While I completely understand where you are coming from with this I find it interesting from my own perspective of not being a Star Trek fan. I actually enjoyed both movies very much, but with no prior knowledge of the franchise I was going in blind so to speak. I wonder what my experience would have been like with a version of the Star Trek movies that was truer to its source material? Probably the same or even better, but who knows. What I will say is J.J. Abrams has come out numerous times talking about his love for the Star Wars franchise. I feel like especially with the position he is in with a brand new world. Literally all the source material for the Star Wars universe has been expunged. Every character that matters is either new, older (different), or dead which leaves him with very blank slates. He has a lot of room to work with. What you've shown me is someone who wasn't interested in making a star trek movie decide to make an action movie with the star trek name. J.J. Abrams may have been a poor director for Star Trek, but I definitely have some faith that he can pull through for Star Wars, but this doesn't mean that I'm saying he doesn't still have a chance of failing. With all of the things I listed as pros they could very quickly turn to cons if used incorrectly.
Thanks for the badge! I'm ambivalent about the Star Wars EU being thrown out, some of it I liked, most of it I didn't. I agree with you that Abrams is a better fit for Star Wars than Star Trek, definitely. I'm still nervous/worried though. I think giving him freedom is as dangerous as asking him to be loyal to pre-existing material. I just don't trust his creative choices and I don't think he's a good director, I think he handles plot and character clumsily regardless of what franchise/universe he's working in. I would trust David Fincher, or Neill Blomkamp, or Guillermo del Toro, but not JJ Abrams. Since you say you're not a Star Trek Fan but you enjoyed the reboots, if you are interested in delving further (and as a trekkie I obviously think you should :D ), can I recommend these four movies with the classic enterprise bridge crew; - Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - Star Trek III: The Search for Spock - Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home These three make up a loose trilogy that are a great starting point for new trekkies. - Star Trek VI - The Undiscovered Country A good stand-alone movie and effective coda to the Kirk era of Star Trek.
It was really informative, and really made me interested in pursuing the Star Trek series, so that seems to be the point of the badge system. With that said I will be checking those four movies out. Out of curiosity, why is the first star trek not listed? I understand your concern for J.J. Abrams, but I still think there is room to have hope. Although I haven't watched something I disliked by Abrams so to speak I just think this is a different situation. Abrams talked a lot about his apprehension first taking on the project in some of his early interviews( I'll try to find some sources on those) he talked about how he didn't even want to do because it was Star Wars. I think part of that is important Star Wars is big stuff, and on top of it he is being given a lot of power in the universe. That fear alone coupled with that fact that his co-writer is Kasdan I think this could reign in a lot of the issues he has as a director. All I'm saying is I think it is better to stay at least a bit optimistic about the movies.
Indeed, thank goodness Kasdan is there. I'll try and stay optimistic. Star Trek: The Motion Picture is just not a good film. It had a troubled production history, among other things the script was a re-write of a planned pilot for another Trek series, and suffered from constant tinkering from many different people even during shooting. To be frank, even as a hardcore trekkie I find it boring, the pace is glacially slow and it has the worst possible influences from it's time (think '2001: A Space Odyssey' style of very long shots of spacecraft slowly moving). It hasn't aged well at all, I would avoid it unless you've seen all other trek movies (although there are some other stinkers out there, e.g. Star Trek: Nemesis is rubbish), it's only worth watching if you're dead set on absorbing all Star Trek, it would be better to watch some TNG, Voyager or DS9.