None of the Next Generation movies were terribly good, and they were clearly trying to be more action adventure than sci-fi, but at least they retained some of Gene Roddenberry's original spirit of Trek.
Abram's Treks were generic, dumb-as-fudge space operas, dressed in flashy Star Trek clothing, with none of that spirit.
They were made from the same pattern most generic action blockbusters are made this century:
Think up some spectacular action set pieces with fighting and explosions.
Knock out a lazy, incoherent script to get characters from one set piece to the next.
(If it's a reboot) Throw in some references to the far superior originals to pander to fans.
The first one almost qualified for "just turn off your brain and enjoy it" status.
Into Darkness was "self-administer a chainsaw lobotomy and enjoy it or die and end your suffering whatever lol" awful.
From the opening scene of "let's hide a massive star ship from the primitives under the ocean right next to where they live" to McCoy injecting Khan blood into a tribble because SCIENCE, to ripping off Wrath of Khan "but it's clever because we reversed the roles," I sat slack-jawed in the theater, because even with my low expectations, I was flabbergasted by the scope of lazy, stupid hackery on display.
Nobody who thought those movies were great was going to be drawn in to a "true Trek" series that deals with heady sci-fi concepts and boring discussions about tachyons or whatever. It's not the same audience.
The new series (plural) followed the lead of the Abrams films: Flashy effects, histrionic drama, and stupid plots written by people who don't understand or care what Star Trek was about, or sci-fi in general.
None of the Next Generation movies were terribly good, and they were clearly trying to be more action adventure than sci-fi, but at least they retained some of Gene Roddenberry's original spirit of Trek.
Abram's Treks were generic, dumb-as-fudge space operas, dressed in flashy Star Trek clothing, with none of that spirit.
They were made from the same pattern most generic action blockbusters are made this century:
The first one almost qualified for "just turn off your brain and enjoy it" status.
Into Darkness was "self-administer a chainsaw lobotomy and enjoy it or die and end your suffering whatever lol" awful.
From the opening scene of "let's hide a massive star ship from the primitives under the ocean right next to where they live" to McCoy injecting Khan blood into a tribble because SCIENCE, to ripping off Wrath of Khan "but it's clever because we reversed the roles," I sat slack-jawed in the theater, because even with my low expectations, I was flabbergasted by the scope of lazy, stupid hackery on display.
Nobody who thought those movies were great was going to be drawn in to a "true Trek" series that deals with heady sci-fi concepts and boring discussions about tachyons or whatever. It's not the same audience.
The new series (plural) followed the lead of the Abrams films: Flashy effects, histrionic drama, and stupid plots written by people who don't understand or care what Star Trek was about, or sci-fi in general.