is the new Star Trek movie offensive to you?

[Thomas Veil]

Well I don't know. The original series made a big point about being transnational, in way which was quite unusual for the 1960s. I also don't remember the original series playing anywhere close to satire back in the day. Only now do we view it as camp.

That was the typical acting style back then. If you look at movies of the '40s and '50s, their acting style was often even less subtle. And you know what? The shows we revere today, that look so sophisticated and well-performed to us, are gonna be "camp" to our kids and grandkids.

 

[IJ Reilly]

That was the typical acting style back then. If you look at movies of the '40s and '50s, their acting style was often even less subtle. And you know what? The shows we revere today, that look so sophisticated and well-performed to us, are gonna be "camp" to our kids and grandkids.

Some, for certain. Watching a movie you loved 30 years ago can be a painful experience. (Not always, some actually get better.)

With the Star Trek franchise, I think they just got to milking it for all it was worth. Now, it's not worth a thing.

 

[TEG]

Virgil, people like you are what is wrong with the world. Have watched the trailer for other languages? The trailer awknowledges each nation in their language. In the Russian version, they use transmissions from the first launches, and from what I've read the same is true for the other languages (I don't understand French, German, or Spanish in the trailers even though I speak them).

In Star Trek, each 'nation' has semi-autonomy with in the United Earth (much like each US state has semi-autonomy with the US), and United Earth has semi-autonomy within the United Federation of Planets. In fact it has been stated many times that there are still nations on Earth (including the US, Canada, France, Britian, and the United States of Africa), so saying the shows or movies are an extension of the history of the United States is an ignorant statement.

One must also take into account, at least in terms of Enterprise, that most of the images used were historically accurate. They had the Wright Brothers, Chuck Yeager, the NASA Space Shuttle (not the Buran Shuttle), etc, not because they are American, but because they are the most widely recognized symbols of flight and space travel. I doubt that many people in the world even know what a Soyuz rocket looks like, or even know that Europe has a space program. They did show the International Space Station, and how it is supposed to grow.

It has never been estabilshed in canon as to where the Enterprise (NCC-1701) was actually constructed, be it in space or on the surface, but the dedication plaque has always said San Francisco, Calif. If you wouldn't mind paying attention, but San Francisco is the capital of both United Earth and the United Federation of Planets (with presidential offices in Paris).

Anyone who says that Star Trek is US-centric has never really paid attention to the show. Granted it may appear to the layman to be the case, but many people aren't even human in the shows. So Captains Kirk, Archer, Sisko, and Janeway were American (the last one was not suppossed to be). Picard was was French (with a slight English accent due to the death of the French Language), Checkov was Russian, Uhura was African (from the United States of Africa), Scotty was from Scotland, Hoshi was from Japan (or Brazil), Malcom was from England, Travis was from space, Geordi was African (from the African Confederation), Miles was from Ireland, Julian was a British Arab. The only show to be "American" was Voyager, hense everyone's distain for it.

Where do you come up with the idea that the movie is about the USA? As I said before, pretty much everything in the series has been based out of San Francisco, and you are just now having a problem with it?

Seriously, it is fiction, not the template for the future. If it bothers you, fine. I'll watch the movie twice to make up for you.

TEG

 

[Macaddicttt]

How the heck do we "know that this is essentially a movie about the USA"? Are you off your rocker to be offended or "very insulted" by this trailer? Star Trek is about space exploration, and hope and all that. And the audio clips that were played during the trailer allude to that. They appeal to Americans' sense of hope and wonder that John Glen and the moon landing and all that evoke. Who else has been to the moon? What audio clip did you want them to play to evoke the wonder of space exploration?

 

[2nyRiggz]

I don't think the movie will be all that anyway....just another rehash. I'm glad I skipped out on star trek after "The Next generation"...I don't think I watch one single episode of the others.

Deep space 9?
Voyager?
Enterprise?

Are they any good?



Bless

 

[TBi]

I'd love to see this "offensive" trailer. The only one i saw was them building the enterprise and it wasn't very offensive. Although it might be to some civil engineers and safety officers. Were they wearing safety harnesses? I think not!

<SNIP> or even know that Europe has a space program. They did show the International Space Station, and how it is supposed to grow. <SNIP>

European Space program? I was working for 3 years before i realized my company does work for the ESA (European space agency). Well to be exact i was here three years before i knew what ESA stood for. Although i did know the EU had a space program

 

[dsnort]

Deep space 9?
Voyager?
Enterprise?

Are they any good?



Bless

I liked "Enterprise". Mostly 'cause I thought T'pol was smoking!

 

[Queso]

European Space program? I was working for 3 years before i realized my company does work for the ESA (European space agency). Well to be exact i was here three years before i knew what ESA stood for. Although i did know the EU had a space program

In the Transformers movie they actually refer to secret footage from "NASA's Beagle 2 probe". All very well, except of course Beagle 2 was British-built and sent by ESA

I don't know why Hollywood does that to be honest. They'd probably argue that American audiences only know about NASA, but how hard would it be to slightly change the script to say "European Space Agency's" rather than "ESA's". You'd have to be pretty thick for that not to be clear.

 

[TBi]

In the Transformers movie they actually refer to secret footage from "NASA's Beagle 2 probe". All very well, except of course Beagle 2 was British-built and sent by ESA

I don't know why Hollywood does that to be honest. They'd probably argue that American audiences only know about NASA, but how hard would it be to slightly change the script to say "European Space Agency's" rather than "ESA's". You'd have to be pretty thick for that not to be clear.

British build eh? No wonder it didn't work

Oh and a lot of americans are "pretty thick"!

Now i'll go hide

 

[ctt1wbw]

I think it should be a crew made up entirely of Muslim fundamentalist jihadists, with camels all over the place and the ship constantly flying facing west (or is it east?) so they can pray to Mecca all the time. Just so we don't offend the Muslims, that is.

Maybe some of them can be homosexual or bisexual jihadists, so we don't offend "that" crowd?

 

[TBi]

I think it should be a crew made up entirely of Muslim fundamentalist jihadists, with camels all over the place and the ship constantly flying facing west (or is it east?) so they can pray to Mecca all the time. Just so we don't offend the Muslims, that is.

That's just stupid! The ship would fly any direction like normal, then stop at the right time and turn to face mecca!

Maybe some of them can be homosexual or bisexual jihadists, so we don't offend "that" crowd?

Lets get some beastiality in there too! So they can play to a very wide audience!

 

[Queso]

Maybe some of them can be homosexual or bisexual jihadists, so we don't offend "that" crowd?

You mock, but the lack of any form of gay character in any Trek series or film was actually a big deal a few years ago. The writers wanted to make a character gay, but the producer (Rick Berman I think his name is) wouldn't allow it because of his religious beliefs. The character (Ensign Barclay?) was still introduced, but was straight.

And as a result Babylon 5 introduced a lesbian relationship into the storyline

P.S. One other thing. There's no east or west in space. Durrr!!

 

[ctt1wbw]

Ooops, my bad. But if the whole crew was made up of islamic fundamentalists, wouldn' it be called "Pigs In Spaaaaaace!"?

If anyone is old enough to remember that...

 

[sowillo14]

Ooops, my bad. But if the whole crew was made up of islamic fundamentalists, wouldn' it be called "Pigs In Spaaaaaace!"?

If anyone is old enough to remember that...

LOL Hell Yes!!!

 

[guifa]

You mock, but the lack of any form of gay character in any Trek series or film was actually a big deal a few years ago. The writers wanted to make a character gay, but the producer (Rick Berman I think his name is) wouldn't allow it because of his religious beliefs. The character (Ensign Barclay?) was still introduced, but was straight.

And as a result Babylon 5 introduced a lesbian relationship into the storyline

P.S. One other thing. There's no east or west in space. Durrr!!

I didn't know that about Barclay, although I'm not sure how that would have been worked into the story line.

That doesn't mean they didn't play with the idea a lot. If you'll recall in DS9, Jadzia was once man (actually, technically I'd suppose THAT part of her life was in TNG) but anyways, in one episode, she has to work with a former lover and they share a rather deep lesbian kiss. There were a lot of overtones to Chakotay being gay, though they never really developed it and instead started putting him with Seven of Nine (never understood that pair).

And since technically when two changelings meld, it's a form of sex, you could argue Odo was quite the bisexual (or monosexual, since again technically, the changelings don't have genders per se, just their representation of gender).

Okay, I'm geeked out for today.

 

[Evangelion]

Star-trek has always been US-centric.

Not really. Chekov was Russian, and this was back when USA and Soviets were at each others throats. Uhura was from Africa. Scottie was a Scotsman. Captain Picard was French. La Forge was from Africa. Tasha Yar was from Ukraine. And not to mention all those aliens.

Star Trek started getting more US-centric with Star Trek: Enterprise.

 

[Queso]

Not really. Chekov was Russian, and this was back when USA and Soviets were at each others throats.

Did you know Chekov was introduced at the beginning of the second series of Star Trek following a direct request from the Soviet Union ambassador to the UN?

 

[Xfujinon]

Did you know Chekov was introduced at the beginning of the second series of Star Trek following a direct request from the Soviet Union ambassador to the UN?

Awesome! And, Martin Luther King Jr. was a huge trekkie!

I always liked that. I wonder if Malcolm X ever watched it...

 

[Virgil-TB2]

Sadly, that legacy was already pretty much pounded into pulp by the "Enterprise" series. At this point, I don't think it matters very much what they do in the next movie, or even if there is a next movie.

I think this is really the exact same point of view that I have.

The series always had US elements as it was a US based show, but the US influence has increased with each series at the same time as general creativity and intelligence has decreased. The Star Trek universe has suffered in almost direct inverse proportion to the involvement of Roddenberry, or in direct proportion to the opposite involvement of Rick "the tool" Berman IMO.

I guess the reason I am upset is that I thought the travesty that was "Enterprise" had pretty much trampled all that could be trampled, but here it seems we are going one step further. I was really hoping for more.

PS - Is it a co-incidence that your icon looks like this guy?

Never noticed the resemblance before.

 

[IJ Reilly]

I liked "Enterprise". Mostly 'cause I thought T'pol was smoking!

That seemed to be the entire point of the series. The rest of it was weak stories, weak characters, and often laughably bad writing.

PS - Is it a co-incidence that your icon looks like this guy?

I'd like to think so.

 

[TEG]

Not really. Chekov was Russian, and this was back when USA and Soviets were at each others throats. Uhura was from Africa. Scottie was a Scotsman. Captain Picard was French. La Forge was from Africa. Tasha Yar was from Ukraine. And not to mention all those aliens.

Star Trek started getting more US-centric with Star Trek: Enterprise.

Tasha may have been Ukranian in ethnicity, she was from a colony that collapsed into anarchy, proving that not everything in Star Trek was perfect.

I don't think the movie will be all that anyway....just another rehash. I'm glad I skipped out on star trek after "The Next generation"...I don't think I watch one single episode of the others.

Deep space 9?
Voyager?
Enterprise?

Are they any good?

Bless

DS9 is the greatest and darkest of the series.

TEG

 

[ezekielrage_99]

You know what TV series was awesome?

Xena the Warrior Princess, the fact that it was about an angry lesbian barbarian roaming around the country side and beating the crap out of people was literary genius.

There needs to be more shows like this and less smelly butt-sniffing reality tv shows, because I watch tv to escape reality not to be brutally reminded of it.

 

[0098386]

I don't like the TV series, but I am interested in this film. I think the obvious low budget threw off the illusion for me and I just couldn't take it seriously.

So I'm not offended by the idea of this movie

 

[Marble]

Yes, DS9 was the proving ground for many of today's most capable writers. Any fans of The 4400 or Battlestar Galactica will notice familiar names in the credits of many DS9 episodes.

 

[cyberjunky]

Sounds like the same old imperialist / Elitist garbage reinforcing the lies the people convince themselves to be true force fed to them...

If anyone here notices a trend and has a copy of the "Independence Day" movie go to the scene where the president visits Area51, when they are behind the glass door for the 'Clean Room' look at the wall behind the actors, you will see an emblem, take a look might be familiar.

Take it how you like though..