Abrams: Khan, Pegg And Future Trek
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J.J. Abrams explained why he insisted on secrecy regarding the villain of Star Trek into Darkness and on his conversation with Simon Pegg after Pegg went out and claimed that the villain was not Khan.
In addition, Abrams gave his thoughts on where Star Trek 3 will go.
Abrams made it clear that he never denied that the villain was Khan, and he had to set Pegg straight when Pegg did deny that it was Khan. “While I never said that it wasn’t Khan — and Simon Pegg went out and said, ‘It’s not Khan,’ I was like, ‘Simon, it kind of is Khan’ — we tried to not reveal it because we wanted people to experience it on their own,” said Abrams. “If you didn’t know Star Trek, it wouldn’t matter to you, and if you did, people wouldn’t have the story ruined for them going in. But it was important to us that we try and keep the experience of seeing the film fresh and fun, surprising for fans. We didn’t want to be coy, but it was important to us that we do everything to preserve the surprise for people watching the movie.”
The next film, already being written, will not be directed by Abrams, but he is still producing it, and he told fans what they might expect. “I think that in the next chapter, it will be very much kind of going past the experiences that are connected to sort of so deeply the preexisting stories,” he said. “That’s something that we knew we would want to do eventually, and it feels like the right time.”
To hear part of the Abrams interview, head to the link located here.
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Hell yeah, it was a surprise, I went in the theater to see a Star Trek movie, while in fact i saw an action movie that is in a somewhat Star Trek universe!
Two quotations there of note…
“…it kind of is Khan.”
You said it, JJ… you said it…
“I think that in the next chapter, it will be very much kind of going past the experiences that are connected to sort of so deeply the preexisting stories. That’s something that we knew we would want to do eventually, and it feels like the right time.”
That was the pretence by which they “needed” to do a soft reboot of the franchise in the first place. But only now is the time to move forward with new stories? I thought that was IMPERATIVE… so imperative they couldn’t just tell new Trek stories after Nemesis… Whatever. It’s cover your ass talk with Abrams every time I read any sort of interview with him. That he so fundamentally misunderstands Star Trek, and people think he’s going to reinfuse Star Wars with any of the humanity the prequels were missing? Good luck with that… after all, it’ll kind of be Han Solo.
What you said. Well done! I am quite pleased. I suspected the blurb before Trek 09 and Darkness was windbag mugguffin, now we get it after them too! Moving on. – Back to the Prime Universe.
But… they made a pretty decent stab at moving beyond the preexisting stories, in 2009. It was the first time the timeline wasn’t repaired (halfassedly or not), and the first time a truly major tragedy occurred that wasn’t undone.This plus actually getting a fresh look at some of the characters was a pretty good start, and for me at least it overrode the cliched villain bent on vengeance (which we did last in Nemesis, ironically), and the gaping plot holes, leaps of logic, and generally poor grasp of anything remotely science-related (all of which could have been smoothed over with a few more lines of dialogue).
This is not to say they didn’t flush this promising start right the fuck on down the toilet with Star Trek Into Anal Polyps.
So why is JJ saying that they’re just now thinking of considering the possibility of maybe moving towards the thinking of “very much kind of going past the experiences that are connected to sort of so deeply the preexisting stories”?
Other than he’s a lying son-of-a-bitch, that is.
Oh. Have I said “Fuck you, JJ” yet today for this whole “Not Khan! Nope! Nuh Uh!– well, kinda Khan, if you count using the name, some lines, having Old Spock get all hyper about it, but hey, why would that matter?” bullshit? No? Well.
Fuck you, JJ. Just make the films and keep your fool mouth shut. The next time you have a thought… just let it go.
I swear Benedict Cumberbatch looks like a bowling pin in that photo. HEY JJ, THE POINT AT WHICH YOU FUCKED UP WAS WHEN YOU RECAST RICARDO BY-GOD MONTALBAN WITH A BOWLING PIN. That’s all.
Well, just like Tom Hardy wasn’t well served by Shinzon, I think Benedict Cumberbatch was certainly ill served by “John Harrison”, but I can’t blame him… even if he does look remarkably like one of those clown punching dolls that rights itself like a weeble… If he knew he was going to play Khan before taking the job, it is his fault for actually taking the job at all… He’s not capable of Khan.
I hate STD, but I didn’t hate ST2009. I hated certain aspects, but you’re right, almost all of those could’ve been handled with a single line of dialogue each… That they left us in limbo as to the continued existence of the prime timeline until hell broke loose online by people who realized what had become of it speaks volumes… that they retroactively suggest that this is wholly an offshoot was a relief, but it did detract in several ways as well. I could forgive all that. The only things that really stick in my craw are the pre-incursion issues of difference and Spock’s own willingness to accept the turn of events rather than do what he’d done in every prior instance resembling this, which, as you indicated, was to reset the timeline… I’m okay that they didn’t reset it, but not because Spock is living happily ever after on New Vulcan. Nimoy needed to die. I can’t see any other way he isn’t deep into plotting his return to the pre-Kelvin period to nullify the incursion from Nero… But most of what I saw wrong was a matter of nuance and characterization, which simply aren’t JJ Abrams’ strengths. I was still willing to see where it went… Now? Of course, as a Star Trek fan, I’ll see the next movie, but I have no good will toward it at all, and that’s not true of how I felt after 2009… Too many lies, too much mediocrity. Of course, I’m the Star Trek optimist, so, do I think even this pile can be saved? Of course… But only for so long. The moment they were forced to come out and say, no, no, of course every bit of other Trek that came before still exists… this is just an alternate… their days were numbered. I’m glad they didn’t destroy the prime timeline, but it was certainly in their interests to do so if that full conversion to “modern” Trek was really their goal.
Can’t wait to see the all-original story that they come up with, now that they’ve burned through all those preexisting stories that were apparently so uninteresting they needed an alternate timeline in the first place.
JJ should run for political office. He’s so good at covering his ass, he’d be perfect! 😀
I’ve just decided that in the 2009 film, Nimoy was playing an alternate universe Spock the whole time and the whole thing is one, giant re-boot with no connection the established canon past names, and then I don’t get so angry with JJ-Trek. I still have no interest in watching any of it ever again or spending any money on it, but I’m not as angry.
An “original” story line would be nice this next time. NO more re-imaginings or re-do’s.
Too late.
http://www.deadline.com/2013/09/j-j-abrams-gripes-about-star-trek-video-game-a-big-disappointment-to-me/
Sigh. My brain hurts now.
It hurt the BO perfomance? Seriously, JJ? Tie-in games are rare that don’t suck, and it’s never considered a factor in the performance of the film… unless someone involved wants a scapegoat for a film’s poor performance. Pointing a finger like that when the film made a metric buttload is just petty.
Loved the film, enjoyed the surprise (I went with a long time trekkie who avoids the internet – the look of surprise on his face was priceless). Don’t get the hate for the Nimoy cameo – the man’s a legend. Especially loved all the nods to The Original series – check out these screencaps from the movie:
http://i.imgur.com/V14PBBr.jpg
Oh, well, they had a couple screens where you couldn’t read anything without freezing it and they just haphazardly threw a bunch of Trek terms in. I take back everything I ever said……. But not really.
Snarky! I thought it was a cool thing to do for the Trek fans out there, just as I enjoyed references to:
Mudd
The Gorn
Caitians
Daystrom
ketha Province
Heck, there’s even a bio-bed monitor showing ‘Dr Boyce’ on it!
Clearly someone knows and loves their Trek.
But I do get tht you and many other posters here did not enjoy the film, I’m not about to change anyones opinion. Neither am I overly fussed about doing so.
Oh, you’re absolutely right… SOMEONE loves Star Trek. Unfortunately, that wasn’t JJ Abrams, but rather some junior set decorator who did those images.
Not to mention, while I don’t take these things seriously, they’re more akin to 3PO and R2 in the Egyptian tomb holding the Ark of the Covenant… However, were I, this wouldn’t be seen as a boon to them understanding Star Trek as much as them having a set of keyword search terms from the entirety of Trek lore that they’ve haphazardly thrown in… There are species and items on there that shouldn’t be known about for a hundred years… and that goes back to the fact that Nero’s incursion comes after apparent changes had already taken place. This doesn’t help the notion that anyone therein knows Trek, it diminishes it. Rather than reference Galorndan Core, I would’ve rather they actually give substance to the characters at hand.