I think the biggest issue with Putzman Trek is how far the scope of danger has expanded.
We went from planet killers to solar system destroyers and now in Section 31 we have a weapon that will destroy the whole galaxy. So I guess next Putzman project will have a villain with a super weapon that will just blow up the entire Universe?
If you think back to Wrath, obviously the greatest Star Trek movie and arguably one of the best Sci-Fi movies ever made (not the best but top ten easy) what is it's scope?
Oh it's all about a conflict between two people, that's it. And if you look even closer it's more about internal conflict then any great threat. Kirk is fighting time itself, he refuses to accept that his glory days are behind him (and as an old man myself let me tell you how hard that realization is) and trying to come to terms with that fact. Ultimately Kirk succeeds and is able to move forward
Khan is fighting his desire for revenge. He's lost everything and now his desire to hurt Kirk is fighting with his duty/love to his family (remember Khan made great personal sacrifices to ensure his people would survive in TOS) but now he's become so consumed by his lust for revenge he throws away their lives to strike out at Kirk and ultimately he loses as he could not overcome his desire for revenge which comes to cost him everything in the end.
That's it...no world breaking super weapons (yes yes I know the Genesis device) no race to save the galaxy, no reality ending threat. Just two old men trying to come to grips with their past lives so they can move forward, one succeeding and one failing.
Modern Hollywood writers think the bigger the threat the bigger the tension so they go balls to the wall and make everything a universe ending threat. They really learned the wrong lessons from End Game, it wasn't Thanatos that everyone wanted to see so badly but the whole Avenger's team come together.
Hell the latest Doctor Strange movie had Satan himself in it as the villain. How much bigger can you go?
Star Trek worked because it was more of a character study then a action film and as soon as it deviated from that ideal it started to flop. Kirk, Spock and Bones are really just one person split into three characters and it's the interplay between them that is the core of Star Trek. The rest is just background wrapping, that's why some of the best TOS episode have nothing to do with Sci-Fi and are just the 3 main characters working off of each other. It's a real shame that Putzman just can't see that.
Anyhoo here is a nice video of Montalban talking about his time as Khan. I think it's funny both that he never spent any time on set with Shatner as the shooting schedule was split up to work around his TV show so the two greatest ham's never got a chance to work off of each other (oh what might have been!) and that he thinks it's hilarious that he's now more well known for a one off character appearance from a failed TV show then his years of work in Hollywood.
"..it just goes to show you that fate is a funny thing, you really never do know where your career will take you". It's also really cool that he really likes the Khan character, Khan appeals to him and Montalban put a lot of time and effort to making sure Khan came across as more of a real person then some cardboard villain goes so far as to get the writers to change lines and allow him to improvise.
He's such a class act and nice dude...why are all these Latino actors so awesome? (Raul Julia was also a great actor and person who went balls to the wall in anything he worked on)