Star Trek: Into Darkness
Well, I *was* looking forward to seeing the new film, "Star Trek: Into Darkness".
Until I saw the spoilers and the big reveal of what Trek character Benedict Cumberbatch is playing.
Obviously I haven't seen it yet, and I'll wait until I have to make a final judgement.
But right now, I ain't likin' what I'm hearing.
Oh, J.J....... WHY.....???????? (BIG spoilers ahead)
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Why, with all of the Trek-verse to chose from, did you have to do a re-make of the best of the TOS films, 'The Wrath of Khan'....????
WHY, FFS, would you cast Cumberbatch, a white European, as Khan Noonien Singh, a character that is established in Trek canon as "from the Northern India area, probably a Sikh".... !?!?!? He was part of an ethnically diverse group of genetically engineered super men & women.
Roddenberry's Trek, in 1966, made more of an effort to be multi-cultural than the reboot in 2013. His 'supermen' weren't all Aryans.... *fail*
Although, to be fair, in TWOK itself, all his remaining followers were young blondes, so it was a *fail* then too.
I dunno, maybe they thought they'd get backlash the other way, say if they'd cast Naveen Andrews as Khan, as having the PoC be a villian and terrorist.
But hell, if they really wanted to use Cumberbatch, he would have made a great Gary Mitchell, wouldn't he...?
And don't even get me started on the 'magic blood' deux ex machina that's supposed to fix everything at the end. Like the eyeroll-worthy 'red matter' in the 2009 film.
I was really, really looking forward to the new film. I'm a Trekker from *way* back, all the way to TOS. Those characters were like dear friends to me, back in the day. And although I resisted the idea of a reboot, the 2009 reboot won me over anyway, 'cause I could buy into it if it was an AU.
But the AU started the day Kirk was born. NOT a couple hundred years earlier when Khan was born!
I hate to be one of those nitpicky canon-purists.... but this is beyond that. I totally get why there are folks saying it's racist and white-washing.
Until I saw the spoilers and the big reveal of what Trek character Benedict Cumberbatch is playing.
Obviously I haven't seen it yet, and I'll wait until I have to make a final judgement.
But right now, I ain't likin' what I'm hearing.
Oh, J.J....... WHY.....???????? (BIG spoilers ahead)
[Spoiler (click to open)]
Why, with all of the Trek-verse to chose from, did you have to do a re-make of the best of the TOS films, 'The Wrath of Khan'....????
WHY, FFS, would you cast Cumberbatch, a white European, as Khan Noonien Singh, a character that is established in Trek canon as "from the Northern India area, probably a Sikh".... !?!?!? He was part of an ethnically diverse group of genetically engineered super men & women.
Roddenberry's Trek, in 1966, made more of an effort to be multi-cultural than the reboot in 2013. His 'supermen' weren't all Aryans.... *fail*
Although, to be fair, in TWOK itself, all his remaining followers were young blondes, so it was a *fail* then too.
I dunno, maybe they thought they'd get backlash the other way, say if they'd cast Naveen Andrews as Khan, as having the PoC be a villian and terrorist.
But hell, if they really wanted to use Cumberbatch, he would have made a great Gary Mitchell, wouldn't he...?
And don't even get me started on the 'magic blood' deux ex machina that's supposed to fix everything at the end. Like the eyeroll-worthy 'red matter' in the 2009 film.
I was really, really looking forward to the new film. I'm a Trekker from *way* back, all the way to TOS. Those characters were like dear friends to me, back in the day. And although I resisted the idea of a reboot, the 2009 reboot won me over anyway, 'cause I could buy into it if it was an AU.
But the AU started the day Kirk was born. NOT a couple hundred years earlier when Khan was born!
I hate to be one of those nitpicky canon-purists.... but this is beyond that. I totally get why there are folks saying it's racist and white-washing.