spockI confess, I am and have always been a closet Trekkie. Until now, only my closest friends knew and they were all sworn to secrecy. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve done other extremely geeky things in my youth such as code in basic, read fantasy novels, operated my own BBS, and even played Dungeons and Dragons … ok forget that last one, I’m not ready to confess that just yet.

Moving right along, so I’ve been a Trekkie since the first episode of The Next Generation and have never looked back since. I even like the ill-received Enterprise series. Now that you know all of this, it won’t come as a surprise that I had milk coming out my nose when a Star Trek reboot movie was announced about a year ago. Strangely,  I wasn’t even drinking milk at the time.

Just like 97% of everyone out there, I loved the movie! I wouldn’t say it was the perfect Star Trek big-screen adaptation possible, but it’s definitely the best fan-service Star Trek movie to date! In fact, even I have very few complaints and criticisms about … shocking, I know.

The movie featured by far the best casting possible for the roles! I couldn’t have imagined a better Spock, Sulu, and McCoy to pick up where the originals left off. Kirk, Scottie, and Uhura might not have been perfect in terms of adaptation, but they were incredibly well re-imagined and did grasp and build on the essence of the characters. In short, all of the characters were either perfect interpretations or actual improvements to the cast in the original series! What more could a Trekkie ask for?

CORPORATE HEADQUARTERSA co-worker of mine complained that the movie was not true to the Star Trek Universe’s cannon. To that I say “GOOD”. Although I’ve been a long time Trekkie, I’ve often rolled my eyes when it came to inconsistencies the series writers often shoved down our throats. In The Next Generation, why did Counselor Troy sometimes have the power to sense life a planet’s distance away and the general emotions of everybody on that planet, and sometimes couldn’t ‘feel’ the emotions of a single humanoid sitting in front of her. I’ll tell you the answer: Bad writing. The only way this movie could have stayed truly consistent with the STU’s cannon would be to contradict it so wrap your mind around THAT paradox for a while.

That’s not to say all of the writing in the movie was perfect. Far from it. Why were black holes sometimes traveled object through times and sometimes destroyed them? Why did Kirk find Spock Prime on the same planet he happened to be stranded on? And why did the unlikely duo happen to stumble upon Scotty? There were plot issues and huge coincidences aplenty but they STILL paled in comparison to the usual mistakes the franchise makes and so are almost forgivable.

In short, the movie was a lot of fun and is truly a must see for fans and non-fans alike. Long time fans will die laughing at all the self-directed jokes and popular culture references to the franchise such as Kirk sleeping with a green alien, the away team member with a red shirt dying, and the numerous one-liners taken word for word from the original series. People new to the franchise will enjoy the Hollywood-caliber action sequences, special effects and dialog. Watch it with an open mind and you won’t be disappointed.

star_trek_crew

Related posts:

  1. Star Wars: The Clone Wars, worth watching?
  2. 10 Reasons why Enterprise just didn’t work…
  3. Superman Returns was made by Marvel?
  4. Soul Calibur 4 review
  5. King of Fighters 12: A Rough Reboot