What to say, what to say...
I am a Trekkie, from WAY back and yes, I have a red "Engineering" shirt still in my drawer...at least I think I still have it. :-)
So where did I fall on the love it or don't scale?
I loved the cast, I really did...but I did not enjoy the movie itself. I didn't like the effects going on at all.
The thing that always made Star Trek, was the relationships between the characters. I felt that was missing, to a certain degree. It was there, but it goes up against the weird camera work and the ILM (Industrial Light and Magic) stuff that is so "Must Have" on all these big budget movies. It's a shame, because the cast WAS really good.
I hope they come back another time, on a TV show, rather then a movie. I think I would like that better.
On a side note...it was such a joy to see Mr. Spock. Leonard Nimoy seriously ROCKS!
I too am a long time Trek fan (though no shirts). I can't disagree with your assessment.
ReplyDeleteGood action, but needed more story to really be Star Trek. Some of the character interaction stuff worked for me (mostly the young Kirk & Spock stuff), but some of it didn't.
Cast was great as far as individual characterizations and Simon Pegg especially was spot on vocally as Scotty. As you say, terrific to have Leonard Nimoy don the ears once again.
The new movie is a good start that leaves a lot of room for improvement in the sequels, but only IF they choose to do so. My fear is that there will be continued effort to make Star Trek in their own way and deliberately trying not to copy the original too much in style or tone.
A filmmaker putting his own stamp on a known story or set of character is one thing, but this is Star Trek. The basic formula and the characters have been great through so many years and incarnations. It doesn't need all that much tweaking imo.
Star Trek beamed to International Space Station
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to see this and am going to have to experience it for myself. That said, I respect what you say and will let you know what I think.
ReplyDeleteAs for Nimoy - loving him! He turned up in the season finale of Fringe, one of my closet TV addictions. Ahhhh, it made me so happy!
Hey thanks both of you for posting.
ReplyDeleteCouple of things I didn't get up on the post, since it was so late...
Loved the dedication to Gene and Majel Barrett Roddenberry, at the very end.
Vasquez Rocks (that I have posted about before) ended up being the backdrop for the planet Vulcan. I knew they shot some of the movie in the Santa Clarita area, since it showed up on the Film Santa Clarita site.
It made me glad to see that it was Vasquez Rocks.
Finally, met the exboyfriend through Star Trek. You can definitely say my life would not have been quite what it was, without my interest in the show.
I enjoyed the story. I felt that the timeline change (how typically Trek) gave them an opportunity to push the reset button on Star Trek "canon" and go forward with some new stories up ahead.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the movie doesn't stand out for the effects. Perhaps I tuned them out in favor of the story. Maybe that's just the way I watch movies/video.
The story held me. I was immediately able to suspend my disbelief in the canon violations, since I realized that there was an alternate time line in progress. I was waiting for them to restore the time line and forget everything that had happened, so I was properly surprised when they didn't. I had scrupulously avoided spoilers before seeing the movie, so I had no idea that (a) it was a time-travel related story or (b) that Leonard Nimoy was in the movie. When he made his appearance I found it totally unexpected.
Chris Pine played Kirk as a true precursor to the "swaggering, overbearing, tin-plated, dictator with delusions of godhood" that would be his destiny. Zachery Quinto was excellent as younger Spock. He was somewhere between the excited Spock of "The Cage" and the more polished Spock of the first season of Trek.
If we count this as #1 in a series, I think they've broken the odd-numbered curse.
Hey Ed. I figured you would chime in, since you are my ex. ;-)
ReplyDeleteI am so glad Spock was a reveal to you. I knew he turned up (one of the few things I did know, going in) and so it was no surprise.
As I said, I did love the cast. Jim Kirk was indeed Jim Kirk. Scotty was...one humdinger of a Scotty. I could go on, but I am trying to be nice to people who have not seen it yet.
I saw it with lana...she liked it i had no idea what was going on but i liked when that jumped!
ReplyDeleteI just read another blog that touched on one of my problems with the movie. They had these blue lines that would turn up in the shot, I didn't know how they were done or anything, but they annoyed me. It ends up that they are lens flares and that they director had to have a special person shooting a flashlight beam into the camera lens, to make them happen. MAKE THEM HAPPEN! Say what?
ReplyDeleteThe director admits that he may have gotten a little carried away, with the effect. Uh, yeah...ya think?