J.J. Abrams and the New Star Trek
Can the Upcoming Film Live Up to Trekkies’ Expectations?
Jan 23, 2009
The latest creation story set for the big screen in May of this year is Star Trek directed and produced by LOST and Cloverfield creator J.J. Abrams. The new endeavor, however, may prove a more difficult task than Abrams’ vision can handle.
A Science Fiction Legacy first aired September 8, 1966 under the helm of series creator Gene Roddenberry and featured the famously memorable cast of Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner); the logical Vulcan, Mr. Spock (Leonard Nimoy); and the witty Scotsman engineer, Scotty (James Doohan). In its three seasons, the crew of the Starship Enterprise explored the “final frontier” by “boldly going where no man has gone before.” The 1980s and 90s breathed new life into the Star Trek universe by spawning four television spin-offs and the start of a ten-movie franchise.
Star Trek: The Original Series
Rebirth
In the series’ upcoming eleventh film, J.J. Abrams goes back to the very beginning by telling the events surrounding the Enterprise’s first mission. Sitting in Kirk’s captain’s chair is 28 year old actor Chris Pine; and surrounding him on the bridge of the sleeker, special effects driven Enterprise are Heroes’ Zachary Quinto as Spock, Shawn of the Dead’s Simon Pegg portraying Scotty, and Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy played by Karl Urban of The Lord of the Rings. With the fast-paced, epic space battles seen in the film’s first trailer and the hip, young cast picked by Paramount Pictures to inhabit the classic personalities, it’s no surprise critics are expecting a whole new generation to be on the edge of their seats when ship’s computer sounds red alert and Mr. Chekov raises shields.
The Film's Real Challenge
But can these warp-traveling young guns appease the expectations of fans long since loyal to Shatner’s Kirk or Patrick Stewart’s Picard? This demographic, known as Trekkies, are a notoriously fickle group that attend semiannual Star Trek conventions and collect books like The Star Trek Encyclopedia and The Klingon Dictionary.
With the show’s history largely set in stone, any violation of its canon borders on near blasphemy. In 2001 when long time show executive producers Rick Berman and Brannon Braga created Enterprise, a prequel set two hundred years before the events of the upcoming film, fans were outraged by writers’ lax adherence to established lore. The experiment was cancelled after only its fourth season on the UPN Network.
Despite the common backlash against anyone who would dare rewrite the golden age of Trek fiction, Abrams’ still feels confident in pursuing his vision of The Original Series. “The goal of this movie,” said Abrams in an interview with BBC’s Radio 1, “despite it being called Star Trek, despite the pointy ears and all the established fans and hundreds of hours and almost a dozen movies and all that kind of stuff, we actually feel this is kind of a new thing and this is legitimate”
Whether hardcore Trekkies will shun the visionary director’s new approach or if the film will win audiences of both the faithful and the fresh, only the box office will tell.
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