Thursday, May 23, 2013

Star Trek Into Darkness thoughts: It's about parallel worlds

I am a huge fan of Fringe, which is similar in many ways to STID, and is a show created and created by the same creative minds (Abrams, Orci, and Kurzman).

My favorite Trek is DS9, but I am very much enjoying the latest film franchise. 

Following are some thoughts that contain spoilers for both Fringe and STID.

Fringe is a show about (among other things) two alternate Earths coming into contact.

The Earths are subtly different, and the show LOVES to show scenes from subtly different angles.

For example, in one episode, a father on Earth One is shown teaching a coin trick to his son, who is terminally ill. 

On Earth Two, we see the same boy, still terminally ill, who is being taught the same coin trick but by his mother.

We also see that in Earth One, the twin towers were destroyed on 9/11 while on Earth Two, the twin towers were saved, but the Pentagon and White House were destroyed. 

Even seemingly insignificant details are shown to be different, such as Back to the Future starring Eric Stoltz, rather than Michael J. Fox. 

So for those who think a lot of the subtle differences in, for example, the Engine Room scene of STID are just tugging on nostalgia (or- more unkindly, laziness or a lack of creativity), I would strongly disagree.

The subtle differences of a parallel reality are clearly an idea that interested the creative team in 2009. To my mind, it's a great idea and one of my favorite things about this new incarnation of our favorite franchise.

4 comments:

Larry Clapp said...

The first time around, I got to the third line ("spoilers for both Fringe and STID") and stopped reading.

Since I've now seen STID, and read the whole blog, I have to say: I wouldn't call those spoilers. Except to the extent that saying "It's a new movie, not an episode of TOS" is also a spoiler.

And also: I didn't notice any differences that I frankly would not have attributed to a larger budget and better special effects.

All that being said, if I had, I'd've had the same reaction. I like that there are subtle differences. It's an alternate time stream, that's kind of the point.

I'm wondering what the Big Bad of the next movie will be. (Or is that already common knowledge? :) The Doomsday Machine? Gary Mitchell? The Horta? (Okay, probably not. :)

When will Q show up cackling that it was all part of the plan, that's what I want to know. "All Good Things indeed", he would snort, and then turn Kirk into a petunia.

Desert Rat said...

I hated this movie more every time I thought about it.

If it's an Alternate Timeline, why does Abrams need to revisit Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan to the point that it's the same basic plot with the Spock and Kirk characters switching roles?

It works in Fringe (though I'm only now watching that series) because I haven't already seen 35 years worth of Fringe...it's canon about parallel Earths was being written on the fly.

If you're going to create an alternate timeline (which by the way, doesn't work for many hardcore Trekkies of a certain age, and is irrelevant to anybody under about age 30, whose never really seen much Trek outside of maybe the gawd-awful Enterprise series and the Abrams films), why not just write original stories and plots?

That dog might hunt for one movie, but if Abrams tries to get this cute with the inevitable second sequel, he will finally drive the final nail into the Star Trek coffin.

Unknown said...

Excellent article, just another request, would you be able to elaborate the fourth paragraph in more depth please? Thanks

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