I’ve never been much of a trekkie. Or a trekker, or whatever they like to call themselves. If I’m flicking through channels looking for something to watch and I come across an episode of the original series, or The Next Generation, then I might sit and watch it. But I don’t go out of my way to track it down. I suppose I know quite a bit about Star Fleet chronology but I don’t care enough to get upset when the writers ignore it.
I can’t remember the last time I saw Trek film at the cinema (it might have been Generations) but I was interested enough to take myself along to see the new film this evening. I’m not going to give a detailed review, but here are some thoughts that struck me as I was watching it.
- Nice to know that bars are still exactly the same two hundred years in the future (and they serve the same drinks too).
- Nice to see the green-skin woman from the original series’ credits finally getting a speaking part.
- Was the woman on the bridge with the pointy hairstyle supposed to be Yeoman Rand?
- Actually Spock and Sylar are very similar characters.
- Why cast Winona Ryder and then make her up to look 50?
- Red matter? What the hell is that?
- Was that Hoth where Kirk crash-landed?
- Doesn’t Leonard Nimoy look old?
- Uhura and Spock? Oh, come on. That’s just silly!
Ok. So at the end of the film, we’ve got the gang together and they’re running the Enterprise. But we’re in a timeline that’s different to the one we’ve seen before. It’s a bit like the 2005 re-invention of Doctor Who (particularly with the loss of both Galiifrey and Vulcan). Oh, and there are two Spocks around. Anything can happen and it doesn’t have to match up with the history that we’ve come to know over the last forty years.
You know, I honestly don’t know whether or not I liked it. There was a lot to like. And plenty of in-jokes for the old-time fans. But, to me, it didn’t really feel like Star Trek. But I’m not sure whether that’s a bad thing.
Very strange. I don’t think I can remember ever feeling so ambivalent about a film.
great title
Uhura and Spock isn’t quite as silly as it might look. In TOS she was as close as Spock got to a romance (not counting Nurse Chapel lusting after him, or the effects of weird alien flowers).The world has moved on since the 60s, and it is far (far, far, far!) more acceptable for a woman to make romantic advances towards a man — and when the man is Spock, the woman has to do that if she is to get anywhere.