I'll grant you the Stingray scene comes off silly (the kid's performance doesn't help), but the meat of it is pretty beautiful - it certainly looks more like a movie than any of the other films since Robert Wise's TMP.
IT's hard to tell about performances or tone because of the lower resolution and the modern quick-cut trailer thing but if nothing else, as Ponderer says, it looks BIG. It looks hugely epic and that's been missing for a while.
Fingers still crossed.
Apparently, female underwear will change very little in the next hundred years.
I honestly thought I was watching the obligatory ad before the trailer, some kind of car commercial, until I saw that robot-cop guy.
Still, somewhat encouraging. It looks identifiably classic Trek with the colors and costumes. There's one brief shot of them running out of a cave that's strongly reminiscent of the old series.
To get these TV reboot/remake/re-imagining things to work, the filmmakers have to appeal to kids that have never heard of the source material without alienating the older fans by straying too far from the original. From the looks of this, they may have done it.
(Is that Bana at the end? A few years ago, he was the lead, and Daniel Craig the supporting actor. Now Craig is Bond, and Bana is becoming David Warner. Maybe character actor roles will suit him better.)
Posted by frankbooth at November 15, 2008 12:52 PM
First reaction - the Spock kid looks like him but he doesn't have anything like the Nimoy voice. A pipsquek. Other than that it's just piling on with the CGI. Meh. I'll very likely see it in the first week because I'm an old-school Trekkie, but. meh.
We've come a long way from Star Trek the Motion Picture, where the film starts with a completely musical prelude over stars in space, and includes a 7 minute scene where Kirk slowly flies to the Enterprise for the first time. Today? Epilepsy-inducing-hyper-edits.
Kirk looks like he works at Abercrombie in this and, IMO, JJ "I never like Star Trek" Abrams is a hack.
York: The last Star Trek popular with young people, up until that 2002 flick, was Next Generation. In fact, I imagine part of the success of X-men came from casting Patrick Stewart as Xavier, since the comic book had long ceased to have an impact at the time the movie was released. And the last intelligent sci-fi series to appeal to that crowd was The Matrix. [Sorry, Battlestar Galactica fans, but I'm willing to bet you're mostly disgruntled middle-aged Trekkies, and not part of the 18-25 demo.] So I think turning the prequel into a bigger-budgeted Serenity was a bad idea, since it won't sell to the casual viewer who can't tell it apart from the competition.
I must say, the Corvette crap at the beginning of the trailer is awful, and rightfully being panned across the internet today. Hope Abrams is paying attention to that.
However, the block of dialogue describing Kirk's emotional dilemma is the most disturbing part of the trailer. If this lame, on-the-nose, unrealistic dialogue is indicative of the rest of the film, this thing won't even appeal to the core TREK audience, which has been dwindling steadily since 1982.
It looks way too much like that LOST IN SPACE reboot from a few years ago ... glitzy and meaningless.
"However, the block of dialogue describing Kirk's emotional dilemma is the most disturbing part of the trailer. If this lame, on-the-nose, unrealistic dialogue is indicative of the rest of the film, this thing won't even appeal to the core TREK audience, which has been dwindling steadily since 1982."
I wonder if some of that is a casualty of shooting during the writer's strike. He said several times, on-the-record while they were in the middle of principal photography, that there were a lot of things in the script he wanted to change and/or improve, but they couldn't touch a word because of the strike.
Granted, there's always reshoots and stuff like that, but it seems that J.J. was aware of that even while they were lensing the project.
@Ponderer - An interesting theory, one I hadn't really considered. However, if Abrams felt that way at any point about the script, it might be good to leave the horrible dialogue out of the first trailer for the film ...LOL
"... this thing won't even appeal to the core TREK audience, which has been dwindling steadily since 1982."
The most successful Trek film was "The Voyage Home" released in 1986. I would say Trek's core audience started dwindling once Next Generation took over the film franchise. I know I started losing lost interest after Generations.
While I'm not a fan of partial re-boots (Superman Returns is a lame movie) I'll definitely see the "new" "Trek" film. I enjoyed MI3 and trust JJ Abrams instincts. However in any other director's hands I would be weary.
Trust JJ's instincts... what instincts? Lost? A cool logline, but nothing else. MI3? Still feeling nauseous, after 3 years. Alias -- 2 seasons then poof. Sorry, but JJ's got to earn my trust at this point.
Agree with Aris. JJ has done nothing to earn my trust. Lost was good for all but one season, Alias was decent for 2, MI:3 sucked and Cloverfield was meh.
I have never been a trekkie and after seeing this trailer....I doubt I'll ever be one
Ari P - those 7 minutes of circling the Enterprise (is that all it is?) are why no one likes that. The whole thing is 7 minutes of circling this or that. It was the 1978 equivalent of CGI porn. TMP is slow and has bad characterizations.
If JJ nails Kirk and Spock this could be good (since clearly the visuals are there). And Quinto doesn't need to IMPERSONATE Nimoy and do his voice; just do his own take on the character.
I think the corvette thing is supposed to do what someone above said: make you think you're watching a car commerical until you go, "OOOOh, that kid is KIRK! It's STAR TREK!"
I'll assume/hope it's not a major part of the movie.
I agree with DavidF about the car commercial theory. That's what happened with several people in the audience when I went to see Quantum. The person next to me clapped her hands and said "Star Trek!" like a complete nerd at that point.
Posted by Agent of NERD at November 16, 2008 6:50 AM
D.Z. you missed what made Trek great in the first place and simply don't know what made it eventually suck so bad. Two words: Rick Berman.
And as for that "middle aged-Trek" crack on BSG, I'm only a few years past that 25 year-old demo, thank you very much, and I LOVE BSG not because I was looking for imitation 90's Trek, but becuase I was looking for something different from my sci-fi. Babylon 5 was deadly slow and boring, Firefly was silly and Trek had become dim-witted and contemptable.
If you downgrade BSG and praise utter crap like Matrix Reloaded then I'm scared to even imagine what you might consider to be a smart, engaging take on Trek. Leather coats and sunshades maybe? Small wonder Abarams thinks he's on the right track.
Going the 'backstory' route is all wrong. All Trek needed was fresh, creative, GOOD new blood with a new crew for the Enterprise. Its ironic for a series whose mantra is "To boldly go where no man has gone before" that they have reverted to this kind of tired fanwank as an effort to resuscitate it. Shatner and Nimoy are iconic cultural figures. Recasting the parts is lunacy. They should have cleared the decks and started completely afresh, as they did with TNG in 1987, and let the series live or die on the strengths of the casting, writing and execution. This new film may be a hit and pull in a lot of money but its not healthy for Trek in the long run - they can't keep going back to Kirk and Spock, and the fact that they have shows how creatively dry the Bad Robot well is.
JaySmack: "If you downgrade BSG and praise utter crap like Matrix Reloaded then I'm scared to even imagine what you might consider to be a smart, engaging take on Trek."
I didn't say BSG was bad, just not the kind of sci-fi series young people would flock to see. Hell, you can't even get them to like the Ghost in the Shell movies, even though they hype the tv spin-off. And frankly, I'd be more concerned with anyone who trashes the Matrix Reloaded, but loves V for Vendetta and Speed Racer...
To get these TV reboot/remake/re-imagining things to work, the filmmakers have to appeal to kids that have never heard of the source material without alienating the older fans by straying too far from the original. From the looks of this, they may have done it.
Si vous etes interesses par le dossier, ou desirez en savoir plus, contactez-moi par mail, et je vous mettrai en contact.
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comment #1
Admiral82
says ...
Hmmm.....
Don't know about that.
The Corvette stingray scene was kinda laughable...
Posted by Admiral82
at November 15, 2008 10:47 AM
comment #2
Ponderer
says ...
I'll grant you the Stingray scene comes off silly (the kid's performance doesn't help), but the meat of it is pretty beautiful - it certainly looks more like a movie than any of the other films since Robert Wise's TMP.
Posted by Ponderer
at November 15, 2008 10:59 AM
comment #3
DavidF
says ...
IT's hard to tell about performances or tone because of the lower resolution and the modern quick-cut trailer thing but if nothing else, as Ponderer says, it looks BIG. It looks hugely epic and that's been missing for a while.
Fingers still crossed.
Posted by DavidF
at November 15, 2008 11:19 AM
comment #4
Edward Havens
says ...
I've never been much of a fan of the shows or the movies, and this certainly doesn't pique my interest.
Posted by Edward Havens
at November 15, 2008 12:24 PM
comment #5
frankbooth
says ...
Apparently, female underwear will change very little in the next hundred years.
I honestly thought I was watching the obligatory ad before the trailer, some kind of car commercial, until I saw that robot-cop guy.
Still, somewhat encouraging. It looks identifiably classic Trek with the colors and costumes. There's one brief shot of them running out of a cave that's strongly reminiscent of the old series.
To get these TV reboot/remake/re-imagining things to work, the filmmakers have to appeal to kids that have never heard of the source material without alienating the older fans by straying too far from the original. From the looks of this, they may have done it.
(Is that Bana at the end? A few years ago, he was the lead, and Daniel Craig the supporting actor. Now Craig is Bond, and Bana is becoming David Warner. Maybe character actor roles will suit him better.)
Posted by frankbooth
at November 15, 2008 12:52 PM
comment #6
bertrand
says ...
meh. Trek Meets Transformers.
Posted by bertrand
at November 15, 2008 2:27 PM
comment #7
MDOC
says ...
The first part is downright stupid, but I dug the rest. We'll see. I just hope it's smart. I'm probably asking for too much.
Posted by MDOC
at November 15, 2008 2:48 PM
comment #8
EDouglas
says ...
I dug it.
Posted by EDouglas
at November 15, 2008 3:15 PM
comment #9
corey3rd
says ...
Do you get the young Captain Pike?
Posted by corey3rd
at November 15, 2008 3:26 PM
comment #10
JoeGreenia
says ...
First reaction - the Spock kid looks like him but he doesn't have anything like the Nimoy voice. A pipsquek. Other than that it's just piling on with the CGI. Meh. I'll very likely see it in the first week because I'm an old-school Trekkie, but. meh.
Posted by JoeGreenia
at November 15, 2008 3:40 PM
comment #11
D.Z.
says ...
Looks like Abrams is just aping the way Lucas directed *his* prequels more than anything related to Star Trek...
Posted by D.Z.
at November 15, 2008 4:30 PM
comment #12
Aris P
says ...
We've come a long way from Star Trek the Motion Picture, where the film starts with a completely musical prelude over stars in space, and includes a 7 minute scene where Kirk slowly flies to the Enterprise for the first time. Today? Epilepsy-inducing-hyper-edits.
Kirk looks like he works at Abercrombie in this and, IMO, JJ "I never like Star Trek" Abrams is a hack.
Sigh.
Posted by Aris P
at November 15, 2008 4:40 PM
comment #13
York "Budd" Durden
says ...
Prediction: Bonehead Gen Y and below will dig, oldschool Trekkers like me will say, meh.
Posted by York "Budd" Durden
at November 15, 2008 4:42 PM
comment #14
Chase Kahn
says ...
Wasn't this supposed to be attached to QUANTUM? I was surprised when I didn't see it the other day...
Posted by Chase Kahn
at November 15, 2008 4:51 PM
comment #15
D.Z.
says ...
York: The last Star Trek popular with young people, up until that 2002 flick, was Next Generation. In fact, I imagine part of the success of X-men came from casting Patrick Stewart as Xavier, since the comic book had long ceased to have an impact at the time the movie was released. And the last intelligent sci-fi series to appeal to that crowd was The Matrix. [Sorry, Battlestar Galactica fans, but I'm willing to bet you're mostly disgruntled middle-aged Trekkies, and not part of the 18-25 demo.] So I think turning the prequel into a bigger-budgeted Serenity was a bad idea, since it won't sell to the casual viewer who can't tell it apart from the competition.
Posted by D.Z.
at November 15, 2008 4:57 PM
comment #16
Ray
says ...
I must say, the Corvette crap at the beginning of the trailer is awful, and rightfully being panned across the internet today. Hope Abrams is paying attention to that.
However, the block of dialogue describing Kirk's emotional dilemma is the most disturbing part of the trailer. If this lame, on-the-nose, unrealistic dialogue is indicative of the rest of the film, this thing won't even appeal to the core TREK audience, which has been dwindling steadily since 1982.
It looks way too much like that LOST IN SPACE reboot from a few years ago ... glitzy and meaningless.
Posted by Ray
at November 15, 2008 4:58 PM
comment #17
lesterg
says ...
"Today? Epilepsy-inducing-hyper-edits."
To be fair: it is a TRAILER. None of us have a clue how Abrams will cut the final product.
Posted by lesterg
at November 15, 2008 5:32 PM
comment #18
Edward
says ...
The trailer piqued my interest and I'm a big enough Trek fan to see this.
Posted by Edward
at November 15, 2008 6:07 PM
comment #19
Ponderer
says ...
"However, the block of dialogue describing Kirk's emotional dilemma is the most disturbing part of the trailer. If this lame, on-the-nose, unrealistic dialogue is indicative of the rest of the film, this thing won't even appeal to the core TREK audience, which has been dwindling steadily since 1982."
I wonder if some of that is a casualty of shooting during the writer's strike. He said several times, on-the-record while they were in the middle of principal photography, that there were a lot of things in the script he wanted to change and/or improve, but they couldn't touch a word because of the strike.
Granted, there's always reshoots and stuff like that, but it seems that J.J. was aware of that even while they were lensing the project.
Posted by Ponderer
at November 15, 2008 8:15 PM
comment #20
Ray
says ...
@Ponderer - An interesting theory, one I hadn't really considered. However, if Abrams felt that way at any point about the script, it might be good to leave the horrible dialogue out of the first trailer for the film ...LOL
Posted by Ray
at November 15, 2008 9:12 PM
comment #21
MathewM
says ...
"... this thing won't even appeal to the core TREK audience, which has been dwindling steadily since 1982."
The most successful Trek film was "The Voyage Home" released in 1986. I would say Trek's core audience started dwindling once Next Generation took over the film franchise. I know I started losing lost interest after Generations.
While I'm not a fan of partial re-boots (Superman Returns is a lame movie) I'll definitely see the "new" "Trek" film. I enjoyed MI3 and trust JJ Abrams instincts. However in any other director's hands I would be weary.
Posted by MathewM
at November 15, 2008 10:08 PM
comment #22
Aris P
says ...
Trust JJ's instincts... what instincts? Lost? A cool logline, but nothing else. MI3? Still feeling nauseous, after 3 years. Alias -- 2 seasons then poof. Sorry, but JJ's got to earn my trust at this point.
Posted by Aris P
at November 15, 2008 11:24 PM
comment #23
theultimatebiu
says ...
Agree with Aris. JJ has done nothing to earn my trust. Lost was good for all but one season, Alias was decent for 2, MI:3 sucked and Cloverfield was meh.
I have never been a trekkie and after seeing this trailer....I doubt I'll ever be one
Posted by theultimatebiu
at November 16, 2008 1:07 AM
comment #24
Rich S.
says ...
I am a huge original series fan. When I saw the stills, I really thought they might be able to pull it off.
Apparently, I was wrong.
Posted by Rich S.
at November 16, 2008 5:45 AM
comment #25
DavidF
says ...
Ari P - those 7 minutes of circling the Enterprise (is that all it is?) are why no one likes that. The whole thing is 7 minutes of circling this or that. It was the 1978 equivalent of CGI porn. TMP is slow and has bad characterizations.
If JJ nails Kirk and Spock this could be good (since clearly the visuals are there). And Quinto doesn't need to IMPERSONATE Nimoy and do his voice; just do his own take on the character.
I think the corvette thing is supposed to do what someone above said: make you think you're watching a car commerical until you go, "OOOOh, that kid is KIRK! It's STAR TREK!"
I'll assume/hope it's not a major part of the movie.
Posted by DavidF
at November 16, 2008 6:03 AM
comment #26
Agent of NERD
says ...
I agree with DavidF about the car commercial theory. That's what happened with several people in the audience when I went to see Quantum. The person next to me clapped her hands and said "Star Trek!" like a complete nerd at that point.
Posted by Agent of NERD
at November 16, 2008 6:50 AM
comment #27
JaySmack
says ...
D.Z. you missed what made Trek great in the first place and simply don't know what made it eventually suck so bad. Two words: Rick Berman.
And as for that "middle aged-Trek" crack on BSG, I'm only a few years past that 25 year-old demo, thank you very much, and I LOVE BSG not because I was looking for imitation 90's Trek, but becuase I was looking for something different from my sci-fi. Babylon 5 was deadly slow and boring, Firefly was silly and Trek had become dim-witted and contemptable.
If you downgrade BSG and praise utter crap like Matrix Reloaded then I'm scared to even imagine what you might consider to be a smart, engaging take on Trek. Leather coats and sunshades maybe? Small wonder Abarams thinks he's on the right track.
Posted by JaySmack
at November 16, 2008 7:04 AM
comment #28
markj
says ...
Going the 'backstory' route is all wrong. All Trek needed was fresh, creative, GOOD new blood with a new crew for the Enterprise. Its ironic for a series whose mantra is "To boldly go where no man has gone before" that they have reverted to this kind of tired fanwank as an effort to resuscitate it. Shatner and Nimoy are iconic cultural figures. Recasting the parts is lunacy. They should have cleared the decks and started completely afresh, as they did with TNG in 1987, and let the series live or die on the strengths of the casting, writing and execution. This new film may be a hit and pull in a lot of money but its not healthy for Trek in the long run - they can't keep going back to Kirk and Spock, and the fact that they have shows how creatively dry the Bad Robot well is.
Posted by markj
at November 16, 2008 7:18 AM
comment #29
Edward
says ...
They repopulated the crew with the very underappreciated "Enterprise."
Posted by Edward
at November 16, 2008 1:24 PM
comment #30
D.Z.
says ...
JaySmack: "If you downgrade BSG and praise utter crap like Matrix Reloaded then I'm scared to even imagine what you might consider to be a smart, engaging take on Trek."
I didn't say BSG was bad, just not the kind of sci-fi series young people would flock to see. Hell, you can't even get them to like the Ghost in the Shell movies, even though they hype the tv spin-off. And frankly, I'd be more concerned with anyone who trashes the Matrix Reloaded, but loves V for Vendetta and Speed Racer...
Posted by D.Z.
at November 16, 2008 4:31 PM
comment #31
Ryansi51
says ...
EDWARD: haha, that's sarcasm right? did you really like Enterprise? Just curious because I dont meet too many people who do.
Similitude was a def high point though
Posted by Ryansi51
at November 16, 2008 6:03 PM
comment #32
wenwen
says ...
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Posted by wenwen
at February 26, 2010 11:52 PM
comment #33
dd
says ...
To get these TV reboot/remake/re-imagining things to work, the filmmakers have to appeal to kids that have never heard of the source material without alienating the older fans by straying too far from the original. From the looks of this, they may have done it.
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Posted by dd
at May 11, 2010 12:58 AM
comment #34
janee
says ...
Si vous etes interesses par le dossier, ou desirez en savoir plus, contactez-moi par mail, et je vous mettrai en contact.
Best regards,Jane, CEO of high availability server
Posted by janee
at May 19, 2011 1:21 AM