Before QUANTUM OF SOLACE unspooled this past Friday, moviegoers were subjected to the usual assortment of questionable trailers as a preamble to the feature film — for example, FAST & FURIOUS, featuring the cast of the initial installment in the annoying THE FAST & THE FURIOUS series and rocking the tag line "New model, original parts" — and among these was the first trailer for the upcoming old school STAR TREK reboot that showed actual content from the movie itself rather than teaser imagery. I was psyched about the new movie since it features characters that I've loved since childhood and I think Zachary Quinto makes for an interesting young version of the iconic Spock, but the more I see of the flick, especially after seeing the trailer, it looks like what I've been calling STAR TREK 90210, and as of now the only reason I have any interest in seeing the movie is to witness what will most likely be Leonard Nimoy's final turn as the beloved Vulcan. The movie just looks as plastic as any other Hollywood franchise and I have to admit being saddened by that, but all things must pass and maybe this will be where I finally bid the Federation adieu.Which brings me to this morning.
As I was running some proofs over to one of my company's designers, a respected co-worker and fellow geek asked me if I'd seen the new STAR TREK trailer, a question that prompted one of my signature vitriolic explosions. "Did I see it?" I answered. "Oh, I saw it alright, and it fucking bit the big one!" My fellow geek nodded knowingly, but before we could explore our irritation any further we noticed wild gesticulations from the office of the two sales guys behind us. They waved their arms at us with looks of horror on their faces and told us to shut the fuck up because one of the guys behind the new STAR TREK movie was in the conference room right next to us, engaged in conversation with our boss about that very trailer. Luckily for us the conversation between the boss and the TREK dude was very enthusiastic so my comments were not heard. Good thing too, because the guy in the conference room was none other than J.J Abrams, co-creator of LOST, writer of ARMAGEDDON, and producer of CLOVERFIELD among other things, and currently the producer and director of STAR TREK.
As previously stated, I did not get busted, but can't people around the office give a guy a heads-up? Sheesh!
Sweet, I got written up on the Vault!
ReplyDeleteThe thing that really kills me-- well, two things: one, people below the age of 28 seem to think this trailer completely rocks. This is why I will never be 28 again, and why George Lucas is richer than ever. Two: the more I think about it (sad to say), the more I become convinced that the tone of this film could be significantly different than that of the trailer... which was constructed for the specific purpose of PISSING ME OFF and CRUSHING MY CHILDHOOD DREAMS.
Okay, maybe that's taking things a bit too far. Still, if JJ can pluck any random, beloved franchise he likes in order to revise it from top-to-bottom, I can be selfish, too.
Everyone is allowed to be selfish and love the toys that you had as kid. I would like to remind the kind readership that ST:TOS is a silly TV show, one that tried to break TV conventions and maybe was a head of its time in its scenery chewing, overwritten and crappy scenery and lighting type of way.
ReplyDeleteLets give it a chance, how 'bout it?
I really don't see the big deal with the trailer. Don't get me wrong; i LOVE Star Trek, but what's gone is gone. The movie isn't gonna trample all over your childhood memories cuz the original series will always exist. If anything, the new movie will probably get a new generation into the series.
ReplyDeleteThe trailer looked like a good sci-fi flick. The cast is great (still not sure about Kirk mind... he looks like he was an actor in 'The OC' or 'One Tree Hill' or some crap like that), the special effects look great and i read somewhere that Abrams' aim was to make you care about the characters, which is totally the right approach.
I am 26 by the way, so below the age of 28.
Looking forward to the movie.
Dec.
Star Trek 90210, I like that. I've been coming up with Dawson's Ship, Kirk's Creek, Gossip Cadet, Sector 001 Tree Hill, and Melrose System.
ReplyDeleteI think the winner just might be My So-Called Mission. So I can sit in the theater while it's playing and say things like, "Needs more Claire Danes...where's the gay best friend?"
I haven't been anticipating this movie at all, so when I finally saw the trailer, the first thing that struck me is, wow, they really are shutting the door on the TNG era. This is Trek for our kids.
My only worry is that it's going to have a killer first weekend, but then get tossed on the pile like any other popcorn flick, and ultimately have about as much cultural impact as the Lost in Space movie. If they're going to try and reignite Trek, it would be nice if they didn't kill it in the process.
Oh wait, they already did that with Enterprise and the last movie. Oh well...
By the way, your geek friend sounds like good (but hairy) people.