J.J. Abrams is Making Me Nervous

J.J. Abrams Star Trek re-boot is looming large on the cinematic horizon. I'll see it when it comes out. I see every Star Trek movie. That's what good Trekkies do. My first in-theater Trek experience was The Voyage Home when I was 4 years old. The year after that, The Next Generation came to television. Of course, it was on past my bedtime, so my dad and sister took turns staying up and taping it for me. All the way up to Nemesis, where I sat, a grown woman, Kleenex in hand, weeping all the way through the end credits, I haven't missed any Trek. So naturally, I'm a little nervous about the new movie. The young stars playing old favorites and the new things they'll do to the Trek universe itself give me pause. So this quote from J. J. Abrams didn't help my nerves, "It was an opportunity to take what I think has been a maligned world - to sound crass, a franchise - and treat it in a way that made it something that I wanted to see..."

But what about us? What about the ones who have always wanted to see it? What about those of us who are okay with that swirling glitter effect they've used for the transporter beams. We'll take our neon phaser fire and our polyester onesie uniforms, thank you. I know what he's getting at, he wants to make a Trek that a wider audience can appreciate. But its appeal has never been as wide as something like Star Wars. (I think the Trek vs. Wars argument is silly. Can't we all just get along?)

Star Trek was a show that worked for geeks way before it was ever cool to be a geek. Remember those old ISTEP analogies? So This Old House is to carpenters as Star Trek is to geeks. It was TV that meant something to me; TV that showed a world where the characters were rewarded for their brains and where being "cool" didn't matter. So for the record, I hope the new movie isn't too slick. I hope they don't try to tart our precious Trek up to make her pretty for the popular boys, when all of us band geeks and science nerds have always appreciated her for what she is...one very fine franchise.

When I originally started writing this article, at the time it was for a magazine that I work for...and the article was much longer. It was mostly filled with my criticisms of J.J. Abrams. I like what the guy has done to infuse fantasy on television. I do. But I'm also not a fan of his trademark, "start at the end of the second act, work up an entire mythology with no pay-off" formula.

I'll leave with you this suggestion as I try to hold back some of my more harsh criticisms before even seeing the film...google some of J.J. Abrams' quotes about this new Trek movie, and just see how they sit with you. Google it and discuss...