Star Trek (2009)

[detourne_me]

OK, This movie was AWESOME!
like a great roller coaster ride from the get-go.  and a rerally smart way to keep in in canon but with the freedm to expand the franchise.  just amazing, i'm a born-again trekkie.

[yell0w_lantern]

I am now cautiously optimistic regarding this movie.

As far as Arwen being a GRRRRRRL - they had her riding around on horseback in the Troll Shaws to save the hobbits from Nazgul and getting the drop on strider with a stinking scimitar. She was never a warrior in the books. The only warrior women in the books were the Rohirrim. I felt that it was a glaringly obvious and poorly done imposition of a modern sensibility on the character. Come to think of it, I also thought the way they insinuated that the pipe tobacco was pot was rather ham-handed and in poor taste.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Sorry, YL, but you are dead wrong there.

Tolkien does say in his books that female elves sometimes are warriors along with the men.  They can be if they choose to be, but most are kept out of battle because they are treasures as the future mothers of elves.  Since elves seem to multiply more slowly than humans, this appears to make a lot of sense.

You are correct that Arwen is no where said to be a warrior, though.

Come to think of it, I also thought the way they insinuated that the pipe tobacco was pot was rather ham-handed and in poor taste.

I saw no such indication, although it may be because of my ignorance of both pipe fillers.

[BentonGrey]

Well, they made the Hobbits rather giddy and silly when they break into Saruman's "stash."  I agreed that it was pretty stupid, but there you have Peter Jackson disrespecting his audience again.  Seriously, have you ever listened to the commentaries on RotK?  He's slightly disparaging in the previous ones, but he pretty much states flat out that movie-goers are idiots who won't be able to handle any but the most blatant and obvious plot-points.  I don't know what bothers me more...that Hollywood keeps pitching movies to the lowest common denominator, or that their tactics work so disgustingly well.

[RTTingle]

Just got back from the movie...

...just go see it.  Plain and simple.

RTT

[detourne_me]

Just got back from the movie...

...just go see it.  Plain and simple.

RTT

thanks for putting this thread back on trek

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

I shall ignore that attempt at a pun, partly for my own sanity, and partly because I'm too lazy to track down and kill you.

[Sevenforce]

I made the trek to my local cinema to see it, and it was kirk-tently worth it, to see the meat and bones of it all.  (Sorry)

Quinto was spectacular as Spock, and the whole plot actually, surprisingly, for a Trek movie, made sense.

A few nitpicks:

Spoiler

1. No "I cannae do it Captain, I cannae break the laws of Physics"
2. Chekov's accent was too overdone. I mean, sheesh. Yes, once or twice it was humorous, but it was too much
3. OMG!!! I'M BLIND!!! THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT! TOO...MANY...LIGHTS!
4. "There's a Starbase nearby, lets go". So...um...why didn't you do that to begin with? I mean, staying in a cave is cool and all, but the timeline seemed to be "Spock got dumped on planet, 3 months later, attack on Vulcan, few hours later Kirk is dumped". Spock could have started walking and made it
5. So, its a Trek movie, so I practically expect this, but the laws of physics were just completely ignored and crapped all over

Other than that, pure awesome. I loved the small details, especially in regards to variety of lifeforms...

And Bones is unintentionally hilarious, if you know the lore. If not, well, his and Kirks interaction are still funny

[GogglesPizanno]

I am not a big trek fan, and was not looking forward to the movie that much, but I really enjoyed it. As a friend of mine put it... Its Star Trek done like Star Wars. Even the actors I found to be really good. I'd definitely recommend it.

I did have one big annoyance/complaint:

Spoiler

Why did Star Trek have to fall back on time travel AGAIN. That device has become such a crux for that series that it just makes me cringe and roll my eyes. And for that matter why did they have to try and somehow connect it to the original series. I understand the whole Alternate reality timeline allows them to break cannon and do their own thing without technically screwing up the event of the original show, but the whole thing is a reboot anyway, just have the confidence to reboot it. Throwing in Spock and trying to keep it connected to the original just seemed like a forced plot contrivance that they could have done without.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Sorry Googles, but that was the smartest thing they could have possibly done.  First of all, alternate realities are already Trek cannon, so die hard fans who didn't like the reboot would assume that to be the case anyways, plus they'd be angry that a reboot had been even tried.  Plus, the main Trek timeline is very long and established, with 5 series, ten movies, and numerous tie in material.  This allows them to keep it all and even optionally return to the main timeline in the future if they wanted to do another series or something, which they can now potentially do without even having to worry about potentially harming their new film franchise.

[GogglesPizanno]

Smart in the world of Star Trek perhaps, I'll give you that.

But as a general plot device in sci-fi, it's tired and overdone. The fact that its in a trek film and makes sense for that franchise doesn't prevent me from grumbling about it.

[detourne_me]

Spoiler

RE: Time Travel
It's useful not just for franchise aspects, but towards future storylines too.
I think it's rad that they went with time travel.  think about it,  Nero spent 25 years in the past,  i'm pretty sure some future tech got unleashed. also I think something may have happened that made all tech universe wide substantially improve.
For example Uhura orders a "Cardassian Sunrise" at the bar...  isn't that like a hundred years too early??
I have a feeling that this has opened up a lot of potential for new tech and designs to be used since its an alternate timeline,   the series doesn't have to be slavish to original continuity.

As for the future being bright?  I loved it,  it was still lo-tech enough that they are on the frontier, but not quite as stylized as TNG ships etc.
I think of it as "industry-grade iPod design" - really stylish but not without edges and faults

[RTTingle]

Why did Star Trek have to fall back on -a certain plot device- AGAIN.

Is is tired and overused in sci-fi?  You betcha'.  But take this into account...

- It was not done intentionally or planned.  It was a "side effect" in a failed attempt to do something else.
- The heroes didn't use this plot device to save whales.  Is it being used be a villain again?  Yup... but it's not something he planned as much as stumbled upon and dealt with.  My biggest beef with the flick is wondering what he was doing those 25 years and waiting. 
- Nothing was "fixed".  Honestly, if anything --- I find how this -certain plot device- was used, very refreshing.

RTT

[Alaric]

Saw it in IMAX. Loved it. Lots of fun.

Spoiler

Personally, I LOVED Chekov's accent. While it was thicker than the original's, and was used to humorous effect, I didn't think it was either too thick or too humorous to be believable, and I thought the actor pulled it off brilliantly.

Complaining that time travel is overused in sci-fi makes about as much sense as complaining that space travel is overused in sci-fi. It's a legitimate theme for the genre to explore. I agree that it's been somewhat overused in Star Trek, but I happen to think that its use in this case was brilliant. It's one of the few times I've ever seen time travel used in a sci-fi movie or tv show where everything about the way it was used was internally consistent. In fact, it was even scientifically plausible- as long as you subscribe to the "many worlds" interpretation of quantum theory (which really is no weirder or far fetched than any other interpretation). And, I think it was pretty much the only way to do a reboot without a) making many of the fans angry and b) opening the door to badly redone versions of classic Trek episodes.

I loved the fact that the music throughout the movie was highly reminiscent of the music in the original series.

My one, very minor quibble (aside from the bad breath of the guy sitting next to me) was that the climax seemed to be missing something. It needed something right at the moment when the villain was actually defeated- something that would make the audience incredulously say something I can't say in this forum, and, while it kind of almost happened, I felt like it missed the mark. Or maybe I'm just jaded...

Anyway, there were many, many little touches in this movie I thought were great, but I won't get into them right now. All I'll say is, it was well worth the IMAX price, and I'm glad I saw it.

[RTTingle]

Saw it on Imax myself..

... going to see it again tomorrow. 

RTT

[BWPS]

So good. Didn't have a weak point at all. Cast was perfect. And for being chock full of fan service, it totally surpassed the original series in awesome.
Maybe even Wrath of KAHN.

Tom Cruise was so great as Nero, and pretending that it was Eric Bana was weird, but I guess makes it a cool way to not credit Cruise in the secret role.

[captmorgan72]

So good. Didn't have a weak point at all. Cast was perfect. And for being chock full of fan service, it totally surpassed the original series in awesome.
Maybe even Wrath of KAHN.

Tom Cruise was so great as Nero, and pretending that it was Eric Bana was weird, but I guess makes it a cool way to not credit Cruise in the secret role.

 

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Keep in mind too, that the alternate timeline thing allows them to do pretty much anything they like.  One part of the movie from what I understand, especially I don't see how they would have dared to do otherwise.  I mean, of course

Spoiler

The destruction of Vulcan and the near extinction of the Vulcans.  Huge departure from the series there.

[Spring Heeled Jack]

Cardassians have been a long-established presence in the Alpha Quadrant, so naturally their culture has been leaving footprints all over the place for some time, even during Kirk's Academy days. I guess it's just not a big, important part of the Star Trek universe.

Spoiler

I really liked the movie, but it made me pause to think that everything after the destruction of the Kelvin has been undone. Did I misinterpret that? I mean, the destruction of Vulcan would be seismic, and certainly nothing we know from TNG onward would be intact. Er...right?

[Alaric]

Cardassians have been a long-established presence in the Alpha Quadrant, so naturally their culture has been leaving footprints all over the place for some time, even during Kirk's Academy days. I guess it's just not a big, important part of the Star Trek universe.

Spoiler

I really liked the movie, but it made me pause to think that everything after the destruction of the Kelvin has been undone. Did I misinterpret that? I mean, the destruction of Vulcan would be seismic, and certainly nothing we know from TNG onward would be intact. Er...right?

Spoiler

I thought it was made pretty clear that the time travel had created an alternate timeline. Nothing at the end undid anything- why would it have? On the other hand, since this is an alternate timeline, it doesn't affect things in the timeline we know- essentially, this is an alternate version of the Star Trek universe.

[The Hitman]

So, I gather this film is like Marvel's "Ultimate Universe" compared to the various other movies and series "616" universe?

[Spring Heeled Jack]

Okay. I thought it was an alternate universe; I just wanted to double-check and save myself the coronary.

[Alaric]

So, I gather this film is like Marvel's "Ultimate Universe" compared to the various other movies and series "616" universe?

No.

Spoiler

It's the same universe, just a different timeline- split in a different direction by events during (or, technically, just before) the (begining of the) film.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Plus major events occur in this movie in the original universe as well, meaning

Spoiler

Romulus (and likely Remus) has been destroyed and Spock is now missing and probably presumed dead, although he is actually alive and well in the new timeline.  Spock disappeared on Romulus years ago, so that likely has little impact, but the destruction of Romulus is a MAJOR event that will permanently alter the ST universe should they even return to the original one.  It would be a great starting point for a new series actually, with the Federation trying to explore the shattered and likely anarchic remains of the Romulan Empire, giving assistance, and dealing with the reprecussions.

[Spring Heeled Jack]

Yikes! That's true! It's so bizarre that they would casually allow one of the cornerstone powers of the Alpha Quadrant to be annihilated like that. And on the heels of the dramatic political strife it underwent in Nemesis, and after the Dominion War, too!

Strange. The Alpha Quadrant without the Romulan Star Empire. Isn't anything in one piece anymore?!

[The Hitman]

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification.

[Jakew]

Good movie, but I was left wondering what happened to Winona Ryder's career?

[Midnite]

Awesome movie! Did anyone see Kumar? 
What's up with the engine room? I know its the guts of the ship, but did it have to look like a factory?

[thalaw2]

Great movie!  Star Trek needed to be revamped.  The only thing really advanced about TNG is the Holodeck by today's standards.


Also....There is no replacement for Nichelle Nichols.

[Alaric]

Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'