Star Trek and Green Lantern and the War of Lettuce

[kali921]

Dear World:

I would like to apologize in advance for the capslock that will be making abundant guest appearances in this LJ entry.

Okay, bitches. We're gonna talk some Star Trek.

But first? Via the_croupier -- and I cannot BELIEVE that I have not seen this already - the BEST fan-made trailer I have ever seen. You know what it's a trailer for

Comments

[oakenguy]

DelinquentYouthKirk was, I think, supposed to be a lovable rapscallion but somehow my gut missed the memo and thought he was a jerk. (It's the same memo they keep trying to send me about Jason Todd and Damian, only with the new name cut & pasted--darn thing keeps going to my killfile).

I might be wrong about this, but besides Vulcan and the other fridgings didn't 90% of the cadets, i.e. all the ones who were on ships which weren't the Enterprise, get fridged? Including Uhura's roommate?

[kali921]

Presumably they got fridged, too. But they weren't as central to the plot as catalysts/change agents affecting the course of individual emotion-based decisions. Nero was furious about Romulus & Remus being gone (presumably Remus was fridged, too) but affected most deeply by the deaths of his wife and unborn child. Spock went quietly scorched earth after Vulcan got sucked into a singularity

[syringavulgaris]

Motto on the Kirk-reactions. I'm not blaming the actor, he was clearly putting in the performance they wanted; but I too did not get the memo.

Thanks for mentioning the comic bit, which I was wholly unaware of. When Nero's ship first sailed on screen the three of of us were all "...um JMS called and he wants his Shadows production design back". I still think there's truth in that, but I am lightening up to know that there is at least a reason it looks wack. Related: I found it a certain degree of Communication-of-Culture Failure that none of us present, all of us Trek fans, recognized that the enemy were Romulan, even after seeing them, until the bibbling about Romulan signals started.

But, I mean, it's a Trek film; we weren't expecting Citizen Kane here. And as Trek films go, it is rocketing to the head of the class. I got all mwaaa every time Nimoy was on screen.

[kali921]

Yes. Apparently Nero and his crew's facial tattoos? Are made with phaser burns because THEY WERE JUST THAT HARDCORE REVENGE. Another thing I learned that's addressed in either the comic or the novelization. Apparently in new!verse Romulans occasionally put temporary markings on their faces with space!henna for some kind of ritual or other, but these guys? After Romulus imploded? They burned theirs onto their skin with phasers. GRRRRRRRR. HARDCORE.

[lyssie]

I stand by my request for them to have made Kirk a woman this time around.

Because I'm sorry, ten seconds of screen-time and one moment of awesome is NOT ENOUGH when the entire rest of the time, MEN are being allowed the hero role.

And yes, there were other women besides Uhura and her roommate (who is, as pointed out above me, ALSO DEAD). But we didn't get to see them, and there's no reason they will ever be considered main characters.

[kali921]

On the other hand, Kirk was shagging a green Orion girl, and that's enough of a lusty reference to the original series that I actually liked it.

I did love Uhura, though, don't get me wrong. She was, along with Pike and Spock, easily the most levelheaded and competent person in any given room, and that's saying something when you realize how well trained Starfleet people on the whole tend to be.

I was absolutely surprised when Uhura/Spock manifested; the director and producers did a good job keeping that under wraps, and it's a testament to how professional both Uhura and Spock were that I didn't see it coming until it was right in front of me

[bana05]

My one biggest complaint: female characters in this film had nothing to do. I loved Saldana's Uhura, but except for that one scene of Linguistic Pwnage -- and that's a scene where we're TOLD she's awesome rather than her getting to SHOW US that she's awesome -- she really had little to do but walk around and shoot Pine!Kirk dirty looks (and she's entirely justified in so doing, I might add).

You've been reading my thoughts somewhere...esp with the TOLD v. SHOWN. I better see her cuss someone out in Klingon the next movie--preferably a klingon right before she stuns him. While saving Spock and/or Kirk. Yes.

And New!Spock? He made me throw my metaphorical panties at him when he beat the shit out of people--literally or figuratively--for talking about his mama. I love a man who loves his mama...

[kali921]

Oh, I had a moment or two during the Kirk Gets OWNED scene when I thought "wow, this verse IS going to be different, Spock is going to MAIM Kirk." I thought broken bones or broken neck at the very least. Is there anyone in the Trek verse who hasn't yet gotten the memo that you DO NOT FUCK WITH A VULCAN in hand-to-hand physical combat? It's like everyone has the Don't Fuck With Black Bolt memo, right? Universal? Well, apparently not.

The next film needs to be 80% Uhura. Then I will be happy.

I actually am not totally sold on Quinto's Spock yet. I keep telling myself that this is very YOUNG Spock, so he hasn't grown into the sense of sheer and infectious Logical Zen place that Nimoy's Spock had at the beginning of TOS, so we'll see.

[bana05]

Yeah, Nimoy's Spock is at least ten years older than this Spock from when we meet him the first time, so Quinto should be rough around the edges. But Quinto's Spock makes it up with the delivering of asses he does in this movie. It is most glorious.

[kali921]

One final moment that worked for me: the very last scene with Nero, when Kirk says "so, want some help?" and Spock's all "no, let those fuckers BURN," and Nero's all "I'D RATHER DIE" and Kirk's all "SEE YOU AROUND, BIZNATCH." PERFECT.

I find it sad, though, that old!Spock is now stuck in the new!universe and has to deal with watching his younger self grow up (watch from afar, that is). That must be very, very hard to deal with.

[the_croupier]

Thanks for the nod! And for what is now my shiny new GL wallpaper. =D

Re: ST, I had a lot of misgivings on my first viewing too, but a second helped a lot. So let's see what you think.

*SPOILERS*

1) I'm not bothered by the uncertainty in Kirk, Spock, etc, because they should not be able to assert themselves. That only comes with years of experience, and they don't have that yet. A young Spock asserting himself on the bridge would have just come off as Wesley Crusher at his worst. It would never have worked. Plus, I think you could make an argument that part of what gave Kirk and Spock their respective grounding is their friendship, the way it helped define them. Since that is only beginning, the benefits they reap from it aren't there yet.

(And, as a side note, at the risk of antagonizing slashers, it's really Kirk-Spock-McCoy that drives TOS. I hope we get more of that in the sequels

[kali921]

I didn't catch the Kirk Is More Bearable Post Mindmeld. mercuryeric did, so all props to him.

And why is the fleet all congregating in the Laurentian system? We never found out why.

Oh, another great scene with Pike: when the Enterprise drops out of warp and into orbit over Vulcan and enters that scene of UTTER CHAOS. Pike was so quick in that scene; you could see that he was in his prime, effortlessly kept it together, and THAT is what I want a Kirk to be like. Not some young arrogant shit with stepdaddy issues.

Bana brought an understated passion to the role. I agree that campy would be a possibility if he'd raged more, and after all he DID wait 25 years for his revenge, but there really wasn't much there for me to work with as a viewer.

[sdelmonte]

Wow. Even you liked this one more than I did. I am feeling like I am in a minority of three (the others being Batya and Roger Ebert). Even my mother loved it, and she is usually more old school than I am. I agree with you about a lot of what you say - Greenwood as Pike, plot holes, and so on. But I never warmed up to Pine, didn't like Uhura/Spock at all, and have no plans to see this again. Or to see any other films in this series if they don't get better writers. And try to do some exploring instead of just action-adventure.

The funny thing is that a lot of my complaints have little to do with what they got wrong Trek-wise and more to do with what they got wrong as a movie. In fact, if this were not Trek, I would be unable to excuse the Bad Science in the least. (It would be unfair to start demanding better of Trek after 43 years of technobabble, especially since I also excuse it all the time on the new Doctor Who.)

Am I sounding like a grumpy old man? I hope not, but I guess I am one sometimes.

[kali921]

Well, it's kind of hard to NOT question the science behind the fact that a black hole opening up around Saturn would suck the rest of the solar system down into it within FIVE MINUTES. And that Chekhov had a Polish accent, not a Russian accent.

[sdelmonte]

My big problem with the black hole is that you can't use one to travel backwards in time.

Everyone knows you use black holes to travel through hyperspace (like in Galaxy Quest). :)

(Just read a book about the debate between Hawking and other cosmologists on the nature of black holes, which is not the thing you should read before seeing any space opera.)

[kali921]

Oh, what book is this? Title? I'd love to read it.

I will say this: visually the new film was LUSCIOUS. Just...beautiful to look at.