I just react to what I perceive as reflexive, kneejerk 'I hate nuTrek because it's not oldTrek' takes on the movies.
Okay, in the interests of full disclosure: I'm old enough to think that stuff made in the 50s and 60s is still perfectly good, and not in need of being "remade", as if modern audiences are too stupid to understand the original. This is why there are a lot of modern remakes/reboots that I don't like. The tendency is to dumb the material down to the lowest common denominator, and assume the audience is stupid or would never "get" the original material.*
*(yes, I am aware that some of my favorite movies are remakes of earlier ones from the '40s, as in Hamlet and various Robin Hood movies)
That said, I do understand that sometimes the original material might contain aspects that are offensive by today's standards and, if it doesn't completely derail the points made and the impact of the original, by all means let it be changed. For instance, I would hope that nuKirk (or any other nuTrek character) NEVER refers to a grown woman as a "girl." Kirk routinely did that in the TV series, and while it's not something I noticed when younger (I was a girl myself at the time, just 12 years old), it irritates me now.
I said it's snobby not to like 'nuTrek' because it isn't oldTrek, which so many people seem to do.
If nuTrek were an
improved version, that would be a different story (no pun intended). However, I see no improvement. All I see are cartoon characters with even less depth than those in TAS (The Animated Series).
I can like a remake that's different
if it's respectful of the original material. Example:
The Man in the Iron Mask. I first saw and fell in love with the Richard Chamberlain version of that movie. It took a very long time for me to make myself watch the Leonardo deCaprio version, and even longer to realize I actually like it. Mind you, that's not because of deCaprio's performance, but that of the older cast members. Still, while it was not (in my opinion) as good as the Chamberlain version, it wasn't completely dumbed down. So eventually I came to like it. But I will always prefer the Chamberlain movie.
And you'd (and a bazillion other hardcore fans) still find a reason to hate it, let's be honest shall we?
That's pretty damn presumptuous of you. If a Star Trek movie had been made that explored some aspect of TNG (for example) as a jumping-off point, I'd like it if it were any good. That means a coherent story, competent and
age-appropriate actors, no stupid retconning of established character background or history, no sacrificing character development for special effects, and so on.
Besides...the old stuff hit a dead end. It was boring, tired and over worn. There wasn't enough fans willing to pay to see that to make it a worthwhile risk for the studios and I can't blame them for going another direction.
The spinoffs suffered from being controlled by the same basic team of people who hit creative burnout. That doesn't mean some other creative people couldn't do something wonderful with continuing on the original storylines. There were certainly enough loose ends left unexplored. And it wouldn't even require any cast from TNG, DS9, or Voyager (ESPECIALLY MICHAEL DORN, WHO ATE NOT ONE, BUT
TWO SERIES!!!
).
How many times did he get himself demoted and reprimanded in the old movies again?
He got himself demoted from Admiral to Captain in TMP because he 1. felt he was the most able person to do the job, and 2. he wanted the Enterprise back and this was the best chance he had to get it.
He was promoted back to Admiral at some point between TMP and TWOK.
His actions that led to his next demotion back to Captain were actions taken for the right reasons, in my opinion. I'm not saying he did all the right things, but he certainly did them for the right reasons. Sometimes the right thing
is to say, "The word is no. I am therefore going anyway." The history of our civilization would be very different if nobody ever subscribed to that sentiment.
At no time are we shown that Kirk's demotions were the result of his behaving like a cartoonish jackass.
