As I am a self-professed Star Trek geek who jumps at every opportunity to rattle off voluminous amounts of Star Trek minutiae, a lot of my friends have been asking me for my thoughts on the new Star Trek movie. So, here are my neatly-arranged and spell-checked thoughts. Warnings: spoilers and excessive geekiness ahead.
I liked the movie. I thought it had a decent plot, surprisingly acceptable acting, good pacing, fantastic special effects, and overall was very entertaining. It was exactly the shot in the arm Star Trek needed, and I’m grateful that the movie’s success will likely translate into a rejuvenated franchise with new fans, and lots of spinoffs (I’d love to see Star Trek on television again). The franchise really went out on a whimper (Nemesis was panned at the box office and is generally regarded as one of the weaker movies, which is so unfortunate because the TNG cast deserves a much better swan song) and Enterprise was cancelled after only four seasons (TNG, DS9, and VOY all lasted seven seasons) so I’m glad the new movie has been such a hit. After years of franchise fatigue, it’s nice and refreshing to see Star Trek making a comeback.
However, I am also a Star Trek purist. One of the reasons (maybe the reason) I am such a huge Star Trek fan is my highly geeky, somewhat excessive knowledge of the Star Trek universe. Star Trek has a massive and, for the most part, internally consistent universe. This is what many fans have come to deride as “canon.” Canon means that, for example, if the episode “Yesterday’s Enterprise” (one of my favorites, by the way) establishes that the Battle of Narendra III was a catalyst for the signing of a Federation-Klingon peace treaty, this becomes an established fact in the Star Trek universe that a later episode of Voyager cannot change and must adhere to. I love that. I love the fact that I’ve been a dedicated fan for nearly two decades, and that my dedication to the franchise, through good times and bad, rewards me with a level of knowledge about the universe it has created that allows me to enjoy it on many different levels and in ways that casual fans cannot.
This brings me to why I can’t say that I’m gushing over the new Star Trek movie. In what probably seemed to them as a clever, creative way to acknowledge canon but free themselves from the shackles of established Star Trek history, the writers created an “alternate reality” where events can now unfold in an entirely different way and where they can subsequently develop a new history of Star Trek.
From an artistic standpoint, I understand this decision entirely. I’m the first to acknowledge that the Star Trek universe can be maddening, and there are far too many fans who consider any deviation from canon to be tantamount to treason and will therefore refuse to embrace any new creative work that does not adequately respect canon (Enterprise, to a large degree, suffered from this). By creating a new, alternate reality, the writers can get the Best of Both Worlds; they can develop new stories as they see fit, while sprinkling in references to the original history (or “Star Trek Prime“, as some fans have taken to referring to it) thereby satisfying new and old fans alike.
And yet, this feels a little cheap (perhaps almost cowardly, but that may be too strong of a word). The Star Trek universe may be unwieldy, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t treat it with respect. I sincerely hope that the decision to wipe the slate clean and essentially start over after 50+ years of history was an insanely difficult and weighty decision for Abrams and his team to make. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not one of those fans who will shun and nitpick to death every new Star Trek creation that isn’t consistent with canon. I’m happy to see Star Trek move in fresh new directions, and I look forward to seeing what Abrams churns out over the years. And, I’ll even agree that, after 50 years of Star Trek, the universe has a lot of twists and turns that can be very difficult to navigate while trying to create new and interesting stories and remain true to what “Star Trek is really about.” But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t at least try. I think there are still plenty of interesting stories to tell within the established Star Trek universe. The fact that Star Trek still has such a dedicated following means that the fans also believe that. Was tossing aside the established Star Trek universe the only way to enable Abrams to tell the story(ies) he wants to tell? What kind of message does this send to the legions of fans who’ve stuck with Star Trek over all these years; to see all the scaffolding that has formed the basis of their dedication tossed aside? Of course, as future movies are unleashed unto us, we’ll see plenty of elements from the old Star Trek universe (tribbles, lots of interesting alien races, maybe even some well-known storylines) but there will be no getting over the fact that things are different and that we’re seeing a watered down version of what had been a cultural phenomenon. True, Abrams’s movie may not be my father’s Star Trek, but guess what: a lot of people came to and still do love that Star Trek. Like the TNG cast in Nemesis, the Star Trek universe itself deserved a better swan song.
But remember, I liked the movie. I think it’s a fun movie that I’ll probably see in the theaters again, and I’d even venture to say that my opinion of it will probably go up after a second viewing. I’m glad it’s brought Star Trek back into popular culture, and thanks to the success of the film, I’m sure we’ll be seeing and hearing about it for many years to come. I just want to make sure that, before all the new money begins flooding in and we bask in the glory of new action figures, burger king commercials, highly illogical rap songs, and all the other requirements of mainstream commercialization, we pause for a moment to consider the weight of this moment and how this movie changed (erased, really) some of the most fundamental underpinnings of Star Trek. I want to make sure we give due respect to the Star Trek universe that became a cultural phenomenon, paved the way for this movie, and that still rightly occupies a special place in many people’s hearts.