Star Trek - Things to Avoid the Next Time Around

Over at Chud.com, Devin Faraci has posted his top 5 things that Star Trek should avoid in the next movie installment. He cites the following:

5. Don't bring in Kahn
4. Leave the Bumpy Ewok out of it (Scotty's alien friend)
3. Don't tie the next movie into Lost
2. Don't start on Earth
1. Leave the original canon alone

Devin has the right idea with numbers 5 and 1. The original canon should be left alone, at least for this second movie. I think once the series establishes itself on its own merits, then there is room to bring in some of the characters and plots from the original series or movies. I would prefer a truly original mission for Star Trek 2 version 2.0 though. Kahn should definitely not appear.

In response, I have created my Top 5 things for Star Trek to avoid in the next film. Enjoy!

5. Don't mess with the original canon; as mentioned above

4. Ditch the Spock/Uhura romance. It just didn't work well in the recent movie. I think it's welcoming to have Spock exhibiting more emotions in this reboot. It adds nuance to his character and Zachary Quinto can pull it off. But his fling with Uhura felt tacked on for no real effect. Also, it made me question Spock's morals and judgment, since I gathered that Uhura was one of his students at the time. Maybe this romance will be nipped in the bud.

3. Avoid 1-dimensional villains. The best films, when pitting good versus evil, have truly believable and well-conceived antagonists. In Star Trek, Eric Bana's Nero lacked true motivation. I never bought his reasoning behind wanting to kill Spock and take revenge on the Federation. This could be improved in subsequent films. I mean, look at Star Trek II. That movie succeeds on so many levels because Kahn is a formidable and compelling villain.

2. Generic explosions around the halls of the Enterprise. How many times have we seen this? An explosion occurs in one part of the ship, sending people and sparks everywhere but the viewer is really not sure what is happening. Star Trek is not the only franchise guilty of this act; Star Wars is another prime example (like in the strafing run on the Death Star). I propose that a more detailed and realistic attempt should be made based on what would happen if a missile or laser strikes a ship in space. And another thing, do those shields actually DO anything? From watching the space battles, seemingly not.

1. Do not COMPLETELY reject the original canon. Ok, so maybe this doesn't quite mesh with what I said in #5. But what I mean here is simple. While J.J. Abrams' new franchise is a reboot, the original series and movies did in fact happen. People know these characters and they remember how acted and interacted amongst each other. While the new characters should be fleshed out and re-envisioned by their new actors, many of their personality traits should remain intact. I think the recent film did very well in this respect, with some characters hearkening back to their originals more than others (see Karl Urban's portrayal of Dr. McCoy) and others being more refreshing and new (e.g. Mr. Scott as played by Simon Pegg). Keep the integrity of the characters while re-envisioning them. A hard, but worthy task.

What do you think the next installment in the Star Trek series should avoid or add?