July 7, 2010

Can Star Trek Be More Like Batman?

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: TrekToday

Though it is highly unlikely that there will be a crazed clown running around causing mayhem in “Star Trek XII”, producer Bryan Burke is hoping to mold the sequel to J.J. Abrams 2009 “Trek” reboot after Christopher Nolan’s amazing film, “The Dark Knight.”

In a recent interview with Trekmovie.com, Burke explained how his vision for the next “Star Trek” film will be a little bit darker and bigger in scope than the film that proceeded it, stating, “I can tell you as we go into it, that our aspirations are for the movie to be even bigger and better than the first one. I don’t mean that just in scope, I mean content and characters and emotionally. We had a lot of conversations about ‘Batman Begins’ and how that movie kind of re-invented that franchise, and we looked at what ‘The Dark Knight’ did and how that really ramped it up and they went to a different place with that film, and how those two films keep re-inventing themselves and are not the same thing every time. So we have strong ideas of what we want to do and we are hoping that this one is an even bigger film than the last one.”

According to the producer, that means expanding the depth of the characters as well, “I feel like, particular with the last film, we brought a lot of people into the Star Trek universe who either hadn’t been there before or hadn’t been there in a while, and now that you know who these characters are, we are hoping to take grander and bigger steps with the characters, emotionally. The stakes will be bigger and people will be more invested.”

In recent interviews director J.J. Abrams echoed many of Burke’s sentiments about expanding on what has already been established in regards to this new series of “Trek” films stating, “The ambition for a sequel to ‘Star Trek’ is to make a movie that’s worthy of the audience and not just another movie, you know, just a second movie that feels tacked on…There needs to be relevance, yes, and that doesn’t mean it should be pretentious. If there are simple truths, truths connected to what we live, that elevates any story, that’s true with any story.”

In other words, a “Star Trek” film, that yet takes place in the future, but still will be grounded enough to appeal to an audience in 2012 (the films proposed release date).

Do the fans really want to see a sci fi movie centered around modern social issues? According to producer Robert Orchi, the answer is a resounding, yes. “We got a lot of fan response from the first one and a considerable amount of critical response and one of the things we heard was, ‘Make sure the next one deals with modern-day issues.’ We’re trying to keep it as up-to-date and as reflective of what’s going on today as possible. So that’s one thing, to make it reflect the things that we are all dealing with today.”

Interesting? I generally go to see sci fi and fantasy films to escape the modern world and all of it’s problems.

Though it should be noted that many of the greatest sci films of all-time had relevant social and political overtones to their stories. Both “Planet of the Apes” and “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, are two fine examples of that.

So, who will the Enterprise crew be facing off against in “Star Trek XII”? Klingons? Romulans? Ferengi? Well, no one has said for sure, but it seems that Abrams is leaning towards one of the original series most nastiest races, the Gorn.

Abrams quips, “I have to admit, the [‘Star Trek’ sequel] is really all about the Gorn. We just thought it would be fun… to go Gorn.”

Take that with a large grain of salt though, Abrams was joking around with a writer from MTV when he made those comments.

A darker and grittier “Trek”? That could be the coolest thing ever!

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