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HH
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Member Since: Sat Jan 03, 2004
Posts: 2,131
Subj: Re: So I finally saw the Star Trek film...
Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 at 05:28:41 pm EDT (Viewed 5 times)
Reply Subj: Re: So I finally saw the Star Trek film...
Posted: Sun May 24, 2009 at 10:26:19 am EDT (Viewed 561 times)



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          This Star Trek movie had some serious strikes against it before it began. It came after a long gap when the Trek franchise had lain dormant and forgotten, at least to the general public for whom TV and movies are their only exposure. It featured recast versions of the best known characters, an ensemble of actors that defined the original roles perhaps more than any other movie series cast. It included a reboot of continuity that negated every favourite story that a trivia-driven fandom treasured.



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    Honestly, I think one of the reasons that fans have been more accepting of this than one might think is that early on the studio gave the impression that the old timeline was done and buried, never to be visited again, and that they were going with a total remake. That makes the links to the original Trek that are in this one seem like something of a reprieve.


That's how the UK government gets us to accept bad news. They leak that inflation's gooing to be 5%. Everybody screams. When it turns out to be only 4.6% everyone heaves a sigh of relief and relaxes.


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          Despite my misgivings I went to see the film last night, based on good reviews from people whose opinions I value and an assurance that there were good in-story reasons for the changes in Trek history. I took with me my fifteen year old daughter and eleven year old son, neither of whom is familiar with Star Trek and especially not with the original characters. We saw the film in a Victorian village cinema with stained glass and plaster architraves and a big Hammond organ (for the silent movies) – and they stopped the performance half way through for an intermission to sell ice-creams!



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    Really? Where did they cut in the ice-cream intermission?


Just after the first encounter with Scotty.

What's really amazing is that everybody in the cinema seemed to know everybody else (except us) and all left their seats to chat with old acquaintances. There was also a bar open at the back.


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          The good things about the film:

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        1.    The characters were well defined and well introduced. Kirk was especially well depicted in his initial bar scene when he faces odds of four to one and offers his attackers the chance to get a couple more people. This was important from the point of view of my children who needed to be grounded in the protagonists and to pull for them and who had no previous affection for Kirk to carry them on. I was keen that the essence of the original cast interpretations should be preserved and I felt that for the main part it was.



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    I wasn't sure I was going to like this portrayal of Kirk from the trailers and such... The actor didn't seem to have the charisma to pull off the cockiness without being just an ass. Seeing the whole movie, however, he didn't bother me at all... although the script sometimes did. (The over-the-top stolen car bit from the beginning, for example).


I could have done without that scene really, but I suppose they needed something to counter Spock's childhood bullies.

As a matter of interest, if one's father is Earth ambassador shouldn't he be resident on Earth?


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      2.    The initial sequence with Kirk’s birth and the sacrifice of Kirk senior made for a gripping start as well as doing the necessary “setting up the villain” stuff. The choice of going to a full orchestral score and taking away the din of battle until we heard the baby’s cry was a bold one that worked. The only improvements I’d have appreciated would have been a “Captain’s Log” instant summary for reasons of both nostalgia and orientation and less use of headache-inducing out-of-focus hand-held cameras.



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    Hate, hate, hate, hate shaky-cam action. There are a few... very few... directors who can use it successfully. This wasn't one of them.


Henceforth it shall be known as vomit-cam.


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      3.    The cast interacted well and played off each other. This has always been a strength of the series and it was a strength here. I could have spent many more happy minutes watching all the crew getting to know each other.



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    They did a pretty good job. I remember watching the "Generations" movie and being amazed at how much more energized the opening sequence with the original crewmembers was compared to the Next Gen parts... they had really honed down their interactions and characters to such a natural (though broad) degree.


Actually I thought the Next Gen crew achieved that level of interaction as well, but their characters not being as broad they didn't translate as well to the big screen.


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      4.    Leonard Nimoy has long turned his acting limitations to strengths in his defining role as Spock. Here he brought a huge gravitas to his appearances and managed to command the screen whenever he appeared. His response to young Kirk was particularly well done. Nobody positions their fingers for a mind-meld exactly like Nimoy can.



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    I will say that, for being such a key player in the story, the young Spock didn't work all that well for me. I just didn't care for him as a character... but that may be that I'm most familiar with Nimoy's older Spock from the movies, and he always had a droll sense of humor underlying his delivery and lines.


He was always going to have an uphill struggle. I thought he did okay.


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      5.    The away mission to the mining drill was a particularly well-choreographed piece of work. It managed to establish Sulu as a heroic character, it allowed for a strongly defined combat in unusual conditions, and it looked stunning. Shame the mission failed to stop the actual plot, but what the heck. The downside was that the closing action also included Romulan-wrestling over more high drops and by the time that happened we’d already seen it done better in this sequence.



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    True... any you know my objections to this bit from the other thread.


I'm puzzled as to why only Kirk and Spock beamed over. Why not Kirk, Spock, and 200 marines? Even trainee marines?

And of course, my perennial problem with Star Trek crew transporting onto baddie spaceships: if you can send your captain why can't you send fifteen primed photon torpedoes?


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      6.    Most of the characters had story arcs and there was a good progression towards the status quo ante of the classic series. All of the regular crew got to contribute something towards the final victory.



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    I suppose McCoy's only contribution, getting Kirk aboard the Enterprise in the first place, was fairly major even if he really had nothing to do for the rest of the film.


True, McCoy wasn't that integral to the ending was he?


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    I was surprised to see that they made Chekov into a kind of proto-Westley Crusher. Kind of blurred the line between his role in things and Scotty's though. Of course, I was never too clear on what Chekov's role was supposed to be anyway.


Wasn't he ship's navigator originally, and later became ship's security officer? I presume it was his former specialism that led him to make his navigational suggestions.


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      7.    I’d be happy to see more of Gaila of Orion. That body paint job was poor though. Red lips and green skin? Why?



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    Yeah, it really was. I'm sure the make-up artist had fun though.


I approved that they gave her retro-60's Orion underwear.


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          The bad things about the film:

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        1.    I wasn’t impressed with the key set designs. Star Trek has managed to establish a number of visual themes for its various alien cultures and for Starfleet (two designs in the case of Starfleet from original Trek and Next Generation). These visuals have done much to convey the cultures and backstory of the various races and have become a helpful wallpaper for the series. Here the Enterprise bridge, which should be the most iconic and potent of sets was reduced to merely a room with some control panels in it, the engine room was a comedy tube maze, and the villain’s ship was a series of improbably high un-guard-railed dramatic drops with low level lighting. The visual effects were great. The scenery around which they took place let them down.



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    Yes... the overall design order seemed to be "Enterprise bright white, enemy dark and spikey". I will say that I appreciated the fact that the Federation didn't worry as much about their electricity bills in this time period. For some reason, once they started doing the Next Generation movies, all the lights on the Enterprise were put onto dimmer switches and set to permanent twilight. Barry White may have been constantly playing in the background.


Original Trek hit upon the absolutely perfect bridge design for a movie starship, with a focal central chair for your central actor that others could gather about, two role-defined officers in the foreground, and the technical people who gave information - Uhura and Spock - off to one side so we could all turn and look at them as they gave their info. And the main entrance is directly behind so that new arrivals are immediately in shot and interacting.

What annoyed me about this revamp is that nobody seemed to understand what the layout was for - not in Trek-tech but in visual design.


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      2.    I wasn’t impresses with the music – until the end, when the final credits occurred to a fine orchestral version of the original theme tune. That music got a cheer from the audience. During the rest of the film the score was at best unobtrusive and at worst a pseudo-John Williams attempt at replacing themes which have become classic for a reason. I don’t have a problem in principle with adding new signature music. This wasn’t it.



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    The music didn't bother me, but it was notably less than iconic. It actually reminded me of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels, in that the first movie was one of the few of the last decade or two to really establish some memorable orchestral themes, and then the sequels seemed to go out of their way to avoid using them. In that case, it was due to a different composer taking over... I guess everyone wants to do their own stamp on things.


They needed the original music all the way through to sell it to the old timers. And they needed more "Captain's Log, Stardate..."

They did manage to revive some of the clasic sound effects though, including the communicator chirp and the transporter hum. I didn't spot the sliding door opening, the tricorder whine, or the phaser zap but that doesn't mean they weren't there.


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      3.    I didn’t buy the time-travel plot-retcon explanation. How could Nero coming back in time change the relative ages of the cast, the styles of technology, or any of the other non-Kirk related trivia detail? Either it’s an in-canon story or it’s a “reimagination”. This movie tried to be both and fell between two stools. And if I understand this right, original Star Trek, Next Gen, DS9 and Voyager are now out of canon but Star Trek: Enterprise is still in there? Really? Those are the bits you’d choose to keep?



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    I feel bad for Scotty. It would suck if you were the one to make a revolutionary breakthrough in something, and then instead of actually discovering it yourself some old guy comes back in time and tells you what it is. Sure, you still get credit, but you didn't actually *do* it. He'll likely develop a drinking problem due to secretly feeling like a fraud.


Yes, I had a similar thought. Except for the alcoholism.


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      4.    From a plot point of view the villain appears to have achieved an almost complete victory, beyond anything achieved by Khan or any other of the far more distinctive villains in Trek’s history. Nero has wiped out the future and everything we’ve ever seen done in it. That’s a big win. His motives remain confusing though. Why is Spock to blame for a supernova destroying Romulus? Isn’t that like blaming the fire brigade for your home catching fire? How does destroying the Federation in the past save Romulus from getting nova-d? Am I missing something here?



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    While we're on the subject of the whole "stop the super-nova" plot, why do the vulcan's make a ship carrying a huge beach-ball's worth of "red matter" when only a tiny drop is enough to create a black hole? Why send only one man to complete a mission that important?


Indeed.


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    And for the villains side of things, why would you need to drill into a planet to place the red stuff at the center? Wouldn't a black hole right next to a planet be just as bad? Did Nero just like the aesthetics of a planet collapsing in upon itself, rather than sideways?


The red stuff only implodes under intense gravitational pressure. Honestly.


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      5.    The sudden bursts of slapstick didn’t really sit well with the rest of the storyline. Kirk running around with giant hands while a planet is dying is like Jar Jar Binks clowning across a battlefield while people die all around him. Scotty in a water tube is a waste of screen time where we could have had a well-written Scotty’s-first-comments-on-seeing-Enterprise-engine-room.



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    I didn't mind the slapstick as much. Bones stabbing Kirk repeatedly was fun... and it was impending danger, rather than current danger, so tonally it didn't feel as out of place. The big hands were a bit broad, though.



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    Scotty being pulled towards the giant Cuisinart was very much a "Galaxy Quest" moment. Why was that even there?



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    Actually, the success of this movie makes me think of all sorts of possibilities for a "Galaxy Quest" sequel, especially one where the original crew find themselves replaced by younger actors.


Now that I'd pay to see.



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      6.    The climax of the film wasn’t particularly well cut. The timing and emphases seemed wrong. Kirk’s usual big confrontation with the villain was reduced to Kirk getting briefly beaten up by the baddie then left to be beaten up by a sub-baddie. Spock saved the day from a distance by causing a fender-bender and being beamed to safety while the villain growled ferociously from a video screen. A little more thought and build up could have made the end action so much more potent. Kirk still on board and wrestling with the baddie – and giving him his surrender option face to face – while the ship disintegrates around them would have been one improvement. He could even have torn his shirt. Uhura being aboard the baddie’s ship too would have given Spock more of an ethical dilemma and brought his emotions vs logic theme to a pointed climax.



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    Good ideas.



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    I also found the whole "escape from the singularity" bit just made them look like idiots. Was there anyone in the theater who didn't know they were going to have to struggle to get away from the Black Hole? So why did they sit there jawboning with the villain instead of moving the ship away?


I thought the drama of that moment was wasted through poor setup. Had Kirk still been aboard the Romulan mining octopus there'd have been a reason for sticking around. Spock could have made one of his famous "needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many" choices and kept the ship there to save Kirk (and Uhura) and Scotty could have dome something really clever at the last moment while his engines couldn'ae stand it around him.


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      A more general comment on all Trek movies occurred to me though. A fundamental part of the original series and the Next Generation was “boldly going” – exploration, discovery, first contact, the frontier feel. Nearly all the Trek films have actually been Star Wars, a military struggle against a superior enemy that threatens home. That’s quite a disconnect from the main thrust of the series’ conception and leads to a particular kind of story and a particular kind of cast interaction. I can see why the money people might want the films to be all about the big explosions and the overwhelming archvillain but I think that formula has become very stale by now. Maybe it’s time trek returned to its roots and did some actual Trekking?



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    I found it interesting that so much of the galaxy is already establsihed at this time point. They mention some kind of Cardassian drink in the bar. The Orion Slave Girl is in the academy. Romulus is established. I have no idea when these races were introduced in Trek history, but this show seems to want to jump ahead to the Next Generation's level of established interstellar relations rather than the idea that they don't really know what's out there.


As I recall Orions were already known in the original series. Romulans and Klingons were known of but seldom encountered before. Cardassians were never mentioned.

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