STAR TREK: THE LOST GENERATION
Jun. 13th, 2009 07:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
defrogSo I finally saw the Star Trek reboot today. I shall bore you with my opinions now.
And I should probably preface this with some context:
1. While I’m a fan of both Original Star Trek and ST:TNG, I am not militant about continuity.
2. I actually prefer ST:TNG over the original, mainly because it came about at an age where I could better appreciate what Star Trek was about. I was a kid when Original Star Trek came out, so I like it more for the camp value these days. Also, while I like William Shatner, I was always considered Jim Kirk to be kind of a jerk.
3. I’m not particularly enamored with JJ Abrams either. I only know his work from Alias (which I never got into), Lost (which I abandoned in the middle of Season 1 due to impatience), Mission Impossible III (which was competent but the weakest of the trilogy) and Cloverfield (which is well executed but doesn’t have a single original idea in it). That said, I’ve seen some of Fringe, and rather like that.
And so on to the New Hotness Star Trek:
Brilliant.
Not perfect, mind. The birth of Kirk is rather cheesy, as are the narrative coincidences that rope all the characters together and stick them on the Enterprise. Also, as villains go, Eric Bana's Nero is functional but underwhelming. And while I realize that ST has never had much respect for real science – nor should it – even I found the bit about black holes somewhat far-fetched. (And this from someone who, like Bones McCoy, knows jack about physics.)
But God it’s fun. And very well done – Abrams’ space battles seem to riff off of Joss Whedon’s Firefly, but they look epic.
Also, I have to admit that my biggest skepticism about a ST reboot was the casting – would anyone ever really accept anyone apart from the original actors in those roles? I think mostly they will, although Chris Pine is no Bill Shatner, and I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad. But he does manage to make Kirk even more of a dick. Also, whoever cast Simon Pegg as Scotty should get at least a Golden Globe for it.
Probably the best thing about the film – apart from Uhura’s gratuitous lingerie, and can I just say it’s nice to know lingerie in the 22nd Century isn’t radically different than it is now. Yes, I notice these things. But I’m getting off track. I’ll start again.
Probably the best thing about the film is the plot device that basically allows Abrams (or whoever is going to helm the next batch of films) to say, “Fuck continuity”. They’ve got an essentially clean slate now and can take the idea wherever they want without worrying about whether it contradicts the entire ST canon. And that’s good. Clever monkeys.
So all up, it’s probably one of the best films I’ve seen this year so far. Admittedly, it’s not necessary, and is another symptom of how out of original ideas Hollywood is – I’d have loved to see all this talent and energy go into a space opera that has nothing at all to do with the Star Trek universe. But if yr going to start fresh, this is the way to do it. And extra points for making a film you can appreciate even if you've never seen an episode of Old Busted Star Trek in yr life.
Space is the place,
This is dF
And I should probably preface this with some context:
1. While I’m a fan of both Original Star Trek and ST:TNG, I am not militant about continuity.
2. I actually prefer ST:TNG over the original, mainly because it came about at an age where I could better appreciate what Star Trek was about. I was a kid when Original Star Trek came out, so I like it more for the camp value these days. Also, while I like William Shatner, I was always considered Jim Kirk to be kind of a jerk.
3. I’m not particularly enamored with JJ Abrams either. I only know his work from Alias (which I never got into), Lost (which I abandoned in the middle of Season 1 due to impatience), Mission Impossible III (which was competent but the weakest of the trilogy) and Cloverfield (which is well executed but doesn’t have a single original idea in it). That said, I’ve seen some of Fringe, and rather like that.
And so on to the New Hotness Star Trek:
Brilliant.
Not perfect, mind. The birth of Kirk is rather cheesy, as are the narrative coincidences that rope all the characters together and stick them on the Enterprise. Also, as villains go, Eric Bana's Nero is functional but underwhelming. And while I realize that ST has never had much respect for real science – nor should it – even I found the bit about black holes somewhat far-fetched. (And this from someone who, like Bones McCoy, knows jack about physics.)
But God it’s fun. And very well done – Abrams’ space battles seem to riff off of Joss Whedon’s Firefly, but they look epic.
Also, I have to admit that my biggest skepticism about a ST reboot was the casting – would anyone ever really accept anyone apart from the original actors in those roles? I think mostly they will, although Chris Pine is no Bill Shatner, and I haven’t decided if that’s good or bad. But he does manage to make Kirk even more of a dick. Also, whoever cast Simon Pegg as Scotty should get at least a Golden Globe for it.
Probably the best thing about the film – apart from Uhura’s gratuitous lingerie, and can I just say it’s nice to know lingerie in the 22nd Century isn’t radically different than it is now. Yes, I notice these things. But I’m getting off track. I’ll start again.
Probably the best thing about the film is the plot device that basically allows Abrams (or whoever is going to helm the next batch of films) to say, “Fuck continuity”. They’ve got an essentially clean slate now and can take the idea wherever they want without worrying about whether it contradicts the entire ST canon. And that’s good. Clever monkeys.
So all up, it’s probably one of the best films I’ve seen this year so far. Admittedly, it’s not necessary, and is another symptom of how out of original ideas Hollywood is – I’d have loved to see all this talent and energy go into a space opera that has nothing at all to do with the Star Trek universe. But if yr going to start fresh, this is the way to do it. And extra points for making a film you can appreciate even if you've never seen an episode of Old Busted Star Trek in yr life.
Space is the place,
This is dF
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You get his tricorder....
on 2009-06-14 10:29 pm (UTC)I absolutely loved the ST reboot, it was good fun, and I will pay top dollar any day of the week for fist fights with Romulans. (When they get around fisticuffs with Klingons, I will pay double)
Green aliens. That's all I'm sayin'.