There are MANY things the producers of these new Star Trek films don't understand about the nature of Star Trek. They don't understand what made it enduring. They don't understand the heart of the show. They don't understand what hooked the original viewers.
It would take pages for me to explain how this franchise is just so totally off base. But I'll just stress one point.
The reason this film didn't do well is because the producers don't understand that the viewers, and especially trekkers, do not want to pay money to see the Federation defeated and particularly not to see the Enterprise destroyed. Nevertheless, in every one of the new films the bold and powerful starship Enterprise is beaten up or destroyed.
Each and every time.
One of the best and most loved of the original Treks is the episode BALANCE OF TERROR. The Enterprise with Kirk dueling it out with a tough Romulan ship. There were plenty of opportunities for us to see the characters interact and grow. But also importantly, the Enterprise-- our ship--was able to face up to the enemy. It took some blows, but it gave as good as it got. Ultimately Kirk and his crew bested the Romulans.
Episodes like that made us happy and proud of the Enterprise. It's much like Han's ship in STAR WARS, or even the ship and crew in FORBIDDEN PLANET, those ships and crews had to fight, but they won.
Look at our favorite real ships in history--The USS Constitution "Old Ironsides," The Monitor, the air craft carriers Intrepid, Hornet and Enterprise. They are revered because they were not destroyed in Battle. Rather, they and their crews fought hard and won.
The most loved Treks-- BALANCE OF TERROR, THE CORBOMITE MANEUVER, THE WRATH OF KHAN, THE JOURNEY TO BABEL, all (and in truth many others like them) had the Enterprise engaged in battle, took some hits, but won out.
Now with that 50 year history of Trek, and more than 225 years of American history of adoring our victors, the producers of This movie and the other new trek movies have decided that destroying the Enterprise is more entertaining.
Well, you got away with it in the first film.
You Barely got away with it in the second.
But this third film, it all caught up you.
There are so many other things wrong with these movies--Kirk as a reactionary kid, who won't sit in the captain's seat for 5 minutes; the interior of the Enterprise, at times, looks like a beverage factory; the precise language of the old Enterprise has been replaced with kiddie language. Every time I hear the captain yell, "punch it." I just want to scream.
50 years of history, more than 700 episodes, and you basically throw it all out--and for what? Warmed up cartoon dialogue, and plots that would embarrass first year film students.
Yes, it's Star Trek Beyond.
Beyond ridiculous, that is.
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