I saw "Star Trek" today.
In IMAX, yet, at the AMC in Burbank. I took a vacation day so I could see it on opening day (or what was supposedly opening day, anyway), since so many people I know saw previews and I wanted to avoid hearing spoilers from them. Naturally, my own spoilers are hidden behind this cut.
First, assuming that Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D., Ph.D. won't be reading this right away, the first spoiler: It was mind-blowing.
OK, enough with the jokes, so here are my thoughts:
Crazy, mixed-up story, even with a flashback within a flashforward. Isn't this exactly the sort of thing the Temporal Police try to prevent? Anyway, it makes a particularly different universe from the tradition Trek one. For example, events and acquaintanceships shown here negate the very existence of certain episodes.
No Capt. Robert April (The Constitution-class Enterprise's master prior to Capt. Pike)? Then no animated series -- not a great loss, but still.
Kirk meets Pike before the latter is promoted (to Fleet Captain, not Admiral, as here)? -- Then no "The Menagerie." Great loss.
No Helmsman Gary Mitchell? (Remember, he was an old friend of Kirk's.) Then no "Where No Man Has Gone Before."
For that matter, the absence of the two previous ship's doctors, Dr. Phillip Boyce and Dr. Mark Piper also negate "The Cage" (and by extension "The Menagerie") and "Where No Man...." "The Cage" is also negated by the absence of Number One (although I'm sure I saw the late Majel Barrett sitting at a console in one shot).
The Federation knows what Romulans (or at least the group led by Capt. Nero) look like, and that they are related to the Vulcans? Then no "Balance of Terror." Major, major loss.
No Sam Kirk (George Samuel Kirk), James' brother? Then no "Operation -- Annihilate!"
Sarek tacitly approves of Spock joining Starfleet, and there is no estrangement between them? And Amanda dies? That wipes out "Journey to Babel." And (you're going to kick yourself if you ignored the spoiler warning and plowed through anyway) Vulcan is destroyed? WTF!? That wipes out a lot of episodes all by itself, directly and by extension.
Spock apparently sexually aroused by Uhura? There goes "Amok Time"!
Kirk doesn't get to be seasoned as an officer and work his way up the ranks? That goes against everything Starfleet, as far as I'm concerned, but specifically since he hasn't served as a junior officer aboard the USS Farragut, there goes "Obsession"!
I could keep going. Spock starts out as a Commander? That goes against all the first season episodes where he is a Lt. Cdr. (And doesn't he get congratulated at some point for getting promoted?) Chekov being there from the start has the same effect.
Nice touches: Various characters getting to exercise their catchphrases for the first time. (But then this was inescapable.) McCoy's first impression of Spock being a positive one (though he changes his mind later and mumbles "green-blooded hobgoblin," or something like that). Scotty as fun-loving, and with a real burr; I didn't quite get why he had been exiled to the ice planet, or who his assistant was. Adm. Pike in a (regular) wheelchair.
Uhura really, really well-developed as a complete character, with a skill-set perfectly qualifying her for Communications, in a way that we never got to see in TOS. (And removing her skirt, oh mama!) Chekov as a budding master strategian -- or is it tactician? I always get those two words confused. Anyway, that gives him a reason for being a member of this cohort. Also cute that his thick Russian accent at first causes the computer to fail to understand him. ("Wulcan"!) Sulu revealing that his hand-to-hand specialty is fencing, which gets an audience laugh -- but which then gets a payoff as he actually uses that exact skill.
Some things which puzzled the heck out of me: Kirk getting beaten up almost as much as Archer? Kirk not actually getting any? (Loved the cheerfully chatty green Orion girl, though!) And Spock estimates that there are ten thousand survivors of the destruction of Vulcan? That's not like him. He would have known exactly how many, and would have stated the number. Having your home planet destroyed by getting sucked into a mini-black-hole does not excuse you from doing the math. And finally, where in the wide, wide, world of sports were the Klingons?
OK, now for the actors individually. If I were a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I would seriously consider nominating Zoë Saldana for Best Supporting Actress. I mean it. Either that, or I would marry her and become a homemaker. Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock are okay, but I'm sorry, I don't think they really got deep into the characters. Karl Urban is uncannily spot-on as Dr. McCoy; he has the right look (even the same shape of face), and has De Kelley's delivery and mannerisms down perfectly. But he doesn't get to do any real healing, and after he's smuggled Kirk aboard the Enterprise, he's pretty much done. Ben Cross as Sarek was a huge disappointment; he has no gravitas, and basically stands around looking confused most of the time. (I saw him onstage in London in 1985 playing Lt. Barney Greenwald in "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," so I know he can act, but you can't tell from the present movie.) I had been cattily remarking for months that Winona Ryder as Amanda would "steal every scene she's in," but she's practically another cypher, and man, she has not aged at all well.
Biggest chuckle: Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) declining to give the traditional Vulcan farewell to the younger Spock, as it "would seem self-serving under the circumstances." That is cool beyond belief.
Oh, and as it happened, the cap I grabbed just before leaving for the theater was a licensed Starfleet Academy cap. That made me the only person I saw there wearing anything having anything to do with anything Trek.
First, assuming that Sheldon Cooper, Ph.D., Ph.D. won't be reading this right away, the first spoiler: It was mind-blowing.
OK, enough with the jokes, so here are my thoughts:
Crazy, mixed-up story, even with a flashback within a flashforward. Isn't this exactly the sort of thing the Temporal Police try to prevent? Anyway, it makes a particularly different universe from the tradition Trek one. For example, events and acquaintanceships shown here negate the very existence of certain episodes.
No Capt. Robert April (The Constitution-class Enterprise's master prior to Capt. Pike)? Then no animated series -- not a great loss, but still.
Kirk meets Pike before the latter is promoted (to Fleet Captain, not Admiral, as here)? -- Then no "The Menagerie." Great loss.
No Helmsman Gary Mitchell? (Remember, he was an old friend of Kirk's.) Then no "Where No Man Has Gone Before."
For that matter, the absence of the two previous ship's doctors, Dr. Phillip Boyce and Dr. Mark Piper also negate "The Cage" (and by extension "The Menagerie") and "Where No Man...." "The Cage" is also negated by the absence of Number One (although I'm sure I saw the late Majel Barrett sitting at a console in one shot).
The Federation knows what Romulans (or at least the group led by Capt. Nero) look like, and that they are related to the Vulcans? Then no "Balance of Terror." Major, major loss.
No Sam Kirk (George Samuel Kirk), James' brother? Then no "Operation -- Annihilate!"
Sarek tacitly approves of Spock joining Starfleet, and there is no estrangement between them? And Amanda dies? That wipes out "Journey to Babel." And (you're going to kick yourself if you ignored the spoiler warning and plowed through anyway) Vulcan is destroyed? WTF!? That wipes out a lot of episodes all by itself, directly and by extension.
Spock apparently sexually aroused by Uhura? There goes "Amok Time"!
Kirk doesn't get to be seasoned as an officer and work his way up the ranks? That goes against everything Starfleet, as far as I'm concerned, but specifically since he hasn't served as a junior officer aboard the USS Farragut, there goes "Obsession"!
I could keep going. Spock starts out as a Commander? That goes against all the first season episodes where he is a Lt. Cdr. (And doesn't he get congratulated at some point for getting promoted?) Chekov being there from the start has the same effect.
Nice touches: Various characters getting to exercise their catchphrases for the first time. (But then this was inescapable.) McCoy's first impression of Spock being a positive one (though he changes his mind later and mumbles "green-blooded hobgoblin," or something like that). Scotty as fun-loving, and with a real burr; I didn't quite get why he had been exiled to the ice planet, or who his assistant was. Adm. Pike in a (regular) wheelchair.
Uhura really, really well-developed as a complete character, with a skill-set perfectly qualifying her for Communications, in a way that we never got to see in TOS. (And removing her skirt, oh mama!) Chekov as a budding master strategian -- or is it tactician? I always get those two words confused. Anyway, that gives him a reason for being a member of this cohort. Also cute that his thick Russian accent at first causes the computer to fail to understand him. ("Wulcan"!) Sulu revealing that his hand-to-hand specialty is fencing, which gets an audience laugh -- but which then gets a payoff as he actually uses that exact skill.
Some things which puzzled the heck out of me: Kirk getting beaten up almost as much as Archer? Kirk not actually getting any? (Loved the cheerfully chatty green Orion girl, though!) And Spock estimates that there are ten thousand survivors of the destruction of Vulcan? That's not like him. He would have known exactly how many, and would have stated the number. Having your home planet destroyed by getting sucked into a mini-black-hole does not excuse you from doing the math. And finally, where in the wide, wide, world of sports were the Klingons?
OK, now for the actors individually. If I were a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, I would seriously consider nominating Zoë Saldana for Best Supporting Actress. I mean it. Either that, or I would marry her and become a homemaker. Chris Pine as Kirk and Zachary Quinto as Spock are okay, but I'm sorry, I don't think they really got deep into the characters. Karl Urban is uncannily spot-on as Dr. McCoy; he has the right look (even the same shape of face), and has De Kelley's delivery and mannerisms down perfectly. But he doesn't get to do any real healing, and after he's smuggled Kirk aboard the Enterprise, he's pretty much done. Ben Cross as Sarek was a huge disappointment; he has no gravitas, and basically stands around looking confused most of the time. (I saw him onstage in London in 1985 playing Lt. Barney Greenwald in "The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial," so I know he can act, but you can't tell from the present movie.) I had been cattily remarking for months that Winona Ryder as Amanda would "steal every scene she's in," but she's practically another cypher, and man, she has not aged at all well.
Biggest chuckle: Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy) declining to give the traditional Vulcan farewell to the younger Spock, as it "would seem self-serving under the circumstances." That is cool beyond belief.
Oh, and as it happened, the cap I grabbed just before leaving for the theater was a licensed Starfleet Academy cap. That made me the only person I saw there wearing anything having anything to do with anything Trek.