I am kinda hoping Abrams pulls this off. I am no Star Trek fan but this might be entertaining for Trek, a vastly different take. At least we no longer have no rely on Berman or Bragga to continue to dominate the already damaged franchise. I'd like to see Abrams take on Star Trek. Nolan's Batman Begins worked as i think IMHO the characters were more believable vs Burton's vision. Don't get me started on Schumacher's vision of Batman.
Some are complaining about the look of the good ol' Enterprise but my issue with that is that this is no linger the 1960s anymore. Our view of space travel, culture, society, fashion trends, music and architecture had changed so much since then. We can't accept the over-done minimalist look of the original Enterprise. Some things just have to be up-dated for todays audience. It was fine for the 60s but that would not fly today as the classic trek show had reflected the world of the 60s. We certainly can't have space hippies in todays sci-fi, can we?
The ship looks good and more believable then ever, not a cheap model anymore. I just hope the actors can make for good and convincing take of the old crew. They can never replace Kirk, Spock nor Bones but i'd like to think of there new roles as an homage to the characters and not an exact imitation of them because that is like trying to look for an actor of today to emulate Cary Grant for example, not gonna happen. So it will be interesting to see how these new actors take on there roles for this film.
I have my doubts about pre-equals but then again i said the same about Batman Begins. I just hope Abrams keeps the Rodenberry's vision of a wagon train to the stars ideology. We need the adventurous excitement and suspense with good character chemistry that had been missing in that franchise for a long time now. I tend to think Star Trek III was the last of that element.