Star Trek Message Forum

"If you can't fix it, don't break it..."

Reverse-engineering a plot is never going to please everyone when said plot has become so entrenched in the minds and imaginations of a global community of fans. I am one one such fan, disappointed at the effort which, to me, came across as cheap. It was loaded with catch-phrases and things to draw on elements fans already enjoyed and try to pawn it off as though it were all new and not only just as good but better.

It wasn't just as good and it definitely wasn't better. And I am fairly tired of the using the alternate timeline plot device as the universal eraser for story mistakes and seemingly unattainable continuity goals. It insults our collective intelligence and diminishes the layered accomplishments of the works that have come before.

True, taking old Star Trek stories and recasting them today is not the answer, they just would not fit in most cases. Gene Roddenberry's overall vision of a space western was dealing with concepts and complications which don't all exist in our current culture, and the dream that humanity would outstrip technology has yet to be realized. Technology continually rises while we become less. We spiral nearer to the point where Star Trek's version of Earth in crisis turning/ evolving into Earth triumphant and see that our Earth isn't there yet. We have no Cold War boogeyman looming, no global consciousness sufficient enough to get us all onboard together; we remain petty, self-entitled, and unworthy of this planet, much less any others.

The things I loved in the original Star Trek and later, in VOYAGER, DS:9, and NEXT GENERATION is the hope for something greater than where we are now. Greater than what is and so hopeful of what will be. This movie was just a knockoff and could have been about ANYTHING, it didn't advance 'Trek any and to me, I think they may even have set it back...

And yeah, the canyon stunt was more THELMA & LOUISE than Star Trek.

But hey, that is just my opinion, everyone with 2 eyes, a brain, and twelve dollars can decide for themselves.


---Onyx