First off, I’m dedicating this revised version, to my son Kent Blake Jackson, one of the ‘old’ young fans of JJ’s new universe…
I’m getting really tired of hearing the old fans, bashing these new STAR TREK films. These movies are NOT made for us, really… These movies are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do: get those seats filled. And… guess what? The ones doing all of the complaining are the FIRST ones in the damn theater!
I, for one, am enjoying the Hell out of these movies, because…it’s STAR TREK! PERIOD. It’s fresh, it’s new, it’s BOLD! It’s revitalizing an old, tired (much like me) franchise and infusing new energy into the mix. JJ’s got people talking about STAR TREK again; be it good, or bad, you cannot deny it. We’ve got ‘The Next Generation’ hooked! Look at the young (and old… you know who you are) people ‘filling those seats’! And they’re HUNGRY! They want MORE! NOW!
My son Kent was EXCITED the day I got our tickets…! (On a sad note, my son passed away that very afternoon. I know that he was really anxious to go to the ‘Into Darkness’ premier; as we’d been ‘premiering’ STAR TREK movies together, since ‘The Undiscovered Country’. In Kent’s honor, my daughter and I bought one of the theaters promo-shirts and we placed it over the empty chair-back between us; plus – the manager was kind enough to allow me to keep our ticket-stubs intact. Kent was with us, in spirit!) My daughter, Erica, is 19; I took her to see ‘The Best of Both Worlds’ a few weeks before the ‘Into Darkness’ premiere, and she loved it. She wants to see ‘Into Darkness’ AGAIN!
I believe JJ is the ballsiest bastard since Gene Roddenberry. He knows he’s going-up against a tough crowd of critics, but he keeps appealing to that new group of people who’re coming to see his take on it. Look at Mr. Roddenberry’s critics back in the day: he was clobbered! But look! We’re almost 50 years (!!!!) beyond those times! And once again in 1987, Gene defied even his own fans with Star Trek: The Next Generation; once more the ‘Great Bird’ enthralled us, taking us ‘where no one had gone before.
Deep Space Nine, Voyager, Enterprise… they’ve all had their critics too. Now, DS9 is a pivotal point in an ongoing book line (be sure to check out Star Trek: The Fall coming at the end of August). Revelation and Dust by David R George III is the first in a five-book series, ending with Dayton Ward’s Peaceable Kingdoms in January 2014 (in which, I may be written-in as a namesake character…). The new DS9 series is phenomenal, and the series’ legacy is being rewritten by ‘new’ fans.
Voyager is back in the Delta Quadrant too, with some brilliant storytelling and exciting plot twists and adventures, ‘…exploring strange new worlds…’ Even Enterprise is being re-booted, telling of the Federation’s founding after the Romulan War (finally), by Christopher L. Bennett in June’s release of ‘Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures. Yes, there are people who even SUPPORT a comeback of this enterprise on TV (but – NOT that damn theme song!).
Look, Captain Kirk himself put it best: “Come, come, Mr. Scott… Young minds, fresh ideas…” The plot points everybody is bitching about, the way JJ’s destroyed STAR TREK, the pounding he’s getting for his universe, it’s just history repeating itself. WE, the old, will pass on too. And guess who will still be filling the seats for a ‘new’ STAR TREK movie…ready to bash the shit out of it? ‘The NEXT Generation’…
Let’s all just take a deep breath and enjoy some good movies… You KNOW you’re gonna go see it again (probably in disguise, in a different town…). You KNOW you’ll have the Blu-Ray pre-ordered, with overnight-shipping, you KNOW you are not kidding anyone…
You’re going to just accept it as STAR TREK, warts-and-all (Um, STAR TREK: V anyone?).
Period.
Later friend(s)
Eric G1
