Battle of the Titans: GL vs. JJ
We finally watched STAR TREK the other night, and when the credits rolled, I turned to Robert and Vanessa and proclaimed: “George Lucas is in trouble!” I never really thought that STAR TREK would become an integral part of the debate, but here we are. The plot thickens, as they say. Granted, the STAR WARS vs. STAR TREK tug of war has been around for decades; but it (seemingly) didn’t really have much to do with George Lucas. At least, not until now. Ironically, a day before J.J. Abrams blew me away with his extraordinary franchise reboot, I was reviewing interview footage of George Lucas, and found an interesting bit from an early screening of REVENGE OF THE SITH. I’ll spare you the juicy details, but, in a nutshell, George made it very clear that he had no intention to hand over the franchise to talented new directors, and that STAR WARS was definitely OVER.
Okay, so we know that’s not true, because STAR WARS has since infiltrated our television screens (with STAR TREK now taking centerstage in movie theaters across the country, the ironies abound). But that’s beside the point. The real issue at stake here is that STAR WARS always appeared to have the upper hand. For some reason, it was always cooler to be a STAR WARS fan.
NOT ANYMORE.
I think what J.J. Abrams is showing us here is that anything can be remade, reinvented, revisited successfully; and if there’s a fanbase hungry for it, then the box office results will speak for themselves (in less than a week, STAR TREK grossed $116 million worldwide, easily surpassing every previous film from the franchise). Heck, we saw the same thing happen not too long ago with Marc Forster/Daniel Craig in CASINO ROYALE and Christopher Nolan/Christian Bale/Heath Ledger in THE DARK KNIGHT. It was pretty evident that James Bond and Batman needed a shot in the arm, and you have to give enormous credit to the creative teams behind those franchises for taking risks, and, yes, taking the chance to alienate certain fans. But the reality is this: fans hunger for new interpretations of their favorite stories and characters; and I believe that we will continue to purchase tickets for a chance to watch the next incarnation of Spiderman, Neo, or Luke Skywalker.
No, I don't mean THAT!
So what exactly isn’t getting through to George Lucas? I’m not trying to make the argument that George is done and that he shouldn’t make another film for the rest of his life (in fact, I’d pay good money to see the next GL experimental film). But, even if he’s not quite ready to let go yet, why not give a chance to the likes of Zack Snyder, Quentin Tarantino, or, why not, Takashi Miike, to take a shot at the STAR WARS universe? Wouldn’t that be something? It only takes a phone call, George. And can you imagine any of them say “thanks, but no thanks, old man”? That’s how powerful his legacy really is.
Watching STAR TREK, how beautiful and big and fresh it was, served as a glaring reminder to me that fans will remain faithful to a franchise, as long as the makers are willing to take risks, and are not afraid to violate the sanctity of the rules established at a time when these rules actually used to make sense. I’m not afraid to say this: in my opinion, STAR WARS has become stale. And unless George does something about it, we’ll have to watch in awe as STAR TREK, for the first time, really, gains the upper hand. Am I saying that George is ruining his legacy? My answer to this question is actually fairly complicated, so the simple answer is: no, how can you ruin your legacy when you’ve created something like STAR WARS? What I’m saying, like many fans of my generation, is that George is playing it too safe; and that unless he recognizes the importance of rebooting his franchise in some way by injecting new talent and fresh perspectives into his proprietary universe (at the risk of breaking the Continuity Bible), there’s a strong chance that the fans will continue to vent their frustrations, and that they might even, decades from now, become genuinely disinterested in a world that shaped, if not defined, their childhood.
And that would be a tragedy.
AOP
Narukami wrote
There has been a lot of talk lately that George Lucas is in trouble thanks to the new Star Trek. The gist of it is that JJ Abrams could teach Lucas a thing or three about how to re-boot or revitalize a flagging franchise like Star Trek or, more to the point, Star Wars.
I could not disagree more.
Now, I should stipulate at the out set that I did enjoy the new Star Trek film and there is much there to admire. I think the actors did an excellent job capturing the characters as envisioned by actors of their grandparent’s generation, and generally I enjoyed the look of the film in terms of art direction (sets, costumes, etc.).
However…
In terms of the story JJ Abrams cheated.
With both films (the new Star Trek and the Star Wars prequels) the directors were challenged to tell a story whose conclusion is already well known. We know that Anakin will become Darth Vader just as we know Kirk will become the Captain of the Enterprise and Spock his First Officer. Somewhat akin to Kabuki Theatre, we know the story so we concentrate on the actors and marvel at their skill performing roles we have seen done many times before.
Of course knowing the conclusion means that even if you come up with a better idea (Spock and Uhura as lovers) or a better character (Darth Maul) they cannot deflect the story from the conclusions we already know.
Lucas accepted this challenge and while we may not agree with all of his choices (more on that below) he saw the challenge through. JJ Abrams, on the other hand, took the Kobaiyashi Maru scenario to heart – he reprogrammed the challenge so he could beat it. By using time travel (a Star Trek staple) Abrams is free now to re-envision the entire Star Trek universe and so long as he does not stray too far from the character traits we have all come to love then the fans will allow him some wide latitude to re-sculpt Roddenberry’s universe.
Now your idea of revitalizing the Star Wars franchise by inviting in new directors and writers to “play in the Lucas sandbox” is in fact an idea that Lucas himself first proposed back in 1977 during an interview with Rolling Stone Magazine (May 25, 1977).
“I think the sequels will be much, much better. What I want to do is direct the last sequel. I could do the first one and the last one and let everyone else do the ones in between.
It wouldn’t bother you to have someone else do the ones in between?
No, it would be interesting. I would want to try and get some good directors, and see what their interpretation of the theme is. I think it will be interesting, it is like taking a theme in film school, say, okay, everybody do their interpretation of this theme. It’s an interesting idea to see how people interpret the genre. It is a fun genre to play with. All the prototype stuff is done now. Nobody has to worry about what a Wookie is and what it does and how it reacts. Wookies are there, the people are there, the environment is there, the empire is there . . . everything is there. And now people will start building on it. I’ve put up the concrete slab of the walls and now everybody can have fun drawing the pictures and putting on the little gargoyles and doing all the really fun stuff. And it’s a competition. I’m hoping if I get friends of mine they will want to do a much better film, like, “I’ll show George that I can do a film twice that good,” and I think they can, but then I want to do the last one, so I can do one twice as good as everybody else. [Laughs]”
It was a good idea that Lucas started to implement with his sequels but totally abandoned for the prequels. He also abandoned the idea of a Nine Film Grand Saga and, worst of all, he abandoned his original concept of Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker as entirely separate entities.
To my thinking this is Lucas’ biggest mistake. In making Anakin Skywalker and Darth Vader one and the same Lucas cut off so many potentially interesting avenues of exploration and story telling for a plot line that is a diminished vision of what a Jedi could be.
Imagine if you well Luke’s crisis in facing Darth Vader not as his father but as is father’s killer.
To forgive one’s father, to not kill him and instead attempt to save him is a noble quest to be sure but hardly one that requires much philosophical fortitude. Because Vader was once a noble Jedi Knight we can envision him being noble once again. It is not as if Luke is the son of Grand Moff Tarkin and he is trying to save him. We might sympathize with the love of Himmler’s daughter for her father as a father, but we would never accept her attempts to rehabilitate his image.
On the other hand, the real challenge for Luke would be to forgive the killer of his father. Could he do it? Could Luke adhere to the highest standards of the Jedi Code and forgo avenging his father or would he succumb to the Dark Side and exact a vengeance no one would blame him for seeking? By his example, by forgiving Darth Vader, could Luke revitalize the Jedi Order and relight their beacon of Hope in a cold and remorseless galaxy? We will never know.
Had Lucas kept the characters of Anakin and Vader separate he would have opened up so many more story lines for the prequels that we might well be celebrating them for their story telling and not just their technical achievements. But such is not the case. Lucas began to narrow his vision when Vader became Luke’s father — That the two trilogies still hold our interest is a testament to just how good a filmmaker George Lucas is.
Ah, but what might have been…
Mike wrote
The new Star Trek film borrows heavily from Star Wars, in plot, special effects and sound design – that is why people are drawn to it.
Star Trek is merely copying the franchise that has it by the balls and will always be light years ahead of it.
I guess the old saying is true; If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em
Pity it took them ten films to get it right.
Star Trek Episode X: A New Hope in theatres now…
Dude wrote
Relax Star Trek fans, your movie was O.K. Way too many holes…
They travelled back in time in Star Trek 4(that whale movie) and it didn’t change things to create an alternate reality. Not this movie, travelling back in time creates an alternate reality. Why? In that same movie they gave the past the fomula for clear alluminum. In this one Spock gives the past the formula for beaming up while in warp. Original.
Old Kirk crosses over with the new generation movie, and old Spock crosses over with the reboot movie. Very original. A lot of people loved the opening space battle in the reboot. Battle? More like one ship getting wrecked. There was no battle. New Kirk was more like William Shatner than old Kirk. Douchey. Kirk cheated on his final exam, oh well no big deal. Spock and Ahora? Lame and creepy. Kirk and old Spock bumping into each other on Hoth in the cave. Just in time before the snow Rancor gets Kirk. Come on please. Old Spock became a Yoda like figure. Wierd.
Eric Bana = Boring. His right hand man was even more forgettable. The Romulans knowing exactly when Spock would arrive in the past? How come in the opening scene they were looking for Spock and his ship. If they knew exactly when he would arrive, why were they looking for him? They would know he wasn’t there yet.
That creature that worked with Scotty on Hoth. Reminds me of something out of the Last Starfighter. Red Matter? One drop blows up a planet. A billion zillion drops only blows up a big mining vessel? Please. Blowing up a planet, seems familiar. Stopping a planet from being blow up just in time, familiar again. Why does a mining vessel have a storm surrounding it? I guess future vessels have storms around them. Was that the way it was in the New Generation series?
Hey spock, fly this futuristic spaceship. In an alternate future you did it a hundred years from now, so you should be familiar with the instrumentation. Goofy. Why didn’t Kirks daddy beam himself off the ship before he kamikazeed it? Sylar Spock did. I’ve got a good idea, why not beam a bomb aboard your enemies ship? You beam people onto it, why not a bomb or some shit?
If I’m not mistaken, There was a Nokia commercial in the middle of the movie. Ugly. They parachuted to the drill thing roof. Why couldn’t they just beam down to the drill thing instead of parachuting. Or when they land on it, beam more dudes down. Thats enough, I’m bored.
Anyway, the special effects were good.
Philip Frey wrote
Star Trek was never as big as Star Wars and it never will be. A Star Wars cartoon for kids is outdrawing the last Star Trek series by a long shot. This new film, though a success, will *not* touch even the least successful of the Star Wars films (Attack of the Clones).
Also, the new film is a sad mirror reflection of proper Star Trek. It’s as if the filmmakers had a checklist and they dutifully marked off every important point and every fanboyish wishlist item. (Ooh, Spock’s in love!) But none of it felt real, none of it felt like it had any connection to the original series.
Paramount and its partners (sad that they can’t even make a Star Trek film on their own, isn’t it?) didn’t have the guts to do a proper reboot, feeling that they needed an umbilical cord back to the original series in the form of “Spock Prime”.
The reason that Star Wars should not be handed off to anyone else is that it, unlike Star Trek, the James Bond films, Doctor Who, or whatever, is *a* story that *one* man wanted to tell. It’s not like Lucas hasn’t let others play with his toys. Hello? Expanded Universe? But the main story of Star Wars? Finished. Like it or not, it’s done.
As for George looking over his shoulder at Star Trek, I don’t think he’s worried any more than he was by any other film franchise that has tried to take the mind share held by Star Wars. How long did the Lord of the Rings phenom hold on? They come, they go, Star Wars stays.
LucasLoyalist wrote
I was genuinely amused by this post. Anyone that honestly thinks that Star Trek will ever surpass Star Wars in american culture obviously knows nothing of american culture.
I am a B5 fan, I think it is to TV what Star Wars is to film. However, I know that if you polled the American public, a super minority of people would even recognize half the characters from B5. The same applies to Star Trek. However, even people that have not seen the Star Wars films will be able to understand through popular references the common themes and chatacters from Star Wars. Everyone knows who Darth Vader is, everyone knows about Yoda and Chewbacca. I could go on and on. However, when it comes to Star Trek, people will recognize Spock, the Enterprise, and Captain Kirk, but it pretty much ends there.
The sucess of Star Wars lies within its simplicity. Six films are all one needs to understand the story. If you love the story, you can dig even deeper with hundreds of expanded universe novels, video games, and pick up the few cartoons and watch the new show on Cartoon Network. It is very easy to draw new blood into the Star Wars franchise.
Star Trek, on the other hand, is so massive and complex with its movies and T.V. series, how could a new fan ever hope to catch up? I honestly have no idea. It is too much. This is why the series never lasts and is forced to reboot in some form or another, every decade.
Seriously, as much as Trekkies believe that they have some sort of rivalry with Star Wars fans, there is honestly no comparison. With perhaps the exception of the Disney brand, there is really nothing else that rivals Star Wars when it comes to entertainment in popular culture. Nothing else has lasted as long and remained continuously profitable across a variety of mediums. Nothing has reached the same level of saturation in references, parodies, and social conciousness.
As another poster stated “They come, they go, Star Wars stays.”