As a big fan of the original Star Trek series (TOS - the original series), I am very excited to see J. J. Abrams "reboot" the franchise in hopes to clear out all the cruft and get a new start.
A few days ago, the folks behind the movie pulled a nice one. They got a group of fans in Austin excited to see a "special" version of Wrath of Khan (probably the best of the Star Trek movies, so far) and also promised to show about 10 minutes of the new Star Trek film. Once Wrath started, however, the film appeared to melt and tear, and the crowd reacted as expected.
The script writers who also worked on Lost came down to the stage and tried to quiet the fans by asking if folks wanted to know about the "black smoke monster" and generally stalling, until a man wearing a trench coat and hat comes up on stage carrying a film canister. It was Spock ... I mean Leonard Nimoy.
Of course, the crowd goes wild. He proceeds to increase the excitement by telling folks the new movie is too good to watch just ten minutes of it: they are going to see the whole movie. I wish I was there.
I'm excited because the early reviews appear to be unanimously good. It looks like Abrams pulled off a great movie while still respecting the franchise. (see reviews included below)
This new movie is a "reboot" of the Star Trek franchise or universe, so they will be using the characters we all know and love, but they will not be restricted by the canonical Star Trek history and timeline. To set the stage, they open the movie with a time-traveling enemy causing changes to the timeline. This allows them to change everything as needed while still using the same characters.
Personally, I like what I hear about how they handled the timeline, need for a reboot, and still respected the existing history. In many movie adaptations (e.g. X-Men, Spider-Man) and most reboots (e.g. the new Batman movie series, Battlestar Galatica), they new creators simply ignore the previous work and history. That is certainly easy, but I don't find it optimal.
This way allows them to use the same characters and basic universe while allowing them to take stories in their own direction and increases tension, because the characters we "know" are alive in the future are no longer guaranteed to still be there.
In any case, I have high hopes this will be a worthy beginning to a whole new series of content in the Star Trek universe as created by Gene Roddenberry.
Star Trek Information
Star Trek Reviews
- Quint has seen JJ Abrams' STAR TREK! -- Ain't It Cool News
- Star Trek Makes Surprise World Premiere in Austin! -- Film School Rejects
- Early Review Of JJ Abrams' Star Trek!
- Early 'Star Trek' Reviews Seem Very Positive - Cinematical
- Star Trek Has Premiered & The Buzz Is… AWESOME! -- Screen Rant
- 'Star Trek' Reboot Garners Positive Reviews, Excitement From Actors -- MTV Movie News
