10 Retro Ideas To Make Star Trek 2 Great

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While Star Trek writers JJ Abrams, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and Damon Lindelof might know what kind of movie they want the follow-up to 2009’s summer blockbuster reboot to be, it sounds as if they’re unsure exactly what the plot should be: Should there be klingons or Khan? What about an all-new villain to threaten the crew of the starship Enterprise? As much as I loved their first movie, I’m already worrying that they might be in danger of overthinking the sequel, so I thought I’d help by offering up inspiration in the form of advice learned from Gold Key’s Trek tie-in comics from the 1960s and ’70s. Remember: These people have already failed so that you can succeed.

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Try To Tap Into Universal Themes.

You know what made Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home a big hit? It was about something more than just the traditional science fiction themes, and so more people found themselves interested (Well, that and the sight of Leonard Nimoy with a sweatband around his head. I mean, come on). So why not tackle something meaty like the ecology? Admittedly, a cannibal plant might be a little too on the nose, but still.

Metaphor Is Your Friend.

One of the best things about the original Trek television show was the way in which it was unafraid to deal with contemporary topics through (admittedly, increasingly tenuous) metaphorical means. Yes, I have no desire to read about merpeople in space, but that line about “All your people once were air-breathers! And these children — How can you destroy your own children?” makes me think about the inherent possibility for accidental child death in any armed conflict and, now, I’m interested. See?!?

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Remember That, Sometimes, The Old Classics Are The Best.

Look at the creature threatening the crew of the Enterprise in this image. There is a reason he is not as well known as Klingons, Borg, Romulans or countless other recurring threats throughout the almost-50 year history of Star Trek: He looks like a cyborg tree. Sure, there’s some novelty in that idea, but on the other hand, he looks like a cyborg tree. Novelty does not replace the need for quality control.

Space Pirates.

I repeat: Space Pirates.

Why Do You Need A Villain, Anyway?

The reboot of the franchise in the last movie means that the pasts of all of the core characters are up for grabs again in a way that they’ve not been since the show originally debuted more than four decades ago – Years of untold stories and possible material is available once again, and who’s to say that well-told character pieces wouldn’t go down well with a fanbase curious for something that’s familiar but not exactly the same to what was offered before?

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Don’t Be Afraid To Genre-Mash.

The Earth may have been saved in the last movie, but all the action happened out in space, away from the everyday danger. Why not try mixing science fiction with a disaster movie for the follow-up? Or romantic comedy? Or, I don’t know, Sundance Festival-style gritty urban realism about a single parent dealing with both the grief resulting from the death of a partner while also struggling to raise their child the best way they know how, which will probably include drugs and/or stripping for at least one scene?

Okay, maybe not that last one.

Also: Please make Zachary Quinto’s Spock say things like “As you earthlings say” as often as possible.

More Bones.

My one complaint with 2009’s Star Trek? Far, far too little of Doctor Leonard “Bones” McCoy. We’ve already been promised more Scotty in the follow-up, but – and no offense to Simon Pegg – Star Trek isn’t about Scotty. It’s about Spock, Kirk and Bones. Plus: Karl Urban was awesome in the first movie. Kindly give him a little more of the spotlight this time around.

Space Mummies.

Face it: This writes itself.

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Character Conflict, Character Conflict, Character Conflict.

At the end of the last movie, Spock and Kirk may have come to some kind of peace, but they weren’t exactly the trusting-best-buddies that they’d been created to be – While I have no doubt that that’ll happen as the series progresses, I hope that it’s a relatively slow process, and the two (and others, of course) clash throughout the second movie. We want to see fireworks, dammit.

Comedy Is All About Timing And Not “Spock’s Brain”.

One of the things that separates Star Trek and Star Wars to me is humor; Trek is intentionally funny in ways that Wars rarely managed, Han Solo and Princess Leia snark aside. But the comedy in the last Trek movie felt… off, somehow – Too slapstick, too obvious (as much as I loved Chris Pine’s infected Kirk). It’d be nice to see something a little more subtle for the new movie, or at least something more in tune with the gentle bickering of the original and less of the “Spock’s Brain” variety…

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