AndyDursin wrote:I am definitely going tomorrow night, depending on which ones my wife and/or friend can make. Will make writing the review Friday easier if I've already seen it

Yeah, seeing the movie you're supposed to review usually does help things a bit.

I could see it Friday, but that means I have to spend the afternoon writing it up...as it is, I should have the column itself finished by tomorrow, so it'd be easier.

Plus, I'd prefer seeing it as quickly as possible too

AndyDursin wrote:I could see it Friday, but that means I have to spend the afternoon writing it up...as it is, I should have the column itself finished by tomorrow, so it'd be easier.

Plus, I'd prefer seeing it as quickly as possible too

I'm pretty eager to see it myself!

Interesting a lot of projections seem to be lowballing this in the $50-$65 million range. I'll be shocked if it doesn't do $75 million or much more...my only thinking is that perhaps TREK as a brand isn't what it once was, and that erosion thanks to the later shows and TNG films may be more detrimental than I imagined?

Either way I'm there tonight and I'll have reactions later. Hope everyone also chimes in once they've seen it.

I still can't imagine this not making what FAST AND FURIOUS, WATCHMEN, WOLVERINE and all the rest of the spring junk basically did over 3 days.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/w ... -trek-65m/

....Sure the tracking services are saying Star Trek will only make $50 million for the 3-day weekend. But even Paramount is convinced that JJ Abrams' reboot of the TV/movie franchise will get up to $60M. And based on my reporting Hollywood generally is thinking at least $65M, not even counting the $5 million that could be generated starting at 7 PM tonight when Star Trek officially starts screening in selected areas around North America. There's no doubt this is a difficult pic to gauge since it's been 7 years since the last Star Trek actioner Nemesis hit theaters, and nearly 30 years after the first in the movie franchise Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and a lifetime from the original TV series aired 1966-1969.

AndyDursin wrote:Interesting a lot of projections seem to be lowballing this in the $50-$65 million range. I'll be shocked if it doesn't do $75 million or much more...my only thinking is that perhaps TREK as a brand isn't what it once was, and that erosion thanks to the later shows and TNG films may be more detrimental than I imagined?

We'll find out won't we? I'd say if that thing comes in at the low ball figures you have to start scratching your head a little bit.

I'm with you. I think it blows out around $75 mill easily. If that doesn't happen, I'll be surprised.

Either way I'm there tonight and I'll have reactions later. Hope everyone also chimes in once they've seen it.

I guess I'll avoid this thread after I post this until I'm done seeing it tomorrow afternoon to avoid any spoilers. We're all obviously going to want to come into this thread and cut loose so it's a given the spoilers will be flying all over the place.

I would have gone tonight but no theater near me had any early showings for this evening.

I still can't imagine this not making what FAST AND FURIOUS, WATCHMEN, WOLVERINE and all the rest of the spring junk basically did over 3 days.

It'll blow 'em out.

http://www.deadlinehollywooddaily.com/w ... -trek-65m/

....Sure the tracking services are saying Star Trek will only make $50 million for the 3-day weekend. But even Paramount is convinced that JJ Abrams' reboot of the TV/movie franchise will get up to $60M. And based on my reporting Hollywood generally is thinking at least $65M, not even counting the $5 million that could be generated starting at 7 PM tonight when Star Trek officially starts screening in selected areas around North America. There's no doubt this is a difficult pic to gauge since it's been 7 years since the last Star Trek actioner Nemesis hit theaters, and nearly 30 years after the first in the movie franchise Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and a lifetime from the original TV series aired 1966-1969.

I'll tell you what will offset the horrible damage of Nemesis: Time.

There's been a fairly lengthy hiatus of pretty much no Trek whatsoever. Even the book scene dried up.

We had a time where bland Berman Trek was all over the place and it was oversaturated. Voyager, Enterprise, mediocre movies...all that's gone now and been gone for a while and that's a good thing!

I know core Trek fans are hungry for some new Trek. I also know that plenty of non Trek folks are interested in this simply because it's being marketed almost like Top Gun 90210 in space and that's going to bring in people.

From there, we're right back to: People in general are looking to have a good time and I think it's pretty clear this is going to deliver the goods regardless of anything else.

The movie is great. Just terrific. The best "summer movie" in years and years, no recent "blockbuster" I can think of can touch it -- especially when I compare it to the likes of last year's Indiana Jones.

It's also a hard movie to review, because there's not a whole lot to criticize. Giacchino's score isn't terrible, there are sections of it I liked, but his main theme is so bland...how it segues into the Courage theme over the end credits is still jarring. Maybe out of every aspect of the film the score is the one element that didn't completely gel for me.

And maybe there was a bit too much "shaky cam," but otherwise the film is solid. It didn't even end with a montage set to sappy Giacchino strings (we get that in the opening scene). Not a moment wasted, but a lot of moments for all the actors are there. And I guess what I was most afraid of -- that Abrams was going to tinker around with the characters and their personalities -- it didn't happen. It's not quite reverential (it's close) but it's absolutely respectful. And having Pine channel a dash of Shatner at the very end had a couple of people clapping in front of me. Karl Urban and Simon Pegg bring everything you loved about Bones and Scotty. Zoe Saldana is extremely shapely. Quinto gets Spock right, even if he's not (and can't be) Nimoy (and being familiar with Quinto from HEROES I was curious how he'd approach the role -- thankfully he nailed it). And I liked Pine's energy a great deal. The story is compelling, and there's not one scene in the whole film that feels like it doesn't belong.

There weren't a ton of people at the 7pm show here (one of 5 tonight), but this is hard place to gauge that kind of thing. The hard core Trek fans in front of us loved it though, I could overhear them at the end. Even if it doesn't break records, this movie is excellent and will generate enormous word of mouth.

I'll post more thoughts later but I really can't wait to see it again. Great fun, and a movie which I guarantee will not be topped by the likes of Transformers, GI Joe or anything else out there this summer.

^^ Thank you for these spoiler free impressions. I'm looking forward to it tomorrow.


I realize I could have gone at 7pm tonight after all but I got jammed up doing some other things. Ah well.

My review is up on the front page (and will be at FSM on Monday).

What I loved the most about the movie is that it wasn't afraid of reprising the aspects of the original Enterprise crew that we all love: Bones IS Bones, Scotty IS Scotty, etc. The performances are fresh but they all, in one way or another, channel the aspects of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, and such that defined those roles.

For me, that's what I really admired about Abrams' take here. This movie is a lot closer to the original series, to the original cast movies, than the Rick Berman era, and for me, it's exactly the approach that was needed. The interplay between and dynamic of the original cast -- the friendship of Kirk and Spock -- is what I've loved the most about any version of Star Trek (more so, for me, than any of the Next Generation or other Rick Berman-era productions). It's something that became missing from the later Berman shows -- too much tech talk, not enough HUMAN emotion, not enough characters you care about.

You can say Abrams wasn't being original in going back to TREK's roots, but frankly he's gotten it right -- really right -- in this movie. This is Kirk and Spock and the gang back together again -- in a manner that feels fresh and yet familiar at the same time.

And he was also smart. They make it abundantly clear in the movie that Nero's decisions created an ALTERNATE universe -- so this film is not re-writing decades of "canon" and history. It's creating its own. I honestly have no issue with that, because it enables Abrams and co. to a) do fresh adventures without having to worry about whatever elements of pre-existing material they may have been trampling upon otherwise and b) leaves the original shows, the original movies, alone to exist in their own universe.

It's a smart tactic -- just one of many things there is to like about this film.

AndyDursin wrote:My review is up on the front page (and will be at FSM on Monday).

What I loved the most about the movie is that it wasn't afraid of reprising the aspects of the original Enterprise crew that we all love: Bones IS Bones, Scotty IS Scotty, etc. The performances are fresh but they all, in one way or another, channel the aspects of Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, and such that defined those roles.

Good. The danger they could have fallen into easily, and no one has complained about this, would have been parody. Don't try to be Shatner as Kirk. YOU be Kirk and bring what you've got to the table, etc.

Sounds like that's what happened here.

For me, that's what I really admired about Abrams' take here. This movie is a lot closer to the original series, to the original cast movies, than the Rick Berman era, and for me, it's exactly the approach that was needed.

Absolutely.

You know what's funny and ironic in a way? For AT LEAST the last 10 years if not longer, some of the fans, including myself, were looking out at a sea of medicore Trek and things that happened even in some TNG episodes, certainly some DS9 episodes, to say nothing about Voyager as a whole....and we were like: "You know what? This is so far gone Q or someone like that's going to have to come along in some movie and just wipe the friggin' timeline out back to a certain point where this crap just didn't happen."

Welll, I wouldn't have gone back THIS far but that's basically what happened for all intents and purposes.


The blunt truth is: Trek got mired down in a lot of garbage in latter years. Mediocrity and consequently a lot of damage that culminated in an abomination called Nemesis. Nemesis was the ultimate expression of everything that had gone wrong in Trek for years.

Frankly, this is the best answer: Get away from all of that and start over.




If they were going to reboot the Classic...and I've been very careful to avoid spoilers...there's about one way I can see the Lost like time mechanics and such with Old Spock and such make it work where everyone buys it.

Since I haven't seen you voice ANY complaint about that whatsoever, or any other review I've seen...I'm guessing they executed it probably about the best way it could be done.

The interplay between and dynamic of the original cast -- the friendship of Kirk and Spock -- is what I've loved the most about any version of Star Trek (more so, for me, than any of the Next Generation or other Rick Berman-era productions). It's something that became missing from the later Berman shows -- too much tech talk, not enough HUMAN emotion, not enough characters you care about.

Absolutely. Trek got mired down in that nonsense even as far as back latter TNG. You can almost tell during the run of TNG when Roddenberry got ill enough to no longer be involved and ultimately passed away. You can draw in the line in the ground practically.

You can say Abrams wasn't being original in going back to TREK's roots, but frankly he's gotten it right -- really right -- in this movie. This is Kirk and Spock and the gang back together again -- in a manner that feels fresh and yet familiar at the same time.

Excellent.

And he was also smart. They make it abundantly clear in the movie that Nero's decisions created an ALTERNATE universe -- so this film is not re-writing decades of "canon" and history. It's creating its own. I honestly have no issue with that, because it enables Abrams and co. to a) do fresh adventures without having to worry about whatever elements of pre-existing material they may have been trampling upon otherwise and b) leaves the original shows, the original movies, alone to exist in their own universe.

Again, I appreciate this non spoiler ish impression here but this basically confirms for me that there's about only one way this all works and you just spelled it for me. Good!

It's a smart tactic -- just one of many things there is to like about this film.

I'm really looking forward to seeing it this afternoon.

Again, I appreciate this non spoiler ish impression here but this basically confirms for me that there's about only one way this all works and you just spelled it for me. Good!

I think there will be a minority of real hard-line Trekkers who will be upset at this or that. I can see that, I won't lie to you and tell you everything is the way it was -- but at the same time, in the grand scheme of things, I think it all worked. Let me put it this way -- the one woman who was dressed up as Janice Rand in front of us (and who was talking about the convention she attended in Vegas) loved it, and she looked like she could best anyone in a trivia contest.

There was also one aspect of the movie that had a lot of people going "huh?" -- but I think it was done intentionally to illicit that response, because all of the characters look at one another in these moments with a similar expression. Guess that will be explored more in the next one!

Good. The danger they could have fallen into easily, and no one has complained about this, would have been parody. Don't try to be Shatner as Kirk. YOU be Kirk and bring what you've got to the table, etc.

Exactly, though there's at least one moment where Pine is absolutely throwing a homage to Shatner. The other actors really do channel the personality elements of the original cast in a way that isn't a parody, but still manages to be quite familiar, if that makes any sense.

I'm glad to see Abrams saying there's a possibility of Shatner cameo-ing in the next movie. That'd really be the icing on the cake.

AndyDursin wrote:

Again, I appreciate this non spoiler ish impression here but this basically confirms for me that there's about only one way this all works and you just spelled it for me. Good!

I think there will be a minority of real hard-line Trekkers who will be upset at this or that. I can see that, I won't lie to you and tell you everything is the way it was -- but at the same time, in the grand scheme of things, I think it all worked. Let me put it this way -- the one woman who was dressed up as Janice Rand in front of us (and who was talking about the convention she attended in Vegas) loved it, and she looked like she could best anyone in a trivia contest.

I've been happy to see a REAL glowing optimism and enthusiasm from the mass bulk of Trek fans, including the cosplay hardcore types. They're hungry for something new and fresh.

I think most of them know deep down that Trek was basically ruined and left for dead. Let's call it what it is or was.


It's been a VERY rare occurrence for me to run into a 'fanboy' moaning all over the place. Incredibly rare.

I think that lot of people is going to be so small compared to everyone else that it just isn't going to matter.

The only way Trek lives on for hopefully another 40 years is to do something like this. There just was too much mediocrity and garbage that got introduced starting even as far as back TNG's latter seasons and beyond that frankly...good riddance to it. You have to get away from it and wipe the slate clean.

For me, I felt like I watched Trek die a slow, Alzheimer's like death for over a decade that culminated in a final "screw you" in the form of Nemesis.




You come down to this: Do you want to be a fanboy or do you actually want to see the thing you say you love so much live on and continue and in better, vibrant form to boot?

The vast majority by far are going to choose the latter.

There was also one aspect of the movie that had a lot of people going "huh?" -- but I think it was done intentionally to illicit that response, because all of the characters look at one another in these moments with a similar expression. Guess that will be explored more in the next one!

Now you've intruiged me even more. C'mon clock!

Exactly, though there's at least one moment where Pine is absolutely throwing a homage to Shatner. The other actors really do channel the personality elements of the original cast in a way that isn't a parody, but still manages to be quite familiar, if that makes any sense.

I'm glad to see Abrams saying there's a possibility of Shatner cameo-ing in the next movie. That'd really be the icing on the cake.

All of this is good but you know what? I think having Nimoy in this first one is enough. Let the new folks move forward clean.

I certainly understand that sentiment too. (And the door isn't closed on Nimoy returning either). Still, I think if you see this movie you might feel Shatner deserves a better fate than getting shot in the back in GENERATIONS, you know? That one still leaves a bad taste in the mouth. If there's a way Abrams can make it work, I think he might try it.

And it's not a perfect movie, but it's a tight one. A lot of it works. A LOT.

The one thing again I'll stress is that I do think it's going to play even better with fans (understandably) of the old show, Kirk and Spock, etc., as opposed to the Berman era. For me, that's fine, because The Original Series is what appeals to me about Trek more than the later shows. But the use of comedy and bright color pallet might irritate some Berman fans, who are used to what Star Trek became over the last 10-15 years.

To them I'll say -- stick with your DVDs, friends, because Abrams has tapped back into what established Trek in the first place.

AndyDursin wrote:I dunno, I think if you see this movie you might feel Shatner deserves a better fate than getting shot in the back in GENERATIONS, you know? That one still leaves a bad taste in the mouth.

Well that's certainly true but the beauty of it is: In this new timeline...that dreck never happened!

I'm downright giddy about that. That's the beauty of it right there. That BS never happens, Nemesis never has to happen, Generations, Voyager...ah, what a great feeling this is!

A lot of us fans pretty much disregarded Generations years ago anyways.

If there's a way Abrams can make it work, I think he might try it.

Indeed but here's the problem: Shatner is too old and too fat. I'm sorry, there's just no other way to say it. Even as far back as Star Trek VI they were helping him out with flattering camera shots and even a little CGI assistance because he was already pretty heavy even back then.

Personally? I really don't want to see it. If they do it, it's going to have to be a real CGI miracle job.

If there's a good way to do it, then great, but I'm of the mind that if you're going to start something new...Spock is about the only character that you could do something like this with that makes sense. Nimoy may be old as well but he looks great and him playing Old Spock works perfectly. (I've seen a few still photos of how he looks in the movie and it's perfect.)

I think you have your point where you get saluted off and it's just time to let the new crew go on their own. Let's just move on with the new thing all the way and leave it at that. Nimoy passes the torch here and that's it.

I think if Shatner were going to be involved it should have been on this film and he missed the boat. It's done and gone with.

I'll see how I feel about it afterwards but I'm betting it's probably just as well that Shatner wasn't involved.

(And I'm a Shatner fan saying all of this)

And it's not a perfect movie, but it's a tight one. A lot of it works. A LOT.

Good.

The one thing again I'll stress is that I do think it's going to play even better with fans (understandably) of the old show, Kirk and Spock, etc., as opposed to the Berman era. For me, that's fine, because The Original Series is what appeals to me about Trek more than the TNG crew. But the use of comedy might irritate some Berman fans, who are used to what Star Trek became over the last 10-15 years.

GOOD! REAL GOOD!

To them I'll say -- stick with your DVDs, friends, because Abrams has tapped back into what established Trek in the first place.

Exactly.

Andy: Do you have any idea when this thing will show up on DVD and BD? I'm not getting a real clear answer to that anywhere...

Eric W. wrote:Andy: Do you have any idea when this thing will show up on DVD and BD? I'm not getting a real clear answer to that anywhere...

No, haven't seen anything either . Probably the usual October-December window, if it's a usual occurrence.

I'm still waiting on the TREK Movie box-set to come in. Not clear if I'm getting the 3-disc or the 6-disc (I actually have the latter on order from Amazon, just in case), but I couldn't review it for next week because the PR firm I work with that handles it still hasn't gotten them in yet.