Say goodbye and hello to Star Trek

[seriousfic]

Short version: I don't know if any of you were there for this, but when Enterprise was canceled, while there were some who mourned that it was going out just as it was actually starting to sing for its supper, there was a widespread attitude that a break from TV would let demand build, new ideas form, and give Star Trek the chance for the same creative renaissance that Doctor Who had recently.

Star Trek XI is what we've been waiting for.



Yes, it is big, sexy, and loud, but Star Trek has been trying to be big, sexy, and loud for the last decade. At least now they're doing it well instead of having T'Pol and Trip massage each other (brrrr). Star Trek has always drifted between high adventure and cerebral philosophizing, and even that philosophizing wasn't always done well. If the new guys want to make a space opera with nary hide nor hair of some plot-convenient "Prime Directive," fine by me.

But they do a good job of mixing up a prequel and a reboot, bringing back the pathos and the camaraderie of the original crew. The only real weak spot is the villain Nero, whose plot turns out to be as boring megalomaniacal as anyone's. Insert Superweapon A into Earth B, watch the fireworks. It's another example of "villain groundlessly blames the hero for a tragic and sympathetic loss," which seems to me like a cheap and overused way to set up a grudge match between good and evil. Can't the hero ever be a little responsible for the villain hating him?

Aside from that, all I have is quibbles. Like with Uhura. They don't do the most boring thing and set up a romance between her and Kirk, but they do the second-biggest cliche and throw her into a bit of a love triangle between Kirk and Spock. Chekov gets to be awesome at the teleporter, Sulu gets to be the samurai sword expert (apparently in the future, "fencing" consists of flicking out your pocket katana and busting down), and Uhura gets to be Spock's girlfriend.

Oh, and a lot of the uniquely Trek visual touches like the continuous phaser beams and the stars streaking past when the ship's at warp are replaced with glowy bullets and a wormhole thingey. It's no big deal, but I kinda wonder how else Star Trek is gonna be sci-fi!generic in the sequel.

Spock: Sir, the Borg mothership's shields are too strong.

Kirk: Maybe for the Enterprise, but not for our starfighters!

Spock: They haven't been properly tested!

Kirk: Hanger deck, prep my Phoenix. I'm taking this to the Borg personally. Wingman, you ready?

Kara Thrace: Hell yeah.

Kirk: Big Willy?

Will Smith: Awwww hell naw!

But I digress.

I know the whole thing of Kirk being a rebellious youth and Spock not getting along with him at first are pretty much what you'd expect from the Pit of Voles if you asked them to come up with a Star Trek origin story (which, come to think of it, Star Trek XI pretty much is a multimillion dollar fanfilm), but they pull it off and make it compelling. Best of all, instead of using time travel as a dull crutch, the writers use it to give the characters a new sense of pathos and destiny.

Most importantly, the story replaces the growing self-seriousness of Trek throughout its last few incarnations with a sense of adventure and whimsy and fun. This is probably the best summer movie I've seen since Iron Man, and they do it by keeping the angst in check and instead of overindulging in it, kinda using it to give the movie a heart.

Leonard Nimoy especially passes the torch in a way much more satisfying than death by bridge. As box_in_the_box pointed out, while he becomes a custodian of Vulcan history, Sylar!Spock becomes the first officer of the Enterprise. It's a fitting tribute, and it kinda makes me wish, as unlikely and unwieldy as I know it is, that the TNG crew could show up for a better send-off than they got in Nemesis. Maybe with a grudge match, trying to restore the timeline before realizing they've been manipulated and the timeline has split, not been altered? Eh, it'll never happen.

Speaking of Spock, it's pretty fun to hear "Live long and prosper" read as "Fuck you." D'oh, half-human!Spock, never change!

Comments

[dancinguniverse.livejournal.com]

I know the whole thing of Kirk being a rebellious youth and Spock not getting along with him at first are pretty much what you'd expect from the Pit of Voles if you asked them to come up with a Star Trek origin story (which, come to think of it, Star Trek XI pretty much is a multimillion dollar fanfilm), but they pull it off and make it compelling. Best of all, instead of using time travel as a dull crutch, the writers use it to give the characters a new sense of pathos and destiny.

Mostly, this paragraph. Because when the first news was coming out, I (and every other fan out there, I think) was like, "time travel? Half the movies involved time travel, and with the exception of whales, they ALL SUCKED." And every single long term movie romance starts with the duo hating each other. And Kirk in the convertible was awful in the previews, even though I defended it.

But then... it worked. It was well done. My mind was blown.

I agree with what you said about Iron Man too, and I'm so happy that everyone I know who's seen it, Trekkie and layperson, has walked out saying, "That was fun! Like, really fun! And I really loved so-and-so."

I love TOS, but it's so hard to show it to new people these days, and I feel like this movie brought back (most of) what I love about Trek, in a way that everyone can like again.

So, so happy with it.

[mymatedave.livejournal.com]

One of the things that I missed about the past couple of movies was the sense of joy. This movie really brought it back.