I like this ship, it's exciting!
Looks like most people have seen Star Trek now. Still cutting this for spoilers though, just in case. ^_~
I went opening weekend to see it at the IMAX with Qtbuglet, Simontrueheart, Orangerful, Jimithingy, Blu_harvest, and my parents. Poor Romandave was stuck at work and couldn't make it, but I went to see it a second time with him last week on the regular screen. I really did need to see it a second time anyway, just to process a few things. I spent the first viewing of it in a constant state of squee, so I wanted to try and be a little more objective the second time. Even being prepared for it didn't stop me from crying at Kirk's dad's death both times though; I am squishy like marshmallow. -_-; Romandave's complete lack of knowledge of the original series really helped give me a different p-o-v which was nice.
I did love it. ^_^ I think the alternate universe/timeline idea was probably the best way to do this and yet be able to make it their own. Even with all the differences though, I think the actors did a wonderful job of not just repeating catch-phrases, but getting down the subtle mannerisms, ways of speaking and little habits of the characters that made it all feel comfortably familiar to me. Not to mention all the homages and little easter eggs. I loved all the old sound effects. I'm sure there were plenty of things I didn't even catch (excuse to watch it yet again! lol), but I love the ones that I did notice. Just the scene where Scotty is introduced, where there is a tribble(!) in a cage on his desk and he mentions beaming away Admiral Archer's prize beagle to try and settle an argument (I actually had to think about that one since Enterprise was the one ST series I've never watched much of at all, but I'm going to assume it was a descendant of Porthos. -_-;) Ect, ect...
Pretty much the only thing that I didn't *quite* like was the romance between Spock and Uhura. And it wasn't a huge thing; I was 50/50 on it. It took me until I was driving home from our after-movie lunch discussion of it to put my finger on maybe why (plus a few further discussions with Blu_harvest and Romandave.) I think Zoe and Zachary had fantastic chemistry, and on-screen I liked them as a couple. I thought maybe it was just me being stubborn about thinking Spock should remain unattached, but after looking at it from a few different angles, it didn't seem to be the changes to *his* character that were bothering me as much. I think it came down to wishing that they didn't have the one scene where she asks him to reassign her to the Enterprise. If it weren't for that, I think I'd be more okay with it. There is that insinuation there when he says that he assigned her to another ship (instead of the one he was an officer on) because he thought it would appear he was showing preferential treatment. I can't imagine Spock worrying about something unless there was something to worry about, but that would mean something going on between them... while she was his student. It seems odd that there wouldn't be some kind of repercussion for Spock for fraternizing with either a student or someone under his command on the ship later. It clearly *does* have an effect on her career, even if it is a good one in this case. It will be very interesting to see where (if anywhere) the writers go with this in future movies now that they opened this avenue anyway.
I do appreciate how much more they gave her character to do in this movie, and how they let Uhura be more of a main character. But even though they show her to be exceptionally talented, having that bit at the beginning adds a slight question mark as to if she's there on her own merits, or because Spock finds her attractive (and that she's maybe *using* that which is truly the part that would sadden me.) I guess my point is, I don't mind the 'ship so much as how the 'ship was set up. Romandave did point out to me that almost all of them ended up in their various positions due to a whopping amount of deus ex machina, which is true and helps me put it in more perspective. It's the whole big emergency (Nero) while the rest of the fleet is away that puts all of them on a ship so much sooner to begin with. Sulu is at the helm because the usual pilot has lung worms, Scotty ends up there because future-Spock *gives* him the equation he would have supposedly come up with later, Bones ends up heading sick-bay because the chief medical officer(s) above him get killed on a deck explosion, Kirk (twice!) both because Bones sneaks him on as a patient and future-Spock gets him back on after he got kicked off. So, I guess I was holding Uhura to a much higher standard because the character was always considered such an important role-model. Maybe I should just pretend that this is actually a future where a woman wouldn't be looked down upon any more than a man for behaving unprofessionally and flouting regulations (because goodness knows, pretty much everyone else on that ship throws rules out the airlock.) Or maybe I should quit over-analyzing fictional characters so much. Nah... that wouldn't be any fun! ^_~
I went opening weekend to see it at the IMAX with Qtbuglet, Simontrueheart, Orangerful, Jimithingy, Blu_harvest, and my parents. Poor Romandave was stuck at work and couldn't make it, but I went to see it a second time with him last week on the regular screen. I really did need to see it a second time anyway, just to process a few things. I spent the first viewing of it in a constant state of squee, so I wanted to try and be a little more objective the second time. Even being prepared for it didn't stop me from crying at Kirk's dad's death both times though; I am squishy like marshmallow. -_-; Romandave's complete lack of knowledge of the original series really helped give me a different p-o-v which was nice.
I did love it. ^_^ I think the alternate universe/timeline idea was probably the best way to do this and yet be able to make it their own. Even with all the differences though, I think the actors did a wonderful job of not just repeating catch-phrases, but getting down the subtle mannerisms, ways of speaking and little habits of the characters that made it all feel comfortably familiar to me. Not to mention all the homages and little easter eggs. I loved all the old sound effects. I'm sure there were plenty of things I didn't even catch (excuse to watch it yet again! lol), but I love the ones that I did notice. Just the scene where Scotty is introduced, where there is a tribble(!) in a cage on his desk and he mentions beaming away Admiral Archer's prize beagle to try and settle an argument (I actually had to think about that one since Enterprise was the one ST series I've never watched much of at all, but I'm going to assume it was a descendant of Porthos. -_-;) Ect, ect...
Pretty much the only thing that I didn't *quite* like was the romance between Spock and Uhura. And it wasn't a huge thing; I was 50/50 on it. It took me until I was driving home from our after-movie lunch discussion of it to put my finger on maybe why (plus a few further discussions with Blu_harvest and Romandave.) I think Zoe and Zachary had fantastic chemistry, and on-screen I liked them as a couple. I thought maybe it was just me being stubborn about thinking Spock should remain unattached, but after looking at it from a few different angles, it didn't seem to be the changes to *his* character that were bothering me as much. I think it came down to wishing that they didn't have the one scene where she asks him to reassign her to the Enterprise. If it weren't for that, I think I'd be more okay with it. There is that insinuation there when he says that he assigned her to another ship (instead of the one he was an officer on) because he thought it would appear he was showing preferential treatment. I can't imagine Spock worrying about something unless there was something to worry about, but that would mean something going on between them... while she was his student. It seems odd that there wouldn't be some kind of repercussion for Spock for fraternizing with either a student or someone under his command on the ship later. It clearly *does* have an effect on her career, even if it is a good one in this case. It will be very interesting to see where (if anywhere) the writers go with this in future movies now that they opened this avenue anyway.
I do appreciate how much more they gave her character to do in this movie, and how they let Uhura be more of a main character. But even though they show her to be exceptionally talented, having that bit at the beginning adds a slight question mark as to if she's there on her own merits, or because Spock finds her attractive (and that she's maybe *using* that which is truly the part that would sadden me.) I guess my point is, I don't mind the 'ship so much as how the 'ship was set up. Romandave did point out to me that almost all of them ended up in their various positions due to a whopping amount of deus ex machina, which is true and helps me put it in more perspective. It's the whole big emergency (Nero) while the rest of the fleet is away that puts all of them on a ship so much sooner to begin with. Sulu is at the helm because the usual pilot has lung worms, Scotty ends up there because future-Spock *gives* him the equation he would have supposedly come up with later, Bones ends up heading sick-bay because the chief medical officer(s) above him get killed on a deck explosion, Kirk (twice!) both because Bones sneaks him on as a patient and future-Spock gets him back on after he got kicked off. So, I guess I was holding Uhura to a much higher standard because the character was always considered such an important role-model. Maybe I should just pretend that this is actually a future where a woman wouldn't be looked down upon any more than a man for behaving unprofessionally and flouting regulations (because goodness knows, pretty much everyone else on that ship throws rules out the airlock.) Or maybe I should quit over-analyzing fictional characters so much. Nah... that wouldn't be any fun! ^_~