Wesley Crusher reviews Star Trek Into Darkness

Yes, Will Wheaton's "Memoirs of the Future" is some of the most damning criticism of Wesley Crusher there is. It's pretty vulgar in places but hilarious all the same. It makes me want to see him as Wesley in the future, only for Wes to be a complete jerk.

 

TOS was always male dominated and Women centric action films just don't do great business, not enough cross over, and not a lot of Women alone who dig action films.

That being said, Zoe's Uhura did more in this film than any previous incarnation of Uhura put together between TOS and the films. To me , on a 99% male dominated premise, that is a big leap forward.

 

Congrats Wil, you managed to completely miss the entire point of the Kirk/Spock storyline.

 

The Enterprise being underwater wasn't a problem for me.If a ship can withstand FTL travel,it can probably withstand a brief stint as a submarine.

As far as the opening scene goes,Kirk had to be established as a reckless hothead in order for his actions as a character to make sense.Considering stinkers like Nemesis still haunt the franchise I think we should be quite happy this movie is as good as it is.

 

Yeah, that criticism is really making me

I've heard it described as "sexist," and Abrams apologized for it, releasing a scene of Cumberbatch in the shower as a "compensation."


So... is a woman in her underwear in a movie automatically sexist now? And why wasn't it sexist when it was Saldana in XI? Or even Pine in XI in the same scene?

 

I think the problem some have with the underwear scene is that they felt it had no reason except for "sex". I thought it was a funny little moment myself and really... this is built off a series that had the women in tiny mini skirts sooooo...yeah.

 

I think at least part of it is the way they shot the thing – that low camera angle and full frontal pose really gave the shot a pervy vibe. You'll note that the two Caitians in Kirk's bed earlier in the film and Uhura's disrobing to change in ST'09 haven't generated nearly as much discussion, IMO because they were staged far more naturally and so didn't call attention to themselves.

 

He's only done this extreme criticism of the character just so he remains relevant to fans, which I believe came around when he was dubbed the "Jar Jar Binks of Star Trek." Personally, I find the character of Neelix more baffling than Wesley Crusher, but you don't see Ethan Phillips or even Ahmed Best for that matter bad mouthing the way their characters were written or for the shows that they were paid to act in. Sure, the first season of The Next Generation isn't great, but at least you got paid to say your lines. Wheaton loved every minute of attention he got on the show, because he was a fan himself of the original show and it was a fantasy fulfilled to be a part of the crew of the Enterprise, just like Justin Long's character in Galaxy Quest. Wheaton should feel lucky to have been given the opportunity, because his part was originally written for a young woman and I seriously doubt that a real female Star Trek fan of his nature would have been chosen for the role.

 

I agree.

I think the pose was intended to show that Marcus didn't really care that Kirk was looking at her but it also came out looking as you say 'pervy'.

 

I don't mind throwing sex into the mix and appreciate it, actually, because sex is amongst what separates Star Trek from Star Wars.

Even I felt that was a badly shot scene.

 

It's not the look of it that bothers me but the set up; in ST09 Gaila was making out with Kirk and Uhura was in her quarters, just off shift , with only her room mate there (as far as she knew when she started stripping) - both IMO good reasons for their undress. Whereas Carol getting her kit off in the middle of a discussion with Kirk seems forced.

I' ve read a number of attempted explanations, btw but none I find especially convincing.

I still don't think it is sexist but I do find it exploitative and poorly written.

 

Come on. The scene was IRONIC because we, the viewers know that soon Kirk will be knocking her up (maybe) and now, she doesn't even want him to see her in bra and panties.

 

He did say that he loved the movie; he just didn't like seeing Alice Eve in her bra and panties.

And, he's hard on himself in the Memories of the Future book and podcast.

 

Yep, that's exactly it, but it's not just the Georege Lucas school of thinking, it's how all action movies are made nowadays. The setpieces come first (cool visuals and action scenes, plotted like mini-movies), then a story is built around that. It's annoying as hell, but it's not just Abrams and Star Trek guilty of it, it's all of Hollywood.

 

Not really. In Star Wars, 100% of the female characters wore a golden bikini.

 

Also, The Original 1701 flew through the cytoplasm (or is it protoplasm) of a giant space aomeba....

 

Which looked surprisingly good on Mon Mothma.

Aunt Beru, not so much.

 

If she's in the next movie.

 

With all due respect to the OP - he did leave out one BIG comment by Mr. Wheaton:

^^^^
I think that speaks volumes over any nit-pick comments he may have made in analyzing aspects of the film (which I and many fans do, while still believing the film in question is a good one.)