Let’s Get Back to Boldly Going

This is the 20th entry in a surprisingly long series of posts about Star Trek’s future and its fandom called Crisis of Infinite Star Treks.

So, after Sunday’s somewhat somber, but cathartic post, I wanted to get back to the fun part of Star Trek. I mean, eventually, we’ll have to end the whole Crisis series. Right? Right?

Yes, I know Axanar Productions responded to CBS/Paramount’s complaint yesterday which they talk about here and you can read further about at 1701 News here. Unlike people freaking about this ‘countersuit,’ I’m given to understand this is de rigueur for lawsuits, even ones going through settlement talks.

I’m sure I’ll have opportunities to get back to that legal drama, but today let’s focus on everyone’s favorite 50-year old Space Opera. (Not 50+ years).

In preparing the aforementioned somber piece last week, I didn’t feel I had time for what I really wanted to talk about: the teaser trailer for the 2017 Star Trek TV series, and the second trailer for Star Trek Beyond.

And of course, anything I say won’t be as exhaustive as what I’m sure a hundred YouTube trailer reaction videos might be, but I suppose if you’ve gone as far as 19 entries of this series, perhaps you’ll willing to go a bit farther.

No promises. So first up, the TV show teaser:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXpPweAooeE

This is what I’d call a “save the date” kind of teaser. It really doesn’t give us the tone of the TV show or movie, it just lets us know it’s coming. It seems these are more prevalent these days, perhaps as entertainment conglomerates want to craft their buzz delivery with ever-increasing care. Perhaps they want us to keep some space in our fannish hearts, so we won’t forget them come January.

Whatever the case, it’s nice to see they’re saying is new heroes, villians, etc. Why, it might even be hopeful. Based on some of the people involved, I’m optimistic.

Okay, now onto the second Star Trek Beyond trailer:

Oh, so much better than the first one.

Now, my wife (that’s not Mrs. Columbo) either didn’t see or forgot the original Beyond trailer, so she picked up on the action-y action with a side order of action in this one. However, having already resigned myself to a seriously action-y Big Screen Star Trek (which isn’t that out of character for the franchise — let’s be honest), I still wanted some thoughtful moments.

And I got ’em. The teaser trailer for me was “Hey kidz, join us on this outer space romp!” I suddenly realized what a friend of mine felt when he was confronted with “Hip” Bugs Bunny.

But with this trailer, I got the thoughtful seasoning I’ve seen in Trek movies. There’s the idea of humanity grappling with the immensity of outer space from the very cool shot of the Enterprise going through the warp bubble to the megastructure. And there’s the idea of finding one’s place in said massive space as Kirk wonders if his whole career amounts to anything. And there’s the sense of family, of what you owe your ship and your crew and what it might take to survive. And the honey-smoke voice of Shohreh Aghdashloo doesn’t hurt matters. Plus, Jaylah is clearly from Farscape. And who doesn’t like Farscape?

Exactly. But more than Farscape, that felt like some good classic Trek themes… amid the destruction of the Enterprise…. again. So it’s still action, egg, action, action, bacon, and action, but it’s not action, action, action, action, action, baked beans, action, action, action. At least I hope not.

And in the early months of this year, I was reminded that both the director and one of the writers (perhaps both writers) are very into Star Trek and are arguably engaged to execute it well.

Simon Pegg, lest you forget, has written entertaining films before — ones that have been able to synthesize genres. And he’s a tremendous Sci-Fi nut and his co-writer, Doug Jung, has been the creator of some well-regarded drama.

Justin Lin, whose films I have not seen, also promises to bring an interesting perspective on the Star Trek franchise — at least that’s what I got out of this profile in Wired. Star Trek has a special place in his heart. Hey, I never would have thought Lord of the Rings held such a special place in Peter Jackson’s heart. We all contain multitudes, it’s how the multitudes are applied and this isn’t the creative team’s first rodeo.

So here’s hoping there’s some damn fine adventuring come July.

UPDATE, 2016-05-31: I meant to fit io9’s breakdown of the Star Trek Beyond Trailer as an example of people being far more in-depth than I’ll plan to, but I forgot, so ya got it here. It’s fun.