"Star Trek" 2009 - I Hope It Doesn't Suck

I have always been a "Star Trek" fan, even when I was a kid and didn't always understand what was going on, I watched. I was excited when they announced the creation of "Star Trek:The Next Generation", all my friends and I got together to watch the first episode together. That first episode was really well done and showed much promise. But, for me anyway, it really never lived up to the quality and potential of that first episode. Sure, there are a bunch of episodes that I really enjoy and will always watch when I see them on. But I never really felt connected to the characters, I never had an emotional investment in them like I do with the characters from the original series. I really did not like "Star Trek:Generations", in fact the only Next-Gen movie I liked was "Star Trek:First Contact", mostly because of the Borg, one of the best Sci-Fi race of baddies. The films that followed, "Star Trek:Insurrection" and "Star Trek:Nemesis" were mediocre at best and to be honest i really don't remember all that much about them.

So now director JJ Abrams is bringing us a new "Star Trek" in May of this year. He has recast the classic characters, telling a story of events that happened in their early days after graduating from Starfleet Academy. As I have said in many other entries, this is a big risk, recasting iconic characters always is. The story is being kept under a tight lid, and all we have seen is images from the new film. The images I have seen have impressed me, and I think the casting is shaping up nicely, the actors, for the most part, look like the characters they are portraying. But all of that means nothing without a compelling story, and the need to feel that the actors ARE who they are playing. This is going to be a different "Star Trek" then what I, and I am sure many other Trekkies, are used to. But that's ok, Trek needs to change, it needs to grab a new audience as well as the devoted fans, who, like me, don't care that much about Trek anymore. I hate that I don't care about Trek anymore. I hope Abrams makes me care again. As much as I knew the new "Star Wars" trilogy was being made for a newer audience as well as the established fans, it is the same with this new Star Trek, and if anyone going to see this new movie can take that into consideration, and as long as the finished product is a well made film, fans new and old will welcome Star Trek back, and I for one am looking forward to that.