Yesterday it was reported that TNG’s Wil Wheaton participated in (and blogged about) the Star Trek segment of the MTV Spoilers show (airing Saturday at 8PM EST). Today Wheaton blogged some more about the show, and has some advice for his fellow Trek geeks, excerpts below.
Relax!
Go to MTV’s Blog to see the full post from Wheaton, but here are a couple of quotes
It was all stuff that I’ve seen already, but it looked cool and everyone in the theater loved it. You know, a lot of my fellow Trekkies are all worked up because the trailer shows all this action stuff, and I keep hearing people dismissively calling it “Star Trek: 90210” just because there are young people in it or something. I really hope those guys can take a step back and realize a couple of things: these trailers and previews aren’t aimed at us; they’re aimed at teenagers, so they have to be presented in a language that they understand.
…
This is not to say that the “Star Trek” movie is all mindless action, or style over substance; I can’t tell you why, but I know that it isn’t. I also can’t tell you why, but I also know that it’s pretty goddamn awesome.
I guess what I’m saying is, relax, people. This isn’t “Dukes of Hazzard” or “Land of the Lost.”
Read the full blog post at MTV. Plus Wheaton has also blogged at MTV about his thoughts on the new Watchmen movie.
Thanks Wil!
I vote its going to be awesome, 90210 or not.
I agree 100% Wil!
“This isn’t “Dukes of Hazzard” ”
…. someone needs to do a mashup of Boss Hog chasing after Kirk and Spock intermediately! Extra points for a green skinned Daisy Dukes making googly eyes at James T.
Thank you for that, Will. Much appreciated.
Goddamn right!
It honors Federation Day (US release date), what’s more to want?
Once again, it seems appropriate to note that the characters and universe of Star Trek have earned a place amongst literary icons such as Tarzan and Sherlock Holmes. The public has come to accept many iterations of these stories, to varied acclaim.
As far as I know, this has not ever happened to TV series characters and scenarios. ( I welcome correction on this)
More than any other advice to the skeptic, I offer this paradigm as the best chance to see the new movie for what it is: a high budget iteration of classic beloved characters. I intend to sit back and enjoy the ride.
And then there is Phase II which just keeps getting better and better.
Trek fans: just be glad our franchise didn’t go the way of many others: death by corporate boardroom decision. We have kept it alive. We can continue to keep it alive.
Will… THANK YOU! I’ve never posted on this site before but I get sick of hearing people take shots at a movie they’ve NEVER EVEN SEEN YET. You have to go into this with an open mind and actually see the movie before you judge it. Just remember, “prime” Trek gave us The Final Frontier and Nemesis…shouldn’t JJ and company get a fair shot at releasing their movie before everybody blasts them for it?
Correction: “Wil” …oops
I’ve always been confident that JJ knew what he was doing, but I will say it’s nice to hear good things from Wil too.
He’s always been pretty straightforward when talking about the Trek movies and series. If it outright sucked, I’m sure he would say so.
Well, I have a lot of faith in Wil’s judgment in this sort of thing. Especially since early on, he expressed the same annoyance I was feeling at constantly being told “this movie is not being made for Star Trek fans” and having the people behind the movie always making jabs at us. So, this really does make me feel good.
Hey now, don’t be rippin’ on Land of The Lost. Them’s fighting words.
Agree with the “relax” sentiment. Be thankful there’s ANY kind of Trek movie being made, particularly in these economic times!!!
I like Wil, but surely as talented as he is, he can construct a commentary without profanity. And I wish TrekMovie.com would exercise a bit more discretion in editing out such profanity in quotes and/or response postings….
No Dukes of Hazzard? You mean the Enterprise will NOT be painted orange, have the Confederate flag on the saucer and jump the Mutara Nebula? Nooooooooooooo!
I’m a life-long fan of the show and I loved the Dukes of Hazard movie…
Personally, I’m not worked up because of the action stuff. Action is awesome.
I’m worked up because I hate the production design of almost everything I’ve seen thus far.
Wil Wheaton… the voice of reason.
Dukes Of Hazard
The Dukes are more of a Star Wars comparrison.
General lee is Millennium Falcon
Luke is Luke,
Bo is Han,
Daisy is Leia
Uncle Jesse is Obi Wan
Cooter is Chewie
Rosco is Darth Vader-always chasing them Duke Boys/REBELS
Boss Hogg is the Emperor
Shame, Shame. Everybody knows your name!
BTW, Wil says it’s footage he has seen, Anthony’s sources say there is new footage in there not seen before. What is the dealio?
Lol, Wil. This movie will be better than your blog work.
As with all remakes, there will be changes and different interpretations. Technology will be advanced here because you have to remember that in the 1960’s, we were not as advanced as we are now. Today’s audiences expect more, expect to be “Wowed”. Instead of dwelling on doing the story with an “Ancient” Capt. Kirk it is only fitting and right that everyone be re-cast in the story. The same premise was true of the Bond Series, for many of us, we could not imagine James Bond without Sean Connery. The Franchise survived and I am sure the Star Trek Franchise will also. When “The Next Generation” was about to be aired, many Trekkies did not like the fact that it used the “Star Trek ” name and Venue. That soon ended when the series aired with enhanced Plots, Technology, etc. Until the new Star Trek Film is shown, we should all be in anticipation as to what it will offer. The Star Trek Saga continues, let’s see what new Frontiers this one takes us to.
Enterprise, what is your damage?
Every time this site does an article or interview about someone you come in and attack them. We get it, you hate EVERYONE. Does that make you feel better?
#19—Perhaps Wil has seen a bit more. He does seem to imply that…
“This is not to say that the “Star Trek” movie is all mindless action, or style over substance; I can’t tell you why, but I know that it isn’t. I also can’t tell you why, but I also know that it’s pretty **** awesome.”
It sounds to me like Wil has seen something for which Bad Robot required a NDA signature.
If Trekmovie says it is “new”, then chances are, is probably is new to us.
It could also mean that it is only new to those who were not able to see JJ’s 20-minute preview. Who knows?
I think I’ll set my TiVo and find out…
Paramount told me it was new. It could be that it comes from a preview that Wil or I (and other press) have seen before. I do not expect whatever it is to be a lot, bearing in mind there is a whole new trailer coming in just a couple of weeks and the Spoilers show is half hour (minus commercials) and the focus is Watchmen, with ‘exclusive clips’ of four other movies. I doubt Trek gets more than 60 seconds, including Wil’s comments. We will know in about 30 hours
Decloaking . . .
Wil Wheaton tells me to relax, so like I’m supposed to be all better now; yea, now that’s real world, since it’s coming from one of the most spastic f-bomb Trek movie critics of all time. Yes, I’m being sarcastic. }:-/>
Recloaking,
@23…
Happy CT day!
Judgment Day comes May 8, 2009.
#26—Thanks, Thorsten. But I’m ready for the birthdays to cease!
:)
Is today your BD, Closet? If so, I have a VHS copy of Star Trek V, signed by the cat lady with 3 breasts, headed your way!
Happy Birthday!
Land of the Lost. Sigh. I saw a trailer for that upcoming stinker last weekend, and it almost made me weep.
Okay, so I shouldn’t say stinker without seeing it. There has been more than one SNL-alum-high-concept-farce that I turned my nose up at first, but enjoyed when I finally saw it. But it is hard to argue that that movie is going to be a reinterpretation faithful to the spirit of the original. Unlike Star Trek, which is.
Happy Birthday, Closettrekker
“Wil Wheaton… the voice of reason.”
…You forgot to add [/sarcasm].
Was it not Will Wheaton who a few months ago was ripping on JJ’s movie (and every other ST movie), or did I dream that? Then, when he got backlash from some of his comments, he bemoaned the fact that people were ragging on him. So now that he has seen some of the movie, he does not take back his earlier comments, but decries those who are of the same opinion as himself before he viewed it. And of course it would not be Wheaton without the obligatory profanity to round out his opinion. I will look forward to the movie without his helpful opinion, thank you very much.
I don’t agree with Wil on much, but he is dead on about this movie.
It’s going to be great.
No it won’t be a direct tie in, canon wise….because it can’t be!!! It would simply not work.
The timeline has to change!!! It has to accommodate the advances in movie-making technology. This would never translate from the TOS of the 60’s to the big screen in the 21st century.
If I was a betting man, I’d say that Nimoy’s Spock will explain this in the movie.
Anyway, back to the subject at hand……Wil is right!
#18-So true it’s hilarious. Seriously though, I’m with Wil…I get a really good feeling about this movie. Question is, will the general public get a good feeling and will there be enough hyped up people to drag the naysayers into the theaters? Time will tell.
What are we all going to talk about after the movie comes out??
AFTER everyone vents about the plot, cast, barcode scanners, iBridge, fugly ship, canon, timeline, etc?
Start planning, Anthony!
Thank God, another healthy perspective on the film.
Wil identifies a major concern for a lot of fans, myself included: Star Trek is not, and was never intended to be, a dumb action franchise. Let’s have plenty of action, by all means; but I want substance. I want heart. I want an intelligent story with a good message, in the vain of all the great Star Trek scripts. TOS’ essential ingredients were action, humour, love and romanticism; but, above all, it was a morality play. Drop the technobabble; but keep the philosophy and the sense of adventure. I’m excited to hear that the new trailer will uncover some of the emotion in Kirk’s story. A great man once said that it doesn’t really matter who, when, or where. What matters is WHY. The emotional aspect helps explain the ‘why’ to Kirk’s story.
36. Dr. Image
What are we all going to talk about after the movie comes out??
Oh trust me.. people that hate this movie before seeing it will still hate it for years to come.. just like with STV and Nemesis.
But I agree with Wil.. people need to relax and just go see it. I am really looking forward to it!
Dude, isn’t it kinda silly Wil Wheaton has to tell US to chill out? Come on.
Oh, and people give me crap, but when Brannon Braga has an article on this site people rag on him.
#29—Just what I always wanted!
#31—Thanks.
#33—I agree that his own personal opinion has no more value than any other, but I don’t recall him ragging on the movie, just the choice of material for the trailer. But in all fairness, perhaps you read something of his that I didn’t.
The way I look at it is much the way I took Kevin Smith’s comments awhile back. It doesn’t convince me that this will be a great movie, but it doesn’t hurt my feelings toward its potential either.
I have yet to hear or read of anyone who has seen significant amounts of the film that said it was bad. That says more to me than any one person’s opinion that it’s going to be great.
What I am convinced of is that— even if it isn’t as great as Nimoy (as well as the Mrs.), Smith, and Wheaton try to assure us—we’ve probably seen worse from a Star Trek film!
:)
“Dude, isn’t it kinda silly Wil Wheaton has to tell US to chill out? Come on. “
…One should consider the source, no? Considering how he was ragging on Abrams a few months back, this is sort of a case of pot-kettle-black.
Yeah great, that bloody MTV page opened about a squillion parasitic web pages and forced a shut down.
Nice one.
I take back all the Wesley bashing I’ve done over the years. Thanks, Will!
Oh my fellow Trekkies!!!
It behooves us to abide by the advice of yon Wil Wheaton — The Great Bird of the Galaxy created a world where prejudice and judgementalism were not the accepted norm — where human-kind worked to overcome their prejudices and learned to judge AFTER seeing/reading/witnessing for themselves instead of relying on hearsay and other less than accurate forms of disclosure.
Such should be our collegial attitude toward Star Trek XI — we should be glad that Paramount was willing to spend the amount of money it spent on this movie — that JJ Abrams and the two Trekkie writers were willing to take on the project given what is at stake. Paramount could simply have called Star Trek dead, with the auction that took place in 2007 and the closure of The Experience. The studio chose not to do so and to risk lots of money to rejuvenate the franchise.
It apparently has finally dawned on Paramount and CBS Television that Star Trek remains as popular as ever — that the conventions are multi-generational — with TOS-era folks, the succeeding generation and then their children’s generation — some of whom became Trekkies because of TNG, some because of DS9 and some because of Voyager.
In any event. I have no doubt that some of what has been said about Star Trek XI is specifically aimed at those who are not now fond of or even relate to Star Trek — to widen the audience base. If we want more series and movies and to really keep Star Trek alive and keep the hope of that better world alive — then money must be made to justify all of that — and, as Richard Arnold noted in The Hollywood Reporter article, word-of-mouth is just as important to bring non-Trekkies into a movie as it is to bring Trekkies.
That gives me a bit of hope since it doesnt seem like Wil Wheaton is one to BS around about this stuff. I havent trusted what most other celebs have said about the movie just because its all seemed forced and over the top, but this seems to be down to earth. Im not in the camp yet with the people who say its for sure gonna be awesome, but Im less inclined to believe its going to destroy everything Trek used to stand for either.
Re: 7:
I don’t think Trek can lay claim to that. Off the top of my head, Britain’s Doctor Who has been reinventing the lead character/concept for 40 years.
Thanks WW!
I was never part of the Ensign-Wesley hate club back in the day, but meaning no disrespect to the man, and not even disagreeing with what he says, I still have to ask:
Who cares what Wil Wheaton has to say about this movie? He’s not even tangentially involved with it and he’s not exactly an A-list celebrity, even in the Trek universe.
#49 His opinion is no less valid than yours. And he’s at least acted on a Star Trek series. So, I think his opinion is as welcome as anyone elses.
When people say “Who cares what __________ thinks?” I always think “Well, who cares what you, they, I or anyone else thinks once you get right down to it!” Forums are for expressing opinions.
I’ll still have to see the film for myself and make my own decision as to quality — it wouldn’t matter who critiqued it beforehand.