He had a chance to take Star Trek and revive the sci-fi genre into something much more than dumb action flicks with lasers and spaceships. Star Trek defined and popularized social progress in ways TV had never seen before. It consistently chose nonviolence and peace over knuckledragging shoot-'em-ups. Hell, Kirk went back in time to save goddamn whales from extinction. I have no doubt the new movies will be good, but whether they'll be good [i]Star Wars [/i]films is doubtful after seeing what he did with Trek. (Pictured above: NOT James T Kirk)