Trek XI reveal begins

[Darth Wong]

It's the first thing a Trek movie's won since Final Frontier got the "Worst Picture" Razzie, that's got to count for something.

You know, based strictly on early leaked screenshots, people thought Nemesis was going to be pretty cool too.

Doubtless some people did, but a lot more had their hopes for that one totally killed off by the leaked shots, since it confirmed that the leaked script was actually real, and not the fanboy-wank scribblings that it had been dismissed as.

I think your memory has been influenced retroactively by the post-release collapse of the film. Not only were Trekkies generally optimistic about the film prior to its release, but they remained optimistic even after its release, until it became obvious that this was a dressed-up turd. Just look at Richard Roeper, who argued with Ebert and insisted that it was an excellent film. You could almost smell the desperate Trekkie in his voice when he was giving the review.

[Masami von Weizegger]

While this new Star Trek movie certainly looks interesting (and, yes, it's sufficiently interesting to me to actually go see it), there is a long precedent now of mediocre to just plain shitty Trek movies that is obviously going to colour expectations. I mean, the best Trek movie since The Undiscovered Country was probably First Contact. First bloody Contact! A movie which, if it didn't have the words 'Star Trek' stapled to it, would be a mostly forgettable action flick.

It's been almost 17 years since there has been a decent Trek movie. I'm not going to keep my hopes up any more than I would if they announced a reboot of Police Academy.

[DaveJB]

I think your memory has been influenced retroactively by the post-release collapse of the film. Not only were Trekkies generally optimistic about the film prior to its release, but they remained optimistic even after its release, until it became obvious that this was a dressed-up turd. Just look at Richard Roeper, who argued with Ebert and insisted that it was an excellent film. You could almost smell the desperate Trekkie in his voice when he was giving the review.

Honestly, I don't remember seeing much enthusiasm for Nemesis on the web, even in mid-late 2002. Having said that though, I scrolled back to the earliest posts on this forum, and it actually does look like some people were really cheering it on. I guess the boards I was hanging around on back then must have been made up of more moderate and/or realistic Trek fans.

[Anarchist Bunny]

I think your memory has been influenced retroactively by the post-release collapse of the film. Not only were Trekkies generally optimistic about the film prior to its release, but they remained optimistic even after its release, until it became obvious that this was a dressed-up turd. Just look at Richard Roeper, who argued with Ebert and insisted that it was an excellent film. You could almost smell the desperate Trekkie in his voice when he was giving the review.

Honestly, I don't remember seeing much enthusiasm for Nemesis on the web, even in mid-late 2002. Having said that though, I scrolled back to the earliest posts on this forum, and it actually does look like some people were really cheering it on. I guess the boards I was hanging around on back then must have been made up of more moderate and/or realistic Trek fans.

A lot of people were putting a lot of faith into the Even/Odd correlation of Star Trek Movies(Odds are bad, TMP, FF, Gen and Insurrection, Evens are good, TWOK, TUC, FC(for TNG movies atleast)), atleast, thats how i recall it.

[Gemini-Preserver]

In regards to the slightly edited image of the USS Kelvin looking like a flipped Constitution class. It really wouldnt be the first time they've just turned a model around and moved a few bits and gone 'Hey look a totally new ship'




Im going to be quietly optermistic about this film.

[Bounty]

In regards to the slightly edited image of the USS Kelvin looking like a flipped Constitution class. It really wouldnt be the first time they've just turned a model around and moved a few bits and gone 'Hey look a totally new ship'

That wasn't my point at all. The Kelvin isn't a flipped Constitution, it's got a completely different design; I was just trying to get an idea of what a Consitution in the Trek XI style might look like. Might, not won't, because the Kelvin is an older design.

And Akiraprise is hardly news.

[Gemini-Preserver]

My bad. I should of done a little more research before saying that. Your of coruse right about it being a new desgin. I've since seen the full frontal image of the Kelven. Any ideas what the area on top of the saucer section is?

As for akiraprise i know its an old point, merely useing it as an example for my comment

[Marcus Aurelius]

A lot of people were putting a lot of faith into the Even/Odd correlation of Star Trek Movies(Odds are bad, TMP, FF, Gen and Insurrection, Evens are good, TWOK, TUC, FC(for TNG movies atleast)), atleast, thats how i recall it.

That is just an attempt to see a pattern where there is none. The Search for Spock is not that bad and TMP is not really bad either. In fact the Directors Edition is not bad at all, although the original myth about odds being bad preceded the directors cut. Unlike the Star Wars Special Editions the ST:TMP Directors Edition actually fixes many of the problems with the original and the upgraded effects are very subtle and not in your face like in the SW SEs. I consider the Directors Edition to be the "true" version of TMP just like the Directors Cut of Blade Runner. The original cut of TMP was clearly a hastily made raw cut.

[Uraniun235]

TMP's Director's Cut does nice things visually and with editing but I really think they pooched the sound effects on the bridge. It just sounds so much more bland.

The TOS odds aren't atrocious (especially in comparison to the TNG movies) but they really are under-par compared to the evens.

[Bounty]

Three little titbits:

Rex Features
J.J. Abrams has revealed that Simon Pegg cried when he saw footage from the upcoming Star Trek movie.

Speaking to MTV, director Abrams said Pegg, who plays Scotty in the science fiction movie, wept after watching a clip on his iPhone.

"I showed Simon Pegg [footage] when we were at Comic-Con. I showed him this little trailer thing and it was my favorite thing ever.

"He literally started weeping. It was ridiculous. He was sitting there, I mean he must have been plastered. Because he was looking at my iPhone [crying]."

Abrams also confirmed that Star Trek will be "a two-hour movie", saying: "I'm sick of these two hours and forty-five minute movies. Seriously, it's like I don't have enough time to stay two hours and forty-five minutes. I'm exhausted just saying that twice. I can't stand it."

Edgar Wright, who directed Pegg in Shaun Of The Dead and Hot Fuzz, hinted on his MySpace blog that he had seen a finished version of Abrams's movie and preferred it to the Star Wars prequels.

"Yesterday I saw a film that does not get released until next summer," he wrote. "I can't say much more than that, except that it delivers all the goods sorely lacking from a certain trio of prequels. Exciting stuff."

The second bit - the rant against 2-hours-and-forty-five-minute-movies is one I concur with completely. Lately there's been too many blockbusters that really needed someone to trim them down to size. Pirates 3, I'm looking at you.

[tim31]

Without wanting to go too far off track, what about TDK? Because that kept going, but it still kept me involved.

Other than that, I agree as well.

[Bounty]

Without wanting to go too far off track, what about TDK? Because that kept going, but it still kept me involved.

Other than that, I agree as well.

Of course all of this is subjective, but TDK, while long, didn't have a lot of fat in it. It didn't have subplots going nowhere (*cough* Pirates *cough*) or villains that were just crammed in as fanwank (*cough* Spidey *cough*). It wouldn't be hard to pad out XI with junk like that, and I appreciate Abrams not falling for that trap (or, well, at least saying he won't fall for that trap). Less is often more.

[Kamakazie Sith]

Three little titbits:

<snip article>

The second bit - the rant against 2-hours-and-forty-five-minute-movies is one I concur with completely. Lately there's been too many blockbusters that really needed someone to trim them down to size. Pirates 3, I'm looking at you.

Now I'm not saying that the movie will be bad, but a red flag always goes up for me when I hear of an actor having an emotional experience after watching/reading the film/script. I mean seriously. It's Star Trek...not going to be a life altering experience.

[Bounty]

Pegg's a die-hard trekkie. He's "emotionally invested"

[DaveJB]

Now I'm not saying that the movie will be bad, but a red flag always goes up for me when I hear of an actor having an emotional experience after watching/reading the film/script. I mean seriously. It's Star Trek...not going to be a life altering experience.

I think that really says more about the actor than the film... although it does bring back uncomfortable memories of Harry Knowles blabbering on about how Armageddon moved him to tears.

[McC]

I think that really says more about the actor than the film... although it does bring back uncomfortable memories of Harry Knowles blabbering on about how Armageddon moved him to tears.

Er...Armageddon has that effect on most people I know. Say what you will about the rest of the movie, but from the part where Harry (the character, not the AICN reviewer) calls his daughter to the end of the movie is pretty tear-jerky.

[DaveJB]

It certainly didn't have that effect on anyone I know! Most people I know that saw Armageddon said that they felt they should have felt that way, but it was so overplayed that it ended up looking silly. If anything, the corresponding sequence in Deep Impact was more affecting to me, anyway.

[McC]

It certainly didn't have that effect on anyone I know! Most people I know that saw Armageddon said that they felt they should have felt that way, but it was so overplayed that it ended up looking silly. If anything, the corresponding sequence in Deep Impact was more affecting to me, anyway.

Huh. Guess this is just an instance when YMMV.

[Revy]

Sorry if this has been posted already, but I laughed at this;

Plus, at heart, Abrams is still more of a Star Wars guy. ''All my smart friends liked Star Trek,'' he says. ''I preferred a more visceral experience.'' Which is exactly why he accepted Paramount's offer in 2005 to develop a new Trek flick; creatively, he was engaged by the possibility of a Star Trek movie ''that grabbed me the way Star Wars did.'' That meant a bigger budget and better special effects than any previous Trek film, plus freedom to reinvent the mythos as needed. ''We have worldwide aspirations and we need to broaden [Trek's] appeal,'' says Weston. ''Doing the half-assed version of this thing wasn't going to work.''

So the guy in charge of the new Trek film is more of a Star Wars fan? I bet all the Trekkie Wars haters would wince at that.

Just out of curiosity, if you could pick or create the villain for a new Trek film, who/what would it be?

[RedImperator]

If it's TOS era, I'd go with the classics: the Klingons. The smart pseudo-Russian Klingons from TOS, too. In fact, just so everyone knows the Space Vikings won't be making an appearance, the very first Klingon we see will be the Klingon ambassador to the Federation, wearing a jacket and tie.

[tim31]

I like that. A lot of Soviet diplomats has received schooling in England and America, yes?

[Ryan Thunder]

If it's TOS era, I'd go with the classics: the Klingons. The smart pseudo-Russian Klingons from TOS, too. In fact, just so everyone knows the Space Vikings won't be making an appearance, the very first Klingon we see will be the Klingon ambassador to the Federation, wearing a jacket and tie.

I find it unreasonably difficult to visualize that.

[Lord Poe]

If it's TOS era, I'd go with the classics: the Klingons. The smart pseudo-Russian Klingons from TOS, too. In fact, just so everyone knows the Space Vikings won't be making an appearance, the very first Klingon we see will be the Klingon ambassador to the Federation, wearing a jacket and tie.

I find it unreasonably difficult to visualize that.

[JME2]

Heh.

[Samuel]

"The people of the Klingon Empire object to the repeat slander from the Federation propaganda mills. It is our belief that peace can be forged only when both sides are willing to look past their preconceived notions and see their opponent- and themselves- as they truly are. To further that cause we wish to normalize relations with the Federation and put behind our past conflicts so that we may secure a true and lasting peace. In order to do so..."

It would be nice if we have Klingons who talk like that instead of "blood and honor".