*SPOILERS*
Feel free to add your two cents about Star Trek's latest mission.
Likes:
Dislikes:
What took me out of the film:
The death ray near the San Francisco bridge. It stands to reason that it would be a logical point of attack, with the fault line and Starfleet HQ right there; but the Xindi did it already.
The smattering of people in the matinee who were turning the movie into a social activity (it's a Chinese thing). Although I'm sure their knowledge of the universe is limited, they laughed at all the right bits even with the subtitles. They were clearly enjoying it, and I thought they wouldn't be able to keep up. So I'd say, if they can be entertained, it was an effective introduction to the Star Trek universe.
The guys who came in late, the guy who answered his @#$%^
phone! Visigoths with no sense of science fiction history. (Ok ok I can be tolerant but - not during TREK!!!)
A couple of scene hacks, which is either attributed to the shoddy cinema projectionism here in Shanghai, or perhaps censoring some choice bit of dialogue (courtesy of the People's Bureau of Media or whatever, whose imprint follows the film previews like an SCTV sendup of a dated CCCP station ID, except it's not funny, it's sad, and frankly sucks all the joy out of the process just knowing it's all been approved and sanitized for my protection).
Notes:
I'm glad this movie was exciting. In my opinion the franchise couldn't be served at this juncture by a story-driven science fiction plot. Or radical departures from the original franchise.
I didn't get my hopes up for this film, figuring the generation gap would make it unrecognizable from what made TOS work in its time period. I half-expected to be fully alienated from it. I wasn't!
I left the theater entertained and not frustrated, not even by the death of Vulcan. The timeline can be played with at will, leaving other bits of canon in place, so it is really the best of both worlds. We have nearly everything except the planet Vulcan....
Concerns:
James Cawley & Company, and the scores of other fan producers who have been at this a lot longer than the film's current producers. It goes to show the fans had a multimillion dollar idea. They worked hard and brought their visions to life. I hope the new flick doesn't boil their guts. I hope they feel vindicated and validated for their passion.
Turning the Vulcans into a refugee race? Destroying the planet? Either daring or thoughtlessly brazen. Perhaps the producers won't mind if some other time-traveling hijinks reverses their canon, saving Vulcan and Mr Data too - two places Star Trek should not have gone. We don't need the death of major institutions in order to motivate characters or propel a scene. That one felt indulgent. As did the double credits at the end for a single person. (Not that I wouldn't do the same thing given the chance
)!
Four thumbs up (out of 5)
Do another couple of movies like that if you wish. But at some point give us intelligent story-driven science fiction with something we haven't seen before. And try to keep the body count down. We need these people. They are heroes. We need to show the world more than starship battles and sexy love scenes, black hats and white hats. We need optimism, and knowledge of our potential as well as personal responsibility in the world(s). And inspiration for education and self-improvement. Smart is sexy, baby!
Feel free to add your two cents about Star Trek's latest mission.
Likes:
- The casting
- The actors' speech patterns & characterizations. They all sold me, without being forced imitations - or "edgy" (like Stargate 200 or Transformers)
- Their individual actualization in the mission. They all had contributions.
- Uhura. 'Nuff said.
- Robau, Pike, Sarek - nice job with these roles
- The excitement (without being distracted by the BSG/NYPD-style shaky cam)
- Sulu's swordfighting (and sword!)
- The interiors of the ship
- the costuming
- the effects
- the phasers
- the shuttles
- The set design
- No @#$%^ BORG
- Everything else that went right because it went unnoticed.
- the obvious affection & knowledge of the producers towards the Trek universe (thank goodness) (If it had been a glorified "Galaxy Quest" that didn't know its own history or the science fiction genre for that matter, I would have been disappointed)
- Maybe it's because I am a new father, but the pre-title sequences left me choked up with a tear running down my face, like Sarek in the throes of Bendii.
Dislikes:
- While I like the ship, It didn't feel large in some of the external shots. Maybe that's a CGI thing? Just knowing it's CGI.
- The ship's lines looked a bit cartoonishly muscular; But easily forgiven, seeing as how true to the original design they stayed. Loved the coloration and lighting. Especially the IO accretion disk scene!
- Nero reminded me of XXX in the Scimitar. Booyeah!
- I miss tough old uglies in movies. Everybody is so beautiful these days.
What took me out of the film:
The death ray near the San Francisco bridge. It stands to reason that it would be a logical point of attack, with the fault line and Starfleet HQ right there; but the Xindi did it already.
The smattering of people in the matinee who were turning the movie into a social activity (it's a Chinese thing). Although I'm sure their knowledge of the universe is limited, they laughed at all the right bits even with the subtitles. They were clearly enjoying it, and I thought they wouldn't be able to keep up. So I'd say, if they can be entertained, it was an effective introduction to the Star Trek universe.
The guys who came in late, the guy who answered his @#$%^
phone! Visigoths with no sense of science fiction history. (Ok ok I can be tolerant but - not during TREK!!!)A couple of scene hacks, which is either attributed to the shoddy cinema projectionism here in Shanghai, or perhaps censoring some choice bit of dialogue (courtesy of the People's Bureau of Media or whatever, whose imprint follows the film previews like an SCTV sendup of a dated CCCP station ID, except it's not funny, it's sad, and frankly sucks all the joy out of the process just knowing it's all been approved and sanitized for my protection).
Notes:
I'm glad this movie was exciting. In my opinion the franchise couldn't be served at this juncture by a story-driven science fiction plot. Or radical departures from the original franchise.
I didn't get my hopes up for this film, figuring the generation gap would make it unrecognizable from what made TOS work in its time period. I half-expected to be fully alienated from it. I wasn't!
I left the theater entertained and not frustrated, not even by the death of Vulcan. The timeline can be played with at will, leaving other bits of canon in place, so it is really the best of both worlds. We have nearly everything except the planet Vulcan....
Concerns:
James Cawley & Company, and the scores of other fan producers who have been at this a lot longer than the film's current producers. It goes to show the fans had a multimillion dollar idea. They worked hard and brought their visions to life. I hope the new flick doesn't boil their guts. I hope they feel vindicated and validated for their passion.
Turning the Vulcans into a refugee race? Destroying the planet? Either daring or thoughtlessly brazen. Perhaps the producers won't mind if some other time-traveling hijinks reverses their canon, saving Vulcan and Mr Data too - two places Star Trek should not have gone. We don't need the death of major institutions in order to motivate characters or propel a scene. That one felt indulgent. As did the double credits at the end for a single person. (Not that I wouldn't do the same thing given the chance
)!Four thumbs up (out of 5)
Do another couple of movies like that if you wish. But at some point give us intelligent story-driven science fiction with something we haven't seen before. And try to keep the body count down. We need these people. They are heroes. We need to show the world more than starship battles and sexy love scenes, black hats and white hats. We need optimism, and knowledge of our potential as well as personal responsibility in the world(s). And inspiration for education and self-improvement. Smart is sexy, baby!
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