JJ “Star Trek Wars” Abrams

By now I’m sure you’ve heard the news that JJ Abrams has been picked to direct Star Wars Episode VII.  Now, the two biggest space adventure franchises are in the hands of one man. That’s a lot of geek power to wield.

I’m mixed on how I feel about this. On the one hand, I’ve enjoyed a lot of the projects JJ has been involved in; Lost, Star Trek (2009), Fringe, Alias. But I’ve also had problems with all of those projects. To varying degrees, they’ve all suffered from major plot holes and stories to convoluted for their own good.

How much of those problems were to be blamed directly on JJ vs him handing the projects over to others and not being heavily involved? His involvement with all of them tappers off at some point and much of the blame for inconsistencies in plot usually are thrown at Lindeldorf. But that doesn’t absolve JJ from blame.

Now, all of these projects were still highly entertaining. Alias season 1-half of season 2 was very exciting and gripping, as was season 1 of Lost. Star Trek was very much a good movie; very entertaining and exciting. We’ll have to wait for Into Darkness to see if he can do good Star Trek and not just good movies.

That very point is something in his favor in terms of his role with Star Wars. It was very clear he tried to make Star Trek more like Star Wars. Now he’ll actually get to make Star Wars. This has great potential.

Will Star Wars Ep. VII be the magnum opus for JJ, the final culmination of all of his projects into a perfect movie? Or will be the usual result, lots of promise, entertaining, but can’t stand up to scrutiny?

In the end, I’d say I’m cautiously optimistic. The writer attached to the film has good cred to his name, and if Lindeldorf really is the plot problem with JJ’s projects, that could be what solves it. Or it could collapse into the worst movie ever. Though, that’s unlikely. There’s no way I think JJ could ever make anything as bad as the “romance” scenes between Anakin and Padme in “Attack of the Clones”. I just don’t think he’s capable of making something that bad.