My husband and I went to see the new Star Trek movie last night. No, we did not go as Vulcans. Yes, we did wear a few things to make us geeks. He had on his communicator pin, I wore my Bajoran earring, sans the nose ridges, enough to still be "cool" (aka geeky) without getting raised eyebrows. Cosplaying really only works on opening night, anyway. We tried going in full regalia the day after opening night during "Insurrection" and only got crowds staring at us.
First, my non-spoiler review.
The movie itself was great, far exceeding my expectations. I went into this trying to avoid spoilers and reviews, hoping to formulate my own opinion, yet still unable to sidestep the fan complaints (mostly from Matt) about the design of the new (old) ship and the look of the bridge. So I really didn't know what to expect, but still had rather low expectations. The first few minutes were enough to make me go "wow, this is going to be awesome."
Every actor took these well-loved, well-established characters and did them justice, holding onto certain mannerisms while still doing their own take on the characters. It was enough for people who grew up with Star Trek to nod and smile, while newer audiences could come to love these characters without... any... odd speech... patterns. Yes, I was VERY relieved Chris Pine did not assume Shatner's unique way of speaking. He gave the part the pure essence of "Kirk" without imitation. I felt this was true for many of the characters.
The plot is not completely unique. Time travel has been far overused in the sci-fi genre, in my opinion. Some of the technical aspects are totally not canon. I'm not talking special effects. How they portray transporters is up to the SFX team. I'm talking transporting while at warp. I'm not that "into" such details, but Matt pointed out that even in TNG, they had to drop out of warp, then beam someone.
What made me shake my head were some of the more specific scenes. Let me put it in Star Wars terms. Let's say they made a Star Wars prequel (yes, I know, they did three, and they were mediocre). Only, in the prequel, they kill off Captain Antilles (a minor character who still affects the plot), they blow up Endor (massacring all those cute Ewoks before they have a chance to save the Rebels), and Padme falls for Mace Windu (you know, Samuel L Jackson's awesome character). Yeah, that about does the "what the hell" aspect of this movie justice without spoiling any details.
For an explanation of what I mean, read the spoilers below.
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SPOILER WARNING
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(The following contains spoilers from the Star Trek movie, including plot and character development)
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YOU HAVE BEEN DULY WARNED
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Is that enough of a warning? :P
Okay, within the first ten minutes, I was shaking my head going "Wait a minute there! Kirk's father didn't die like that... did he? Um...." So see, the average Star Trek enthusiast is probably not going to realize anything is wrong. Someone like Matt will be chomping at the bit already. And that's the first scene!!!
Things seem to get better. We meet young Kirk and Spock, find Uhura in a bar, meet McCoy, and are even graced by Captain Pike, all beautiful faces, all holding true to their characters while putting in their own take. We see Kirk in academy, but it quickly jumps back to where Star Trek belongs... in space! Our beloved characters (Chekov and Sulu included, still no Scotty) all meet together on the bridge of the Enterprise.
That's where the fun begins. Biggest spoiler yet... ready for it?... They blow up Vulcan!
That's right, the planet goes byebye. 6 billion Vulcans plus Spock's mother die in the destruction.
Okay, right there I'm going "Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!!" Even your casual TV watcher will know planet Vulcan is still around, and Vulcans are not suddenly made into an endangered species.
The next eyebrow raising moment comes minutes after the destruction.
Uhuru + Spock
That's right, take the sexy black girl in a mini skirt and the stoic half-Vulcan with the bowl cut, put them in a tumbolift, and have a make-out scene. Not only that, but in hindsight, they appear to have a relationship while at the academy... and Spock is totally whipped!!! Uhura puts on a little pouty "but I wanted to be on the Enterprise with you" act and Spock cows to her wishes despite the roster already being set, certainly breaking a few regulations while he's at it. Spock ends up with more smooch time than Kirk... now that's just WRONG! Watching Spock kiss anyone is enough to raise your Vulcan eyebrows. "Fascinating" hardly covers it.
Everything is explained nicely, though. See, the bad guy is from the future, and he's screwing up the past. He's the one who killed Kirk's father, destroyed Vulcan, and by the end of the movie, creates a massive black hole near Saturn (which may or may not have collapsed on itself, Matt and I are still arguing that). So see, it's all a parallel universe.
I was seriously expecting a Voyager-special (aka, big "reset button" at the end, fix the timeline and everything reverts to what we expect). In a way, I'm glad they didn't do that. It works for a one-hour weekly series (once or twice, not a dozen times, Voyager!) but if you pull that stunt in a big movie, there will be rioting in the aisles as audiences complain "why did I spend $9 on a movie when none of it really happened in the end?"
This leads to one of two scenarios.
1) This is really gonna go where no one has gone before as the franchise embraces this "alternative" Star Trek universe (bad idea for the fan base).
2) They'll fix the whole thing in the sequel. Which means a reset button for TWO movies.
I'm betting on #2. These guys aren't dumb. They've hook the new audiences with big names, big fight scenes, and SFX which audiences have come to expect (Trekkers might complain that it's too much, but anything less would have been a disappointment to moviegoers and critics). Now you need to reel the fan base back in with a sequel that promises to fix the timeline.
This means Spock will be faced with the emotional dilemma of fixing time and restoring his planet, but at the expense of losing Uhura, since Spock Prime will inform him that they were never meant to hook up (Did I mention young Spock meets old Spock? That's a whole other story, but it worked so no complaints here.) Kirk will of course want this route, since it means his father will not have been killed by Nero. Audiences will be torn between "I want my daddy" from Kirk and "but I love her" from Spock. Confrontation ensues, probably with more Kirk/Spock fistfights. Fans will want the timeline to right itself, yet pity Spock.
Sounds like another blockbuster in the making!
So that's my two cents.
Live long and prosper!
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Old Email, Old Rant
I got this email today. I'm sure you've seen it a thousand times, so you can skip it if you want. I am not responsible for spelling error and grammatical debacles.
THOSE BORN 1920-1979
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's,
50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or
drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our
tummies in baby cribs
covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and
when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention,
the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats,
booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a
special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and
NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and
drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't
overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day,
as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to rea ch us all day.And we were OK.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and
then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes
After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no
video games at all, no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chatrooms........
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth
and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the
worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games
with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would
happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and
knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those
who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law
was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best
risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation
and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we
learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the
luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government
regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with
scissors, doesn't it?!
---
Very true, but...
SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) was common due to sleeping on the stomach. Many children did not live past the age of 2. Mothers had 10 kids, but that's because 3 would die before reaching adulthood. Many drank Drano, swallow bottles of medication, or like my uncle, stuck knifes in light sockets because there was no such thing as child protection on these items. Some went out to play alone and were never seen again.
Those smoking mothers gave their children lung cancer.
Those kids who ate cupcakes and drank Kool-aid... those are the same people who now have severe cases of diabetes, right? And skin cancer from being outside all day.
My friends and I used to make mud pies... until one friend stepped on a muddy nail that went completely through her foot. She had to be rushed to the hospital for a tetanus shot and stitches. Her family did not sue mine, but she was not allowed to play with me anymore.
Our neighbor's kid received a BB gun, shot our cat in the head, my friends' pigeons, and nearly shot our neighbor's face.
I used to share my food and sodas with friends, until I caught scarlet fever and nearly died.
My friends and I used to build go-carts. Until one was hit by a car because he forgot brakes.
That was also the generation that started teen gangs, invented acid and crack, gave us the right to an abortion, and set the precedence to sue everyone we please. That was the generation that produced Charles Manson, Jeffery Dahmer, Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bomber), Ted Kaczynski (Unibomber), David Koresh (Waco wakko), Lee Harvey Oswald, OJ Simpson, plus people like Norma McCorvey ("Roe" of Roe vs Wade), Stella Liebeck (the "hot coffee" sue-happy lady), and our corrupt politicians (too many to list).
Maybe our country is this way BECAUSE of those kids in the lead paint baby cribs.
Not that life wasn't simple back then. Laws these days make no sense. Little boys getting arrested of sexual harassment for kissing little girls on the cheek, or expelled for having old-fashion razor pencil sharpeners. My mom knows a neighbor who is 18, about to graduate, and cannot read nor even knows how to sign his own name. It's almost required for Pre-schoolers to have cellphones.
Still, this email makes me a little mad in presenting the idea of ignorance as better than general, sane precaution. Do you really want an alcoholic mother who doesn't care if her children die in the middle of the night or get cancer before they're 30, nor cares where their children go, who they visit, whether they break their arms, eat toxin-laced mud, or catches swine flu due to sharing sodas? The people of this "idealistic" generation should actually care enough to raise their own children instead of ignoring them and leaving the Playstation as a babysitter, too busy with work and their own selfishness to care what happens to their "pride and joy." Stop flaunting your own childhood and take a look at what you're presenting to your children. Gee, it's the exact same thing you're bitching about. "Children these days" aren't a consequence of technology and teachers. It's the fault of the PARENTS who could not care less because they're too busy sending email.
Okay, my little rant is over.
THOSE BORN 1920-1979
TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED the 1930's, 40's,
50's, 60's and 70's!!
First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or
drank while they were pregnant.
They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can, and didn't get tested for diabetes.
Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our
tummies in baby cribs
covered with bright colored lead-based paints.
We had no child proof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets and
when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets, not to mention,
the risks we took hitchhiking.
As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats,
booster seats, seat belts or air bags.
Riding in the back of a pick up on a warm day was always a
special treat.
We drank water from the garden hose and NOT from a bottle.
We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and
NO ONE actually died from this.
We ate cupcakes, white bread and real butter and
drank Kool-aid made with sugar, but we weren't
overweight because,
WE WERE ALWAYS OUTSIDE PLAYING!
We would leave home in the morning and play all day,
as long as we were back when the streetlights came on.
No one was able to rea ch us all day.And we were OK.
We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and
then ride down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes
After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the
problem.
We did not have Playstations, Nintendo's, X-boxes, no
video games at all, no 150 channels on cable,
no video movies or DVD's, no surround-sound or CD's, no cell phones, no personal computers, no Internet or chatrooms........
WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!
We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth
and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.
We ate worms and mud pies made from dirt, and the
worms did not live in us forever.
We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games
with sticks and tennis balls and although we were told it would
happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.
We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and
knocked on the door or rang
the bell, or just walked in and talked to them!
Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those
who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Imagine that!!
The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law
was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!
These generations have produced some of the best
risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever!
The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation
and new ideas.
We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we
learned HOW TO DEAL WITH IT ALL!
If YOU are one of them CONGRATULATIONS!
You might want to share this with others who have had the
luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government
regulated so much of our lives for our own good.
While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave (and lucky) their parents were.
Kind of makes you want to run through the house with
scissors, doesn't it?!
---
Very true, but...
SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) was common due to sleeping on the stomach. Many children did not live past the age of 2. Mothers had 10 kids, but that's because 3 would die before reaching adulthood. Many drank Drano, swallow bottles of medication, or like my uncle, stuck knifes in light sockets because there was no such thing as child protection on these items. Some went out to play alone and were never seen again.
Those smoking mothers gave their children lung cancer.
Those kids who ate cupcakes and drank Kool-aid... those are the same people who now have severe cases of diabetes, right? And skin cancer from being outside all day.
My friends and I used to make mud pies... until one friend stepped on a muddy nail that went completely through her foot. She had to be rushed to the hospital for a tetanus shot and stitches. Her family did not sue mine, but she was not allowed to play with me anymore.
Our neighbor's kid received a BB gun, shot our cat in the head, my friends' pigeons, and nearly shot our neighbor's face.
I used to share my food and sodas with friends, until I caught scarlet fever and nearly died.
My friends and I used to build go-carts. Until one was hit by a car because he forgot brakes.
That was also the generation that started teen gangs, invented acid and crack, gave us the right to an abortion, and set the precedence to sue everyone we please. That was the generation that produced Charles Manson, Jeffery Dahmer, Timothy McVeigh (Oklahoma City bomber), Ted Kaczynski (Unibomber), David Koresh (Waco wakko), Lee Harvey Oswald, OJ Simpson, plus people like Norma McCorvey ("Roe" of Roe vs Wade), Stella Liebeck (the "hot coffee" sue-happy lady), and our corrupt politicians (too many to list).
Maybe our country is this way BECAUSE of those kids in the lead paint baby cribs.
Not that life wasn't simple back then. Laws these days make no sense. Little boys getting arrested of sexual harassment for kissing little girls on the cheek, or expelled for having old-fashion razor pencil sharpeners. My mom knows a neighbor who is 18, about to graduate, and cannot read nor even knows how to sign his own name. It's almost required for Pre-schoolers to have cellphones.
Still, this email makes me a little mad in presenting the idea of ignorance as better than general, sane precaution. Do you really want an alcoholic mother who doesn't care if her children die in the middle of the night or get cancer before they're 30, nor cares where their children go, who they visit, whether they break their arms, eat toxin-laced mud, or catches swine flu due to sharing sodas? The people of this "idealistic" generation should actually care enough to raise their own children instead of ignoring them and leaving the Playstation as a babysitter, too busy with work and their own selfishness to care what happens to their "pride and joy." Stop flaunting your own childhood and take a look at what you're presenting to your children. Gee, it's the exact same thing you're bitching about. "Children these days" aren't a consequence of technology and teachers. It's the fault of the PARENTS who could not care less because they're too busy sending email.
Okay, my little rant is over.
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