Three trailers later, JJ Abrams continues to play cagey and coy, proving to be the master of the mystery box, showing much but revealing little. That's just how he rolls. It stirs up interest, it generates conversation and free media coverage. In an age where you have a zillion media channels, it pays when you have free helpers commenting, sharing, and cutting/pasting what you do, turning into a free branch of your marketing machine. And Abrams is the true master of that skill.
He loves Star Wars, too. After being handed the keys to the Star Trek universe and putting that franchise back in the public eye, one that admittedly he isn't a fanboy of and one where the fan opinion on his work is sharply divided, he gets the keys to the kingdom of the other big science fiction franchise, the one that he does love and counts as one of his biggest inspirations to what he does in life. Can he do it? And will fans give him a chance?
Let us examine the evidence...
First off, I enjoy JJ Abrams' Star Trek movies. The things they do well, they really do well. Contrary to the griping of some fans, he has captured the original characters in feel and portrayal. He has thrown in some different elements, like the characters being more raw, less refined and experienced, in some cases less comfortable in their skin. But he has captured the more elemental natures of their personalities. He has successfully brought familiar elements out and captured the simpler essences of their onscreen chemistry. He has recast the TOS characters and successfully brought them to life again. This is in itself a feat, one many fans said could not be done (perhaps they should stop saying that. It has been proven wrong repeatedly). He has brought the Trek universe back to life in vivid visual terms and captured a human rawness, even a frontier spirit, even better than original Trek did. Now, mind you, I am a prime timeline fan. And that deep history I've been with for many years that JJ Abrams tossed into another timeline has me not really interested in the ancillary media that has since been published. And I sense I am not alone in that respect. Fans want Star Trek. This is Star Trek, but an alternate timeline story. We are ok with that, if it is, say, a universe that is acknowledged as an alternate timeline (Mirror Mirror U, etc). But this is almost like Lucas producing the Special Edition Star Wars films and insisting the original cuts don't exist anymore, refusing to acknowledge them. I'm ok with these films and their new timeline. But if/when they do get around to a new TV series, I want the Prime Universe back. I'll follow one in this new timeline, but it is the Trek Prime Universe that is truly "home". So, novels, comics, videogames...Prime or nothing for me.
Abrams is clearly a fanboy, big time. And he is playing in playgrounds that so many of us dream to on a professional level. Star Trek is one of those beloved playgrounds that have inspired so many. The roots go deep, DEEP. Abrams is not one of those fans. Which in itself is not a bad thing. Nicholas Meyer was not a fanboy, yet went on to be central in creating some of the most beloved Star Trek adventures ever (STWOK, STTUC). However, Meyers was able to do this because he was able to see Trek clearly. And he got it. In Star Trek, even when the action is high and swashbuckling, the thing that makes it stand out is that it is cerebral. It cares severely about the why of things. Who we are, what is the meaning, why do we do all what we do? Can we do better? Should we do better? What is better? Star Trek cares about all this and so much more and its fans tend to do the same. Abrams, however, is on record as saying, "Star Trek was too philosophical" for him.
Now, I am a LOST fan. I love the ending far more than most. Ambiguous endings, metaphysical endings, I love all those. To me, life is more about the Mystery than the concrete answers. So demanding all your fiction have its plot elements tied up in a nice, neat package at the end, even more that can entirely be explained by "rules", is silly. Life is mystery. Stories can be mystery. You want all your loose ends taken care of in the end? Watch Murder She Wrote. And yes, LOST could be a deeply philosophical show. But...here's the key difference. Star Trek wants you to think. In the thinking, you will often feel. But the emotions are just a bonus. And often optional. Like Spock, Trek fans can sometimes be uncomfortable with emotional expression and sensation and prefer logic and Data. Less complicated, "right" answers (not really, but the illusion is often there). So the emotion first approach of LOST with no real answers, or seeming contradictory ones confuse them.
Which brings us to Star Wars. It is a curious thing in scifi/fantasy fandom that we see tribal tendencies popping up. Rivalries drawing up battle lines, harsh rhetoric, this has been going on for ages, die hard fans of both franchises giving each other the stink eye, never mind that many, if not most fans are actually fans of both. I have met partial partisans of both camps, though I don't pretend to understand them. I am a huge fan of both franchises (but will admit, if pressed, bigger Star Trek fan). The rivalry I see as kind of pointless, as both are fundamentally different kinds of science fiction. Star Trek has always attempted to attach itself to the real world. It has used science fiction allegory to take a look at real world issues from different angles that a distance in time and space uniquely allows. It also traditionally tries to build a hopeful, plausible future that gives humanity possibilities to which we can aspire. Star Wars, on the other hand, has never tried to tie itself to the "real world". Right in the beginning, it says, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away...". It has always put itself in another world and has never tried to make its astronomy, technology, theology, politics or anything else follow any "real world" rules. It is about elemental simplicity in those elements, just create a universe with a distinct feel. Which is the essence of Star Wars. It is not about heavy duty philosophizing (which is not to say that does not go on, it very much does, especially that, spiritual nature, honor, goodness, that kind of thing). But it is not about those things in the abstract, figuring out "how they work". It is about FEELING, all those things in the Star Wars universe are how the characters relate to them, how it moves them from one plot point to the next, or both. Star Wars has little time for sitting around philosophizing abstractly, it is nearly always about how it relates to the players on the screen (which is one way the Prequels got off course, they tried abstract philosophizing, but Lucas didn't know how to do it believably and keep it in the spirit of Star Wars, re. relate it to the characters and their travails and give the audience just enough).
Which brings us back to Abrams. Lucas's failures with the Prequel films (which are to various degrees watchable, imo, iffy movies with some very, very good parts that deserve to be in better films) have fans very nervous about what is coming. But Abrams has been raising hopes with his beautiful trailers of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Abrams, in those trailers, has been doing the two things he does best, emotion and mystery. We know almost nothing about the plot of the film. We have intriguing introductions to some new characters and are joyfully shown old, beloved ones. What we see, what we hear, what we feel, is new, yet familiar. Abrams is a Star Wars fan from way, way back. It is safe to assume that he knows the universe and is as well versed in it as any serious fan. However, he is a master craftsman with a particular style and he further is in the unique position of having just come from shepherding that other major science fiction franchise back onto the cultural map, front and center. That universe was not one of his major fandoms and frankly was not the best fit for his sensibilities. Even so, what he did produce was very good (though fan dissatisfaction in some quarters is quite understandable, and here's hoping, going forward, that Trek fully finds itself once again). But now, Abrams is over there in a galaxy far, far away. And his twin drivers, emotion and the mystery, and all other elements serving them, are better suited to the Star Wars universe. Like Han and Chewie, he has "come home".
It is a mistake to fear both the Prequels experience or that of Abrams' Trek films. Now, if you just hate JJ Abrams's style, you may be out of luck, but I would suggest if you are a Star Wars fan, you give at least this first film a chance and see where we go from there.
That is my impression. But full disclosure, I am an Abrams fan while fully acknowledging his weaknesses. Despite them, I do believe the Force is once again with us.
Cautiously optimistic. I want to think my nerd heart has tough scar tissue at this point. But it is impossible to feel without the possibility of a broken heart. So as Threepio once said, "Here we go again."
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