The Fall of the Sheliak...or I surrender to the Abomination.

[Cakes488]

Waiting for the other shoe to drop vis-a-vis the NuCast...

Ah. Yes. The cast.
I am, as I've said before, totally and utterly against recasting the Original Crew...um...except for Karl Urban. Totally believed that he was Dr. Leonard Mccoy, just younger than we've seen before.

Maybe it's because I'm such a "Shaun of the Dead" fan, but I liked Simon Pegg. I liked his lines and delivery. I liked his character. I did NOT for even a breath believe that was "Montgomery Scott", but I set that aside and just let the character be who he really was on the screen.

Quinto. Y'know, I like Quinto and I was at least a little intrigued when I heard that he'd been cast as "Spock". Have to say, while I found his acting acceptible in most ways, the only "Spock" I saw in that character was...erm...thinking...well, he DID have bangs. And pointy ears.

I never liked Pine. Not just as "Kirk", but just in general. Didn't like him one little bit. Except for the bar scene. That was pretty funny. Everything else, total fail. (for me)

Zoe Saldana is a red hot foxy babe. Let's just leave it at that.
(The scene with her disrobing was appallingly exploitative and shamelessly pandered to the baser instincts of fanboys. Totally worked for me. *shrug* Ladies, in person you would find me courteous, respectful, and I can even pull off "charming"--for brief periods of time. But when it comes to my fantasy entertainment, total Tellarite. not proud, but there it is.)

Cho. ugh.

Yelchin. wince, but I was willing to go along with it as much as I could.

I didn't WANT to like Greenwood's Pike or Ben Cross as Sarek, but I did. Lesson learned.

Hmmm. Gotta stay positive...Oh wow! I loved Rachel Nichols as Gaila. (Green Girl Factor!)
Yes I did!

Excuse me...but I'd like to highlight something you've said in your post that I've addressed several times and I'd like others to comment on.

I've seen on this board time and time again how our favorite character is nuMcCoy...and why is he our favorite? Besides being the most handsome (lol) he "nailed" the role? Why did we believe that was actually McCoy but in a younger days? Because he acted like McCoy...that's why. The McCoy that we know and love and the McCoy that the new generation can and will know and love....

Is it so wrong to capture the essense that the big 3 did with the roles? I think not...I think that would be a smart move since they are so endearing. So no they shouldn't be making the roles their own -- well they should but only to a point......they need to get inspired by the originals and try to come close to that without impersonating as much as they can. Hence Quinto doing the next best job, then Chekov and then Pine, Uhura...and...Sulu I tend to forget that he was even in the damn thing. And Scotty...well I don't think I need to go that into that again...but obviously, for me he was the absolute worst as far as channeling the original character.

LOL what you said about Saldana...very funny that was.

 

[SheliakBob]

oh. err. The Story. um.
I dunno. I'm really trying to keep a positive tone here.
I think the flaws of the story have been fairly well delineated in other threads. I didn't see anything to contradict those critiques.

The one story element of conflicted importance for me was the Death of Vulcan. Among my favorite likes in the movie was the depiction of Vulcan. I LOVED the Pits of Learning depiction of the Vulcan education system. I did like Quinto's "Live long and prosper" near spit in the face at the Vulcan Science Academy. The exteriors were visually impressive, even if the buildings seemed to have a lot of hanging, unsupported bits on them. (doesn't seem logical)
The destruction of the planet hits an old fan like me hard. Really hard. Like, wiping the corners of my eyes hard. (alright. I'm a big softie. sue me.) Which is why they did it.
No single planet is more synonymous with Star Trek than Vulcan. Sure, most of the cast has always been human, but it is The Vulcan that people remembered. Vulcan and Vulcans have a LOT of cachet with fandom. NuTrek wiping out that planet did more than anything else to establish that they were throwing Old Trek in the wastebin. It was a bold declaration that they were striking out in a new direction.
I know why they did it.
I hated it.
It did work.
And I hate it even more for that.

 

[Borgminister]

Well, I'll give you props for doing what you said you were without any backhanded comments...

I found the holes in the story to be secondary to the introductory process, which was absolutely vital for the next movie to succeed at the same or higher level.

 

[SheliakBob]

Let's see if I still have a few likes to cover...

Aliens. Mixed lot. I loved the big-eyed doctor from the Kelvin. I was fascinated by the odd spiny/shelled female alien on the Enterprise. Didn't care for the Star Wars pop up on Kelvin or the Long Face in the bar. (oh, Morn! My god, what have they done to you?) Most of the rest were too far into the background to get a good look at. Oh, and, um, I really really did like Gaila. (Have I mentioned that already?)
There was that Keenser too. Not my fault.

The Kelvin scene had a lot to like in it. Captain Robau undeniably has the best bad-ass stride ever depicted in Trek. All running jokes aside, Faran Tahir really did OWN the screen every second he was on camera. You KNOW someone someday is going to do a Kelvin novel with more on the redoubtable Capt. Robau, and I'll be happy to buy it.
The Kelvin scene had some of the worst of the flares and shaky cam, both of which I was already sick of by the end of the scene. But again, what I could see on screen was pretty solid gold. Even the Kelvin itself, which always looked ridiculously clunky to me had some real life and grace to it while it was in action. There are a lot of technical WTF's with the Kelvin, but that's been described elsewhere and I'm not enough of a hardware fan to get overly upset over them. Just a bit mystified, that's all.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock, quite probably for the last time. Got all misty eyed. He may not have been used to best effect in the movie, but for my money he represented whatever heart and soul of my Trek there was to be had in the movie.

Olson's sudden, tragic and utterly predictible death. Even if I hadn't read the spoilers, I would have seen that one coming. At least some things haven't changed a whit between Trek incarnations! Laughed out loud.

I'm sure there are other little bits here and there. No doubt I'll find more of them when I go back to try to make up my mind.
I think it's going to come down to my hating what the movie is, what it stands for, and what it has done to what i see as my Trek. But I think I'll wind up not hating the movie itself, even with it's glaring faults and, er, glares. At least I better not. It's in my own best interest to get as comfortable as I can with this Abomina...er, NuTrek. After all, it's not going anywhere except onward for the foreseeable future.

I just hope it goes someplace NEW instead of rehashing classic TOS elements.

 

[Jeri]

Well, it sounds like Mikey likes it. Good for you. You got a lot out of it.

 

[Shatmandu]

SheliakBob, thank you for posting your reviews. I disagree here and there, and I'm impressed.

Joe, not green

 

[trampledamage]

Let's see if I still have a few likes to cover...

Aliens. Mixed lot. I loved the big-eyed doctor from the Kelvin. I was fascinated by the odd spiny/shelled female alien on the Enterprise. Didn't care for the Star Wars pop up on Kelvin or the Long Face in the bar. (oh, Morn! My god, what have they done to you?) Most of the rest were too far into the background to get a good look at. Oh, and, um, I really really did like Gaila. (Have I mentioned that already?)
There was that Keenser too. Not my fault.

The Kelvin scene had a lot to like in it. Captain Robau undeniably has the best bad-ass stride ever depicted in Trek. All running jokes aside, Faran Tahir really did OWN the screen every second he was on camera. You KNOW someone someday is going to do a Kelvin novel with more on the redoubtable Capt. Robau, and I'll be happy to buy it.
The Kelvin scene had some of the worst of the flares and shaky cam, both of which I was already sick of by the end of the scene. But again, what I could see on screen was pretty solid gold. Even the Kelvin itself, which always looked ridiculously clunky to me had some real life and grace to it while it was in action. There are a lot of technical WTF's with the Kelvin, but that's been described elsewhere and I'm not enough of a hardware fan to get overly upset over them. Just a bit mystified, that's all.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock, quite probably for the last time. Got all misty eyed. He may not have been used to best effect in the movie, but for my money he represented whatever heart and soul of my Trek there was to be had in the movie.

Olson's sudden, tragic and utterly predictible death. Even if I hadn't read the spoilers, I would have seen that one coming. At least some things haven't changed a whit between Trek incarnations! Laughed out loud.

I'm sure there are other little bits here and there. No doubt I'll find more of them when I go back to try to make up my mind.
I think it's going to come down to my hating what the movie is, what it stands for, and what it has done to what i see as my Trek. But I think I'll wind up not hating the movie itself, even with it's glaring faults and, er, glares. At least I better not. It's in my own best interest to get as comfortable as I can with this Abomina...er, NuTrek. After all, it's not going anywhere except onward for the foreseeable future.

I just hope it goes someplace NEW instead of rehashing classic TOS elements.

Definitely agree with that last sentence!

I'm glad you enjoyed at least parts of it SheliakBob, not everyone is going to like everything in any movie, and this one had so much history riding with it, it's not surprising that some parts don't work.

I hope you'll go and see the next one too

 

[Alrik]

Kudos SheliakBob. We can agree to disagree on a few minor points, but all in all, I'm pleased that you gave it a shot. I too hope that JJ and crew continue to take this in a fresh direction.

 

[RAMA]

Let's see if I still have a few likes to cover...

Aliens. Mixed lot. I loved the big-eyed doctor from the Kelvin. I was fascinated by the odd spiny/shelled female alien on the Enterprise. Didn't care for the Star Wars pop up on Kelvin or the Long Face in the bar. (oh, Morn! My god, what have they done to you?) Most of the rest were too far into the background to get a good look at. Oh, and, um, I really really did like Gaila. (Have I mentioned that already?)
There was that Keenser too. Not my fault.

The Kelvin scene had a lot to like in it. Captain Robau undeniably has the best bad-ass stride ever depicted in Trek. All running jokes aside, Faran Tahir really did OWN the screen every second he was on camera. You KNOW someone someday is going to do a Kelvin novel with more on the redoubtable Capt. Robau, and I'll be happy to buy it.
The Kelvin scene had some of the worst of the flares and shaky cam, both of which I was already sick of by the end of the scene. But again, what I could see on screen was pretty solid gold. Even the Kelvin itself, which always looked ridiculously clunky to me had some real life and grace to it while it was in action. There are a lot of technical WTF's with the Kelvin, but that's been described elsewhere and I'm not enough of a hardware fan to get overly upset over them. Just a bit mystified, that's all.

Leonard Nimoy as Spock, quite probably for the last time. Got all misty eyed. He may not have been used to best effect in the movie, but for my money he represented whatever heart and soul of my Trek there was to be had in the movie.

Olson's sudden, tragic and utterly predictible death. Even if I hadn't read the spoilers, I would have seen that one coming. At least some things haven't changed a whit between Trek incarnations! Laughed out loud.

I'm sure there are other little bits here and there. No doubt I'll find more of them when I go back to try to make up my mind.
I think it's going to come down to my hating what the movie is, what it stands for, and what it has done to what i see as my Trek. But I think I'll wind up not hating the movie itself, even with it's glaring faults and, er, glares. At least I better not. It's in my own best interest to get as comfortable as I can with this Abomina...er, NuTrek. After all, it's not going anywhere except onward for the foreseeable future.

I just hope it goes someplace NEW instead of rehashing classic TOS elements.

This thread is fascinating...its like watching a junkie go through withdrawal. I think it confirms also that "purists" are a disease...

RAMA

 

[SheliakBob]

I freaked out every time I saw that baby crawling across the theater's ceiling, but the manager just wouldn't do anything about it. *coughs* *hack* *shudder*

 

[RAMA]

I freaked out every time I saw that baby crawling across the theater's ceiling, but the manager just wouldn't do anything about it. *coughs* *hack* *shudder*

You saw the Starchild??? Alert the media!

RAMA

 

[Qonos]

It helped that I put the Centuaran Slug into his Pepsi while he was watching the movie.

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA

 

[Therin of Andor]

I know why they did it.
I hated it.
It did work.
And I hate it even more for that.

He he he.

 

[DonIago]

I'll chime in to say that I really appreciate the even-handed and open-minded tone of this review.

Thank you for giving the movie a chance.

 

[seigezunt]

Thanks for going in with an open mind.

 

[Guartho]

SheliakBob gets the award for being the classiest NuTrek hater.

 

[Mereope]

Sheliak, I have been lurking around this board for years, and have watched many a "review" boil down to slurry of name-calling and vitriol. On every side. But your review, along with the other posters in this thread, has been one of the most rational ones I've read in a long time. Don't know how much you post, but I'll be making an effort to read yours in the future.

 

[pookha]

I freaked out every time I saw that baby crawling across the theater's ceiling, but the manager just wouldn't do anything about it. *coughs* *hack* *shudder*

thanks for sharing your review.

 

[Vicki]

Facinating thread. Thank you.

 

[SilentP]

I just hope it goes someplace NEW instead of rehashing classic TOS elements.

QFT

Adding echoes to what others have said already, kudos to you for going in with an open mind, even if I don't completely agree with you on some points