Trek: Reboot

[lagilman]

Because I was away this past weekend, I didn’t get to see Star Trek: Reboot until this week. However, because SOME people think that cut tags and spoiler warnings are for OTHER people, I had a vague idea of what to expect going in.

Let me start by saying that I’m not a Trek fan (yes, despite being surrounded by professional Trek fans left right and behind). I've seen all the movies and I’ve watched most episodes of most of the series, but mostly I caught them in reruns. It's just not my fandom.

So I went in without expectations, even between the OMG Best EVAH! And OMG shite reviews.

And my reaction is thus:

I liked it. I might even have loved it – with strong caveats.


1. Kirk is a schmuck. But, in my opinion, he was always a schmuck. A braggart and a egotist and perfectly willing to break rules not for the better good but because he didn’t like them/they got in his way. So one of the complaints people have had, that Kirk was unlikeable and showed no character growth, didn’t bother me.

[the only character growth Kirk ever showed was when he got much older and had been kicked around some more by life.. and even then it was more Shatner’s sense of the character than any written character development, IMO]

This ‘new Coke” Kirk? Still a braggart and an egotist and lionized for being both because he won, even if he did it by breaking the rules. So... that’s Kirk. That’s Trek. Character development never been their thing, and here at least they gave us Spock and McCoy and Scotty etc growing up and growing into their roles. Moving on.

2. The plot was serviceable – Yet Another Time-Traveling Revenge Fantasy, not particularly original or interesting. So noted, but they did hit all the high notes and moved fast over the low notes. Also, silly putty points for invoking the alternate universe despite previous canonical use of time paradoxes, and KISS rather than muddying up the water with Chris Carter-like bullshit. Moving on.

3. The science. Right. Let’s just not even go there, okay? When you don’t even bother to handwave over the “red matter” bullshit, you’re not taking the underpinnings seriously and that annoys the hell out of me. If you’re going to spend a line explaining how Scotty’s brilliant theory works, then you should at least dedicate a line or two of explanation to the basic tripe that makes your plot function.

4. The casting? Brilliant. This movie worked because of the actors. I don’t think anyone’s going to contradict that. bask in the brilliance of Karl Urban, yes. *goes to happy place*

5. The soundtrack. I prefer not to be hit over the ears with OMG IMPORTANT STIRRING MOMENT. However, they win back many points of silence in space. I am willing to overlook much (except the red matter) for that one detail.

6. My birthday is August. I’d like a New Coke McCoy, please. You don’t even need to wrap him up. (No, Terri, you can keep Karl. I want “Bones.” But then, I did when I was eleven, too.)

In closing, I give it a solid 8/10 on the Summer Movie Scale. It won’t win any Oscars, but it will probably win a Hugo. And if there was a special award for best reinterpretation of classic material in a YA format, this movie should win that, too.

As an aside: maybe I missed this and someone can explain how Our Villain knew that it was Kirk’s father who was field-promoted to Captain and went down with the ship? Since that wasn’t in the original history for him to know, and I don’t recall Kirk Senior announcing his name once he took over…? (No Raina, I do not buy that he spent the next 25 years surfing Trek-net.)

Oh, and personally? if I came back a hundred plus years in time and my destroyed planet was still intact? I’d probably go warn them that they’re facing disaster in that hundred years and start preparing now, rather than lurking in a crappy, water-logged ship for twenty-five years. Then again, I would have asked Desdemona what was up with her personal life, too. I’m just no fun.

Comments

[autojim.livejournal.com]

Warren Lapine posted on FB today that Red Matter is an unstable isotope of Bolognium. I added that it decays into excrementium after giving off bogons, and someone else added the distaff condensate Unobtanium...

Well, it made as much sense as an inhabited Sooper Sekrit bunker on a deserted island...

[lagilman]

If they'd even made a half-assed attempt to explain/justify/support that aspect, it would have gotten a 9/10 from me. Hell, if they'd come up with a particularly cracktastic hand-wave for it, they might have gotten a 10/10.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

No, Terri, you can keep Karl.

Deal.

[lagilman]

the moment he appeared on screen I turned to R and said "yes. one of those, please." And the bit about how he got his nickname cracked me up. A nice continuity detail that pleased me.

[naienko.livejournal.com]

Some of the information you are looking for was featured in the 4-issue pre-comic, Countdown (http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Star_Trek:_Countdown). Shame that didn't get promoted as it should have been; it closes some of the plotholes.

[lagilman]

As we say in the editorial biz, if it's not on the page, it's not in the story. If they chose not to put something in the movie, and the movie is weaker for it, saying "oh, there's supporting reference here" doesn't impress me much, sorry.

[black13.livejournal.com]

I agree completely with this.

Taking this stance gains people like you and me a lot of bad blood in fandoms, however, since Trufans of whatever it is seem to always believe that if you take the time to watch/read something, you should also take the time to thoroughly research the matter (spending as much money on it as they do) for the full experience.

And woe to those who actually say out loud that (in this example) the movie itself should provide the full experience. *Especially* if getting the extra material that plugs the plothole will cost you an extra $16.

[lagilman]

well, "fan" is derived from "fanatic," with all the emotional and intellectual luggage that comes with that word...

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

he scanned wikitrek. :::nods::: heh....

there were a few... speed bumps but oh... newMcCoy did deforest proud. i liked zach as spock and i loved the reboot. it gives many many places for the new AU to go.

and yeah, kirk is always a dorky hamster butt. but i did like the backstory.

and i liked that spock got the girl :D

we're going to go see it again.

[lagilman]

Dorky hamster butt. Heh. I like that.

There were a definite moments where you could tell that the actors had paid attention not only to the original material but the originating actors, as well. Karl managed to nail certain of De's mannerisms without slavishly copying them, and at least twice you could see a young Shatner's body language in Chris Pine's posture (particularly in the last scene), and Simon Pegg totally reinterpreted Scotty in a way that was still true to the original [and he delivered the much-waited-for line in a way that made me fist-pump in the theater. Yeah, really]. Quinto was giving us a different Spoke than the one we were used to, but seeing him play against Nimoy was like watching an exceptionally well-done and subtle "mirror" exercise.

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

I loved quinto's portrayal. it was enough of nimoy spiced with enough of an AU to be believable. Karl nailed it. The mannerisms were perfect... and a bit larger enven. Filling out a younger McCoy was perfect.

I think they did great.

Of course I teared up when Nimoy said "I have been and always will be your friend."

Much love for the OTP(F).

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

My biggest complaint is. I've heard others point out that, during tos, Spock never noticed Nurse Chapel mooning over him. Here, if he had gone as far as he had referenced to his mother along the Koh-Lin-Ar as to almost completely control his emotions, he wouldn't have gotten all moonie eyed for Uhura.

All my other complaints are simple nit-picking.

It's unfortunate that Ray Walston has already died, but they could have had a much younger "Boothby the Gardener" at Starfleet Academy.

[lagilman]

But if you're willing to accept the reboot of everything else [Kirk's upbringing, how they all got together on the Enterprise], why is it harder to accept the fact that 'this' Spock integrated his emotional side much earlier than TOS's Spock? TOS Spock himself seemed pleased at his alternate self's progress...

[delkytlar.livejournal.com]

Indeed. One would think that Sarek's role as Vulcan Ambassador would have been decidedly different in the aftermath of the U.S.S. Kelvin incident. His focus on his son might also have been different enough to have given newSpock the leeway (or rebellious incentive) to pursue his emotions once he left Vulcan.

[handlebar605.livejournal.com]

Nothing was ever said about Kirk's upbringing, except that he'd been raised/lived in Iowa. An earlier ship he was on, was the Farragut.

Yeah, Spock had been in Starfleet much longer than Kirk, but then, so had been Dr McCoy. By the time a medical officer would make Commander, he would have spent much longer in service than a line officer.

Public Displays of Affection are also Public Displays of Emotion, if he'd integrated his emotional side, then he wouldn't have been allowing that emotion to be displayed, since it was the display of emotions which almost led to the destruction of the Vulcans, and caused them to follow the path of Logic.

I don't know that members of the Vulcan High Council, "the Heart of all Vulcan Culture", would be considered Ambassadors. Spock's father appeared to have been on the council of the Vulcan Science Academy and then the Vulcan High Council. It was the Science Academy statement that his being half Human was a disability, which he was able to overcome, that made him emotionally choose to pursue Starfleet, instead of the Science Academy for his further education.

[kateelliott.livejournal.com]

Except for Karl, they were all too young for me. Or too old. Well, Capt Pike, I guess, but he wasn't my type. *sigh*

Wait. Eric Bana's not *that* much younger than me. There is still hope!

[bigferret.livejournal.com]

Karl Urban's Bones stole the whole movie. It was genius.

[mt-yvr.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU. I was sitting in the theatre last night immediately thrown out of track by "How the hell did he know about his dad?"

The ooooonly way would be a very bad hand waving of "we were monitoring all communications at that time". Or some shite.

[lagilman]

and the worst thing is, it wasn't necessary! The fact that he knew who James T Kirk was/might become was enough for him to want Jim Kirk to die -- Spock's bestest male buddy, the epitome of Starfleet Macho Cowboy 'ude... there was no need to bring his father into it. The fact that he killed Kirk Senior could have been a delicious, understated irony... except this is Trek. They don't do understated or irony, at least not intentionally....

[fakefrenchie.livejournal.com]

Now I want to see this movie. I loved the cast of TOS and so I was not going to see this one. But you make me want to see it. I'll have to rent it when I get to the States next year.