Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Unhappy Trailer?
A trailer for the Abrams Star Trek film is attached to the new James Bond movie and is now at the usual locations on the Internet. The Daily Mail enthuses: "The eagerly anticipated Star Trek film is set to cast off the geeky associations of the sci-fi genre with a handsome cast, vicious fights and sex scenes." Among the frames reproduced is this one, of Zoe Saldana as Uhura.
Response at TrekMovie.com was mixed, at least at first. Some were troubled by the trailer's first scene, in which a child is driving a Corvette at 80mph+ towards a massive hole in the ground (from which, one surmises, will rise the Enterprise), jumps out of the car as it tumbles down, barely scratching a hold to keep from following it to his doom. When a Robocop lookalike demands his name, he announces it as "James Tiberius Kirk." Various objections were raised, and I'll add a few more: as moviemaking, it's another version of Steven Spielberg's unfortunate habit of repeating the last possible second avoiding of death so often and so predictably that it's become a cliche, and worse, unbelievable and without the slightest suspense or sense of actual danger. The other is more troubling: this scene, plus the hint of others in the trailer add up to the impression that the new James T. Kirk is a jerk, working on becoming an asshole.
The New York Times story about the trailer begins: “I’ve never been a fan of ‘Star Trek,’” J. J. Abrams told a movie theater full of journalists on Monday night... No surprise there.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

The idea that young Kirk was trouble has a long tradition, especially in Trek novels published in the 1980s. There's nothing particularly bad about that idea.

That Abrams is not a fan doesn't really mean anything, especially since the screenwriters have made it clear that they are. Further, as much as one might criticize the opening scene in the trailer -- by the way, there WERE other scenes in that trailer -- it's nice to see a "Star Trek" movie that actually LOOKS like a movie and not just an episode filmed in widescreen.

Anonymous said...

Hopefully its just a character arc where Kirk goes from being a jerk to a hero.

Swinebread said...

Nah Sci, this is gonna suck

Anonymous said...

Yes this will not be the typical every other movie bombed tv at the movies, however, this is a clsic series, you still have to pay your dues to the tradition, starting with what the hell is this new enterpirse, ugh.

Well I recently found a new trek fav "enterprise gummi candy" and a kick'n belt buckle at " http://www.themedmerchandise.com "

Anonymous said...

From the Times story, I'm not even sure I want to see it! I hope that Abrams realizes that Star Trek is about much more than flying around in a space ship.