A busy couple days of Nerd Rage

[thebitterguy]

Did anyone else see bursts of nerd rage after the casting announcment of Winona Rider mistakenly said she'd be playing Spock's Vulcan mother?

One ML I'm on erupted into savage flares of hatred, like this was some final straw, some last insult they could stand against the sacred Trek.  Obviously, they possess some kind of foresight, some psychic capacity to see into the future (or at least read the script and the mind of JJ Abrams) that I lack.

Or, as I say, Nerd Rage.

Comments

[sixteenbynine.livejournal.com]

Back when the first "Spider-Man" movie was finally getting in front of cameras, there was this whole screaming flap about the fact that Peter Parker's webshooters were (gasp) organic. I got into a protracted discussion / rant with someone else about this, who explained to me with all the petulance of someone denying a child ice cream, that this was a major cultural event and that to pervert the original vision of the story was tantamount to a kind of creative genocide.

My answer was along the lines of, "You need to find more hobbies." He didn't take kindly to that statement.

[spatch]

I coulda sworn there had been previous versions of Spider-Man on TV or another comic title where Spidey's webshooters were organic (and honestly, Parker's a science geek to be sure, but how could he have designed "web fluid" tensile enough to let him swing from buildings? Sure, he learned he could never capitalize on the whole Spider-Man hero thing cause every time he does, an uncle dies, but you'd think he'd have patented the stuff and made a mint off it.)

And I don't understand the nerd rage about it all. IIRC, wasn't there also a change as to how the spider got irradiated and bit Parker too? It was different than a panel-by-panel translation from the original comic book? Where were the howls of rage from that?


As far as Spock goes, I noted the "Vulcan mom" bit was quite off, as the fact that Spock is half-human (and therefore endowed with a little bit of emotion) is a Big Character Thing; Amanda had appeared several times in several of the Star Trek video-movie thingos, and so she was well-established. Changing that, as it had been mistakenly announced, felt arbitrary and counter to Spock's whole character.

Ok, I can accept that and say "I don't think it's right" but I wasn't about to go flying off into a fit of nerd rage. But if there's any fanbase who are violently defensive about their canon, it's Star Trek fans and I only saw a fraction of the nerd rage before the announcement was redacted, but man oh man the "OMG JJ ABRAMS JUST RAPED MY CHILDHOOD AND GENE RODDENBERRY'S CORPSE IN ONE GIANT THRUST" screaming was just sad.

[thebitterguy]

Yeah, the cinema Spider-Man had a genetically engineered spider, instead of the radioactive one from the original stories.

The spider-shooters have always been neat, but I could handle the organic ones better than some folks.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You see, that I'm in line with, but everything about this Star Trek movie sounds like it's being made for money, not love. And, frankly, everything we hear makes it sound more and more like this movie is going to suck harder than "The Phantom Menace."

[redeem147.livejournal.com]

I didn't hear the Vulcan mom part. I heard the 'she's too young' part.

Is this movie about Star Trek, or just Spock? At least they've cast a Canadian captain. Not Captain Kirk mind, but a Canadian captain. Now they just need a Canadian engineer. Are there any trains in the movie?

[lab-brat.livejournal.com]

I was going to post a comment about that, showing my indignation, but then a rumour that they are also casting some lame aussie ex soap star surfaced and frankly that is more disturbing to me. lol

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

True but, I mean, c'mon, Amanda is Spock's mother.

Oh. Wait.

[creativedv8tion.livejournal.com]

No, honestly, I wouldn't pay attention to the sort of people who take Trek that seriously. I'm sure there's going to be a lot of things they're going to complain about.

But it doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Been a fan of geek stuff far too long, seen too much asshattery every time a new movie/show/revamp comes out.

[spross.livejournal.com]

It could be worse. I've heard that Keannu Reeves has been cast to play Klaatu in the remake of The Day The Earth Stood Still...:(

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

You know why I'm angry. Winona Ryder didn't piss me off: I have no emotional attachment to Spock's mom.

Now, Karl Urban as f***ing McCoy? That's another matter.

[thebitterguy]

I wanted that guy what played Lt. Dan.

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Gary Sinise would have been great. But he won't bring in the teenagers, so it's to the marketable actors we go.

Christ, this thing is going to be a bigger train wreck than "Catwoman."