Star Trek Into Darkness

[Austin]

Slated to come out May 2013, Into Darkness is the most recent entry into the epic sci fi franchise and the second movie Star Trek movie to be directed by JJ Abrams.

[video=youtube;ia4aqkyAnUk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ia4aqkyAnUk[/video]

What are your thoughts?

Personally, I don't really have high hopes for this movie. I'm a huge Trek fan, and while I was okay with the first Abrams film, this looks like more of the same. Really, what I felt the last Trek film had going for it was the new cast and fresh change of direction. That's really only a trick that works once though, and the trailer makes it seem like this movie is going to be much of the same as the first film. It also looks like it's going to be a great deal darker (if the title wasn't a big giveaway) and that just sounds terrible in all honesty. I'll still go to see it, of course, but my hopes aren't high at all.

There's another trailer out but it's even more vague than this one, and apparently the first fifteen minutes of the film were shown in a preview for some other movie, but I can't find that anywhere. Anyway, discuss!

 

[Zenox]

From the perspective of someone who is a fan of epic-action movies, rather than a Star Trek fan, this film looks pretty amazing, even better than the first JJ Abrams' Star Trek. I've had discussions with Austin about how the film skews the Star Trek canon, but if you've never seen a Star Trek film, the first was an honest-to-god awesome sci-fi movie. Sure, that's not the point, but I think a larger portion of the audience is unfamiliar with Star Trek and doesn't care. I haven't seen the TV series, so I'm sure these movies are a disgrace, but for action fans, these movies are fantastic.

I think this next film looks even better. It seems the first film was really just setting up the world for future films, so they'd better make use of what they have to work with.

 

[Hanyou]

Star Trek 2009 gave the series the shot in the arm it needed. This movie needs to change the game again to keep Trek relevant. I don't mind the darker direction if it's utilized properly, and in fact, I think it's a vital change from the lighthearted action film we got last time around. I wouldn't know from the trailers, but this could be the equivalent to The Empire Strikes Back. I'm not much of a Trek fan. I like TOS and TNG is a close second place for me. But I loved The Wrath of Khan, and damn, it was a dark film. So I associate good Star Trek plots with dark turns.

The story needs to be brought to the fore. The characters need to be likable--in the last movie, I only liked Bones (who was already my favorite character on the show) and Kirk's dad. Yeah, that really wasn't enough to carry the picture. Kirk, Spock, and Uhura (why did she become so important?) were all kind of awful. They need to mature into the classic characters in this movie, or at least into new, good ones. The world needs to become a little more coherent, unburdened by the ludicrous time travel excuse used in the last picture. There's room for all that, and if they miss the opportunity now, there's no turning back.

I know this is a bit premature, but hopefully that will leave room for the third movie to be a one-off adventure in the classic Trek vein. I'd like to see that again, because it's been missing from the whole series for a good while, and it was part of Roddenberry's original vision that carried TOS to its success.

 

[Xinnamin]

Star Trek drew me in with their character development more than anything else. I didn't watch it for the sci-fi, there was no action to really speak of, it was all for the characters. I don't see Trek as an action series, and the character interactions in the 2009 movie were...well...I didn't like the Spock/Uhara thing...at all.

I'll watch it, and I'll probably enjoy it as an action film, but it won't really be Trek to me.

also Austin wtf is that sig ._____.

 

[Djinn]

At this point I don't think any trek movie could ever get any worse than Nemesis, and Insurrection was no better. I agree with Hanyou that Trek 09 was exactly what the series needed after all. The entire franchise had just been bogged down with way too much baggage from the last couple movies and series to the point of just not being interesting anymore. And it was impossible to draw in newer viewers because they required a primer to introduce them to 20+ years of tv series to have any clue what was going on. Normally anything requires a reboot at that point. And really after Voyager and Enterprise, I was hoping for a total reboot as well. There had just been too much done to the series to really pick up and continue on.

That said, I thought the first movie was not that bad at all. Definitely made to be more action oriented than the average Trek movie ever has been. But this one does not seem to have the same charm at all. just nonsensical action scene after another with the occasional recognizable cast member in it. It does not really look like a Trek movie at all, more like a James Bond in the future type of intrigue movie. I might wait until some more is revealed on it before I make any more judgments.

 

[Austin]

From what I've been reading, the movie will heavily feature Klingons and the character of Carol Marcus, the doctor responsible for the Genesis project and the mother of Kirk's son in the original timeline. I believe she's the screaming blonde woman in the trailer. I believe both Abrams and the rest of the production crew have heavily discouraged the idea of Khan being the villain in this film but at this point, it's pretty obvious that he will be. I suppose that would categorize this film as somewhat of a spiritual remake. Here's another trailer because the previous one I linked was taken down.

[video=youtube;mdgRx94W5ko]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdgRx94W5ko[/video]

I've had discussions with Austin about how the film skews the Star Trek canon

It didn't skew the canon so much as it skewed the overall feel of the series.

The characters need to be likable--in the last movie, I only liked Bones (who was already my favorite character on the show) and Kirk's dad. Yeah, that really wasn't enough to carry the picture. Kirk, Spock, and Uhura (why did she become so important?) were all kind of awful. They need to mature into the classic characters in this movie, or at least into new, good ones.

I actually felt like Bones wasn't in the movie at all. What was McCoy's character was basically reduced to a caricature that occasionally dropped familiar lines. It seems like they were caught in the uncomfortable spot of needing to include the character, but not having anything for his character to actually do. I really hope he has more of a role in this new film. I could tolerate new Kirk, but Uhura and Spock were downright awful. Especially Spock.

And it was impossible to draw in newer viewers because they required a primer to introduce them to 20+ years of tv series to have any clue what was going on. Normally anything requires a reboot at that point.

I don't resent the reboot so much as I resent the fact that the new film has so little to do with the rest of the franchise. Yes, there's a ship called the Enterprise heavily modeled off of the ship in the 60s TV show. Yes, the main characters are named Kirk and Spock. Yes, there are Vulcans and bald men calling themselves Romulans. Yeah, they drop the occasional SET PHASERS TO STUN or DAMMIT JIM I'M A CAMEO NOT AN ACTUAL CHARACTER. But beyond that, I felt like there were very few points of similarity between the Abrams film and the rest of Trek.

 

[Djinn]

New trailer is out, with a longer version to be released with GI:Joe in a few weeks

[video=youtube;RxZcxkFZZP0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxZcxkFZZP0&feature=player_embedded[/video]

 

[Austin]

New trailer is out, with a longer version to be released with GI:Joe in a few weeks

[video=youtube;RxZcxkFZZP0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxZcxkFZZP0&feature=player_embedded[/video]

Definitely a huge improvement over the other trailers.

 

[Xinnamin]

Yay for humor! The setting jumping around all over the place has me really disoriented but I'm not really expecting anything coherent from a trailer. Still seems little more than just an action movie right now though, which is a shame but I'll roll with it and see where it goes.

 

[Viral Maze]

Never was a fan of Star Trek before Abrams did his thing, but I am actually excited for this next film.
I like space, and CG, and pew pew ships and laser guns. This is right up my alley.

 

[Gamer Miki]

I am totally STOKED for this movie. I think it's supposed to be a rehash of The Wrath of Khan? Anyway, I'm really looking forward to this one; it looks epic.

 

[Djinn]

New trailer came out last week

[video=youtube;5ec_rPApKCA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ec_rPApKCA&feature=player_embedded[/video]