Tuesday, May 12, 2009
New Star Trek: Best Reboot Ever?
There have not been many high-profile 'reboots' in serial movie & TV fiction, and by reboot I mean discarding some, much, or even all previous continuity in the series, to start fresh and anew. Reboots can be handy when writers have written themselves into a corner, run out of inspiration, or gone in a bad direction. To date, 'Batman Begins' is considered a great example, in which director Christopher Nolan starts from square one in a character-driven approach with great actors to escape from Tim Burton's gothic quirkiness and kitsch performances by the likes of Carrey and Schwarzenegger. 'Casino Royale' rebooted James Bond with his origins, and more great actors, to revive interest. How did a Star Trek reboot turn out so great in the hands of JJ Abrams & Damon Lindelhof, creators of Lost?
1. They respected the original, without total slavery to its vast continuity. No Star Trek film or TV series ever explored the characters' backgrounds, and Abrams used inspired casting and a great script to capture the essence while taking some creative license.
2. They told a self-contained story. You could actually enjoy it knowing nothing about the series, but your experience will be ten times richer if you're a fan.
3. The plot has consequences - it doesn't reboot again at the end of the movie. The idea was to create a new, fresh experience with its own continuity, not to loop you back to episode one of the original Star Trek.
4. They used a relatively unknown cast, allowing each actor to BE that character in the minds of the audience... Below you can see how well they did, as we stack up each original 1966 cast member with their 2009 interpreter.
You've no doubt seen one of the four trailer. Here's trailer 3 in case you haven't... After that, an interview with director JJ Abrams...
Interview with JJ Abrams...
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