One consistent argument film critics make is that audiences are smarter than Hollywood gives them credit for. But like it or not, Hollywood thinks audiences show up for flash, not substance. And Chris Pine says that, these days, Star Trek has to cover up one with the other.
In an interview that surely won’t be misquoted at all, Pine talked about the contrast between the original show and the much more effects-heavy reboot series, as well as how the remake can’t seem “cerebral” to audiences:
You can’t make a cerebral Star Trek in 2016. It just wouldn’t work in today’s marketplace. You can hide things in there – Star Trek Into Darkness has crazy, really demanding questions and themes, but you have to hide it under the guise of wham-bam explosions and planets blowing up.
As we pointed out back when Star Trek Into Darkness hit theaters, Pine is right in that the movie deals with some tough questions about how you handle terrorists, wrapped in a shell of explosions and Klingons. Still, this is likely to anger fans, especially as Pine gets quoted as saying “Star Trek can’t be cerebral in 2016.” But to some degree, he’s not wrong.
Fans will inevitably refer to the show, but that’s not a good analogy. TV shows have lower budgets and different metrics of success compared to enormous blockbusters. A better comparison is to the other Star Trek movies, which struggled nobly to have messages and ideas with, to be kind, varying degrees of success. Star Trek II is a very thoughtful look at aging, regret, and a jaunty space hero learning that sooner or later, his luck runs out. Star Trek V, on the other hand, well, at least we got one of the best Shatner songs out of it. So maybe Pine isn’t wrong, and we’re sure Star Trek fans, paragons of measured responses that they are, will take that into account.
(Via ScreenRant)
