Willkommen, jolan tru, welcome!

So this is the new Star Trek. I have enjoyed the reboot "Star Trek XI" as the most exciting and overall most visually compelling Trek movie in a long time. It profits from great performances by most of the actors, and from the work of J.J. Abrams, who knows like few other directors how to bring a story to the big screen. But this story suffers from just too many unlikely coincidences and other plot holes. Everything in this parallel timeline is blatantly poised to get seven characters together on a ship named Enterprise now matter when and how, while many other things that used to make up Trek are deemed expendable. Finally, the spectacular yet shocking events in the movie are not likely to get me interested in seeing more stories set in this desolate universe. As a prequel to the Trek I love the movie definitely failed. "Star Trek XI" compares to the old Trek like a one-night stand to a decade-long relationship. Read the full review.

The six weeks after the release of the movie have been most turbulent for me. As I always do after a new movie I supplemented most sections with the available facts from "Star Trek XI", I summarized the movie's inconsistencies and I wrote up something about the size of the Enterprise. So much information was coming in that I had to revise some of the pages every day. The visitor numbers of EAS as well as my mail volume reached an all-time high in mid-May. I received numerous hints from fellow fans, a lot of praise for my work as well as moral support and I would like to say thanks to all of you!

But a small number of Trek fans apparently resent me finding any fault with "Star Trek XI", or only spotting evidence that contradicts the purported huge size of the ship. There were a number of hate mails and I found several anti-EAS threads at Trek message boards in which people who called themselves fans accused me of fabricating evidence, of ignoring non-canon explanation attempts or even of listing any inconsistencies in the first place. And while they were at it, some pathetically announced to boycott EAS. Also, as much as I am used to being insulted outside the geekosphere, Trekkers who scorn fans of the old Trek for "hanging around in the basement" is something totally new. Many felt compelled to call to my attention me that it's just a movie. Yes. And that is exactly why it may contain errors. But for some reason it is heresy to mention these errors. See the Star Trek XI FAQ.

I usually don't criticize fellow fans for their personal views of the Trek Universe, but some really need to lose their unbecoming "cool kid" attitude, which will happen when the hype is over. And while I am still not tired taking care of the new movie, I am looking forward to the time when the dust has settled and I can return to business as usual.

Bernd Schneider