Yes, it's true. The new Star Trek kicks ass.

[dslartoo]

datalopez, her sister, and I went to see Star Trek on Saturday. Very enjoyable film. Good plot, fine acting from all concerned (particularly Karl Urban, who was channeling DeForest Kelley about ten minutes into his role as Bones McCoy), interesting writing, wicked cool effects.

Stuff I was really happy to see:

"I have been, and always shall be, your friend." That took me right back to Spock's death scene in Wrath of Khan, which I still think is one of the most moving in film history.

"Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a physicist!" There was a weird doubling in my head when Urban spoke this one. For a second I wasn't just hearing DeForest Kelley, I was almost seeing him, too. It was uncanny.

The infamous Kobayashi Maru scene. Awwwwww yeahhhhhh. You knew it was going to be in here, and they deliver on it. Big time.

"Fascinating," and the eyebrow quirk. Zachary Quinto doesn't have Spock's voice down (Nimoy has more gravel and a deeper timbre in his delivery) but he certainly had his mannerisms down. Again, well done.

One other thing I found interesting:


I was impressed that at the end of the film the plot didn't have the crew take the Enterprise back through the black hole to travel back through time and undo the alternate history that'd been created by the destruction of Vulcan. Instead, we're left with two Spocks, a world where Kirk's father died on the day of his birth, the deaths of six billion Vulcan souls, and an interesting alternate history that has potential for future stories.

I heard one fan arguing that this was just a retcon ("retroactive continuity change", for those unfamiliar with comics lingo) of the original Star Trek. No, it's not -- this is not the writers going back and saying that this is now always the way Star Trek happened, and that all that's gone before is invalid. Instead, all the previously shown canon is still there, but proceeding on its own timeline and universe, while in THIS alternate reality we can still have a world where Uhura is in love with Spock and Kirk's first mission as captain is enough to win him renown from all of Starfleet. That's how you do a new and interesting story -- don't invalidate the previous history, just give us a new one that's still equally valid.


All in all, a fun way to spend an evening. I recommend it, especially for fans of the original series (of which I'm not one, particularly; always preferred Next Generation).

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[[The Oracle would like to know your favorite Star Trek character (any series or film).]]