Star Trek novelisation
So, at the moment I'm listening to the Star Trek novelisation, written by Alan Dean Foster and read by Zachary Quinto. It's unabridged, so it's eight hours long!
First off, Quinto does a rather good job of this, I expecially love his McCoy impression. Also, there are quite a few 'scenes' that didn't make it into the movie:
*Spock's birth, and Amanda snarking, ever so slightly.
*Extended scenes of the Kelvin's battle with Nero's ship.
*The aftermath of Spock's fight with the bullies.
*The events leading up to Jim stealing the car, including George, his older brother leaving the house (this scene gives an actual motivation for his actions, something the movie could have done with.)
*The bar fight is mostly told from Uhura's viewpoint, she really doesn't have any time for idiots :-P
*A whole discussion in Orion Prime between Uhura and Gaila, with Kirk joining in.
*A reference to Gaila working in the control room of the Kobayashi Maru test.
* A more in depth discussion of Kirk's failings at Kirk's 'trial' (Also, inner Kirk's monologue is a lot more nervous than his expression in the movie)
*Also, the list Uhura gives of her accomplishents, at the embarkation, is a tad longer in the novelisation (just a tad :-P)
And that is how far I am, at the moment. There are a lot of little moments in the novelisation that I like, and the characters seem more well rounded. Still not enough Uhura, but what there is, gives a bit of character developement (not that I didn't love the Uhura in the movie, but more, dammit, MORE)
There is a lot of back and forth, in the fandom, about the sexist gender roles in the movie. And I kind of, sort of, have to agree with them. Although I will give the writers the benefit of the doubt, in the sense that I think they were trying to do something different with the plot and instead managed to fall in the pitfalls of cliche. There is a definite Star Wars/Joseph Campbell/Hero With a Thousand Faces vibe going on, with the heroes being moulded by their parentage. This is especially noticable in Spock's story, and even more so in the novelisation, but it does limit Amanda as a character.
Uhura, I'm more conflicted about. On the one hand, I love the Spock/Uhura dynamic and, if this were a series, rather than a movie, I would be rubbing my hands together gleefully, as I doubt this would be an easy relationship - which makes great viewing!
But there is a tendency to equate sexuality with sexism (something I take issue with) and, even if wasn't the writer's intent, this it was how it was perceived.
The weird thing is, I seem to pick up on different things when I watch movies. For instance, some people pounced on the fact Uhura got semi-naked in the film as objectification and sexism. I didn't. For me, it seemed a natural thing for the character to do. It wasn't as if she was doing a strip tease, she was changing her clothes, (while talking about communications - and thus allowing the movie to pass the Bechdel test by the skin of its teeth! I wonder if they did that on purpose?) and when Kirk stood up, he was half naked too, so it was an equal opportunity perv moment :-P
What got me, weirdly enough, was Uhura's disapproval of Gaila's sexuality. The whole exchange had more than a mere whiff of the virgin/whore complex, and it always gets my back up when I hear a woman's sexual appetite referred to as a bad thing. Naughty woman, go straight to hell.
Okay, stopping now.
ETA: OMG, Zachary Quinto's impression of a growly ice monster - too cute!
First off, Quinto does a rather good job of this, I expecially love his McCoy impression. Also, there are quite a few 'scenes' that didn't make it into the movie:
*Spock's birth, and Amanda snarking, ever so slightly.
*Extended scenes of the Kelvin's battle with Nero's ship.
*The aftermath of Spock's fight with the bullies.
*The events leading up to Jim stealing the car, including George, his older brother leaving the house (this scene gives an actual motivation for his actions, something the movie could have done with.)
*The bar fight is mostly told from Uhura's viewpoint, she really doesn't have any time for idiots :-P
*A whole discussion in Orion Prime between Uhura and Gaila, with Kirk joining in.
*A reference to Gaila working in the control room of the Kobayashi Maru test.
* A more in depth discussion of Kirk's failings at Kirk's 'trial' (Also, inner Kirk's monologue is a lot more nervous than his expression in the movie)
*Also, the list Uhura gives of her accomplishents, at the embarkation, is a tad longer in the novelisation (just a tad :-P)
And that is how far I am, at the moment. There are a lot of little moments in the novelisation that I like, and the characters seem more well rounded. Still not enough Uhura, but what there is, gives a bit of character developement (not that I didn't love the Uhura in the movie, but more, dammit, MORE)
There is a lot of back and forth, in the fandom, about the sexist gender roles in the movie. And I kind of, sort of, have to agree with them. Although I will give the writers the benefit of the doubt, in the sense that I think they were trying to do something different with the plot and instead managed to fall in the pitfalls of cliche. There is a definite Star Wars/Joseph Campbell/Hero With a Thousand Faces vibe going on, with the heroes being moulded by their parentage. This is especially noticable in Spock's story, and even more so in the novelisation, but it does limit Amanda as a character.
Uhura, I'm more conflicted about. On the one hand, I love the Spock/Uhura dynamic and, if this were a series, rather than a movie, I would be rubbing my hands together gleefully, as I doubt this would be an easy relationship - which makes great viewing!
But there is a tendency to equate sexuality with sexism (something I take issue with) and, even if wasn't the writer's intent, this it was how it was perceived.
The weird thing is, I seem to pick up on different things when I watch movies. For instance, some people pounced on the fact Uhura got semi-naked in the film as objectification and sexism. I didn't. For me, it seemed a natural thing for the character to do. It wasn't as if she was doing a strip tease, she was changing her clothes, (while talking about communications - and thus allowing the movie to pass the Bechdel test by the skin of its teeth! I wonder if they did that on purpose?) and when Kirk stood up, he was half naked too, so it was an equal opportunity perv moment :-P
What got me, weirdly enough, was Uhura's disapproval of Gaila's sexuality. The whole exchange had more than a mere whiff of the virgin/whore complex, and it always gets my back up when I hear a woman's sexual appetite referred to as a bad thing. Naughty woman, go straight to hell.
Okay, stopping now.
ETA: OMG, Zachary Quinto's impression of a growly ice monster - too cute!