I think the model photography from the motion picture holds up very way today, certainly better than the cgi from the new film will look in even five years time.
Because from a design standpoint they did it right, Probert who designed the Refit Enterprise 1701 with the help of Richard Edlund and others. And then John Dykstra and crew filmed them.
Probert was very conscious of keeping Jefferies design in mind while at the same time making a model whose scale would work for the big screen and not tv. The original tv model was in the smithsonian and was not useable in any case and the phase II model that was already half completed was also unusable because it was built for a tv production.
The enterprise from the first film is still considered breathtaking even today, but a good deal of that is because of the weight and scale of the model gives you a sense of reality, and nobody can replace Jerry Goldsmith either. That would be as absurd as getting someone else other than John Williams to do the music for star wars.
No Matter what to me this is like the prequels complete modern bullshit. Not Shot on film, 90% green screen, blue screen and cgi. No real models. Made to Look action packed sexy and flashy but lacking any substance.
I saw City on the Edge of Forever the other day and was amazed how great good star trek can be, that reminded me and so does some of the movies from the 1-6 years. First Contact was a good action flick, which only had any Gravitas because of Patrick Stewart. But this new movie lacks even that. As much as i like Bruce Greenfield.
The new movie Lacks any well knowns or any big name caliber actors. Unless you consider a guy who had his day in the sun, Bana as a big name.
Trek II had Ricardo montalban as Khan. VI had Christopher Plummer as General Chang.
III had Christopher LLoyd a poor choice in my mind, and Anyway hes cemented into peoples minds as doc brown from back to the future,lol.
VII had Malcolm McDowell in an entirely wasted role.
Maybe if the script was better on nemesis and they had a competant director, and had Patrick Stewart play Shinzon as well as Picard the film would have been. Better.
What Trek II undertstood that the first film lacked was that you had to have a Villain to play the hero off of. It also understood that the relationships between the characters was more important than the spaceships or the effects. It dealt with the concept of Death and age. The characters were not carboard cutouts or made to be a joke. There were no Jar Jar like lines "I like this ship it's exciting".
Meyer as a dramatist and Stage writer new the story should focus on all the emotions of the human condition. Even considering that one of the characters was half human and logical and kept his emotion in check.
I'm not sorry to point this out that this movie is trying to remake wrath of Khan and the Star Wars series all in one. Nero is another Khan ripoff just like Shinzon, and if the Rumor is true that Nimoys spock dies in this movie to save the characters of the Alternate trek verse it should be banned.