Will good reviews and media hype taint your opinions of Star Trek ?

[Hector]

I love Star Trek The Motion Picture...it has a 2001: A Space Odyssey vibe to it.

Star Trek V: The Final Frontier...yuck...and double yuck.

[mego73]

Whether the buzz was bad or good, it's a continuation of Trek and as such it'll get one viewing from me so I can figure out if I like it or not.

But, I often distrust critical opinion but in another way, they always seem to expect more from popcorn movies then just a great popcorn movie. And when they collectively are impressed by a popcorn movie (and this Star Trek is a popcorn movie) I have to believe I'll at least have a fun, diverting couple of hours even if it's not a movie for the ages.

And count me in as one of TMP's defenders. I always thought it was mistreated by fans even though it wasn't perfect. I liked that it was ambitious in scope and theme (and the theme of the film was Spock coming to terms with his humanity). It also was (adjusted for inflation) still the most financially successful Trek movie (so far).

Incidentally Roger Ebert (even the contrarian), turned in a review of mediocre for the new Trek movie (2.5 out of 4 stars)

[Mikey]

I always liked STTMP
I always thought it was boring -- and I still do, but I always liked it.

I always liked Trek 5 too.
It was no masterpeice, but it was still way better then Generations, Nemisis and Insurection.

Those 3 stinkers I wouldn't watch again if you paid me.

[DocDrako]

If I like a movie...I like a movie...good or bad...

Me too for the most part. I liked Waterworld from the first time I saw it. I have watched it many times since buying the DVD. Hulk was okay. I liked it and I still like some of it. I was very happy to be seeing a Hulk film so that influenced me on first viewing. I own the DVD but I don't watch it often. If it comes down to liking or hating it, I would say I like it. Daredevil was the same for me. I liked it because it was a Daredevil movie, but now I can't really watch it. Again if I have to give a definite answer, I like it more than I hate it. I hope that makes sense. Some films grow on me with repeated viewings, like the Star Wars Holiday Special, but I'm just sick enough to watch something I hate over and over again in the hopes that I will find some redeeming quality about it. Maybe it's a desire to like something that I really wanted to like but didn't. I'm confusing myself.



Funny story: My dad thought that Star Trek II was called "Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kong" and was excited to see it. When I told him the crew of the Enterprise wouldn't be fighting King Kong, but instead, a character from the TV series, he didn't want to go see it. I don't think he has ever seen it to this day.

[Dave Mc]

Hype and feedback don't usually effect me too much. I try to steer clear of it as much as possible, and don't even read threads around here about things like the new trek until after I've seen it.

Still, if I hear how great something is over and over, and everyone seems to like it, my expectations get higher, so there is a bit more of a chance I'll be disappointed. If everyone hates something, I go in expecting it to suck, and there is a greater chance it wont be as bad as I was expecting. That was the case with Hulk. Others that had high expectations were disappointed and voiced it. After reading those, the bar was lowered for me, so when I finally did see it, I wasn't expecting much, so wasn't near as disappointed.

[Werewolf]

You know, I don't think people would be as excited for the new movie if it was just another spin-off. I think people are just plain tired of Picard, Sisko and Janeway. They want Kirk and Spock back.

I personally think each progressing series got further and further away from Gene's positive vision of the future as well as worse and worse. Next Gen started out fine to me until they beat to absolute death the Borg storyline and the Next Gen movies were just terrible.

No one could boldly go in Deep Space because they were stuck at the station and that "You are the Sisko" crap got old pretty damn fast. Voyager just plain sucked. No way around that. I had high hopes for Enterprise and it's last season had some good episodes. But it was too little too late at that point.

Even if I end up not personally liking the new movie, it has succeeded in making the classic Star Trek relevant again.

[number 6]

I wish I could say that I'm in no way influenced by reviews but I have to be honest, I don't think that's the case. I mean it's true to a certain degree. All the great reviews in the world aren't going to influence me to watch Lost or a Harry Potter movie.

But why else would I read reviews for a movie I know I'm going to see if not to get some validation? It's like I'm looking forward to seeing the movie, but I kinda want some confirmation that it's going to be good and that I won't be totally disappointed.

I know there's movies that I was going to see that got mixed reviews (POTA, Hulk, Daredevil, Superman Returns, etc.) I focused on the reviews that were good and after watching the movie was like "Yeah, that was alright", even recomending it to other in a couple of instances.

But by the time the movie comes out on DVD my reaction is "No way am I going to buy that, it wasn't that great". So the reviews must have influenced me to some degree. I guess that's the acid test for me, whether after some reflection I'll plunk down money to own it.

Wish I could say I'm a totally independant thinker, and I do tend to like stuff that not everyone else likes. But guess I've got a little bit of the sheep/follow in my personality.

[johnmiic]

Mike, you couldn't have been subtler than if you titled this thread: Will you be brainwashed by people who actually like New Trek, critics who give it good reviews and betray old Trek and toss it out on the trash heap?

[Mikey]

Mike, you couldn't have been subtler than if you titled this thread: Will you be brainwashed by people who actually like New Trek, critics who give it good reviews and betray old Trek and toss it out on the trash heap?

You're partially correct, John - except for the last part --- and betray old Trek and toss it out on the trash heap?

It's not just for Trek.
I thought the same thing when the new Star Wars movies came out.