robert Orci — PLEASE keep it original. I implore and BEG of you — please no main plot with Klingons, Romulans, Doomsday Machines…
The Klingons have been over-used in Trek as the main plot element.
Let’s see what kind of alien threats and menaces YOU and Kurtzman can come up with!
I challenge you BOTH to come up with the next alien race or menace to the Enterprise — one that will create your OWN legacy and mark in Star Trek history!
I would, however, like to see Carol Marcus and Gary Mitchell in the film though.
I can not stand Jimmy Fallon. I’ve never laughed at him once. Just saying…
Cant find the website this was on, but this is a cool TREK 2 poster from a few days ago!
http://img38.imageshack.us/my.php?image=st2.jpg
#50 That IS cool!
Be nice if it was true!
No Khan. Please. The end of the current movie set up the sequel with what seemed like a promise…’to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before”. Lets go where no Trek Film has gone before.
As a TOS die-hard, and despite not liking the new E, I did like the movie. I agreee with most other posters; please, No Kahn, or re-hash of TOS episodes. IT would cool though to see them replay the 3d chess scene from WNMHGB… Besides that, be creative and find something new…
I am kind of on the fence when it comes to the subject of Khan. Part of me feels that Kirk needs to face his arch nemesis like Batman facing the Joker in “The Dark Knight.” But at the same time it will be nice to see a Villain that is not revenge driven and not at all close to Khan. Honestly I would love for the writers to come up with some planet we have never gone to before. Something really strange, wonderful, full of mystery, and of course were a red shirt ends up getting killed.
…or something old, but good.
Kirk is supposed to be Horatio Hornblower. In the late 90s, there was an adaptation that had a GREAT episode called “The Wrong War” about an uneasy alliance between the British and the French that ends badly. It’d be great to see an attempted alliance between the Klingons and the Federation blow-up in Kirk’s face. That would give us some motivation for K-hatred through most of the series.
My 2 cents.
where have i seen that jellyfish before?
oh yes.:
http://www.starshipmodeler.com/events/wfest2k/models_jbrown_nsea.jpg
I think think the problem should be ugly creatures.
Yo JJ, Orci and Kurtzman: The most satisfying scene in the movie, as a TOS fan, was the end with Pine finally acting like Shatkirk right down to the crossed leg position in The Chair. “Maneuvering thrusters, Mr. Sulu” was about the most comforting line in the movie. Can we just settle into the basic personalities of the original characters, PLEASE, even if you did triple D cup the bussard collectors giving the E a kind of cheesy look? And could you lose this film’s Jar Jar, Scotty’s little friend? I am open to new things and would wish you would not rehash Khan. Maybe a minor Klingon character like Kang or Korr would be fine, but I would prefer the new universe to usher in new STORIES rather than changing the basic PERSONALITIES of the original characters whose chemistry spawned a franchise. That is all.
I honestly think the Klingon Idea will work If done properly. A Huge character revamp and not the 80’s HardRock Klingon’s we used to get.
http://vijil.deviantart.com/art/Klingon-redesign-104656564
They need to be real warrior villains. I want to see the next Trek go darker and scary in terms of the bad guys. The Klingon’s are the real big villains of trek appealing to a wider audience and fans alike.
http://img38.imageshack.us/my.php?image=st2.jpg
For the sequel, give us a villain who DOESN’T DIE in the end! That’s why they didn’t kill Darth Vader at the end of Star Wars, or the Joker at the end of “The Dark Knight”… people want to see villains they enjoy again and again who make things difficult for our heroes. Create a good villain who survives for the sequel, and the $$$$$ will follow.
I’m already having visions of slamming my head into the wall directly aside my computer, while preparing for the onslaught of “suggestions for the sequel” I’ll be reading for the next 2 years.
First, I hope everyone is grounded into reality enough to know that Orci and Kurtzman are going to write whatever the hell THEY want to write.
Second, I cannot believe they would get Star Trek fixed for an entirely new playground and then re-do stuff we saw 40-ish years ago, or anything from latter Treks that so many people bitched about for 20 years.
Orci and Kurtzman seem like pretty sharp guys, to me. I’m confident that they already have an idea about where they are going. Yes, they may read some of this stuff to get a general sense of what we’re buzzing about, but, as I said before, they should not be obliged to write something just to please fans.
That said, I am with those who call for “all new” Star Trek. No re-makes, no re-hashes, no re-visits. I’d like to be surprised, awed, mystified and transported into the unknown, rather than see Lou Diamond Philips doing a Montalban impression of Khan, or Tom Hanks as Kor, or whatever some people are thinking…
I think the creative team would be wise to stay away from villians and have the new crew be challenged by some kind of space anomaly, like the single-celled creature in The Immunity Syndrome.
That would make it dramatic, exciting, provocative and interesting without the usual, “I spit at thee!” garbage!
Please, let’s go for NEW once every lifetime, shall we?
Those Reelz Channel points are pretty flimsy, but it seems people are absolutely desperate to draw comparisons.
@59: That Klingon painting is terrific, but it’s a bit too Predator-esque.
I’m hope the sequel doesn’t remake an old villain, but I must say the thought of Paul Giamatti as Harry Mudd makes me all happy inside. :)
That wake-up call had tears welling up in my eyes.
I think that may well be the coolest thing I’ve ever heard.
This is a great time to be a Trekkie indeed.
I want to see Chris Pine lecturing the Gamesters of Triskelion.
“BabyCenter’s Dadler column thinks Vulcan mind melds would be great for parenting ”
So would “neck pinches”….lol.
:)
62:
Harry:
I believe that was Melville.
Though I agree. The revenge thing has been done. Check. But since they’re explorers now, they should meet one, or more, established Trek races. Also, I’d like to see them flesh out the fleet of Starship-class vessels (only 12 like it in the fleet) if they do a ‘war’ plot.
O&K are still constrained by Trek’s past. Sure the E could chance upon another space entity (is it sentient? Peaceful? Purpose?), the Klingons, mirror-counterparts, new races with secrets, Starfleet bureaucrats, superior beings who test humanity’s progress, light time-travel stories, the seeding of biped humanoids in the galaxy, machines leading men, or seeking their creators, diplomacy missions, first contacts, blocked supply routes, etc.
The next film should be epic, and take the best elements to craft something new and exciting. I’m sure they’ll figure it out.
I have a feeling they will use existing characters in the Star Trek universe and tell wonderful stories that comments about our social world, without being to on the nose or corny. How our world will be without the Joker in the Dark Knight, just because it is a familair character does that mean the story will be the same or close. Imagine Star Trek with no Kirk or Spock, I’ll be fine with Klingons, Khan, mysterious space energy creatures, discovering a new realm of existance. As long as the story is character driven with good dialogue, direction, special effects, music and genuine threat to our beloved characters, it’ll work.
Listed to the NASA wake-up call and realized Chris Pine had better get some good Shakespearian diction lessons if he ever hopes to say the “Space..the final frontier” opening without sounding like a punk.
It’s a long way from “Why are you talkin’ to me, man?”
#30: Word.
“18. VulcanNonibird – May 22, 2009
The yellyfish also shows the basic warp-drive design of vulcan ships – you still see some design similarities with the ships shown in Star Trek: Enterprise.”
If you look at the Countdown Comics you’ll see that..
(minor spoiler if you didn’t read it…)
Geordi LaForge built the thing.
70–I know what you mean:
“Space, like, it’s totally out there, man–the final place to go, you know? These are the trips of my ride, the Enterprise, 5 years or longer, dewd. Gonna check out some wild new cribs, find other dewds. We’re, like, gonna jam out there, man, and kick some ass, like, where no dewd–or dewdette– has been.”
I’m looking forward to the sequel. In an ideal world, we’d get a sequel that stands alone and only briefly references events in the first (new) film. Storywise, if neo-Star Trek II could be a film that could sit as comfortably in the old universe as the new, it would be perfect. Obviously there is a different cast, a slick new look and in the background Spock’s culture (rather than species as the Romulans are still around) has taken a severe knock, but really these shouldn’t be driving forces in the new film.
I’m not really interested in seeing the Romulans, Klingons and so on in this sequel: let’s put the ship far out in deep space, with no easy communication with Starfleet, exploring and meeting new friends and foes.
And preferably none of that self-righteous yakking on about the Prime Directive: TNG showed that th PD was all too easily perverted to allow the Federation to permit civilisations to be exterminated (why wasn’t Picard tried for genocide in ‘Homeward’?)
I also vote for a ‘new story’. Surprise us. Pepper the film with a few TOS references as was done in the first. Maybe even the return of a known character, but in different circumstances.
I want to see Kirk mess up big time. Then understand his error (with the help of Spock & Bones) and atone for it. Kirk needs to find his moral center.
Oh, and lots of ’splosions.
#73—“Space, like, it’s totally out there, man–the final place to go, you know? These are the trips of my ride, the Enterprise, 5 years or longer, dewd. Gonna check out some wild new cribs, find other dewds. We’re, like, gonna jam out there, man, and kick some ass, like, where no dewd–or dewdette– has been.”
Needless to say, that’s quite the road to take from a 22 year-old, pre-Starfleet Kirk asking, “Why are you talking to me, man?”
Exaggerate much?
I think it is safe to say that Star Trek will end up being the 3rd biggest movie of the summer behind Transformers and Harry Potter and will more than likely finish in the Top 5 at the end of the year. That it huge for this franchise that was clearly on life-support.
ST XI will pass Monsters and Aliens as the biggest grossing movie of the year next week while also surpassing $200 million dollars domestically. Who would have thought that before the release of this movie???
76–Humor. It is a difficult concept.
#78—Keep working on it. You’ll get it!
:)
Starfleet has revealed that the Tu-Spock video was the final entry in the Ship’s Log of the USS Intrepid (NCC-1631) before it was eaten by the Space Amoeba…
also, TuSpock was Spock’s 1st cousin, five times removed (well, they tried five times to remove him) ;)
#77—-While that is certainly likely in terms of domestic grosses, ST09 will not likely end up even in the top 5 in terms of global grosses (unless it takes a suddenly massive upturn in international performance).
Nevertheless, it’s performance is still very good.
#8 lodownX
I agree with the last scene of Pine (Kirk) sitting in the Captain’s chair crossing his legs like Shatner (Kirk). Also he picked up a number of Kirk’s quirks than he cares to admit. He is more like Kirk than he is Solo. As a matter of fact I really don’t see a whole lot of Solo in his performance at all.
One character I hope they modify witha different star, is Chechov. Anton has made him such a sissified character. Really wimpy. Can’t get used to that.
I also went to see it 2nd time and was able to follow it much better and Pine does steal the show with McCoy in for a close second. Good job.
Mr. Church produces some very fine artwork indeed!
I didn’t like Pine’s punk ass lines during much of the movie, but I liked how at the end when he became Acting Captain suddenly it seemed liked he got a quantum leap in intelligence and behavior. I remember during that last exchange with Nero he says ” your ship is compromised, it won’t survive the singularity without assistance which we are willing to provide”. If he was still the punk kid from the bar he would’ve called the singularity a Black Hole, compromised would’ve been F#$%ed Up, and assistance would’ve been help, etc etc. Also his thinking process had changed- he offered a fallen enemy asisstance rather than simply blowing them away. At the end he became a captain in my eyes.
#84 Valar1
Well said. It was the ending that impressed me. And boy does he look hot in his yellow captain’s shirt.
First, allow me to wish a blessed memorial day to those whose loved ones died in military service to America. My own father, a service veteran, passed away on this day a year ago.
Secondly, a small point but an important one, there is no such thing as “Star Trek: The Original Series”. It is simply “Star Trek”.
Sincerely,
C.S. Lewis
” … theme music from the Star Trek: The Original Series, composed by the late Alexander Courage.
the film really was’nt that good or memorable?
Ryan Church! At last, an “originator” in the Star Trek design pantheon. No more imaginationless Rubik’s Cubing of the same basic (gray) forms and volumes.
Talent triumphant!
86: Actually, there is a need for it. It’s been referred to as The Original Series for decades, and it’s simply to differentiate it from the spin-offs so that you can tell from the get-go exactly which part of the Star Trek (there were six) franchise you’re talking about. Now there’s another incarnation that bears the exact same name. You might consider it insulting, and I refer to TOS as just plain “Star Trek” all the time myself, but there IS a need.
My condolences for your father, though. His service will always be appreciated.
86. C.S. Lewis
My condolences too. My Grandfather was a soldier in WW2 and died last year. Today would have been his 87th birthday.
Agreed about the TOS/Star Trek thing. I use ‘TOS’ if I mention the other shows that used its name (although they bore little resemblance to ‘my’ Star Trek below the surface.) It’s a shame they felt they had to use the Star Trek: The Original Series caption on the new DVD/Blu releases.
I’d rather they’d simply used the Star Trek name and put ‘Season One of the original television show’ elsewhere on the packaging.
84. Valar1: ‘I didn’t like Pine’s punk ass lines during much of the movie, but I liked how at the end when he became Acting Captain suddenly it seemed liked he got a quantum leap in intelligence and behavior.’
I guess he grew up, which was the point of the film! ;)
My two cents for the sequel.
I was watching “Balance of Terror” the other night (Just love that Mark Lenard!), and I jumped off my seat at this bit of dialogue by the Romulan Command to Kirk, screaming “Sequel!”
I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend.
See, a period could be put on the whole Nero story when Kirk and the RomCom work together to fight a common foe (the Klingons, or the shrinking ozone layer, or…). Not that it’s always a smooth ride.
Title: In a Different Reality.
Just an idea. Not necessarily a good one.
NO KHAN!!!!!
(Repeat 1,000x)
Regarding video: Head full of logic and a nose full of Coke? Uh Jimmy, good attempt at humor, but ummmm,….whatever.
The perfect sequel!
A remake that would allow the Shat a significant role…
Think “transporter malfunctions”, crew trapped on the planet, and Shatner shouting – at Chris Pine’s intercomm message about a transporter-created ‘twin’- “I’M THE CAPTAIN!”
I really don’t get how reusing a character or set piece would make the sequel into an instant rehash.
I think what has to be different and new and bold are the story, the tone, the SFX, the challenges and the solutions.
But at the same time, driving down a new road doesn’t mean you won’t pass some familiar cars on the road.
New path… But it is a Star Trek universe with familiar obstacles and allies that can be placed differently.
Using an established ship or character is good and avoiding this, IMO, risks stripping the flavor of Trek out. Updating or revisiting an existing story is where I have qualms. What I want is: Familiar flavor, new experience. What should be avoided is a revisitation or replication of past events.
If you introduce Khan, it CAN’T have the deep revenge driven angle that STII did and, I daresay, because his character is so iniosyncratic, the only way I can think to tell a new story with him is to make him Kirk’s ally and friend or drastically change his circumstances, by (for example) having someone else discover the Botany Bay. I wouldn’t rule it out EVENTUALLY because I don’t think anything should be ruled out but the audience ALREADY wants a sequel so save any treats you have to entice them like Khan or Klingons for a much later sequel.
The reason I gravitate towards Dukat and Mudd is because they’re characters who work without a history lesson and that’s the type I want to see make the jump. They have a resonance and a meaning for existing fans of Trek but they are characters who serve a story rather than requiring a story to serve them, as Khan, the Borg, Shinzon and too many Trek villains have. This forces the story, inhibits it and leads down the path towards an existing plot being recycled.
Whereas I’d prefer the writers start by examining the character themes and plot… But, from there, be unafraid to call a character by a familiar name or invoke a familiar face from TOS or any Trek series if it serves the story and adds a few layers to it.
I think the place for familiarity is in the details and it HAS to be there or it isn’t Trek. Names, hobbies, favorite foods, eccentricities, etc. Both of the main cast and supporting characters.
And it’s a great place to detour into when it either serves the story or you want to give a glimpse of something outside the story. For instance, start the story on a wild west planet tainted by a sociologist — Trek sociologists are notorious for corrupting cultures. Or have a familiar admiral give a familiar order. Have Kirk and Spock play 3D chess — or even 4D chess. But the primary situation has to be new.
#91—-”I was watching “Balance of Terror” the other night (Just love that Mark Lenard!), and I jumped off my seat at this bit of dialogue by the Romulan Command to Kirk, screaming “Sequel!”
I regret that we meet in this way. You and I are of a kind. In a different reality, I could have called you friend.”
The irony of that is that Kirk had every reason to completely rebuke that notion by the Romulan Commander, given the unprovoked attrocities he had committed in their sneak attack across the Neutral Zone. Kirk would have been perfectly within his rights to respond with something like— “$#&% $&%!!!!”
To #81 – I was strictly speaking domestically and not internationally. Globally if the movie ended the year in the Top 10 that would be surprising.
But I do expect STXI to setup STXII like Batman Begins did for the Dark Knight. I don’t expect the next ST movie to gross like Dark Knight did but I would not be surprise if it came in over $350 million domestically. I know it is way to early to predict such a thing but it is strictly just a feeling I have.
Sequel talk? Eh?
My idea is that there is no reason for the Enterprise to follow the 5-year-mission of the Prime Timeline. With all of the ships that were destroyed defending Vulcan, I see a very good reason for them to be easily offered a different “route” for their mission. Maybe they’ll encounter some familiar events, maybe they won’t. Hopefully a mix of the familiar and new will be presented to us.
93. Spockette
Yep. I wasn’t too in to that either. The funniest trek parody I can think of was something I ran across on youtube (I think) of an all Scottish (I think it was Scottish) trek cast. Search for it on youtube, it’s pretty funny…
The Narda? Is that some kind of super-advanced Romulan typo ship?
#87. spocks fire lighters wrote:
Playing Devil’s Advocate here: I saw Dark Knight once on DVD. I certainly did not feel it lived up to its hype, saw nothing in it I needed to see it in a theatre for, and would be hard-pressed to tell you anything about it now other than the Joker was in it and Batman got a new car. Yet, that film did over $1 Billion at the box office and has since made almost $400M in DVD sales.
Several websites have a Playmates Jellyfish, Narada and Utility Bell listed for pre-order…
http://www.entertainmentearth.com/prodinfo.asp?number=PL61897
I’ve been reading a lot of fan’s wish list for the next voyage of the Enterprise. Does it always have to be a crisis with a familiar enemy that has to be dealt with? Doomday Machine, Klingons, Gorns, etc. have been mentioned. What is wrong with doing what has been stated at the beginning of every episode of TOS and later, though seldom done, in Next Generation? “To explore strange NEW worlds and NEW civilizations, to BOLDLY GO where no one has gone before.” Kirk and crew ran into plenty of trouble with “new” planets and cultures. That’s what the five year mission was all about.
#30: “No Khan, no Klingons, no TNG/DS9 alien species. The TOS universe is plenty big enough without dragging in crossover characters. Let TOS have it’s day in the sun for Pete’s sake- stop trying to inject characters from inferior 80’s and 90’s series into it.”
I agree.
uh, except with *inferior*
The 80s and 90s TREK was a product of its time… some might say the 60s was inferior… it too, was a product built for its audience if its time.
Some folks laugh and giggle at the acting and the SPFX for the 1960s TOS, but forget it was pretty damned good for its time. We laugh at the hairdos, the stories’s political correctness in the 80s.. but again, it was current then- and VERY well thought of by the fans, the industry and the media…
I suppose 10 years from now we’ll all laugh about what was cutting edge in 2009 (Oddly enough, about the only sci fi movie that I think stands up completely today and has not aged, even after 41 years, is 2001: ASO).
Something people do need to remember when speculating is that if the Supreme Court stick with consistency with canon, most of the threats from TOS will be nullified, since Prime Spock knows about them and will surely give all his knowledge to Starfleet- to not do so would be to condemn many to death from those threats. He knows when the Doomsday Machine will arrive in our galaxy, and how to destroy it. He knows the Immunity Syndrome amoeba will arrive, and how to destroy it. He knows the Kelvans are invading, who Jack The Ripper is, and the invading route of the Operation: Annihilate! neural parasites, and so on. And he knows that Khan is currently asleep on an ancient freighter with his followers, and Starfleet can decide at leisure when to pick him up and what to do with him. Most of the TOS threats aren’t threats in this universe, because they can be preempted. :)
There’s no way the writers can have Prime Spock keep all his foreknowledge secret, especially after watching Vulcan destroyed. Millions of lives are at risk from the Doomsday Machine, Immunity amoeba, neural parasites, etc etc etc.
103
” Does it always have to be a crisis with a familiar enemy that has to be dealt with? ”
The fun of any reboot is to see how the new regime would reinterpret classic iconic figures from our childhood imaginations. Partly it is that we don’t think they can pull it off, partly it is to see how the changes affect your image of that childhood hero. The reason this movie resonates so well is that it not only faithfully recreates the original spirit of the characters but expands and takes them into tangents that breathe new life and new excitement into the memories you already have.
Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would not only accept the new guys, but that I would also welcome the changes so that new stories can be told. I no longer have a sick feeling watching my old TOS episodes thinking that all this is nice but my childhood hero Kirk still dies a lousy death because Picard is too big a wimp to fight one single geriatric british loon on a mountaintop. When I realized during my first viewing of the new film that somewhere, somewhen, that bit of idiocy was no longer written in stone, I choked up.
This is the reason that I would like to see classic villains/situations retold by the new regime. I want them to expand and breathe new life into the old interpretations I have in my mind. I want to see their version of Khan, their version of the Doomsday device, or the Tholians, or the First Federation, the Mirror Universe, etc, etc.
And, frankly speaking about average joe blow movie goer- when you mention Trek to anyone they know only 4 names- Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Khaaaaaannn!!!. So if these guys want another hit it would be in their best interest to put Khan in it – IMO.
I also think that bringing Chapel & Rand into the mix will make for some very interesting Uhura/Spock/Chapel and Rand/Kirk/Uhura character moments. Of course, Kudorci will have to avoid falling into the formulaic love-triangle trap.
35: Wholeheartedly agree – some interesting stuff, please. Any stupid franchise can do villains.
#91 Knowing O&K also cite Balance of Terror as a major influence, I think you’re on to something. I agree and imagine if Spock Prime also starts an initiative here in 2258 to get Romulus out of the era of suspicion. There’s 8 years to pre-empt the Earth Outpost Attack… and then that commander (could we get Gary Graham as the unnamed Commander? Gary’s Soval was one of the best parts of Enterprise…) instead of fighting Kirk, could be working with Kirk to avert some TOS threat together… Romulans and Humans overcoming the great war. That would be a great movie, if flashbacks to the Earth-Romulan war were included. Interesting that it’s almost exactly 100 years after that war in Star Trek time. :)
#105 I agree that these “known threats” are what really can’t be avoided… yet they can all play out VERY differently. In that, LO&K’s encyclopedic understanding of Trek could produce very unpredictable script ideas.
#many Just saw nu-Planet of the Apes on FX today, and agreed.. Paul Giamatti as Mudd would be divinely inspired. (And as bizarre as Burton’s Ape-raham ending was: were I Mark’s character, who wouldn’t have stayed on the world with both a hot blonde and a hot chim both wanting your attention? ;) )
Hi Valr1
It seems to me the new regime has already proven that they can pull off reintepreting iconic characters. I don’t want to see this frachise getting muddled down with recycling the bad guy (Kilingons, Romulans, Khan or whotever else) who wants to conquere or destroy the galaxy routine. It’s been done. Let’s not bogg down this “reboot” with “remakes”.
One could say the retellings of Robin Hood each have there own version of a different timeline, but the outcome is the same. The same story is told with more flair and style than the last retelling.
Let’s streach our imaginations a bit more and move on to the exploration. Gene Roddenberry didn’t believe the general audience was as mindless as NBC believed it was. He proved them wrong. This new regime seems to be working on that same concept, or at least they’re trying to.
On the whole, I agree with your remarks of the characters spirit being faithfully recreated. I just don’t agree with what direction we should take from here.
I would like to see the Gorn in the new Trek films at some point. The Tholians would be interesting too. Most of all I would like to see a lead villian/threat that lasts beyond one film. The new Trek film was epic but now I would like to see it go episodic. And let one film’s story lead into the next. I would like a Darth Vader type of villain, the real epitome of evil, that is a real rival for Kirk.
I don’t think it would be out of line to Bringon The Klingon factor in the next movie. I wonder just how all bent out of shape they might be (and just what would Klingons BE in this new universe?) after losing 47 ships to the Narada. The way they behaved previously suggests that they could take it out on whomever’s convenient… like Starfleet.
Khan wasn’t a major threat until he was stranded on Ceti-Alpha-Whatever. It would take a lot of creativity to think of a reason for him to be so vengeful. Anyhow, its been done before. Why remake it? If anything, he would be cool as a minor character, subplot, or reference within a Captain’s Log.
Also, the thing that made Khan really dangerous was the Genesis Device.
#104
I somewhat agree. 2001 is in the top 5 of my all time favorites. Just a great, great film. But it is showing its age. Not of it’s own fault, but by ours. If we had remained focused, rather than distracted by cold war politics and military buildups, that may well have been our future….. Much like Space1999 (yes I’m a fan, sorry) it assumed we would actually progress, not regress or remain stagnant. We should already have a Moonbase, a Marsbase, and presenty be going further. Now NASA tells us we might have like a camper or something on the moon in about 10 years……
WTF!!!
If only we weren’t so stupid and short-sighted. It’s a shame and very sad!!
(Sorry for the rant! I feel better now.)
109. Daoud and 111. EwoksSuck: The trouble is, if we keep getting movies about characters within the known Trek universe, things are going to run into navel-gazing territory. Fair enough to make a Star Trek movie featuring famous background characters like Romulans and (deleted) Klingons, but that’s a film ‘about Star Trek.’
An ideal Star Trek film shouldn’t involve known races and should be well away from Earth, the Federation, Starfleet, Klingons and Romulans. We’ve not actually had a Trek film do that yet.
I of course meant fair enough for a new ‘introductory film’ to feature the likes of the Romulans.
In perusing Ryan Church’s website, I noticed that he worked on Electronic Arts’ Dead Space video game. Dead Space was, for my money one of the best games of last year, something of a cross between Alien and John Carpenter’s The Thing, with some fantastic designs and artwork. A really, really great survival/horror/sci-fi game that is definitely worth checking out.
As for Trek, I wonder when Paramount will officially announce the sequel; I suspect we won’t hear anything until the film stops playing in theaters (no need to steal its thunder); maybe in conjunction with the home video release?
To tie it all together, Star Trek and 2001 were both major influences in my youth, and lead to who I am as a man.
Diversity, acceptance, optimism, “politics” as a bad thing.
I realize I’m very off-topic, so I apologise in advance. The new Star Trek renews love for Star Trek and the original vision. I’m thrilled it’s doing so well!!
#118
It’s my understanding that the sequel is already in preliminary stages and has been “greenlighted”. The writing staff has already been announced
I will put in my opinion on the potential sequel bad guy thing:
I, too, would hope Orci, Kurtzman and Lindeloff will come up with something original and not just a new version of Khan. Really not crazy about another Khan movie. Would be kind of open to Abrams’ take on the Klingons but then again they’re pretty overused. Maybe that could be done. No more Romulans. No Borg. Please dear god no more time travel. Please.
Would also like to see more focus on McCoy and Scotty next time. And especially more of a nod to the exporatory nature of Starfleet. And an attempt to be a little topical. And please run the pseudo-science past a science advisor before committing it to the final script (Spock Prime, sadly, had some of the most embarrassingly unscientific-sounding lines in the movie). And a literary reference or two would be nice (no, Stephen King doesn’t count)…Lindeloff may help out on that front seeing how many literary nods pop up on Lost.
Look forward to it! Really love the current movie. Not perfect, room for some improvement but a really fine re-start nonetheless. Hopefully we’ll get a new Trek tv show of some sort…
I look forward to Abrams’ Star Trek: Episode II. That is, as long as we don’t get cheesy romance scenes between Kirk and Carol Marcus.
“I love you, Jim”
“I love you too, but I cannot love you”
“The Starfleet Command must never know that we are together”
“No, they will not, my love”
(cringe)
Star Trek 2009 is absolutely great entertainment and I can’t say enough about the obvious hard work and thoughtful care by all those involved in its production. Everyone I have talked with loved the movie and I know of new Trek fans who have seen it multiple times.
All the kids especially loved the Star Wars-type effects and ice planet monster chase. When I mention being at the early showings in the Corte Madera cinema and witnessing ILM employees applauding for their individual credits…the kids go “WOW! – COOL! “. (The teenage girls are going crazy over Chris Pine.)
Before seeing the movie, I anticipated that my favorite aspect of it would be seeing Nimoy as Spock again. His introduction and role in the movie was, indeed, great, but the surprise for me was to see this new cast and be totally sold that these really are the characters of THE CREW. It really is Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the whole gang.
I hope Nimoy and Greenwood can continue on as Spoke Prime and Chris Pike, (just like Michael Cane and Morgan Freeman did for Batman); would love to see old Archer; I am mostly looking forward to seeing this young crew be challenged to the max in the next movie.
120. Brian Kirsch – May 23, 2009
#118
“It’s my understanding that the sequel is already in preliminary stages and has been “greenlighted”. The writing staff has already been announced.”
It’s my understanding (from this site) that Paramount asked for the sequel writing to begin with a draft due by Christmas. I don’t believe that means anything has been given a greenlight.
Just went to a 6:45 pm showing of ST XI (my 5th time seeing the movie) here in Birmingham, AL and it was nearly packed and people were clapping and giving the movie a standing ovation afterwards. Not bad for a movie in its 3rd week of release.
#124
Not official of course, but it looks pretty darn green to me ;-)
http://trekmovie.com/2009/03/30/breaking-paramount-moving-forward-on-star-trek-sequel-supreme-court-on-board/
25/
Geordi DID build the JellyFish ship. Read the prequel comic.
For a sequel, I want Uhura pregnant with Spock’s baby.
Loved this movie. But agree with the post that said (essentially), no old Kirk (please no Shatner), no retread of Khan (let it go) and for the love of pete – NO BORG! TNG’s books seem stuck to death on borg.
I’d love to see a great mirror universe movie. But also agree that it will need some explaining to non-fans.
I fell in love with Trek as a result of TNG. I’d love to see one of those characters worked in but I can understand if that would be too much retread as well.
That being said, I LOVED having Nimoy reprise his role as Spock. He is the gentleman statesman of Trek.
The trouble with introducing exploration into a big movie is that it slows the whole deal down. The only film that I can really appreciate that being done well was Master and Commander and the Galapogos Islands. It was a nice break from the action yet still helped drive the story forward. If the guys can handle it like that then I think it will work fine.
#101
RD i have to agree with you.the dark knight was also over hyped.but like everyone else i fell into that hype and was sorely dissapointed.the power of advertising :)
#130
YES!!!!
I will mention, for the millionth time, Desolation Island, Patrick O’Brien’s best ‘Master & Commander’ book, which mixed action, exploration, disaster, and human relations brilliantly.
I think that kind of Trek would work very well.
It would be interesting to find out if Orci or Kurtzman have read any of Patrick O’Brien’s books. If not, we should pitch in to send them a few.
.
#133
I reckon they can take an advance out of Trek’s $240 million worldwide box office to buy a few copies. Or they can have mine!!
Part of the reason I could see Mudd working is that if they do an “exploration” story, I think it will structurally resemble Indiana Jones more than the classic Trek exploration film, albeit with jumps between planets instead of countries, local guides and a search for some secret macguffin, possibly racing against Klingons or Cardassains or Naussicans or something in search of something.
A 90-120 minute movie has to put a sense of urgency on the exploration. It can’t simply be an episode or an incident of exploration and it can’t be that 2001 or Star Trek TMP style slowly dawning epiphany because modern audiences won’t have the patience.
Discovery and exploration needs a time table, a sense of urgency. It needs to be a race against the clock.
And that type of story works well with the introduction of a comedic sidekick or a conman who has valuable information but either may be lying or may try to doublecross everyone at the last minute.
And that is Harcourt Fenton Mudd to a T. He wouldn’t be the main villain. The main villain would be whoever Kirk is racing against and/or whatever he finds when he unearths the secret he’s looking for, whether it’s an ancient ship with amazing technology or a secret temple or a lost god.
But if you’re doing Trek-as-Indiana Jones style plot structure, you need the conman to help advance the narrative (and detour it) and you need rivals also racing for the treasure.
The thing is in that style of story, it helps to have someone unreliable who is already looking for the macguffin or who has already found it and lost it because it allows your protagonists to jump into the action faster.
And they need a separate villain to really hammer home the need to explore but do it within a movie’s timeframe.
In a TV show, a crew can begin to make a discovery and wistfully ponder the implications because you know that even if the planet/culture isn’t directly revisited, the overall idea might be.
In a movie franchise, you don’t want ideas revisited if you can avoid it so any exploration/discovery needs to be more resolved by the end of the movie. You don’t want as many lingering ideas. The plot and themes have to be more wrapped up, more packaged. Because the movie has to stand alone without the conceit that anything can or should be revisited or will even have the chance to be.
#135
Agreed, making it work as cinema rather than episodic TV, something I’ve discussed on this board before, is a challenge. And you’re right, the exploration and what-have-you need to get wrapped up in a gripping 100-120 minute time-frame.
This is my idea – based on Patrick O’ Brien’s Desolation Island
The Enterprise is ferrying colonists to some distant outpost, encountering a powerful enemy ship of some sort en route, in a remote area of space – there is a chase of some sort, exchanges of fire, the Enterprise is damaged and looks to be overwhelmed, but Kirk manages to pull the cat out of the bag and manages to wreck the enemy ship by forcing it into the atmosphere of a gas giant – it broaches to and burns up. The Enterprise struggles on, badly damaged, finds itself in uncharted space, possibly almost sensor blind, and is struck by an asteroid or something that cripples a nacelle (they’re big enough – like hitting a barn door…) We see everyone pitching in, including Kirk, to repair damaged systems.
At this point the colonist, maybe led by a dissatisfied starfleet officer, want to abandon ship. Kirk promises, despite all the hardship, lack of food, limited life support that they can limp to an unmanned outpost. There’s almost a mutiny, as it looks as though the Enterprise will be lost, and lots of the colonists and some crew abandon the ship. We’re left with a core band of crew who struggle to reach the outpost and refit the ship. Whilst exploring and re-fitting, a ship comes to the rescue…. it’s klingon. Though the situation is incredibly tense, they can help each other – the klingons supply some essential materials, and the Enterprise helps them with a medical emergency.
I need to figure out a good ending, but there’s a good start there….
COMPARING SPOCK AND OBAMA:
Spock: Insists that he is following the Vulcan way of logic, but is prone to highly emotional outbursts.
Obama: Insists that Guantanamo Bay and the tactics used there are wrong and that the place should be shut down, but now struggles with how to close it and claims that the military tribunals he campaigned against are, with some adjustments, (parphrasing) the best way to protect our nation.
“I’m as conflicted as I once was as a child” / “I’m as conflicted as I once was on the campaign trail.”
None of this means that Spock is a bad character or that Obama is a bad president, it’s simply that I don’t see Obama being judged as harshly for his backtracking as Bush was judged for not only the same thing, but in most cases for actually doing what he said he would (for better or worse).
I have a great idea for a sequel!
Young Jim Kirk and crew tackle a new menace– a radical hostile unreasoning canonista nazi clan (and worst of all, rude) threatening to blackmail Star Fleet’s Surpreme Court.
In an effort to suppress the movement, the court calls 9-11 whose spokesperson looks remarkably like an older Kirk, among the responding police force is one T.J. Hooker… the clan are arrested but exercising their right to legal representation they call upon attorney Denny Craig for their defense. Craig represents the clan with his usual skills.
Facing three opponents that each look like an older Jim Kirk, young Jim Kirk decides to play dirty by asking Scotty to tinker with the transporter. In doing so, he is able to 1) split himself into his good and evil part, plus they beam over to the Mirror Universe and bring back his evil counterpart.
The six prepare to face off against each other….
Denny, standing before the young Jim Kirk:
“Jim,” he growled. “I am your father…”
“No, No,” young Kirk yells out. “That isn’t true..” oops wrong SF universe, but hey, JJ likes it!.
Now with two teams of three Kirks present (well, three look like an elder Jim Kirk), the universe is in total chaos and the only recourse is…
Well, this is just the second movie.. to be continued for a third.
Star Trek Rescue 9-11 Boston Legal III coming in 2015.
Exactly what was disappointing about “The Dark Knight?” Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion, but even if over-hyped, that film was never hyped as the so-called “progressive” and happy tale that STAR TREK is meant to be. Anyone that bothered to read Nolan’s and cast’s own comments when the production begain in February 2007 knows that it was always going to be intensely dark.
And Batman does NOT get a “new car” – he uses, for the first time, the motorbike built into the Batmobile, which self-destructs after being shot with a missile.
#138: oops, that would seven Kirks, wouldn’t it? okay, so my science is only as good as its writer… someone get me a techie from NASA.
135, excellent post. I like your idea of the macguffin-led plot very much, even if I’m not much of a Mudd fan (the Mudd episodes irritate me a bit, TBH).
I definitely want to see the next movie get away from mithering about in Trek’s past. I want something new. Comic book movies (as are being discussed here viz The Dark Knight) are always reflections of the “main” continuity, in the comic books; so e.g. Batman has to face the same old villains (and declining with each movie)- the Joker, The Penguin, Catwoman, The Riddler… after a few movies you’re down to King Tut and Egghead. There’s no room to really do anything new, like a genuinely new villain. The fans just speculate about which already seen in the comics villains and events will make it into the next movie. Tedious.
Star Trek isn’t like that. This isn’t an “adaption”. It’s a continuation. Let’s boldly go somewhere new and unknown, like we used to :)
#142 Ian B wrote:
Isn’t that what Enterprise tried to do?
It’s really easy to say “let’s do something completely different”, but every time Trek has done that it worked out mostly badly. TFF, GEN, and INS come to mind. Trek has some wonderful characters, none better than the Klingons and Romulans, both of whom represent “mirrors” to Humans and Vulcans respectively. That in part is what a franchise is built on, it’s most memorable characters and villains.
Also, remember, what maybe a re-tread for you is fresh new ground for a new generation of fans and general audiences who have never seen it before. Abrams would have to stray far away from his Star Wars influences to deny an evil galactic empire trying to defeat the forces of good – Trek had that built-in from the beginning. And remember the fundamentals of Summer Blockbusters. You need an identifiable villain, a motivating plot that compels the audience to care about the fate of the characters and enough fast-paced action to keep the Summer pop-corn audiences awake and involved.
You send the Enterprise out on a mission of exploration to meet some brand new purple blob and people will fall asleep in the theatre, not to mention losing the core fans. Enterprise only started to get better once it went back to the basics, characters the fans could identify with and for general audiences had well defined motivations within the franchise.
Enterprise was a dud for several reasons. Firstly, it was a prequel, so they couldn’t discover anything that hadn’t been referenced in the chronologically later series which had come before. Secondly it was badly written, thirdly it was the perfect example of the soporific TNG+ “style” of direction and pacing, and fourthly it cast a captain with the charisma of a block of lard. Doing new things was really not its problem.
There’s more to life than Klingons (especially the tedious “proud warrior race” rubbish ones of TNG+). Having seen this first effort of the new Trek, I have no doubt that the writers can think of something better than the Bermaga hacks churned out of the sausage factory. I sincerely hope they can give us something more interesting than a bunch of 80s Hair Metal rejects shouting “raaaaaaaar” at each other, and saying “you do NOT understand”. Let’s face it, those guys couldn’t build a garden shed, let alone an empire.
And yes, Enterprise got a bit more enjoyable when it started rooting around in fanon (well, the Mirror Universe two parter was fun, anyway). But that didn’t make it a good series, and it didn’t save it- because nobody else gave a hoot. Writing for “the fans” primarily is the kiss of death.
If Trek has only past glories to work with, then it truly would have been better to let it die. Me, I have confidence that it can be new, fresh, well written science fiction again.
142
Ian B
“Star Trek isn’t like that. This isn’t an “adaption”. It’s a continuation. Let’s boldly go somewhere new and unknown, like we used to :) ”
But ‘Star Trek’ already has existing placeholders all over the quadrant: Klingons, Frozen Khan, USS Valiant crossing the barrier, Organia, Andoria, the Tellarites, Cardassians, an active and known Romulus, Talos IV, The Preservers, Pon Farr,…and many more.
“Batman” is not just about ‘The Batman.” “Batman” is the whole world of Batman started by Bob Kane, and expanded over 70 years. It’s a universe, and not a character. As a reboot, “Star Trek” is about the classic crew encountering classic Trek races, places or things while throwing in some food for thought.
The end of ST09 presents us with a new Captain of the Enterprise in a highly compromised Starfleet. Klingons and Romulans are known adversaries of the Fed. The Klingons have just lost 47 ships to a Romulan vessel. The Vulcans are a diaspora seeking survival, and defense. Sending Enterprise to map space at this time may not be the best course of action.
#116 Dom, you’re missing the point of BoT. The lines where Kirk and the Commander comment that they might have been friends in another lifetime.
That in a few years forward here in alt-Trek… alt-Kirk could be leading a joint mission *with* the Romulans to deal with a major threat (Doomsday, Kelvans, V-Ger, Whale Probe, etc.) known in advance by prime-Spock… This meets the requirements of some that the Enterprise again explore… but as Star Trek: Enterprise showed at its best: with allies at the side. Episodes where the Andorians under Shran fought alongside Archer’s Enterprise were highlights. Take enemies from the Prime side, and see how they function as allies on the Alt side. Turns everything on its head.
And I agree the Klingons would be pissed. HECK, they could USE that footage about Nero in Rura Penthe, as the “two years ago” backstory, etc.!! That would be cost efficient!! Plus, maybe a few more scenes with Bana could be shot. A Federation-Romulan alliance taking on Klingon aggression on colony worlds… is the Wagon Train to the Stars idea that TOS originally was going with… exploring those strange new worlds and new civilizations that the many colony worlds had. (Of course, Roddenberry was better off had he left Trek in the 2700’s or 2800’s, but alas…. documentation: See Making of Trek, and reference “Squire of Gothos” with Trelane observing Earth of a thousand years ago.)
#144 Ian B wrote:
A philosophy that did not seem to hurt Batman.
Forget Enterprise and the whole TNG era. Although they did succeed in creating one of the most effective characters in Sci-Fi, the Borg – one of the reasons why FC did as well as it did with general audiences. Bringing it up only muddies the issue. We are still working with the confines of the characters and universe created by Gene Roddenberry for TOS. As such there is a finite number of things they can do and still be those characters. And writing for the fans is one thing, writing about things familiar to the fans is another … it certainly didn’t hurt TWOK, TVH, or TUC. As long as something completely different happens when they enounter a “legacy” character, what’s the difference? But honestly what constitutes “fresh, well written science fiction” for Star Trek to you? If the Berman/Braga era was all so much cheap sausage … then what from the original series fulfills that criteria? Very few of those stories would survive the transition to the big screen and follow Abram’s formula which has made this film so successful. And after seeing seeing MI:III recently, I’ve gotta tell you, they have their work cut out for them to come up with something both original and well written. Either way, you can be sure it will be another exciting ride.
Oh and in response to your #105 post:
You are right and the first order of business is to get rid of that problem … “Spock must die” … again.
Go where no STAR TREK film has gone before and seek! Have an exploration film or tie that angle into an overall story. Maybe have a couple of stories merge together. That is the only film weakness of a franchise film series is that you only get a couple hour film every few years. So I image it is a tough job really to get a storyline to hit all the beats and have some good character development. Here is hoping for the best as I enjoyed the ride of this last film. It was not 100% perfect, but not bad.
@147 You are right and the first order of business is to get rid of that problem … “Spock must die” … again.
[fanboy dreaming] Nimoy’s Spock should be immortalized. If they can work Q into the movie, having Spock join the continuum would be awesome. [/fanboy dreaming]
#138:
I guess I should keep my day job… oh wait, I don’t have one.. .
yet
I think it would be nice to show how the Federation operates as well as how the Enterprise as an instrument of the Federation plays. Also it would be interesting to see how the Vulcans with their logic are managing the loss of their entire planet and how millenia of history has been wiped away, and how they are going to adapt to survive? Are they going to link with the Romulans for instance? How are the Romulans going to react…….. especially as they learn that a Vulcan was responsible for the death of their planet in another universe…….. How does a society at the top of its game now cope with the inevitable loss of status and what that means…….. Star Trek has always been about personalities – you can have one hell of a story just with that alone
I’m glad they worked in a romance between Spock and Uhura.
If you had Zoe Saldana on the ship and no guy ever tried to hit on her then they wouldn’t be trek characters, they would be more like trek fans.
The diehards that is.
146. Daoud
I wasn’t actually talking about Balance of Terror. Where did that come from?! Don’t take this the wrong way, but everything you wrote there was like being beaten over the head by giant space baguette with a large filling of fanservice. My eyes were left watering and my head spinning by the sheer amount of backstory you put in there.
I don’t really want to know about any of that stuff. It’s bad enough that the new film, which I really like, has a section of fans constantly referring everyone to a comic.
I just want an adventure I can watch even if I’ve never seen any Star Trek before the most recent film. Give me new worlds, new races and new characters. I’m sure the ‘Supreme Court’ is more than capable of making a two-hour film where the Enterprise finds a strange new world that presents a moral conundrum and runs afoul of a villain that leads to plenty of space battles, fist fights and Kirk bonking a few hot alien women.
For all you who want kahn revisted…..I give you…
“Spock’s Brain II”
Or…
“I am Nomad….R U my daddy?”
But seriously folks…..
I think the crew in ST2 the reboot should a story where they enter a blackwhole and meet a whole lot of badass aliens that want to waste them. I’d like to see more clever story plot line, and less frantic editing and lens flare. I want to see Kirk’s keen sense of take charge and Spock and McCoy guiding him. Oh and bring on a HOT Yeoman Rand and Nurse Chapel. Rand can get randy w/ Kirk, Chapel can try to get between Spock & Uhura and have a bitch fight.
154. Michael: ‘Oh and bring on a HOT Yeoman Rand and Nurse Chapel. Rand can get randy w/ Kirk, Chapel can try to get between Spock & Uhura and have a bitch fight.’
As long as it’s a naked bitch-fight between Uhura, Rand and Chapel in a mud pit followed by an instant-healing scene in a sonic shower with mega vibrations! ;)
Sequel: Do Space Seed again and cast Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson as Kahn
#54
“Honestly I would love for the writers to come up with some planet we have never gone to before. Something really strange, wonderful, full of mystery…”
THERE YOU GO, RIGHT THERE!!! THANK YOU for saying that.
#156
Ugh.
158 you got it!;)
Please, no villains in the next movie.
They are explorers, they must land on comets, planets with ALIEN forests, face lightning storms, energy ribbons, colossal amoebas, walk in space suits, fight monsters, bring the cure to the crystal princess of the fifth dimension, things like that .
Make it “1492: Conquest of Paradise” on space mixed with 1950´s pulp science fiction books.
NOT stupid klingons, romulans, or any low budget poor man´s alien of the week.
Embrace the opportunity!
i want to see the nest genrations story now it’s time for the enterprise e crew to return i think that jj adams new star trek movie shows that the tos are the new kids on the block whilst the tng crew are the big dogs and that the tng crew are the ones who have to fix the timeline again like first contact.