“We didn’t sign up to be warriors. That’s not what Starfleet is about. We proved that we could do what we needed to do to defend the Federation.”
Captain Kelvar Garth in “Prelude to Axanar”
I’m a huge fan of most of Star Trek — pre-relaunch that is. Sure, the special effects of “Star Trek” and “Star Trek — Into Darkness” are nice, but it’s lost its subtlety. Star Trek was mostly for sci-fi fans (geeks, nerds, and the like), it wasn’t supposed to appeal to the mainstream. And given that it is no longer for people who like to think and imagine, but for everyone, it has nothing deep to offer anymore.
I mean, where’s the humanism? Star Trek was never (solely) about space and action. It usually had a message and a certain perspective. It believed in mankind, while recognizing its flaws and limitations. Whether it’s to raise out of the ashes of a global war, create a just society, or “just” interact with people (species even) completely different than one’s own. And yeah, the aliens were us — skewed/extreme versions of tendencies humans have.
Going by the last two Star Trek movies, I guess the only thing we can be thankful for is that J. J. Abrams didn’t pull a “Star Wars Episode I” like “child hero flick with an obnoxious sidekick”.
But hey, there are fan-made movies, and waow, Prelude to Axanar (Wikipedia) is something (YouTube Link) to watch. Very well done, actually believable Star Trek. Much, much better in tone than the relaunches:
It keeps the ideals of the Federation (see quotation in the beginning of this posting, or the one below), it sees the conflict (war) more as a race in science and engineering than in … uh, individual “heroism”. And much more. Yeah, this is Star Trek, you see the potential.
“We are facing an enemy that is consumed and committed to our total destruction. An enemy that demands to be fought, and we will fight. But I say to you our greatest challenge is not the might of a Klingon fleet. The greatest challenge lying before us is to do what must be done without undoing the dream of the Federation. For myself, I have but one fear: Destroying the dream of the Federation. Compared to such a loss I do not fear the Klingon Empire.”
Admiral Ramirez’ first address to the Federation, STARDATE 2243.2
Of course, things aren’t all well. While the campaign to raise money for a full length movie was very successful, now Paramount Pictures steps in and tries to prevent another fan-made movie. Seems like they are too successful for Paramount to allow. Not that surprising, after all, Paramount has pretty much pimped out the ideals Star Trek stood for. Hmm, this comment I once saw on YouTube pretty much covers it.
I think it was in reply to the new “Star Trek Beyond” trailer (“beyond” what? quality? hope? I mean, I like action flicks, but it just is not Star Trek anymore.)
It’s going to interesting how Paramount fares — they might run into some difficulties here. 😀
Hmmm, and I hope the fan-made project prevails. These are some highly skilled people who work on something beautiful — it would be a shame if they did not succeed. In any case, if you like Star Trek or sci-fi in general, it’s something to follow:
- http://www.axanarproductions.com
- http://www.facebook.com/startrekaxanar
- http://www.twitter.com/startrekaxanar
- http://www.youtube.com/startrekaxanar
Update (2016-04-09): Added another quotation.
