My neighbors and I are planning to check out Cloverfield Friday night just to see what the hell the monster looks like. There was talk of walking out of the theatre once we've seen him, but at $9 a pop it just doesn't sound that funny. Anyway, the trailer and the overall quality of film making in Cloverfield should go a long way in either alleviating my fears about Trek 11 or confirming them.

Don't worry about the Star Trek movie. We're going to see a big budget flick with better special effects that we've ever seen in a Trek movie, done by a guy with a proven track record. Plus, I saw an interview with the writers, and the way they talked about their love of Star Trek and their desire to do a good story, it reminded me of the interviews of Peter Jackson before Lord of the Rings. Anyway, I think there's far more reason to be optimistic about this flick than if it had been done by Rick Berman and co, makers of two flop movies in a row and a failed tv series.

If Star Trek 11 can be AT LEAST as good as Star Trek: First Contact, then we should get a very good movie. First Contact was the last great Trek film and I HOPE for the franchise's sake that 11 can deliver on the promises made by the team doing it. After Insurrection(horrible) and Nemesis(almost as bad), Star Trek NEEDS a good flick, or it my just pass into warp space forever. IMHO, the best of the original cast films were Star Trek 2 and 3(4 sucked and 5 was a travesty), but I actually am one of those that LIKED The Motion Picture, and The Undiscovered Country was so-so. Of the NG cast, really, only First Contact was excellent, with the aformentioned sequels being awful and Generations was a so-so movie.

Post #2- In response. John Logan, the writer behind Nemesis, talked very passionately about his movie too and look what happened. I remember this site even commenting on his quotes about being very excited to work on the project because he had been a fan since he was a kid and how he wanted to do the franchise, and the fans, justice. ..... I'm hoping that this reboot to the franchise will breath some new life into the universe. But we are dealing with an unproven cast. I mean, the last two crews of the Enterprise were favorites of the fans through the series they were in. A lot of pressure here, and I hope that they're up to it. I still have my doubts about JJ Abrams. TV is very different from film and I haven't been convinced that he's got what it takes to make the transfer over. As far as I can see he's only directed one movie, 'MI 3', and that didn't exactly knock my socks off or anything. There is no doubt that he can produce and even write, but he's going to need a lot more than that for this project. Need to see a trailer to be certain.

I agree with Elrushbo. I have nothing but optimisim for this project. If you are going to do a theatrical feature film to revive the franchise this is the only way to go. And we have excellent people behind the cameras. EagleManiac, I'm a big fan of ST:TMP too. It has a completely different take than the rest of the series to follow, but the epic feel of it with Jerry Goldsmith's beautiful music and SFX that still stand up today make it a great film to me. Director Robert Wise did a tribute to man and his technology making the world a perfect place. Whether that would be true or not.

I hate to be a such a colossal dork, but, First Contact was FAR from the "last great Trek film." It was garbage. The last GREAT Trek film was Wrath of Khan. ST IV was good. VI had great intentions and was better than most. All of the TNG movies MUST be ranked behind VI. For all it's flaws, I contend Generations is still the best TNG flick. All the others play like made-for-TV-movies. Ugh, ugh, double-ugh.

You'll get no arguement from me that Rick Berman was nearly the ruination of this franchise, but to arbitrarily assume this film will be justice for Trek fans simply due to his absense is not sound thinking. As Capt. Morgan pointed out, Abrams track record on film (even television) is less than spotless. MI3 was not complete screen feces, but it was not overwhelmingly good. Lost started strong out of the gate but has, in the eyes of many, faltered as it has progressed. As to budget, I personally will not be won over by bedazzling SFX Wizardry and nothing else. Monkeyfoot claims the only way to revive the franchise on screen is to do the film this way. I say bullshit! DS9 deserves a shot at the title. Voyager and Enterprise, not so much. Still, I'd even be willing to give them a chance as opposed to sticking us back into TOS chronology. I've said frequently that this franchise is moving backward instead of forward, and there is no reason to. A reboot can work wonders on a franchise that has no where else to go, but I still am not convinced that's true of Trek.

Monkeyfoot, about TMP, I agree. It felt closer to the TV series but with the big budget and FX done by ILM, and YES, Jerry Goldsmith's music is awesome! His themes show up later for TNG on TV, and even in other Trek films. The opening to TMP is still one of the most dramatic, spine tingling moments in Trek Film history! And, I REALLY dug the cloud sequence. A lot of people thought it was "boring", but I was fascinated, and Goldsmith's music in that part was also excellent(he was such an incredible composer.....I miss him dearly!). Bernini, you're not being a colossal dork in stating that you thought First Contact was garbage. That's your opinion, and you are entitled to it, as any of us are. I disagree with you, but that's what makes these forums so much fun. If we ALL agreed about the same things, the topics would get old, FAST! I absolutely HATED Star Trek V:The Final Frontier as well as The Voyage Home(it was just too silly for my tastes), but The Undiscovered Country was good, but IMHO, not nearly as good as First Contact, which is why I said what I did above about FC being the last of the great Trek films. I do think most of us will agree that Insurrection and Nemesis were just plain BAD! WhiteKnight, I agree that DS9 should've gotten a big movie made for it, because it was a great TV series, and was far superior to Voyager(though it was good), and the abysmal Enterprise. I don't like the idea of a "reboot", but if that's what the producers feel is what will re-invigorate the franchise, so be it. But I have my doubts. I don't know if any of you read the Trek books, but there was one that would've made an incredible movie. It was called "Vendetta", and was a borg book set right after the events of the TNG 3rd season finale and 4th season opener, The Best of Both Worlds. THAT was a great 2 parter, and the book was fantastic!

The motion picture was just a big budget remake of an episode from the original series called doomsday machine. I think we all agree that wrath of khan is the best trek movie ever. I personally love search of spock and the voyage home(that one just being a fun silly movie) and loath the final frontier. And i think the undiscovered country was a nice closure to the old crew. Generations is fun but far from being great. First contact is good, it showed the potential for great follow ups after it, Unfortunally, they took a wrong turn with insurrection, which had its moments, but not too many. And i want to state for record, that nemesis was also a good movie. Sure it has flaws but it wasn't as bad as people make it out to be. I am keeping an open mind on j.j's trek and see what he can do with the trek franchise

I'm still very fearful this will turn out to be a sacrilegious crapfest but I admit I'll be there opening weekend. It may turn out I’m wrong & I’ll be psyched if I am and this is a great film. More then likely though, based on all the continuity reboot talk, this will be the last time I check out Trek in the theater. The cast is great looking. Abrams can be hit or miss. He isn’t quite the wonder boy everyone makes him out to be. Alias got real shitty real quick IMO. Didn’t see MI: 3. Lost is still going great though. My girl & I started with season one back in November and have been re-watching the entire series to gear up for the 1/31 premiere. It’s solid all the way but I don’t think he’s been that involved for a while now. Damon and Carlton have pretty much been running the show there. Six Degrees disappeared quicker than you can say “This is crap”. Here’s hoping though. For the record I’m also a fan of ST: TMP. It’s a great film. Not as fast paced as the others sure but it’s solid Sci-fi. Kahn is, of course, the king. I thought Undiscovered Country was a really good film personally. Lots of people seem to hate it though. Final Frontier was crap but I attribute that mostly to Shatner’s writing and directing. There was a great story in there; it just wasn’t realized very well at all. It’s the only one of the Original Crew that ended up sucking for me. I liked First Contact a lot. Generations would have been better if they gave Kirk a worthy death. All other Next Gen films were crap.