   GDNet at the Movies: Live Long and Prosper!
When I first heard that a new Star Trek movie was being made, I really had no opinion. I never was a big fan of Star Trek: I thought The Next Generation was the best overall iteration, but I never got into it. Recent movies (Nemesis) had bombed at the box office, and even Trekkies seemed to speak about them with shame. And then there was the killer: the film was being made by J.J. Abrams.I started out liking J.J. Abrams. He gave us Alias, and it was a meaty, complex narrative involving a hot female secret agent and lots of double-crossing at both the governmental and family level. And while Jennifer Garner can't act and is capable of just one "emotional" expression, Abrams masterfully took advantage of her athleticism and great body. But then, in season 3, he threw the entire thing out, played the "amnesia" card and rebooted the story. It was probably to simplify the narrative so new fans could get into the show, but it made a mockery of the investment of old fans, and the new story was bland and uninteresting. The show was canceled two seasons later or so. J.J. Abrams wasn't officially on my shit list, yet, but he had a certain... "eau de feces" about him, to me.Full rectally extracted waste matter list status would be conferred based on Lost, oddly enough a show I've never watched. (Yep, not one episode, ever.) Though I hadn't watched it, I heard a lot about it based on hype in the news and on friends who kept asking if I was into it. I quickly found out that the show wasn't going anywhere; that it was a suspense with no payoff, a mystery with no reveal. It's so bad at advancing its narrative that some humor article I was reading the other day argued it should be renamed "Cocktease." To me, J.J. Abrams had become the guy who couldn't just tell you a good story, so hearing that he had been picked to direct the new Star Trek movie made me even less interested in seeing it.(I skipped Cloverfield. I heard it was good. I might Netflix it now.)So why did I go see Star Trek, given my apathy toward the franchise and distaste for J.J. Abrams? Simple: I heard it was good. And you know what? It was fucking awesome!The previews and advance buzz billed this movie as a prequel. It's absolutely not. Yes, it deals with young Kirk and Spock, but it deals with them in a parallel universe - an Earth-II, if you're into DC Comics' nomenclature for parallel realities. In effect, J.J. Abrams rebooted Star Trek! That takes some huge balls - like he does the Sam Cassell dance all day on set.Leonard Nimoy makes a cameo appearance as "Ambassador Spock," and his role is pivotal to the narrative, but it's the kids who carry the show. Ostensibly because of the destabilizing effects of the parallel universe, a whole bunch of things are different than you may remember them: Kirk never gets any Uhuru (he spends almost the whole movie trying to find out her first name), but Spock does! McCoy doesn't actually get the nickname "Bones," though he does provide a hilarious possible origin for it. Sulu can fight. Some things, however, stay the same: the red shirt assigned to disable a planetary drill with Kirk and Sulu doesn't come back.The cast was pretty strong, the only weak performance being Zoe Saldana as Lt. Uhuru. Kerry Washington or a similar newcomer would have been better in that role; she would have brought some much needed crazy to it.Overall, though, the film was an absolute pleasure, and the real start to the summer blockbuster season (not that weaksauce Wolverine movie). Best of all, the franchise is positioned to grow based on this phenomenal reset. Sequel?Verdict: You're still here? Go see it!   
Quote:Original post by OluseyiMcCoy doesn't actually get the nickname "Bones," though he does provide a hilarious possible origin for it. If I remember correctly, Kirk calls him "Bones" at the very end, just before the "Final Frontier" speech (which has been slightly modified BTW!).   ;Quote:Original post by Oluseyia whole bunch of things are different than you may remember them: Kirk never gets any Uhuru ...Sulu can fight. Did Kirk score with Uhuru in the original? I know they had a kiss but I didn't think it was an ongoing thing.And Sulu could always fight http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Naked_Time;Quote:Original post by Oberon_CommandQuote:Original post by OluseyiMcCoy doesn't actually get the nickname "Bones," though he does provide a hilarious possible origin for it. If I remember correctly, Kirk calls him "Bones" at the very end, just before the "Final Frontier" speech (which has been slightly modified BTW!).He also called him "Bones" on the front lawn of the academy as he was talking about taking the Kobayashi Maru test.   ;  As a sci-fi action film, it was entertaining. But overall I felt rather disappointed by it.The Star Trek universe is limited only by the writer's imagination. The original series had the cast fighting everything from hyperintelligent psychic beings, silicon lifeforms that looked a lot like a guy crawling about with a rug on his back, rapidly multiplying small furry animals, nazis, the roman empire, obnoxious children, and of course, Khaaaaaaan! The opportunities for plot are almost endless, so I was rather disappointed that the writers had just opted for a bunch of time travelling Romulans trying to destroy Starfleet with a piece of technobabble. Lazy, boring, unimaginative, and lame; between the original series, and the various spin offs, and the older films, that shit has been done to death.;Quote:Original post by SandmanAs a sci-fi action film, it was entertaining. But overall I felt rather disappointed by it.The Star Trek universe is limited only by the writer's imagination. The original series had the cast fighting everything from hyperintelligent psychic beings, silicon lifeforms that looked a lot like a guy crawling about with a rug on his back, rapidly multiplying small furry animals, nazis, the roman empire, obnoxious children, and of course, Khaaaaaaan! The opportunities for plot are almost endless, so I was rather disappointed that the writers had just opted for a bunch of time travelling Romulans trying to destroy Starfleet with a piece of technobabble. Lazy, boring, unimaginative, and lame; between the original series, and the various spin offs, and the older films, that shit has been done to death.But it wasn't fun.Or, ">Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'One day, randomly, I asked my dad if he liked Star Trek. While my tastes are in many respects broader than my dad's, I find the things he likes to be impeccable and the reasons he puts forward for not liking things quite cogent. "No," he said. "It always looked boring. A whole bunch of talking, then they get shot at and start staggering around in a blue room while someone shakes the camera."I nearly died laughing.Anyway, to return to my point, Star Trek tended to be ponderous, though silly. Over the years it got more ponderous and self-important - "we are making serious statements about The Human Condition." While it may have endlessly fascinated a core of Starfleet uniform-wearing jurors and royal extras, most people frankly didn't give a shit. And now they do. And that's good enough in my book, because I don't always want a Less Bread-ian thesis on the pros and cons of "rescuing the Andoran Ambassador from the surface of Sylax IV."   ;  I LOVED it. :)Sure, sure... the story might be 'thirteen in a dozen', time-travelling angry person trying to kill everybody else... but hey! It was a challenging enemy, it brought everyone together, and it didn't distract me from the great fun of watching the crew meet up!And Scotty rules. *nods happily*Ps: watched every serie and every movie, liked almost all of them, and this one as well. :)   ;Quote:Original post by OluseyiwordsSince when where cool action sequences and interesting and imaginative plots mutually exclusive?You can berate the originals all you like for being ponderous; you're probably right. But if this rebooting of the franchise was an opportunity to change that, it's done so at the expense of what made the originals successful in the first place.The plot was unimaginative, stale, and reminiscent of all that had grown tiresome in the franchise. The other aspects of the film were good enough to keep it entertaining, but I'm just tired of having to turn my brain off to enjoy a film.[Edited by - Sandman on May 11, 2009 5:00:54 AM];  there is nothing wrong with using lame timetravel as a plot device if it serves a higher purpose. It did just that and the only reason the plot wasnt meatier was because of time constraints. The next movie will have alot of story no doubt.   ;  I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. I've seen the whole of TNG, DS9, and Voyager (couldn't be bothered with Enterprise and I've only caught a few episodes of TOS). I've seen every movie so far, including the originals.What I really liked about the reboot is that I was never bored. It introduced the characters and all the important plot elements really early in the movie and put you straight into the action. It happened so fast that at one point I thought to myself "oh crap the movie started". I liked that it tried to add more action to Star Trek which can be ridiculously slow at times but I'm kind of sad that it removed so much of the Star Trek universe to achieve it. I would have liked to see a bit more of the academy. I also felt that assembling the crew on the Enterprise was a little forced.The smaller details that annoyed me:-The red matter was a little weird. Why do they need so much of it and how does a group of miners figure out how to use it, etc...?-Also, seems like the blackhole should of had a stronger pull. It seemed to have a different behaviour throughout the movie (a time portal, instant death for the Romulan ship but just a strong tactor beam for the Enterprise, etc)-Why did Kirk have to be podded on that ice world?-Did he really have to meet future Spock there? I guess it was "destiny" or whatever but I thought it was really lame.-Why was the fleet destroyed within seconds while the Enterprise and the Kelvin were able to take a beating?-"Storm in space" sounds like such a common anomaly in space that I hated how it was linked RIGHT AWAY to the romulans. I'm being nitpicky because honestly I loved the movie and I'll probably watch it over and over again. The guy playing Checkov was awesome.   