Star Trek 11 has a LOT going for it
I am not typically a fan of remakes, and have a little more tolerance for movies that are based on TV Shows (thats only kinda remade) but I have been a little more than excited about the Star Trek reimagining.
There are a number of reasons why I think this will be a success and a lot of it has to do with news that has leaked about the state of the new film. In fact, despite being a Star Wars fan and only a little into Star Trek, I have recently bought the entire movie collection on DVD and have recently been trudging through them in order.
The following news bits were gathered by Screenrant and they likely include mild SPOILERS so you have been warned.
The budget on the film is far below $200MM.The film will be rated PG-13.
The release date was pushed back to summer ‘09 because Paramount really wants it to be a summer blockbuster.
The intent was to re-invent the Star Trek franchise, and that is why they went all the way back to start at the beginning.
The script was written with Leonard Nimoy in mind. Nimoy read the script and liked it. It seems he’s so pivotal to the story that they would have had a big problem if he hadn’t liked it
Orci revealed that originally Steven Spielberg read the script and talked to J.J. Abrams about directing it during a set visit to the Transformers set. Abrams mentioned it to his wife, who also helped talk him into the final decision to take on the potentially scary project.
He also went on to say that he didn’t like the death of Kirk in Star Trek: Generations. He resented it. He then went on to say that it would have been damaging to the story to put Shatner in the film.
There is obviously a LOT of news bits revolving around this project, but these are the few I am choosing to address.
The budget is reasonable. For too long movies have been trying to equate how much money they have spent on effects as a bolstering point of the movie. This is clearly going to be effects heavy, but it seems more effort is spent on quality actors (not just media buzz personalities that hike the production costs) and story.
The PG-13 rating means we wont see brutal violence and blood, and likely no sex. But hardcore Trekkies don’t know what sex is anyways. Star Trek has only ever had one (English) curse that I know of (Data says Shit in Generations), so this fits well. It also means it isn’t dumbed down to cater to a new and growing child audience.
Paramount has confidence that this will qualify as a summer blockbuster. Some argue that when a movie is pushed into a slow release time of year that the studio has no confidence in the film. That same argument is used when a movie is pushed into the highly competitive summer schedule.
The idea is to reinvent the franchise, but not alienate the existing (and fastly fading) fanbase. Here at the TMB we have already been preaching the theory that a reboot is the only thing that would save Star Trek. I didn’t think ANYTHING could save it, but this “reinvention” might do the trick. Nimoy has already said that Shatner was not involved but not for any reason outside of continuity. He doesn’t like that Shatner’s Kirk died in Generations, but recognizes that if Kirk was in the movie alongside Spock it would ignore canon. He’s dead Jim.
Having Leonard Nimoy reprise his role as Spock sets with the fans that this is a flashback story and not a complete reboot. This appeases both camps.
Steven Spielberg was responsible for talking Abrams into taking on this job. He wasn’t shy on telling Abrams how “scary” the project would be. (Screw this up and both remaining Trekkies will burn you in effigy on Hollywood Blvd) So we now have Spielberg endorsing Abrams AND Nimoy endorsing the script.
I have yet to hear any concerning news against this film and it is shaping up to be quite the hit.
I can’t wait.
7 Comments, Comment or Ping
RonSalon
Star Trek does have a lot going for it and I for one can’t wait for the new movie. I am a huge fan of the series — ever since I was a kid, long before Star Wars. Although as I write this I am watching Episode I. LOL!
I’m glad TPTB went with new a director and the like; not to mention the great casting. I hope the writers come through because a solid story is going to save Trek along with good performances. If it it’s crap, the actors and JJ will not outlive it.,. Of that you can be sure. Trekkies would unite in their hatred and besides, no one really likes a pissed off Klingon, It seems like Star Trek XI has the potential to be awesome…
Apr 14th, 2008
Captain J.T. Kirk
Spoiler info. on Star Trek 11……Spock travels back through time to meet the original crew and change a catastrophic event. Expect a fond moment between Captain Kirk and The spock from the future because as we all know Kirk died in Generations so there will be a line in the movie about how good it is for Spock to see him.
Apr 14th, 2008
Peter T Chattaway
At least two other films feature the word “shit” or variations thereof:
In Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), a woman asks Kirk if he is “trying to teach whales to retrieve torpedoes or some dipshit stuff like that” and Kirk replies, “No ma’am, no dipshit.”
And in Star Trek: First Contact (1996), Picard and Data are attacked by a woman who thinks that they are the enemy, and when they try to assure her that they mean her no harm, she yells “Bullshit!”
Interestingly, both of these films are time-travel stories — in one, the word is introduced by a 20th-century woman, while in the other, it is used by a 21st-century woman — and in at least one of those films, the point is made that these “colourful metaphors” belong to the past and are not used in Kirk’s day (the 23rd century), at least.
But the fact that Data uses the word in his own era — the 24th century — suggests that the word might have made a comeback by then.
Apr 14th, 2008
1138
I’m not really quite why there is such an aversion to a reboot of the series. The canon of Star Trek has been so messed up for awhile that a total reboot would do the series well…it’s a clean slate, a fresh start and Star Trek needed it it quite badly.
I’ve been a fan for a long time and will always love the TOS. I grew up on re-runs a and to me that is the quineesential Trek. However I did enjoy Generations and some of Deep space, Voyager and Enterprise. But each new incarnation seemed to distort and pervert history making the time-line of Trek a complete mess.
I’m a Trekkie and always will be. But I was really hoping for a complete reboot. The death of kirk, the inconsistencies of the time-line and the sometimes awful writing that came with all the series, just begged a new beginning.
It’s a shame that no one really had the guts to start fresh. I think reboots did well for BSG and Batman and could really see the same for Star Trek.
Apr 14th, 2008
ScreenRant.com
“The PG-13 rating means we wont see brutal violence and blood, and likely no sex. But hardcore Trekkies don’t know what sex is anyways.”
LMAO… thanks for the chuckle, Rodney. :-)
Vic
Apr 14th, 2008
nbakid2000
Wait wait wait wait. If they’re “re-inventing” the series, then why does it have to follow canon? Why WOULDN’T Shatner be alive?
Someone clue me in.
Apr 14th, 2008
Rodney
NBAKid, the role Nimoy would play in this is a much older post-Generations Spock that is revisiting his first meeting with Shatner’s Kirk.
If they had a scene with Kirk and Spock sitting around talking about their Academy days leading to a flashback, it would be ignoring the events of Generations.
For the record, I predicted the TimeTravelling to a previous point to reboot the story. If the above spoiler is true, I want it known that this was my idea long before they wrote the script.
Apr 15th, 2008
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