Why Don't Some Trekkies Like the New Star Trek Movie???

Sci-fi fans get so weird about their shows. I've been a Trekkie for twenty years. The original series is my favorite, closely followed by the middle years of TNG. DS9 flew in the face of a lot of what those shows stood for but that doesn't mean I have to hate DS9. A new set of creators took over from the Roddenberry set and they needed some room to put their own stamp on Star Trek. Maybe I do love what came before DS9 just a little bit more but I also recognize that doing the same old thing over and over gets boring after awhile. DS9 allowed Star Trek to change and grow. Maybe I don't think the result was quite as good as the old days but it was infinitely better than if they had just tried to recycle those old ideas for seven years.

I don't know why fans of the original Star Trek can't look at the new film that way. Just 'cause I like the way Shatner played Kirk in 1966 doesn't mean I can't also like the way Pine plays Kirk today. Yeah, it's different. Big deal. Are there a few moments in Pine's performance that don't ring true to me? Yes. There are moments in Shatner's performance that don't ring true to me either but the difference is I'm so used to those moments that I kind of love them as much as the parts that are actually good. Come on, nobody really thinks Shatner should have won the Oscar for the way he shouted "Khaaaaan!" but we all love that scene.

To be a Classic Trek fan, you can't just turn a blind eye to painfully bad moments like that. You have to LOVE the bad stuff just as much as the good. You love all those moments when it's thought-provoking, profound, when it sheds light on what it means to be human... and you also love the styrofoam boulders, the fake-looking aliens, the bad accents, the ham acting (and let's face it, Shatner isn't the only offender in that department), the fight scenes with obvious stunt doubles, the plot holes, the unintentionally hilarious moments. Who doesn't love the "Risk is our business" speech? Who doesn't love "Brain and brain, what is brain"? Who doesn't love, "Spock, we reach"? Or Spock mindmelding with the Horta ("Pain!")? Or, "I am Kirok!"? And if you're more of a TNG fan, I can come up with a list for you too. I love watching Borg-Picard menace the Federation in "The Best of Both Worlds," but I'm equally entertained when Commander Shelby says, "Data was available, I took him, we came" -- and I don't think I'm the only one who loves that moment.

I think there's way more good than bad in the new Star Trek movie but it will never pass muster with the Trekkies who refuse to love its faults the way they love the faults in their favorite episodes. With that kind of double standard, nothing could compare favorably. Most non-Trekkies who come in without our built-in love for the characters loved the film, which suggests to me that most Trekkies would love it too if they gave it a fair shot. Why can't we do that? Beats me. It's not like we're married to Shatner and company. We can dilly-dally with their younger, hotter doppelgangers and then go back without needing to feel guilty. Just like we can like DS9 or Doctor Who or Grey's Anatomy or Project Runway without "betraying" Star Trek.