The Official STAR TREK Grading & Discussion Thread [SPOILERS]

[CAPTAIN ELBOW]

I'm just like Kirk, you can call me cadet, but at heart I'm the Captain!!!!

[Alexis]

So, I've seen the new movie last week and after thinking about it for a few days I think I finally have an idea of what I think about it.

And to be honest, it's not a bad movie. In fact, it's a great roller-coaster ride of an action flick which I enjoyed enormously. It has Star Trek written all over and in many, many ways it is Star Trek, but at the same time it really isn't on some level. At least, for me it isn't.

I don't care much about whether the 1701 was built in space or in Iowa or whether Kirk can drive a Corvette or not, those are minor canon-nitpicks that just get in the way of good and solid story telling. I must admit I was a bit bothered with the Uhura-Spock relationship, but I think I can live with that. I was bothered with the destruction of Vulcan, but since it's all a new and altered Trek-universe, I think I can live with that. All in all, excellent reboot.

What I find really hard to swallow is the sort of cheesy time-travel/altered universe solution in order to keep it all in canon. I would've much preferred it if Abrams and his men would just have had the balls to throw old Trek out the cargo hold and do things completely anew. In the end we would probably have had two Treks happily co-existing at the same time in various media-formats. But messing up "canon-future" with the destruction of Romulus, sending Spock Prime back into this altered universe for good, those are the things that bother me; the fact that they had to go and mess up old Trek as well. Then again, maybe I'm being conservative here and still not quite ready to let go of "my" Star Trek and watch a new version of it, without Vulcan, with Kirk being a thrill-seeker instead of a risk-taker.

I don't know and that bothers me, because this is a great movie with a great many fan-moments, winks and nods to the stuff we grew up with and finally brings Trek to the big screen again, where it (partly) belongs. It just didn't have to be dumbed down or altered in the end. Telling the story of the young TOS crew could have been done terrifically without killing off George Kirk, Amanda or blowing up Vulcan.

In the end, I voted "above average" for what's really an excellent summer-popcorn-movie.

[Jim Steele]

"inert reactant"

"Inert Reactant"

"INERT REACTANT"

...

[billcosby]

On the topic of Trekkies hating this movie and regular people loving it, I think that's great. Sometimes Trekkies are an annoying lot, quibbling over minutiae and canon in the face of an engaging and fresh film. The level of entitlement projected by some fans... who lay claim Star Trek as if it was their own is at the very least, bewildering. That reaction I'm seeing (though prevalent moreso in 1999's Phantom Menace release a la George Lucas Raped my Childhood) will keep me away from this board for constructive conversation until the initial reaction dies down. Due to the success in the planning, marketing and execution of JJ-Trek it's Joe Six Pack ensuring our DVD shelves are lined with new Trek titles for the years to come.

[Pindar]

Jim Steele wrote:

---

You didn't perchance fire up to Cineworld on saturday only to discover that the whole complex was closed due to "technical issues"? What the hell was that about?

"Cineworld has decided to close for fear of possible fanboy backlash"

I was out at an all day stag, which covered going to see the film.

Then I drank, ate curry and was very ill.

[Jim Steele]

Ah, good night/day then

We went to the Blue Blazer after the flick and must have looked like a group of very sad, troubled men.

[Thespeckledkiwi]

One little continuity thing that held up: Cardassia!

[ITL]

Jim Steele wrote:

---

"inert reactant"

"Inert Reactant"

"INERT REACTANT"

...

You wouldn't want a nert reactant, would you? Might blow up, or something...

[J. Allen]

ITL wrote:

---

You wouldn't want a nert reactant, would you? Might blow up, or something...

I think he's saying he nerts reactant. Wow.
I guess it takes all kinds!

J.

[Nimthim]

Just catching up on all the discussion from last night.............

Why do some insist on not seeing the real story in this movie - the real philosophical thrust is the coming-of-age journey. These characters are digging down to their toes looking for who they are and what they want to become. Each situation is helping at least one of this pretty much untested group define another part of who they are. Along the way they also discover that they like the people around them - these will be their truest, closest friends in life.
Trying to insist that this is not Star Trek, or is really bad Trek, because you can't see some huge overlying morality tale beyond that, is actually giving more credit to some of what before rather than just accepting this movie on its own terms. And they are good terms, and a good origin story.
And I really don't understand comparing this movie to ID4 or Armegeddon. This movie is more like compressing Ep.1-3 of Star Wars into one movie, and Star Trek is far superior to that.
Maybe I'll find some time to also go on a rant about Nero - I think he is very credible villain.

[Cdr MacDuff]

The new Star Trek was a fun popcorn action movie. A nice summer blockbuster. I think it was a bit low on the drama, explorations and/or social commentaries. Lets say it was lower on that chapter than 12 Monkeys, Batman Returns or even The Island (comparable summer blockbuster action movies). I would call this movie Star Trek troopers. Because it remind me a lot about Starship Troopers, a movie which I also liked, in its scope.

It has great action and humor. As a Star Trek fan, I liked the way it introduced the characters that we already know. I liked the way they met each other I think it was done in a humorous way. The action was good and the general story was a bit simple, but was only a back story to introduce the Star Trek characters that we know in this reimagination.

I liked the parachute action sequence and the platform battle. The Uhura and Spock relationship was a nice twist. A Uhura/Kirk relationship would have been so predictable and lame. No relationship at all wouldn't have pleased hollywood executives. The battle inside the Nero ship was less good, but I liked the "I have your gun" line, even if in reality Kirk would probably have fallen in the pit. The Ice Planet monsters were ok too and a good way to introduce Spock, even if the coincidence is hard to believe. The transport at a great distance at warp speed was far fetched though. But having McCoy transported in a water tube was funny.

Overall it was an entertaining action popcorn movie with a good dose of humor.

[Too Much Fun]

What did McCoy say about "bones" when he first meets Kirk that was supposedly the origin of that nickname? I've been wondering for a long time why Kirk calls him "Bones", and when this movie finally offered an explanation, he said his dialogue too fast for me to hear it! Did anyone catch that?

[Sky]

His wife got "the planet" in the divorce and his bones were all that she left him.

[warrior34]

[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Gotta admit, I left the theatre pretty disappointed that the movie gutted everything I knew about Star Trek. After reading a few of these posts, however, I think I've progressed through all the stages of grief and have achieved some level of acceptance. The movie isn't chapter 11 of an ongoing story; it's chapter 1 of a new story, and that's probably a good thing. [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3] [/SIZE][/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3]Unfortunately, the story isn't particularly good thus far. Underneath the fantastic graphics and interesting moments (the scene with the Orion coed is going to make me tingle for years) is a pretty weak plot that is definitely not up to Star Trek standards. I suppose that's forgivable in this instance, as the purpose of the movie was to introduce the new cast and storyline, but another movie like this will test my loyalty to the Federation.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Jim Steele]

warrior34 wrote:

---

The movie isn't chapter 11 of an ongoing story; it's chapter 1 of a new story, and that's probably a good thing.

Unfortunately, the story isn't particularly good thus far.

(emphasis mine)

You've pretty much summed up exactly how I feel in those two sentences. Excited for the future, despite being unimpressed with the present.