Star Trek

[DigsySlattery]

Summer has arrived!

See it!

[Juan Horsetown]

It's interesting that we've moved from Marvel last week (your domain) to Star Trek this week, where I'd imagine I'm probably more versed since I don't remember hearing you mentioning it in your littany of stuff you like, Digsy.

Spoilers throughout

I can't decide how I feel about this film.  It is a bold re-thinking of Star Trek, so much so that it begs the question, "Is it really Star Trek?"  Or is it a sort of Lucasized version of Star Trek? (the good Lucas, not the bad Lucas)  The fact that the whole future, everything we've seen and loved, is washed away with this film to boldly experiment with something else saddens me that this new future doesn't hold room for much of what I liked so much in the other series.  It's also hard to imagine these guys doing all those Federation-y sit down and talk about stuff approach that made Star Trek rise above most Hollywood dreck by being brave enough to be heady and controversial.  And I'm fine with no Shatner, but a British Sarek and a gray haired Christopher Pike?  The latter hurt a little, the former a lot.  But I was thankful for the few winks in the canon we had, particularly the bugs from the Wrath of Khan and the fact that Pike was in a wheelchair (if only they'd reduced his speech to a blinking red light, beautifully parodied in Futurama, it would have been even better).  The mention of the Captain from the series Enterprise was a nice nod, but Scotty destroying his beloved fan-favorite beagle was a downright sneer at Trek fans.

I'll have to think about this.  I watched I, II, III and VI this week to get ready, and now I feel like I need to watch some more of them, even if it's just to mourn the fact that the old timeline has been destroyed.

[DigsySlattery]

Yeah I never liked Star Trek at all. I would get somewhat interested in the mythology and characters, but any time I tried to actually sit down and watch any of it, I'd be bored to tears. Mostly because of the heady conversation and intellectual stuff that this movie jettisons. I don't know if this is Star Trek, in the classic sense, but with a franchise that had become so insular and stale, this is probably the only move left to take to make it commercially and financially viable again. I think people are so pumped about this movie because it's Star Trek finally caving in to the glorious excess of American pop culture. There's sex, violence, action, and comedy all throughout...and it's all done in good taste. The script is smart, the pacing is top notch, the characters shine, the acting is solid and the direction and entire look of the film is light years ahead of anything else I've seen in a while. It's a gorgeous piece of popcorn done oh so right.

I was wondering what the die hard Trek fans would think of this, since it does signal a bold new direction for the mythos. Although I do like that they matter-of-factly stated that this is now an alternate universe, which was smart. The universe of old is still intact, out there somewhere, we just won't be revisiting it for a while. That's smart, I think. For a guy who just knows character names and the cliches of the franchise, I was really blown away by how much fun this movie was.

And Simon Pegg was awesome.

[deathscythe257]

this movie was seriously amazing. this year's iron man.

i've always loved star trek, but i wouldn't say i am a trekkie by any stretch of the imagination. loved tos, tng, the first half of deep space nine, and i've been known to catch an episode or two of voyager. i have to say this script was brilliant. and as far as trekkie's bemoaning the absent morality discussions, i felt that the emotion/logic exploration, command v. obedience, and determinism v. alternate realities were enough for me. there's plenty of room for morality, imperialism, and race issues to be explored in future chapters. i also think that the past timeline isn't precluded from a new movie. they can really be different franchises within the same framework if the demand is there for a new traditional trek movie. and i loved spock's speech demanding the fanboys to not attempt to reconcile the reboot with canon.

certain (large spoilerific) events greatly saddened me (starting with the opening scene, that was a real tear jerker) and i'm not really sure how to envision a federation without vulcan, but it's also an exciting timeline to explore.

oh, and the destroy the drill scene was fucking amazing, starting with killing off the red suit and given the fact that sulu has fencing training (thank god, though, they didn't look like ninjas and kirk is still a straight up streetfighter).

[deathscythe257]

does anyone remember the tng ep where they encounter several hundred other alternate dimension enterprises all together in some collision of space-time where one reality had picard dead with riker stuck trying to captain a battered and bloodied crew against the borg? i'd like to see a movie on that universe.

[Keith]

I was never much of a Trek fan before and the movie inspired me to go back and check some of the old stuff out, so you hardcores can at least thank the new movie for that.

[Tom Foolery]

Has anyone else seen the updated version of the episodes from the original series?  They went back and cleaned them up digitially.  They also did a very nice job of updating the special effects.  Messing with our cherished classics is a very risky proposition, but they did an excellent job of balancing modern effects with appreciation for the campiness of the original material.  George Lucas should take notes.