ChainsawAsh said:
A friend of mine, who had never seen any "Star Trek," who is a die-hard "Star Wars" fan, who detests the very idea of "Star Trek," walked out of the movie with me saying, "That was really good. Do you have the old TV show? I'm actually kinda interested now."
A similar situation has happened with me. There's a girl at work who bears an uncanny resemblance to Zoe Saldana. In passing the other day, I nerdily joked “are hailing frequencies open, Uhura?” – the look on her face should have been accompanied by the sound of crickets. She had absolutely no idea what I was talking about.
I explained I was just goofing on how she looks like Saldana - to which she replied “someone walked up to me on the street a few days ago and said the same thing”. She knew of Saldana, but not anything about Star Trek. As I was walking away, I said “see you later Uhura”. I was floored by her next reply – “oh, is that the character’s name?” Apparently, when she said she didn’t know anything about Trek – she really meant it.
Since then, I occasionally send her a blurb or two about Trek or make unnecessarily nerdy comments, knowing she has no idea what I’m talking about. She takes it in stride and seems amused at the silliness. A few days ago, I sent her an email with two pictures. One of Nichols as Uhura, with the ear communicator - and one of Saldana with the same ear piece. I mentioned that I dug the nod to the original. This is a quote from an email she sent me a few moments later;
I should really get into the show. How do I get into it??
She wants to start with the original show and also wants a couple of recommendations on the 80s films, so that she understands what’s going on in the new film.
I’m with Chainsaw on this one. The new film seems to be getting people interested in the original show - the universe of Star Trek. The original show is where those themes of exploration and discovery were born - and from the sound of Chainsaw’s review (and a few others), it appears they will be prevalent in the next film. To me, that’s a very positive aspect of this new film. New fans will be looking forward to “Boldly going where no one has gone before” – and that’s really where Trek lives.