As previously promised — or threatened, depending on your point of view — I have more to say about that new Star Trek movie that everyone’s loving on. Before I get wound up, I’d like to reiterate again that I really did enjoy the movie, so don’t misunderstand my criticisms of it. But you know, everyone is raving about how great it was, and I, in my usual contrarian, stubborn-old-fanboy way, just can’t let that stand without argument. Because while it was better than I expected, there were a lot of not-so-great things about it.
Even though it’s been out two weeks now, I’m going to assume that spoiler protocols are still in effect for some, so exercise caution in going below the fold:
I’ve now seen the new Star Trek movie a couple of times, and, for what it’s worth, my opinion remains virtually unchanged from the brief comment I made the other day.
Here’s the short and spoiler-free version: J.J. Abrams’ update of the venerable sci-fi franchise is a fun and exciting summer popcorn flick that frankly surprised me (I didn’t expect to like it at all, let alone as much as I admittedly did). However, it’s also a movie with a lot of problems, both from a film-making and screenwriting perspective, and also in terms of how well it succeeds at being, well, Star Trek.
For the spoilerized and sure-to-be-incredibly-nerdy longer version, voyage below the fold…
Here’s a nifty little video I spotted over at RetroThing:
As the source blog notes:
We live in miraculous times. When Star Trek was on the air, creating the transporter effect was time consuming and expensive. These days on YouTube a guy not only beams himself into some classic Trek footage, he brings along his Theremin and does a really nice rendition of the classic theme.
I’m sure my loyal readers are wondering, so yes, I have seen the J.J. Abrams reboot movie that opened this weekend. I’m still thinking about my reaction to it. I can say that I generally enjoyed it more than I expected to, but there are many aspects of it I have problems with, not least of which is why it had to be done at all. But then, I am something of a curmudgeon on these matters. Casual fans, non-Trekkies, and The Damn Kids are going to like it just fine, I suspect. More on this subject at another time…
What follows is without a doubt the most obscure LOLcat I’ve ever posted here at Simple Tricks… possibly the most obscure one I’ve ever seen, for that matter. I think I have maybe two readers who will get this one (no need to stand or anything, you know who you are). But I get it, and I think it’s pretty damn funny:
This came from our old friend, The Bad Astronomer. I believe he created it, too, the clever fellow.
(Note: If you don’t get it, I doubt an explanation will make it seem any funnier, but you can always try. Go here and here for the necessary context.)
I like Star Trek. I like Bettie Page pin-ups. Now I can enjoy both at the same time. Not everything about the 21st century sucks…
Obligatory shout-out: I picked this up from SamuraiFrog, who got it from here, where you can also get this image in sizes appropriate for your desktop. If you’re into this sort of thing, of course…
I’m late in commenting on this, so I’m sure everyone reading already knows that Majel Barrett Roddenberry, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry and the only actor with the distinction of having appeared, in some form or other, in every incarnation of the long-running franchise — including the Saturday-morning cartoon in the early ’70s and, reportedly, the upcoming remake film — died last week after a short fight with leukemia. She was 76 years old.
You’d never guess from the usual content of this blog, but I’m not always comfortable with my own fanboyism, especially when it comes to revealing the depths of my attachment to the nerdy stuff that consumes so much of my attention. Still, I have to admit that I flinched when I heard this news. Another of the original crew gone…
For many years, it’s been something of a parlor game among the nerdy classes to speculate on what would happen if one of the starships Enterprise from the Star Trek franchise faced off in battle against an Imperial Star Destroyer from Star Wars. In fact, this particular hypothetical has been such a common topic of discussion in sci-fi fan circles that it’s become a tremendous cliche: Much like those 2 a.m. college dorm-room discussions in which someone suggests that maybe, just maybe, our lives are only dreams and none of the other people in the room are real and how damn trippy would that be?, it’s the topic that everybody has encountered at some time or another.
The outcome of this debate is both inevitable and inconclusive: it ultimately comes down to simple partisanship, i.e., which franchise the debaters happen to be a bigger fan of. The Trekkies usually cite Star Trek‘s defensive shielding technology (which seems to be lacking or at least far less impressive in George Lucas’ universe) and the seemingly infinite flexibility of phaser weapons as the decisive reason why the Enterprise would kick butt. Meanwhile, the arguments of Star Wars fans (Warsies?) usually depend on the sheer scale of Imperial machinery and the brute force commanded by those British-sounding guys in gray.*
This video (one of the better-made ones I’ve seen in this particular sub-genre) introduces a hitherto ignored factor into the equation:
Picard and those guys on the Enterprise sure are smug bastards, aren’t they? You think whoever made this clip was making a comment about the Trekkies he’d encountered? (Seriously, there’s a subset of Trekkies that can be downright insufferable… Star Wars fans generally seem to be a lot more relaxed about their pet obsession, as long as you don’t mention Jar Jar Binks.)
* For what it’s worth (and at the risk of sounding even geekier than I did when I analyzed the provenance of the USS Kelvin the other day), I tend to side with the Warsies on this one. It’s been established time and time again that the Enterprise‘s deflectors can only take so much abuse, so I think the Empire could win simply by dropping a hundred or so TIE fighters to pound away at the Big E while the Destroyer hangs back out of phaser range. The TIEs would be too small and fast for the E to efficiently take down with its artillery-scale phaser banks; meanwhile, the fighters’ weapons might be puny against the E’s shields but they would take their toll. It might take all day, but eventually the shields would collapse; then a couple of well-placed turbolaser blasts and it’s back to Coruscant for a round of cold ones with Palpatine… but that’s just my theory.
It looks like the publicity machine for the Star Trek remake is really starting to crank up. First, there’s a slightly re-edited version of The Trailer floating around, which features a glimpse of an elderly-looking Leonard Nimoy as Spock. This version of the trailer is reportedly an exclusive gift from Paramount to Ain’t It Cool News, but naturally it’s already escaped into the wild and can be seen in a lot of different places, including here. I understand it’s not intended to be shown in theaters, so if you’re curious, you’ve got to watch it online. (Be aware that it’s not all that different from the trailer you’ve probably already seen; they’ve just shuffled a couple scenes around and added a moment with Nimoy right at the end.)
The other noteworthy item for today is a cool website that’s just gone live, a promotional tie-in with Intel that provides an interactive tour of the USS Kelvin (that’s the starship we see getting pounded to bits in the trailer). The site is nicely designed (it’s done up like a shipyard) and I thought it was pretty fun to play with. I presume more information will get added to it in the coming weeks (like maybe a tour of the new Enterprise?).
I don’t know… I’m still dubious of this whole project, but I’ll admit that my resolve is beginning to weaken. That interactive tour of the Kelvin has whetted my appetite and also given me some hope that Abrams might have some idea of what he’s doing after all. To explain, I’m going to have to go all uber-geeky on you, so if you were repelled back in college by those sniffly guys who always sat by themselves in a far-off corner of the student union obsessing over imaginary objects, you might want to come back later.
I’ve placed a couple images of the Kelvin below the fold, along with my nerdy remarks. Some of the details I’ve been able to glean could be considered spoilers, so beware.
I’ve been dithering over an entry on J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek remake for weeks, ever since that first batch of production photos hit the Web. I had lots to say about them, but I procrastinated, let myself be distracted by other topics, and finally lost the moment. You folks out there with blogs of your own understand: it’s all about being topical, and the farther away from “current” you get, the harder it is to work up the motivation.
Then came the first photo of the revamped Enterprise, and I was off again, repeating the same cycle.* And now here we are a week past the release of the first full-length trailer (viewable here, if you’ve somehow missed it), and everybody in the blogosphere has weighed in on the thing except me. I hate being behind the curve and frankly don’t know what I’ve got to contribute that a million other people haven’t already said, but I’ve had a few friends contact me and specifically ask why I haven’t written about it yet, so I guess it’s time I finally have my say.
