SmartRemarks

Leonard Nimoy as Future!Spock in Star Trek (2009)

There has been ongoing concern in fan circles over whether J.J. Abrams’ upcoming Star Trek film will be in keeping with the spirit of Trek as we’ve come to know it over 40+ years. I’ve written about it myself, but I’m far from the only one… and Abrams himself hasn’t exactly quelled such concerns with remarks like his recent statement to TV Guide that “it’s really made for future fans of ‘Star Trek,’ not existing ones.” Such statements may warm the hearts of executives at Paramount, but we existing fans want to like this movie too.

In an interview last week, screenwriter Bob Orci attempted to ease these concerns, emphasizing that he and co-writer Alex Kurtzman are dedicated Trek fans (unlike Abrams) and that they’ve made sure to tie this film into existing Trek continuity in a way that fans will appreciate. The way he describes this, however, has caused more consternation than it’s resolved.

Many of the concerns so far have been about the differences seen in the trailer—in the Enterprise, the bridge, and perhaps most significantly the backstory of Jim Kirk. The movie has looked suspiciously like a reboot, rather than a story within Trek’s familiar fictional reality.

Long story short? What’s the inside scoop? It’s like this:

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I am, not to mince words, a voracious reader. (I’m not as fast a reader as I’d like, so voraciousness only gets me so far, but that’s another discussion.) My reading appetites are fairly diverse—I spend time with a good deal of nonfiction material (politics, history, science, philosophy, etc.)—but I’ve never stopped enjoying fiction, either.

A look at what’s published and read these days, however, and especially how it’s received in the culture, reveals some odd disconnects.

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Slate reports that psychologists at UC Berkeley have been using Barack Obama’s speeches (among other stimuli) to study the causes and effects of a previously neglected emotional realm, dubbed “elevation.” Jonathan Chaidt of the University of Virginia, who coined the term, describes it thusly:

Powerful moments of elevation sometimes seem to push a mental ‘reset button,’ wiping out feelings of cynicism and replacing them with feelings of hope, love, and optimism, and a sense of moral inspiration.

It’s that sense of transport, that lump in the throat, that great oratory can evoke. It is, almost literally, an uplifting feeling.

Done badly, it rings hollow and artificial, and only serves to affirm our cynicism. Done well, however, it appeals to something deep within us.

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As noted earlier, I didn’t get to see the new Star Trek trailer on the big screen as anticipated last week… but as is the way of things these days, it was released online this week, for all the world to see. And comment upon. (And satirize. And annotate shot-by-shot. Yes, while I would never deny my own geek status, there are people in this world who score much higher on that meter than I do.)

My personal reaction? Mixed, I have to admit. Certainly not as jazzed as I was by the first “teaser” trailer last winter.

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On Tuesday EW.com released a preview picture of the U.S.S. Enterprise from director J.J. Abrams’ reboot of Star Trek. (More can reportedly be seen as of today in the new trailer appearing in front of A Quantum of Solace.)

Here it is:

And I have to say…

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The news broke this week that DC Comics is cancelling Legion of Super-Heroes. (Whoops: putting it on “indefinite hiatus.”)

Says DC’s Executive Editor Dan DiDio, “50 seemed like a really nice number to bring this series to a conclusion.” This oh-so-carefully considered reasoning evidently superseded the fact that writer Jim Shooter was in the middle of an extended storyline projected to conclude four months later in #54. Or the fact that 2008 is the 50th anniversary of the Legion, which was the very first super-team of the Silver Age when it debuted in 1958. Or the fact that Legion (while not an A-list title in recent years) has bumped in sales since Shooter (a fan-favorite on the Legion since his original run in the 1960s) came aboard, and has been selling a steady 25-30,000 copies a month, far more than other titles like Birds of Prey, Blue Beetle, or Jonah Hex. (Nothing against those titles; all are critical favorites, and I’m not suggesting they should be cancelled. OTOH, the critically disregarded Simon Dark only sells about 12,000 copies, yet doesn’t appear to be on the chopping block).
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