JJ Abrams is a (visionary/disgrace) who must be (commended/stopped): Star Trek

[Reply #680 on:]

Dude... That reminds me... Into Darkness might be about Section 31. Black uniforms, attacks on Earth. And the resemblence of Sloan to Cumberbatch. Just got me.


Also those ambiguities are what made DS9 so unique. Ira Steven Behr is a god. He actually considered these things when writing DS9. And he did a great job as showrunner. Better then anyone on VOY or TNG. And his episodes on TNG are rated highest. I'd say he's the best that Star Trek has had as a writer.

[Reply #681 on:]

Well if it turns out to be about Section 31, I shall sue because it was my idea. You all saw what I wrote!

[Reply #682 on:]

Alright, sure. It's not like they finished the script 2010 or so and started principal photography that same year.

[Reply #683 on:]

I think Section 31 would have been a good subject for a series. A Star Trek spy-thriller. Something like Homeland in space. Then you could have some really decent morally-ambiguous characters unlike the usual assortment of goody-two-shoes Starfleet paragons of virtue we normally see. The Federation is a utopia of lofty ideals, so let's see the dark and brutal underworld that keeps it all running.

I would simply title it: Federation.

Spits in the face of everything Roddenbury, but I think the man was rather overrated. Like Ian Fleming. One good idea doesn't make you a God.

I think they made that series.  It was called Enterprise.

[Reply #684 on:]

winna, Enterprise is not the answer for everything. I'm not holding the Enterprise right now, I'm not typing on the Enterprise right now, and Leia was not rescued off of the Enterprise.

[Reply #685 on:]

I think Section 31 would have been a good subject for a series. A Star Trek spy-thriller. Something like Homeland in space. Then you could have some really decent morally-ambiguous characters unlike the usual assortment of goody-two-shoes Starfleet paragons of virtue we normally see. The Federation is a utopia of lofty ideals, so let's see the dark and brutal underworld that keeps it all running.

I would simply title it: Federation.

Spits in the face of everything Roddenbury, but I think the man was rather overrated. Like Ian Fleming. One good idea doesn't make you a God.

Now thats an idea I can get behind!

[Reply #686 on:]

So, J.J. Abrahms, eh?

www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/02/valve-bad-robot-dice/

Eh, it could been Uwe Boll.

[Reply #687 on:]

It's more like M.Night Shyamalan 2: Electric Boogaloo.

[Reply #688 on:]

JJ Abrams should get out of the movie making business to make the next COD. All of his movies make the basic criteria for a Call of Duty game.

[Reply #689 on:]

I bet Randi knew all of these Scotty facts:

The Actor Who Played “Scotty” on Star Trek Was Shot Six Times on D-Day

[Reply #690 on:]

I didn't, actually. But don't let Tachy know that!

INNNN Trek related news however, one of Randi's local friends reviews movies for a website and tv show, and so Randi is going to get to see INTO DARKNESS two days ahead of release for free! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[Reply #691 on:]

I knew he lost his middle finger that day, but didn't know it was because he was shot six times by another Canadian...

...Where was William Shatner on D-Day?

[Reply #692 on:]

Never seen trek.

[Reply #693 on:]

Never seen trek.

We don't like your kind in here.

[Reply #694 on:]

Hahaha ^

I made Frisco watch the 2009 movie yesterday. In exchange he's making me watch one of the original Star Wars movies again. He'd been apprehensive about seeing the movie because he thought it would be like one gigantic TNG episode, where they talk about the problem and it's philosophical ramifications for 90 minutes and do something about it in the remaining ten minutes...

[Reply #695 on:]

STAR TREK VOYAGER. SHUT UP, IT'S AWESOME.

[Reply #696 on:]

No its not...

[Reply #697 on:]

Enterprise is clearly the best.

[Reply #698 on:]

[Reply #699 on:]

The Next Generation's best 

Also, futurefreak (is calling you Randi alright?), you are so lucky! I'm very jealous of you for getting to see Into Darkness early!

[Reply #700 on:]

Yes Anna that's quite alright - you can call me Randi, that's my name Yeah the guy who is getting us tickets actually prefers Wars to Trek, but he knew how excited I would be to go see it so I am exponentially thankful Otherwise I would have no one to see it with around here

I saw the 09 one for free as well with costco passes I got as a birthday gift, and even IMAX was no extra charge! That was awesome! I rarely see movies in theaters so when I do go it's either free or better be worth it lol.

[Reply #701 on:]

The Next Generation's best 

That's the one with the captain who donated his hair so his first officer could have a beard, right?

[Reply #702 on:]

Enterprise is the pentultimate science factual depiction of space travel by monkeys.  All other peers and friendemies alike cower into obsolescence at the presence of the fabled Enterprise, the greatest of all, to which all others bow including that television show where lucy lives next to an old woman and her alcoholic husband raising children in a small vacant lot.  Therefore, it cannot be argued, viable or otherwise, that any show is best, because the definition of 'best' is Enterprise and saying Enterprise is the best is a tautology because that is the definition of Enterprise.  This is also why no Enterprise movie as to date has been created, because it would create a sociovacuum within the consumption of cinematic media that would pull civilization, nay the entire universe and all other things and also all the things into a time war with nazi aliens and some stuff that happened.  Also Enterprise.

[Reply #703 on:]

The Next Generation's best 

That's the one with the captain who donated his hair so his first officer could have a beard, right?

Maybe not (assuming you're referring to "Mirror, Mirror", which, if not, I'm sorry, my mind's pretty slow at the moment), but, in my opinion, it is the one with the best story lines and characters, plus Samuel Clemens, who I love, and some of the best cliffhangers ever 

[Reply #704 on:]

The Next Generation's best 

That's the one with the captain who donated his hair so his first officer could have a beard, right?

Maybe not (assuming you're referring to "Mirror, Mirror"...),

He's not. In S1 of TNG, Riker was clean-shaven and ineffective. Picard had a small amount of hair on his dome. By S2, Riker had grown a beard and become a badass, Picard was completely shiny.

In Mirror Mirror, Alternate Universe (Evil) Spock had a beard, largely to distinguish him from Our Universe Spock. No hair appeared to go missing from Kirk in order to fund this facial fuzziness.

[Reply #705 on:]

Ah, okay, thanks for the correction totalnerduk. It's been too long since I've seen much of either TNG or OS, and my memory's not the best.

Sorry for my slowness Xanfor. I really should have picked up on what you meant, but I'm pretty unintelligent late at night, which is when I posted that   

[Reply #706 on:]

Saw the movie...do not read further if you don't want spoilers.

Show spoiler

I thought it was good. The thing with these movies are they're a bit campy with more screen effects, which kinda works given the era it is trying to recreate. I knew this would be sorta like a Khan redo, I liked the parallel callbacks but I hope if they do more movies, it will be something completely different. I don't know if it's being lazy or wanting to follow a similar path as the other crew, indicating that this universe isn't really THAT far off from the TOS storyline, but I would like to see some new characters, something that totally comes out of left field because of the events of the first movie. I thought it was good for what it was though.

[Reply #707 on:]

How about a rating outside of spoilers?  Or at least a thumbs-up or thumbs-down?

[Reply #708 on:]

Thumbs up I would say. Good watch.

[Reply #709 on:]

Changes from TOS-era that cannot be easily explained by Nero's alteration of the timeline:

A certain Indian man (played by a Mexican) with an unidentifiable accent is now a white man with a British accent. Possibly surgically altered by Section 31 to conceal his identity... or something.

Kirk's once and future romantic interest, an American woman, is now British.

Klingons facial structure divergent once again... possibly another side-effect of the augment virus, though at the time the virus was supposed to have rendered them almost human in appearance.

Praxis - the moon orbiting Qo'nos (NOT "Kronos"!), was shown to have exploded. This wasn't supposed to have happened until around a quarter-century later.

And while I'm at it; something that irked me about the previous film:
How did they identify Nero and his crew as Romulans? The Federation had never actually seen one in the flesh and they are almost physically indistinguishable from Vulcans.

Anyway, it was awesome.
Didn't feel like real Star Trek, but an awesome sci-fi action film.

[Reply #710 on:]

Both of the new movies blew me away, they were fantastic. I saw Into Darkness twice. Before I saw the 2009 version I was never really that interested in Star Trek. That probably had something to do with my parents bugging me about it all the time when I was younger. Ever since though I've really gotten into the series, and personally like The Next Generation the best. I'm not really that fond of Enterprise though.

[Reply #711 on:]

I really enjoyed Into Darkness, but it had a lot of flaws.

Whilst the fanboy in me loved the reveal of the villain, I was a bit upset seeing as I'd found him such a compelling character on his own terms, before hand. It was like they'd won me over to a new, original character and then just dumped him into a vat of fanservice and left him to drown.

I feel like these new Abrams films are furiously entertaining, but they're also completely devoid of the heart and intelligence that made Star Trek so special.

[Reply #712 on:]

Whilst the fanboy in me loved the reveal of the villain, I was a bit upset seeing as I'd found him such a compelling character on his own terms, before hand. It was like they'd won me over to a new, original character and then just dumped him into a vat of fanservice and left him to drown.

I was a little let down by the reveal as well.  I didn't read up on the movie before hand in order to avoid learning too much about the plot, but of course you can't help but hear the rumors. The reveal was a fair ways into the film and by the time it happened it seemed unnecessary.  The character really did stand on his own.  The non-Trek fans who see the film are not going to know who that is from the old movies and the Trek fans don't need the callback to like the movie.  I've enjoyed the new films, but I hope Abrams is done with rebooting stuff from the original movies.  No one wants to see whales inside a starship again.

[Reply #713 on:]

It still managed to surprise me, which is probably why my fanboy side got a tiny bit of enjoyment from it, before feeling hollow, afterwards.

I remember when Benecio Del Toro was cast, followed by loads of rumours about Khan being the villain when Cumberbatch was cast, but then I heard lots of people involved outright deny that the villain was Khan and I stopped reading about the film from then on, in order to avoid spoilers. I just sort of forgot that he might still be Khan, when I watched it. I suppose that's a testament to how engrossed I was.

[Reply #714 on:]

I've seen this film twice in the past few days. I really enjoyed this film, but I think my enjoyment is mostly due to the great casting and acting, and the visual beauty and awesome effects. I think the actors who portrayed Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Chekov, Scotty, and of course the villain (ooh, yes, I've been a Cumberbitch since seeing the BBC Sherlock Holmes series) all do a great job. While I love Zoe Saldana, I think she is rather miscast as Uhura; I mean, Nichelle Nichols was much curvier and more feminine, and Saldana plays her as a modern badassed feminist. I realize this a reboot of the TOS universe, but if they tried to more or less stay true to the original cast's basic physical features, why not Uhura? Also, I'm rather lukewarm about Cho's Sulu--I guess I miss George's cheekbones, full lips, and smooth purr. Cho's portrayal was just too bland.

And the visuals...that planet of the opening scene really popped, with its vivid scarlet and contrasting white of the trees and the natives. Enterprise rising from the ocean like a leviathan was truly a sight to behold. These are just examples, and everything I've said applies to the previous film, too (the Romulans' ship emerging from the singularity was just so badass).

That said, the story was incredibly and unnecessarily convoluted, and can filmmakers these days ever grasp that moments of silence can be incredibly powerful and suspenseful? That not everything needs to be filled with frantic action? It's like the movie was a combination of a person who's too insecure to let any moment in the conversation be silent, and a person who can't ever, ever, EVER stop doing things (e.g., my ADHD sister, who must be always be working out, taking a walk, Facebooking, going out with friends, etc, etc). I suppose this is a general comment on the state of action movies these days.

Also, I agree with many of the points stated here earlier (truly, the spoiler tags contain spoilers):

Show spoiler

Mainly, that it was unnecessary that Harrison turned out to be Khan. This is not a reflection of Cumberbatch's excellent acting; he did well with what he was given. However, I really saw no similarity of Montalban's Khan and his Khan. It just seemed so random, and a reach in order to make possible the scene where Kirk's and Spock's roles are reversed when Kirk saves the ship and dies while Spock looks on brokenhearted. And of course, Spock gets to yell the infamous line.

That's just a trifle for me, though. I suppose my enjoyment of the callback and the clever reversal overrode any disappointment. I did appreciate the attention to Starfleet's role as a peacekeeping organization, and various crew members' dismay over the militarization of the mission, and Spock's entreaty to Kirk to act with compassion and reason, rather than out of vengeance. That, and Marcus' lust for a preemptive war with the Klingons resonated with our times. However, again, not enough thoughtfulness and exploration of these themes, because there needed to be more crashes and bangs and plot twists and 'oh no, we're going to die' moments.

I realize that it's unfair to compare a feature length movie made in the 2000s intended as a summer blockbuster with the original series that was created in the late 60s. The two are just completely different animals. While I immensely enjoyed this movie as well as Abrams' previous Star Trek, there seemed to be something missing.

[Reply #715 on:]

The second best Star Trek series is now available on non-subscription Hulu for free. And still isn't an option on this poll, for shame.

[Reply #716 on:]

The second best Star Trek series is now available on non-subscription Hulu for free. And still isn't an option on this poll, for shame.

The animated series?

[Reply #717 on:]

Oh come on... im not a Trekie at all..  but this comes out and nothing here?

[Reply #718 on:]

I'll be seeing it while on vacation next month.  The extremely polarized reviews put me off at first, but I've heard enough from friends now that I'm confident I'll enjoy it.

 

[Reply #719 on:]

Sounds like you're talking about the new movie, Tachy, but Javier was posting about something else I think? I don't know, I'm too lazy and uninterested to actually press play on the video he posted.