“Wanna Buy a Spockie Boo Bib?”
First teaser poster for the upcoming Star Trek 11 film released.
I’m of two minds about this. First, why make it about Kirk and Spock’s early years, as has been reported? Why not just make a movie that takes place during the TOS timeline? And two: no matter what, this certainly can’t be as bad as Enterprise (or, if you want a movie equivalent, Star Trek V, a.k.a. Shatner’s wank-fest). I dunno. I’ll reserve further judgment until more information comes out.
Categorized as Media, Media/Movies, Quick Takes
Haha, I dunno why, but I got a kick out of that poster, with the fabric texture and the classic TOS colors. Officially, Paramount has not said anything about the film (although the “Academy Days!” plot has been rumored from inside sources), so there’s really no telling when it will be set — it could, indeed, be a TOS film.
And frankly, after the warm reception of the ENT mirror universe episode arc (in the midst of a series whose reception, overall, was stone cold), I think they’d be stupid not to do a TOS film. It’s clearly what people want — a return to the “glory days” of Trek, especially after how watered-down and superficial the franchise became after the fall of DS9.
Also, according to sources, this is actually the eleventh Trek film. (And yes, Paramount’s change to subtitles instead of sequel numbers after Star Trek VI makes keeping track of this nearly impossible).
Bwahaha, I had to laugh at the title of this post — isn’t that from the banana cream pie story? “But it’s Dixon Ticonderoga brand!”
I actually like the poster, too — seeing those classic uniform styles is really awesome. I just think that it could be a mistake if they go with the rumored Kirk/Spock thing. I mean, it’s Starfleet, i.e., there’s a whole bunch of ships, with a whole bunch of possible stories to be told. They shouldn’t just limit themselves to Kirk and Spock because they’re the most famous — if anything, a Kirk/Spock story would be far more limiting because of the history already established.
I agree with the fact that a return to TOS is probably the shot in the arm the series could use. Well, that and some actual fun, which is what Enterprise lacked (except for the mirror universe episodes, as you said).
Is it the 11th film? I just saw “Star Trek 9″ referenced somewhere (may have been that article I linked to), and didn’t actually bother to count. Of course, thinking about it, this CAN’T be the 9th film, because there were four TNG films, plus the six TOS films, and six plus four equals ten. I guess next time I should actually do my research and not speak out of my ass (like that’s gonna happen). Or maybe just learn how to count.
As for the title, yes, that’s from Spock’s Mini Mall from that silly banana cream pie story — I was reading that yesterday before I made the post. It doesn’t really fit, but it’s funny.
Edit: and just to make it look like we don’t know what the hell we’re talking about, I edited the post in question to reflect the actual, correct numbering I should have used. LOOK AT ME, I CAN RETCON JUST LIKE ENTERPRISE!
We’re in agreement on the “Kirk & Spock retread” thing…it’s really not necessary. I can’t really think of a way that it could be done well, although I suppose it’s possible, but would require the kind of brilliance that we haven’t seen much of from the Trek franchise lately.
The poster does provide one hint as to the setting. In TOS, every ship’s uniform insigne was different — the arrowhead was only worn by the crew of the Enterprise. Sometime between TOS and the first film, Starfleet adopted the Enterprise arrowhead as the unified symbol for all personnel. This either means that the movie takes place on the TOS Enterprise, or it might establish new continuity sometime between TOS and TMP (but before the uniforms were redesigned to those ugly pastel monstrosities).
Then again, the movie has not yet been scripted, casted, or staffed, so the entire thing could be drastically changed between now and then.
I’ve seen people of two minds about the TOS thing. Amongst hardcore Trek fans, there are a good number of folks who don’t want to do retro because Trek has supposedly always been about moving forward. I think, however, that Paramount’s primary goal is to get new fans interested in the franchise again. I mean, it’s not as though nerds like me can get any nerdier over Trek. Trek has been pretty blah for the last decade, but “Kirk and Spock” are tightly ingrained in American pop culture. Paramount probably thinks that the only way to lure new fans into theaters is to do something dramatic (borderline ridiculous), like “Kirk and Spock are back!”
Unfortunately, this contributes to the possibility that Trek XI will indeed be a “Kirk and Spock’s early years” story, which gets me all nervous. But as you said, I’ll reserve judgment!
Hahaha @ RETCON. That’ll forever be ENT’s legacy, and I hope it’s never coming back. I’ve heard some people say, “I hope they update the classic bridge to look more futuristic!” Uh, let’s not rewrite history, eh? Either bring it back as it was, or don’t bring it back. I’d just like to see a Constitution-class starship done up with beautiful modern CGI, like what was seen in “In a Mirror, Darkly”…
I totally forgot about the fact that different ships had different insignias during TOS — then again, I’m not quite as big a fan of Trek as you.
Having said that, going solely on that poster (in addition to the mindset Paramount likely has, as you posted), it would seem to lend credence to the Kirk/Spock thing, what with the Enterprise insignia and the classic command/science section uniform colors (am I the only one geeked about a possible return to gold being the command color instead of red?). Though, as you also added, this is merely a poster for a movie that is barely in the planning stages, so a whole lot could change between now and the proposed release date of 2008.
I agree that there should be no updating or “let’s make the bridge more futuristic!” kind of stuff. They tried that already with Enterprise, and we all know how well that went. In a way, it’s good that during the mirror episodes of Enterprise Bermanga didn’t try to retcon the goofy viewscreens and big, jujubee-like buttons for something “more futuristic”, because that would have killed the Star Trek mythos that much more.
And lastly, isn’t it ironic that this is somewhat like the original concept for the TV series that became Star Trek: The Motion Picture? I mean, potential new adventures with everyone wearing the classic uniforms and inhabiting the classic sets? Or am I just a loon?
Heh, you’re right — this is just like the plan for “Star Trek: Phase 2″ or whatever they were going to call that second series in the ’70s. So far, at least.
Oh yeah baby, command gold is where it’s at, and redshirts need to die. I don’t know why they switched it up when TNG went into production. That always irked me. But then I’m a dork.
Hell no, no retconning the bridge — leave my TOS bridge alone! Hee hee, I always loved the TOS bridge. Which was why “In a Mirror, Darkly” was such a huge fanwank. I was actually jumping up and down screaming “THE TWEEDLE SOUND ON THE MAIN VIEWSCREEN IS SYNCHRONIZED TO THE LIGHTS! IT’S SYNCED! HOLY SHIT!”
The continuity on that ENT episode was actually very good, for a change. Even further proving that I’m a humongous Trek nerd (as if you needed more proof), the main viewscreen’s scanner lights were correct to TOS third season, when they were changed from a “single light with trail pattern” scan to a “three lights together” scan. Since “The Tholian Web” was a third season episode, they used the “three lights together” method in ENT for total accuracy. I couldn’t believe it.
I suppose my readers, likewise, cannot believe that I actually know stupid shit like that. But they, this is Oddball — expect some oddities. (It’s the excuse that just keeps on giving!)
Also, the way they subtlely updated the bridge for that ENT episode was as much “updating” as it needs. The overhead screens were actually changed to LCD monitors, instead of being static backlit cel paintings or whatever they used in the ’60s…that kind of stuff, made to look the same but with better capabilities, is the only kind of retconning I ever want to see.