New Trek Film review
Jun. 9th, 2009 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
redfiona99First, a declaration of my interests: TOS is my Trek, for the same reason that 3 is my Doctor - glorious, glorious re-runs.
So I went into the film with great trepidation. Less trepidation than originally because I'd been spoilered for the big spoiler re: the plot, and while I normally don't like being spoilered, I was very grateful to the person who did it (with my permission) because otherwise I'm not sure I would have gone to see it at the cinema. Yes, I know pre-judging a film is bad, but ... my favourite crew!
It's pretty much the perfect way of getting round why the characters are different from how we remember them. Doing anything else would leave huge gaps because no-one is ever going to be able to do them quite the same way. So they got round it. It also gave me a nice warm feeling that someone had been thinking about this, rather than just thinking of the money.
Of course I don't know how much of that is because Spock is in it. Would this have worked as well for me if it had been Kirk, or in a parallel universe to this one, McCoy? I have to admit I don't know.
Now for two nit-picky problems:
1) That's not fencing. Given the incredibly slow nature of fencing bureaucracy and it's inherently conservative nature, that's not even fencing in the 23rd century. Also, various people, the weapon that Sulu wields in the TOS is a foil. Not an epee. Yes, it matters. (I am a foilist living in a houseful of epeeists, it matters a lot.)
2) Sciencey nitpick regarding nomenclature. I might be wrong, but I thought Prime was the altered form of a compound. Hence Quinto Spock would be Spock Prime.
I fell in love with the film right at the start, mostly because it had a man best known for playing Arab terrorist number 1 as Captain of the Kelvin. And then I saw what they were doing with the SFX. I particularly liked the Doctor at the start, because it was such a small visual change but it did make her look very alien and you couldn't do that back in the when. Oh George Kirk, you may be even more awesome than your son. There may have been a small amount of wibbling, because he's trying to keep Mrs. Kirk calm and they're talking about baby names and he's laughing and smiling and wah!
I also heartily approve of the occasional moment where they remember space is silent.
Kris Hemsworthy should make a good Thor.
Young Spock may be the sweetest most adorable being ever. Because I think he totally could withstand everything except a direct 'your mom'. I also adored the 'fine will not do' conversation. There's a lovely little Trek-related book called Q's guide to the Continuum (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Qs-Guide-Continuum-Star-Trek/dp/0671019481/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243363732&sr=1-25) that calls Amanda the most patient person in the galaxy, so that scene may have made me giggle for non-directly related reasons.
BTW Winnona Ryder, Jennifer Morrison and Karl Urban are all far too young to be playing the parts they're playing. Either that or I'm getting older ;)
I <3 this version of Captain Pike. They didn't screw him up or over. I'm also deeply indebted that they didn't show him breaking, even though he had to have done for the Narada to get to Earth (I, like many other people, I have to assume, have great difficulty not calling the ship the Nautilus.)
Bones is roughly the level of hysterical I'd be if you put me in a tin can and shot me into space. Admittedly I have no idea why they're shooting the recruits into space given that Starfleet Training HQ is shown to be on Earth later on in the film, but when that's the only major plot hole I can find with it, I can live with it.
Bones, Uhura and the Kobiayshi Maru. And Spock's face on the other side of the glass. I think I had a grin on my face throughout. BTW I think they're both right, because the whole point of the KM is to tell recruits not to get too big for their boots, while, at the same time, there is no such thing as a no-win situation, there's just problems we haven't got solutions for, yet.
Also, this Spock fights dirty. It's a good set up for later when Kirk mentions Spock's mother, and makes it almost acceptable. It's quite fitting that real Spock tells Kirk to do it. He even fights dirty against himself. I <3 Spock.
Bones's lunatic plan for getting Kirk aboard is new levels of ridiculous. I approve of this, because they've captured TOS's more than occasional humour moment. I really loved the look on Kirk's face when he first sees the Enterprise. He's so totally smitten.
Uhura has Spock wrapped around her finger. Hee! I'm sure there's a logical reason for agreeing, even if it's 'if not, I will never hear the end of this'.
I'm right there with McCoy, 'of course he's only seventeen'. I know how that man feels with the constantly ever-younger freshers I have to cope with (the next lot will be 7 years younger than me). I lived in hope that Anton Yelchin was playing young, but no, he is only nineteen. Still I look on it as 'I'd be legally allowed to do the things I'd do to him'. I shall leave Pine and Quinto to the rest of you; I am taking Yelchin and running.
Exactly what was the Chief Engineer's plan then?
Something I actively adored is that while they were showing that not all Vulcans were nice, they showed that some of them had to have been for Amanda to have been in whatever sacred location that Spock finds her and Sarek in.
I love that Spock's almost total lack of reaction is a huge reaction, and that the humans in the vicinity are highly freaked out by this.
I'm just deeply amused that everything conspires to send Kirk to the same planet that Nero has cast Spock onto. I love that all his tinkering has merely brought the Enterprise crew together any way, two years early in the case of Chekov. As I said to Twig, causality friendshippers this crew. And I love how Spock is serene and hurt at the same time. He's so very Vulcan.
And Sarek. OMG!! The whole way through and then 'You once asked me, why I married your mother. I married her because I loved her.', without a change of expression and yet, oh! the poor man/Vulcan. I really like that they seem to have remembered how to write Vulcans all of a sudden.
I think the two characters that were really short changed in this were Scotty and Bones. Scotty never got the moment of awesome that everyone else got (except possibly being sentenced to a career on Ice Planet X for annoying Admiral Archer) and Bones just didn't have anything to do. Not Karl Urban's fault, he was spot on when he had anything to do, but, and this is the one failing of the Star Trek: The Teenage Years plot, McCoy is older than Spock and Kirk and therefore will already have had his growing pangs. If they make a second one (and it looks like they will) I want more stuff for McCoy to do.
I'm reasonably sure science doesn't work that way for every part of the plot, but I'm willing to stick my fingers in my ear and go 'la, la, la' for the duration. And quite how like Nimoy ZQ sounded when he said 'fascinating' was actively disturbing.
I loved the Enterprise coming in and making the save at the end.
They rescued Pike and he didn't die/nearly die in some ridiculously heroic way. This pleases me (although I have a sneaky suspicion that the Starfleet Medal of Honour in this ‘verse might well be named for George Kirk) as I spent the entire film waiting for him to be horribly irradiated. Although really, there has to be a universe out there where he doesn't end up disabled. I want him to still be doing something v. useful in the sequel, because Starfleet wouldn't just shove him into a corner.
I loved Spock meeting himself at the end, and the goodbye and Leonard Nimoy getting to do the "Space, the final frontier" bit.
I enjoyed it, and hereby accept it as canon over the Next Gen films (with the exception of Insurrection. I know I'm the only person who liked Insurrection.).
My own particular thoughts, due to an interest in alternate timelines, have caused me to try and figure out what changes there will be in this timeline.
My thoughts are as follows:
1) Kirk, well, we pretty much know what happens to him - lousy step-dad, no Tarsus colony, very different upbringing (I'm reasonably sure this one might be less fond of Moby Dick, I'm not sure what has replaced it though), much harder personality. Riley, who was with him on Tarsus, is the helmsman on the night shift. Gary Mitchell has already graduated and is on a different starship.
2) Spock - the Federation seeing the Romulans earlier leads to increased Vulcan-Earth tension (this is why I wish they'd kept to the original Romulan look). T'Pring's family don't organise the match, leaving him free for Uhura. Mostly because I can't see him shacking up with anyone with anyone if he has a betrothal hanging over his head. This increased tension lead to Sarek realising not all was rosy on Vulcan and therefore he came down less hard on his son when his son didn't live up to his Vulcan ideals, which means that he and Spock have a much better relationship. He has served under Captain Pike as per original series, and the Cage has happened.
3) Spock being slightly less reticent than in TOS leads to him and Uhura forming a relationship.
4) The Naruda's attack lead to a more militarily inclined Federation (which is why the ships and uniforms look different), which meant an engineer like Scotty who was more into the 'whee! cool!' inventions was less able to do his thing, hence taking on riskier jobs, hence evaporated beagle, hence ice planet X.
5) In this new, more defensive Starfleet, Chekov felt that it was his duty to sign up for Starfleet at the earliest opportunity, hence why he's two years early.
I haven't come up with anything that's changed in the new universe for Sulu or McCoy, but I'm sure I will with time.
So I went into the film with great trepidation. Less trepidation than originally because I'd been spoilered for the big spoiler re: the plot, and while I normally don't like being spoilered, I was very grateful to the person who did it (with my permission) because otherwise I'm not sure I would have gone to see it at the cinema. Yes, I know pre-judging a film is bad, but ... my favourite crew!
It's pretty much the perfect way of getting round why the characters are different from how we remember them. Doing anything else would leave huge gaps because no-one is ever going to be able to do them quite the same way. So they got round it. It also gave me a nice warm feeling that someone had been thinking about this, rather than just thinking of the money.
Of course I don't know how much of that is because Spock is in it. Would this have worked as well for me if it had been Kirk, or in a parallel universe to this one, McCoy? I have to admit I don't know.
Now for two nit-picky problems:
1) That's not fencing. Given the incredibly slow nature of fencing bureaucracy and it's inherently conservative nature, that's not even fencing in the 23rd century. Also, various people, the weapon that Sulu wields in the TOS is a foil. Not an epee. Yes, it matters. (I am a foilist living in a houseful of epeeists, it matters a lot.)
2) Sciencey nitpick regarding nomenclature. I might be wrong, but I thought Prime was the altered form of a compound. Hence Quinto Spock would be Spock Prime.
I fell in love with the film right at the start, mostly because it had a man best known for playing Arab terrorist number 1 as Captain of the Kelvin. And then I saw what they were doing with the SFX. I particularly liked the Doctor at the start, because it was such a small visual change but it did make her look very alien and you couldn't do that back in the when. Oh George Kirk, you may be even more awesome than your son. There may have been a small amount of wibbling, because he's trying to keep Mrs. Kirk calm and they're talking about baby names and he's laughing and smiling and wah!
I also heartily approve of the occasional moment where they remember space is silent.
Kris Hemsworthy should make a good Thor.
Young Spock may be the sweetest most adorable being ever. Because I think he totally could withstand everything except a direct 'your mom'. I also adored the 'fine will not do' conversation. There's a lovely little Trek-related book called Q's guide to the Continuum (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Qs-Guide-Continuum-Star-Trek/dp/0671019481/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1243363732&sr=1-25) that calls Amanda the most patient person in the galaxy, so that scene may have made me giggle for non-directly related reasons.
BTW Winnona Ryder, Jennifer Morrison and Karl Urban are all far too young to be playing the parts they're playing. Either that or I'm getting older ;)
I <3 this version of Captain Pike. They didn't screw him up or over. I'm also deeply indebted that they didn't show him breaking, even though he had to have done for the Narada to get to Earth (I, like many other people, I have to assume, have great difficulty not calling the ship the Nautilus.)
Bones is roughly the level of hysterical I'd be if you put me in a tin can and shot me into space. Admittedly I have no idea why they're shooting the recruits into space given that Starfleet Training HQ is shown to be on Earth later on in the film, but when that's the only major plot hole I can find with it, I can live with it.
Bones, Uhura and the Kobiayshi Maru. And Spock's face on the other side of the glass. I think I had a grin on my face throughout. BTW I think they're both right, because the whole point of the KM is to tell recruits not to get too big for their boots, while, at the same time, there is no such thing as a no-win situation, there's just problems we haven't got solutions for, yet.
Also, this Spock fights dirty. It's a good set up for later when Kirk mentions Spock's mother, and makes it almost acceptable. It's quite fitting that real Spock tells Kirk to do it. He even fights dirty against himself. I <3 Spock.
Bones's lunatic plan for getting Kirk aboard is new levels of ridiculous. I approve of this, because they've captured TOS's more than occasional humour moment. I really loved the look on Kirk's face when he first sees the Enterprise. He's so totally smitten.
Uhura has Spock wrapped around her finger. Hee! I'm sure there's a logical reason for agreeing, even if it's 'if not, I will never hear the end of this'.
I'm right there with McCoy, 'of course he's only seventeen'. I know how that man feels with the constantly ever-younger freshers I have to cope with (the next lot will be 7 years younger than me). I lived in hope that Anton Yelchin was playing young, but no, he is only nineteen. Still I look on it as 'I'd be legally allowed to do the things I'd do to him'. I shall leave Pine and Quinto to the rest of you; I am taking Yelchin and running.
Exactly what was the Chief Engineer's plan then?
Something I actively adored is that while they were showing that not all Vulcans were nice, they showed that some of them had to have been for Amanda to have been in whatever sacred location that Spock finds her and Sarek in.
I love that Spock's almost total lack of reaction is a huge reaction, and that the humans in the vicinity are highly freaked out by this.
I'm just deeply amused that everything conspires to send Kirk to the same planet that Nero has cast Spock onto. I love that all his tinkering has merely brought the Enterprise crew together any way, two years early in the case of Chekov. As I said to Twig, causality friendshippers this crew. And I love how Spock is serene and hurt at the same time. He's so very Vulcan.
And Sarek. OMG!! The whole way through and then 'You once asked me, why I married your mother. I married her because I loved her.', without a change of expression and yet, oh! the poor man/Vulcan. I really like that they seem to have remembered how to write Vulcans all of a sudden.
I think the two characters that were really short changed in this were Scotty and Bones. Scotty never got the moment of awesome that everyone else got (except possibly being sentenced to a career on Ice Planet X for annoying Admiral Archer) and Bones just didn't have anything to do. Not Karl Urban's fault, he was spot on when he had anything to do, but, and this is the one failing of the Star Trek: The Teenage Years plot, McCoy is older than Spock and Kirk and therefore will already have had his growing pangs. If they make a second one (and it looks like they will) I want more stuff for McCoy to do.
I'm reasonably sure science doesn't work that way for every part of the plot, but I'm willing to stick my fingers in my ear and go 'la, la, la' for the duration. And quite how like Nimoy ZQ sounded when he said 'fascinating' was actively disturbing.
I loved the Enterprise coming in and making the save at the end.
They rescued Pike and he didn't die/nearly die in some ridiculously heroic way. This pleases me (although I have a sneaky suspicion that the Starfleet Medal of Honour in this ‘verse might well be named for George Kirk) as I spent the entire film waiting for him to be horribly irradiated. Although really, there has to be a universe out there where he doesn't end up disabled. I want him to still be doing something v. useful in the sequel, because Starfleet wouldn't just shove him into a corner.
I loved Spock meeting himself at the end, and the goodbye and Leonard Nimoy getting to do the "Space, the final frontier" bit.
I enjoyed it, and hereby accept it as canon over the Next Gen films (with the exception of Insurrection. I know I'm the only person who liked Insurrection.).
My own particular thoughts, due to an interest in alternate timelines, have caused me to try and figure out what changes there will be in this timeline.
My thoughts are as follows:
1) Kirk, well, we pretty much know what happens to him - lousy step-dad, no Tarsus colony, very different upbringing (I'm reasonably sure this one might be less fond of Moby Dick, I'm not sure what has replaced it though), much harder personality. Riley, who was with him on Tarsus, is the helmsman on the night shift. Gary Mitchell has already graduated and is on a different starship.
2) Spock - the Federation seeing the Romulans earlier leads to increased Vulcan-Earth tension (this is why I wish they'd kept to the original Romulan look). T'Pring's family don't organise the match, leaving him free for Uhura. Mostly because I can't see him shacking up with anyone with anyone if he has a betrothal hanging over his head. This increased tension lead to Sarek realising not all was rosy on Vulcan and therefore he came down less hard on his son when his son didn't live up to his Vulcan ideals, which means that he and Spock have a much better relationship. He has served under Captain Pike as per original series, and the Cage has happened.
3) Spock being slightly less reticent than in TOS leads to him and Uhura forming a relationship.
4) The Naruda's attack lead to a more militarily inclined Federation (which is why the ships and uniforms look different), which meant an engineer like Scotty who was more into the 'whee! cool!' inventions was less able to do his thing, hence taking on riskier jobs, hence evaporated beagle, hence ice planet X.
5) In this new, more defensive Starfleet, Chekov felt that it was his duty to sign up for Starfleet at the earliest opportunity, hence why he's two years early.
I haven't come up with anything that's changed in the new universe for Sulu or McCoy, but I'm sure I will with time.
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Date: 2009-06-10 01:58 am (UTC)Also, you will have to fight me for Chekov.
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Date: 2009-06-17 05:15 pm (UTC)Phasers at dawn it is then :)