Has its Holes
Written: May 09 '09
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Product Rating:
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| Bang For The Buck |
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Pros: Grips you and doesn't let go until it is over. Absolutely gravitational!
Cons: Numerous incongruities between the 60's series and this version.
The Bottom Line: Touching like a Berkeley After Dark screen saver. See it but perhaps leave your recollections of the original series at home - which is hard to do.
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| lomtevas's Full Review: Star Trek |
I watched the series in the 60’s, got a degree in computer science in large part as homage to the great Vulcan commander and saw the communicator and computer enter society as essential tools albeit still in primitive and unreliable form. I await travel faster than the speed of light and I await teleportation.
I was strongly reminded of the 60’s series watching this movie (“2009”). I found myself cheering the crew and shaking my fist at the enemy. The younger characters were incredibly well cast with minor hang ups. It all felt like a 137 minute roller coaster ride that I did not want to end. There were severe distortions in the presentation which distracted my experienced eye. My children love the original series and also chimed in with their critique.
I felt the previous collection of movies were too awful, so references to “kobayashi maru” brought back bad memories of the Wrath of Khan: a re-tread of the 60’s series, Space Seed. This was the stupid tale about a frozen crook (a Spaniard who quotes Melville) whose frozen buddies try to take over the Enterprise and get banished to a desolate planet Kirk forgets about. Some of the original television series episodes are quite awful and recollections from those episodes are not positive (Journey to Babel). Gap fillers to the original story are also misplaced (Kirk’s father doing a Kamikaze into the trash truck Romulan ship – not a bird of prey – while naming his son “Jim”; the Corvette incident; Spock's mother's death while in a transporter beam). This new movie is neither a retread nor awful, but the start looked like we were in for a retread of the V’ger cloud from the 1979 bomb. Gratefully, that did not happen.
The story was chock full of fun but we did not need to see a delivery of a baby from a screaming woman aboard a shuttle craft. A Naval Captain’s wife would not accompany her husband into battle in today’s Navy. We did not need to see Kirk mount an Orion slave girl in Uhura’s dorm room. Orion slave girls are not qualified for star fleet duty: there are citizenship and academic qualifications beyond being a “genius” to get into a service academy.
Technology between the 60’s series and 2009 was completely misaligned. In the 60’s, we had technology from 300 years in the future: the communicator, the voice recognition computer, the transporter, food synthesis, ship to ground shuttle craft (Galileo 7), the tricorder analysis device and warp drive. Only on rare occasion did technology go into retrograde in the original series: a Piece of the Action (Kirk driving a 30’s roadster), or the imbecilic nazi episodes, for example
In 2009, we have our characters in their youth tapping on touch screen monitors, talking into Nokia-looking flip phones seated in an intricate looking bridge. Technological innovation not only died in 2009, but it advanced into the past: an unacceptable time dilation due to bad writing, not black holes.
Human behavior was similarly misaligned. In the 60’s series, women from 300 years in the future still curled and decorated their hair. In 2009, Uhura’s hair-do looked pathetic as if future women are supposed to look bad. Also, in the 60’s series, women were all over the place. We heard from a nurse, a yeoman, various kissing sweethearts, ambassadors and aliens with pretty faces and nice bodies. In 2009, all we get is Uhura. Boo! Even Spock’s mom gets killed off in 2009; a distortion from the original story. So, it’s a story for boys about boys?
A star ship is a naval vessel staffed with naval officers and enlisted personnel. Roddenberry captured the foibles of organizational leadership because he was a good writer and a prior naval service member and cop. No other writers who came after Roddenberry knew what they were doing.
Military discipline was severely distorted in 2009. In the 60’s series, Kirk and Uhura (a Captain and a Lieutenant assigned on the same ship) were forced to kiss under alien duress (Plato’s Stepchildren) on their planet. In 2009, Uhura goes around smooching with Spock in full view of other subordinates – so a kid would be ¼ Vulcan. Roddenberry’s dust would be warping out of orbit if he saw this. Also, in 2009, it seems that Captain Christopher Pike is leading and organizing inexperienced midshipmen while held hostage: as if by magic being able to lead them from afar. Even Patton could not do such a thing.
The costumes and make up was a mixed bag. While the young Spock was incredible in his appearance and performance, the Romulan “Nero” looked like a hippie Polish cabbie: Brooklynese accent, tattooed face, black leather and unshaven. Uhura looked ridiculous. Kirk, Bones and Scotty were phenomenal except that Kirk looked too much like James Dean/Brad Pit: not very appealing in the role of a star ship captain. Sulu was mismatched and Chekov was a complete parody of Walter Koenig's role.
Justice was also severely distorted. Kirk was brought before a tribunal to answer to conduct allegations from Spock who was sitting in the audience who had to be called forward by the tribunal. Kirk had no prior notice of the allegations and had to defend a moving legal target for which he was banned from the ship prior to judgment. Bullsh*t. In the 60’s Court Martial, we saw how the legal process was fair. Kirk had notice of the allegations of the murder of Ben Finney. Kirk had an attorney (Samuel T. Cogley) to defend him and there was no punishment preceding a final adjudication of Kirk’s innocence. In 2009, due process, even cadet due process is turned on its head.
I’ll cease now from continuing this opinion of the movie. This includes an analysis of Spock which would reveal the plot of the movie.
If you are a Trek fan, I recommend this movie after at least two shots of Saurian brandy.
Recommended:
Yes
Movie Mood: Action Movie
Viewing Method: Other
Film Completeness: Looked complete to me.
Worst Part of this Film: Script
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Epinions.com ID:
lomtevas
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Member: Peter Lomtevas
Location: New York City
Reviews written: 13
Trusted by: 0 members
About Me:
Parental Alienation Attorney practicing in New York and Georgia Family and Divorce Courts
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