Star Trek Stimulus, Part II

Enter J.J. Abrams and Crew

From 2005-2007, Star Trek Zero (STZ) film development was enough to forge the keel for dry dock. On 23 Feb 2007, Abrams accepted the offer from Paramount to elevate him from producer to director of STZ, which was a logical choice given his service on this film project, past box office success with two movies: Mission Impossible III (MI3) and Cloverfield. It also helps to be science-fiction/fantasy phenomenon on the small screen.

Paramount studios heavily banked on bringing in Abrams’ following to help further expand Star Trek’s fan base beyond its loyal, yet aging core. Abrams achieved small screen success with Alias (2001-06), Fringe (season 2 on the way), and Lost (still in production). At its height in season one, Alias attracted 9.7 million viewers, but dropped off to 6.8 million in its fifth season. By the way, Fringe’s viewership of 9.6 million for season one and renewed for a second season. Lost’s ratings were in the top 20 for the first three seasons with 15 million viewers, but declined to 11.37 million by season 5. Upon further review, one has to wonder if this is the same viewing base for both TV shows which could average 10 million. Thus, it appears Abrams’ name attached to STZ could bring in millions more screen goers for more million$...

Abrams brings in his well-established movie team to make this challenging task appear to happen quite smoothly enough…

Alex Kurtzman MI3 writer

Roberto Orci, MI3, writer

Roger Guyett – Second unit director for STZ, a Visual Effects Supervisor, past work with MI3

Neville Page-Cloverfield monster creator

Musical composer Michael Giacchino – Alias, Lost & MI3

Despite Abrams' own solid rep, he had his own initial trepidation about Star Trek's terminology of "neutral zone" and all those tattooed Romulans with pointy ears. So, having those trustworthy people around and a stunning script made this job easier than an outright re-boot from nothingness. In-fighitng with Paramount studios seemed to be less of an issue when compared to battle with a fierce faction of Star Trek fans.

"Money Beats Soul Every Time"

During initial studio rehearsals for Roadhouse Blues (Doors' Morrison Hotel album) lead singer Jim Morrison declared before those famous and righteous Bobby Krieger guitar licks that “money beats soul every time.” Later on, this phrase did not make the final track...STZ is another blatant case of money trumping soul in this storied franchise since The Motion Picture or Generations. Up to $150 million (USD) was invested by a Paramount to realize a re-boot of Star Trek. Soul was not the real foundation for a movie tilted towards a proven science-fiction action formula to lure in and maintain an expanded audience for new STZ. Then, there were all those tie-ins to benefit commercial sponsors:

E-surance

Yes, they are known for high-tech gadgets and robots with the cute spokes action figure, Erin. They better pay off that claim for the classic 1965 Corvette Stingray convertible that got trashed in an alleged Iowa ravine.

Nokia

The dominant cell phone making firm in the 23rd century?

Verizon Wireless

Somehow, 3G network coverage zones don't seem to work off Earth or outside the inner Solar system.. Could this firm actually win the bidding war to service nearly infinite subspace (mutli-dimensional particle) communications spectrum?

Kellogg's

A Starfleet cadet needs a comfort food Pop Tart after flunking the gruelling Kobiyashi Maru no-win scenario, or wholesome Museli for a start to a day of demanding Star Fleet training. Oh, wait, cocky Kirk ate a red nutritous apple as he used creative situational shaping (i..e cheating) to achieve the rescue of the stricken space freighter.

Burger King

It must be an alternate universe of people with poor culinary tastes in burgers...

Intel Corporation

Makes sense to boast your chips or molecular-level processors perform as advertized for everyday or extra-ordinary applications like beaming two falling people from impacting the surface of Vulcan.

Budweiser

Another case of an alternate universe that assumes the "King of Beers" will be around by the 23rd century and still owned by a non-US based firm...pre-Star Fleet Kirk must have been on a budget or so trashed that he completely ignored supporting Iowa breweries!

Naturally, others hoped to cash on the Star Trek Stimulus as well. Ranging from the long-time and not-so ailing toy makers of Hasbro, Matel and Playmates to other web-based sci-fi merchandise retaillers.

Another beneficiary for STZ, was costume, er, Star Fleet uniform maker Rubies who produced mediocre quality uniforms to serve as placeholders before fans met people or small businesses who could do way better looking uniforms. Before STZ/Star Trek: The Re-Boot, fans could successfully duplicate uniforms that mostly looked good enough or even movie set quality to wear at conventions. Not anymore, due to the difficulty of creating all those little delta shields heat transferred on to super Spandex material. So, Rubies wins this one at the expense of talented fans or small firms.