Watching the Star Trek Movies (SPOILERS)

[The Baron]

Thought it would be fun to re-watch these, since I finally picked up a copy of Star Trek - Into Darkness from the cheapie bin, which  means I now have copies of all of them.

 

So, on into space, the filmic frontier...

[The Baron]

Star Trek (2009)

 

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

 

1. I was sure we already had a thread addressing this particular film, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it was on the old board?
2. The music was by Michael Giacchino, with healthy helpings of the original series theme.
3. I personally have no beef with any of the re-casting of characters. There were no instances for me where I thought, "Wow that guy is hugely wrong for the part!"  I was a little thrown by seeing Winona Ryder as Amanda. For some reason, I hadn't thought of her as being old enough to play Spock's mom, but thinking about it, I guess she was.
4. I thought it was interesting seeing them portray Kirk as an obnoxious young punk.
5. Eric Bana was OK as Nero, but he wasn't really all that epic of a villain.
6. "Red matter" - Oh, just call it "magic fairy dust" and be done with it.
7. I did the reversal with Kirk as Spock's first officer amusing.
8. I have to admit that they took me by surprise, destroying Vulcan and killing Amanda right off the bat.
9. I also thought that the Uhura/Spock relationship was a nice twist, too.
10. "I'm a doctor, not a physicist."  Had to get one of those in there.
11. "An alternate reality" - My personal take on all this is that Nero and Old Spock didn't travel to their own past, but the past of a parallel Earth very similiar to their own, about the way Earth-One was similar to Earth-Two. I think Old Spock knows this, which is why he doesn't seem all that concerned about damaging the Web of Time, or whatever.
12. I especially enjoyed Simon Pegg as Scotty, even though he's really not much like Jimmy Doohan at all. I'd forgotten that we don't see him until 83 minutes into the picture.
13. "Admiral Archer's prized beagle" - an Enterprise reference!
14. "I married her because I loved her."
15. "Nyota" as Uhura's first name is another thing that was used in various novels for years.
16. The meeting betweeen Old Spock and Young Spock was amusing.
17. I find it extremely unlikely that Starfleet would give Kirk - a guy not even out of the Academy - command of a ship of the line, no matter how heroic he was.  Put him on some kind of "fast track to command", sure. But give him the Enterprise? Not a chance.
18. Does it got any Doctor Who actors in it?  It sure does: Simon Pegg played the Editor in the Ninth Doctor story "The Long Game", and Deep Roy, who played Scotty's little pal, played Mister Sin in the Foruth Doctor story, "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" and a background alien in the Sixth Doctor story "Mindwarp". Roy was also in The Return of the Jedi, making him one of the few actors to hit the Who/Trek/Wars trifecta.

 

Overall: In my opinion, this was a good but not great picture. It was well-cast and well-shot, with some great flashy effects. But to my mind, Nero wasn't that great of a villain, and in the final analysis, the film suffered from having more style than substance.

 

 

 

 

[Richard Willis]

The Baron said:

I also thought that the Uhura/Spock relationship was a nice twist, too.

To me it recalled the two(?) early episodes of the original series which had Uhura flirting with Spock. Also, Zoe Saldana and Zachary Quinto are two current actors that I enjoy immensely. The entire crew was well-cast, and how often can you say that? I think this first reboot suffered a little bit from the "origin story" disease. The destruction of Vulcan was very surprising and untethered them from all of the continuity, which was probably a smart move. They can reintroduce it as they see fit.

[Ron M.]

This also led to an Audi Commercial in which Nimoy reintroduced his infamous Ballad of Bilbo Baggins. "Go Bilbo!"

[The Baron]

Here we go.

[Ron M.]

"I'll see you inside!"

Spock's gotten devious in his old age. One might almost say...human.

[Mark S. Ogilvie]

I liked it but for giving Kirk command. It just didn't make sense that a guy who barely seemed to make it through the academy would get a front line ship.

[ClarkKent_DC]

The Baron said:

Star Trek (2009)

 

Directed by J.J. Abrams

Written by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

 

1. I was sure we already had a thread addressing this particular film, but I couldn't find it. Maybe it was on the old board?

I know we did, but I can't find it, either.

[ClarkKent_DC]

Mark S. Ogilvie said:

I liked it but for giving Kirk command. It just didn't make sense that a guy who barely seemed to make it through the academy would get a front line ship.

Agreed. And since Chekov was the only guy on the ship with even less seniority, I would think Kirk would find himself butting heads with, well, everybody (except Chekov).

[The Baron]

I notice that one of the guys that beat up Kirk early in the picture was on the Enterprise later on. I bet that guy asked for a transfer real quick.

[Mark S. Ogilvie]

I think the main difference between this Kirk and the one I knew was responsibility of command. I know he was old but the Kirk in the series seemed to me like a real commander, not just a military one but one who understood and cherished the core values of Starfleet (at least most of the time, not all scripts are equal). This new Kirk didn't seem to have that.

[PowerBook Pete, the Mad Mod]

Old?

[Ron M.]

Never read any of the Bond novels so I don't know if the new guy is playing him according to the books, but he's definitely not like the earlier guys. Didn't even know his drinks should be shaken not stirred. I get he's supposed to not be the classic Bond yet (and this new Kirk isn't supposed to be the guy Shatner played yet) but I don't see them becoming the characters they're supposed to be playing. Just like Cyclops from the past doesn't seem much like Stan and Jack's Scott, or even Roy and Neal's. Just the current writer's Scott acting like he's from the past.

It can be done. Will Murray has done an excellent job of giving us as close as possible to Lester Dent's Doc Savage without calling Dent up from his rest.