by A. H. Manjikian

Created on: February 26, 2009

Sequels, or in this case prequels, and remakes can be a boom or a bust for Hollywood. They are boom when they make a lot of money and introduce new fans to stories and characters that old ones have adored for years. They are a bust when they flop and jeopardize the reputation of an already established franchise. When a movie is both a prequel and a remake, the stakes are even higher because you are trying to draw in new fans while satisfying old ones.

Star Trek (2009) is one such movie. It is a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series and a remake because the ship has been re-imagined and the crew recast. It is produced and directed by J.J. Abrams, who has great small screen success with series such as Alias, Lost, and Fringe. The plot involves Romulans, time travel, and alternate time lines.

Time travel and alternate time lines are wonderful story telling implements. If pulled off correctly, they allow you to explore what could have been or what should have been told without changing what already exists too much. Star Trek itself had a great example of this in the much accoladed episode City on the Edge of Forever. However, I fear that time travel might be an overused story telling element as of late in the Star Trek Universe. Of all nine movies, including this latest one, one third of them have involved time travel of some sort. Of these, the classic has to be Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home with lines like "All right everyone, remember where we parked" and "The bureaucratic mentality is the only constant in the universe. We'll get a freighter."

The characters, their interaction with each other, the stories, and classic one liners is what made Star Trek so good in the first place. Admittedly, there were some story lines that could have been better, but that is true of any television series. Star Trek: The Next Generation got off to a rough start with characters that seemed a little stiff and out of place, but by the end, it was a show that lived up to the tradition of good story telling and character interaction. The other series, DS9, Voyager, and Enterprise, all had their ups and downs as well. It seemed, though, as more and more series and movies come out, money, not story telling and character development, were the driving force behind keeping the franchise alive. This was especially true of the last two movies, Insurrection and Nemesis. They probably would have done better if they had gone straight to video.

This tarnished history has made me a little wary

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