To boldly go... (trekker alert!)
WATCH IT. you don't have to be a trekker to enjoy it! :)
Right before they created The Next Generation, Leonard Nimoy cautioned that the difficulty of recreating Star Trek is that it is as if you are catching lightning in a bottle. Well, TNG got off space dock, and soared straight into warp 10.
it looks as if this new new generation is set to also run from impulse power and warp speed into an entirely new generation of fans.
there is also what is known among trekkers, as the "even-numbered movie curse." all odd-numbered movies are more forgettable than their even-numbered counterparts. google them, and the star trek movie you remember most must be an even-numbered one.
that's another red alert on this one. it rolls out on an even numbered space dock. but it looks like it broke the curse.
first, the casting is phenomenal. awesome work here. they looked like the actors and actresses. it's as if you were really looking at the Starfleet Academy Yearbook. awesome work too, on researching and enacting the nuances of each character. and good job on the lines that jolt you back to the other movies. perfect example is bones mccoy: amazing! major major props.
the production design is also interesting. i like how it is consistent with much of the star trek prod design bible, and how it looks like it will evolve into the future patterns, costumes and technology.
the effects. this i have to say quite a mouthful about. as a viewer, i enjoyed the fast-paced action and how the effects helped the pacing and the explosive visual treatment (even the new angles of shooting the enterprise helped. if before, the best you got was the beauty pass of the galaxy class, here you get the twists and turns that really happen on collision and attacks). yet, some of the effects looked TOO MUCH LIKE STAR WARS.
migo tells me that Lucasfilm did the effects. WHAT THE TRIBBLES! the warp speed looked too much like hyper space - AND DON'T YOU DARE SAY THEY ARE THE SAME. once and for all, in hyper space, the ship moves in light speed throughout space, in warp speed, SPACE MOVES. listen to scottie's lines in the movie, and it makes sense. actually, his lines that explained warp speed a bit helped allay my uneasiness about the hyper space look alike.
the laser cannons also looked too much like han solo's cannons firing off the millenium falcon, or vader's Tie Fighter blasts. PLEASE. there is a huge difference between phaser banks and laser cannons. phaser banks are classier and more elegant.
but i forgave them. my nerdy-trekker side gave way to the fact that it is still an amazing, enjoyable star romp throughout time and space.
and also because of the story.
whatever trekkers (even my dark trekker half) may say about some inconsistencies - iowa is not the enterprise's birthplace, chekhov arrives a few years later, etc. - the story in its essence is still very much star trek : a future of hope, a future where we finally fix our idiosyncrasies and work together for a cause bigger than ourselves.
and besides, if the trekkers still try to make a big issue out of the small detail changes, (SPOILER WARNING) the time-space-continuum-alternate universe phenomenon explains it. and no, i don't think it's a cop-out. in fact, i think it was well-woven into the story (i am reminded of the DC and marvel universes at this point, where i don't know how well-woven those alternate universe storylines are), and as migo put it: what other story will time-alternate-universe-phenomena work best but in the story that started it all?
moreover, everytime Leonard Nimoy is part of the story creation, he makes sure that the story is sound. well, it certainly continues to work here.
now, the theme.
while the movie is definitely loveable and enjoyable, it lacked a certain sense of gravitas that the best star trek films had. some of the best trek films had literary archs - Moby Dick for First Contact, Hamlet and Ceasar for Undiscovered Country - or a striking message for the times - to protect the environment in The Voyage Home, and the collapse of an entire race and how a people was to embrace their former enemy in Undiscovered Country. This one - well... okay. sure, Vulcan was sucked into a black hole - or became the black hole itself, rather.
yet, i am weighing if that comment of a lack of depth to the movie is fair. after all, if the objective was to reintroduce Trek to a new generation, and to prove that it is still a Trek worth taking, then it had done its job. maybe it is a challenge to its second and third movie? maybe it can step it up there?
i hope so, because i fell for Star Trek not just because of the sci-fi stuff, but because while it expanded the limits of space outward, it also probed one's humanity. and one of the reasons star trek has become a classic is because of its questions it asks of us.
another question with regards to the future is how does this movie pit against the other Star Trek movies? That is one i still have to ponder on. how does it rank?
For me, my all-time star trek movie is still The Undiscovered Country.
for now, amazing job of resurrecting the franchise, of talking to two generations of high and scrutinizing expectations: first, the hardcore fans who will watch out for every detail, and the second, those who raise an eyebrow at the first group, who ask "what the hell is star trek? what drives these trekkies crazy? can i enjoy it?"
It was a delight, a hair-raising, eye-glossying ride. For this fanboy who grew up on this, it's like meeting my old friends, and finding out even more about them, and even mind-melding with them.
lightning in a bottle? there seems to be an abundance in whatever bottle they put it in.
Right before they created The Next Generation, Leonard Nimoy cautioned that the difficulty of recreating Star Trek is that it is as if you are catching lightning in a bottle. Well, TNG got off space dock, and soared straight into warp 10.
it looks as if this new new generation is set to also run from impulse power and warp speed into an entirely new generation of fans.
there is also what is known among trekkers, as the "even-numbered movie curse." all odd-numbered movies are more forgettable than their even-numbered counterparts. google them, and the star trek movie you remember most must be an even-numbered one.
that's another red alert on this one. it rolls out on an even numbered space dock. but it looks like it broke the curse.
first, the casting is phenomenal. awesome work here. they looked like the actors and actresses. it's as if you were really looking at the Starfleet Academy Yearbook. awesome work too, on researching and enacting the nuances of each character. and good job on the lines that jolt you back to the other movies. perfect example is bones mccoy: amazing! major major props.
the production design is also interesting. i like how it is consistent with much of the star trek prod design bible, and how it looks like it will evolve into the future patterns, costumes and technology.
the effects. this i have to say quite a mouthful about. as a viewer, i enjoyed the fast-paced action and how the effects helped the pacing and the explosive visual treatment (even the new angles of shooting the enterprise helped. if before, the best you got was the beauty pass of the galaxy class, here you get the twists and turns that really happen on collision and attacks). yet, some of the effects looked TOO MUCH LIKE STAR WARS.
migo tells me that Lucasfilm did the effects. WHAT THE TRIBBLES! the warp speed looked too much like hyper space - AND DON'T YOU DARE SAY THEY ARE THE SAME. once and for all, in hyper space, the ship moves in light speed throughout space, in warp speed, SPACE MOVES. listen to scottie's lines in the movie, and it makes sense. actually, his lines that explained warp speed a bit helped allay my uneasiness about the hyper space look alike.
the laser cannons also looked too much like han solo's cannons firing off the millenium falcon, or vader's Tie Fighter blasts. PLEASE. there is a huge difference between phaser banks and laser cannons. phaser banks are classier and more elegant.
but i forgave them. my nerdy-trekker side gave way to the fact that it is still an amazing, enjoyable star romp throughout time and space.
and also because of the story.
whatever trekkers (even my dark trekker half) may say about some inconsistencies - iowa is not the enterprise's birthplace, chekhov arrives a few years later, etc. - the story in its essence is still very much star trek : a future of hope, a future where we finally fix our idiosyncrasies and work together for a cause bigger than ourselves.
and besides, if the trekkers still try to make a big issue out of the small detail changes, (SPOILER WARNING) the time-space-continuum-alternate universe phenomenon explains it. and no, i don't think it's a cop-out. in fact, i think it was well-woven into the story (i am reminded of the DC and marvel universes at this point, where i don't know how well-woven those alternate universe storylines are), and as migo put it: what other story will time-alternate-universe-phenomena work best but in the story that started it all?
moreover, everytime Leonard Nimoy is part of the story creation, he makes sure that the story is sound. well, it certainly continues to work here.
now, the theme.
while the movie is definitely loveable and enjoyable, it lacked a certain sense of gravitas that the best star trek films had. some of the best trek films had literary archs - Moby Dick for First Contact, Hamlet and Ceasar for Undiscovered Country - or a striking message for the times - to protect the environment in The Voyage Home, and the collapse of an entire race and how a people was to embrace their former enemy in Undiscovered Country. This one - well... okay. sure, Vulcan was sucked into a black hole - or became the black hole itself, rather.
yet, i am weighing if that comment of a lack of depth to the movie is fair. after all, if the objective was to reintroduce Trek to a new generation, and to prove that it is still a Trek worth taking, then it had done its job. maybe it is a challenge to its second and third movie? maybe it can step it up there?
i hope so, because i fell for Star Trek not just because of the sci-fi stuff, but because while it expanded the limits of space outward, it also probed one's humanity. and one of the reasons star trek has become a classic is because of its questions it asks of us.
another question with regards to the future is how does this movie pit against the other Star Trek movies? That is one i still have to ponder on. how does it rank?
For me, my all-time star trek movie is still The Undiscovered Country.
for now, amazing job of resurrecting the franchise, of talking to two generations of high and scrutinizing expectations: first, the hardcore fans who will watch out for every detail, and the second, those who raise an eyebrow at the first group, who ask "what the hell is star trek? what drives these trekkies crazy? can i enjoy it?"
It was a delight, a hair-raising, eye-glossying ride. For this fanboy who grew up on this, it's like meeting my old friends, and finding out even more about them, and even mind-melding with them.
lightning in a bottle? there seems to be an abundance in whatever bottle they put it in.