There is a new Star Trek coming out later this summer, “Star Trek: Beyond.” After 2009’s J.J. Abrams reboot and it’s follow-up, 2013’s “Star Trek: Into Darkness”, there is a LOT riding on this summer’s “Beyond.”
The Trek Universe has been rather unsettled since “Into Darkness” came out. Fallout was, among fan circles, bad. The film consistently ranks at the bottom of the twelve total big screen entries under the Star Trek banner. Even if you strip away all the pre-knowledge, the serious fan type knowledge that I have rolling around in my brain, the movie was a little uneven. Not as bad as many make it out, but uneven. And not always classic Trek like. It was enough for the true, hard core fans, which are unlike anything else in fandom, to turn their backs on the J.J. Abrams rebooted Trek world. Which is a shame, cause 2009’s movie was, in my opinion, damn near genius.
Additional pressure on “Beyond” comes from Trek’s 50th Anniversary, which will be marked in September of this year. This brings it into very rare territory for a television property. To my knowledge the only other sci-fi drama show to have been around longer in our collective conscious is Dr. Who.
Another facet of Trek are the various fans’ works of art. Not just cosplay in full, movie quality costumes at conventions, but fan fiction in the form of books and movies. The online age has given those with the will and creativity to put incredibly high quality works out there. Adding in the ability to crowdsource funding, and you can generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for a garage produced film. That can buy some impressive special effects. Well, one such production went a little to far recently, eliciting the wrath of CBS and Paramount.
A few days ago Buzzfeed published a lengthy piece about what makes Trek fandom, and how it interacts with the television and movie universe. This is a very long read, but well worth it for the history and insight into Trek and it’s fans. I encourage you to read it, especially if you have the slighted interest in Trek or any other sci-fi universe.
https://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/star-trek-fandom?utm_term=.by0EDanyev#.ebXkxnbpo0
I count myself as one of those teeming hoards of Trek fans, impressed with my own knowledge of the Federation and starship systems. Yes, Star Wars was my entrance into sci-fi, and I am an ardent fan of that galaxy far, far away as well. While my Dad took me to all the Star Wars films when I was a kid, as well as the first few of the original crew Trek movies, my “growing up” with Star Trek didn’t begin until high school, and “The Next Generation.” After that, I was hooked for life. Star Wars is great action, great, classic good versus evil mythology. Trek, however, speaks to the potential humanity has, the greatness we can achieve. And it’s greatest asset is that it doesn’t have to resort to hokey religions and ancient weapons to get there.
I hope Star Trek Beyond is a decent film. I don’t care if it fulfills the deep needs of wider Trek geek culture, I just want a good flick. I have greater expectations for next years CBS Star Trek television show. Hopefully we, the Trek Nation, are not let down.