Star Trek: Into Darkness

[HaemishM]

I had those 70's TOS toys. They were fucking awesome. They were also the larger sized figures which went away shortly after Star Wars toys became such huge hits. Prior to Star Wars, toy merchandising simply was not that huge a business for movies or TV shows. George Lucas absolutely RAPED the entire toy market and changed the landscape forever. Star Trek TMP did have toys but they weren't very good compared to the Star Wars and GI Joe lines at the time (but then nothing was). The movie itself wasn't a big hit with the toys because the movie itself was SO not aimed for kids or mainstream audiences. Khan would have been a much more toy-oriented movie and I think did have toys but again - Star Wars and GI Joe pretty much dominated the market.

[croaker69]

My friend had the set of walkie-talkies that looked like communicators. I'm still jealous.

[Ratman_tf]

Star Trek toys existed, but where rare as hell compared to every other action figure type toy that they went up against.  The toys always felt like pure after thought they put no marketing effort into.

Er, wat HaemishM said. SW changed the face of merch for movies. We all know that.
Transformers was a bit different, in that it was a movie based on an existing merch line. They just came round full circle.

[Samwise]

Just for fun, I just watched the Plinkett Star Trek: The Star Trek review so I could jot down the list of Star Trek things he listed as what the average person knows about Star Trek.  Most of these were referenced in the most recent movie.

• Beam me up, Scotty
• The Star Trek Enterprise
• Dr. Spock
• Live Long and Prosper, aka the Spock Hand Thing (can you do it LOL I can)
• Warp Speed
• Set Phasers to Stun
• Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a...
• He's dead, Jim
• Klingons
• Kirk fights Spock with the things (da da DAH DAH da DAH DAH DAH)
• Photon torpedos
• Tribbles
• Kirk fights the lizard guy
• The people with the half-black half-white faces

I don't think we've actually had a "Beam me up, Scotty" yet, or a "He's dead, Jim," or Kirk fighting Spock with the things, or the half-black half-white faces.  I'm going to call now that we get all of those in the next movie except for the black and white face people.

[Rendakor]

Kirk fighting Spock with the things? Huh?

[Samwise]

Kirk fighting Spock with the things? Huh?

Da da DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH da da DAH DAH

We haven't seen Spock do a pon farr yet in these movies, despite having lots of comical/dramatic potential and being a good classic Trek reference (besides the famous "Amok Time" fight scene it's also in Search for Spock).  I think it's gonna happen.

[Rendakor]

Oh, those. I was thinking of the Klingon sword-things.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I think listing things people know about trek with such basic things and then blaming the movie for having them is a bit much.  Of the list that were in this movie....


    The Star Trek Enterprise
    Dr. Spock
    Live Long and Prosper, aka the Spock Hand Thing (can you do it LOL I can)
    Warp Speed
    Set Phasers to Stun
    Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a...
    Klingons
    Photon torpedos
    Tribbles

Are in just about every trek movie/episode.  Really are we considering it pandering to have warp speed or the fucking enterprise?  Of that entire list only two things were indeed blatant fan nods and you can like/dislike that if you want. It was the "damn it jim..." and the tribble but all the other stuff is ridiculous to call the movie out for.

[Samwise]

I believe I have already complained about the errant Gorn reference (Kirk fights the lizard guy).  

There have been many many Star Trek plots that don't revolve around Klingons.  But they're the most well-known adversary, so if you're going for lowest common denominator name recognition, you're gonna throw some Klingons in there.

[Lakov_Sanite]

I don't wanna nitpick really but introducing klingons in this latest movie was the best possible way to do it since it wasn't excessive.

[Ironwood]

Kirk fighting Spock with the things? Huh?

Da da DAH DAH DAH DAH DAH da da DAH DAH

We haven't seen Spock do a pon farr yet in these movies, despite having lots of comical/dramatic potential and being a good classic Trek reference (besides the famous "Amok Time" fight scene it's also in Search for Spock).  I think it's gonna happen.

They are called Lirpa and Ahn'woon.

I wish I could tell you I looked that up.  I wish I could tell you I knew that from a game.

I wish, I wish...

[Khaldun]

Kroykah!

[Lantyssa]

Oh, those. I was thinking of the Klingon sword-things.

They were in it.  One of the dudes chasing Kirk was using one.

[K9]

Just for fun, I just watched the Plinkett Star Trek: The Star Trek review so I could jot down the list of Star Trek things he listed as what the average person knows about Star Trek.  Most of these were referenced in the most recent movie.

• Beam me up, Scotty
• The Star Trek Enterprise
• Dr. Spock
• Live Long and Prosper, aka the Spock Hand Thing (can you do it LOL I can)
• Warp Speed
• Set Phasers to Stun
• Damn it Jim, I'm a doctor not a...
• He's dead, Jim
• Klingons
• Kirk fights Spock with the things (da da DAH DAH da DAH DAH DAH)
• Photon torpedos
• Tribbles
• Kirk fights the lizard guy
• The people with the half-black half-white faces

I don't think we've actually had a "Beam me up, Scotty" yet, or a "He's dead, Jim," or Kirk fighting Spock with the things, or the half-black half-white faces.  I'm going to call now that we get all of those in the next movie except for the black and white face people.

I'm surprised 'Resistance is futile' isn't in there. The Borg are the iconic bad guys from TNG; or was this list specific to ToS and the first six movies?

[HaemishM]

Please God, never let the Abrams Trek use the Borg. EVER.

The Borg lost their interest for me right after the Picard-Borg episode.

[UnSub]

They are called Lirpa and Ahn'woon.

I wish I could tell you I looked that up.  I wish I could tell you I knew that from a game.

I wish, I wish...

It's okay - you're among friends here.

[eldaec]

Is there even going to be another Abrams/Lindelhof movie?

[Merusk]

I wouldn't think so, but you never know how comfortable Disney and Paramount are trading directors between properties. 

That there will be a 3rd movie shouldn't even be questioned.  It's nearly made its production cost on Domestic gross alone. (190m PC/ 183 DG)

[Rendakor]

Oh, those. I was thinking of the Klingon sword-things.

They were in it.  One of the dudes chasing Kirk was using one.

Hence my original confusion.

[Khaldun]

Please God, never let the Abrams Trek use the Borg. EVER.

The Borg lost their interest for me right after the Picard-Borg episode.

Lindelof and Orci have already said in interviews that they're very attracted to the "iconic" nature of the Borg.

[Samwise]

Please God, never let the Abrams Trek use the Borg. EVER.

The Borg lost their interest for me right after the Picard-Borg episode.

Lindelof and Orci have already said in interviews that they're very attracted to the "iconic" nature of the Borg.

 

[Ratman_tf]

Yeah, Borg would be my #2 guess, and since I didn't post that beforehand, I look like a "Of course!" dweeb.  

I had figured the reboot would stay away from TNG+ Trek references, since it was all "boring", but I guess not.

[Ratman_tf]

ah quote myself

[HaemishM]

Lindelof and Orci have already said in interviews that they're very attracted to the "iconic" nature of the Borg.

FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK

[Lakov_Sanite]

Would a borg "origin story" be so bad? They never really went in depth with them beyond being a scifi boogeyman.

[Ironwood]

Society invents nanites.  Nanites go mental.

Or

Society relies more and more on machines, lose emotions, go mental.

It's really not an interesting story and it's been done better elsewhere.

[HaemishM]

I've come to hate the Borg almost as much as I hate fucking Venom in the Spider-Man universe. Fuck the Borg. An origin story with them in the nuTrek universe would be much less interesting than a Klingon war.

[Lantyssa]

Kirk must deal with Spock going into rut at a time when the Federation and Klingon Empire have gone to war, only the Borg show up due to Q's interference, forcing them to cooperate.

[Father mike]

Kirk must deal with Spock going into rut at a time when the Federation and Klingon Empire have gone to war, only the Borg show up due to Q's interference, forcing them to cooperate.

Those guys who imposed the Treaty of Organia -- they're totally going to be Qs now.  Just another faction that's benevolent ... for no really good reason 

[Montague]

Please God, never let the Abrams Trek use the Borg. EVER.

The Borg lost their interest for me right after the Picard-Borg episode.

Lindelof and Orci have already said in interviews that they're very attracted to the "iconic" nature of the Borg.

The reason the Borg worked in TNG is because it turned the usual "Picard talks his way out of trouble\Geordi reverses the Tachyon field harmonics" trope on its head. The Borg couldn't be reasoned with and the usual technobabble didnt work (at least at first). That those two retards would say this doesn't surprise me. The more I read about these idiots the more I'm convinced that Abrams (who's not a Trek nerd to begin with) isn't so much at fault for this movie's problems.

[HaemishM]

This movie's problems started at the script. The concept wasn't a bad one (remake of Khan problems aside), but the execution of the narrative was really weak.

[UnSub]

Society invents nanites.  Nanites go mental.

Or

Society relies more and more on machines, lose emotions, go mental.

It's really not an interesting story and it's been done better elsewhere.

Science invents nanites who can love, but they love too much.

[adjunct]

Even the ToS had an extensive toy line in the early 70s.

I had the Kirk and Spock "action figures" that were mostly dolls.

[Margalis]

The Borg (in TNG at least) are interesting in a few ways:

1. They are an existential threat
2. They are immune to normal Star Trek solutions (good observation Montague)
3. Perhaps because of A & B, the stories involving them tended to explore interesting territory

First Contact wasn't very good (although it was good for a TNG movie) because it focused almost exclusively on the first two. It was just a good guys fight bad guys movie, which is not the forte of Trek.

Here is a rundown of the TNG episodes involving them:

"Q Who?" - this episode is fundamentally about the hubris of man and ends with Picard and crew being humbled and begging Q to save them after enduring pointless deaths out of pride.

"Best of Both Worlds" is both a big action / adventure thing but also a very character-driven story. This is the most similar to First Contact, but this succeeds because the central plot point is the possible loss of Picard, whereas First Contact was largely about a character nobody cared about introduced in that movie.

"I Borg" is about the ethics of potentially justified genocide, and "Descent" is about the well-intentioned actions in "I Borg" leading to some unpredictable results.

In the hands of Lindelof and Orci/Kurtzman I assume they would just become a race of generic terminators. "Trek crew fights Borg" is not by itself interesting.

[adjunct]

Would a borg "origin story" be so bad? They never really went in depth with them beyond being a scifi boogeyman.

I'm guessing you didn't watch much Voyager.

If they do use the Borg, I expect they'll fuse it together with V'ger.