I’ve been a bit slow seeing it and I was initially pretty sceptical at the idea of a re-cast Star Trek movie but after actually seeing the film I’m impressed.
When James Bond was rebooted the result was a decent film but one which decided to jettison all that had gone before.
It’s not that I found the idea of the man who faced Dr, No during the Cold War being the same person John Cleese issued with an invisible car especially plausible given the lack of obvious aging (surely Bod should always be the same age as Sean Connery?) but that was the premise of the films and part of the attraction of the character.
Prior to Casino Royale James Bond was a legend within the intelligence community and his past reputation was a key part of the character’s success both within his fictional world and with the real world audience.
The Daniel Craig films are great movies and, despite the rather odd claims of some, are ‘proper’ Bond films but they’re still films which actively dismiss all that’s gone before.
The new Star Trek takes a different approach (look away if you’ve not seen it) and works hard to say: “everything you loved about Trek happened, but something’s gone on which has changed a few things and here’s our story”.
The presence of Leonard Nimoy as the older Spock firmly bolts the film into the Trek canon but the (look away) time travel element allows the producers room to tell their own stories without pissing all over other people’s work and fandom’s memories.
In many ways it’s similar with what Russell T Davies did with Doctor Who, change what needs to be changed to tell a good story but remain true to the spirit and general shape of what’s gone before.
For me this is the better approach, nothing EON did has made my ‘classic’ Bond DVDs vanish from my shelves but it’s impossible to view the Craig movies as anything other than a wholly separate series in a way which wasn’t true of the earlier films.
With Trek I can happily watch the original TV series and the follow up films as part of a wider canvass in which the new film also takes place. That co-existence seems more respectful to Trek producers past and an audience which has built up a genuine affection for the characters.
By the way, if you’ve not already seen it, the new film’s is nothing short of fantastic, I can’t rule out a repeat trip to the cinema.
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