Okay, I wanted to start this for a change.

I enjoyed it. I mean I really enjoyed it. Not once in my life have I ever managed to sit all the way through a single episode of star trek. This movie actually made the entire franchise interesting to me, a feat I thought impossible.

Thoughts?

All I know is that everyone I know online or RL has said it's awesome. Which kind of annoys me, as I can't watch it til next week at the earliest.

Knew I should've gone earlier this week...

MovieBob on the escapist said it was a horrible movie, but the seven other nerds I went to see it with enjoyed it as much as I did.

Awesome movie :) My Trekkie heart is content. Yeah, they retconned some of the backstory, but at least they did it plausibly! And yes, I'm probably gonna go see it again.

It was not a retcon! The film was set in an alternate timeline that split from the normal timeline on the day of Kirk's birth! That was clearly established within the movie so they could sidestep the retcon.

It was awesome, and I could go into detail, but since I see that Ruan is in here and has not seen it I will refrain. I gave FB spoilers because he said he didn't care, but frankly there is a huge spoiler that could be spoiled for this film. Sure, IMDB spoils the heck out of it with the cast listing, but I really don't think the presence of hrm rhm as hrm hrm was revealed in any trailer I've seen, which is like a pretty big deal by Hollywood's standards, usually they spoil the heck out of everything in a movie.

So: retcon alternate-universe series. Seal of approval. I thought it was well cast (the kid they had playing Chekov I really enjoyed, I didn't know that actor was russian because the only thing I've seen him in was Charlie Bartlett where he was convincingly American). Simon Pegg stole every scene he was in, but really every command crew member was kinda intended to steal each scene they were in, I feel.

The visuals in the movie blew me away. No, it isn't TOS style. But that be hokey, man. TOS doesn't look like the future. TOS is less futuristic in many ways than real life. If you want to watch new stuff that has the exact same visual style and props as TOS watch The New Voyages where they built the sets from the actual blueprints of the Original Series.

And the last line (and the credits into which it led) almost made me tear up. I'm seeing it again tonight. When is the next movie coming out?

If you're trying to avoid spoilers, do not go to any Star Trek related page on Wikipedia, btw. Somehow they worked in the details of the significant spoiler into like every crew member's page.

Watching as a general movie fan:

Good modern action flick. Much better than most of the other blockbuster action movie fare. Well established characters, good plotting. Good special effects that didn't distract attention from the character development. All around enjoyable movie. Though I feel they took so long to establish the premise there was hardly time for any action, and there were a few random superfluous moments like Kirk being chased by the dinosaur creature.

Watching as a Star Trek fan:

Meh. Star Trek overusing time travel is part of the reason for it's decline. How do you write into the future in a franchise where it's been established in the 29th century any kindergardener can construct a crude time machine? I'm still hoping somebody writes an episode of some future Star Trek where time travel never gets invented so they can go into the damn future without every little thing being about time travel. Time travel is like red wine. It can be good for you in strict moderation, but use it too much you're going to make yourself look silly.

They made everything happen in an alternate reality so they wouldn't have to worry about continuity. And that's all well and good, they could do whatever they want without trampling on the franchise. (Which I don't believe they did. At least nowhere near the amount the Star Wars prequels did.) But isn't that lazy writing? If you don't want to deal constraints of the timeline, don't write a prequel. That's what a prequel is!

And though I can acknowledge it as a good movie, it's hard to see it as a Star Trek movie because it's more in the spirit of a modern action flick than the spirit of Star Trek.

(It also bothers me to think in the prime Star Trek timeline Romulus just got blown up. But I guess, considering what Voyager and Enterprise turned Star Trek into it's safe to just assume some guy from the 29th century came back and fixed it.)

So in summation: Good movie, but not good in ways I associate with Star Trek. I want to see a Ron Moore penned Star Trek movie.

I don't think they were writing it as a prequel but as the first film in a series of films set in an alternate universe to the existing Star Trek franchises, and they wanted to establish that that was their intent so that no one would go "hey your prequel screws up the continuity!"

And I feel that they established that. They used the time travel to establish why and how their new franchise universe is different, and to also give a respectful nod to the old continuity through the presence of Spock Prime. I also saw his presence as giving the film a certain "Nemoy Seal of Approval" that told fans "yes, it is OK to like this, you don't have to hate it just because Wil Wheaton says it is good."

Are we supposed to still hate Wil? I mean he seems to hate Wesley as much as (if not more than) anyone else these days, and is a pretty cool guy. Can I just continue to hate Wesley and like Wil? I need a higher rank Trekkie to give me a go ahead on this.

It's okay to like Wil Wheaton.

But I'm also still supposed to hate Wesley Crusher, right? Because I still hate Wesley Crusher.

Yes. You like Wil Wheaton, but hate Wesley Crusher.

The casting was brilliant. The individual performances were excellent. The effects and cinematography were both very well done. Somewhere in there I think there was an average plot which barely held the film together. What seemed to be the most memorable parts of the film were the catchphrases "Damnit Jim" and the obligatory red shirt.

And you have just summed up exactly why we're a bit reluctant to see it, and starting to predispose ourselves to disliking it based soley on the trailer.
It just strikes us that this new timeline they're creating is taking out of Star Trek what actually made it Star Trek in the first place. That delightful combination of cheesey technobabble, low physical action to fancy tech ratio, and William "I can't hear you over how awesome I am" Shatner.

But we'll have to see it for ourselves to really judge.



p.s. WITH SPOILERZ

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... Spock is Sylar? WTF?! Nuttiest decision since Agent Smith became Elrond. Gives a whole new meaning to the term "Vulcan Death-Grip".

I get to watch it on the IMAX for my birthday this week.

My general review of Star Trek is here. Suffice to say, I was well pleased.



Nah, that's not Trek (and if it was, DS9, Voyager and Enterprise shook that out of the system long ago). I think what makes Star Trek Star Trek is the optimism. That enduring sense of hope. There's not a lot of that in the movie, I noticed, but there was enough for me to accept that yes, this is Trek.

A good review, and well said. I really wanted, and did not get, a shot of Kirk winding up a huge right cross like a cowboy. I expected it in the bar fight (just one would have sufficed) but I didn't get it. And then later... well, apparently Starfleet does have some decent hand to hand combat classes.