Just . . . Star Trek, no number 11, or subtitle. Riding in on the new wave of popular culture reboots, (Batman Begins, Casino Royale, and Battlestar Galactica) is Paramount’s re-launch of the Starship Enterprise, the studio’s most lucrative franchise. The oft-told story of the little 1960′s network series, canceled after three seasons that went on the become a hugely popular, and profitable synergy engine, spawning movies, four more series, as well as books, toys, and the rest of the merchandize that would fill tables at fan cons around the world.
Star Trek was probably the first property to attain cult status, but was only the beginning of a fan subculture of comics, Lord of the Ring, Star Wars, and many other sci-fi/fantasy mythologies that have commanded both consumer dollars and religious dedication to the various lore of these modern legends. Star Trek’ bright high-tech future, its storied optimism about our life among the stars combined with memorable characters and thoughtful plots fed a need for a fully imagined counter-world of nobility, friendship and idealism, served up with sci-fi action in a spiffy starship that became in essence, a featured character.
The new feature may be timed just right. The franchise was wrung out by the fourth series, Voyager, when its overly familiar 24th century setting and formulaic plots began showing the concept’s stretch marks. By the time Enterprise, set 100 years before the Original Series, even one of the producers, having been working on earlier series to squeeze yet more dollars out of the tired brand, admitted that if he had been a Paramount executive, he wouldn’t have kept old hands on a fading franchise. Clearly Star Trek: The Property needed to lie fallow for a season, and allow some distance for new talent to come aboard and re-think how after over 40 years, the Enterprise could seem new again.
Bringing in J. J. Abrams (Felicity, Alias, Lost, Cloverfield) a genre fan favorite who wasn’t very familiar with concept he was being asked to save for the 21st century, surely disaffected some fans, but intrigued others, like myself, who knew that hewing too close the the old style would be a ticket to failure. Abrams was faced with taking some of the most beloved characters in modern fiction who had always been identified with the actors who played them, to find a cast to play Kirk, Spock and the rest of the cast as younger than we first knew them and watch them become classic again. Whereas numerous actors have played Bruce Wayne/Batman, a character born in the two-dimenionsal comics medium, Kirk has always been William Shatner, and Spock always Leonard Nimoy.
The film’s biggest challenge will be whether it finds the characters’ essence beneath the actors’ style which is the test of whether Star Trek was as character-driven as fans have always believed. I think it can happen. One of the the screenwriters is a fan from way back and while the script doesn’t hew to decades of complex continuity, it’s supposed to tip its hat throughout the film to touchstone elements of the Star Trek universe. Early reviews have been generally positive–though I’m trying to avoid them until after I see it Sunday–so perhaps Abrams will fulfill his commission to take the Enterprise where no spinoff series or film has gone before, to blockbuster-class mainstream box office success, beyond the galactic boundary that kept Star Trek from being a broad based but still cult attraction.
