What NuTrek Got *Better* Than the Original?

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

I love the duty uniforms and think they were magnificiently done. However, they grate on me because they don't fit thematically with anything else in the movie. These Starfleet professionals dress in uniforms that are so neat, clean, militaristic... until they go on duty, dressed in a rainbow hodgepodge of frumpy clothes.

I loved the uniforms in this movie. That being said, I also liked that Starfleet had shore and working uniforms like the USN. The navy has two sets of khaki unis for officers--one is more pressed and neat while the other is more frumpy and loose. The former is worn mostly ashore, while the latter is worn aboard ship.

In a working environment like a ship, you'd want something a little looser and easier to move around in. Of course, I didn't think the TOS-inspired nuTrek uniforms were frumpy or loose. They looked every bit as form-fitting as all the other uniforms in Trek.

As to what nuTrek got better:

The cinematography had a kinetic energy that was sorely missing in Star Trek, not just TOS but everything that followed.

 

[STR]

I'll agree with others that said the added character backstory is better this time around. We actually know why Chekov is on Enterprise, for reasons other than is resemblance to pop culture icons of the time.

Showed the fact that as a group,Vulcans are a bunch of assholes (except Spock)

No...the ST11 Vulcans act like a bunch of racists, which is not in my view, a good thing at all. Even Enterprise, while showing Vulcans as extremely cautious, and more than a little conceited, never went that far. Furthermore, by showing an entire race as rascist, does that mean destroying them is more acceptable?

 

[RoJoHen]

I'll agree with others that said the added character backstory is better this time around. We actually know why Chekov is on Enterprise, for reasons other than is resemblance to pop culture icons of the time.

Showed the fact that as a group,Vulcans are a bunch of assholes (except Spock)

No...the ST11 Vulcans act like a bunch of racists, which is not in my view, a good thing at all. Even Enterprise, while showing Vulcans as extremely cautious, and more than a little conceited, never went that far. Furthermore, by showing an entire race as rascist, does that mean destroying them is more acceptable?

Really, it was just the children that behaved that way. Yes, that old guy described Spock as having a "disadvantage" because of his human mother, but I never necessarily saw it as racism. It was more a disadvantage because of his having to overcome his emotional nature.

 

[Pemmer Harge]

Once again: Pike. And the going to warp effect was way cool.

 

[Sabataage]

I liked the lens flares and sweeping camera movements during the outer space sequences. Its something TOS, TNG, etc never could have done, and it helps keep those sequences belivable and from feeling too stately or removed.

Lens Flares make it more believable? Too stately? I'm a bit confused. I personally like it when an image stays on the screen for more than .015 seconds. Perhaps I'm just getting old.

The same three shots of the Enterprise passing the camera used a half dozen times per week on TNG were just fine, thank you. That's was all we had back then and we were GRATEFUL DAMNIT!


On an unrelated note I also liked the way Nero appears on Enterprise viewscreen. Its like he's talking down to them through a webcam that's at his crotch level. And when he's through he physically swipes the camera with his hand to turn it off. I llke the way he appears too, through static and interference. It makes ship-to-ship communication seem messier.

 

[STR]

I'll agree with others that said the added character backstory is better this time around. We actually know why Chekov is on Enterprise, for reasons other than is resemblance to pop culture icons of the time.

Showed the fact that as a group,Vulcans are a bunch of assholes (except Spock)

No...the ST11 Vulcans act like a bunch of racists, which is not in my view, a good thing at all. Even Enterprise, while showing Vulcans as extremely cautious, and more than a little conceited, never went that far. Furthermore, by showing an entire race as rascist, does that mean destroying them is more acceptable?

Really, it was just the children that behaved that way. Yes, that old guy described Spock as having a "disadvantage" because of his human mother, but I never necessarily saw it as racism. It was more a disadvantage because of his having to overcome his emotional nature.

Racism is more than cutting remarks. It's an attitude and belief system. The science council believed Spock's had a handicap solely because he was half-human. That is racism. That is why Spock told them, not in so many words mind you, to go off themselves as he goes somewhere that doesn't look down on him because of who his parents are.

 

[RoJoHen]

I'd say it's more a misguided superiority complex than racism, but I get what you're saying.

 

[JarodRussell]

What NuTrek Got *Better* Than the Original?

Budget and marketing?

I'd say it's more a misguided superiority complex than racism, but I get what you're saying.

LOL, where do you draw the line? Nazis also had a superiority complex if you put it that way.

 

[Green Shirt]

Anton Checkov

Who He?

 

[RoJoHen]

I'd say it's more a misguided superiority complex than racism, but I get what you're saying.

LOL, where do you draw the line? Nazis also had a superiority complex if you put it that way.

The Vulcans are fictional, and until they start committing genocide or enslaving emotional races, I'm just gonna call them pricks and be done with it.

 

[JarodRussell]

The Vulcans are fictional

Fictional or not doesn't matter to the point.

and until they start committing genocide or enslaving emotional races, I'm just gonna call them pricks and be done with it.

So one needs to do that to be a racist?



Seriously, I don't want to get on your nerves, I just want to understand what you think.

 

[RoJoHen]

I don't think much about it, honestly. I mostly just don't like the word racism being thrown at my favorite little Vulcans. They're self-important. They're ignorant on the subject of emotion. They're jackasses. I don't think they're racist so much as they as they are emotionist.

 

[Clancy_s]

Or speciesist?

wrt the OP:

The costumes in general and the Star Fleet ship uniforms in particular. I like the TOS update and that they're not too military.

The fx of course.

More cohesive backstory.

 

[Good]

Perhaps so. I've got to agree that the outer space sequences were far more immersive and persuasively "real" than anything Trek has managed in the past.

I almost agree with you Dennis. The space shots were decidedly well-rendered and detailed. The problem is they just didn't seem to last long enough. Most shots ended so quickly I barely got yo register what was going on, not to mention having time to actually enjoy them. Go back and watch the TWOK fight in the nebula and you'll see what I mean. I obviously recognize that the new shots are "better," but I just dislike the style.

 

[RoJoHen]

Perhaps so. I've got to agree that the outer space sequences were far more immersive and persuasively "real" than anything Trek has managed in the past.

I almost agree with you Dennis. The space shots were decidedly well-rendered and detailed. The problem is they just didn't seem to last long enough. Most shots ended so quickly I barely got yo register what was going on, not to mention having time to actually enjoy them. Go back and watch the TWOK fight in the nebula and you'll see what I mean. I obviously recognize that the new shots are "better," but I just dislike the style.

I'd love some middle ground. I find the TWOK battle (yes, that "epic" battle in the nebula) to be kind of boring.

 

[Good]

he same three shots of the Enterprise passing the camera used a half dozen times per week on TNG were just fine, thank you. That's was all we had back then and we were GRATEFUL.

I invite you to find point out anything in my post that waxes poetic over overuse of stock model footage. I simply said that I dislike the hyper-caffinated pacing of Abrams' cinematography. Of course the visuals themselves are far superior to th old days. I just wish he would have lingered a bit longer on some shots.

And the lens flare comment is a pet peeve of mine. Lens flare is an artifact of poor camera work. To use CGI to artificially replicate it makes little sense to me. It's as bad as "shaking" the camera when a ship passes by. Even if you were floating there in space holding a camera, nothing would "shake" if a ship passed by you.

You may not believe it, but I actually liked the movie. With a few exceptions, the casting and acting was spot on. The biggest improvement was in handling of th action scenes. The skydive was amazing, even if the physics of it were. Little screwy.

 

[Sabataage]

^The stock footage comment was a play off the statement "maybe I'm old". It might have been too mocking. I just think special effects can look *too* special. "Filming" the exterior of a ship the same way you would the interior makes it feel somehow more credible, and not something thrown in at the last minute (this happens in all scifi work --not just Trek). Lense flares and handicam work during the space shots better matches what Abrams was doing with the rest of the movie. He overdid it with the lense flares at times, but otherwise I really liked it.

 

[Ghrakh]

CGI

Ticket revenue

 

[Yeoman Randi]

One of the things that i think the new movie did better was showing the damage done during battles with the Narada. The destruction seen during the Kelvin scenes was amazing. People being thrown everywhere, fires, beams falling, people screaming. Pretty much all we ever saw was sanitized damage, or we heard the 'report' of how many casualties or how much damage. I really really loved the way it was done here.

One particular moment is when one of the engineers (IIRC) says into his communicator, "I'm on my way" and the next minute he is killed in a huge blast.

And of course, the silent space moment, which was, amazing.

 

[Tara]

Most shots ended so quickly I barely got yo register what was going on, not to mention having time to actually enjoy them. Go back and watch the TWOK fight in the nebula and you'll see what I mean. I obviously recognize that the new shots are "better," but I just dislike the style.

I think this is a global change in cinematography adn editing, tho--not just with Trek. Being a gen X or Gen y viewer (which I refer to as being a Spielberg/Lucas/Henson Baby) folks process visual information faster. So cuts are quicker, simply because the 18-30 year olds genuinely are used to fast-paced visuals. if anything, blame Sesame Street

The one thing I never did like was the Gladiator-style editing of fight scenes, involving a) acid-bypass and b) removing frames and c) kinetic action without ever shooting a master. While it orked for Ridney Scott in that oen film, it often doesn't work in all films. Even in the Bourne trilogy, which I love on t he whole, sometimes it really is too chaotic to follow, even if it does get across the sense of speed and brutality.