Hasslein Blog

By Rich Handley

So much for "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" (IDIC), one of Star Trek's defining philosophies. Ever since JJ Abrams and company rebooted the franchise's timeline with the 2009 Star Trek film, a number of fans seem to have completely forgotten this lesson from Gene Roddenberry. "It's not Star Trek because it's not how I want Star Trek to be" has been the core concept behind a lot of criticism aimed at the movies. And while people certainly have every right to feel that way (infinite diversity, after all), it flies in the face of IDIC to dismiss something out of hand just because it's not exactly what we're used to.

Today, the trailer for Star Trek Beyond hit the 'Net, and history is repeating itself in spades.



Judging by how the Internet has exploded, I seem to be in the minority in thinking Star Trek Beyond looks fun. Yes, the trailer's music choice is bad (enough with the damn Beastie Boys), but I think this movie's going to surprise a lot of people. Keep in mind that this first trailer is running with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so it's designed to be action- and effects-oriented. "Know your audience" and all that. I have a strong feeling later trailers will be different.

There's a lot of doomsday predicting going up my Facebook feed about this. I've seen posts saying things like "It's official, Star Trek is dead" and "RIP: Star Trek" and "Gene Roddenberry would weep" and "Justin Lin has raped my childhood" and other such over-the-top melodrama. But so far, we've seen only 90 seconds of footage, which is too little to know whether or not a film is good.

I thought I was going to hate Guardians of the Galaxy, for instance, and I loved it. Conversely, I thought I was going to love Star Trek Into Darkness, and I did... for the first half. The second half was a big mess, leaving me feeling disappointed. I also thought I was going to love Attack of the Clones, and that turned out, in my opinion, to be the weakest Star Wars film to date. (Hopefully, The Force Awakens is as great as the trailer looks.) Man of Steel was a much better trailer than film, whereas Avatar, Now You See Me, Minority Report, Hellboy, Wall-E, and particularly John Carter all turned out to be MUCH better than I would have expected from the trailers.

So I've learned not to put much trust in trailers, which often don't match our experience watching actual movies. Judging Star Trek Beyond to be a failure (or even "the worst Star Trek film," as some have somehow assessed it to be despite not having yet seen the movie) is premature. We need to see more of this movie before we can possibly know how good it is. A single trailer's editing and music missteps are insufficient for us to go on, and I hope cooler heads prevail. Simon Pegg's a major Trek fan and I've enjoyed every movie he's written so far, so I have a lot of faith in his ability to turn in a fine script.

The film MIGHT suck. Anything's possible. I doubt it will. But we simply have no idea from this one trailer alone. This is Star Trek, folks... the domain of the open-minded, the tolerant and the optimistic. Let's all take a deep breath and remember that, shall we? Infinite diversity in infinite combinations, my friends.

P.S.: The movie contains a memorial to the USS Yorktown, so everyone getting upset about the Enterprise's supposed destruction might be in for a surprise.

Labels: Justin Lin, movies science fiction, Star Trek, Star Trek Beyond