The Trek and the Furious

You should never start a blog by complaining.

Actually, most of the blogs I've read in the past that have done well did so.  Maybe that'll kick this one off well?

Today's subject is near and dear to my heart: Star Trek.

On Star Trek Movies:

There was only ever one "cerebral" Star Trek movie, and it was Star Trek: The Motion Picture.  It's slow and painful and just an all around not great movie.  Every other Star Trek movie has tried to be Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan in terms of popularity, but I don't think any of the people who've had the opportunity really understood what made TWOK so popular (note I say popular and not good).  I don't care what Paramount does with Star Trek, because they don't make products that interest me beyond bland summer action movies.

Where has all the color gone?

CBS, on the other hand, is releasing a new Star Trek show with boundless potential.

That could be interesting.

If Paramount wanted my attention they'd have made a Voyager movie, a DS9 movie, and/or an Enterprise movie years ago.  They had their chance.  So they can cash in on the franchise and make BS excuses about what they think audiences want when their claims don't match the market research (Americans have consistently demanded more complex entertainment from studios since the inception of motion picture; keeping pace is admittedly difficult, but if you don't believe this go compare an episode of The Andy Griffith Show to an episode of Friends and tell me that you don't see a difference in the level of complexity that the characters express).

Gee whiz, you want deep characters?

The real shame is that good actors are getting their start in Star Trek in a part of the franchise that's disingenuous to the spirit of the show.

In 2009, for the first time, we were introduced to characters that are essentially all-new in Star Trek, and in a movie.  I love Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, and the whole new crew.  I don't disapprove of them taking their characters in a new direction (though I am kind of sad they were forced to take on the names of established characters).  It would have been amazing for them to take over these roles on the small screen.  They would have had time to fully investigate their roles and more fully and comfortably join the existing crews of Star Trek.

RIP Mr. Yelchin

But these fine actors have been robbed of that chance - they belong to Paramount now.  They will never get their own show, they will be confined to their action-based franchise movies.  I have other gripes about what became of their characters, but those can be saved for another blog post.

Producer J.J. Abrams blamed Insurrection, Nemesis, and Enterprise for why new Star Trek movies can't be cerebral.  I'll grant that Insurrection and Nemesis weren't a high point in Sir Patrick Stewart's stellar career, but they're hardly cerebral movies.  Cerebral movies don't usually employ dune buggies when the technology consistent with the era allows characters to do things like fly around in space ships or even just teleport from place to place.

Literally flying a spaceship right above the dune buggy

But Enterprise, which was admittedly more action-packed than some of the other series, shouldn't be blamed for taking anything away from the franchise regardless of its popularity.  The episode Dear Doctor speaks for itself in this regard, in two important respects.

Before the Prime Directive

First, it's entirely a non-combat mission.  They're talking about the ethics of establishing the non-interference policy.  Pretty thought-provoking stuff.

Second, because they're discussing the idea of the non-interference policy you get a very good grasp that this show is way more of a fresh final frontier than the Star Trek we're used to.  Humans aren't yet as developed socially as they are a century later, and Scott Bakula does an excellent job of playing a captain who's on the brink of fully realizing what it means to be civilized.

There are a host of other episodes of Enterprise that are just as cerebral as Dear Doctor with the added fan service of having a two-part Mirror Universe story that doesn't center around any prime universe characters (not mentioning the sweet tie-in with the TOS episode The Tholian Web).

The movies have been their own demise, but in their weird way they always seem to fail upwards.  The great thing about the most recent movies is that they convinced CBS that there was a market for Star Trek again (although I'm sure Netflix's statistical data on how much and how often people are watching it helped, too).  I'm grateful for the talented cast and crews that made those beautiful movies.

What do you mean my movie sucked?  Look at my sex appeal!

But I do believe J.J. Abrams can't see the forest for the trees in this regard.  I only hope his attitude doesn't spill over to the CBS television series.  I will admit that I have high hopes for the show, and the funny thing about it is that I won't be able to judge its worth until it has been cancelled (like all the others).