Sunday, April 26, 2009

J.J. ABRAMS'S TREK

During conversation yesterday, with a friend, over a fine pot of tea, the topic of J.J. Abrams and his venture into Trekking, came up. For two minutes we discussed the anticipated performance of Star Trek (no suffix). My guess was that it will do big business as a reaction to the many insipid versions of anything called Trek, while my friend's estimation is that it could open well and then tank just like certain comic book-based films have done of late. I agreed: You never know until it happens.

(I'm not planning to see the new spin on Star Trek at this point, and have yet to see what look to be essential viewing: Obsessed, and Fighting. As Archie Bunker might have said, "I know what my priororities are".)

3 comments:

enjonze said...

I think STAR TREK will do big biz. You've got the original fans who will undoubtedly be curious, plus the kids who couldn't give a fig about a 60s TV show, but like the space battles and monsters. Unlike WATCHMEN, the demographic who might see this is massive. Probably doesn't hurt that the overall "message" of ST has always been positivity, a bright, shiny future. Nothing bleak here. The Human Spirit's Big Adventure. Naive? Perhaps, but not insincere. At least not until the attrociously-bad ENTERPRISE incarnation. Abrahms knows how to make a film (see the grossly underrated MI3. Even Tom Cruise's bland-as-bland gets performance can't derail it.)

I predict TREK will come up a winner, not high art but not insulting, either. This summer's IRON MAN. Which is a hell of a lot better than this summer's DARK KNIGHT.

While we're on the topic of ST, I think the first film, despite at least two extraneous characters (both addtions not in the show) and a few design missteps (corrected, to no small degree in ST:TNG) isn't awful. For my money, though, THE WRATH OF KHAN is the best of the bunch. How anyone likes the one with the whales with its hoary time-travel nonsense and simplistic ecological message (I'm looking at you, Barry!) is beyond me.

I do agree with Barry about the ST:TNG films though. Not worth a big screen. Except maybe for the Enterprise crash in GENERATIONS. That was pretty spectacular.

I'm far from a fan of preludes and "reboots" but I'll probably see STAR TREK. I'm leaving my pointy ears at home, though.

P.S. Unless they're not showing them in the trailers, I think the writers/producers made the right decision NOT to include Klingons in this one.

Barry Smight said...

What I meant was "the one about Wales".

I had not thought of that: No, no Klingon's, please, no Klingon's... I'll talk...

Jon said...

Based on the first trailers I pegged it for "zoomy boomy explody goodness", which is alright for a summer movie. Rumour has it there may be more to it and the trailer gives an over-amped impression. Hopefully that's true.

Sci-Fi Regulation 342-A: Bad guys' spaceships shall have not less than four(4) visible clawlike appendages.

342-B: If they move around when the Ultimate Weapon [ref. 338-A,C, and F-J] is being activated, even better.