Star Trek Beyond

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EDIT - We were discussing this in a way in the CBS TV show thread but it doesn't look like we actually had a separate thread for the film, so instead of posting this there I'm making a new thread.

New trailer for Star Trek Beyond... It's miles better than the first trailer.


The worst things about into darkness were in part due to them co-opting story elements from other Star Trek movies and films and then distorting them in ways that didn't make sense. At least it looks like the main parts of the story look like they're going for something at least slightly more original...

That Scotty jump where Lin is aping Paul Walker's bus jump from Fast 7 still looks really stupid though.
 
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I agree this trailer is infinitely better and looks like they do some more character building. Of course it looks like they kill the Enterprise... again... anyone remember when sci fi series made ships characters in their own right as opposed to ablative main character armor?

On a related note: glad to see Paramount drop the lawsuit against Axanar, that was a bone headed move if ever there was one.
 
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Hmm. I'm not a Star Trek fan, so there's probably a lot I'm missing here. But, based on my modest exposure to past films and TV episodes, I have to say that while this looks very much like a Star Trek film, it sure doesn't seem to feel like one. At least not to me. But maybe the fans feel differently, and my understanding of what Star Trek should be like is simply out of date?
 
Yeah, real StarTrek is long dead... the not-really-a-reboot-but-kind-of recent movies turned it into a young-man-summer-action-blockbuster-with-a-lot-of-convenient-things-happening-kind-of movie :) As you can see, StarTrek of old was always about diplomacy, about ethics, humanity and human rights (often through the lense of some alien culture) and involved a lot of talking.
Now, its phew-phew-phew albeit with some beautifully directed scenes, especially the space jump from the first one.

There is a new series coming, in the original non-rebooted continuity if rumors are to be believed. If that is any better remains to open, I am afraid of a Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy like show...
 
Certainly a great improvement! Most interesting to see the 2001 Enterprise imagery -- the NX-style ship, the old NASA-ish uniforms. One of the most interesting things for hardcore Star Trek fans is that Enterprise would have 'happened' for both Star Trek timelines... but I think we all assumed that was more neat trivia that didn't matter to Abrams in any way rather than anything they'd ever work with in a film. As I mentioned in the other thread, neither Paramount nor CBS have any idea how to sell Star Trek to Star Trek fans; they know these fans exist and that they keep CBS' licensing arm flush... but they do not get the audience. They're PR people have spent so long trying to sell these movies as 'no, it's not nerdy like you think Star Trek is, it's cool for hip cool people!' that they clearly and finally hit a tipping point with their actual fanbase. (This isn't specific to the Abrams films; Paramount has been pushing 'it's not REALLY Star Trek!' as their messaging since at least Star Trek IV (which wasn't even promoted as a Star Trek movie in Europe!)

This trailer came about after Paramount didn't show anything from Beyond at their annual licensing show. Simon Pegg, who's very vocal about this movie and is fan facing, raised hell and got them to awkwardly promise that there was a 'fan event' coming up that would reveal the trailer. The event itself was clearly put together from spit and glue to meet that promise, and this trailer was cut specifically to try and appeal to fans turned off by the Fast and Furious style teaser. (None of this means Beyond is necessarily a bad movie... it simply means Paramount's marketing department has no idea how to sell it. Which could actually be very positive news, as they know how to sell summer blockbusters but NOT traditional think-ier Star Trek movies.)
 
It's not exactly an "asteroid worldlet" but one thing that stands out for me in the trailer is the bizarre space station/spacedoc area where the Enterprise seems to be being refitted (Echoes of Star Trek 3). I have no idea if it's supposed to be a new Star Fleet headquarters or something else entirely. We don't see it in orbit around anything. It's just big and Mass Effecty with buildings coming out of every strut in all directions and has some kind of forcefield atmosphere bubble. (the motorbike bit at the start seems taken from the first new trek movie)
 
I gotta say, the only Star Trek movie that actually felt like ST was Insurrection and it got a terrible reception. I say it's ST like because it actually involved a lot of exploration. Honestly it would have made a great sequel game to A Final Unity on pc. Lots of adventure and getting to know people and solving a mystery. Every other TNG movie or JJ A ST movies are action first we'll explain the rest later kind of movies. Not much adventure or trekking. Just lots of battles and Enterprises being destroyed again and again lol.
 
I gotta say, the only Star Trek movie that actually felt like ST was Insurrection and it got a terrible reception. I say it's ST like because it actually involved a lot of exploration. Honestly it would have made a great sequel game to A Final Unity on pc. Lots of adventure and getting to know people and solving a mystery. Every other TNG movie or JJ A ST movies are action first we'll explain the rest later kind of movies. Not much adventure or trekking. Just lots of battles and Enterprises being destroyed again and again lol.

For me, Insurrection felt like the antithesis of Star Trek. I had a bunch of problems with it, but with the Ba'ku, they seem to be advocating that we forget about exploring the cosmos and unraveling the mysteries of the universe and instead go Amish and plow fields and churn our own butter.
 
I actually think that all the Kirk-crew movies captured the spirit of the show, albeit it different aspects in each movie very well, even the original first one as well as the 5 (the one with the Vulcan religious zealot searching for God). All the Picard-ones were also pretty good, with Insurrection definitely being the weakest one, closely followed by Nemesis.
In short, they were good, enjoyable movies with some handling thought-provoking themes.

Politics, ethics and morality explored through the lens of Sci-Fi, that is was Star Trek was always about. And that does not necessarily clash in any way with having great action scenes.
 
I'm surprised to hear anyone vote Nemesis over Insurrection. I reeeeally dislike Insurrection and feel like they completely lost the feel of Star Trek in that movie.
 
Insurrection has a really interesting story to it. Before he died, Michael Piller wrote a book about the gestation of the idea and the development of the story. It never got published but theres a PDF kicking around the internet. Its a good read - but whats most interesting is that the original story was literally Apocalypse Now: Picard must hunt down an old friend from the Academy who's gone AWOL during a personal quest for immortality. Of course, everyone from other screenwriters to Patrick Stewart to Rick Berman then adds something to the story and thats what Insurrection ended up as.

I genuinely like Generations and Insurrection a lot more than First Contact (which is just Die Hard In Space) or Nemesis (which is just Die Another Day In Space), because they're actually about something. They're about morals and morality and mortality, which is more than you can say about the other two which are just silly shoot-em-ups.

(As to Insurrection's lukewarm box office, Gene Siskle said it was his favorite Trek movie. One wonders if he'd have held onto that opinion if he hadn't died shortly after that...)
 
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