Star Trek
There were good points and bad points, but oh boy oh boy Star Trek! Can I see it again yet?
Also, how is it that I have no Star Trek icon?
Oh man, they made their own AU. This will be... interesting, if they make any more.
The plot:
Plot points resembling the original:
1. Kirk is from Iowa. His father George was in Starfleet. He cheats the Kobayashi Maru.
2. Spock declines the Vulcan Science Academy and goes into Starfleet.
3. Christopher Pike commands the Enterprise prior to Kirk.
4. McCoy is bitter about his divorce, Sulu likes fencing, Uhura likes languages, and Scotty and Chekov are there being themselves relatively convincingly.
Everything else is kind of up in the air, as you may have noticed.
I'd like to mention that going in I didn't know any of the plot. So I spent the beginning thinking "Huh, I didn't think George Kirk died that early. I thought he was around to see Jim grow up." By the time Vulcan was attacked and the Enterprise comes out of warp amid the wreckage of other ships we the geeks know exist later in canon (like the Farragut), I was like, "Wait, what?" And then they killed Amanda Grayson and sucked Vulcan into a singularity, and really nothing after that was safe.
And I'm running with the theory that the first appearance of the Romulan ship somehow caused other points of divergence not apparent until later, because, um, Spock. First off, given the conversations he had with his family prior to joining Starfleet this sure doesn't seem like a Spock who is canonically estranged from his family until "Journey to Babel." Also, uh, the Spock/Uhura. More on which later. And if original-timeline Spock had programmed the Kobayashi Maru, I kind of would have expected the fact to show up one of the the many times they discussed it in The Wrath of Khan. (Though I'm not really sure how. "I never took the Kobayashi Maru. How do you like my solution? By the way, I programmed it. *dies*")
Speaking of Romulans -- and why are the Trek villains these days badass tattooed Romulans? -- why is no one surprised to, y'know, see them? Canon says no one knows what Romulans look like until "Balance of Terror," remember? And twenty-five years earlier no one is surprised? And people confuse Vulcan and Romulan languages? Setting aside the Rihannsu-verse fanon of Romulan being a conlang (and generally obviously sounding different from Vulcan), in canon I don't think anyone knows the languages are related, otherwise no one would have been surprised in "Balance of Terror."
Also, why are the Romulans committed to drilling to the planet's core before dropping the "red matter" in? If it's gonna create a black hole, wouldn't they have approximately the same effect just tossing it out next to the planet and sucking it in sideways? I know, I know, that's not as badass. I also think they could have used a better motivation than "make Spock sad," but that's good enough.
I think time-traveling Spock is entirely awesome. (We already know he's willing to time-travel to help his seven-year-old self pass his test of manhood, right? Wait, is that still canon?) And it's really awww, in a sniffly way, how much he loves Kirk. (I'm not talking about slash. That there is canon.) How many years in the future is Spock from, again? Do we know when Romulus' star is supposed to go supernova?
Also, Star Trek, why do you still fail the Bechdel Test? And why do women still wear miniskirts? I, uh, guess you get a point for having an Orion woman who is not an Orion slave-girl. (I almost typed "slave girl" by reflex the first time.)
And now Kirk gets to command the Enterprise right out of the Academy, which is a little weird, but whatever! And Pike in a wheelchair, of course. And he gets all the usual crew. Which I guess is good. And Vulcan is gone, which is sad. This will be interesting if they make sequels.
Characters:
Kirk: Well, he was definitely badass enough to be Kirk. I don't think he was so much trying to be William Shatner's portrayal as just to be really, really badass. I think it worked well enough, actually. Though, honestly, the Kirk in my head is probably Rihannsu-verse, which is never gonna be canon anyway. (It'll be interesting to see what the K/S fen make of this movie, seeing as how the dynamic they usually have isn't there, or at least isn't there yet.)
Spock: It seemed like the actor (Sylar from Heroes, yes, yes, I know) was trying really hard to be Leonard Nimoy. Which might have worked better if Leonard Nimoy hadn't been in the movie. He also seemed kind of stuck up, arrogant, and randomly emotional, and I suppose original-universe Spock could have been those things before we saw him, but it seems really far from that characterization. (And the, uh, S/U doesn't help.) Still, I suppose, I'll buy him as Spock. I guess. I'm just very picky about Spock. Will probably need to see it again.
McCoy: Okay, McCoy nailed it. Every time the guy opened his mouth, I thought, "That's it, that's really Bones." Before he opened his mouth, even. So good job there. [heart]
Uhura: I am very glad she gets to do things that are more than just "hailing frequencies open, captain." She is a xenolinguist! Just as the profic always promised me! I really enjoyed the scene in the bar where she says she bets Kirk doesn't know what Xenolinguistics is, and he, all casual, says, "Study of alien languages. Phonology, morphology, syntax." This far exceeds Star Trek's usual standard of linguistics technobabble, let me tell you. I thought, OMG, someone who knows something wrote those lines. And then I saw Marc Okrand's name in the credits. And, OMG, she has a canon first name! Nyota is canon! Canon! w00t!
Scotty: Hey, it's the guy from Hot Fuzz! Seeing as though he was there to mostly be comic relief and say a few catchphrases, I don't think he had much to do that he could have done badly on.
Sulu: He likes fencing! Of course he does! And hooray, he got a badass action scene. By the way, for anyone who is wondering where they've seen the actor that wasn't Harold and Kumar, he was the submissive guy who was a patient in the House episode "Love Hurts." With the dom strangling him. The one where we learn Chase had a kinky girlfriend. You remember.
Chekov: I think the goal of Chekov's character was to make the audience laugh every time he said "Wulcan." He didn't really have much else to do.
On the Spock/Uhura: Really, guys? Really? Look, it's not that I don't like Uhura -- because she's totally awesome -- but would a guy who has previously told us he was considering going in for Kolinahr be smooching on the transporter pad? It seems out of character for Spock, no matter who he's dating. Plus, she's his student. Ick. That is really squicky, especially as I typically think of Spock as possessing the morals to believe that this would be a bad idea. I have nothing against original-universe Spock/Uhura. If the profic is to be believed, they're great friends, they have a love of music in common, they play together a lot, and I could see it. And she's not his student. But the way they've set it up here... I just really don't want them to get together like this. Eww, creepy power dynamic. And then, what, she uses her Feminine Wiles on him to get posted to the Enterprise? Come on. There's something wrong here. It's not that I'm a jealous slasher, I swear.
(Also, I didn't know Majel Barrett had died. Who will be the computer now? And the guy playing Sarek, while clearly not Mark Lenard (*sniff*), was at least credible.)
Overall:
Certainly better than anything they've made since movie six. Man, I can't even remember the last movie's name. I think non-fans will really enjoy it, because, well, you don't need to know canon, and they do all get to say their usual catchphrases. Plus, I think it's generally a fun action-packed film.
The other fans filling the theater seemed to enjoy it as well, so that's good. I think overall I liked it, and am thrilled to see TOS again, because it really is my favorite Trek (even though it's not the one I saw first), and am willing to forgive pretty much anything except the skeevy way they did Spock/Uhura.
Now I want to see more Star Trek. Again. But I only own Star Trek IV on DVD. Hmph.
*blinks at Amazon* Apparently you can no longer buy a DVD box set of the Trek movies, though they're doing a box set of the first six on Blu-Ray. Regular DVD only gets movies two through four. Gee, thanks. And the only TOS series DVDs in print are the remastered ones with new effects. Oh, look, you can get a shiny new set with "Trouble With Tribbles," "City on the Edge of Forever," "Balance of Terror," and "Amok Time." Rest of show, plz? Rest of movies, plz?
What, don't you want my business, Paramount?
No, wait, I can get the animated series for $19. I've only ever seen "Yesteryear" of those, which coincidentally is the only one regarded as canon. Hmm. I guess that's something.
Also, how is it that I have no Star Trek icon?
Oh man, they made their own AU. This will be... interesting, if they make any more.
The plot:
Plot points resembling the original:
1. Kirk is from Iowa. His father George was in Starfleet. He cheats the Kobayashi Maru.
2. Spock declines the Vulcan Science Academy and goes into Starfleet.
3. Christopher Pike commands the Enterprise prior to Kirk.
4. McCoy is bitter about his divorce, Sulu likes fencing, Uhura likes languages, and Scotty and Chekov are there being themselves relatively convincingly.
Everything else is kind of up in the air, as you may have noticed.
I'd like to mention that going in I didn't know any of the plot. So I spent the beginning thinking "Huh, I didn't think George Kirk died that early. I thought he was around to see Jim grow up." By the time Vulcan was attacked and the Enterprise comes out of warp amid the wreckage of other ships we the geeks know exist later in canon (like the Farragut), I was like, "Wait, what?" And then they killed Amanda Grayson and sucked Vulcan into a singularity, and really nothing after that was safe.
And I'm running with the theory that the first appearance of the Romulan ship somehow caused other points of divergence not apparent until later, because, um, Spock. First off, given the conversations he had with his family prior to joining Starfleet this sure doesn't seem like a Spock who is canonically estranged from his family until "Journey to Babel." Also, uh, the Spock/Uhura. More on which later. And if original-timeline Spock had programmed the Kobayashi Maru, I kind of would have expected the fact to show up one of the the many times they discussed it in The Wrath of Khan. (Though I'm not really sure how. "I never took the Kobayashi Maru. How do you like my solution? By the way, I programmed it. *dies*")
Speaking of Romulans -- and why are the Trek villains these days badass tattooed Romulans? -- why is no one surprised to, y'know, see them? Canon says no one knows what Romulans look like until "Balance of Terror," remember? And twenty-five years earlier no one is surprised? And people confuse Vulcan and Romulan languages? Setting aside the Rihannsu-verse fanon of Romulan being a conlang (and generally obviously sounding different from Vulcan), in canon I don't think anyone knows the languages are related, otherwise no one would have been surprised in "Balance of Terror."
Also, why are the Romulans committed to drilling to the planet's core before dropping the "red matter" in? If it's gonna create a black hole, wouldn't they have approximately the same effect just tossing it out next to the planet and sucking it in sideways? I know, I know, that's not as badass. I also think they could have used a better motivation than "make Spock sad," but that's good enough.
I think time-traveling Spock is entirely awesome. (We already know he's willing to time-travel to help his seven-year-old self pass his test of manhood, right? Wait, is that still canon?) And it's really awww, in a sniffly way, how much he loves Kirk. (I'm not talking about slash. That there is canon.) How many years in the future is Spock from, again? Do we know when Romulus' star is supposed to go supernova?
Also, Star Trek, why do you still fail the Bechdel Test? And why do women still wear miniskirts? I, uh, guess you get a point for having an Orion woman who is not an Orion slave-girl. (I almost typed "slave girl" by reflex the first time.)
And now Kirk gets to command the Enterprise right out of the Academy, which is a little weird, but whatever! And Pike in a wheelchair, of course. And he gets all the usual crew. Which I guess is good. And Vulcan is gone, which is sad. This will be interesting if they make sequels.
Characters:
Kirk: Well, he was definitely badass enough to be Kirk. I don't think he was so much trying to be William Shatner's portrayal as just to be really, really badass. I think it worked well enough, actually. Though, honestly, the Kirk in my head is probably Rihannsu-verse, which is never gonna be canon anyway. (It'll be interesting to see what the K/S fen make of this movie, seeing as how the dynamic they usually have isn't there, or at least isn't there yet.)
Spock: It seemed like the actor (Sylar from Heroes, yes, yes, I know) was trying really hard to be Leonard Nimoy. Which might have worked better if Leonard Nimoy hadn't been in the movie. He also seemed kind of stuck up, arrogant, and randomly emotional, and I suppose original-universe Spock could have been those things before we saw him, but it seems really far from that characterization. (And the, uh, S/U doesn't help.) Still, I suppose, I'll buy him as Spock. I guess. I'm just very picky about Spock. Will probably need to see it again.
McCoy: Okay, McCoy nailed it. Every time the guy opened his mouth, I thought, "That's it, that's really Bones." Before he opened his mouth, even. So good job there. [heart]
Uhura: I am very glad she gets to do things that are more than just "hailing frequencies open, captain." She is a xenolinguist! Just as the profic always promised me! I really enjoyed the scene in the bar where she says she bets Kirk doesn't know what Xenolinguistics is, and he, all casual, says, "Study of alien languages. Phonology, morphology, syntax." This far exceeds Star Trek's usual standard of linguistics technobabble, let me tell you. I thought, OMG, someone who knows something wrote those lines. And then I saw Marc Okrand's name in the credits. And, OMG, she has a canon first name! Nyota is canon! Canon! w00t!
Scotty: Hey, it's the guy from Hot Fuzz! Seeing as though he was there to mostly be comic relief and say a few catchphrases, I don't think he had much to do that he could have done badly on.
Sulu: He likes fencing! Of course he does! And hooray, he got a badass action scene. By the way, for anyone who is wondering where they've seen the actor that wasn't Harold and Kumar, he was the submissive guy who was a patient in the House episode "Love Hurts." With the dom strangling him. The one where we learn Chase had a kinky girlfriend. You remember.
Chekov: I think the goal of Chekov's character was to make the audience laugh every time he said "Wulcan." He didn't really have much else to do.
On the Spock/Uhura: Really, guys? Really? Look, it's not that I don't like Uhura -- because she's totally awesome -- but would a guy who has previously told us he was considering going in for Kolinahr be smooching on the transporter pad? It seems out of character for Spock, no matter who he's dating. Plus, she's his student. Ick. That is really squicky, especially as I typically think of Spock as possessing the morals to believe that this would be a bad idea. I have nothing against original-universe Spock/Uhura. If the profic is to be believed, they're great friends, they have a love of music in common, they play together a lot, and I could see it. And she's not his student. But the way they've set it up here... I just really don't want them to get together like this. Eww, creepy power dynamic. And then, what, she uses her Feminine Wiles on him to get posted to the Enterprise? Come on. There's something wrong here. It's not that I'm a jealous slasher, I swear.
(Also, I didn't know Majel Barrett had died. Who will be the computer now? And the guy playing Sarek, while clearly not Mark Lenard (*sniff*), was at least credible.)
Overall:
Certainly better than anything they've made since movie six. Man, I can't even remember the last movie's name. I think non-fans will really enjoy it, because, well, you don't need to know canon, and they do all get to say their usual catchphrases. Plus, I think it's generally a fun action-packed film.
The other fans filling the theater seemed to enjoy it as well, so that's good. I think overall I liked it, and am thrilled to see TOS again, because it really is my favorite Trek (even though it's not the one I saw first), and am willing to forgive pretty much anything except the skeevy way they did Spock/Uhura.
Now I want to see more Star Trek. Again. But I only own Star Trek IV on DVD. Hmph.
*blinks at Amazon* Apparently you can no longer buy a DVD box set of the Trek movies, though they're doing a box set of the first six on Blu-Ray. Regular DVD only gets movies two through four. Gee, thanks. And the only TOS series DVDs in print are the remastered ones with new effects. Oh, look, you can get a shiny new set with "Trouble With Tribbles," "City on the Edge of Forever," "Balance of Terror," and "Amok Time." Rest of show, plz? Rest of movies, plz?
What, don't you want my business, Paramount?
No, wait, I can get the animated series for $19. I've only ever seen "Yesteryear" of those, which coincidentally is the only one regarded as canon. Hmm. I guess that's something.