(no subject)
Well, I was going to make this a simple GIP, but, for whatever unknown reasons, a conspiracy concocted by my internet and/or LJ is preventing me from uploading any new icons at the moment -- and of course this happens after I already deleted my preexisting Star Trek icon! *grumble grumble* -- but at least it reminds me why I still can't bring myself to cycle out this Middleman icon because I find far too many uses for it (plus the show is, uhhh, amazing beyond belief! And yet I don't think I ever got around to posting about the finale, did I? Shame on me, because it was awesome! And, hey, full of Star Trek references, so -- everything does in fact come full circle, and I guess it's okay for me to use this icon for a Trek post after all).
At any rate, all of this grumpiness is just a preamble to the giant excitement of STAR TREK XI STILLS FIIIIIIIANLLY!!!!!!!! I'm sure you've all already seen the six circulating around various movie sites, but there are a few more up at EW, along with the cover article... in case you haven't gotten around to those yet...
First of all: OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OOOOOOMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Okay. *deep breath* I just had to get that out of my system -- and still, even though it's been over twenty-four hours since they first went up, I haven't quite worked through my initial AHHHHH NEEEEEEWWWWWWW PIIIIIICTURES! stage to start considering what I actually think of them, so I apologize in advance for any bumbling incoherence.
General impressions of the stills themselves: Spock looks fantastic; let's all sound surprised! (Although good Lord they photoshopped the hell out of him on that EW cover. *winces*) Uhura is equally zomg flaaaail perfect. I miss Chekov's Trump-eqsue squirrel hair, I'm not gonna lie. And right now to me Scottie and Sulu still look like their actors, not their characters, so I think I'm going to have to wait and see them in action rather than in posed stills to get a proper feel for how they've taken up these roles. Kirk... goddammit... it looks like my embarrassing, unfortunate, dirtyhotwrong oh-God-why-is-this-vaguely-a-turn-on? reaction to him is going to survive through to another incarnation. Finally, Bones! I... hmm. Hmmm! I'm sure I'm having the most difficulty coming to a conclusion about him because he's the one in which I have the most investment... but... but... I don't know! I like him. Okay, I feel comfortable saying that. But I think I'm just going to have a hard time adjusting to the fact that it's not De ahhh wtf (even though I am apparently able to get over that with everybody else. Uhhhh, go figure). With the floofy side part his hair is a touch too prep school/khaki trousers for me (I don't know, I guess I always imagined that McCoy just grew his hair into that molded from through the sheer force of his cantankerous spirit) -- but aside from that, I don't have much to nitpick. In the group shot, he even seems to have mastered what I like to think of as the "grouch slouch"; subtle, but it's there! Also, I got about 230,934 times more excited about him upon seeing the additional promo on EW.com.
Moving to more general style bits now that I'm through with character specifics (except, wait, I didn't comment on Nero! Um. I've generally been avoiding plot spoilers, but I am kind of... hmm... curious to see how they work all this into the story? *apprehensive* *though hopefully unnecessarily so* But as far as baddies go, he looks good) -- uniforms! Generally I am very very very happy to see that they've kept most of the style the same. I wish they were a bit more vibrant, but it seems to be the general trend with the films to bland (and thereby fug!) up the uniforms so it could have been way worse. Not sure how I feel about the women apparently still all being in dresses, though... the one pictured seems almost a bit fuller in the skirt? Or is it just me? And I think the boots are clunkier, too. Possibly a bad combo. The bridge itself is... shiiiiny... but also LOL at the article calling Abrams out on the Apple chic because, seriously. Could it have a more plasticine sheen? I miss the warmth of the old bridge -- lots of reds -- and pleather! That said, at least it hasn't gone completely over to the other end of the continuum in a sea of bleak beige, and it does looks like there's lot of exciting blinky stuff going on at each station so I'm preparing myself to be dazzled. :D
Thoughts on the article: Blaaaarghhhh my epic ambivalence, let me show you it. :/ Most of these are issues I've been struggling with since the start of the project, since hearing that so many non-Trekkies were attached to the film, and. Well. I have yet to come to a conclusion. As excited as I am about Damon and other Losties (and, sure, JJ, whatever :P), I always think of them as being big Star Wars fans and, well, not that it's impossible to like both, but it's just so odd to me to think of all of these people being responsible for breathing "new life" into the Trek franchise. I guess I just get hung up on... why? It's such a curious phenomenon that they would all jump ship; and what exactly is it that they want to bring to the Trekverse, then, if it isn't something with which they all have some intimate history of personal connection? Looking at the EW article, then, certain comments like the big scary "reboot" word, trying to create "a more visceral experience," requiring "freedom to reinvent the mythos as needed" (UMMMM WTF), "need[ing] to broaden [Trek's] appeal"...! Argh. I'm sorry. The defensive part of me can't help having an immediate visceral (ha!) reaction to some of those sentiments because, in their barest form, they imply a dismissal of any preexisting relevancy. And... just... no. If you think Trek lacks the ability to meaningfully connect to any part of your life personally or to the general experiences of a modern audience as a whole, then please feel free to get the hell off my lawn you effin' ingrate hipster kids grumble grumble bahhhh DO NOT WANT. And then I feel like all my worst fears are confirmed with lines like: "We weren't making a movie for fans of Star Trek. We were making a movie for fans of movies." I mean... okay. Objectively! I can take a step back and say, well, duh -- if they're going to try to bring back the franchise in a big way, they're going to have to step outside the boundaries of only fans of the series. Buuuuut wah okay WHATEVER I do not have to be logical and objective about my own ramblings so instead I'm going to get cranky about this for a moment -- because, seriously? One of my favourite Trek movies to date is The Final Frontier, which is admittedly a rather awful movie and which probably has absolutely zero appeal to non-fans. But those are all of the reasons WHY I love it and why the generic big budget nonsense of films like The Undiscovered Country is just a total snoozefest for me.
Anyway, I'm sure at this point the crux of my confusion has become evident -- I want it to be a good, successful movie, but I'm griping at it for trying to be a good, successful movie. :P (My brain has never been one to make sense.) I suppose to me Trek is just so fundamentally a television series that I just can't regard the films in the same way. So maybe all of my anxieties about STXI really don't have anything to do with the film itself (because, really, there are lots of other quotes in the article that excited me. Namely: '"In a world where a movie as incredibly produced as The Dark Knight is raking in gazillions of dollars, Star Trek stands in stark contrast," Abrams says. "It was important to me that optimism be cool again."' THANK YOOOOOU. Not that I don't love me some brooding melancholy, but does everything modern and cutting edge have to also be bleak and hopeless to the point of utter pointlessness? I know I gripe about this every time the issue comes up, but it's why I can't watch or enjoy BSG because when the whole point of a narrative is to crushingly depress you to death -- forget. that. Especially with scifi -- sometimes I like to think that the future can have happiness, yeah? Even with the "darkness" of DS9 I still cared so much about every single character on that show and was actually rewarded for that investment with more than just death and tears. Hurrah!) and are instead just a manifestation of my deep need for a new Trek series to be on the air. And actually, ooh, I meant to comment on this ages ago -- last month TrekMovie had an article about Brian Fuller and his Trek connections, and being way open about heading up a new series. And. Wow. Being the total ignoramus that I am I actually had no idea that he used to work on Trek, but I enjoyed both of his DS9 episodes and, although I don't remember much of Voyager -- "BRIDE OF CHAOTICA!" Ahahahaaa of course that has to be a Brian Fuller episode! Once I got over the paradigm shift of Dead Like Me Pushing Daisies Star Trek whut??!, I actually really warmed up to the idea. "Spirit and colour" yesyesyes A+++++. Maybe I'm more enthused because wow last night's Pushing Daisies was fan-freakin'-tastic to the nth degree. I just feel like he has such a consistently engaging vision for taking the outlandish and unfamiliar and making it real and human, but not in a way that diminishes the wonder. I remember I was reluctant to watch PD at first because, although it looked cute, I doubted that the sparkle could last through an entire series. Well, guess what, self -- it totally has. And he just has this wonderful, warm, magical -- but not necessarily sanitized? always somewhat bordering on the grotesque and absurd -- way of approaching things that I think would be really really interesting for a Trek series. And I know it would never in a million years happen, but whatever, it's a cool idea.
Wow. I totally meant to go to bed early, like, two hours ago. Thanks for keeping me up, Star Trek. *salutes*
Also -- maybe it's because the buzz on this film exploded almost at the same time that the Britney buzz went through the roof as well, but I am craving a Kirk fanvid to "Womanizer" SO BAD. Come on, though, just picture it -- pure elegance in its simplicity!
At any rate, all of this grumpiness is just a preamble to the giant excitement of STAR TREK XI STILLS FIIIIIIIANLLY!!!!!!!! I'm sure you've all already seen the six circulating around various movie sites, but there are a few more up at EW, along with the cover article... in case you haven't gotten around to those yet...
First of all: OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG OOOOOOMMMMMMMMGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
Okay. *deep breath* I just had to get that out of my system -- and still, even though it's been over twenty-four hours since they first went up, I haven't quite worked through my initial AHHHHH NEEEEEEWWWWWWW PIIIIIICTURES! stage to start considering what I actually think of them, so I apologize in advance for any bumbling incoherence.
General impressions of the stills themselves: Spock looks fantastic; let's all sound surprised! (Although good Lord they photoshopped the hell out of him on that EW cover. *winces*) Uhura is equally zomg flaaaail perfect. I miss Chekov's Trump-eqsue squirrel hair, I'm not gonna lie. And right now to me Scottie and Sulu still look like their actors, not their characters, so I think I'm going to have to wait and see them in action rather than in posed stills to get a proper feel for how they've taken up these roles. Kirk... goddammit... it looks like my embarrassing, unfortunate, dirtyhotwrong oh-God-why-is-this-vaguely-a-turn-on? reaction to him is going to survive through to another incarnation. Finally, Bones! I... hmm. Hmmm! I'm sure I'm having the most difficulty coming to a conclusion about him because he's the one in which I have the most investment... but... but... I don't know! I like him. Okay, I feel comfortable saying that. But I think I'm just going to have a hard time adjusting to the fact that it's not De ahhh wtf (even though I am apparently able to get over that with everybody else. Uhhhh, go figure). With the floofy side part his hair is a touch too prep school/khaki trousers for me (I don't know, I guess I always imagined that McCoy just grew his hair into that molded from through the sheer force of his cantankerous spirit) -- but aside from that, I don't have much to nitpick. In the group shot, he even seems to have mastered what I like to think of as the "grouch slouch"; subtle, but it's there! Also, I got about 230,934 times more excited about him upon seeing the additional promo on EW.com.
Moving to more general style bits now that I'm through with character specifics (except, wait, I didn't comment on Nero! Um. I've generally been avoiding plot spoilers, but I am kind of... hmm... curious to see how they work all this into the story? *apprehensive* *though hopefully unnecessarily so* But as far as baddies go, he looks good) -- uniforms! Generally I am very very very happy to see that they've kept most of the style the same. I wish they were a bit more vibrant, but it seems to be the general trend with the films to bland (and thereby fug!) up the uniforms so it could have been way worse. Not sure how I feel about the women apparently still all being in dresses, though... the one pictured seems almost a bit fuller in the skirt? Or is it just me? And I think the boots are clunkier, too. Possibly a bad combo. The bridge itself is... shiiiiny... but also LOL at the article calling Abrams out on the Apple chic because, seriously. Could it have a more plasticine sheen? I miss the warmth of the old bridge -- lots of reds -- and pleather! That said, at least it hasn't gone completely over to the other end of the continuum in a sea of bleak beige, and it does looks like there's lot of exciting blinky stuff going on at each station so I'm preparing myself to be dazzled. :D
Thoughts on the article: Blaaaarghhhh my epic ambivalence, let me show you it. :/ Most of these are issues I've been struggling with since the start of the project, since hearing that so many non-Trekkies were attached to the film, and. Well. I have yet to come to a conclusion. As excited as I am about Damon and other Losties (and, sure, JJ, whatever :P), I always think of them as being big Star Wars fans and, well, not that it's impossible to like both, but it's just so odd to me to think of all of these people being responsible for breathing "new life" into the Trek franchise. I guess I just get hung up on... why? It's such a curious phenomenon that they would all jump ship; and what exactly is it that they want to bring to the Trekverse, then, if it isn't something with which they all have some intimate history of personal connection? Looking at the EW article, then, certain comments like the big scary "reboot" word, trying to create "a more visceral experience," requiring "freedom to reinvent the mythos as needed" (UMMMM WTF), "need[ing] to broaden [Trek's] appeal"...! Argh. I'm sorry. The defensive part of me can't help having an immediate visceral (ha!) reaction to some of those sentiments because, in their barest form, they imply a dismissal of any preexisting relevancy. And... just... no. If you think Trek lacks the ability to meaningfully connect to any part of your life personally or to the general experiences of a modern audience as a whole, then please feel free to get the hell off my lawn you effin' ingrate hipster kids grumble grumble bahhhh DO NOT WANT. And then I feel like all my worst fears are confirmed with lines like: "We weren't making a movie for fans of Star Trek. We were making a movie for fans of movies." I mean... okay. Objectively! I can take a step back and say, well, duh -- if they're going to try to bring back the franchise in a big way, they're going to have to step outside the boundaries of only fans of the series. Buuuuut wah okay WHATEVER I do not have to be logical and objective about my own ramblings so instead I'm going to get cranky about this for a moment -- because, seriously? One of my favourite Trek movies to date is The Final Frontier, which is admittedly a rather awful movie and which probably has absolutely zero appeal to non-fans. But those are all of the reasons WHY I love it and why the generic big budget nonsense of films like The Undiscovered Country is just a total snoozefest for me.
Anyway, I'm sure at this point the crux of my confusion has become evident -- I want it to be a good, successful movie, but I'm griping at it for trying to be a good, successful movie. :P (My brain has never been one to make sense.) I suppose to me Trek is just so fundamentally a television series that I just can't regard the films in the same way. So maybe all of my anxieties about STXI really don't have anything to do with the film itself (because, really, there are lots of other quotes in the article that excited me. Namely: '"In a world where a movie as incredibly produced as The Dark Knight is raking in gazillions of dollars, Star Trek stands in stark contrast," Abrams says. "It was important to me that optimism be cool again."' THANK YOOOOOU. Not that I don't love me some brooding melancholy, but does everything modern and cutting edge have to also be bleak and hopeless to the point of utter pointlessness? I know I gripe about this every time the issue comes up, but it's why I can't watch or enjoy BSG because when the whole point of a narrative is to crushingly depress you to death -- forget. that. Especially with scifi -- sometimes I like to think that the future can have happiness, yeah? Even with the "darkness" of DS9 I still cared so much about every single character on that show and was actually rewarded for that investment with more than just death and tears. Hurrah!) and are instead just a manifestation of my deep need for a new Trek series to be on the air. And actually, ooh, I meant to comment on this ages ago -- last month TrekMovie had an article about Brian Fuller and his Trek connections, and being way open about heading up a new series. And. Wow. Being the total ignoramus that I am I actually had no idea that he used to work on Trek, but I enjoyed both of his DS9 episodes and, although I don't remember much of Voyager -- "BRIDE OF CHAOTICA!" Ahahahaaa of course that has to be a Brian Fuller episode! Once I got over the paradigm shift of Dead Like Me Pushing Daisies Star Trek whut??!, I actually really warmed up to the idea. "Spirit and colour" yesyesyes A+++++. Maybe I'm more enthused because wow last night's Pushing Daisies was fan-freakin'-tastic to the nth degree. I just feel like he has such a consistently engaging vision for taking the outlandish and unfamiliar and making it real and human, but not in a way that diminishes the wonder. I remember I was reluctant to watch PD at first because, although it looked cute, I doubted that the sparkle could last through an entire series. Well, guess what, self -- it totally has. And he just has this wonderful, warm, magical -- but not necessarily sanitized? always somewhat bordering on the grotesque and absurd -- way of approaching things that I think would be really really interesting for a Trek series. And I know it would never in a million years happen, but whatever, it's a cool idea.
Wow. I totally meant to go to bed early, like, two hours ago. Thanks for keeping me up, Star Trek. *salutes*
Also -- maybe it's because the buzz on this film exploded almost at the same time that the Britney buzz went through the roof as well, but I am craving a Kirk fanvid to "Womanizer" SO BAD. Come on, though, just picture it -- pure elegance in its simplicity!