[Captain John Belushi]

The people will come. The next trailer will be such a brilliant bombastic taste of what is to come that even jocks with awful girlfriends will be talking about going. Before Christmas, everyone is going to be primed for just what to see... you wait. People all over the world will have doubts "this is a nerd thing" but LOTR got around nerdness and beat that box-office backside. Same will happen for Trek.

[_Q_]

Originally Posted by TheTrekkie

Look at ST FC and STIV (what a surprise time travels) and you know how a Star Trek movie can be a success for Trekkies and meanstream.


Tell me one single Star Trek movie that was hard to follow? I even would say Star Trek movies were up to the present more simple to understand than a lot of other movies. From the beginning on you know who is the enemy, who are the heroes and what is the danger ... and this will stay like that until the end of the film. There were only few big surprises, only few storyturns in Star Trek movies.
Lost is a lot more difficult to follow, Lord of the Rings was a lot more complex, but both Lost and LotR were successful. Complex story =/= no success.

I'm just saying what is keeping my friends from enjoying the franchise, I don't know what's up with the rest of the population. I wasn't speaking about the complexity of the story, either, just the technobabble.

I followed the movies just fine, but I have to explain what's going on to my friends, which is really, really annoying. Ugh....

[Chris Fawkes]

I'm not that evangelical minded when it comes to trek. as long as there are enough fans to make it worthwhile as a franchise and as long as i love it then were good.
I have not enjoyed Trek since first contact.
There are two things though that will always put of mainstream audiences.
The first is in jokes. On there own they would actually go unnoticed.
2 is the geeky over reaction of some zealous fans in the audience. How embarrasing.
I still remember the gafawing of the geeks every time Data showed emotion during Generations. Especially since the laughing was not so much because it was really funny but just to let every one else in the theatre know that they got it.
Also sad that what should have at least been a significant moment was channeled into nothing more than comic relief.
I decided then that i would not see a trek film opening day ever again and i love star trek. For a non fan i think they would just decide to never go again.

[Tygrrius]

Originally Posted by Chris Fawkes

I still remember the gafawing of the geeks every time Data showed emotion during Generations. Especially since the laughing was not so much because it was really funny but just to let every one else in the theatre know that they got it.

I've noticed this kind of fake, overenthusiastic laughing as well - in fact, in the very scenes you mentioned. That continues to this day. At the screening of Star Trek: The Menagerie last year, there were a couple of people that were laughing obnoxiously at every minor joke - such as when a woman from Kirk's past was referenced and he gives this kind of subtle "oh no!" expression. A funny moment, to be sure, but not worthy of rolling around on the floor. I don't know, maybe it's some kind of reaction to the collective experience of watching something familiar with a bunch of strangers?

Of course, there really were no mainstream folks at The Menagerie -- other than those dragged along by us geeks. Hopefully, that will change with Star Trek.

As you noted, the fake laughing does tend to quiet down after the first weekend, though. Maybe they should release Star Trek a day or two early just for those guys to get it out of their systems and then let everyone else in.

[sir num nums]

their are always those that find the smallest joke funny as hell. And I guess, good for them, but for the rest of us it is annoying.

I remember screening Club Dread when I worked at UA, me and another Assistant Manager were watching it, and this goof ball laughed at EVERYTHING during the movie., no matter how dumb it was.

I HATED THAT MOVIE, thanks to him and the crappy writing.

[Chris Fawkes]

Originally Posted by Tygrrius

I've noticed this kind of fake, overenthusiastic laughing as well - in fact, in the very scenes you mentioned. That continues to this day. At the screening of Star Trek: The Menagerie last year, there were a couple of people that were laughing obnoxiously at every minor joke - such as when a woman from Kirk's past was referenced and he gives this kind of subtle "oh no!" expression. A funny moment, to be sure, but not worthy of rolling around on the floor. I don't know, maybe it's some kind of reaction to the collective experience of watching something familiar with a bunch of strangers?

Of course, there really were no mainstream folks at The Menagerie -- other than those dragged along by us geeks. Hopefully, that will change with Star Trek.

As you noted, the fake laughing does tend to quiet down after the first weekend, though. Maybe they should release Star Trek a day or two early just for those guys to get it out of their systems and then let everyone else in.

I love the menagerie, that would ruin the experience for me.

[Tygrrius]

Originally Posted by Chris Fawkes

I love the menagerie, that would ruin the experience for me.

The boisterous laughter was certainly annoying, but it was still worth going to see Shatner, Nimoy, and Kelley together again on the big screen one last time; not to mention the new effects. I managed to tune the laughing bozos out after awhile.

[DS9TREK]

Originally Posted by Oregon_Coast_Trekkie

Ok, so that's the question: Can this movie be a success with both Trekkies and the mainstream? If so, how so? If not, why not? What are your thoughts?

No. Trek has never been a mainstream success and nothing has happened to change that. It doesn't even have a big name star or director like a traditional mainstream blockbuster.

[Tygrrius]

Originally Posted by DS9TREK

Trek has never been a mainstream success and nothing has happened to change that. It doesn't even have a big name star or director like a traditional mainstream blockbuster.

Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (AKA "The One With The Whales") was a huge mainstream success. Star Trek: The Next Generation also had mainstream appeal while it was in first run as a television series.

The 2008 Star Trek movie has a "big name" director, J.J. Abrams. He is well known to fans of the mainstream hit series Lost, among others. Plus, he directed Mission: Impossible III - a mainstream hit that made about $400 million worldwide.

Granted, Star Trek does not have a Tom Cruise caliber star, but I don't think that will be necessary for success. Though he had appeared in a lot of films, Christian Bale was not very well known to the general public when Batman Begins became a mainstream hit, for instance. For that matter, director Christopher Nolan was hardly a household name, either.

All that being said, mainstream success for a Star Trek film will certainly be a tough sell - though not impossible. Casual and non-fans have become jaded of late to the multiple incarnations of the franchise. Over-exposure is a bad thing. Will the Abrams team be able to overcome this and deliver the magic "X" factor to bring in a mainstream audience? We'll find out at the end of the year.

[SpockBorg4]

If they dumb it down we trekkies will get turned off, but if the producers go overboard or use technobabble in the wrong way then the "regular movie goers" will start to go what the p'tak was that all about?

Personally technobabble should not be watered down in any way since that it is a key component of Star Trek. If nontrekkies can't follow along then they have no one but themselves to blame because they should not have been sleeping in science class in the first place!