LeVar Burton Hated J.J. Abrams Star Trek Movies
I'm guessing J.J. won't be on LeVar's Christmas list.
With the Star Trek reboot films, director J.J. Abrams upset a number of cast members from the older Star Trek TV series. Around the time of Star Trek Into Darkness, it was LeVar Burton (again).
Of course, LeVar Burton played Lt. Cmdr Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation. He has said some unkind things about J.J. Abrams and his 2009 Star Trek reboot in the past, and this time it appears he has some words for Star Trek Into Darkness which was coming out at the time.
As reported on TMZ, LeVar Burton was asked what he thought of J.J. Abrams’s Star Trek sequel film. Although he said he had already seen the movie twice, the acclaimed and beloved actor was conflicted yet again with the new movie. Burton went on to say that Star Trek Into Darkness lacked Gene Roddenberry’s vision.
LeVar Burton said, “At the end of the movie, I really care about what happens to the characters … but I’m pretty much missing Gene Roddenberry in J.J.’s interpretation … and at the end of the day, that’s just not OK for me.”
Before this, LeVar Burton had called out J.J. Abrams for comments he made about wanting to be remembered as the only version of Star Trek. Burton took offense to these comments because he didn’t feel Abrams was respecting or honoring the Star Trek canon.
Was LeVar Burton right about Star Trek Into Darkness? Did the sequel film need more of Gene Roddenberry’s vision of the future?
In some ways, yes, Star Trek has always been about space exploration and the possibilities of humanity if we were all united as one. J.J. Abrams‘ Star Trek films are very action and revenge-heavy, which is fine.
But some Star Trek fans would like to see the film series go back to that sense of space exploration and wonder.
From this standpoint, it wasn’t difficult to see what LeVar Burton was saying. That being said, it was pretty popular at the time for Star Trek folks to pile on about what J.J. Abrams did with Star Trek because there really wasn’t any pushback.
Did the movie stand the test of time? Not especially, and for someone like LeVar Burton, it probably was something of a win.
