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Saturday, May 09, 2009















STAR TREK is BORN AGAIN!


I repent in dust and ashes. Srsly.

J.J.Abrams and company have dood it, and well. The new Trek movie is a hit, even without a James Horner score, he said waggishly. I shan't do spoilers as the movie is brand-new, but suffice it to say, the proto-crew of the indomitable USS Enterprise is as close to spot-on as I can imagine without a bunch of Trekkie impressionists doing the job. The actors caught the spirit of Kirk, Spock, Scotty and all, without scenery-chewing and mugging. You can begin to see the James Tiberius Kirk ot TOS fame in Pine's portrayal, and I did not see a speck of Sylar in Spock. The io9 crowd complained about Simon Pegg apparently beaming in his portrayal, and appearing to be in a different movie than everyone else. Pish and tosh. Pfui, even. Other expostulations as required. Simon Pegg is Scotty a-borning..

This movie even has Deep Roy. How keen is that?

I have devised a Star Trek movie drinking game. Every time you see a lens flare, you take a drink of a Potent Potable. Sadly, you will not last beyond the first 30 minutes without acute alcohol poisoning. It is a bright and sparkly film, except for the dark bits.

I have only one quibble, and it's not huge, and dammit, I'm a screenprinter, not an engineer, but you don't build a starship in Iowa or wherever. You build it in geostationary orbit above Iowa, or wherever. (BTW, Carl Urban is a great "Bones" McCoy.)

If you are a Trek fan, go and wallow in the Trekness. If you are not, go and enjoy a ripping action movie, with some old friends you didn't know you had.

3 comments:

Houston said...

In sum, Abrams & Co. put quality first and subgenre second; they've made an extremely good film which happens to be a Star Trek film. An essential lesson still to be learned by most Christian entertainment producers!

It was clear to me that Abrams knocked it out of the park when Rotten Tomatoes started off at 100% positive, with several reviewers admitting that they'd never taken ST seriously until now. I've been waiting decades to hear this from non-fans, not as affirmation of my own pop culture tastes, but as confirmation that the franchise is finally living up to its dramatic potential.

Rigel Kent said...

I concur, and then some.

Cunning Dove said...

"What kind of special combat training do you have?" Kirk.

"Fencing." Sulu.

I laughed out loud in the theater. (No, I was not the only one.)

AND I have such an "actor crush" on Karl Urban. He was wonderful as Bones. He got it right. All of these actors got the characters right. And I don't care what everyone else thinks of Simon Pegg as Scotty. I thought he did a wonderful job as a "younger, more enthuiastic" Scotty.

Good stuff, well worth the time and money.