I think I’m on the record as someone who doesn’t think much of Star Trek in all its many incarnations. If I’m not on the record, then let me go on the record right now; I don’t think much of the Enterprise, its crew, its five year mission, or any of the sequels no matter how many times Patrick Stewart says “make it so,” or whatever.
My long time disinterest in Star Trek means that I’m not really looking forward to J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek “reboot” movie set to be released next May. Abrams, almost sensing my indifference, was interviewed by Associated Press and spends a lot of time basically saying “this is not a film for Star Trek nerds; people with girlfriends should see it, too.” That’s encouraging.
Abrams claims that he wanted to make a Star Trek movie that a non-fan, like myself, will want to see. He says, quite correctly, "the whole point was to try to make this movie for fans of movies, not fans of Star Trek, necessarily.” Makes perfect sense to me. He doesn’t want to toss everything out, but just wants “to take the characters, the thoughtfulness, the personalities, the sense of adventure, the idea of humanity working together, the sense of social commentary and innovation, all that stuff. To take it and apply it in a way that felt genuinely thrilling." In other words, to take characters that are familiar to everyone and make an actual good film out of them.
What about all them kooky Trekkies or Trekkers and the fact that if you mess with their precious history or timeline or mythology, they’ll be all pissed at you? Abrams doesn’t seem to care that much. "You can't really make a movie for them. As soon as you start to guess what you think they are going to want to see, you're in trouble. You have to make the movie in many ways for what you want to see yourself, make a movie you believe in. Then you're not second-guessing an audience you don't really have an understanding of." In other words, you can’t please that group anyway, so make a good movie and hopefully some of them and millions of people who don’t spend weekends learning Klingon will come see it.
Does that mean it blows off all the things that has made Star Trek an, inexplicable in my view, cultural phenomenon these past forty years. Well, Abrams pays lip service to the old ways but leaves himself loopholes he could transport William Shatner’s ass through. "I feel like this is so unlike what you expect, so unlike the Star Trek you've seen. At the same time, it's being true to what's come before, honoring it." So, it’s going to be completely different, but somehow honoring. “Honoring,” of course, means that it won’t really be like the old movies and tv shows except in the names of the characters. That’s a good thing.
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Abrams-Says-Star-Trek-For-Non-Fans-8718.html