Big News Day for Trek Fans
I had made myself an appointment for early yesterday to have my annual eye check. I was running behind with the housework so I didn't check my email until I got back from the appointment and had done the errands. When I finally sit down at the computer I notice my email icon telling me I have 63 new messages in my in box. That's when I knew something big had to be happening.
After a quick scan of the subject headings my eyes widen in shock. J.J. Abrams will be helming a new Star Trek movie and the speculation is that it will be a prequel. So I start to work my way through the messages and already people have started to debate the prequel idea.
In the midst of all this a reporter from the LA Times wants to chat. So we start to talk about fandom and it's obvious she's fairly clueless so I try to explain how seriously many of the long time fans take their Star Trek. I point out that the long time fans are the backbone of the franchise and to go backward again would make it very very difficult for the production team to come up with a story that would satisfy the fans without pissing them off.
When she wants to know why that would be I tell her that I think the fans love the characters and they all have strong opinions about the characters and that many, based on what we saw onscreen in TOS, believe that Kirk and Spock could not have been at Starfleet Academy at the same time and even if they were somehow it was obvious from the series that they weren't friends then. These characters are like old friends I tell her but I don't think she got it.
Going backward would be like a minefield for whoever writes the script. The fans would pick everything apart and compare it to their own interpretation of established canon. It's my own belief that that is one of the reasons the last series ENTERPRISE did so poorly. I know folks who had never before missed a second of Star Trek that refused to even try the show because it was set on the Enterprise before Kirk was in command. Other fans I know were like myself, willing to give the producers the benefit of the doubt and try the show, but quickly got fed up with what they viewed as continuity errors and stopped watching.
I think JJ Abrams has the ability, vision and creativity to something special with Star Trek. My personal preference would be for a story that isn't a prequel but I'll reserve judgement until an actual script has been written.
After a quick scan of the subject headings my eyes widen in shock. J.J. Abrams will be helming a new Star Trek movie and the speculation is that it will be a prequel. So I start to work my way through the messages and already people have started to debate the prequel idea.
In the midst of all this a reporter from the LA Times wants to chat. So we start to talk about fandom and it's obvious she's fairly clueless so I try to explain how seriously many of the long time fans take their Star Trek. I point out that the long time fans are the backbone of the franchise and to go backward again would make it very very difficult for the production team to come up with a story that would satisfy the fans without pissing them off.
When she wants to know why that would be I tell her that I think the fans love the characters and they all have strong opinions about the characters and that many, based on what we saw onscreen in TOS, believe that Kirk and Spock could not have been at Starfleet Academy at the same time and even if they were somehow it was obvious from the series that they weren't friends then. These characters are like old friends I tell her but I don't think she got it.
Going backward would be like a minefield for whoever writes the script. The fans would pick everything apart and compare it to their own interpretation of established canon. It's my own belief that that is one of the reasons the last series ENTERPRISE did so poorly. I know folks who had never before missed a second of Star Trek that refused to even try the show because it was set on the Enterprise before Kirk was in command. Other fans I know were like myself, willing to give the producers the benefit of the doubt and try the show, but quickly got fed up with what they viewed as continuity errors and stopped watching.
I think JJ Abrams has the ability, vision and creativity to something special with Star Trek. My personal preference would be for a story that isn't a prequel but I'll reserve judgement until an actual script has been written.
posted by Booklover at
10:40 AM
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