caffienekitty | Reaction: New Star Trek Movie

Current Mood: chipper

Entry tags:

Reaction: New Star Trek Movie

I have seen the Star Trek movie.

Now that is the way you do a reboot! Doesn't compromise canon, yet changes everything. Hello AU!! *glee* Time travel rocks! \o/

Okay, so. Wow. Random things in rough order.

Movie Theatre experience:

Due to unavoidable work crap, got to theatre ten minutes before showtime. Forgot today is Tuesday and $9.99 movie-drink-and-pop day. About 40 people in line. Foolishly decided, "What the heck, probably miles of trailers first anyway" paid for popcorn and drink, figuring everyone would be in theatres already and lines would be short. Yeah. No.

While in line-up was nearly scared to death by Jack Black poster. Am standing in line. Feel like someone is standing behind me. Glance back and see out of the corner of my eye, JACK BLACK'S GIANT FREAKING HEAD staring at me, go 'AAAH!!!!' and thereby entertain the entire snack line up. *facepalm*

Got into theatre, movie has already started, and since it's in the teeny weeny theatre now, seats are almost full. There is a seat at the back on the aisle. Man has coat on it. I try to quietly ask if it's available, he grunts no. Okay, fine. Not gonna go down into the distort-o-vision section right at the front, not gonna walk in front of people to get to a seat, so I stood.

At the back.

For the entire movie.

Well okay, not quite the entire movie, I sat down on the floor for a bit to try to juggle my notebook and the damn popcorn and drink. This would be why my butt was sticky and covered in popcorn. Also, speaking of popcorn, I have 3/4 of a bag left, which I rolled closed and shoved into my shoulder bag about half-way through because it was making me nauseous and the bag of popcorn was about two cubic feet. o.O

Oh, and the seat the guy implied was reserved? No one ever sat in it. But whatever. After a while I stopped noticing.

Movie itself:

Not sure how much I missed, when I got in, Kirk's mom was in labour and being transferred out of Sickbay and Kirk's dad was being heroic and getting everyone off the ship. Not sure why she was on the ship in the first place, but okay. Got the general gist of events to that point.

Going to be really tough to do a retroactive reaction to this due to the lack of comprehensible notes, lack of sitting (spending the last hour of the movie, standing at a very rusty 'parade rest' to keep my spine from leaping out and throttling the guy who 'saved' a seat for his coats), and lack of brain about halfway through when I could not stop grinning gap-mouthed like an idiot at the screen. So this will be scattered and random.

-Wee!Kirk in the car!!! It's awesome because the whole time travel thing making his early life quite different due to his father dying before he ever knew him, the character can be even more reckless and rebellious than original Kirk.

-*glee* at Kirk and the Kobayashi Maru! Spock authoring the Kobayashi Maru. Kirk being entirely unsurreptitious about the whole "I'm going to win it" thing. He could have been sneaky, he could have pretended to be into the scenario and win by apparent loophole in the system, but no. Kirk doesn't do surreptitious.

-The orbital HALO drop! The fact that before they hit atmosphere it was silent!!!! THE GUY IN THE RED SUIT BIT IT! \o/ And he had an accent and lines as a misdirection! Hee!

-Ninja!Sulu and the collapsible katana! \o/ So much glee!

-Holy crap, red matter is ridiculously dangerous! One drop can crack a planet! How does that even work? o.O And yet, I see a big undulating ball, I immediately think "Rover!" *shrug* The Prisoner. Yes, I'm an even bigger dork than most people know.

-Heinleinesque math-whiz Chekov!! I knew he was more than just a designated back-up victim! \o/

-Targetting system on the transporter! Screw pushing random buttons! \o/

-Spock/Uhura? Wow! Holy rare-pairing-becomes-new-canon Batman! At least I think it was a rare pairing. It was usually Spock/Chapel. Or, well, you know. ;-)

-Nero's not just making Spock pay, he's making changes to make the Romulan empire stronger, which explains everything, even Chekov being there at 17! Nero is an ambitious bugger for a guy from a Romulan mining ship! (Also, Nero, excellent acknowledgment of the old canon that for some reason, the first Romulans met in the original series had Roman names, Roman cultural elements like the title of Praetor, and a Roman mythology-based planet name. No idea whether any of that ever got explained)

-I love that time travel has made any argument about things not being like old Trek canon entirely moot. It's so awesome, I don't even care that there's so many paradoxical elements the universe should implode!

-"Get out of the chair." Heee!

-Spock frigging jettisoned Kirk onto an ice planet? Dude. That's cold. Har har. (omgyay!)

-Scotty. Censured and assigned to an ice planet. Simon freaking Pegg. Bitching about having no real food. Wearing gants. I can't even. Dude. SCOTTY!!!!! He's totally different, yet he's perfect.

-Hee at Scotty beaming out Archer's Beagle. If they do more movies (guessing that's likely) I hope the beagle turns up randomly somewhere.

-Ambassador Spock (I knew he was in it, but OMG HAI NIMOY!!) telling Kirk to go provoke his younger self into being emotionally compromised, which also crystalizes the dynamic of new!Spock more clearly, because while there have been changes on Vulcan due to Nero's influence, Spock's upbringing was likely much the same as it was before the changes. Giving Spock a tragedy of this magnitude, both on a cultural and personal level allows more dynamic in Spock's character because there is a critical incident from which emotional cracks can spread. Zack Quinto's Spock will be a very interesting character to watch the growth of.

-OMG, ENGINEERING LOOKS LIKE IT'S AN ACTUAL WORKING ENGINEERING DEPT!!! I mean wide-open spaces and clean panels and buttons and mesh and glowing tubes and stuff are fine and all but I like an engineering department to look like it's the guts of a working, actual ship, space-going, sea-going, whatever. And guts are not pristine, sterile and spacious, whether biological or mechanical.

-I cannot express my intense glee at the design of the new phasers intelligibly. It's... the whole lenses switching thing, it's almost like steam-punk. Hee!

-Rather nervous at the whole giant ball of red matter being cut loose there. I mean a drop can make a black hole that will suck up a planet. So that amount of the stuff could, what? Suck up the galaxy? Crack the universe apart? And yet they outran it, because they are the Enterprise crew and it is their job to be collectively so awesome they can outrun a universe-cracking singularity. And Scotty can make it stop.

-So much other stuff I missed. Need DVDs now.

Lists of things:

I was half keeping track of things that the rabid frothing Trek purist I know (some of you know him as ~~that jerk~~ 'Queeg') would find objectionable. Actually things that would make his head explode. Either like Scanners or like a Lemming on countdown mode. "Oh Noes!" *POF!* Confetti everywhere.

Queeg is a guy who refuses to hear "Enterprise" spoken of in the same breath as Star Trek because it had Imperial Klingons landing on earth in the first episode. Queeg will never ever know how awesome this movie is, because he will only see that it is not his canon, and if he does actually see the movie, he'll walk out before the whole time travel thing really kicks in, and refuse to hear anything about it, except to deride it. His loss.

Things that would make Queeg's head go *POF!*:

-Uhura knows Romulan. Actually any reference to Romulans would do Queeg in.
-The green Orion girl in Starfleet Academy.
-Chekov on board, at all.
-Spock/Uhura
-The slightest mention of Cardassian anything
-That starship with four nacelles

But I stopped keeping track, because delightful as it is to imagine Queeg's head exploding, I couldn't keep up with the awesome.

Also, since, as few of you may know, I used to be a hardcore Trekkie, several things made me misty.

Things that made me misty in the movie:

-First conversation between Kirk and McCoy. 'Coz the guy doing McCoy got him right. (Was that Karl Urban?)
-First sight of the Enterprise. 'Coz I am a sap.
-The blue, red and yellow uniform shirts. \o/
-Original Spock. Like I said, I knew Nimoy was in it due to spoilers, but... yeah.
-Scene between Original Spock and Reboot Spock. Passing the torch. That's what it looks like.

Things that made me misty other than in the movie proper:

-Majel Barrett Roddenberry's voice of computer credit.
-Oddly, Mark Okrand credit for Romulan and Vulcan language consulting.
-Dedication at the end of the credits in memory of the Roddenberrys
-A random boy of about fourteen saying fervently to his dad on the way out that he wanted to watch all of Star Trek ever made right away. I can't even explain why, but that got me.

Overall

They can do more movies in this 'verse and I will watch them, and probably buy the DVDs.

This movie? That is the way you do a frigging reboot of a long-standing franchise. Honour and acknowledge what's past, and make a new path into the future. That kicked ass.

Am I a Trekkie again? ... we'll see. If it turns out I am, I'm sure as hell not telling Queeg. :-P

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Sounds like the 10$ were worth it ;) But seriously a theatre where there are not enough seats?!

It definitely was. There were more seats way down in front and scattered through the rows, but I didn't want to bother people by walking in front of them to get to them, and I don't like sitting that close to the screen. If the movie hadn't already started, I would have found a seat.

I'm so glad you liked the movie!! I was hoping you would. :) And this review was EPIC! And I want to go and kick that guy with the coats in the ASS for you.

I'm so glad you liked the movie!! I was hoping you would. :) And this review was EPIC!

Thanks! :-)

And I want to go and kick that guy with the coats in the ASS for you.

It was annoying, but like I said, after a while I stopped noticing. The movie was that awesome.

LOL!! SEE!!! Told you it was awesome! The guy with the coat was an ass.

First sight of the Enterprise. 'Coz I am a sap. Made me more than misty...I just flat out cried. Quietly, so as not to scare anyone near me. Though I think the woman a few seats over was also wiping her eyes :)

Made me more than misty...I just flat out cried. Quietly, so as not to scare anyone near me. Though I think the woman a few seats over was also wiping her eyes :)

Gaaaah I know! It's like a conditioned response. :-D

When I left the theater, my first thought was "WHEE! I wanna go again."

Me too, but the ten bucks was literally all the money I had.

I loved the movie so much I broke one of my cardinal rules and *ahem* acquired a crappy copy just to re-watch it again and again RIGHT NOW because I couldn't wait for the DVDs. Which I will buy, no question about it.

But it really is one of those you need to see on the big screen, at least once.

Oh yeah. It's a big movie effects wise, and those are always best on the big screen.

Yay! *claps* And wiping away a tear or two on your behalf because apparently I am an empath? But not so much that I could sway you to feel otherwise, just enough that your enjoyment of your "trek universe", of which I have absolutely no knowledge, makes me happy and weepy too. :)

Sorry you had to stand though, and be distracted by annoyance at a major tool.

I may have searched for Star Trek episodes to record on the dvr recently to see what all the fuss is about. ;)

Sorry you had to stand though, and be distracted by annoyance at a major tool.

Meh, like I said, the movie was so awesome I stopped noticing partway through.

I may have searched for Star Trek episodes to record on the dvr recently to see what all the fuss is about. ;)

There is a lot of Trek out there. 3 season original series, 7 season Next Generation, several seasons each of Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise, ten movies, and a fandom that's been psychotically active since 1966. I've seen all of the original series, most of Next Gen and bits of the other series', and all the movies. I fell out of fandom with Trek somewhere along the line, so I didn't follow the later series' as much.

Star Trek is one of those things that's integrated itself with western culture. Once you start watching, particularly the original series, I bet you'll be surprised at how much of it is familiar.

Can't believe you had to stand up throughout the movie! There are some times you really need to be accompanied by Dean Winchester.

Despite that, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And I hadn't realised Majel Barrett Roddenberry had passed away! That makes it even more awesome that they used her voice for one of the computer sequences!

I took me ages to recognise Karl Urban as McCoy! (I finally recognised him from his eyebrows believe it or not!) He did a great job with the accent!

Can't believe you had to stand up throughout the movie! There are some times you really need to be accompanied by Dean Winchester.

Then we'd have needed two seats, though. Damn, this would be a fun movie to watch with Dean, wouldn't it? :-D

Despite that, I'm glad you enjoyed it! And I hadn't realised Majel Barrett Roddenberry had passed away! That makes it even more awesome that they used her voice for one of the computer sequences!

She did, while they were doing the movie. I think there was more of her in the original plans, but that was not to be. :-/

I took me ages to recognise Karl Urban as McCoy! (I finally recognised him from his eyebrows believe it or not!) He did a great job with the accent!

I still miss DeForest Kelly. I was so sad when he died. Karl Urban really nailed the character, and in spots, the expressions and line delivery were a perfect match. Same for all the cast, really; being a character that had already been portrayed by someone else, yet still making it their own ans making the changes in the 'verse come through in their take on the character. They really did do a great job.

Yaaaay!

I'll admit, I'm a Star Trek noob: I've only ever seen a few episodes of TOS (although I want to see more now!), but I really loved this movie. SO MUCH. Must be a completely different experience, seeing it from your perspective, though!

Was that Karl Urban? Yes! And just how awesome was he? *glee*

Simon Pegg = ♥

Must be a completely different experience, seeing it from your perspective, though!

There was quite a lot of stuff that were nods to prior series' and such-like that were cool that might be missed by a new viewer, but really, it was fantastic on it's own merits. Knowing the previous series makes it easier to see how much messing around Nero had to do to bring it all to this point.

Yes! And just how awesome was he? *glee*

I never, ever would have thought of Karl Urban for Dr. McCoy, but he completely nailed the character, even though physically he has a lot more muscle mass and height than DeForest Kelley had. His accent was great, his demeanor was great. I still can't believe it. I'd heard he was in it but I though he was playing a bad guy.

Simon Pegg = ♥

Abso-fucking-lutely.

Ok so I am heading for tooth-drilling session soon but I had to say--I am sooooooooo glad that you loved it!! I also started crying and getting misty at random moments(including seeing the ship), I just couldn't help it. The casting was so brilliant--just, yes. I also take out katana and shred the **^&$#$*&'s coats and threaten his person in general--some people, geeze. Now you know why Steen saw it 6 times..lol I wish I could go again too. Wheee! You went!!!

Hugs

Hope your dental thing went well. I really do wish I could see it again. Back when I was a kid, I'd see a movie in the theatre just about every week. My allowance would pay for that and a used book. Movies I liked, I saw three times in the theatre. I want to do that with this one. Darn this whole being an adult thing anyway. :-P

Being an adult is highly overrated--too many things that need paying, and not enough money for books and movies;) Winning the lotto is definitely in order.

Hugs

So, after all that fuss I think I have to watch the move, too. My parents are taking the kids so I 'only' have to persuade my lazy-as-hell huseband

He'll love it. Seriously, if he's even remotely a standard-issue guy, he'll love the movie. Do you get a dubbed version in theatres over there, or subtitled?

Dubbed. Well I could go and watch in english but no way my huseband would join. He's too lazy to do foreign languages if there is an easy way round ;D (We always have this fight about watching SPN - I HATE the german version btw - HATE HATE HATE...)

(We always have this fight about watching SPN - I HATE the german version btw - HATE HATE HATE...)

I've heard clips of the German dub and I don't blame you, the voice casting is awful. Isn't one of the boys voiced by a woman?

*lol* No, but they sound WAY too young AND (that's the worst thing): remember S2 where Sam get's drunk on a job? (Playthings) Jared slurrs: "Ya bossy." German-dubber says very clearly: "Du bist herrschsüchtig." No one would say it like that if he was drunk (domineering is not even posh enough to cover the german translation used). Another example? Asylum S1: Jensen nearly gags when opening the casket where the Doctor's body is in. German-dubber stays SILENT. *argl* That's the reason I read english books and watch english DVDs. Sorry for rating, awful dubbing is my weak point.

Gaaaah! Yeah, that would be frustrating.

My Trek relationship is remarkably like yours. I was in college during later seasons of TNG so I kinda lost the thread there, but still tuned in over summers and caught many of the seminal episodes. I liked DS9 but again, lost track during the year I didn't have a TV. I've seen episodes of Voyager and Enterprise, but evidently completely forgot that Tim Russ played a Vulcan (because I was scratching my head at black Vulcans - duh!). Oh - and I forgot to say that I've seen *most* of the movies. I may have missed some of the later ones. But ST3: Search for Spock is one of the first films I remember my mother and I going to see opening night because we HAD to know what happened after Wrath of Khan!

So I came into this very skeptical. I'd heard about the time travel and was all "Meh" about it. But they really did a good job of acknowledging while simultaneously building their own 'verse. And Hell Yes, Karl Urban you fabulous bastard. He NAILED McCoy - probably the best of all of them at capturing the spirit of his original actor.

(I was also amused that Ambassador Spock's ship was a Firefly model.)

But Spock/Uhura bugged the living shit out of me. Poor Nurse Chapel. Of course now we know why she didn't want to kiss Kirk in that episode with the Greek gods....

Edited 2009-05-27 20:24 (UTC)

But Spock/Uhura bugged the living shit out of me. Poor Nurse Chapel. Of course now we know why she didn't want to kiss Kirk in that episode with the Greek gods....

Thing is, I doubt Spock/Uhura probably happened in the pre-Nero 'verse, at least not to that level of intimacy. They were friends, and shared musical interests, and it probably didn't go farther than that, because in the Prime 'verse, Spock identified more as Vulcan. He mostly succeeded at it because he didn't have this critical incident of his homeworld being collapsed into a singularity and watching his mother disappear from in front of him and both be gone forever. Uhura didn't watch that happen to him and make that advance. In Prime 'verse, their relationship likely never advanced beyond the abstract possibility, and Uhura probably didn't push it out of respect for Spock's culture.

This 'verse, the rules are different, both in character specifics and in world dynamics.

Also, Chapel/Spock was pretty one-sided. ;-)

Ah, but you're assuming, as I did at first, that they weren't an item before she kisses him in the turboshaft.

Go back to the scene where she tells him to reassign her to Enterprise. They're already doing it. He's way whipped and does what she says too quickly.

The little ripples had already spread out pretty far for her to be able to wrap him around like that....

'M just sayin'.

The little ripples had already spread out pretty far for her to be able to wrap him around like that....

Given the way they've used time travel in this case, it would not surprise me. Earth has Cardassian drinks, which unless the Federation had really stepped up its game, they shouldn't for over a hundred years. With the Romulans more active, the Federation is in a more volitile position regarding potential threats and fighting. 17-year-olds being on starships, no matter how good they are at math. Applying to Starfleet Academy being as simple as getting on a shuttle craft. These things weren't the case in Prime-verse, and indicate a greater need for military personnel than they had in that 'verse. Greater need for Military personnel means greater loss of military personnel. That level of risk is often enough to push people to form tighter interpersonal bonds than they would ordinarily risk.

Spock and Uhura's relationship pre-incident would have been while she was at the academy and she was a teacher. I didn't read 'sexual relationship' into that scene, I read 'teacher-favoured student', but I don't see implied sexual relations very well because that's not how I think. If they were more than student-teacher, I still do not think it had progressed very far into the physical stage, if at all. Saying it was sexual at that point also makes Uhura look like she got on board Enterprise due to sexual favours and weakens her legitimate argument that she's the best candidate and is an implication I do not like.

People can be close friends and not want to show favouritism, and students who are favoured by teachers can be subject to reverse-favouritism too. She argued logically, he accepted a logical argument. Personally, I don't think they were together as a couple at that point, or at least not physically. But that's my opinion, and yours is just as valid as mine :-)

Also, Chapel/Spock was pretty one-sided. ;-)

Well, rewatch the original series - It's *way* from one-sided ;) But you have to look very carefully because it really ist not an obvious thing. Sadly I'm not able to point at the episoded right now, last time I watched is about 2 years in the past... :(

I love this movie so much, I'm going see it a fourth time later today. *glee*

I've watched the first four original movies; the whale one is my favorite.

Voyage home was a really fun one. It kind of completes the arc started in Wrath of Kahn, and it's half crack. Plus, critically injured Chekov is my favorite flavor of Chekov. :-)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Reaction: New Star Trek Movie

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Wahooooo!!

Re: Wahooooo!!

Re: Wahooooo!!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject