Star Trek Beyond Trailer: What Did I Just Watch?

Just the other day, I said I was too excited about the Star Wars premier to get excited for the Star Trek trailer. That is only partially true. What is also true is that I was so confused and underwhelmed by the trailer for Star Trek Beyond that even without the Star Wars hype clouding my brain, I still wouldn’t have been able to form some kind of opinion. It has taken me time, and multiple viewings, to be able to put my thoughts into words.

Paramount Pictures shelled out big bucks to be the trailer shown before Star Wars on opening night. Then that trailer leaked on Sunday (sources point to Ze Germans), leading the studio to release a full English version on Monday. So much intrigue! I was expecting this to be good! So I watched.

WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL WAS THAT AND WHY IS THE BEASTIE BOYS “SABOTAGE” IN IT?

Look, as much as I loved the movies in the first series (yes, all 6 of them. Judge me. I don’t care.) I was fine when the franchise got rid of the ethos of peace and coexistence from that Roddenberry time. I don’t even miss the Shakespearean dialog and the modern explosions of the 4 Next Generation series of movies.

But this, the Beyond trailer shows me a movie that isn’t even the post-modern remix of the original reboot…It is a full-blown action film. They jump motorcycles in the trailer, for the love of Klingons everywhere! I love action films — not as much as Jordan loves Fast & Furious 1 through 7 but still, I do love them. I’m just not sure I love them with Kirk and Bones and Spock and Uhura in them.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/underwire/2009/05/trek_cast.jpg

When the Star Trek reboot hit, my reaction was “ooooh, shiny!” Both in the Firefly sense of something cool and in the sense of a person reaching for their sunglasses. So much chrome! The casting on each character was so good and they broke the canon in all the right places — the relationship between Spock and Uhura being my favorite. It felt like the right balance of fan service and innovation.

https://pmcdeadline2.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/star-trek-into-darkness__130307125710.jpeg

I was less impressed by the second movie, Into Darkness. Parts of it were good, character interaction in particular remained stellar. But the character motivations were muddy, so when they blew up both the Enterprise and half of future San Francisco, I was left feeling like it was all going nowhere fast. Now…Now I’m just confused.

Simon Pegg, one of the funniest White guys writing movies today, is on the record as saying that the trailer doesn’t do the movie justice. That’s a bad sign when the writer is apologizing for the trailer. It is even worse when the director, Justin Lin, is doing the same. As a fan, I’ll just be on hold for this one. There’s plenty of movie goodness between now and July when Star Trek Beyond hits theaters. Maybe between now and then, they’ll produce a trailer I can get excited about.

Are you following Black Nerd Problems on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Google+?

Tags:

  • L.E.H. Light

    Editor/Reviewer

    Editor, Writer, Critic, Baker. Outspoken Mother. Lifelong fan of sci fi/fantasy books in all their variety. Knows a lot about very few things. She/Her/They.

  • Show Comments

  • wcockrell

    I’m very glad that the writer and the director (both of whom are people whose work I like) are apologizing for the trailer. It’s a bad trailer, that looks like it’s for a bad movie. If they’re adamant that it’s not representative of the movie, GOOD. That means we should be getting a good Star Trek movie.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

comment *

  • name *

  • email *

  • website *