The movie “Star Trek” has wowed critics and audiences and made $79.2 million in the U.S. and Canada since opening on Thursday. But not everyone is thrilled. Some hardcore fans accuse director J.J. Abrams of flubbing the movie by straying from the established “canon,” in other words introducing elements and events that diverge from the way things happened in Star Trek television shows and movies until now.
On NBC variety show “Saturday Night Live” over the weekend, “Star Trek” stars Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy took the “Trekker” fans on directly in a comedy piece, with a pair of “SNL” actors playing the part of outraged fans sitting in the audience.
”We understand you are concerned about the way we are handling your beloved franchise,” said Quinto, who plays young Spock in the movie. ”But don’t worry, we’ve gone to great lengths to ensure that this film fits in flawlessly with the established canon.”
Then Pine, who plays Captain Kirk, tried to explain how the movie portrays the famed Star Trek transporters.
“I swear that the transporters on this enterprise utilize the Heisey … Oh God I have no idea what I’m talking about,” Pine said.
Well, the “Trekkers” have noticed the jab they took on “SNL.” On the fan site Trekmovie.com, one commentator using the name James Heaney wrote, “Oh my Q… Chris Pine doesn’t know what a *Heisenberg compensator* is? We’re all screwed.”
Then there’s their reaction to the movie. On the Twitter feed TReKiE, one commentator using the name DestroyTwitter wrote that he thought the film was “clearly made for the masses.”
“Big loud action sequences at senseless cost to canon, for no apparent real reason,” the commentator wrote.
But not all the Internet reaction about the movie and its actors is negative.
“I would say that Abrams and (company) pulled it off and that Trek is back with a vengeance and that Hardcore trekies who wanted it to fail didn’t get their wish,” wrote one commentator using the name Garovorkin on Trekmovie.com.
Everything seems to be a battle in Star Trek fandom. Trekmovie.com contained plenty of comments suggesting fans should be called Trekkers, not Trekkies. But the uninitiated have no reason to feel bad. Even Leonard Nimoy, appearing on “SNL,” jokingly got it wrong for a second.
“I have spent many years of my life among trekkies, er trekkers, and they have been among the best years of my life,” Nimoy said.
How does that sit with the Trekkies, er Trekkers?
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Oh, and the movie SUCKED!!!!!!
- Posted by JosephLiked the action, CGI, and the use of TOS characters. Hated the design, the weak story, the pointless monster, the Apple II computer Bridge, with a Budweiser Engineering deck! Those were very large Beer kegs used to keep Scotty intoxicated.
I bet not a single person who posted on here are “trek fans”. Probably more JJ fans if anything.
This movie had so many errors, I’m certain it’s too large to list, and would bore you, the “supposed” trek fans, with useless details.
And what the hell was the monster scene all about? Any of you even notice that it was the same monster in clover field? Don’t tell me you creamed your pants for that one!
And the MTV crowd is at work.
Joe
- Posted by JosephYou know the more I think about it, other than one big item, not one thing that happened in the movie really flies in the face of the known trek history. Vulcan being destroyed? How do we know it wasn’t?? How do we know that the Vulcan in the tv series and throughout the movies isn’t the planet Spock mentions finding at the end of the movie? Not hard to rename a planet Vulcan? We have no knowledge from the show or movies of how the crew came to be, so we have to assume this movies amply explains it. The ship fits into the mold. Looks a little more like a ferrari than the pinto we grew up with! : ) The one thing that I think they should not have done. Spock’s mother should not have died. That’s the one thing for me that really sours it for me a little. She didn’t die, we know she didn’t die. We see her on the tv show, and in several of the movies. By killing her off, they made all the other things seem like much begger deals, even though they shouldn’t be. I didn’t want a reboot. I didn’t want a do over. I wanted to see the old crew in action as young vibrant youthful people again. I wanted to see how it all began, and see adventures that happened outside the tv episodes leading up to where the original star trek movie began. Why Hollywood insists on scewing with everything is beyond me. Don’t get me wrong. I LOVED this movie, and will try like hell to go see it again and will be forst in line to by it. But it was unnecessary to screw around with it. Reintroduce the newbies to what we all knew and loved about the old characters, in a new a fresh way. Just don’t give us any twists! Not needed, not wanted!
- Posted by bigtrekfanDear Alex Dobunskis,
Do you ever do any actual research when you write an article or do you like to direct the news to fit your needs? If you had actually known what the writer of the comments intended you would realize that he was making a joke. As far as leading people to belive that there is a great feeling of negativity on the internet about this new movie, I kindly direct you to the majority of the comments on Trekmovie. I would say that you’d find the majority to be overwhelmingly positive. Most of us Trek fans have been going multiple times to this movie. Hardly the thing a negative fan would do. Also, take a gander at the box office returns.
- Posted by THX-1138I am James Heaney, who was quoted in the article. Yes, I was being ironic. I do wish Reuters paid a little more attention to context, but I’m honoured to be the second TrekMovie commenter to be completely misunderstood by the mainstream media.
I can only hope to one day be as cool as Sean of the “THIS IS A DISASTER” incident.
- Posted by James HeaneyIt’s sad how many so called “journalists” do their jobs. From this article it is clear, that the author doesn’t even grasp a basic concept like irony. Maybe he should get another job.
- Posted by Unbel1everI’m sorry Brian but if you are such a big fan of Trek then alternate realities shouldn’t be a hard concept to grasp, it has been done many times and this latest Trek is another example it. Get a grip man!
- Posted by JonathanIf you are a fan of the old Star Trek DO NO GO SEE THIS MOVIE! It is NOT Star Trek! As a matter of fact, they ruined Star Trek in the first five minutes. If they make another (and they will) they MUST fix the errors that they created, or I will not go to see it. When it comes out, I will wait to hear if the original plot line has been repaired, and if it is not, I will write off Star Trek forever! I can’t believe that they were so disrespectful to the integrity of such a beloved series.
- Posted by Brianthat “we’re screwed” comment on Trekmovie.com was an obvious joke. most Trekkies I know have wicked senses of humah! I’m a Trekkie (going on 30 years, NOT living in my parents’ basement, thank you very much) and I have no problems with what this movie has accomplished. I love it and so do many other Trekkies I know. and no, I don’t wanna be a “Trekker”. it’s an idiotic distinction anyway. “Trekkies” rolls off the tongue nicely, notwithstanding Denise Crosby’s inane shockumentary.
- Posted by indraneeWait until you cross me Enterprise! HAHAHAHAHA!
- Posted by General Tso of the KlingonsJeez, people… Most of the comments that you’re quoting were obviously meant tongue-in-cheek in the first place. What is it with news outlets wanting to portray Star Trek fans as hating the new movie? At worst it’s a vocal minority, and, honestly, they aren’t even all that vocal. If you wanted to see Star Trek fans in an uproar, you should’ve browsed the Trek sites when Nemesis premiered and Enterprise was on the air.
Learn to take a joke or risk becoming one yourselves. Stop trying to make a story that isn’t there.
http://trekmovie.com/2009/05/07/some-mai nstream-media-continue-to-misundersand-a nd-misrepresent-trek-fans/
https://twitter.com/TrekMovie/statuses/1 782443101
http://trekmovie.com/2008/05/27/trekmovi ecom-comments-being-taken-too-seriously/
- Posted by Roger40 years of Star Trek information down the toilet. I’ve followed Star Trek since it started on TV and continue to watch all the movies, series and episodes hundreds of time, And I can seriously say, I did not like it. The new Enterprise looks stupid.
- Posted by GeeYou do know that SNL is a joke, and so was the comment about Heisenberg compensator’s which is itself a joke. Since according to Heisenberg a transporter is impossible, so star trek writers made the compensator….. Most trek fan’s are happy, these hard core nuts have been ruining other fans perception of thier beloved show for 2 or more years with their constant whining. Most hate them. Trekkies are a mixed bunch, and despite what the show preaches there isn’t as much tolerance as you’d think.
- Posted by HugoDestroyTwitter is the name of a Twitter posting client, not the name of a person. The person’s name is clearly shown on the right sidebar of the user’s profile.
That shows just how well the author was paying attention.
- Posted by NathanAs a Scotsman I feel it only appropriate to quote Scotty when referring to people who go on about Trek Canon being broken, “Get tae …” if you’re from Britain you’ll know how that one ends.
- Posted by Jonathan