Subtitle: Why the new Star Trek movie is incredible.
WARNING: SPOILERS INCLUDED AHEAD!
I should first step back to when I first heard about the new Star Trek movie. It was a time after Nemesis had been released and the only thing “Trek” in the world was Enterprise. Dark, dark days. I could never get into that show at all and never really clicked with any single character.
It was bleak.
After hearing about the movie, Star Trek XI, I was EXTREMELY skeptical. The idea of going back and redoing Star Trek seemed to be the worst idea ever. I could not wipe the stench of the Star Wars Prequels from my mind and Nemesis had been a shallow copy of The Wrath of Khan.
Word for the wise: when the best movie of a franchise was created in the 80s and you are still making movies, it is time to really looks yourselves in the mirror and figure out what is going wrong (see: Star Wars and Batman). When a major portion of your fan base looks to a TV series made in 1966 (after already having four other series) as the pinnacle of the franchise … things are not looking good.
So, I was skeptical and I swore not to watch the movie in the theater at all because I didn’t want anything/one to sully The Original Series. Shatner was Kirk, Nimoy was Spock and Kelley was McCoy. Anything else was not going to do no matter what they tried.
Shoot ahead to May 2009. I had been reading a little bit here and there about the movie, but not really keeping up with things. I had religiously read about every Star Trek movie I could have possibly found prior to Star Trek XI, but this time I just let it go on its own way. I had been beaten into submission by my love of The Original Series and the failings of Insurrection and Nemesis.
However, on May 6, 2009 I just felt I had to see it. I was a Star Trek fan and even when The Phantom Menace killed Star Wars for me, I still came back for the other two prequels. I had to show my first science fiction obsession at least that much. So I set up a movie viewing with my normal cast of movie-goers. Two uncles, two brothers and myself. Kevin, the next-oldest, was not able to make it because he had another engagement.
It was the late showing on May 8, so we were all pretty tired. During the subsequent wait for the movie to begin I think each of us started to nod off a little bit. It was not looking good … not a good start in the least.
Just as it seemed we were all ready to take a closer look at our eyelids, we were thrust into to movie.
I say thrust because that is what happened. I needed to not be shown a movie, but pushed into it, dragged into it kicking and screaming. I wanted to hate this movie.
Let me repeat that for you: I WANTED TO HATE THIS MOVIE.
I wanted, with every fiber of my fan-self to get done with the movie, yawn a little bit and then say “that was terrible, Kelley is rolling over in his grave right now.” I wanted to get nit-picky and hate the actors and what they did with “my characters.” I wanted to shout about how superior TWOK and TUC (The Undiscovered Country) were to this debacle. I wanted to finally pull The Final Frontier out of the bottom spot on my list of Star Trek movies.
However, I can’t.
I couldn’t.
All I could do was sit and listen and watch the credits roll while my eyes were wide open and my mouth slightly agape.
I kept going over things I should hate and be upset about. Little things, things I tore apart other Trek movies for because I could. However, I couldn’t keep my focus.
It had been good.
Really good.
No … it had been great.
Fantastic actually.
Sitting there, I was thinking about how this movie might replace The Wrath of Khan at the top spot. I had betrayed my past and The Original Series even by thinking such a thing. The whole movie was so well done, so spectacular, so massive, so … Trek … that I had been completely immersed for the entire thing. At no point did I check my watch. At no point did I think “can they move on already.” No, I was kept wanting more and more and more.
That’s that. That’s it. That’s what happened. This movie so completely caught me by surprise that I was left speechless for a time. Granted, that usually doesn’t last long (no laughing), and then the discussion started and it was completely and utterly positive and glowing. We couldn’t believe what we had seen. My uncles had The Original Series on VHS (that’s where I originally watched it). They had watched The Wrath of Khan in the theaters along with the other nine movies. They were as “classic” as they come and yet they had the same reaction to this new movie.
Over the past couple of days worth of discussion a few things have constantly come up. I’ll tackle them now.
The Cast
Each one of us was floored by the cast and their acting. At no point did we ever say “WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!?” about any of the casting decisions. Every person seemed to be tailor-made for their character and it all came off as almost a perfect blend of paying homage to The Original Series cast and crew and adding in a new dimension. Nothing came off as copy-catting, something I was very scared of, and yet each character felt like Kirk, or Spock, or McCoy, or Sulu, or Scotty, or … you get the picture.
I can’t wait to see this crew again soon.
The Beginning
The start of the movie was the perfect introduction. The destruction of the Kelvin and the subsequent birth of James T. Kirk was the perfect start to just HOW different things were going to be. The pacing was wonderful, the cast during that scene hit their roles almost perfectly, and Eric Bana as Nero was a lot more believable than Shinzon (still one of the least-believable villains ever … IMHO). Just a strong beginning to the movie.
A Fresh Start
One of the most refreshing things about this movie, and why I can accept the whole time travel aspect, is that for once time travel messed things up and then … *GASP* … didn’t fix things. The timeline didn’t magically fix itself and so we’re now able to do whatever, whenever, wherever without having to worry about following canon directly. It was a brilliant move, and a much better way to end things thant “oh, we traveled back in time and fixed things!”
Back to the Characters
There are some fans of Star Trek who will bemoan the fact that this movie did not overtly try and chastise us for not saving whales, trying to clone things, trying to create our own habitable planet, for not setting aside old biases … you get the idea. I guess they feel that they were not preached at enough by the movie. There wasn’t a naked agenda for everyone to see and behold and endlessly talk about … well, maybe not endlessly.
Most of the discussions I have about Star Trek movies focus on only one aspect: the characters. What makes Star Trek II, III, IV, VI and VIII so great? Is it the preaching? Is it the agenda? Is it the wonderful utopia they display?
It is no on all accounts. The single theme running through all of them is strong, central, unabashed character development and interaction. They’re good movies, but they hinge on the characters. Star Trek 2009 gets back to that central core of character development and reboots the series while doing it.
These are interesting characters. We have Kirk, Spock and McCoy back in our midst along with the excellent dialog and situations brought about just by their presence. It is the strength of these characters (and the actors who portrayed them and the other crew members) on which Star Trek either succeeds or fails.
Succeeded it did.
Conclusion
Fantastic movie and highly recommend for both Star Trek fans and Star Trek non-fans. Go out and see it … now.
