Star Trek 2009

I liked the Tribles, but thay were unarmed.





David

They've all had their weak, goofy episodes with some really ridiculous characters but I didn't get that "Voyager" was fixated on religion or drugs. TOS began to actually make fun of itself with some really sketchy episodes that bordered on silliness. It wasn't hard for SNL to do a parody. Paramount braved it through the third in the series with bottomed-out ratings.

"Enterprise" was initiated on the cusp of wide screen HD and they should have tried to sell it to a network instead of the syndication marketing. Our local Channel 13 was airing it in a shrunken image which would fill a wide screen TV on zoom. The resolution was close to DVD but when one sees it on HD Net, it's spectacular CGI. The series went the complete opposite from TOS, nixing the garish, clashing colors (Roddenberry apparently though, "Hey, it's color TV -- we can pick it up with noxious, overbearing colors) and was darker than any previous ST. It only had a bit of lightweight humor and one episode more-or-less funny. TNG took itself seriously and it worked, but it was as if they hired an interior designer to coordinated all the colors. I think that's what put the ratings down the drain, not poor scripting, acting or directing.

Going back to try and watch the old non-HD wide screen is like watching old pan-and-scan movies. TNG's movies were very uneven with only "First Contact" memorable. Well, again, the Borgs are back, and in spades with the queen showing up.

Oh, thanks -- not into being Trekkie but any science fiction that makes it onto the "small" screen is an event and there have been some recent offerings that were just horrible ("Kings" just slipped into the realm of a nightime soap like a futurized "Dallas"). "Fringe" is the only one with more possibilities and it's J. J. Abrams again, the director of the new movie.

TNG retired voluntarily with excellent ratings.

Yes, for a syndication, it was one of the most successful of all time. There's hardly any first-time syndication marketing any more with all the multiple cable networks.

ACtually, I liked the "NExt Generation" best of all the ST franchisees. The original was often corny and the effects were dated even when they ran em (I guess budget constraints were what they were)
SOmetimes you could see the little string on the Enterprise.

Voyager, and Deep Space 9 , and Generations were 'puhhleeeze"

"Next Generation" IMHO made it .

Yeah, I agree. I think Patrick Stewart is the single most important person in the whole franchise. He can act.

STNG is the best of the lot and the movies were the high point of the entire series, but the new blood is, at least, giving it a run for the money it at the box office:

J.J. Abrams' franchise reboot boldly went where no Star Trek movie has gone before, grossing a stellar $72.5 mil from Friday through Sunday, according to early estimates by Hollywood.com Box Office.

That's the second-best opening of 2009 (after X-Men Origins: Wolverine's $85.1 mil last weekend), and it includes a whopping $8.2 mil earned in IMAX showings, a new one-weekend record for the large format (beating The Dark Knight's $6.3 mil). What's more, if you add in the $4 mil that the movie starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto earned in late-Thursday showings, Star Trek has banked an impressive $76.5 mil so far -- well ahead of most expectations.

Box Office Report: 'Star Trek' soars with $72.5 mil debut



http://hollywoodinsider.ew.com/2009/05/borept-trek.html

I saw the movie yesterday. I am a real dyed in the wool Original Series devotee, and I really enjoyed this movie. Didn't know exactly what to expect, but was very pleased with the whole mix of new and old. There were a lot of people my age(original series era) in the theatre who were audibly also very entertained. Whenever there was a subtle (or not so subtle) reference to the old series, they were tickled pink.
I won't spoil here, but there are twists to the Uhura and Spock characters that sort of caught me by suprise.
I really liked the background they laid out for the Kirk/Spock/McCoy characters.
I think Abrams did a heck of a job.

I don't think anyone could see Shatner as Denny Crane (on Boston Legal) and doubt he knows how to get a laugh.

Have you ever seen Shatners interview show on the Biography channel? Its as good as the time he was on the Howard Stern show and was acting like a total douche. (Howard and the boys flayed him neatly)

I just wonder whether SHatner, like some professional wrassler, doesnt prescript these interviews so that he does look like a douche, because its often terribly funny.
There were several comedians who majored in imperfect language skills and tall tale spinning, could Shatner be windingdown his career as another Norm Crosby or Andy Griffith?

I have come to respect Shatner much more these days than in the past. As Denny Crane, he was funny, but tragic, as one slowly surrendering to alzheimer's (they gave him an experimental drug at the end of the series).

It's frightening, isn't it?

We're really a Tribble threat.

From Variety and Hollywood Reporter:


'Star Trek' tops overseas boxoffice
Reboot brought in $35.5 mil from 5,000 screens

By Frank Segers

May 10, 2009, 04:04 PM ET

Updated: May 10, 2009, 05:51 PM ET


"Star Trek"
The rejuvenated "Star Trek" from director J.J. Abrams blasted off to No. 1 on the international circuit during the weekend, grossing an estimated $35.5 million from more than 5,000 screens in 54 territories.

The film's decent but hardly spectacular foreign opening indicates that the latest feature version of the classic TV series still has a good chance of becoming the biggest "Trek" boxoffice success ever overseas.

"Trek" theatrical titles have usually performed far better domestically than abroad. The foreign weekend boxoffice for the latest edition, for example, is less than half the film's No. 1 opening domestic gross ($76.5 million).

Warm-to-ecstatic reviews for a back-to-basics approach, plus a younger generation of actors in the familiar roles -- notably Chris Pine as Capt. James Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock, as well as a spiffy new U.S.S. Enterprise -- may promise atypically large international boxoffice for the franchise's newest edition.

"Trek's" weekend take alone represents 11.5% of the combined total ($312.9 million) grossed offshore by all 10 of its theatrical predecessors, according to distributor Paramount.

No. 2 on the weekend and playing almost strictly holdover engagements was last week's No. 1 title and summer season opener, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" from 20th Century Fox, which dropped nearly 60% from its opening-weekend take ($73.1 million) with an estimated $29.7 million from 9,000 screens in 102 markets. The international cume stands at $123.7 million. Worldwide total is $253.3 million.

According to Fox, "Wolverine" is poised to best "Trek" in as many as 24 territories. The title remained strong in France, China, Hong Kong and in South America. The top market for the title was the U.K., where weekend action was $3.3 million from 488 screens, enough for a No. 2 market rank. The U.K. cume is $17.9 million.

"Trek," since its May 6 offshore bow in France, Belgium and Switzerland, has performed especially well in the U.K. and Ireland (No. 1 in the combined territories with $8.8 million from 501 locations) and in Germany ($4.6 million from 693 spots). Australia provided a No. 1 spot with $3.4 million from 210 screens, France bellied up for $2.8 million from 492 sites while Russia generated $2.3 million from 450 situations and Korea weighed in with $2.2 million from an undisclosed number of locations.

Combined with the proceeds of its No. 1 domestic debut, "Trek's" early global boxoffice total stands at $112 million.

Openings to come for the "Trek" include debuts in Egypt (this Wednesday), Japan (May 29), Hong Kong (June 4), Indonesia (June 10) and India (June 12).

No. 3 on the weekend was Disney's "Hannah Montana: The Movie," which opened strongly in Spain and Denmark and scored a melodic $7.8 million on the weekend overall from 1,500 screens in 16 territories. International cume stands at $19.7 million.

The Miley Cyrus vehicle doubled the opening gross of "Trek" in Spain, grabbing the market's No. 1 spot with $3.4 million from 250 locations. The Denmark debut produced $525,000 from 50 spots for a nifty $10,500 per-screen average.

Fourth was Focus Features/Universal's "Coraline," a stop-motion-animated tale about a young girl's discovery of an alternative life behind a door in her new home. The film premiered in nine markets, propelling its overseas cume to $15.2 million; the weekend tally is $4.9 million from 1,423 locations in 14 territories.

"Fast & Furious," the hard-driving action title from Universal, steered its international gross to $189 million thanks to a $3.5 million weekend from 4,100 screens in 60 markets. It ranks No. 5 on the weekend.

Universal's political thriller "State of Play" starring Russell Crowe drew $2.5 million on the weekend playing 1,300 screens in 14 markets for an international cume of $16.8 million. A Japan opening is due May 23.

Oscar winner "Slumdog Millionaire" has sprinted past the $215 million mark in overseas boxoffice ($219.5 million as of Friday), and looks forward to exceeding $223 million this week. Worldwide boxoffice is at least $363 million over 22 weeks.

Other international cumes: Universal's "Duplicity," $31.1 million; Fox's "Se eu fosse voce 2," $21.7 million; Focus Features/C.J. Entertainment's "Thirst," $9 million (over two frames from South Korea); New Line's "He's Just Not That Into You," $69.6 million; Universal's "The Boat That Rocked," $18.6 million; Fox's "Marley & Me," $99 million; New Line's "Inkheart," $38.7 million; Fox's "Australia," $158 million; Fox's "12 Rounds," $3.6 million; Fox's "Bride Wars," $56.1 million; Fox's "The Secret Life of Bees," $1.9 million; Fox's "Notorious," $6.2 million; Fox's "Taken," $74.5 million; and United Artists/Fox's "Valkyrie," $115.3 million.

According to IMDb, there was Tribble cameo in the scene where Spock Prime (as Leonard Nimoy's character is listed in the credits) and Kirk encounter Scotty for the first time. IMDb says there was a Tribble sitting on a shelf or something behind Scotty.

edgarblythe wrote:

I agree.
Here 's my take on Shatner, over the decades:
I thought that he did a creditable job on Star Trek.
I saw him speak at (at least) one of the Star Trek Conventions of the 1970s.
He was unprepared; I deemed him to be a light weight semi-jerk; not too bad: a little bit.
I thought that he can do a decent job from a script,
in whose absence, his intellectual vacancy reveals itself.
That impression was re-inforced (to a lesser extent) seeing him with Johnnie Carson.
I held that opinion for several years, until I saw his new biografical intervu show.

I was taken aback by that; instead of seeing a vapid jerk,
I saw a man with earnest, deep, probing interest in WHO
his guest is and has been. He is almost like a good lawyer,
taking a thorough deposition. To my surprize, I saw that
he is NOT stupid. He has now shown that he can and does
appreciate subtle distinctions. When he finds a point of
interest in the guests of his new show, he persists in digging
deeply. Candor moves me to give credit where it is due.
I am now of the opinion that Shatner is the best TV interviewer
who I have seen, 2nd only to Barbara Walters.


Maybe he changed, matured ? with age; maybe he 's been
harboring heterogenious n disparate aspects of his personality.
A zebra has more than one stripe; (if he had only one stripe,
woud that make him a skunk ?).

When Shatner introduced his "Shatner does Covers" album back in the 1980's, he did it with a comedic flair. He did some Groucho and GEorge Burns and was entertaining.

Same here. If you are unfamiliar with the original series, you can enjoy the movie, but if you are, the little in jokes are great. Lots of explosions and character development too. I loved the Uhura-Spock connection starting with her demanding a slot on the Enterprise and Spock relenting.

But I have to admit, there were some serious plot holes. Where did that monsterous bad guy ship with all the super weapons come from? A space miner put that together? A large mining platform has warp drive? A cadet, not yet graduated from the academy, is made XO of the flagship of the federation fleet? Even after the defense of Earth, he retains command instead of being replaced by a more senior officer and being sent to a smaller ship to gain more experience? Newbee cadets are assigned to every position on the bridge? There is an emergency vent valve in the piping systems the size of a man? What the heck is "red matter"? But ok, it's Star Trek and I can press the "I believe" button.