To boldly go

[drwex]

Among the notable events this weekend, we managed (finally) to get babysitting and go out to see the new Star Trek movie. If you've blogged your thoughts about it earlier I probably skipped them so as to avoid spoilers. I'd love back-links so I can catch up on peoples' reviews.

The opening bit was brilliant - pure Trek the way it was meant to be. Also very teary. In the preview we heard Pike say that Kirk's father had done these things - getting to see them up close in real time made it much better when that line came around in the movie.

All throughout the movie I found myself oscillating between "but, no!" (sorry, there's just no frelling reason to build a spaceship ON the planet's surface, not least of which is that Star Trek canon has established that the Enterprise-class vessels are not atmosphere-worthy) and "Oh, yes." I think the latter won out in the end because all of the people involved seemed to have a tremendous respect for what made Trek great in the first place.

Yes, the "Star Trek 90210" bit did grate on me somewhat, but I felt they did a good job blending the expectations of the past (Kirk having sex with green-skinned alien women) with at least some attempt to update things. Uhura is the most obvious example of that. The little scene where the cadets are being assigned to ships and she TELLS Spock in no uncertain terms what's going to happen and he just does it - whoof!

I'm too lazy to track down references this AM, but I have a recollection that Nimoy/Nichols' kiss was the first interracial kiss ever shown in a prime-time series and I appreciated that the movie-makers wanted to play up that relationship. ETA: commenters corrected me on that one. I should be less lazy. I still stand by the rest of the 'graph...

In the show it seemed to come out of nowhere; in the movie it's clearly a long-standing and fierce affection which really helps the bit where Spock's father confesses that he married Spock's mother because he loved her. It felt to me that the movie-makers were aware of how much work they needed to do to lift Trek out of its 1960s cultural context and into the current one. (Though I thought the Beastie Boys track was immensely unnecessary pandering.)

Yes, the movie had a plot, of sorts. Mostly it seemed to be an excuse to introduce the new characters and new reality, as well as ladle in doses of in jokes and references that original-Trek fans would get and love. When Admiral Pike came out in a wheelchair I really felt like the movie was made for people like me, "90210"-ism aside. The plot doesn't hold up to any real scrutiny, so I won't try. The makers needed to do a hard reset on the whole Trek universe in order to have the freedom to go in their own directions, and they did that. Again I found myself willing to let a lot of 'plot wrong' go because I was appreciating seeing those characters again. I'll probably be much more critical of the next movie (and I bet there will be more) but this one gets an almost-free pass for getting the universe itself right.

Finally, Nimoy-Spock remains a class act. I loved his appearance and his fitting in with the flow. Plus, you know, more references and in jokes to appreciate.

Comments

Since we are already being spoliery

[deadwinter.livejournal.com]

The way Spock tells the members of the Academy to "live long and prosper" in a clear "f#%k off and die" tone: priceless.

Re: Since we are already being spoliery

[drwex]

COMPLETELY! I almost died laughing.

[thorn]

Actually, the first interracial kiss was Kirk/Uhuru, not Spock, in Plato's Stepchildren. I've also heard that while it was the first scripted one, there was an unscripted one earlier (live TV?)

Good writeup of the movie. Pretty much in line what I felt. It was fun and I will be watching the next one.

Ah, OK

[drwex]

Thanks for fact-checking that.

Re: Ah, OK

[thorn]

We had just watched it -- I've just introduced autumnyte to the world of Trek, which she had studiously avoided up till now. She's been converted. :-)

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Heh. Simultaneous episode geekery.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

I have a recollection that Nimoy/Nichols' kiss was the first interracial kiss ever shown in a prime-time series...

That was actually Shatner and Nichols in the episode "Plato's Stepchildren." :-}

So I've been told

[drwex]

I should edit the entry.

[heinleinfan.livejournal.com]

As David put it, we thought it was a really fun movie, well worth watching. Not...good, but fun...and sometimes that's all that matters.

I thought that Karl Urban had Bones just...down to a T! I mean, even without the classic "Dammit Jim I'm a doctor not a [whatever]" being thrown in, he was just totally a young Bones. Loved that.

[ariesd.livejournal.com]

I loved the explanation for the nickname Bones. "My ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce, all I have left is my bones."

[quezz.livejournal.com]

Definitely better than the original series' explanation: "Bones" was short for "sawbones," a nickname for surgeons in the 19th century.

Thanks Motik

[sweetmmeblue.livejournal.com]

For a lovely afternoon. That was fun.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

Actually, the beastie boys track was slightly jarring -- if I remember correctly, when Kirk steals the car he plays it, right? Because if you're going to be driving an ancient car, would you be playing almost-as-ancient music?

That's right

[drwex]

It does play during that scene. To me, it felt like pandering and was jarringly out of place.

Also, the egregious Nokia product placement in the car scene was severely awful.

Re: That's right

[unseelie.livejournal.com]

yes; the nokia placement and soundttrack were so BAD.
on the other hand; rolling along in a convertable corvette to the beastie boys is a fine plan.
on the third hand; there are SO many huge craters in Iowa...

Re: That's right

[thorn]

Agreed on the product placement.

And now I think I'm going to completely geek out -- could the crater in Iowa be a result of the Xindi(?) attack on Earth, during Star Trek: Enterprise. I'm not sure what region it hit, but I'm pretty sure it was carving up Earth quite a bit. Or was it just oceans? This is the future, so "something" could have happened between now and then. (I can't believe I'm recalling this, though. Major geek moment.)

Re: That's right

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

Oooh - I hadn't considered the Xindi attack. I think it was supposed to have hit Florida, but Florida may have been only the tail end of the test.

Re: That's right

[thorn]

You did catch the reference to Scotty's experiment involving an Admiral's pet beagle, right? :-)

Re: That's right

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

Drat - I missed that one. I'd heard about the tribble, though.

I did appreciate Ambassador Spock showing Scotty his own invention on how to transport to a ship in warp, as a mirror of Scotty showing Dr. Nichols how to manufacture transparent aluminum.

Re: That's right

[drwex]

Wait I missed a tribble somewhere? Damn.

Pygment and I debated about the ethic of Spock (Mr I Shall Not Violate The Prime Directive) messing with the timeline that way. I come down on the side of it being a matter of the needs of the many, a policy Spock also articulated.

Re: That's right

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

I put it down to the fact that Spock had mellowed in his older age. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that Jim Kirk was a bad influence upon him.

Re: That's right

[drwex]

Yes I caught it, but I couldn't remember where it came from.

Re: That's right

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

crater == quarry

At least, it looked that way.

Re: That's right

[drwex]

I agree. I took it to be a rock quarry of some kind. However, I don't know how many of THOSE there are in Iowa, and it did seem to have a fair bit of non-rock crap at the bottom, so who knows. Maybe it was a reference to an old alien attack.

Re: That's right

[meadmaker.livejournal.com]

The entire corvette scene seemed out of place to me. I sense that there was an attempt at back story on Kirk-prime's childhood that was cut for the final picture. What did that tell us about the character that watching Kirk pick a fight with military police in a bar didn't?

I think that the backstory is that the replacement father figure in Kirk-prime's life was a real jerk/abuser/X, and that caused a lot of his early motivation. Or something.

Re: That's right

[drwex]

i agree the entire scene could have been cut except that it sets a theme we see over and over of Kirk hanging off a literal ledge. How many times in the movie does he do that? Four?

[points.livejournal.com]

And I'll just sneak in a quick 'happy b-day' in here. ;)

[drwex]

Thank you.

[ringrose.livejournal.com]

It was a fun movie. Not a good one, but fun.

But things which bothered me during the movie, as opposed to after:

1. They're in their past. Why didn't they go and black-hole that star before it destroyed any planets? (Response: they people with the red matter are not PCs)
2. No way Starfleet would let someone that young keep command, just because he got lucky. He's getting replaced quickly. He'll be on the fast track to command, but no way Kirk keeps Enterprise command. (Response: Kirk is a PC)
3. Where are Earth's system defense forces? The ones that don't warp out of orbit because they can't. Missiles, torps, phasers, etc emplaced on the earth, moon, various satellites, etc. Special forces teams trying to land on the drill bit and destroy it. Even if they can't destroy the mining ship, there should be wreckage from that effort and some attempt to evacuate parts the planet. (Response: PCs take all relevant actions to save the world)
4. Why does Red Matter have to hit the planetary core? Seems you should be able to just drop it on the surface. (Response: Technobabble)

That said, the movie was fun. They're flying through space - if you can get over that, you can get over the plot holes.

[drwex]

1. Yeah, I can't make that work no matter what.

2. This one I can sort of hand-wave if you allow that people come directly out of Academy and into starship command positions. If I remember the canon correctly, the Kobayashi Maru scenario is one of the last tests a captain cadet has to take before being given a command position, and nobody other than a captain candidate takes that test.

3. You can argue about the idiocy of failing to have such stationary defenses, but assuming a long-term lack of threats it's not clear such things would ever be emplaced or maintained around Earth. In addition, if we handwave that Pike has provided the Romulans the relevant codes, we would expect automated defenses to treat the ship as friendly. The Romulans are not in orbit for more than a couple minutes before the Enterprise attacks. I agree that some kind of human-based response should have scrambled as soon as it was clear that the automated systems were being fooled.

4. The entire Red Matter technobabble is annoying. Attempting to rationalize it, even a little, will give you a migrane. The best I could come up with is "that's the way the spell works."

They're flying through space - if you can get over that, you can get over the plot holes.

I absolutely ADORED the few times when the movie's sound cut out when people transitioned from atmosphere to vacuum. The lack of "whoosh" stood out as a way for the movie-makers to say "yes, we know there's no sound in space; now hush up and enjoy the cool sound effects" without it being patronizing.

[gentlescholar.livejournal.com]

My thoughts are here and in the following post.