Abrams-Verse Review

Greetings, my fellow Starfleet officers! I'm

your Admiral on the bridge today. I'm Mike the

Birdman Dodd from This Week in Geeks on it, and

I'm joined by my visiting ambassador. Steve Megatron

Phillips. I decided ambassador gives you diplomatic

immunity to do whatever the hell you'd like.

Ah, so death to all. Exactly! Kill everything

and just blame it on the Romulans! So, we are

back here in future and hopefully you guys enjoyed

our episode last week talking about great sci

-fi TV. It was a lot of fun doing that episode.

A lot of me saying the phrase, I remember, blank,

blank, blank, blank. But it was great. Just revisiting

a lot of those sci -fi memories there. So, once

again, if you guys want to get in touch with

us, feedback of this week in Geek Dine Out, we'd

love to hear from people. So, this week's topic.

is we're going to be talking about the so -called

Abrams verse, what's it done right, what's it

done wrong, our thoughts on the two movies, and

where things could possibly go from here, because

I think there's a lot of wiggle room. So I guess

let's kind of start off our conversation. Do

we like where the Abrams verse is now? Steve,

go first. I'm going to say no. I don't know it's

kind of complicated because I want to like it

But there's a lot to be desired For one there's

I get that they wanted to start fresh and and

start over with the original crew and they they

wanted to basically throw out you know the the

couple hundred years of canon in in star trek

mythos anyway uh you know the whole last 50 years

of trek um but it doesn't seem like they're straying

too far from the original information sort of

like they have to have their own wrath of kaan

sort of thing well yeah i mean and i think that

they're trying too hard uh honestly i don't i

don't think that the i mean i you know say what

you will about the writing i Dislike it, but

I felt that they were going in the right direction

with the first film you know And I have this

opinion of Orsi and Kurtzman anyway that they

do very well with the first film because they're

playing off your nostalgia and their fandoms

and and able to basically give a voice to something

that was dead or didn't have a Franchise yet

or or something to that degree and then I feel

like they get lazier when the second film comes

along because The first film okay, I could get

over the fact that the enterprise is built on

earth. I could Despite the gravity crushing,

you know ability of it I can also get over, you

know some of the you know, the the the future

things like spot getting thrown to the past and

the transwarp transporter ability given to Scott

and then in some of these other things because

it kind of played well with the story. Then you

get into the second film and they basically recycle

a lot of the first film and then throw everything

out the window You know specifically the trans

warp if it's that easy for kind to do it Why

can't you know the Enterprise crew do it or you

know instead of sending a ship out there? And

getting stranded or you know, where's the rest

of the fleet? Where's you know, I mean There's

all these lazy writing elements in the second

film that I felt that it bothered me because

they were recycling too much of the previous

Wrath of Khan and Space Seed kind of mixed in

there with a little bit of almost some of the

other films. There's elements of all the films

in there that I was piecing together at one point

because I was irritated with it, but I felt like

they were trying too hard to do the Wrath of

Khan instead of just creating its own new thing.

Because the galaxy is vast and granted the original

series they did not encounter as much as the

TNG or the other things But it also helped I

don't know shape their smaller world in the original

series They could have there were plenty of opportunities

to pull some obscure Villain or somebody that

had the ability to become a villain instead of

just a recycling con Yeah, I mean I'm kind of

of the same mind work they have that's my wife's

phone who she needs to get in here and take it

away Now, please. Nice. I hate you. So yeah,

I mean, with the Abrams verse, the fact they

do have this new continuity to explore, I would

love to see them explore something like the Tholians

or something like that. I mean, they've only

ever been seen as a spaceship and there was like

a Federation warning, like, don't fuck with these

guys. Or, you know, maybe introduce new versions

of classic races. Now, we saw the bling -ons.

Oh, that was horrible. And they felt really forced

in. Like, they could have used that opportunity

to introduce a new kind of race. Wouldn't it

really cool to see what their version of the

Andorians might look like? Or maybe a... Man,

it would have been so cool if they went to the

Gorn planet and dealt with them. Though, evidently

the video game for Star Trek Is actually considered

cannon and they fight like a born Queen or so

it's ridiculous So when Spock's head blows up

ridiculously big It's actually a part of cannon.

It does happen. Yep. When glitches happen it

counts Although not everything is bad though

because I felt The thing I like about the Abrams

verse is it does feel kind of fresh. I think

this is This is the reboot we need, but not the

one we deserve, to kind of paraphrase that classic

line. And the reason is, a lot of sensibilities

within the fandom now are different. We are not

our parents. I think you and me, Steve, would

kind of be the exception because we're... How

old are you? I'm 28. Okay, I'm 33. So we're relatively

close to the same age, and we kind of get our

parents' trek because when we were born in our

lifetimes, we had the classic movies. We also

saw the birth of TNG and all the spinoff series.

We also saw the death of our trek relatively

up until the 2009 reboot. So, but younger fans,

say fans born after 1994, which is like... 20

years ago That's crazy. I know like hell Do you

want to feel really old as today as of this episode

recording the N64 came out? Eagle now just so

you know It's three. That's that's that's like

yeah, that's three Nintendo versions ago. Yeah

Like and the thing is This new generation these

kids grew up Seeing the ass end of all our favorite

series when they were very young and The only

series that would have been super new to them

would have been Enterprise Not the best way to

kick things off and the last film I saw in theaters

was nemesis Well, I think you should apologize

for that Well, I mean not that Star Trek was

really that bad not in the films despite, you

know, say what you will They weren't all that

bad, and these aren't all that bad either. And

I know it sounds like I'm hating on them, but

if I want to watch a Star Wars movie, I'll watch

Star Wars. And that's what the Abrams films feel

like to me. There's no scientific thought. They

try and wiggle their way around it, but there's

nothing that's scientific about it. They feel

like the prequel Star Wars to me. It does? But

I can stand to watch these more See I like the

prequels, but that's a discussion for a different

day. Yeah Yeah, maybe we should do that eventually

compare the you know the classics with the the

modern but uh But yeah the the Abrams things

not only does the lens flare thing bother me

But it's like watching Star Wars to me. There's

you know you have the the hyperdrive instead

of warp drive you have the You have the the little

sparklies that that follow the Enterprise when

it goes Instead of the light streaks, you know,

it's it's every little detail like that I mean

even in the second film where they're underwater

with the Enterprise which should not be able

to physically happen There's just so many differences

in in the new trilogy you're in the new yeah,

basically trilogy that bother me, even to the

point of throwing in Spock in the second film,

which just got awful. Yeah, that was like, hey

guys, remember when we fought Khan? It was like

showing that Spock couldn't think on his own.

When in the first film, they built him up to

be this strong guy, and then as soon as Kirk

broke him down at the advice of old Spock, he

just became a like a little bitch for the remainder

of the series. I mean, there was no, you know,

I mean, he would combat him somewhat in words,

but he really wasn't him. He wasn't his equal.

Yeah. And that's the problem. The relationship

between Spock and Kirk in the new series. And

once again, I don't mean to hate on us because

Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto are wonderfully

cool actors. Yeah. They were all wonderfully

casted and they play their parts well for what

they were written, but it's, again, I think it

boils down to writing. I think, I'm not saying

that Abrams did a terrible job directing, the

only thing I wish he did less of was the lens

flare thing because it just bothered me and,

you know, some of the ILM, you know, elements

of how things were animated I wish was done differently,

but... It's weird. I like certain directors,

but there comes a point when... Their signature

is all over everything Well, and I think we're

gonna run into that later with Abrams again Because

he's still gonna be tied to Trek even though

he's doing Star Wars But he's not gonna be directing

like the thing that like there are some directors

This is very very noticeable and it's kind of

their directorial style or at least they have

something visually like for example Kim Burton

I Hate this guy. I really do I don't much care

for his movies. I don't much care for anything

he really produces, but everything has this retarded

Bothic uber feel to it and you can tell it's

a Tim Burme just by looking at it. Well, let's

get this gray scale Element to it. There's nothing

bright. Everything's dark. Everything's like

old and dingy and burnt and I Mean you could

argue Alice in Wonderland, but that movie sucks

and for those of you that like it I have a helpline

number that you can call. Let's just call it

what it is. His best movie was Batman. Batman,

Beetlejuice, Big Fish, Plan 9 from Outer Space.

Okay, I'll give you that. Or sorry, Ed Wood.

I'll give you all those. And the thing is, when

JJ Abrams, he has a very distinctive style, and

it works for certain properties. It's kind of

nice to have a hyperkinetic Star Wars. It's nice

to have Star Wars feel like an action movie.

But the thing is Star Star Wars Star Trek Should

be a thinking man's action movie in a way and

the first one kind of skirted around that It

was introducing them, but it was also not it

wasn't making them seem completely dumb it was

trying to keep true to their character and and

still introduce everybody but still have Most

of the elements of what would happen in Star

Trek happen I mean one of the things that I do

like about JJ Abrams verse I like the pace of

the ship battles. They no feel like lumbering

Spanish galleons firing at each other where it's

very pretty looking, but it's not exciting. With

JJ Abrams, I feel more like I'm in the cockpit

of a fighter jet or I'm really in a powerful

battleship going against something else. I don't

feel slow. And that's cool as a G Abrams is action

fair. I'm pretty sure he's the guy that did alias,

right? Yeah, yeah, so, you know, he's got the

right background for it the thing is I think

he goes for style over substance and Star Trek

is something built upon substance Star Trek for

me It's a great character study with some really

cool science fiction elements thrown into it

despite being something serialized Like you get

development and everything and in these movies

What development do you really get beyond Kirk

and Spock and even then? It's it's not I don't

feel like it's very much. Yeah, and and that's

really unfortunate because You get a little bit

out of Kirk and Spock in in the darkness But

in the first one I think you you just got a lot

more and that comes down to Ortsy and Kurtzman

once again when they're given the first part

of a franchise It's awesome. Well, they knock

it out of the park and and even checking some

of the ratings like the the the critical reception

for the Abrams verse is Overall higher than the

other two like than the TNG or TOS films and

the thing is is the original films the wrath

of Khan was rated number one with 91 % and out

of TNG first contact was 92 % and you look at

the rebooted Star Trek by Abrams. It's 95 % Yeah,

because those movies, they had action, but they

also knew enough to balance characters with them

as well. And I agree. And I do think that they

do their job better. But I also, you know, again,

it. I think why and I love the first Star Trek.

I really I have a few nitpicks, but I love that

film. It still doesn't beat. Undiscovered Country

to me or First Contact or Generations. I'd say

it's better than Generations. The only reason

I throw Generations in there is because you get

to see the Enterprise -D actually crash. And

then you actually get to see Kirk and Picard

fight, which is an epic battle in itself. That's

the only saving grace for me is the part where

Sorin is getting beaten by Picard and Kirk. Although

the way Captain Kirk dies is bloody sick. That

was pretty bitched out way. That was total bullshit.

Now, there are rumors of Kirk being, or Shatner

being approached for the third installment of

the Abrams verse. As of this record, I heard

that was confirmed. I heard it was confirmed

as well. That they had actually approached him

at this point and he said he would come back

so long as it was a... noteworthy part. He says

he's very excited about it, more or less, but,

you know, again, anything can happen. And they're

still trying to get Spock back, and I've had

debate with a few people, and they're like, oh,

he said he'll never do it again. I said, they

always say they'll never do it again, and then

they do. Yeah, when they back up the truck full

of money to the house, yeah. Mean the exception

to that rule would be like Christian Bale where

they said we'll give you you know 50 million

dollars play Batman He's like no and they did

that to Robert Downey Jr. He's like sure And

that's the thing though like I think if they

lose Zachary Quinto at Spock That's a huge loss

to the rebooted franchise Really if they lose

any of them yeah like None of them are really

replace. I mean you could maybe minimize their

rules Because Chekhov's been given nothing to

do, Sulu's been given nothing to do. They had

more in the first film than they did the second

film. Yeah, like they're basically there for

exposition and, oh yeah, I still work here. And

Scotty had more to do in the second film than

the first film, really. Besides floating through

a water tube. But yeah, I mean, I would... I

would be down for Shatner joining in Star Trek

3 again. I just would wonder to what degree being

that he was killed in Generations and that I

mean even though it's a completely different

timeline and I just don't see how that'd work

with this but I would watch it on purely the

fact that Shatner's in it. Maybe they grab him

off that planet or they run into the Nexus or

they pluck him out of time or something. Don't

know maybe maybe the Nexus is like the like the

infinite live zone of Mario They just go into

the warp tunnel and they just keep pulling him

out the Nexus that actually would be a really

good way to explain it Because I mean even Guinan

was still in the Nexus even though she wasn't

in the Nexus yeah, so a version of Kirk could

survive or even so it seemed like All T verse

could with the next is you could go anywhere

at any time. You're not just looking at reality

Throw this new crew into DS 9. Oh wait, they

did that in the comics Yeah, which is something

we should kind of bring up there. There was a

place you just have Q do it Yeah, Q or like I

Think it'd be great if they had a crossover Somehow

with a rebooted truck and bring in someone from

TNG. I guarantee a bred spider would do it Well,

they should what they should do is they should

bring DS 9 I would agree with you except Avery

Brooks is nuts Have you ever seen any of his

interviews? Just have Jamie Foxx replace him

No That's not a bad call just Or get Michael

Dorn, he's always advocating to get back in.

Yeah, well, you know. And they can have Brett

Spider join in and have Odo or Kira and... Yeah,

like, there is opportunity here to bring over

some fan -favorite characters. But that's the

thing though, the Abramsverse has to be strong

enough to stand on its own. And having Old Spock,

that's such a crutch. Well... Old Spock was a

proper crutch of a passing of the torch in the

first game. The second one, it was just a throwaway.

They were saying, we don't know what to do here.

Old Spock, come in real quick. We need help.

And then we'll figure out what to do from here.

And then they recycled Wrath of Khan lines and

just inverted them. The thing is, with Spock

in the darkness, he was basically a who wants

to be a millionaire lifeline. Yeah. It was ridiculous

and then the super blood was the 50 -50 Pretty

much and the thing is the super blood they did

that in agents of shield. Yeah and Better arguably

I would say so and that's the thing though like

this series this version of the verse so to speak

Does have a lot of potential? Like the video

games fleshed it out Even Star Trek Online kind

of mentions that the old universe still exists.

There's still plenty of opportunity. Look how

many times the alternate realities have been

touched on in all of the Star Trek series. There

could be a point where there's some cataclysmic

rip in space where they can cross over to another...

realm of the Prime Universe or this alternate

reality. Which, you know, again, the Nexus would

be a good bridge for that. Or Q. Or Q. I would

personally love to see Q return one last time.

And I think John Delancey would probably do it.

Well, I mean, the only thing that kind of makes

me think that that may or may not happen is they

did that in the comics. They had the Q Gambit

where he joins in, where Picard's an ambassador

to Vulcan and he says, oh, I'd like the new garb.

It's very comfortable and You know screws with

him and says, you know Spock's not dead, right?

And he's like don't mess with the timeline and

cues like goodbye And then goes into the you

know, the alternate timeline to screw with Kirk

and his crew and sends them to DS 9 but uh So,

I mean I could see that happening too I I think

that would be the most opportune moment to do

that Yeah, and maybe it's showing Kirk that you

know, maybe he ends up under the wrong path and

then he was like, hey, this is old you Yeah,

I'm for myself you dumbass but there's so many

great opportunities like Although I don't want

them to rely on just bringing over nostalgia

because honestly the characters that could reasonably

cross over and be exciting You could bring over

data because Brent Spiner still looks pretty

spry Well, you could have him playing an alternate

version of Dr. Soong. Yeah. You could have...

Who's the actor who does Jory of the Forge? LeVar

Burton. Yeah, LeVar Burton. Hell, Will Wheaton

would, like, jump on many, many people's heads

to get involved, I would say. He was the Romulan

for the first one. Oh yeah! Um, but not saying

that I want them to rely on nostalgia, and I

know that it sounds like I'm saying, you know,

move away from the old stuff, move away, you

know. Um, I do understand why they're trying

to go towards that for the third film. It's because

it's going to be released for the 50th anniversary

of Trek. And we know it's going to be Klingon

focused. And it will. And they want to get Shatner

and Nimoy in there, being that they're the last

of the three. Yeah, the last of the, you know,

Kirk Spock McCoy dynamic. And, you know, I mean,

you've got Uhura, you've got Sulu, you've got

Chekhov still alive, but Chekhov's in Star Trek.

Renegades. Renegades. Which even that could,

you know, would be a nice pullover. I understand

why they want to get them in there for one last

hurrah in case, you know, they do pass away.

Yeah, and it makes them rounding out their franchise

of 50 years. So I totally get that. But I do

think that they should also move in another direction

where they can be finally free of the prime universe.

One thing that I think they could reasonably

pull off is, like I said, maybe revisit an old

species and give them kind of an update. I'd

love to see. A Gorn War. I'd love to see maybe

things with the Andorians break down. I think

the Tholians would be a great film. Yeah! Just

because there's something different. Yeah! It

would be like the old -age Borg, in a sense.

Totally different concept, but it would be that

they have their webs of ships. I mean, another

thing that they could recently pull off is...

I will go on record saying this. I think the

Abrams first could handle the Borg. But... They

do have the updated technology and they do have

the transwarp technology now. And they're more

aggressive. Yeah, I mean, look at the vengeance

in the new enterprise. I mean, look how strong

they are. You know, they took down a Romulan

warship from the future. I mean... Yeah, that's

got to say something. Granted, it's using future

tech, but still. And I'm thinking something like,

you look at them and maybe if they wanted to

do more of a callback, they could have this Borg

evolved from Voyager or Vejur if they wanted

to call back all the way to the original movie

and somehow make it cool and relevant again.

Now mind you, the Borg still technically got

crossed over into Enterprise and Enterprise is

untouched. Yeah, so they could do it So there

could still be Borg frozen on earth I'm trying

to think of other things. I'd like to see uh

Well, we saw the Breen get involved in DS9. Why

not here? Why not the Dominion? Yeah, yeah, or

the the changelings Yeah, like there's so many

possibilities for the Abrams verse and that's

the thing I want them to tap that Bible of untouched

possibility. You can use races that are already

there or you can create some new cosmic level

threat or make it a personal story. Star Trek,

as we saw with Wrath of Khan, can be personal

and can really make for a great character piece.

The thing is, this franchise needs to develop

its characters beyond Kirk and Spock. You cared

about the original Enterprise crew. I think what

bothers me more about this franchise is that

there's no science to it. Not properly, anyway.

Yeah. Hold on. There's no them reporting on something.

And I understand that that's like our parents,

you know, oh, we've got to sound intelligent

kind of thing. But I don't like dumb Trek. If

I want to watch dumb Trek, to me, that's Star

Wars. And I'm not saying Star Wars is dumb. And

I'm not trying to get a bunch of hate email,

although if you want to send it. Star Wars is

more fantasy. Yeah, Star Wars is more fantasy.

And that's what I feel like this Trek is trying

to do. It's trying to give you the action movie

with phasers. Yeah. And if I wanted to watch

that, I would watch Star Wars because then I

could see the lightsabers. Yeah. Like, I want

to believe there's so much more in store for

the Abramsverse. And honestly, I want to see

Zachary Quinto continue as Spock. I think the

problem is when you have Ortsy and Kurtzman in

charge of the script. You're gonna get another

Transformers Revenge of the Fallen, or God forbid,

Age of Extinction. Thanks, Blair! But yeah, I

mean, I personally would... And I don't see these

actors hanging around as long as the originals

did. No, I believe out of the - I think this

third one they're gonna probably bail. Yeah,

I honestly believe out of the rebooted Trek movies,

we will get three for sure, fours maybe, and

then that's it. Because honestly, our parents

were more loyal to this franchise. This generation

is not. Well, and I've seen, as late as today,

rumors that they might bring a Star Trek series

to Netflix. But honestly, I would rather see

some of these productions like Star Trek Continues

or Star Trek Renegades or something like that.

Yeah, I would like to see one of those continue

or hell, make all of them continue. Yeah. Would

rather see all of those because honestly, they're

they're more well thought out. They're done by

people that give a shit about the series and

They're actually gaining a following because

they're not associated with anybody I think the

problem is a Star Trek episode is more expensive

to produce now because you look at the budgets

back in the day and that the production of art

was always scrambling to find money and You look

at some of the series that Netflix produces now

with Orange is the New Black, House of Cards,

there was that Lily Hammer, and that's not even

mentioning the Marvel series. And I can imagine

Marvel's obviously pumping huge money into that,

but after the box office performance of Into

Darkness, I can imagine Paramount or CBS is wary

as shit. Because think about this, when Into

Darkness came into theaters, There was no merchandise

for it. Playmates hold the license for this stuff.

And the first Star Trek movie had, you got a

bridge replica, you got ship replicas, tons of

figures. But there was no marketing. Yeah, and

that's - And the cost was so damn high for everything

that, I mean, to be honest, I didn't like the

phaser designs, and I didn't like the communicator

design. I thought they were cheap. I liked the

- phaser design but only because I have one of

the scale replica phasers and it does that little

spin thing yeah see me and I can see liking it

then but if you're getting one of those shit

toy ones that were out I I I had no incentive

to pick those up I would rather get replicas

of the original series set then waste my money

on those garbage I will admit the toy versions

of the phaser was really cool but the tricorder

was garbage and the communicator was garbage

And that really hurts. Yeah, they weren't in

the design. That's our thing, too. The Abramsverse

has literally licensed to update everything to

look awesome. Although everything in the Abramsverse

looks like it came out of the Apple Store. But

it has the potential to actually look futuristic,

whereas the other Star Trek's never really did.

I mean, even Voyager and TNG. Were probably the

best -looking because DS 9 had to stick with

that Cardassian art design Whereas Voyager was

all Starfleet and so was TNG all Starfleet But

TNG actually get to update everything whereas

Voyager was stuck with whatever they had Yeah,

but they were the most advanced one of the most

advanced ships in the fleet at that time Until

the Enterprise -E Yeah, until actually no Voyager

No, yeah, you're right. I guess Enterprise -E

would have been first contact Voyager started

in what, 95? It started, yeah, because no, it

started in 94 and DS9 started in 93. I'm trying

to think, yeah, because I know Voyager did have

quantum torpedoes. They did, but that was about

as far as it went. They were up to date at that

time, but they still had that old bridge aesthetic

and old ship aesthetic compared to... It was

like a cross between the Galaxy and the Sovereign

class starships. Yeah, like they're in that transitional

period. Yeah. And I love the Intrepid class.

That's actually my favorite class of ship. Well,

it's the only one that's able to land. Well,

yeah, I mean, it was more exploration. But then

you saw what happened to the USS Equinox and

how you don't want to get into a fight with these

bastards because your ship will get the crap

kicked out of it. But swinging back. That's the

thing though Abrams that universe like I said

has so much potential and I'm trying to think

who in Hollywood I'd like to see take hold of

it now There's the obvious I could say Joe Sweden,

but I'm not going to um I think they need somebody

new yeah, I give someone who's done a good action

movie and give them a chance um One of the guys

I'd like to see because this might match very

well with Abrams hyper kinetic style of fighting

Maybe talk to one of the guys who did you know

the raid or attack? The block or something like

that sure is it's gonna feel like it like an

action movie but if you have a movie where it's

the Klingon war or the encounters with the Gorn

you're gonna want that hyperkinetic pace and

That could be fun You could really make Star

Trek into an action movie if you wanted to and

yet it's still be awesome at the same time um

I just would want them to keep What the core

of Trek was which was not only the characters

the politics the the science of it but they they

need to have all those and in there as well as

You know their their exploration and action I'm

trying to think of another director that might

do well with it. That's popular Maybe I could

see a Christopher Nolan Star Trek if you wanted

more of the character centric version and yet

it would still have action but it would have

much higher stakes. But I think also he'd keep

more practical with trying to keep with the science

of it. Yeah yeah and Nolan would be a great great

fit for that. Because he was a stickler in the

the Batman series for the science and technology

of it. Like if it wasn't you know within the

reach of that character or that era or whatever

it didn't happen. Sorry, lost my train of thought

there. My wife was motioning to me who she wouldn't

want to see take this. The worst person you could

bring in on this is Michael Bay. Now, that being

said, if Michael Bay handled the ship sequences

with the strict stipulation your camera has to

be pulled out. And I don't want to hear the I

don't want the inception of - In slow motion.

Yeah. See, slow motion could work depending on

what - if you showed it as like, say, a critical

hit to a ship, showing the bridge blowing up

or something like that, I'd be okay with that,

but not for simple, just, gun battles. You know

what I mean? I want it to mean something. I'm

thinking back to other - you know who would be

really good, and I can't remember who did it.

Have you ever seen the movie Children of Men?

Uh, yeah. Imagine that director - doing a star

check where there's very minimal action a Thinking

a real thinking man's track That could be amazing

or you know, what who might see me almost kind

of like For the most part how You know the the

almost how the voyage home or the the undiscovered

country would be Exactly. There was more thought

and less fight. Yeah, and that could really work

depending because Star Trek when it's at its

best can be amazing like measure of a man and

stuff like that but for every measure of a man

we get a friggin clip show or a stupid Tasha

Yard death or we get the lame ending to DS or

not DSN the lame ending to Voyager but we also

get really cool episodes like best of both worlds

and reunification The possibility is there to

really make something. It would be really interesting

to see what a war film might be like using Star

Trek, except pull it back. Have the Enterprise

not leading the fight, but being a support ship.

And evacuating evacuees or trying to negotiate

a peace treaty or something. I'd like to see

an actual fleet. Yeah. Not a decimated fleet,

and not a one -on -one ship thing. I'd like to

see more than one ship actually show up. You

know what, I just had this - Kind of like Best

of Both Worlds, you know, where you had a bunch

of ships. See, that's what I mean. If you brought

the Borg into the Abramsverse, can you imagine

the Battle of Wolf 359 on a movie budget? It

would decimate everybody, because there wouldn't

be enough ships? There would be... First off

no dry seats in the house if you catch my drift

and there would be people would need new pants

Because it would look so cool. So Kirk would

become a Borg Actually, I think that would almost

be really really interesting like a nanite Injection

where he's controlled by the Borg but doesn't

actually have the the facial implants Oh kind

of like Star Trek the return that Shatner wrote.

Yeah, except not stupid Or maybe have a Borg

assimilation thing hit the bridge and Kirk stayed

behind. He gets assimilated and the movie is

them trying to rescue him. It could be really

cool. But once again, we don't want to rely on

old tropes if we don't have to. Now think about

this. Can you imagine a Trek movie? I'm presuming

you saw Captain America and the Winter Soldier.

I loved that film. They get a political thriller.

They tried to do it with Nemesis, and it sucked.

Well, they did it with Undiscovered Country.

Yeah, and that worked. But Nemesis didn't. So

I'm thinking if you brought on some of the...

Do I smell hot dogs? Sorry. What the hell? That's

hell. You're horrible. Anyway, um... Yeah, like

with the tech of today the writers of today and

The directors I mean another thing they could

do Give Jonathan Frakes a shot He did first contact

that also did the insurrection Okay, not so awesome.

Um If you get the right directors and the right

script Could be really really something special

and I'd like to see them expand the universe

the comic books because there have been Prequel

series leading up to the Star Trek reboot where

it shows data as the captain of the enterprise

and the cards and ambassador and all this other

stupid crap and There's this the prequel series

that leads in the darkness as well, which I unfortunately

didn't read There is so much potential Here to

make this universe unique to make it this generation's

Trek, and I'm really afraid it's gonna pass a

lot of fans by. Because, for example, I want

to use my wife as an example here. She hated

TNG, hated the original series, she'd give me

the finger right now. She loathes. Every time

I would watch Voyager, she hates the theme song.

That's alright, my wife hates all Trek. But here's

the thing, when I took Blair to see the newer

Trek stuff, didn't mind it. it's not something

she would seek out but if she went with me it

might be okay and that's what I like the fact

that someone who hates truck is willing to give

it a chance because someone else is excited about

it and that's the thing though this generation

you can hype them up because you look at the

Marvel movies the ones that happened before like

the spider -man movies are the ones that people

really latched on to and they dropped the ball

of spider -man 3 but yet you come up with Iron

Man a couple years later and people were oh my

god so hyped for that So this but I think that

that holds strength based on its pulled from

the comics whereas if they made the comic strong

Being that I know Kurtz or seeing Kurtzman right

part of the comics and our consultants on it,

which kind of sucks, but I think that also I

mean because my wife also hates tracks. She liked

the first film better than the second one into

darkness she Couldn't sit still more or less

it bothered her just because she was able to

figure out what was going on ahead of time And

didn't sit through the entire movie because a

lot of it was pretty obvious And she's usually

quicker at picking stuff up in a film than I

am and I'm usually pretty quick too But she was

tearing that film apart. I I think my wife was

the same way during it too Like I went to the

bathroom during the movie and I came back Blair

what happened? and she rattled it all down for

me. Oh, well, that sucks. Yeah. And I just I

felt like, you know, I and it's not just me that

that thinks that they dropped the ball on the

second one. The first one, she she's not a Trekkie

and she could actually watch it. She would rather

watch Star Wars than watch Trek. And she's not

a fan of that either. But last year, yeah. She

likes, it's the same reason she doesn't like

Batman. I mean, she'll watch Batman, but she

doesn't like Batman or Arrow, and she likes Flash

and Superman because they have powers. She's

definitely more of a Marvel fan, which puts us

butting heads a lot in conversation. So anyways,

I think that something that may help, and I sorted

this out too, Frank's directed First Contact

and Insurrection. He did not write any of them.

Uh, the screenplays and stories, uh, insurrection

was done by, uh, Michael Piller as the screenplay

and the, the story was by Michael Piller and

Rick Berman. Whereas, uh, first contact was Brandon

Braga and Ron DeMore and, uh, the same two and

Rick Berman for, uh, first contact. So I think,

I think it would be kind of cool to see some

of them come back to the fold. Yeah. You'll get

Jonathan Frakes, somebody that knows how to do

a Star Trek film, get you know, Brandon Brega

and Ron Moore and, you know, even if Rick Berman

was a, you know, a consulting producer or something.

Well, especially getting Moore, considering he

did Battlestar Galactica. And I think Brega did

too, didn't he? Yeah. So if you really want to

pull a political trick or make it some really

awesome, some really awesome shit, make this

stuff happen. But Ortiz and Kurtzman are hot

right now because of the Transformers franchise.

Well, the funny thing is, is Brandon Braga did

All Good Things and Relics. Which are two fantastic

episodes. Exactly my point. He also did These

Are the Voyages, where they tied back into TNG,

which I wouldn't say it's a perfect episode,

but it was kind of a funny nod. Worse. Yeah.

It worked for how they had to abruptly end the

show, so I mean... I don't know, I think that

there's a lot of previous people that have been

tied to the franchise that not necessarily are

on screen that could be brought back to help.

I kind of wonder if there's some burned bridges

somewhere, or whether Abrams and the studios

are like, no, you're doing this fresh. I think

it's a combination, but I think the studio is

having a lot more control over it, which is probably

why Abrams was kind of ready to... Jump ship

more or less Because I know that he wanted to

do his own TV series and he wanted to tie the

films to the TV shows which mmm look what Marvel

did I bet I bet CBS and Paramount are biting

themselves in the ass now, but You know, and

so Abrams is now jump ship over to Star Wars,

which you know, yeah, he's still a producer in

the the next film, but Or see is directing. He's

one of the co -writers are on along with JD pain

and Patrick McKay, which I'm not familiar with

those guys It looks like pains had some experience

writing TNG DS 9 and Voyager So that at least

has me a little bit more Hyped up. Yeah knowing

that somebody it doesn't say it says he wrote

TNG frame of mind Which was like a Ryker episode

where he's an alien or he thinks he's losing

his mind He keeps shifting between an alien hospital

in the enterprise And then there's a couple DS

9 and Voyager and then Patrick McKay Is It was

he grew up on like TLS and TNG so that I'm kind

of on that one but who knows I'm optimistic for

the future of the Abrams verse I just I hope

that the direction changes yeah I mean I'm still

gonna be there first day and oh yeah I'm still

gonna see it in IMAX yeah like it's gonna be

that's that's our thing so I guess let's kind

of bring this discussion to a close we're both

optimistic about what could happen but we're

more afraid about what's going to happen Which

is... It sits on a very dangerous precipice between

awesome and being complete shit. So, we'll have

to wait and see. I mean, ultimately... We get

to see the Enterprise on screen. That's cool.

But... And it's refurbished by the end of Into

Darkness. Yeah, so there's new possibilities

there. So, guys, Hollywood, if you are listening...

Take some of our suggestions into at least consideration.

Hire me and Dodd. Yes, consultants, they make

good money. And we'll work cheap. I would, I'd

work for a cameo. I would work for props. Dodd,

what do you want? Phaser rifle, phaser rifle,

phaser rifle. I'll take that computer panel too.

So, like I said, if you're listening guys, you

know how to find me. So next time on the show,

we're not quite sure what we're gonna be talking

about. I mean, we've talked about space travel,

we've talked about our favorite sci -fi TV shows,

but we haven't talked about the aliens of Star

Trek or aliens just being out there in the weird

wide world. We've also never talked about alternate

realities. There is tons of Star Trek humor.

And the long awaited DS9 episode, which we keep

avoiding because... That series is something

you can't just skip episodes. You really can't.

It's really, really serializing. So, missing

something can really screw you over. Whereas

Voyager? Not so much. Have we done a Voyager

-focused episode? I can't remember. I think it

would almost be fun to talk about certain elements

where they've time -jumped, like where Sulu appeared

in Voyager or DS9 in Trials and Tribulations.

The whole crossover phenomena. You know what

that's not a bad idea, so we'll look at those

possibilities, but we do want to hear from you

guys, so Please get involved with the show By

emailing feedback at this week in geek net or

calling our voicemail line at eight one seven

seven one seven Seventy two oh two definitely

want to thank our sponsors of Starfleet which

you can find at SF I dot org or Starfleet the

world's largest Star Trek online fan club good

people I'm part of the USS Hadfield myself. I'm

only a crewman because I lost my Starfleet information

package and I need to apply to the Academy again.

And I'm dead serious. You can gain ranks and

do really cool stuff with your ship. So one final

thing that I want to put out there is if you

guys remember a little while ago I talked about

doing that charity for Toronto Sick Kids Hospital.

I've reached my goal of $500 raised But the event

is still just under a month away. I'd like to

raise another $500 to get $1 ,000 for Toronto

Sick Kids Hospital. So if you want more information,

there is the sidebar. Or you can go to birdmangivesback

.com. 100 % of all those donations go directly

to the kids. I don't see a red cent. And that's

the way it should be. So Steve, what do you want

to promote? Well, I will be doing another Altered

geek last week we talked about Conventions Got

quite a bit of feedback on that especially about

the cosplay side of it and then I've been doing

this new TV show called remote control or its

podcast, but it's it's based on TV shows. It's

more or less the coverage of newer Newer shows

like Gotham, Agents of S .H .I .E .L .D. and

stuff like that. Big Bang 3. A lot of the premieres

we're going to be covering. Certain episodes

throughout the series and then I'm on another

podcast on another network that's actually local

to me that we're doing basically spoiler -ific

episodes in 20 minutes of Agents of S .H .I .E

.L .D. I like it. You should post some of those

on Twig. I think our listeners would definitely

appreciate it. Alrighty. Alright guys, so for

Future Imperfect we have been Steve Megatron

Phillips and I've been Mike the Birdman Dodd

saying live long and prosper.