It’s the 50th anniversary of Star Trek! Celebrations are underway. Hundreds of past episodes of the series and its spin-off films are being scrutinized again. More recollections of the original characters and their successors are being hailed.
The Star Trek franchise has shown it has staying power beyond any other media creation. So in 2009 to perpetuate the cultural phenomenon, another franchise reboot was both desirable and demanded.
Commercially hot sci-fi producer/director J.J. Abrams was the man up to the task. Now Star Trek Beyond, the third installment of the reboot, has been launched. According to Variety, it made an impressive “$5.5 million in Thursday night preview showings at 3,100 U.S. locations.”
Star Trek (2009) and Star Trek Into Darkness (2013) were both helmed by Abrams. Abrams stayed on as producer but, after going to direct the latest Star Wars, handed over helming duties of the latest film to Fast and Furious franchise director Justin Lin having gone through a plethora of options (rumor has it Star Trek: Next Gen star Jonathan Frakes was even considered).
An earlier script was set aside and actor/writer Simon Pegg (who plays Scotty, Starship Enterprise’s engineering chief) and Doug Jung were hired to write a fresh take. Pegg has said about the previous draft that Paramount, “had a script for Star Trek that wasn’t really working for them. I think the studio was worried that it might have been a little bit too Star Trek-y.”
The run-up to the film was fraught. This is one of the final appearances of actor Anton Yelchin who died in a recent car accident; he plays Pavel Chekov in the reboots and has far too little screen time in this one.
Star Trek Beyond is dedicated to both Yelchin and original Star Trek actor Leonard Nimoy (Spock Prime), who died in 2015 during the film’s pre-production.
It also features an out Lt. Sulu (played here by John Cho), a detail added in honor of the original Sulu, gay rights activist actor George Takei (who unhelpfully for Paramount disdained this move). Additionally there was curiously little in the way of buzz for the blockbuster.
With these challenges in mind, one has to wonder why there was such a dearth of original thinking behind the latest installment of the much vaunted and financially successful Star Trek reboots.
Abrams is responsible for ABC’s TV drama Lost and as baffling as that was (with its convoluted twists and story sequences), you would think he had more plot lines in mind for Star Trek.
C’mon J.J., you must have had more in the wheelhouse, than to have just let Lin turn Star Trek Beyond into basically another actioneer, a rooty tooty point and shooty with plenty of flash and trash.
Though the slogan says, “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” this latest incarnation is actually too much more of the same.
Bring back JJ Abrams – Star Trek is rubbish again. Reboot the reboot.
— Marcus Flemmings (@MarcusFlemmings) July 22, 2016
Captain James T Kirk (Chris Pine) complains at the film’s start about the routine nature of their five-year mission. Boom! The mission takes shape and veers onto an unexpected path when the Enterprise blasts off on a rescue mission in an unexplored nebula.
Betrayal ensues. The ship is destroyed and the surviving crew is captured by Krall (Idris Elba), an alien madman who threatens to destroy the Federation HQ Yorktown and kill millions.
Now where have we seen that before? Oh, in the first and second new generation Star Trek films where a madman threatened to kill millions.
The same story thrice (although this time, it is at least more visually stunning than ever created in loving digital detail). Krall expresses a Trump-ian vision of the future, that, in order to keep us vigilant, because life is driven by war and conflict, he must put an end to the Federation’s harmonious vision of a peaceful galaxy.
The Star Trek saga has a rich mythology, so compelling and powerful that it has engaged millions of fans. One must think that an adaptation or reboot of the ST universe can employ thousands of sci-fi ideas more unique than applied here.
There are faint outlines of original thought in this film. But for Star Trek to “Live long and prosper,” it needs to change things up a lot more. Otherwise this will wind up being another franchise that, to quote the frequently rebooted Macbeth, is full of “sound and fury signifying nothing.”
Paramount is in a spot because its core Star Trek cast are getting more successful and expensive. Pine, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban and Pegg mix up Starfleet duties with other franchises such as Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy, Avatar, Mission Impossible and Jack Ryan.
Pine and Zachary Quinto who plays Spock, have new salaries of about $6 million, significantly more than what they made for the previous two films.
Star Trek Beyond is heading for a $60 million opening weekend meaning there will be another one soon. Yelchin will not be replaced. There are plans to bring back Chris Hemsworth who played George Kirk, Captain Kirk’s father, even though the character had been previously killed.
Rather than play it safe, why not look back to great sci-fi writers for inspiration, such as former Trek episode scribes Norman Spinrad or John Shirley?
Contrary to Paramount’s attitude to the previous script, as cited by Simon Pegg, next time around how about making things a little more, well, Star Trek-ky…
Well I hate to be the bearer of bad news but there’s really no reason to rush out and see Star Trek Beyond.
— Peachy Keen skull (@thatdarnskull) July 22, 2016