Well, I don’t think it matters much that Simon Pegg doesn’t look like James Doohan, because he’s probably the best comedic actor in the bunch.

At least Abram’s had the smarts to put James Doohan’s son, Chris Doohan in this movie. I think he has a scene with Pegg as well.

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I for one don’t really care who plays these rejuvenated characters – I don’t want the film per se. I’m a die-hard TNG fan despite the fact that I grew up with TOS and it was very cool ‘then’.  But as soon as TNG appeared, TOS was out/dated and I never liked Kirk as that overrated playboy captain (Picard was much classier) – But I loved Spock and Bones, especially when they gabbled with each other. What I’ve seen of the ST XI trailers so far might appear very hightech CGI and ‘cool’ in looks, (just how they think it should look actually ‘better’ than the original ‘cardboard set’ series is beyond me) but I’m not interested in any sexed up and over-glorified (younger) Kirk as a whole film in the first place. And I’m actually not alone in that opinion for whatever reasons others have. The later much more sophisticated Kirk character was killed off twice, bless him, and they should have left him (or TOS) rest in peace finally. What they SHOULD have done is sort out ‘Nemesis’ and bring back Data (through B-4) – NOT Kirk & Co. Reboot fine, but NOT back in time.

‘Enterprise’ had failed already as another pointless prequel series, which looked horribly unsophisticated in tech terms, the characters were extremely drab, and for one I hope the new film will flop big time. But that’s only me as a hardcore Data fan, and believing that Trek is about the ‘future’, and NOT (any) past. Just to bring in younger actors and make it all look supercool aiming at the ‘new generation’, with another thin Khan/Shinzon ‘mega villain’ plot, is just a further fanbase ignorant Paramount move. We never wanted Data or even Kirk to die – and they brought back Spock too, (because fans were gutted) – so why not Data, the most popular character of all time. TOS was great fun ‘then’, DS9 was a waste of literal space, sorry, (although I loved Bashir and Odo) Voyager was fine enough as an upgraded parallel show, but TNG was simply killed off as a superior show and then they even robbed us of good Data – thanks Paramount for being (still) so (in) considerate (and we still hate you for it.) The rest of us, live long and proper!

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Well there, as a fan of the original series, I have to say, thanks for the rant, but no thanks. The new generation has had it’s day and then some. It has had way too much money invested in a rehash of the original plots that went on way too long and was way, way too politically correct.
Sorry, but they did new generation and did it and kept on doing it after everybody grew sick of it. They tried two different spinoff shows to keep doing the same thing with the same, dorky new generation jumpsuits, until fans just gagged on it, and to top it off, they made the prequel series into a prequel for the new generation, with far more in common with that PC, touchy-feely, talk-your-enemies-to-death show than the one that made the whole franchise in the first place.
Finally, after all of the new generation redos, we finally get back to the roots. I say, more power to them! Maybe we will tap into the good writing and more realistic characters that made the original story work. New Gen has had it’s day. Move aside.

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In addition, apart from the fact that it’s ‘Next’ Generation and not ‘New’ Gen, what the previous post shows is pure shortsightedness now to be blunt and to start a war between Star Trek series fans defeats the object. So let me enlighten him/her, and then some. Bear with me on this one, it’s gonna be very long and educational. NO one got sick of TNG or ‘gagged’ on the new and then revised TNG/DS9/Voy uniforms, when in fact the original TOS gear was more than ‘dorky’ at the beginning, just so to use the word again, and the later TOS uniforms weren’t half as elegant as TNG’s onwards. But that’s just unimportant hair-splitting anyway and simply a sign of the given fashion p/references adapted during those times. Keep your fashion non-sense to yourself. I said that these prequels were/are a bore since fans rejected Enterprise most of all as best example, which was in fact a prequel to TOS and not TNG, and DS9 and Voyager were parallel shows that outlived TNG with a growing fanbase, not ‘redoes’.

To call TNG a rehash of TOS is utter nonsense besides, since TOS was just colourful fun with not much substance plot-wise, but coming up with some cool tech toys showing novel spirit otherwise to compensate greatly with very engaged acting, which however was rejected for exactly their daring the small-minded audience with non-white actors and Russian accents during the cold war, at a time when racial segregation was still firmly entrenched in many areas of the US, unlike in still more open-minded Europe. Rare visionaries like Roddenberry envisaged a multi-racial and mixed-gender crew quite rightly so, based on his however very ‘naïve’ assumption that racial prejudice and sexism wouldn’t exist in the future anymore, unlike in his own reality obviously, and TNG finally became serious yet compelling and humorous SF storytelling with their own storylines picking up on exactly that great idea making it finally real, with the stupid miniskirts soon dropped for one.

TNG’s ‘PC’ infusion was perfectly fine and simply another reflection of the given times it was made in, fans liked it just fine and still rings true today. (And who knows, maybe Data was right and Ireland will really reunite in 2024?) Just like TOS was simply too bold and therefore had failed initially where TNG slotted better into the given times, finally reviving TOS on the way for the fans’ renewed interest because of TNG gaining literal s/pace. TOS was in fact an utter failure at first for being too progressive, and only thanks to comedienne Lucille Ball the show wasn’t already dumped after the first season, unlike TNG an immediate hit running for seven yrs with improving episodes, and when TNG was cancelled TNG and TOS fans died along together, since no one really wanted DS9 or Voyager directly replacing TNG, till some finally warmed to these shows more or less later at no other choice and have just as many devotees these days. I prefer TNG since I’m not that interested in the other shows for various reasons, but what I reject outright is this new film per se blatantly tapping into this trivial youth culture of only ‘young and beautiful’ is hip lifestyle kids leaving those behind who actually created and really love Star Trek. 

Let’s not forget that only ten yrs prior to TNG the fans had finally warmed to TOS fully and that’s why they came up with the more or less popular TOS films, again just a sign of the times since Star Wars was still outdoing TOS films till another more than youth oriented Harry Potter series and the grandiose LOTR trilogy came along to do it for them. TNG as a SF series however was way superior to TOS simply for the different era and ideas and better FX, as naff as even they appear to us today, and makers and fans grew up along to create these new real life and yet futuristic characters even hardcore TOS fans had embraced eventually seeing its much more realistic merit (and TOS interest renewed) rather than a virile space captain running after skirts all the time, since TOS fans actually preferred cool Spock and hothead Bones to the vane Kirk. TNG won many awards were TOS had failed miserably until much later once fully revived on the unstoppable wave of the great TNG success, and if fans would have been ‘sick’ of TNG they’d certainly said so and bad ratings would have killed the show off at once. Just like the fans voiced their intense dislike of brusque Pulaski and gentle Crusher was brought back soon to appease them. So much for fan power and that Paramount then finally listened to their rising voices. The ‘swinging feminist Sixties’ had much in common with the ‘New Romantic’ Eighties, and I for one was there to know and what different expectations people demanded from their SF TV shows and what the majority of fans really thought. 

TOS was SF TV series infancy that finally evolved slowly and spawned devoted followers Paramount in fact had ignore just the same then, cancelling the show after three seasons despite protests, and only following TNG’s appearance they could regain TOS and gain TNG in the go. But now they suddenly want to exploit and even predate TOS with an even younger Kirk crew, which isn’t going back to the ‘roots’ at all, but back in time, again, and to say TOS had more ‘realistic’ characters than TNG or even the other shows is a joke. Besides, Data is still the most popular character of all ST time, ahead of Spock and Picard fairly even, and then only Kirk on par with Bones. So the previous post is definitely not in the majority with this TNG slamming idea. Enterprise was in fact the worst of the bunch as a typical prequel no one wanted, and if anything has to move aside now, then it’s TOS with good Kirk dead twice.

Half the original cast passed on in real life making it very difficult to do a future set TOS, and that’s why they simply shelved the few old guards left for these uninteresting newcomers literally replacing the popular characters. Give me the good old camp Kirk any day, but not that green stuff making him look like an indecisive space hero, no matter he’s obviously still younger and on a sharp learning curve. But this new Kirk-heavy film in fact is purely aimed at the current ‘MySpace’ generation who never even saw any ST film or episodes and have no clues about these famous characters and/or their (cultural) importance and very extensive following, brought up on brain-numbing violent video games and silly big-eyed Anime, and not any hardcore Star Trek fans at all who actually grew up with any of these great series, which gave us strong women characters for one and cool bad guys, or ‘good’ androids like Data for a change who was superior to the lot. Or even B-4. (And I simply assume ‘evil’ Lore was ‘malfunctioning’ as per popular fanon poor daddy couldn’t fix.)

But now they simply made this stylish looking, more action-packed ‘SF’ film giving it the plain title of ‘Star Trek’ obliterating the other ten movies’ existence to attract newbies and bluntly say, ‘you don’t even need to watch any of the other series or films to like it’, or rather not. Because it’s an entity of it’s own therefore and has no space in the real Star Trek universe and is in fact a kick in the face of the entire Star Trek franchise and true fanbase, since re/awoken interest in watching the old reruns has no direct cultural meanings to this younger audience in any form. All they say is ‘awesome’ to anything new and shiny anyway without any concept or reference to the superior mothership to compare it. Could it ‘revive’ interest in Star Trek pe se? No need, since the ‘real’ fans of either shows never left, but are still being ignored by the studios as the new film proves now even openly, who don’t want another hyped up prequel. So all we need to do is wait for the ‘real’ fans’ to watch it down under and be honest in their more mature re/views, who cannot simply be won over that easily by a shiny new cast and youthful crew.

Who now however will no doubt go and buy and watch all of these old shows again or for the first time ever, love or loath them, again, become fans or not, and the new ones can finally see how the famous franchise actually had evolved, their parents or even grandparents have talked about, and will notice how out/dated and naff TOS really was as a prototype in contrast to the later shows simply for the times it was created in and TOS is now more than dead now. Which is a simple fact and inevitable to occur to all of them at one point and no insult is intended. But instead of letting the old Star Trek space pioneer rest, they created a hypermodern SF flick with another stereotype Khan/Shinzon style villain, looking posher than even TNG or Voyager deliberately made to appeal to the general audience ONLY and not true Star Trek fans at all, which in fact makes TOS look even more cardboard and dated now just to make some money and sell more action figures to the ‘new generation’. All they however will see are these ‘sexy’ young actors they can better relate to suddenly and NOT the great Star Trek legacy in any form or shape it supposedly is based on utterly ‘alien’ to them. Bad thing? Sign of the currently more shallow times? Greed to feed only the dumb youth-oriented celebrity fashionistas again? You bet.

So much for the hailed Star Trek reboot from Mr Abrams, who would exaggerate his preference for any show but Star Trek with statements like, “I’m not a Star Trek fan” (!) and “this movie is not (!) made for Star Star Trek fans”, or, ‘‘Star Trek’ is pretty low on my ‘to-do’ list’. Thanks a lot J J for being another Paramount style ignoramus to a t, and that’s why they chose him anyway. I for one won’t even regard his hyped up product as a Star Trek film at all, made by someone who was born just about when Kirk appeared on the screen and keeps recycling his own fave actors, only trying to cash in on the now apparently ‘mainstream’ directed franchise big time he doesn’t even ‘really’ like. Just like Baird was a total non-Star Trekkie mistake choice for Nemesis with ‘fan’ writer Logan thinking it’s fun to kill off the main character, which exactly failed for Data’s shock demise the real fans simply rejected outright and the film flopped big time, I wonder why, and NOT because they were tired of TNG, and I still think Nemesis is way superior to ‘XI’ in the serious Star Trek storytelling department and XI is simply cashing in on that ‘mega villain’ concept again. But no one even knows ‘why’.
One could say, if you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t bother. But that doesn’t work in regards to the serious diehard Star Trek fans, as seen in the previous post or myself and is perfectly fine, freedom of speech and all. But why slam the new film, when it’s a good piece of SF cinema per se and many people worked on it hard, equipped with fair talents resulting in a refined end product as such with good FX, bar the crappy accents and rehashed plot? Well, then simply don’t call it ‘Star Trek’ at all. I compare it to superior Nemesis they all hated for all sorts of silly reasons, because the devastated fans couldn’t face the fact that it was Data’s death that had messed it all up finally and blamed anything and anyone possible, other than Paramount wanting to kill off Star Trek in general unlike the fans still hoping for something TNG and to fix Nemesis, before they suddenly changed their minds and gave us drab Enterprise no one asked for. So I reject this film for the very same reason, and to round it all up with thoughts from an old Star Trekkie who actually saw it as a pirate weeks ago, yes I did, all I could think of was: over-chewed bubblegum cinema, nothing for the serious (old) Star Trek fan, no competition at all, TOS universe or not.

In fact, (spoilers!!!) there is a brand-new comic series out, which is actually a prequel to XI, called St: Countdown, and however starts with the end of Nemesis – confused? Hang on – it first resurrects us good Data through B-4’s, which of course was heavily hinted on at the end of Nemesis, plus they made him (finally!) captain of the Enterprise since he’s Starfleet’s most capable strategist and superior officer (of course!) after successfully imprinting his memories into his simpler bro B-4, and Picard is fed up finally with getting ‘spaced out’. Or rather becomes ambassador to Vulcan – don’t ask why, but it’s a very good idea. The comic is set eight years after the last film with Spock official Federation ambassador to the Romulans, of course, Geordi has retired to develop his own ships, of course, and Worf is a General in the Klingon Empire, of course. All very nice in fact. Love it and the 4-part comic looks really well made coming up with a clever new ‘old’ plotline. Not that I’m a comic fan at all – except with that one. Of course. 

Now, with that (obviously needed to-become-villain) character ‘Nero’ helping Spock to prevent some star going supernova not to destroy the galaxy again, of course, and it’s got Remans again too, of course, everything however goes pear-shaped at one point and the man goes bananas à la Shinzon, of course – trying to kill our Federation folks again now outfitted with Borg technology beginning a rampage against his ‘enemies’ destroying and assimilating Federation ships left right and centre, of course. With the supernova expanding, the nutter goes about near killing Worf, damaging the Enterprise in the process, and when Spock successfully eliminates the threat by some clever means, Nero seems to attack and the black hole flings him and Spock back in time, leaving Picard and Data’s crew witnessing Spock’s ‘sacrifice’. The ‘second’ one, why not – ONLY to end up in that very past where young Kirk & Co now have to fight that very Nero nutter, with Spock ‘young again’ and the film picks up from there. THAT is not a bad idea at all. I love it in fact, but only in that ‘order’.

WHAT I hate about it is the fact, that they never made that comic into the actual prologue of XI, or epilogue/sequel to Nemesis, as only went straight into the past with the new film, like they had done it with Generations in reverse, THAT would have been sooo much cooler. For one, it would have given us back Data, which is all we wanted ‘old’ or not, and the chance for a sequel to Nemesis with Capt Data ready for a new mission, tada! It’s very positive acclaim in fact helped to sporn some interest in the new film, but most of the targeted audience never read or saw this very important comic part, and all we can hope for now is, that they actually make that ‘future bit’ into a film to re/connect it to XI in reverse – and for TNG to go from there. THEN I’d said, yeah, bring on XI and then some no matter it’s intended more for Star Trek novices. But now it’s just sitting there as this, ‘not a Star Trek film’ entity in space and we still ain’t got Data back. Only in a unknown comic which was even officially requested by Paramount. Ergo, they DO have renewed interest in TNG, or Star Trek per se, but just copped out again on the real issues of returning us Data first and then go from there. Into the future – NOT past.

But what do I know, I’m just an old diehard fan who’s been there from the glorious start. So yeah, and to actually answer the original question of this devoted blog, no, the new film is definitely NOT for me at all, either. But still, live long and prosper! Oh yeah, and a very Happy Easter to ALL Star Trek fans of all species everywhere!

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