Newbie's opinion on Star Trek XI

[Khaaaaan]

Hello everyone, newbie here!

Couldn't find an intro thread/section so I thought I'd just get down to it. Always been a Star Trek fan, grew up with the films, TNG and went back to actively seek out TOS. Also enjoyed DS9. Occasional viewer of Voyager. Never ventured into Enterprise. So from this point of view I'll give you my opinion/comments on the new film.

Might as well get the moaning out the way first...

1) Kirk driving a car as a child and managing to handbrake turn the car off a cliff while simultaneously jumping out and grabbing onto the cliff edge. WTF!? (Was this originally written in a Star Trek novel?)

2) Some of the director's panning shots. Why does everything have to rotate or spin around constantly. Spock standing infront of the council started off at some crazy angle before spinning round to level itself. Unnecessary. In addition, plenty of shots had way too much 'artistic glare'. Again, a bit overused.

3) Enterprise seemed amazingly maneuverable especially compared with the older films.

4) I didn't like the way the Kobayashi Maru test was handled. Would Kirk have genuinely been that sarcastic (eating an apple etc).
In addition I note that the Enterprise got hit but no 'bridge damage' occurred. When Saavik fails her exam, there's full on explosions (but perhaps they updated the simulator 20 years down the line!)

5) The representation of Chekov.

6) Lacked depth. I think Inception proved that a film can have excellent action but also thought provoking (and very successful).

Good things...
1) Great action, great effects. All worked well.

2) Karl Urban was VERY good as McCoy, genuinely impressed.

3) The scenes regarding Kirk's backgound, the bar brawl etc were all very good and it was great fun seeing his 'antics' at the academy.

4) Enterprise on Earth being built - thought that was great.

5) Uhura

Overall, quite a good film actually but I could see why it would upset the die hard fans.

I suppose like many things, Star Trek needs to move on. Adapt or die and all that.

 

[Tharsis]

I agree with almost all of what you said. But, I actually liked the Kobayashi Maru test and Kirk's arrogant attitude. His behaviour and him eating the apple were direct references to the Genesis cave scene in Wrath of Kahn. If your remember, in that scene he was eating an apple from the Genesis cave while he explained to David and Saavik the test and why he didn't like to lose. I thought they handled it perfectly in STXI and its one of the few scenes that I can imagine occurring in both universes.

 

[F. King Daniel]

(This was originally written in a Star Trek novel?)

No, but the idea of a rebellious, aimless young Kirk is from Diane Carey's old novel Best Destiny. George and Winona Kirk were plucked from the books, too.

3) Enterprise seemed amazingly maneuverable, especially compared to the older films.

I think that's a lot more to do with the technology available today. With CG, ships can fly around and be photographed (so to speak) from any angle. The old films used actual physical models and were thus the shots were limited by possible camera placement, model mountings etc. (heck, the very original TOS Enterprise model was only detailed on one side!)
The Enterprise Enterprise, 100 pretend years earlier, was also CG and thus it did significantly more maneuvering than "later" ships.

 

[kkozoriz1]

The writers claim that they forgot about Kirk eating the apple in TWOK and that they thought that people just look cool and casual while eating an apple.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The writers claim that they forgot about Kirk eating the apple in TWOK and that they thought that people just look cool and casual while eating an apple.

Going through one of your "content free" posting phases again?

 

[kkozoriz1]

The writers claim that they forgot about Kirk eating the apple in TWOK and that they thought that people just look cool and casual while eating an apple.

Going through one of your "content free" posting phases again?

Simply commenting on Tharsis's comment that the apple eating scene was a direct comment on TWOK. The writers claim it wasn't but just happened to work out that way.

What content was contained in your post exactly?

 

[Capt_Pickirk]

^ They say it in the DVD commentary, I think