Space: the final frontier...
STAR TREK WAS AMAZING.
I loved this movie! My brother insisted I should go in with low expectations, so they could be easily surpassed, but I went in with high hopes anyway, and they weren't dashed. Not a one of them. I admit I was surprised at how well the actors did in keeping their characters true to the original series, but other than that, I was delighted with everything. The movie still surpassed all my expectations, hopes, and dreams for a new Star Trek movie dealing with the original series. It gets bonus points for having Leonard Nimoy in it. I'm serious, I love that man. Love him. I would marry him even if he were dirt poor, as long as he would occasionally do the "live long and prosper" gesture for me. But let's talk more seriously about my reasons for loving and praising the movie, and then I can heap love on Mr. Nimoy.
The movie begins with an action sequence, immediately setting the pace for the rest of the events to unfold. Instead of drawing the scene out and turning it into a melodrama about the death of Kirk's father, they kept it action-packed, the dialogue clipped, and events neatly pieced together so it didn't seem to go by slowly at all. The beginning didn't drag. None of the movie dragged, as a matter of fact; I congratulate the editors on their tight pacing. Whether it was editors alone or they had the aid of a good script, I don't know, but whoever was responsible for keeping such sequences as the opening and the brief chase between a child James T. Kirk and an Earth police officer as short and generally concise as they needed to be, that person or those people are to be congratulated. Seeing the previews, I was afraid more time would be spent on Earth than actually was. I was pleased to see that Kirk gets on the Enterprise soon enough, and quickly establishes himself there. I was also pleased to see Spock dealing with his human side as a child and as a young man, rather than jumping immediately into the cool, logical Spock we know and love. ♥ Anything involving Spock interests me, but his origins were wonderful to see unfolding on the big screen, even if it was only a portion of his origins.
I think Chris Pine was a great casting decision for Kirk. I haven't read any reviews of Star Trek, and I'm sure I eventually will, but no matter what they have to say about Pine's performance, I still move for a vote of confidence in him. His cocky, occasionally nonchalant attitude and sparkling bravado made me grin more than once, and laugh many more times. He had the Captain Kirk swagger, touched with youthful cleverness but as yet unaccquanted with the wisdom he later gains (be it wisdom or common sense; I think Kirk can be quite wise when he wants to be), and I loved that he and Spock tempered each other out by the end. They began as a total hothead and a frigid bastard, and Kirk was right to condemn Spock at the beginning - right by human standards, that is. But anyway, you can really see Chris Pine playing Captain Kirk to the utmost, so much so that if I see him in another movie or TV show, I'll still see Kirk. Same for Zachary Quinto as Spock; fortunately, this loser has been spared the dubious benefits of watching "Heroes."
Though the writer(s) and director could have chosen to overdo it with the humor, I think most of the times the audience in the theatre was laughing, it was because we acknowledged an homage to the original series. True, there were a lot of comedic moments, but they weren't overwhelming the plot. Once again, I cite the movie's tight pacing. The humor kept you from falling off the edge of your seat when you started to hang there, expecting major drama to unfold. And drama did unfold, quickly and steadily, but I can't find any fault with giving us a laugh in the middle of that tension. For example, in a scene with Kirk and Spock preparing to beam into the enemy Romulan ship, Kirk finally learns Uhura's first name - he's only been trying to get it the whole movie, and he finds it as she's kissing Spock goodbye (in this universe, Spock and Uhura aren't in a relationship or in love per se, but they are affectionate and definitely romantically linked somehow). When he goes to ask Spock about Uhura's name, Spock cuts him off, saying, "I have no comment on the matter." I laughed about that because it was so classic: Kirk wants the girl, but for once, he doesn't get her, and Spock's curtness is entirely out of sync with his earlier candid words to Uhura. So though they're about to go on a life-and-death mission, and the characters are tense, and the situation seems it can't get worse, and the audience is waiting for death and destruction, Kirk and Spock are giving us laughs in what may be their one and only feud over a woman.
Wisely, I think, the writer(s) chose not to make the Spock/Uhura relationship anything more than a minuscule subplot in the grand scheme of things. More happened between present!Spock and future!Spock than happened between Spock and Uhura, and both Spocks only shared one scene in which they spoke to one another. That's because someone realized - rightly - that romantic interaction had a smaller place in the movie than did 1) the friendship between Kirk and Spock, and 2) the relationship between the past, present, and the future. Someone knew that the implications of time travel should be discussed when Kirk finds the Spock from the future stranded on Delta Vega, which was a bit of a surprise to me, as I'd been expecting Spock to be held prisoner on the Romulan vessel. Anyway, Spock and Kirk talk about what might happen if Spock met his past self, and I appreciated that the characters were aware, or made aware, of the implications of toying with time. It could've been ignored entirely. I've seen that happen before. But they didn't ignore it. Star Trek has always been good about that: acknowledging the possibilities and dealing with the way they branch and bounce off each other. In this case, Spock acknowledged what might happen if he met his past self, and took the risk in order to impart much-needed wisdom.
It certainly helped flesh out the friendship between Spock and Kirk, which is, I think, the most important relationship in the entire original series - yes, even more important than Spock's relationship to Bones or Nurse Chapel, more important than Kirk's relationship to Bones, etcetera. Spock and Kirk, all the way.
I can't complain about anything in the movie except for perhaps the suddenness with which they introduced the thin thread of Spock/Uhura, but then again, if they'd wasted scenes early on in the movie to put Uhura and Spock together, I might have been irritated with them for slowing the movie down. It was ultimately unnecessary, the kind of concern a fanfic writer might bring up but not the kind of concern by which you should get bogged down, ya know? I didn't let it bug me too much until now, while I'm thinking about it. Because I still think they played that down. They didn't have to, but they did; they chose instead to honor what I believe to be that number one important relationship in Star Trek. In the entire canon, as far as I'm concerned, because it's the foundation on which all other relationships in every series seem to rest. I don't know why, but it is the pivotal point for me, and since Mr. Spock is the primary reason I watch Star Trek - other than legitimately enjoying the storylines and the trouble the crew of the Enterprise get themselves into - it's a natural consequence that I should be interested in his relationships.
Anyway, I can't complain about fight and action sequences - they weren't overdone, they weren't overlong, and they were relatively realistic. Kirk got beaten up. Sulu was a great fencer, but his swordsmanship wasn't what defeated the physically stronger Romulan. Spock piloting his ship on a collision course with the Romulan vessel wasn't an enormously dragged-out sequence with dialogue between him and other characters, because there was no logical way (heh) to include such dialogue. Kirk failed in missions, got marooned on Delta Vega and didn't defeat any of the things he found there that wanted to eat him, and was imperfect. Nobody became the ultimate fighting machine, and though Chekov's calculations were brilliant, they weren't enough to save Spock's mother. The action was satisfying, and although of course I knew Kirk and his crew would always win, there were times it seemed like someone was sure to be captured or incapacitated, possibly permanently. That possibility introduced a thrill to the action sequences, like you had to watch to see how they might get out of this one.
Overall, A++ to Star Trek 2009!
I know this is one I'll go back to see in theatres several more times, with as many people as I can summon to come with me, or by myself if I have to. Seeing a Star Trek movie on the big screen and feeling invested in it made me want to watch it again immediately after we got out of the theatre. Jessica said, as we were leaving, "Let's go see it again!" and the part of me that didn't have to pee agreed. I wish I could go back tomorrow night and see it. Seriously, I do. I want to catch the things I might have missed, laugh at the same things that cracked me up tonight (by the way, Simon Pegg as Scotty was hilarious, and in that perfect blend of campy and clever that made me want to dance), and sniffle over the things that made me tear up the first time. I think Star Trek is worth seeing several times in theatres. It's well-acted, well-written, and an excellent homage to the original series as well as a great branch into any new franchise that might sprout from it. It had its own flavor, but underneath that, it was familiar.
And, of course, it had Spock in it. I love Spock. I have immense affection and obsession for him as a character, so I'm afraid that one day or another, there will be a cardboard likeness of him sharing my bedroom with me. Poor Zelly will have to go to bed alone every night, knowing that I prefer Mr. Spock to her, even if she is my Mr. Spock. ♥ I have been, and always will be, her friend. But of all Star Trek characters ever, and among the many characters I love, for some inexplicable reason, Mr. Spock is one of my favorites. He may not engage in any damn fool idealistic crusades, but I love him nonetheless, and would gladly put up with his occasionally frosty attitude just to hear him extoll the virtues of logic over emotion. Oh, Spock, while your green blood may run cold, it's enough to make my blood boil.
Leonard Nimoy needs to hurry up and decide to marry me already, not that he will. He knows what's good for his health, and I'm not it.
"I open the scuttle at night and see the far sprinkled systems, / And all I see multiplied as high as I can cyper edge but rim of the farthest systems. / Wider and wider they spread, expanding, always expanding, / Outward and outward, forever outward."
I loved this movie! My brother insisted I should go in with low expectations, so they could be easily surpassed, but I went in with high hopes anyway, and they weren't dashed. Not a one of them. I admit I was surprised at how well the actors did in keeping their characters true to the original series, but other than that, I was delighted with everything. The movie still surpassed all my expectations, hopes, and dreams for a new Star Trek movie dealing with the original series. It gets bonus points for having Leonard Nimoy in it. I'm serious, I love that man. Love him. I would marry him even if he were dirt poor, as long as he would occasionally do the "live long and prosper" gesture for me. But let's talk more seriously about my reasons for loving and praising the movie, and then I can heap love on Mr. Nimoy.
The movie begins with an action sequence, immediately setting the pace for the rest of the events to unfold. Instead of drawing the scene out and turning it into a melodrama about the death of Kirk's father, they kept it action-packed, the dialogue clipped, and events neatly pieced together so it didn't seem to go by slowly at all. The beginning didn't drag. None of the movie dragged, as a matter of fact; I congratulate the editors on their tight pacing. Whether it was editors alone or they had the aid of a good script, I don't know, but whoever was responsible for keeping such sequences as the opening and the brief chase between a child James T. Kirk and an Earth police officer as short and generally concise as they needed to be, that person or those people are to be congratulated. Seeing the previews, I was afraid more time would be spent on Earth than actually was. I was pleased to see that Kirk gets on the Enterprise soon enough, and quickly establishes himself there. I was also pleased to see Spock dealing with his human side as a child and as a young man, rather than jumping immediately into the cool, logical Spock we know and love. ♥ Anything involving Spock interests me, but his origins were wonderful to see unfolding on the big screen, even if it was only a portion of his origins.
I think Chris Pine was a great casting decision for Kirk. I haven't read any reviews of Star Trek, and I'm sure I eventually will, but no matter what they have to say about Pine's performance, I still move for a vote of confidence in him. His cocky, occasionally nonchalant attitude and sparkling bravado made me grin more than once, and laugh many more times. He had the Captain Kirk swagger, touched with youthful cleverness but as yet unaccquanted with the wisdom he later gains (be it wisdom or common sense; I think Kirk can be quite wise when he wants to be), and I loved that he and Spock tempered each other out by the end. They began as a total hothead and a frigid bastard, and Kirk was right to condemn Spock at the beginning - right by human standards, that is. But anyway, you can really see Chris Pine playing Captain Kirk to the utmost, so much so that if I see him in another movie or TV show, I'll still see Kirk. Same for Zachary Quinto as Spock; fortunately, this loser has been spared the dubious benefits of watching "Heroes."
Though the writer(s) and director could have chosen to overdo it with the humor, I think most of the times the audience in the theatre was laughing, it was because we acknowledged an homage to the original series. True, there were a lot of comedic moments, but they weren't overwhelming the plot. Once again, I cite the movie's tight pacing. The humor kept you from falling off the edge of your seat when you started to hang there, expecting major drama to unfold. And drama did unfold, quickly and steadily, but I can't find any fault with giving us a laugh in the middle of that tension. For example, in a scene with Kirk and Spock preparing to beam into the enemy Romulan ship, Kirk finally learns Uhura's first name - he's only been trying to get it the whole movie, and he finds it as she's kissing Spock goodbye (in this universe, Spock and Uhura aren't in a relationship or in love per se, but they are affectionate and definitely romantically linked somehow). When he goes to ask Spock about Uhura's name, Spock cuts him off, saying, "I have no comment on the matter." I laughed about that because it was so classic: Kirk wants the girl, but for once, he doesn't get her, and Spock's curtness is entirely out of sync with his earlier candid words to Uhura. So though they're about to go on a life-and-death mission, and the characters are tense, and the situation seems it can't get worse, and the audience is waiting for death and destruction, Kirk and Spock are giving us laughs in what may be their one and only feud over a woman.
Wisely, I think, the writer(s) chose not to make the Spock/Uhura relationship anything more than a minuscule subplot in the grand scheme of things. More happened between present!Spock and future!Spock than happened between Spock and Uhura, and both Spocks only shared one scene in which they spoke to one another. That's because someone realized - rightly - that romantic interaction had a smaller place in the movie than did 1) the friendship between Kirk and Spock, and 2) the relationship between the past, present, and the future. Someone knew that the implications of time travel should be discussed when Kirk finds the Spock from the future stranded on Delta Vega, which was a bit of a surprise to me, as I'd been expecting Spock to be held prisoner on the Romulan vessel. Anyway, Spock and Kirk talk about what might happen if Spock met his past self, and I appreciated that the characters were aware, or made aware, of the implications of toying with time. It could've been ignored entirely. I've seen that happen before. But they didn't ignore it. Star Trek has always been good about that: acknowledging the possibilities and dealing with the way they branch and bounce off each other. In this case, Spock acknowledged what might happen if he met his past self, and took the risk in order to impart much-needed wisdom.
It certainly helped flesh out the friendship between Spock and Kirk, which is, I think, the most important relationship in the entire original series - yes, even more important than Spock's relationship to Bones or Nurse Chapel, more important than Kirk's relationship to Bones, etcetera. Spock and Kirk, all the way.
I can't complain about anything in the movie except for perhaps the suddenness with which they introduced the thin thread of Spock/Uhura, but then again, if they'd wasted scenes early on in the movie to put Uhura and Spock together, I might have been irritated with them for slowing the movie down. It was ultimately unnecessary, the kind of concern a fanfic writer might bring up but not the kind of concern by which you should get bogged down, ya know? I didn't let it bug me too much until now, while I'm thinking about it. Because I still think they played that down. They didn't have to, but they did; they chose instead to honor what I believe to be that number one important relationship in Star Trek. In the entire canon, as far as I'm concerned, because it's the foundation on which all other relationships in every series seem to rest. I don't know why, but it is the pivotal point for me, and since Mr. Spock is the primary reason I watch Star Trek - other than legitimately enjoying the storylines and the trouble the crew of the Enterprise get themselves into - it's a natural consequence that I should be interested in his relationships.
Anyway, I can't complain about fight and action sequences - they weren't overdone, they weren't overlong, and they were relatively realistic. Kirk got beaten up. Sulu was a great fencer, but his swordsmanship wasn't what defeated the physically stronger Romulan. Spock piloting his ship on a collision course with the Romulan vessel wasn't an enormously dragged-out sequence with dialogue between him and other characters, because there was no logical way (heh) to include such dialogue. Kirk failed in missions, got marooned on Delta Vega and didn't defeat any of the things he found there that wanted to eat him, and was imperfect. Nobody became the ultimate fighting machine, and though Chekov's calculations were brilliant, they weren't enough to save Spock's mother. The action was satisfying, and although of course I knew Kirk and his crew would always win, there were times it seemed like someone was sure to be captured or incapacitated, possibly permanently. That possibility introduced a thrill to the action sequences, like you had to watch to see how they might get out of this one.
Overall, A++ to Star Trek 2009!
I know this is one I'll go back to see in theatres several more times, with as many people as I can summon to come with me, or by myself if I have to. Seeing a Star Trek movie on the big screen and feeling invested in it made me want to watch it again immediately after we got out of the theatre. Jessica said, as we were leaving, "Let's go see it again!" and the part of me that didn't have to pee agreed. I wish I could go back tomorrow night and see it. Seriously, I do. I want to catch the things I might have missed, laugh at the same things that cracked me up tonight (by the way, Simon Pegg as Scotty was hilarious, and in that perfect blend of campy and clever that made me want to dance), and sniffle over the things that made me tear up the first time. I think Star Trek is worth seeing several times in theatres. It's well-acted, well-written, and an excellent homage to the original series as well as a great branch into any new franchise that might sprout from it. It had its own flavor, but underneath that, it was familiar.
And, of course, it had Spock in it. I love Spock. I have immense affection and obsession for him as a character, so I'm afraid that one day or another, there will be a cardboard likeness of him sharing my bedroom with me. Poor Zelly will have to go to bed alone every night, knowing that I prefer Mr. Spock to her, even if she is my Mr. Spock. ♥ I have been, and always will be, her friend. But of all Star Trek characters ever, and among the many characters I love, for some inexplicable reason, Mr. Spock is one of my favorites. He may not engage in any damn fool idealistic crusades, but I love him nonetheless, and would gladly put up with his occasionally frosty attitude just to hear him extoll the virtues of logic over emotion. Oh, Spock, while your green blood may run cold, it's enough to make my blood boil.
Leonard Nimoy needs to hurry up and decide to marry me already, not that he will. He knows what's good for his health, and I'm not it.
"I open the scuttle at night and see the far sprinkled systems, / And all I see multiplied as high as I can cyper edge but rim of the farthest systems. / Wider and wider they spread, expanding, always expanding, / Outward and outward, forever outward."