The new Star Trek movie

[Paul]

It's been a while since we've seen a new Trek, but this one looks very interesting.  It looks like they're going back to the very early days of Captain Kirk.  From what I've seen of the trailers, they did an excellent job of finding young people who actually resemble the original cast both in appearances and mannerisms.  I confess, it does appear as though they're copying the Star Wars prequel idea, and I am concerned about the limitations of any TV series spin-off. 

What are your thoughts?

[Rorshach]

After Enterprise was canned early cause of what I think of as underserved critisisms (much better than deep S*** 9 or next degeneration) I fear future series involving the early years of trek are limited but I hope that is not the case. I would even settle for movie sequels involving the original characters if not original actors.

[RobertB]

     I am cautiously optimistic about the new movie.  And I will be at the nearest IMAX theatre to see it in all its glory.

                     Catching up with everything
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[Rorshach]

I should say I will be watching the new movie soon after it comes out as I do like the original characters best. But I forgot when the release date is.

[RobertB]

But I forgot when the release date is.

May 8, here in the states.

                 Truly,
                 Robert Bernardo
                 Fresno Commodore User Group
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                 Notacon 6 / Blockparty 3 on April 16-19
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[Paul]

I saw the movie tonight with my wife and son.  I have mixed feelings, but overall it was well done.  Since it's been out for over a week, I'll talk about the plot.  Spoiler warning; if you haven't seen this movie yet and plan on watching it, navigate from this thread now.  I wouldn't want to ruin anything for you.

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Overall, I have mixed feelings about this movie.  On one hand, they kept a lot of things intact.  On another, they've steered away from Star Trek "Canon," using a time travel paradox to generate a new line in the Star Trek universe.  On one hand, I can see why they'd do that; it opens the door for re-doing some of those classic episodes, as well as creating fresh new ones that don't need to conform to the restrictions imposed by TOS.  On the other hand, I really hate it when they do that; it's like a cop-out.

In the end, I see it more charged with action and emotion, and less about thought and reflection.  Clearly, this is taking Trek into a whole new direction; which is to say, making it more "Mainstream."  That is probably best for the franchise at this point, but only for the short term.  In the long run, I hope they can come up with plots which are more thought-provoking.

[Rorshach]

I too have seen it. JJ Abrams did more than steer away from star trek. He drove it right out of its own little "universe". I pity him should he ever attend a fan run trek con. The diehards will be merciless. Not that I blame the diehards, he threw the whole history of it into a blender and ground it up. The eye candy was nice but honestly that movie could have been called anything but trek and nobody would have been the wiser but then far fewer would have gone to see it. Calling the movie "star trek" was a good marketing move to bring in the fans short term but its a long term loser.

[RobertB]

I am cautiously optimistic about the new movie.  And I will be at the nearest IMAX theatre to see it in all its glory.

Yesterday after the TOGA meeting, I went to the Santa Clara AMC Theatres and their "small" IMAX theatre there.  Even on its second weekend, it was very crowded for the 4:05 showing for Star Trek.  A lot of older adults were there, in addition to younger folk.
     Applause for the start of the movie, lots of appreciated laughs at all the right spots in the movie.  General crowd reaction from my overhearing their conversations - thumbs up!
     My reaction - I'd give it 3 stars out of 4.  It's not a 3.5 or 4 star movie like Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan, but it was an enjoyable romp through a familiar yet unfamiliar Star Trek universe.  Is it a mirror universe Star Trek?  No, I like it to a "refractive" universe Star Trek - a Star Trek in which the familiar timeline is not reflected but bent as light is bent going through a prism.  The first few scenes - very reminiscent of the Borg attack in the pilot episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.  Chris Pine's Captain Kirk was good - all the pieces were there, though it was missing something... perhaps the word would be "depth" to the character.  But that may be intentional, because it was a younger, brasher Kirk.  (I kept thinking about what a younger William Shatner would do with the character.)  Zachary Quinto's Mr. Spock was very good... a little bit too Vulcan-smug for my liking, but again that may have been intentional as he bumped up against the shoot-from-the-hip Kirk.  I liked the Vulcan eyebrow lift... the use of the word, fascinating.  Karl Urban's Doctor McCoy was very good, too... almost excellent!  Earnest, grouchy... oh, so very human.  The scenes of him injecting drugs into Kirk again and again - riotous!  I kept wishing there was more interaction between him and Kirk and Spock, because my view of Star Trek is not the duo of Kirk and Spock but the triumvirate of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.  Each of the other familiar bridge characters have their time in front of the camera, and Zoe Saldana's Uhura relationship with Spock was surprising, to say the least, but in the original series you could have thought there was something going on between Spock and Uhura.  Bruce Greenwood's Captain Pike was surprisingly a very straight and serious character, but again such a Pike like that could have developed from when he was seen in the TOS episode The Cage/Menagerie.  Ben Cross' Sarek was a spot-on rendition of Mark Lenard's Sarek - bravo!  Winona Ryder's Amanda was lovely as was Jane Wyatt's Amanda.  Leonard Nimoy's Spock - what can I say... I wanted more of him in the movie!  It was so great to have him there.
     Industrial Light & Magic did an excellent job on the effects, and the NCC-1701 - its look, its lighting - brought forth shades of the NCC-1701 from Star Trek: the Motion Picture.  The shot of the Enterprise popping out of the moon ring clouds - very reminiscent of the Enterprise popping out from behind Khan's ship in Star Trek: the Wrath of Khan.  The Romulan ship, the Narada, reminded me of those Shadow ships of Babylon 5.  I appreciated the Klingon cruisers (the term, warbird, was used but I say that's a term for Romulan ships) shown in the Kobayashi Maru simulation.  I appreciated the familiar and redone bridge sound effects.  Now one friend mentioned I would have a problem with the "engine room" of this new Enterprise; I did not look at it as the engine room but as the "underside" of the engine room, as alluded to in the scenes of piping/plumbing in the Enterprise of Star Trek: the Final Frontier and Star Trek: the Undiscovered Country.  In other words, I accepted it.
     I do have some criticisms of the movie.  Red matter?  Not fully explained.  Eric Bana's Nero did not have that slightly over-the-top evil of Ricardo Montalban's Khan - something that J.J. Abrams and company aspired to, since they thought that Khan was the best Trek villain ever.  That shaky, hand-held camera work in some scenes - distracting because it was not necessary.  Some of the dialogue went by too fast for full comprehension.  The IMAX presentation had a few scenes where I wished for better focus.
     However, all of those criticisms are minor.  Now I can go back and read all those movie critic reviews and their spoilers.  Now I can buy Alan Dean Foster's novel adaptation of the movie.  Now I can invite my relatives in the Los Angeles area to come with me to the theatre so i can see the movie again!

                  Time to read that industry magazine on the special effects for the movie,
                  Robert Bernardo

[Rorshach]

Drunken camera work and daytime melodrama scripts got Galactica on the rocks for some time and finally cancelled, also got the new version of "bionic woman" banished very early on. JJ Abrams should have known better than treating Trek as reality tv.

[RobertB]

Drunken camera work...

That style of videography has been around since the t.v. show, NYPD Blue.

...and daytime melodrama scripts got Galactica on the rocks for some time and finally cancelled, also got the new version of "bionic woman" banished very early on.

Uh, those shows are not Trek.  Galactica had a good run and is spawning another series.

                     Truly,
                     Robert Bernardo

[Rorshach]

RoberB

Thats the point, the new "trek" is no longer trek, its gone off the rails as did the others.  The sloppy "videography" does not make itself good being used more than once. It is very sloppy and a huge turn off.

[Paul]

I tend to agree; Star Trek is really at its best when it's a low-budget series.  As soon as it's a big-budget feature film, it goes too far.  It's always been the stories and the often humanitarian message of each episode that mattered, more than the warp speed engines and transporters (which were simply vehicles to move the story along in a low-budget setting). 

[RobertB]

     Ah, we agree to disagree.

          Truly,
          Robert Bernardo

[Badders]

I just want to know if Porthos ever turned up again 

[RobertB]

     Heh.    No, but the first creature chasing Kirk on the ice seemed like a full-grown version of the "puppy" seen in Star Trek: the Undiscovered Country.  Hey, ice planet in that movie... icy planet in this movie!

                   Must be Delta Vega in the winter!
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