Star Trek review

[JasonEvans]

No, not mine. I have been waaay too busy with other activities and have not seen it yet. But, Variety's review is so good and so encouraging, I thought I would link it.

Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved "Star Trek" will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana. Faithful enough to the spirit and key particulars of Gene Roddenberry's original conception to keep its torchbearers happy but, more crucially, exciting on its own terms in a way that makes familiarity with the franchise irrelevant, J.J. Abrams' smart and breathless space adventure feels like a summer blockbuster that just couldn't stay in the box another month. Paramount won't need any economic stimulus package with all the money it'll rake in with this one globally, and a follow-up won't arrive soon enough.

JJ is a fabulous director. I loved MI:III. He was the perfect person to reboot Star Trek and get it back to being relevant.

--Jason "I can't wait!!" Evans

[Cormac]

No, not mine. I have been waaay too busy with other activities and have not seen it yet. But, Variety's review is so good and so encouraging, I thought I would link it.



JJ is a fabulous director. I loved MI:III. He was the perfect person to reboot Star Trek and get it back to being relevant.

--Jason "I can't wait!!" Evans

I absolutely love everything he is even remotely attached to - Alias, LOST, Fringe, Cloverfield, MI:III. I think he is fantastic. Also, for those interested, he is the guest editor for the current edition of Wired Magazine. It has a picture of the infamous "Mystery Box" that he always talks about on it. You know, the box he bought as a kid and still has not opened and serves as his inspiration. Its also filled with all sorts of puzzles and apparently there is some kind of meta-mystery as well. I have it, but have not read it yet. He also wrote an article in it about how the immediacy of the media, ie the Internet, is ruining mysteries because of the availability of spoilers. Anyway, thanks for the review Jason! I don't think I've seen any of the other Star Trek movies and only a handful of episodes, but I'm pretty excited for the new movie!

[OZZIE4DUKE]

Longtime fans will feel comfortable on board the new Enterprise, which might be compared to the new Yankee Stadium — it's spiffier and technically more up-to-date, but has a familiar ambiance.

What a great analogy!

Exile to an ice planet, Delta Vega, which is home to a couple of particularly gruesome hungry creatures, enables Kirk to do some inadvertent time-traveling and meet an older version of Spock (Leonard Nimoy, back for another go-round in much more than a brief cameo), a happenstance that complicates matters on the time-space continuum.

Sounds like Kirk is getting a little Lost here!

I can hardly wait to see this movie!

[bjornolf]

I'm sure the real Trekkies will find something to complain about, as always. I like MOST things Star Trek, but I am NOT a Trekkie, so I'm sure I'll love it.

Thanks Jason!

[DukeUsul]

As a lifelong, uber-Trekkie, I'm cautiously optimistic about this film. It's extremely exciting to see so many positive reviews from the mainstream press. I'm also a big JJ Abrams fan (the only thing I really haven't liked is Fringe) so it's very cool to see his fingerprints all over this.

MrsUsul and I haven't seen too many movies over the last year, but you can bet BabyUsul is going to be babysat in a couple weeks while we rush out to see this.

[bjornolf]

Is you wife a Trek fan too? Or at least an action movie fan? Cause if not, you might want to go with a buddy that's a little more into it. Then you wouldn't have to hire a babysitter.

[DukeUsul]

Is you wife a Trek fan too? Or at least an action movie fan? Cause if not, you might want to go with a buddy that's a little more into it. Then you wouldn't have to hire a babysitter.

Oh MrsUsul is a big Trek nerd too. I couldn't go without her.

[Kewlswim]

Hi,

I actually only like the original TV Series. I haven't liked the other TV shows, the movies, the cartoons, etc. Every time I see William Shatner I want him to lose a little weight. He looks like a sausage and it makes me sad.

GO DUKE!

[rasputin]

Hi,

I actually only like the original TV Series. I haven't liked the other TV shows, the movies, the cartoons, etc. Every time I see William Shatner I want him to lose a little weight. He looks like a sausage and it makes me sad.

GO DUKE!

You are not alone.

[brevity]

Reviving this thread now that I've seen the movie in a Saturday morning screening.

The Trek fans in the audience -- at least the ones that dressed up for the occasion -- found it wildly satisfying. I think it helps that the movie was written for them, particularly with the dialogue of McCoy's character.

I thought it was very good, considering the burden of expectations, but the main plot (involving Eric Bana and Leonard Nimoy) felt underdeveloped. To its credit, the movie jumps right into the action. But there are characters who know more about what's going on than other characters, and it's unclear to me why they don't do more with that information.

For reasons I won't explain, there is an element of unpredictability going on here, but it suffers from the same lack of suspense as any other prequel. All the principals have to live, right? If Sulu's life is in danger, you know he'll be okay because he's Sulu.

The cast is young, but pretty good. Most of them succeed in reminding you of the original actors. Chris Pine embodies a modern, accessible Kirk that doesn't resemble Shatner, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. And I'd have to give Zachary Quinto an incomplete grade; he's not remotely close to Leonard Nimoy, but in his defense, he shouldn't be like that at this stage of Spock's emotional development.

Finally, count me as one of those that could have enjoyed seeing a little more of Starfleet Academy. You see it some, but it's sacrificed for the sake of pace and action.

All in all, a worthwhile experience, especially from an odd-numbered movie.

[DukeUsul]

All in all, a worthwhile experience, especially from an odd-numbered movie.

I think Nemesis threw off the numbering consistency.

[DukeUsul]

Star Trek fans complaining

[brevity]

Star Trek fans complaining

Awesome.

"Apparently there isn't even one scene set at a long table in which interstellar diplomacy is debated in endless detail."

Also listen for the DVD extras part at the end.

I do look forward to hearing the more genuine (and therefore hilarious) complaints from Trekkers. It wouldn't be a fandom without some level of disgruntlement.

[JasonEvans]

Star Trek fans complaining

Best review EVER!!

Ok, as for more serious stuff. There are currently 22 reviews posted on Rotten Tomatoes... every single one of them is positive. That's pretty good for a sci-fi summer blockbuster.

Among the comments--

Blasting onto the screen at warp speed and remaining there for two hours, the new and improved Star Trek will transport fans to sci-fi nirvana.
--Todd McCarthy, Variety

Paced at warp speed with spectacular action sequences rendered brilliantly and with a cast so expert that all the familiar characters are instantly identifiable, the film gives Paramount Pictures a new lease of life on its franchise.
--Hollywood Reporter

A new mission worth taking, a spirited, energetic new beginning to a series long assumed dead.
--Moriarty, Ain't It Cool News

--Jason "quick, someone get JJ working on a new Star Wars next!!" Evans

[Windsor]

Star Trek fans complaining

Once again I find myself cleaning coffee of my monitor...gotta love the Onion!

[moonpie23]

"gene roddenberry the hack who created the star trek tv show back in the 40's or something"



lololololololo


ok...that is priceless

[moonpie23]

absolutely AWESOME....

[weezie]

Seconded. I would like to go see it again right this very minute.

[moonpie23]

being RE-introduced to all those characters, played by different people was masterful... they had JUST enough of the old cast's traits to remind us, while taking us to a new place...


absolutely awesome...



2 downers tho...

1. the group of 60 year old trekkies behind us that talked incessantly in the first part of the movie referring to "what spock said in episisode blah-blah" and "spock was more logical than that"....ugh...my wife brought that to a screeching halt by standing up, turning around and issuing a well-deserved SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! right in there pointy-eared faces....... god forbid you get a phone call when your in the theater near her...


2. tyler perry? council leader? what??????? and not in drag either!!

[Olympic Fan]

As a 60ish Trek fan, I understand the attitude of non-Trekkies towards the community. But give us credit -- I can't think of another intellectual franchise that was saved from oblivion by a devoted fandom more than the Star Trek Franchise. After the original show was cancelled, the franchise (if you can even call one cancelled show that lasted 2 and a half seasons a franchise) was D-E-A-D ... the fans who refused to let it die brought it back.

For those of you who want to laugh at or with Trek fans, check out the two movies "Trekkies" and Trekkies II" -- my favorite part is the segement in II about the Star Trek tribute bands, especially the Klingon Metal Bands.

As for the movie, I give it about an A-minus or a B-plus ... I understand how hard it was to create a film that would satisfy the fan base while pleasing the non-Trek (or pre-Trek) fans out there. I thought for the most part they did a good job -- they reset the series in fine fashion. I'm hoping, thinking, that they next episode will be even better.

My only gripe was that the plot was rather confusing/underdeveloped. How did this Romulan mining ship become this irressistable weapon?

Check me on one point ... for those who know the Trek "bible" -- my understanding is that this is a real reset in the sense that we've entered a new timeline. The whole bit about Kirk's father dying on his day of birth is different from the previous Trek bible. I understood a speech about how things might have turned out differently for Kirk to imply that we we're on a different timeline. And the whole bit about Vulcan's destruction. Isn't that a variation (although Spock did talk about the survivors re-settling a new planet ... a new Vulcan?).

Did I read that right? If so, then it's not pre-ordained that Sulu lives or that Kirk wins ... although we pretty much knew those things anyway because that's how the franchise works.

PS I agree about the disappointment over the brevity of the glimpse at Starfleet Academy. The current managers of the Trek franchise seem to have a "thing" about the Academy. As Voyager was winding down, they had a choice of two new series ideas. Most Trek fans I know (and saw on line) were clammoring for a series based on Starfleet Academy ... instead they chose Scott Bakula Enterprise franchise ...

Just one Trekkie's opinion, but I rate the series:

1. The Next Generation (best acted and consistently strongest)
2. Deep Space Nine (slow to get going, but the best science fiction in the franchise)
3. Star Trek (the original ... some iconic episodes, but some real clunkers too)
4. Voyager
5. Enterprise