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shipperxThat was fun.
I finally got a chance to see the new Trek movie and I think they did a good job. I grew up watching TOS in reruns and seeing TNG in first run, so Trek has a nostalgic pull for me. I think they did what they needed to do. In the end I think it boils down to this: these are characters we've loved and what we want from a remake is to love them again. Star Trek achieved that.
The casting was pretty damn good. I think all of the new cast embodies the old cast. I've seen some reviews quibbling about Kirk and others quibbling about Spock, but I think both worked fine. There were a couple of eyebrow arches of Quinto that made him look almost eerily similar to Nimoy. I never got the same eerie familiarity moment with Kirk, but I did think that the new Kirk came off as basically Kirkian. I can see where his father's death changed him enough to make him have a slightly different personality, but it's certainly close enough for government work. And the guy playing McCoy was absolutely chanelling DeForest Kelly. He was spot on.
However, they blew the timeline all to hell! They blew Vulcan all to hell! I can certainly understand why the hardcore trekkies are upset about that (Seriously, dude. Vulcan? The only other planet -- other than Earth-- they could blow up and get as much of a backlash is probably the home world of the Klingons! Actually, I think blowing up Earth might cause less backlash than blowing up Vulcan or the homeworld of the Klingons, whose name I may be supposed to know but which I cannot begin to think of) . Still, while I can understand hardcore old school fans being wigged, the fanficcer in me just goes heck yeah! It opens up the story. Otherwise they would be hindered. If all the relationships were set, if all the deaths (or not) were set, then there isn't a great deal of suspense. So I don't mind that they chucked the timeline but kept the characters. The fanficcer in me also appreciates upping the angst in both Kirk and Spock. Kirk now has growing up without the heroic father. Instead his dad was killed in battle. Spock lost his mother that he couldn't save, plus he's now in a culture that is "an endangered species". Sure, yeah, it's all short-hand for a-n-g-s-t. But, you know, we love our heroes with some internal pain. Besides they gave them back Capt. Pike (not horribly disfigured or left to alien mind control) and Spock!Prime... who is made of Obi-Wan and Gandalf. Loves some Spock prime, especially for his knowing that the way to get Kirk to go along with anything is to stroke his ego just a little. Hee! And of course, he is and always will be Kirk's friend. Another, Wrath of Khan shout-out came with Nero screaming "Spock!!!!" Hee! And, though Amanda was lost, I was happy to see that Sarek survived intact and is still a dignified dad.
I'm also quite satisfied with the Spock/Uhura relationship. I know that some hard core trekkies will no doubt have problems with that, but, hell, something about Spock always was sexy and it makes far more sense to give Spock an ongoing relationship than it would be for Kirk. So, it makes sense that looking at the canvas they could choose Spock and Uhura who was always smart, sexy, and compassionate. In fact, I thought in the best of pop-psychology, that there are ways that Uhura reminds me of Amanda. (And we always knew that Sarek and Amanda loved each other, didn't we? I'm trying to remember TOS episode with Spock's parents, but I have to admit that I don't remember. But I think I always felt that Amanda loved Sarek, so there is precedent for a Vulcan/Human relationship. Plus, make them an endangered species and... it's only logical to procreate... someday, right? >:)
Anyway, I thought the movie was fun and it allowed us to cheer for and love some old, familiar friends with new faces. I know that this time was skewed more towards action and less towards being philosophical about the Prime Directive, but I also realize that they're trying to sell it as a summer action movie (And that's okay with me.) I also thought it was nicely Rodenberry-esque in the opening sequence that the Kelvin's first heroic captain appeared to me to be of Arab descent. It seemed reminiscent of Rodenberry having a Russian as part of the crew during the Cold War, and quite consistent with the Rodenberry hopeful vision for mankind. (Speaking of Chekov, isn't New!Chekov the cutuest thing? Couldn't you just squeeze his cheeks?)
Anyway, I enjoyed it, and look forward to the sequel.
Below the cut, I've mentioned fanfic. Even before I saw the movie I had thought that the Star Trek-verse is really a huge playground for fanficcers. On audible I had listened recently to some lectures on science fiction and fantasy fiction and the professor doing the lectures is very big on world-building and on whether or not the 'world' that is built feels organic. Much of the Trek verse is organic because it was developed over such a long period of time by so many people. For all of the Trekkie attention to detail, Trek really isn't a complicated mythos. It's an expansive one. There are many cultures with...well... their own culture, but most of which are quite human (even if they are alien), and any of which could have a 'good' representative or a 'bad' one, because Trek usually welcomes that sort of complexity. Through the 40 years of Trek we've seen the Klingons as the bad guys. We've seen peace accords. We've seen Klingons, like Worf, that we've loved. They've been afforded complexity. And though the canon probably shouldn't because it would become over-complicated, new-trek fanfic with its AU universe could cherry pick cultures to suit any story that any fanficcer wanted, not just TOS's logical Vulcans and their more dangerous Romulan alter-egos. Not even simply the Viking-esque Klingons, who very much belong in the TOS verse, but fanficcers -- being fanficcers -- have everything from rebellious Bajorans, to empathic Betazoids, to capitalism-obsessed Ferengi at their disposal. Heck, go all out and there are the Cardassians and the Borg. Yeah, sure, it blows the official timeline but, conveniently, J.J. Abrams has already blown away the existing timeline. So... have fun.
Really, it's about as large a fictional-verse that any fanficcer could play in.
I finally got a chance to see the new Trek movie and I think they did a good job. I grew up watching TOS in reruns and seeing TNG in first run, so Trek has a nostalgic pull for me. I think they did what they needed to do. In the end I think it boils down to this: these are characters we've loved and what we want from a remake is to love them again. Star Trek achieved that.
The casting was pretty damn good. I think all of the new cast embodies the old cast. I've seen some reviews quibbling about Kirk and others quibbling about Spock, but I think both worked fine. There were a couple of eyebrow arches of Quinto that made him look almost eerily similar to Nimoy. I never got the same eerie familiarity moment with Kirk, but I did think that the new Kirk came off as basically Kirkian. I can see where his father's death changed him enough to make him have a slightly different personality, but it's certainly close enough for government work. And the guy playing McCoy was absolutely chanelling DeForest Kelly. He was spot on.
However, they blew the timeline all to hell! They blew Vulcan all to hell! I can certainly understand why the hardcore trekkies are upset about that (Seriously, dude. Vulcan? The only other planet -- other than Earth-- they could blow up and get as much of a backlash is probably the home world of the Klingons! Actually, I think blowing up Earth might cause less backlash than blowing up Vulcan or the homeworld of the Klingons, whose name I may be supposed to know but which I cannot begin to think of) . Still, while I can understand hardcore old school fans being wigged, the fanficcer in me just goes heck yeah! It opens up the story. Otherwise they would be hindered. If all the relationships were set, if all the deaths (or not) were set, then there isn't a great deal of suspense. So I don't mind that they chucked the timeline but kept the characters. The fanficcer in me also appreciates upping the angst in both Kirk and Spock. Kirk now has growing up without the heroic father. Instead his dad was killed in battle. Spock lost his mother that he couldn't save, plus he's now in a culture that is "an endangered species". Sure, yeah, it's all short-hand for a-n-g-s-t. But, you know, we love our heroes with some internal pain. Besides they gave them back Capt. Pike (not horribly disfigured or left to alien mind control) and Spock!Prime... who is made of Obi-Wan and Gandalf. Loves some Spock prime, especially for his knowing that the way to get Kirk to go along with anything is to stroke his ego just a little. Hee! And of course, he is and always will be Kirk's friend. Another, Wrath of Khan shout-out came with Nero screaming "Spock!!!!" Hee! And, though Amanda was lost, I was happy to see that Sarek survived intact and is still a dignified dad.
I'm also quite satisfied with the Spock/Uhura relationship. I know that some hard core trekkies will no doubt have problems with that, but, hell, something about Spock always was sexy and it makes far more sense to give Spock an ongoing relationship than it would be for Kirk. So, it makes sense that looking at the canvas they could choose Spock and Uhura who was always smart, sexy, and compassionate. In fact, I thought in the best of pop-psychology, that there are ways that Uhura reminds me of Amanda. (And we always knew that Sarek and Amanda loved each other, didn't we? I'm trying to remember TOS episode with Spock's parents, but I have to admit that I don't remember. But I think I always felt that Amanda loved Sarek, so there is precedent for a Vulcan/Human relationship. Plus, make them an endangered species and... it's only logical to procreate... someday, right? >:)
Anyway, I thought the movie was fun and it allowed us to cheer for and love some old, familiar friends with new faces. I know that this time was skewed more towards action and less towards being philosophical about the Prime Directive, but I also realize that they're trying to sell it as a summer action movie (And that's okay with me.) I also thought it was nicely Rodenberry-esque in the opening sequence that the Kelvin's first heroic captain appeared to me to be of Arab descent. It seemed reminiscent of Rodenberry having a Russian as part of the crew during the Cold War, and quite consistent with the Rodenberry hopeful vision for mankind. (Speaking of Chekov, isn't New!Chekov the cutuest thing? Couldn't you just squeeze his cheeks?)
Anyway, I enjoyed it, and look forward to the sequel.
Below the cut, I've mentioned fanfic. Even before I saw the movie I had thought that the Star Trek-verse is really a huge playground for fanficcers. On audible I had listened recently to some lectures on science fiction and fantasy fiction and the professor doing the lectures is very big on world-building and on whether or not the 'world' that is built feels organic. Much of the Trek verse is organic because it was developed over such a long period of time by so many people. For all of the Trekkie attention to detail, Trek really isn't a complicated mythos. It's an expansive one. There are many cultures with...well... their own culture, but most of which are quite human (even if they are alien), and any of which could have a 'good' representative or a 'bad' one, because Trek usually welcomes that sort of complexity. Through the 40 years of Trek we've seen the Klingons as the bad guys. We've seen peace accords. We've seen Klingons, like Worf, that we've loved. They've been afforded complexity. And though the canon probably shouldn't because it would become over-complicated, new-trek fanfic with its AU universe could cherry pick cultures to suit any story that any fanficcer wanted, not just TOS's logical Vulcans and their more dangerous Romulan alter-egos. Not even simply the Viking-esque Klingons, who very much belong in the TOS verse, but fanficcers -- being fanficcers -- have everything from rebellious Bajorans, to empathic Betazoids, to capitalism-obsessed Ferengi at their disposal. Heck, go all out and there are the Cardassians and the Borg. Yeah, sure, it blows the official timeline but, conveniently, J.J. Abrams has already blown away the existing timeline. So... have fun.
Really, it's about as large a fictional-verse that any fanficcer could play in.
