The first teaser trailer for STAR TREK BEYOND met with mixed reactions, and even I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. It was definitely a departure from the look and feel of the first two films, but also seems like they may be trying to capture some of the music-infused kinetic style of something like GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY. The Beastie Boys song “Sabotage” blasted over the action (a nod to the first film), but things looked much more intense-looking than normal, perhaps thanks to director Justin Lin (FAST & FURIOUS films) taking over. The new trailer below makes things look even more serious, and the music is very heavy – no rock tunes here. Chris Pine is back as Kirk, Zachary Quinto as Spock, Zoe Saldana as Uhura, Simon Pegg as Scotty, John Cho as Sulu, and Karl Urban as Bones. Added to the mix are Sofia Boutella and Idris Elba in heavy makeup. Check out that warp speed shit… and hey, is that the Scott Bakula-era Enterprise I see?? Check out the newest trailer below and tell us your thoughts in the comments.
“Star Trek Beyond,” the highly anticipated next installment in the globally popular Star Trek franchise, created by Gene Roddenberry and reintroduced by J.J. Abrams in 2009, returns with director Justin Lin (“The Fast and the Furious” franchise) at the helm of this epic voyage of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her intrepid crew. In “Beyond,” the Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.
You KNOW I’d comment on this one. This new trailer did not really change my intital reaction to the first trailer at all. Let me get TREK NERD FAN PICKY here: 1-I HATE the new uniforms. Even the away team jackets. 2-Why is it when we get an awesome black actor on Trek we gotta put a bunch of prosthetics on him? Idris Elba can act circles around anyone in this cast. 3-This looks like JJ TREK mixed with HELLBOY 2. 4-(and this is REALLY fanboy picky) that if that is a Captain Archer era ENTERPRISE, the timeline was not effected in his era, so therefore the NX series would look like the NX series we saw on ENTERPRISE. So if it is a ship of that era, it looks completely different. I doubt it is, cause why go to that well if the casual audience that probably this is pitched to doesn’t even know of ENTERPRISE or the NX series. So I am betting this is another ship, confusingly designed like the NX series. Which will drive us nitpicky design Trek nerds crazy!
The only thing I feel that can save this movie is that in the end, they get a new Enterprise and its retro-looking… like the 60’s show but updated a bit. And the uniforms change. I think that would be good fan service, especially considering that its the 50th Anniversary.
But this looks like more ACTION/STYLE over substance. Granted I haven’t seen the flick, but honestly, unless the reviews come back saying its really good, I am gonna skip seeing it. I can’t believe I’m saying that because I’ve seen EVERY Star Trek flick since SEARCH FOR SPOCK on opening day. Its a record I have. But this one looks like shit. Worse than Insurrection. More of the same shit I didn’t want.
But I say all this knowing that my tastes are just stuck in classic sci fi. I love George Pal’s THE TIME MACHINE (RIP Alan Young BTW), and classic TREK. TREK has always been “classical” music. Not “rock and roll” (Or the BEASTIE BOYS). Its fine, but its not for me. I’m sure modern audiences will love this movie. But its not for me. I’m a product of a bygone era of sci fi viewing. At least I have plenty of episodes and movies of Trek I can re-watch, of an era that I liked. And books. And comics. And fan films. (thank god they dropped the lawsuit!) TREK is now for us, the fans who grew with it and love what it was. So Hollywood can keep making these rock em sock em blowup bike ridin’, hunky guys, hottie bra and panty shot girl blow em up flicks. I’ll be home watching the REAL Kirk and Spock and what Trek was all about. Gene Roddenbery has to be rolling over in his grave. Wasn’t he buried with his mistresses too?
Unfortunately, count me still out. But I will be waiting for your review to decide. But I’m betting I don’t need to bring out my magic 8 ball for what you will say.
–T