Star Trek + JJ Abrams [My love hate relationship]

[Ryan Timothy B]

Star Trek

First I'd like to mention that in the past dozen years I've really started to become a strong Star Trek fanboy. I love the technology, the aliens, and many of the stories and their true meaning. In the past year I've finally gotten around to watching the original Star Trek TV series and the 6 movies, I'm also half-through The Next Generation series; neither shows had I really watched before other than the odd episode that was on air throughout my life. The original ST was indeed terribly campy and had too many issues for my taste, but given the 50+ years of its age, I can dismiss the corny bits of it all and simply see it as the framework in which today's ST is based upon.

Next Generation started off on some seriously rough ground, with terrible acting and weak or laughable stories, I started to wonder if the show was ever going to find its footing. I almost couldn't stand to look at Wesley Crusher wearing his old woman sweaters and that corny smile if someone simply just looked at him, not to mention the urge to regurgitate from the overly nurturing relationship between him and his mother; It's one reason why I was quite satisfied to see Dr Crusher leave the show on the 2nd season but to return on the 3rd once Wesley aged a little. Once Tasha Yar got herself killed (in probably the worst episode yet) I started to really feel the ship and stories come alive - she was the worst actor on the show, not to mention how weak and unbecoming her character development was (ugh, I cringe every time I think back on that Code of Honor episode where she flips the alien onto his back because he was attempting to hand a box of vaccine to Picard *facepalm*). I really can't wait to see how the remaining 4 seasons turn out.

I grew up on Voyager, I've watched every single episode and can definitely say that I have a soft spot for the show. But I haven't watched it in almost 10 years, I can only imagine how timeworn that show has become now. I'm also a moderate fan of ST: Enterprise and strongly wish they had written that show differently. I disliked the whole 9/11 attack on earth bit and the majority of the remaining 2 seasons due to the whole vengeance plot. I'll also admit that I've never watched DS9 but plan to do so once I'm done with TNG.

Having said all that, I would like to now point out what I dislike about the new Star Trek (J. J. Abrams). I'll start with the most recent, Into the Darkness, because I felt it was the best of the two and had so much potential to be the absolute best of Star Trek. Most of these issues I had noticed on my first viewing in the theater, when it was done I had walked out quite disappointed, but now after each subsequent viewing at home, I am starting to like the movie more and more.


[MASSIVE SPOILER WARNING AHEAD]

It starts off quite beautifully and I was immediately engrossed in the beautiful white and red plant-life and atmosphere. Kirk steals the holy scroll of sorts the aboriginals were praying to, immediately everything is good and you're proud JJ is obeying the prime directive with the disguises and the ruse to lure the folks out of danger. But then, related to the previous movie and its flaws, I was upset that they couldn't simply beam the bomb or even Spock into the volcano (but in the previous movie they could somehow transport themselves into the Enterprise which was lightyears away and also traveling beyond lightspeed). Then comes in the ridiculous idea of Enterprise being underwater, which certainly was a beautiful scene and put a shiver down my neck, it's not possible without some sort of shield or some form of technobabble to counteract the forces.

"We couldn't find any good parking spots"

Spock then manually arms the device, and with Enterprise overhead they beam him back to safety just in the nick of time. I was quite content with them calling it "Spock's device" but then Pike opens his mouth and reveals that it's some sort of "cold fusion device", BLAH! I don't think they consulted scientists for this tech. Or they simply called it cold fusion because it turned what was once hot into something that is now cold, not to mention that it's now fused together.

Cold and fused

Then we have Kirk, the captain of the Enterprise, scolded and getting his toys taken away; Something digging into you telling you that we've already seen this rebellious Kirk in the previous movie, who also happens to get demoted and later regains his rank. I found this scene very depressing and it made me immediately lose respect for Kirk with his childish behavior. Did we really need to show this rebellious side once again?

"Don't worry, I'll get it back"

One thing that didn't help set the realism of this future tech, the hospital has hover beds yet important industrial things like forklifts (which still has today's designs) is still stuck on wheels. You'd think a hospital with hover beds would be considered an over-the-top luxury, where a hovering/flying forklift would be seen as the necessity.

   

Never did understand this exploding ring bit. First off it completely changes everything we know about Star Trek's explosives, they don't even have a scanner system in place for it. It would have been better if he purposely activates one of the photon torpedoes you see all around him, that would've been the path of least hassle. (Also aren't all those torpedoes the ones Khan has his people in *oops*, or is there another super secret torpedo warehouse)

   
Futuristic Alka-Seltzer  =  *BOOM*

All StarFleet high-rank officials cleverly meet together in an unprotected skyscraper. Kirk suddenly realizes the motives for bombing the "archives" just to get everyone to meet here, but he doesn't seem to warn anyone until AFTER shit starts exploding. Khan winks at him as he transports himself to safety - I'm hoping he's only transported himself a few yards away.. Am I right?

I'll go play somewhere else!

Later we discover that Khan certainly didn't transport himself safely only a few yards away, or maybe just to the street or something close by, no, no... It's much worse than that. He transports all the way to freakin' Kronos! The Klingon planet! This tiny device that could easily fit in my girlfriend's trunk can somehow transport a man more than half a dozen lightyears away (or more)! Even at the speed of light it would take 6 years for his molecules to reach Kronos - yet he gets there pretty near instantly, has the ability to re-materialize and also pinpoint the exact location on the surface of the moon taking into account of rotation and transport delay. All that does is say a big *fuck you* to any "He's out of range" or "We need to get closer to transport" mechanics.

"You're trying to tell me this only runs on 3xAA batteries!?"

Kirk then gets into a completely uncalled for face-smashing moment with Khan. Not just one punch, no, he puts a good minute of hits into Khan. Completely out of character and so unfitting for a captain, all this does is make me really dislike this new Kirk. Why he couldn't just be the better man and simply arrest Khan, I don't know. I suppose this beats the terrible orders Pike gave him, to launch photon torpedoes at Khan's location all the way from the neutral zone.

"Maybe if I hit you some more, I'll earn your trust for when we team up together later"

I might be getting a little nitpicky on this one, I can easily ignore this and pretend that Scotty's communicator works like a cellphone, where somewhere on Earth a subspace antenna is picking up the call from the Enterprise and relaying it to Scotty in the bar. It's plausible.

"What do you mean this call is ultra long distance?!"

Enterprise on its trip back to Earth gets knocked out of warp. Luckily they end up at 237,000km from Earth. Turns out the closest distance from earth to the moon (the perigee) is actually 363,104km yet somehow they're on the other side of the moon? (363,104km < 237,000km ??)

These writers have bad math - or the director gets distracted with pretty shots

Enterprise blows up the enemy ship, you can clearly see the moon at its full size behind them. Moments later the Enterprise is suddenly being pulled into earth? Either there was a long time lapse between scenes which would mean someone really fucked up and is responsible for all the deaths ahead, or our buddy JJ just wanted a nice moon shot and didn't realize how far the earth actually is?

  Seconds later --> 
"Who put this planet here?"

Enterprise goes into a radical free fall into earth.

Remember that tribble McCoy was working on? Well, apparently the director hadn't thought about the whole ship flipping upside down. Luckily the dead tribble remained where it was placed and only a few test tubes got knocked over (apparently gravity is a trickle of a thing).

  After upside down free fall --> 

Kirk saves the ship with a terrible deja vu scene (it was bad enough the first time, we really didn't need to see this happen again). Luckily Kirk knows how to kick things to the exact angle it needs to be - it's not like it's a technical piece of machinery which needs advanced calibration or anything. I also don't need to mention how terrible the upcoming "KHANNNNNNNNNN" scene is. Was this scene really that incredible that the writers had to replicate it almost word for word?

   

Then we have Spock and Khan double fisting each other on a smokey and depressing automated flying ship, something that belongs straight out of Star Wars and not within my futuristic fantasy of tomorrow. Certainly wasn't a pleasant look at tomorrow, as Star Trek is famously known for. JJ admitted he never understood Star Trek and that he was always a Star Wars fan (it shows all too much).

Also for some reason McCoy badly needed Khan's blood, I guess we didn't have anymore super powered blood that heals just about anything (this new introduction also says *fuck you* to any future plots of an "incurable" illnesses or death). Also McCoy says that cryogenics is antiquated technology, yet Kirk would've been dead if it weren't for it preserving his body. Just like it makes you wonder why the girl dying in the hospital isn't put in a cryotube to preserve her body until they find a cure (Khan's blood apparently cures all ailments).

"Get me Khan's blood!!! He's the ONLY cure for Kirk!"

Most of these issues could've been altered without changing much of the story. I definitely would've ditched the personal transporter and the super blood, the rest isn't as game breaking bad. I don't overly like JJ's Star Wars approach with everything but I do like the beautiful action scenes and downright gorgeous ship to ship battles. I don't think he's very capable at keeping a story strong without numerous plot holes or inconsistent character behaviors. I'm actually quite excited to see that he's not working on the 3rd ST movie and instead he'll be off butchering Star Wars some more. Hopefully the new director is a real ST fan.


What do you think of Star Trek TV shows or movies? Does anyone have any faith in the new director? He looks pretty green so it's really hard to tell.

[Crimson Wizard]

I was never a Star Trek fan and never watched the original episodes (lol), so have I any right to say something here?
Anyway, I once made a comment to a previous Star Trek movie discussion, and my opinion on the second movie is only worse. Most of the time I was in "WTF" condition.

Aside from the points you mentioned, Ryan, my biggest criticism goes for:
1. Ridiculous space ship internals design, which requires people to run around lengthy corridors to reach different equipment and terminals all the time.
2. Ridiculous lack of seemingly essential equipment, such as repair robots that can enter the reactor core without being killed by radiation.
3. Ridiculous captain of the ship doing all action and leaving other crewmembers on his place (while he should do opposite).
4. Well, and ridiculous random crew members that walk aimlessly around the ship, talking their cellphones (?) during enemy attack.

[Stupot]

I used to watch The Next Generation as a kid, but was never a fan of Star Trek.  When the first JJ incarnation came out I watched it and enjoyed it.  I thought it was a very clever move by Abrams how he managed to reboot the series while at the same time preserving the old canon in an alternate timeline.  I haven't seen Into Darkness yet, but I will at some point when the mood takes me.

I've followed Abrams ever since Lost (even though he was only involved with the first couple of episodes).  His Midas touch was never going to last forever, but he still knows how to put on a good spectacle and I usually with check out anything he or Bad Robot is involved in.

[Gribbler]

I did not like any film Abrams directed and I watched many, if not all - Super 8 felt like E.T. imitation for me, MI3 was just poor and lacked Woo absurd feel First Abrams Star Trek was decent and pretty much allright sci-fi movie. Into Darkness was just dull and uninteresting. I was never a Trekkie but I liked Star Treks with Patrick Steward. Oh, I loved Cloverfield, but he was a producer here.

I am little worried about Star Wars VII but I'm sure Abrams will make something better than Lucas who clearly lost his touch with the new trilogy.

[dactylopus]

I grew up with Next Generation, but I never really watched it all that much.  Regardless, I was always a fan.  Well, I recently watched all of Star Trek.  I started months ago:

Original Series
Animated Series
Next Generation
Deep Space Nine
Voyager
Enterprise

I watched all of the movies roughly where they would fall in chronology.

I did all of this after watching the reboot.  I followed it all with rewatching the reboot and Into Darkness.

Caution, Spoilers contained below!

I loved the original series despite (and sometimes because of) its campy attributes.  It was a wonderful show, and very iconic.  So much of Star Trek was established here.  The original concept of a wagon train to the stars was at the core of the series, and most subsequent variations followed this idea.  All of the stars perform admirably (yes, even Kirk), and the plots are probably at their most cerebral.  At times, it somewhat felt like a Twilight Zone or Outer Limits, albeit with a recurring cast of characters.

The animated series followed the same crew, but gave room for some more outlandish plots and alien characters.  Lots of fun for those, like me, who enjoy cartoons.  It was mostly a continuation, telling more of the Enterprise and her 5 year mission.

Next Generation seemed a bit lame when it began, really hard to get used to, but it left a strong impression.  It was more family oriented, the ship was occupied by families and children, which is one of the factors I didn't like.  The original crew was more cavalier, whereas the Next Generation crew was more reserved, and the show felt heartwarming.  That said, the cast is more diverse and full of memorable characters, like La Forge, Worf, Data, and of course Picard (to name a few).

Deep Space Nine was great, although it felt a lot different from the previous efforts due to being contained in one location rather than traveling through the galaxy.  Because of this, the series felt a bit stale due to a lack of exploration and interesting new experiences.  It was also a little darker, which is something I enjoyed.  The cast was great, I loved Bashir, Quark, and Dax (among others), but I was a bit upset at the decision to remove Jadzia and replace her with Ezri.  I did like Ezri in the end, though.  The plot developed throughout the series, which was a nice change from the one shot plots in previous series.

Voyager was a return to the exploration based show, but it had an urgency to it because of the drive to get home.  There were some decisions I didn't agree with in regards to cast changes, as I was a big fan of Kes, but it worked out in the end.  I didn't like the heavy focus on the Borg and Seven of Nine after her appearance, but in the end I was a fan of her character.  Janeway made for a formidable captain, and I loved Neelix.  It was also interesting to see some new species, since this took place in an entirely new quadrant of the galaxy.

Enterprise was strange at first, but I came to really enjoy it.  I didn't like the heavy focus on the temporal cold war and time travel (something I think Star Trek is focusing on more and more, unfortunately), or their heavy-handed allegories for the modern day post 9/11 world.  Despite these things, the show fit as a prequel to the original series.  The technology rarely feels like it surpasses that of the original Enterprise, and the galaxy somehow feels larger.  I was a bit skeptical about the casting choice for captain when I first heard about it, but immediately found Archer to be fantastic.  I really enjoyed this crew, even T'Pol, who I initially disliked.

All in all, I considerably enjoyed Star Trek.  As with any property, it has its weak points, but the strong points more than make up for them.  I'm not as much a fan of where the property has been heading since Roddenberry's death (focusing more on time travel and feminine eye candy, and deviating from the more cerebral concepts), but I was always entertained.

As for the new movies, as much as I liked them I was somewhat disappointed.  To be honest, I'd rather see a new series with a new crew than these films.  Or maybe movies that cross the various new generation of characters (Next Gen, DS9, Voyager).  Either way, we have what they gave us.  I'm not into the whole concept of the movies, which is time travel.  It has never really appealed to me, but it is at the core of the reboot.

I felt that the first film had a few too many gratuitous fan service moments ("My name is James Tiberius Kirk!"), but it got moving about a third of the way in.  There are some absurdities to it (like Kirk's hands not freezing when he climbed out of that ice hole), but there were a lot of entertaining sequences (running from the monster on the ice planet) that made up for them.  Overall, I thought the plot was a bit contrived to begin with, and there are aspects of this continuity that just rub me the wrong way (the bridge is just way too bright, and they destroyed Vulcan, and well, time travel), but it was still a fun movie and I will certainly watch it again.

The newest film, Into Darkness, was a bit different.  I'll agree with most of your observations, actually.  Why park the Enterprise under water to begin with?  Why can't you beam people on that planet?  Is there no such thing as communications range?  Since this was an alternate reality telling of Wrath of Khan, it was interesting to see the death scene reversed.  Like the previous movie, much of the fun hinged on it being an action film, relying more on brute force and pretty effects as opposed to the more intellectual aspects of the series that came before.  Despite its failings and points of irksome logic, I still found this to be an enjoyable movie.  I'm sure I'll watch it again, and I'm sure that with each subsequent viewing I'll find more to bitch about while somehow managing to like it even more.

I haven't heard anything about a new film but I'd like to see them abandon this alternate universe timeline in lieu of something a bit more traditional.

Sorry this is so long-winded.

tl;dr - Star Trek is good.  The new movies are flashy and fun, but I like the old stuff better.

[KodiakBehr]

You're in for a treat if you're exploring the more established episodes of TNG.  My favourite part of that show was the highly political episodes that touched upon the strained relationships between the Federation and it's counterparts.  DS9 does this even better, sucking you into drama that goes far beyond good-guys and bad-guys.  DS9 also got adventurous by experimenting with story-arcs that lasted for whole seasons, developing sympathetic characters among the Federation's rivals, and bravely exposing some of the weaknesses with Roddenberry's utopia.

I never liked the toxic mess that was Voyager.  The show destroyed its own premise by episode two by homogenizing the crew and applying dutiful Federation law rather than a mutinous patchwork of different interests.  Poor acting, racist characters, monsters-of-the-week and holodeck asshattery just chipped away at it until an hour long episode just seemed like WORK.  Also, B'Elanna.  By this point, the movies started coming out and they tended to ignore the character development that was established by the series.  And it never really gets better after DS9, sadly.

What always bothered me about most of the Star Treks, writ large, is the lack of self-interest among any of the characters.  It is rare to see any character disliking any other, or plotting against their peers, or grumbling about their boss, or making a mistake, or being lazy, or being messy, getting sick, or feeing slighted, or anything of the human factors that you would see in any military, any embassy or any workplace that one also lives in.  This is why I will always prefer Battlestar or Firefly.  Oh, or that TNG episode that just followed the really junior officers around as they get ignored by everybody else.

Also, this.

I always enjoy Star Trek more when I think of the transporter as a giant suicide machine that rips you apart atom by atom and then creates a clone with a completely different consciousness on the planet surface.  Every character that is ever ordered to transport is secretly devastated that they are being told to die for the greater good of the Federation, even when perfectly good shuttle is sitting around.  That's why you never see most of the crew -- they're terrified that they'll be chosen to transport somewhere.

[RickJ]

That's why you never see most of the crew -- they're terrified that they'll be chosen to transport somewhere.

Hehe .. especially the ones wearing red shirts