A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Star Trek Beyond (2016) Written by Simon Pegg & Doug Jung Directed by Justin Lin Starring: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban,  Simon Pegg, John Cho, Zoe Saldana, Anton Yelchin, Sofia Boutella, and Idris Elba Star Trek is perhaps one of the most successful franchises of all time, and maybe even one of the luckiest, at that. Considering that it got its start as a science fiction television series which only aired for three seasons on NBC, Gene Roddenberry's creation went on to spin off five television series (including Star Trek: The Animated Series ) and 13 feature films. Not including Paramount/CBS Studios' income from the various TV shows, Star Trek - the franchise's film element, anyway, - has earned $2,266, 473, 168 at the global box office. ($1,400,952,879 of that comes from the North American domestic market.) Thus it's not surprising that Paramount asked producer J.J. Abrams to give fans a new Star Trek film set in the alternate (or Kelvin) timel

(C) 2016 CBS Studios  Pros:  Gerrold's script, fine performances, good directing by Joe Pevney Cons:  None, unless you have the sense of humor of a Klingon Captain's Log: Stardate 4523.3 While on routine patrol in Federation space, the  Enterprise  received a Priority One distress call - the Federation's communications protocol for near- or total disaster - from Deep Space Station K-7, which is located near the strategically important world known as Sherman's Planet. Claimed by both the Federation and the Klingon Empire, this otherwise insignificant planet has a small settlement dependent on food shipments - basically grain - from outside. Because the Organian Peace Treaty stipulates that the planet belongs to the government that can best populate it using peaceful means, it is imperative that the  Enterprise  investigate the nature of the distress call.... Star Trek , as originally conceived by series creator Gene Roddenberry, was intended to be

Pros:  Interesting, if slightly flawed concept.  Good script.  Nice acting. Cons:  Tends to perpetuate the myth of Nazi efficiency.  Otherwise, none. Patterns of Force:  Parallel Worlds, TV Production Politics and  Star Trek  Explained  Considering the socio-cultural and financial success of Paramount’s  Star Trek  franchise – a multi-media colossus rivaled perhaps only by J.K. Rowling’s  Harry Potter  and George Lucas’  Star Wars  empires – over the past 46 years, it’s hard to remember the reality that Gene Roddenberry’s Original Series was not given too much support from NBC,  the network on which it originally aired. Of course, to those fans who saw  Star Trek  during its broadcast network run (1966-1969) and those who latched on to Trekker status in the decade that followed its cancellation and eventual rebirth in syndication, the show’s struggles to survive on the air is part of the  Star Trek  legend.   Star Trek  was, after all, the first show in history to be saved

When director J.J. Abrams and his collaborators Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, and Roberto Orci decided to set 2009's  Star Trek  in an alternate timeline apart from  The Original Series  and its spinoffs, they did it to achieve creative freedom. Abrams and his creative team knew that simply inserting a young cast into the established Trek universe would not work.  Star Trek's  lore is nearly a half-century old, and the franchise's loyal fans wouldn't have accepted a reboot that attempted to inject the new cast into the 1966-69 William Shatner-Leonard Nimoy-DeForest Kelley troika's adventures. The effect, I think, would have been too jarring. Star Trek 's time travel-created alternate timeline thus gave Abrams & Co. the necessary flexibility to reinvigorate Gene Roddenberry's old series. As Abrams pointed out in an interview:  "The idea, now that we are in an independent timeline, allows us to use any of the ingredients from the past -