The upcoming Star Trek trailer has been a sight for sore eyes – a Trek movie worthy of the action and awesomeness that made Star Wars what it is (in not too subtle hints by J J Abrams who is a fan of the ‘Wars.) While that has many fans disappointed, it necessarily shouldn’t. If the movie keeps to its purpose of reaffirming our faith in Humanity, through complex character interactions and dilemmas of Good vs. Good, it will have been a great success.
I do believe however, that a reboot was necessary for one very important reason – the technology. Trek predicted 30 years ago many of the things we take for granted today. But thats not good enough today, and that will be Trek’s biggest challenge – one I’m not so sure anyone but Gene Roddenberry could handle.
Those who laughed at Trek fans back in the 70s, are the very people who take things like wide-screen wall-mounted televisions for granted, can’t go a day without their mobile phones, and of course, multi-touch computer controls. It takes vision to predict something so plausible and so effective. It wasn’t technology for the sake of it. It was technology that really helped the characters on the show and was essential for them. What better proof of this than that 30 years later, we can’t live without the same technology as the trek characters?
Now, however, portable communicators and tricorders won’t be good enough. We need something for the next 30 years – we need something that will make the kids of today dream and be inspired to break barriers. We need to create a generation of kids who will say, “I watched Star Trek in 2009 and knew that I had to develop this device.”
Let’s hope Abrams doesn’t disappoint us on that front. Trek was more than wars and character interactions. It’s not a Space Opera. It’s about predicting the future and inspiring people to achieve it.
