Yeah, I think that's kind of the central point of the debate. The new movies go into a different direction, which some people just don't like. I myself think they're okay. I don't actually mind the futuristic look - in my opinion, they could have gone even farther with updating the franchise. Also, I maybe would have preferred it if they just made a clean cut and said "this is a reboot, everything is new" instead of this backdoor alternative universe approach. Despite being an alternative universe movie, it's still very much concerned with Prime Universe matters.
Yeah, I understand, if we all had exactly the same interests it would be quite a dull world right? Ha.
I think they decided to not specifically make them a reboot precisely so the fans of the original series [TOS-ENT] wouldn't feel like their Trek was being replaced. The new timeline is a companion to the originals, kind of like the universes seen in "Parallels" or "Mirror, Mirror".
The technology seen in the AR universe is pretty advanced by TOS standards, much of it having been a result of the scans the Kelvin did on the Narada, among other changes (Starfleet's more militaristic approach).
You are totally right Terrra, it still is concerned with Prim Universe matters, the difference is how they are presented and how they play out. The AR still has its own course to set, which is something I very much would love to continue seeing. This is a timeline that will not end up with Kirk sucker killed on Veridian 3 by Soran, Soran might not even exist in this timeline and that is very hopeful to me.
I'm surprised to hear you didn't enjoy Episode 7. I haven't seen it myself, but most people I've talked to thus far seemed to like it. What did they do wrong in your opinion?
That's a very long list for me. I'm very passionate about Star Wars, I was born just 2 or so months after A New Hope was released in theaters. I could begin listing all of the things I really dislike about it but a good deal of it would involve spoilers. Since you said you have not seen the movie, I would not want to sour your experience, should you want to see it and judge it for yourself.
Suffice it to say, I really dislike most of the new characters, I hate that the film is a collected greatest hits of story beats of the events of the Original Trilogy, many narrative decisions, changes they made to the Force, and the fact that the new movie invalidates everything that occurred in the OT. Unlike Rogue One, which for the most part, respected the original source material and used it to flesh out the universe more and craft its own story and its own identity, Episode 7 was pandering, it is the OT compacted into a single film with renamed characters and personalities reshuffled at an attempt to claim that this isn't a carbon copy.
Episode 7 should have been far, far away from the Lucas films. They had the opportunity to mine for so many stories, so many timelines, instead they beat a dead horse and change things. Like the new Solo movie, where they claim you will see how Han "got his name"...cause it just couldn't be that he was just named Han Solo. Ugh. We could have seen the great Sith war that prompted the formation of the Old Republic, moved ahead hundreds of years after Return of the Jedi and seen something completely different and new or gone back to the founding of the Order. So much potential, wasted, cause we needed to have nostalgia serviced and "fix" what the prequels "ruined". Yeah, big fix.
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Back to Trek!
I'm so far behind on ST Online, I don't even remember where I am in that game. I think I have a Connie Refit. But I haven't played in over six months. Is there new content for ST online?