Ru at the Movies: Star Trek
May. 10th, 2009 05:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ruIS THERE A Z IN THE HOUSE. I NEED A Z, FOR I FEEL THE NEED TO GEEK OUT. I HAVE SEEN THE STAR TREK MOVIE, AND IT IS GOOD.
DEFINITELY a lot of fun. I was a little wary going into it. This being a reset of the series and all, I wasn't entirely sure what they were going to do. The last time we had a Star Trek that was supposed to appeal to a younger generation, we had Enterprise, with its gratuitous oiling up of stacked crewmembers and general pain on the part of the writing. And now to take beloved characters and essentially rework them, I was afraid of what the final result would be. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to find that despite obviously gearing it towards a younger generation, they seemed to keep the essence of the series in place. Being somebody who probably started at least listening to Star Trek episodes in the womb (Mum's a Trek fan, so it's practically bred in. XD), I'm glad to see they achieved that. It's painfully obvious that they're planning on doing more movies. I'm actually looking forward to that, though. There's more that can be done with the crew, with everything. ^_^
And now, for rambling, more critical analysis.
I guess I'll do this thought by thought, instead of putting them into pros and cons.
--I LOVED how they worked this new crew in. I really do. Generating an alternate reality's probably the only way I could really handle having the new crew with its new direction. Not to mention wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff is always a favorite of mine. XD This way they can do things the way they want, without us fans of the original series being up in arms because HEY YOU CAN'T DO THAT. This way they can be faithful to the characters while keeping things fresh.
--On that note, I loved the characters and what they did with them. I read somewhere that the actors tried to preserve the essence of what the former actors did, while bringing their own influence in, and I think they achieved that. I especially loved McCoy, who was hilarious and crotchety and who I wanted to see more of.
--Oh, and Chekhov. He's tiny and flaily and adorable. <3
--And Scotty. In fact the only thing I didn't like about Scotty was that they brought him in too late in the film. Scotty's always been one of my favorite characters, so to see him done well really made me smile.
--About the only character I'm not entirely sure about was Uhura. It seemed like she didn't really do all that much beyond blow off Kirk and be Spock's girlfriend.
--YES, that totally threw me for a loop, Spock essentially having a girlfriend, and a cadet girlfriend, no less. I understand that this Spock is meant to be a more emotional Spock, but being with Uhura was totally out of left field for me.
--Actually, on that note, I really wanted to see more of just about all of the characters. Kirk and Spock got the most screentime, but I really wanted to see more of everyone else. Understanding that there's only so much you can put into a movie-length feature, I really hope that if they do do a sequel, that they focus more on the rest of the crew. I want some more characterization of them too.
--Focusing more on the plot, HOLY SHIT THEY BLEW UP VULCAN. AND ROMULUS. I did NOT expect that to happen. Talk about wiping out core planets of the series. I guess it really shows that anything goes in this alternate reality. But still. Vulcan. ;_;
--And being so pivotal to the plot, they REALLY should have explained what red matter is. Is it an offshoot of antimatter? Was it developed? What does it DO, beyond the obvious? Why does it even EXIST? And what the hell was Spock doing with an asston of it when he only needed a drop to accomplish what he needed to accomplish? I know we're trying to appeal to a more general audience, but a little technical explanation would have helped me out. Don't need to go into Voyager-style techincialities, but just enough so that I understand where the hell this stuff is coming from, seeing as it was never used in any of the series.
--One of my favorite aspects of the movie, I think, was actually getting to SEE the ship. The original series was somewhat sterile in that regard. You saw tubes. You saw engineering. But you never saw how everything actually WORKED. You didn't see much of things like torpedoes being loaded or where water was processed, or whatnot. It gave the ship a much realer feel, instead of everything happening automagically.
--Of course, being a rabid fan of the series, I loved the little nods to the original series that were sprinkled throughout--McCoy's quip, "I'm a doctor, not a physicist!", Chekhov's issues with the computer and his pronunciation, Spock's eyebrow and "Fascinating..." and so on.
--Loved the very very end. Hearing Leonard Nimoy speak the Star Trek prologue with the music had me grinning like an idiot. A very geeky idiot. <3
--In a nutshell, it was fun, it didn't make me groan in pain, and it's worth a watch. <3
DEFINITELY a lot of fun. I was a little wary going into it. This being a reset of the series and all, I wasn't entirely sure what they were going to do. The last time we had a Star Trek that was supposed to appeal to a younger generation, we had Enterprise, with its gratuitous oiling up of stacked crewmembers and general pain on the part of the writing. And now to take beloved characters and essentially rework them, I was afraid of what the final result would be. I was pleasantly surprised, though, to find that despite obviously gearing it towards a younger generation, they seemed to keep the essence of the series in place. Being somebody who probably started at least listening to Star Trek episodes in the womb (Mum's a Trek fan, so it's practically bred in. XD), I'm glad to see they achieved that. It's painfully obvious that they're planning on doing more movies. I'm actually looking forward to that, though. There's more that can be done with the crew, with everything. ^_^
And now, for rambling, more critical analysis.
I guess I'll do this thought by thought, instead of putting them into pros and cons.
--I LOVED how they worked this new crew in. I really do. Generating an alternate reality's probably the only way I could really handle having the new crew with its new direction. Not to mention wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff is always a favorite of mine. XD This way they can do things the way they want, without us fans of the original series being up in arms because HEY YOU CAN'T DO THAT. This way they can be faithful to the characters while keeping things fresh.
--On that note, I loved the characters and what they did with them. I read somewhere that the actors tried to preserve the essence of what the former actors did, while bringing their own influence in, and I think they achieved that. I especially loved McCoy, who was hilarious and crotchety and who I wanted to see more of.
--Oh, and Chekhov. He's tiny and flaily and adorable. <3
--And Scotty. In fact the only thing I didn't like about Scotty was that they brought him in too late in the film. Scotty's always been one of my favorite characters, so to see him done well really made me smile.
--About the only character I'm not entirely sure about was Uhura. It seemed like she didn't really do all that much beyond blow off Kirk and be Spock's girlfriend.
--YES, that totally threw me for a loop, Spock essentially having a girlfriend, and a cadet girlfriend, no less. I understand that this Spock is meant to be a more emotional Spock, but being with Uhura was totally out of left field for me.
--Actually, on that note, I really wanted to see more of just about all of the characters. Kirk and Spock got the most screentime, but I really wanted to see more of everyone else. Understanding that there's only so much you can put into a movie-length feature, I really hope that if they do do a sequel, that they focus more on the rest of the crew. I want some more characterization of them too.
--Focusing more on the plot, HOLY SHIT THEY BLEW UP VULCAN. AND ROMULUS. I did NOT expect that to happen. Talk about wiping out core planets of the series. I guess it really shows that anything goes in this alternate reality. But still. Vulcan. ;_;
--And being so pivotal to the plot, they REALLY should have explained what red matter is. Is it an offshoot of antimatter? Was it developed? What does it DO, beyond the obvious? Why does it even EXIST? And what the hell was Spock doing with an asston of it when he only needed a drop to accomplish what he needed to accomplish? I know we're trying to appeal to a more general audience, but a little technical explanation would have helped me out. Don't need to go into Voyager-style techincialities, but just enough so that I understand where the hell this stuff is coming from, seeing as it was never used in any of the series.
--One of my favorite aspects of the movie, I think, was actually getting to SEE the ship. The original series was somewhat sterile in that regard. You saw tubes. You saw engineering. But you never saw how everything actually WORKED. You didn't see much of things like torpedoes being loaded or where water was processed, or whatnot. It gave the ship a much realer feel, instead of everything happening automagically.
--Of course, being a rabid fan of the series, I loved the little nods to the original series that were sprinkled throughout--McCoy's quip, "I'm a doctor, not a physicist!", Chekhov's issues with the computer and his pronunciation, Spock's eyebrow and "Fascinating..." and so on.
--Loved the very very end. Hearing Leonard Nimoy speak the Star Trek prologue with the music had me grinning like an idiot. A very geeky idiot. <3
--In a nutshell, it was fun, it didn't make me groan in pain, and it's worth a watch. <3
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-10 10:32 pm (UTC)Was it just me or did they use the stylings of Star Wars, Trek of all sorts, Battlestar Glactica (especially when warping) and Speed Racer of all things, ALL AT ONCE?
And in the prequel after this one, Kirk turns evil shortly after fathering Luke Skywalker. Just so you know.
"Scotty, the plot's tanking, what can you give me?"
"I canna think o' nothin save talkin' inna funny accent, Sir!"
"No, no, Chekov's already doing that and it's not helping. What else?"