ST09 fans, why did you like it?

[I am not Spock]

I liked a lot of the same things other people did. I liked the music, I liked the special effects, I liked little moments here and there that I thought worked really well.

But the real reason I like this movie is that it exists and proves that something with a Star Trek label on it can be wildly popular. Now, whether it deserves that honor or not, is of course up for debate (as we all know.) But the fact that this movie exists and has done as well as it has means there will be more Trek to come. Maybe I was the only one but I assumed that, after the cancellation of Enterprise and the straight up failure of Nemesis the franchise was done. I honestly thought I was more likely to see a Titanic sequel than anything else from Star Trek.

This film changed that in a big way. While it isn't exactly what I wanted... meh, not everything can be an episode of DS9 Seriously though... the sky is the limit again and that's a good feeling.

-Withers-​

Great post!

Completely agree. The new film was an entertaining fresh start for the Trek series, it may not have been exactly what I had in mind (a 24th century continuation), but it exists, and was good, and made a lot of money. It saved Trek, and for that, I'm thankful. Once I got over the idea that Trek is one all-encompassing continuity (which it never has been, really) I really enjoyed the new movie, and I look forward to more Trek to come.

 

[Tyjos Azari]

I loved the opening Sequence for sure the camera angle was great!

 

[TheRoyalFamily]

I just saw this movie for the first time a couple of nights ago. I noticed a lot of the flaws even then, but still, it was way fun. The characterization of Kirk and Spock, especially, made the movie. I watched Transformers 2 immediately before (also for the first time), and Star Trek, while having less action, made me feel...better, I guess Wasn't a fan so much of the action (such as it was), but just all the character moments made it great (except Spock/Uhura, considering the student/teacher thing).

Also, Sulu's 'fencing' Much more awesome than in TOS.

 

[M'Sharak]

yes everything was awesome do you think it was better than Nemesis the film that came before

Let's not start right off with that again, shall we? I'd like to think that you came to some conclusions about posting behavior during your vacation, but I'm not finding the above very encouraging.

This thread is where you say what you liked about the movie. Just that. Specifically.

It is not where you ask other people (even vague or unspecified ones) whether they think it was better than Nemesis. That would be a question for its own thread, and one to be posted in a different forum.

(In fact, that whole business of asking nobody in particular what they think or whether they agree at the end of a breathless, unpunctuated, run-on sentence is something I'd really like to see dropped in favor of posts which read as if you'd actually put a little thought into them first. And I do mean putting some thought, not just copy-pasting someone else's text and posting it as if it were your own. Yes, it was pretty obvious when you did that.)

 

[number6]

I liked how this film evoked the fun and the spirit of the original show. The humour was played as it would have in the 60s. Pine nailed Kirk without parodying Shatner. I liked the homage to Yesteryear in the young Spock sequence. I liked Pike. It was good to see him vital and not burnt out as he was in the Cage. Urban channeled De Kelley, and the opening sequence alone was worth paying the admission and waiting in line.

 

[startrekrcks]

Ok Sorry for discussing Nemesis I apologise anyway I liked everything about Trek XI I would like to see where they take us in the sequel.

 

[Tribbles]

I saw the movie without having seen any TOS before (just a little TNG as a child, but I didn't care for that series then). That said, I walked out of this movie with my heart and mind racing, and I spent weeks in frantic-internet-research-mode, watching TOS episodes and reading everything I could about it. Only recently have I begun to come off my "high" and stop thinking about it all the time.

I haven't embraced a new (to me) franchise this way in several years. I think what did it for me has mostly to do with the characters:

1) I go for fantasy/sci-fi franchises with ensemble casts and strong friendships between the lead characters, such as Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings, and Harry Potter. The original Star Trek characters have a dynamic I fell in love with right away.

2) Spock and Uhura. I hesitate to add this lest I simply sound like a fangirl, so I feel the need to qualify my answer. I usually hate romance, you see, as I feel it's pigeon-holed into otherwise decent action films just for the sake of assuaging the ladies (Batman Begins comes to mind). I think this may be the first couple in sci-fi to whom I can relate and genuinely care about. They were mature, beautiful, tragic, professional, intelligent-- I just loved them and the way their relationship was handled.

3) Spock, in general. I was intrigued by him the moment he came onscreen. As the nuances of the Vulcan lifestyle made themselves evident through the film, and as I watched him struggle to reconcile his human and Vulcan halves, I couldn't help but sympathize. He easily became my favorite character.

4) Setting all of the above character interaction against the backdrop of a bright future full of space exploration and epic adventure (and huge, world-shattering 'SPLOSIONS!) completes the experience.

 

[Ssosmcin]

I saw it three times in the theater. First time I loved it, second time I didn't, third time I did again. Weird. I stopped at that point to end the theatrical run on a high note.

The film looks great on Blu-Ray and is still a fun experience. I liked it for the same reasons many others did, although I never felt the same connection to it as I did with any original cast film. It was still tons o'fun, very fast and purdy, and funny.

What I truly loved:

Pike. Damn, give Bruce Greenwood his own Trek franchise.

Eric Bana. Not Nero, but Bana. His line delivery was very unique and he could be hypnotic. He was also very off putting with his casual familarity ("Hi Christopher, I'm nero") and tantrums ("I watched it happen! Don't say it didn't happen!"). He did well with a role which was little more than a cypher.

And other stuff, but I'm tired.

 

[Arix]

It was a very entertaining movie in its own right, but the fact it was an entertaining movie made with characters I could immediately recognise - even though *** gasp shock horror *** they were played by different people - made it even better. The characters are (for me, anyway) a very large part what made TOS so enjoyable. The fact they were all spot-on was brilliant. Hell, Pine made me actually like Kirk. I wouldn't have thought that possible.

To my eyes, at least, it was patently obvious how much all involved respected the original series. What made it even better was that the respect wasn't slavish or obsessive, as though they were doing homage to sacred, inviolable holy writ and had to do absolutely everything just as it was done back in the day. They paid attention to what went before and what made it work, and put their own stamp on it. No mean feat.

Along with the stuff Franklin, Nerys Myk, pookha and Temis mentioned, that's why I liked ST09. Although "enjoyed the hell out of it" would probably be a better summation in my case.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

I knew it was going to be great when not even 10 minutes into it, I was already crying my eyes out. That is powerful storytelling right there.

I don't care how many plot holes there were, or how 'accurate' it was to TOS. I could immediately identify all the characters, and not only that, I loved all the actors and their interpretations of those iconic characters.

Good storytelling isn't about whether red matter makes sense, or why a Romulan mining ship looks like someone's stuck a bunch of knives together, its making an audience laugh and cry and cheer for our heroes!

Every single Star Trek series has made me do that (some more often than others), and ST09 is no exception.

 

[startrekrcks]

very well said

 

[Jeri]

Tribbles, that is pretty darned amazing that, as a complete TOS newbie, the movie made you feel like the series did to fans in the 1960's. The fact that it hooked you on Spock like the series did so many is a testament.

I've said a million times before, why I liked the movie and saw it in IMAX 16 times and regular version five more times at the theater. I'll just add at this point that it got me off planet, so that I always think of the IMAX theater on Randall Road in Batavia as a space port now.

 

[Tribbles]

Tribbles, that is pretty darned amazing that, as a complete TOS newbie, the movie made you feel like the series did to fans in the 1960's. The fact that it hooked you on Spock like the series did so many is a testament.

I still love the movie, of course, for engrossing me so, and I am dying for any news about the sequel. However, after watching TOS, I like Shatner and Kelley best as Kirk and McCoy. If I had to choose, I'd favor Nimoy as Spock, but I love Quinto's Spock just as dearly. I like that they are somewhat different from each other in terms of the handle they have their human sides.

Shatner's Kirk is definitely my preference over nuKirk-- I won't say over Pine, because I don't think that had much to do with the actor. I must admit, I was disappointed with Kirk when walking out of the movie the first time, but I like Pine and am eager to see his role mature a bit. TOS Captain Kirk is just so... masculine and authoritative.

All that's to say that even though I saw Star Trek XI first, I am able to see things in TOS that I prefer to their counterparts in the most recent incarnation. I think both are enjoyable not only in their own right, but in allowing you to compare the two universes and see how things might have been different.

(My apologies to the OP and mod if this post is veering off topic from the original question asked)

 

[startrekrcks]

Shatner's Kirk is brilliant as well what's wrong with loving both Shatner and Pine?

 

[Jeri]

Tribbles, just wondering how you escaped TOS for so long -- or if perhaps you were too young?

 

[Tribbles]

I am 25 now, so maybe age is partially the reason. I saw some TNG simply because it aired when I was a little girl, and my dad watched it.

When I got into Star Wars as a young teen, a friend of mine tried to convince me to watch TOS. He told me I'd love it and that it wasn't anything like TNG, which I looked upon unfavorably... it's a pity I didn't believe him! He is quite smug about it now.

 

[startrekrcks]

he will mature what age is Pine's Kirk just wondering

 

[Kelso]

^ 25.

Also, do you post from a phone or something? I've always been curious about that.

 

[Ssosmcin]

One aspect of the effects really made me smile. It's not obvious, but it is: whenever there's an exterior space shot, there are droplets of condensation on "the camera lens", really adding to the feeling of the chill of space. I felt that was a very nice, and unique, touch.

 

[6079SmithW]

I liked how they made the Kelvin's and Enterprise's bridges seem active and busy, as the command center of a ship should be. I immensely enjoyed the prologue and think its the best opening of a trek movie. The Kelvin crew member getting blown out into space through the hull breach and then silence, that was awesome. I think all of the actors did great jobs and I especially liked Bruce Greenwood's Captain Pike.

 

[startrekrcks]

I thought you weren't a fan of Nu Trek