Can a franchise that was rebooted as recently as 2009 with just two films under its belt really face a cross-roads already?
JJ Abrams alternate universe has proved that yes, it certainly can. Here I ponder just why that is.
The new time-line presented to audiences in 2009 was received with a mixed to positive view from fans. Casual viewers reacted more favourably to the changes with new actors portraying the original series classic crew, bringing together a healthy blend of freshness and familiarity.
It was the 2013 sequel Star Trek Into Darkness that began to shift opinion from more devout fans towards negativity. The summer blockbuster was of course a major box office success, becoming the 11th highest grossing film of the year and earning $470m in the process.
Don’t get me wrong, Into Darkness was a hugely enjoyable summer action sequel. It was bold, colourful and entertaining with some wonderful action set-pieces and stunning visuals. However when you look beyond the surface, as many fans do, the cracks were more than visible and in many cases, quite unforgivable.
In addition to curing death the film also presented technology which rendered star ships obsolete. Attempts to pay homage to the Wrath of Khan were criticised by fans as not only going too far, but being extremely unnecessary. The mass destruction of San Francisco at the films climax was also received negatively, with one particularly scathing video-review describing it as ‘9/11 times ten’.
Indeed the number of people who would have lost their lives in this sequence would have been staggering; this is conveniently not an issue in the films clichéd ending speech. Neither is the impending war with the Klingons, which had apparently been such a key aspect at the beginning of the story.
In shifting the focus of the sequel to a glossy Wrath of Khan remake the film series has arrived at an early cross-road, one not usually confronted until a trilogy has at least been completed. Kirk and his crew are yet to do any exploring whatsoever, which has lead to them boldly going only to places plenty of people have been before; it’s lead to things requiring a shake-up already, with Bob Orci set to be the one trusted to provide this now JJ Abrams has shifted focus to Star Wars.
The appointment of Orci as director for the third instalment has also failed to inspire, fans are expecting more of the same from such a close member of Abrams’ team, particularly after his infamous “there’s a reason I get to write movies and you don’t” response in the face of fan-lead criticism.
It is likely that the Enterprise will face another ‘huge bad-ass space ship’ in another fight to save the world. In going down this all too predictable route it would seem the franchise will stop in its tracks once again. It is hard to see the cast returning for a fourth outing, particularly when the formula can so quickly become exhausted.
Indeed if rumours of Shatner’s return for Star Trek 3 come to fruition it seems likely the ideas are running thin.
Star Trek was always at its best away from pandering to the needs of the big screen dollars. Its next incarnation will be yet another intriguing development.
