Star Trek
I dragged flatmate to go see Star Trek. Even though our tastes in sci-fi tend to be the same, it did take considerable negotiation to get her to the one. I am another for whom Star Trek is part of my childhood, although I've always been more Next Gen than TOS - namely because I cannot remember a time when I didn't loathe James T Kirk. Anyway, so I went there with nostalgia and Kirk-hating, and flatmate went in there all cynical about the movie. We both thought it was brilliant.
I think the brilliance came from the movie embracing whole-heartedly the clichés and bringing the funny while taking itself seriously as a Star Trek reboot. It's a careful balance, and one that could have been disastrous, but it pulls it off tremendously.
I thought the AU thing was really quite cool. Plus it's fun to compare with other recent sci-fi reboots. Doctor Who went for a continuance, Battlestar for 'reimagining', which I believe means way, way better remake, and now the alternative universe approach from Star Trek. Does this also mean in future films there can be a recast Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager crews can turn up (with time travel, of course)?
I would have liked it if it were a bit more thinky. The Dark Knight proved you can have mass appeal and be intelligent, and wasn't the whole point of Star Trek is to be thinky sci-fi? Maybe they can do that with the next film.
My other major complaint is not enough Bones. McCoy is the role Karl Urban apparently was born to play, and he's my favourite TOS character.
(BTW, those who like Karl Urban, I thoroughly recommend tracking down a copy of Out of the Blue and The Price of Milk.).
Simon Pegg seemed to be having ridiculous amounts of fun. More Scotty next time as well, please.
So Spock can join the 'my planet is gone and I'm one of the last of my kind' support group for fictional characters now. I hear it's loads of fun when Starbuck gets drunk. Not so much when the Doctor starts weeping about Rose.
Does Spock/Uhura mean we're going to have Star Trek shipping wars between Spock/Uhura and Kirk/Spock? Because that could be fun to watch. Personally, I don't care. If I'm going to ship anyone, it'd be Chekov/Sulu.
Kirk was not that bad. Pine!Kirk is better than Shatner!Kirk. I still don't like him all that much. *Looks around for a bridge*
Anyway, flatmate in particular walked out and voted TOS as the next series we should watch once we finish Battlestar Galactica. So mission most certainly accomplished most definitely with the bringing the franchise back to life and opening up to new fans.
I think the brilliance came from the movie embracing whole-heartedly the clichés and bringing the funny while taking itself seriously as a Star Trek reboot. It's a careful balance, and one that could have been disastrous, but it pulls it off tremendously.
I thought the AU thing was really quite cool. Plus it's fun to compare with other recent sci-fi reboots. Doctor Who went for a continuance, Battlestar for 'reimagining', which I believe means way, way better remake, and now the alternative universe approach from Star Trek. Does this also mean in future films there can be a recast Next Generation, DS9 and Voyager crews can turn up (with time travel, of course)?
I would have liked it if it were a bit more thinky. The Dark Knight proved you can have mass appeal and be intelligent, and wasn't the whole point of Star Trek is to be thinky sci-fi? Maybe they can do that with the next film.
My other major complaint is not enough Bones. McCoy is the role Karl Urban apparently was born to play, and he's my favourite TOS character.
(BTW, those who like Karl Urban, I thoroughly recommend tracking down a copy of Out of the Blue and The Price of Milk.).
Simon Pegg seemed to be having ridiculous amounts of fun. More Scotty next time as well, please.
So Spock can join the 'my planet is gone and I'm one of the last of my kind' support group for fictional characters now. I hear it's loads of fun when Starbuck gets drunk. Not so much when the Doctor starts weeping about Rose.
Does Spock/Uhura mean we're going to have Star Trek shipping wars between Spock/Uhura and Kirk/Spock? Because that could be fun to watch. Personally, I don't care. If I'm going to ship anyone, it'd be Chekov/Sulu.
Kirk was not that bad. Pine!Kirk is better than Shatner!Kirk. I still don't like him all that much. *Looks around for a bridge*
Anyway, flatmate in particular walked out and voted TOS as the next series we should watch once we finish Battlestar Galactica. So mission most certainly accomplished most definitely with the bringing the franchise back to life and opening up to new fans.