Star Trek Review
May 6, 2009 by Vic HoltremanWill you like the new Star Trek movie even if you’re not a geek?
Short version: While hard core Trekkies may have some problems with it, this long time classic Star Trek fan found this reboot fun, fresh & exciting.
Screen Rant reviews Star Trek
Where to start? (This is going to be a long one, folks. If you want to skip the preamble and get right to the review itself click here.)
Some people are Star Wars fanatics, others go nuts over Transformers or X-Men. While I’m a huge Iron Man fan, Star Trek is my true love going back well over 30 years. My favorite of all the shows? The Original Series (aka TOS). You may look at it now and think it looks cheesy (however I highly recommend you check out the digitally remastered version with brand new visual effects on DVD or Blu-ray), but remember the original Star Trek is over 40 years old.
At the time the other big Sci-Fi TV show was the cheese-fest called Lost in Space – so keep that in mind as a comparison. 
I have Star Trek prop replicas on my bookshelves (some pretty damned nice ones) along with a copy of the original Star Fleet Technical Manual by Franz Joseph and a set of blueprints of the original U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 (which shows the location of a bowling alley on the ship!). I’ve memorized every episode of the original series – I can tell you which one each one is within seconds of any of them starting. And I’ve seen every movie.
Yes, I’m into Trek “canon” – tracking all the little details that tie the whole Star Trek universe together, however I’m also aware (though some fans seem to be in denial about this) that over the course of hundreds of episodes across five different series, Star Trek itself has violated its own canon many times.
Why am I telling you all this? So you have some context for my review of J.J. Abrams’, Roberto Orci’s and Alex Kurtzman’s reboot of the Star Trek universe. However this is not a review just for “Trekkies,” and that’s appropriate because neither is this film just for that group of die hard fans (among which I include myself).
Also, I did read the four part prequel comic that tells the story which leads to the events that take place in the film. If you have a chance I recommend you find it and pick it up at your local comic book store as it really fleshes out the “villain” in the film, Nero.
Some fans may disagree, but this franchise was in desperate need of a reboot, re-imagination, fresh “take” or whatever you’d like to call it. Star Trek, as a brand, was whithering on the vine and was in danger of being put on the shelf for who knows how long – until Paramount might decide enough time had gone by to give it another go. This was due to a number of factors, among which included the subsequent series being taken in directions by Rick Berman (and to some exent, Brannon Braga) that the fans did not agree with. Essentially it was a case of “the fans don’t know what’s good for them – we’ll tell them what they want.”
From this we gained the ignoble death of Captain Kirk in a transition movie with a stupidly weak plot device, Star Trek: Voyager, the Lost in Space of Trek, progressively crappier movies and finally Enterprise: At least an attempt at something fresh in Trek, which unfortunately went off in some half-assed direction – and Manny Coto’s efforts to bring the show back to what it should have been in season 4 were too little, too late.
So… when it was announced that the new film would go back to before the original series crew had met I was both excited at the prospect and terrified of how it might turn out. I mean we’re talking about recasting iconic roles. Bill Shatner? Leonard Nimoy? DeForest Kelly and James Doohan?
Sacrilege!
But I tried to be cautiously optimistic over the course of very early news, pre-production and through the production. I listed this film as my most anticipated of the year…
And I was NOT disappointed.
So finally – the review…
Click here to continue reading our Star Trek review…
Our Rating:
4 out of 5
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Whoops, I meant Garek, like Sarek, sorry!
Hahaha, I think you’re all having a bit too much fun with italics and bold ;P
~Ingenue
@ Ingenue:
Just a guess – Is this how you underline? I think it is!
~Johnny
You are so right, waaaaaay too much fun!
L8r…
Hmmmm, nope, that didn’t work…Oh, well.
@ Johnny
Underline is a ‘u’ instead of ‘i’ or ‘b’ and if you want strike out, it should be ‘strike’.
Let ussee.~Ingenue
Hmm well underline didn’t work, so I’m not sure sorry.
~Ingenue
@ Ingenue:
Well, what the hell, if I ever wanna raw a line through something, I’m covered, HAHAHAHAHAHA!
Funny, that’s what I thought the whole purpose of using a computer was for! Right? I mean, think about it…
Anyway, I just appreciate your help in learning how to bold and italicize things up, sweetness…you and Fury, he showed me how to italicize, just sub an i for a b. Apparently that doesn’t work for underlining, I tried that…
How’ve you been? Are you having a good day so far? Still shutterbugging?
Let me go find an FROA for yoiu for today -
“233. Every dark cloud has a Latinum lining.” – Good advice if you happen to be an umbrella salesman, lol!
!johhny~Johnny
@ Ingenue:
HEY, that works, it drew a line through my mistake!
It’s actually harder to do than just type it over, never thought I’d say that…lol. Thanx for your help, kiddo.
~Johnny
Fury and Johnny, glad you mentioned Garak! Like Voyager I only watched DS9 sporadically, but I was so surprised when I found out it was Andy Robinson under that makeup. Creepiest, villain, ever as Scorpio, and apart from Hellraiser I’d not seen him in anything else. Always wondered what happened to him after Dirty Harry.
@ Big Dentist:
Hey, mate! Good to hear from ya!
Yeah, that’s what I meant, thanx for telling it straight on the Dirty Harry character – Scorpio, I confused that in my mind with the Zodiac killer, who was a real-life serial killer – I was impressed with how he paid a man to beat the crap out of him just to burn Detective Callahan on the 11 oclock news – !
PSY-CHO!
Anyway, did not know he was also in that Hellraiser movie – was he the one who played Pinhead? Or am I confused again? I only saw part of it on TV; not really into horror all that much, unless it’s Alien or Aliens, they being Sci-Fi horror.
Good to hear from you again, Big D!
~Johhny
@ Big D:
BTW, m’friend, my latest ST quote is from a TOS episode, and is as follows:
“He’s not your intellectual equal, any more than I am…”
Any thoughts on the matter? No one’s got it yet.
~Johnny
PS: Forgive me, I just learned how to embolden & italicize, I can’t stop doing it now that I know how, hahahahaha!
L8r!
That was Doug Bradley as Pinhead, Johnny, though Andy Robinson would have been an inspired choice in that role. I mean, if you’re typecast you’re typecast! He was Frank’s brother Larry in that – still pretty creepy.
And you are right, Scorpio was partly based on the Zodiac killer, hence the name.
Still thinking about the quote!
@ Big Dentist:
Well, I hate to give it away, but I will offer this one enigmatic clue –
It was from the second (I believe) season of TOS, but it involved a plot device that was to become a resident theme of TNG.
You really have to give it to Fury2701 for coming up with this idea, you know what I mean?
Happy brain-wracking! Bwhahahahahaha! I love this!
~Johnny
@ Johnny
Hey you never know when you might want to have a line through your text. I use it quite regularly.. not on here obviously, but other places.
“249. Respect other culture’s beliefs; they’ll be more likely to give you money”
Well their intentions might not be the best, but hey it’s better than them not respecting other culture’s beliefs at all, haha.
~Ingenue
@ Johnny
Woops, I forgot to actually say the “here’s my FROA for the day” bit. Oh well, you’re a smart man, I’m sure you could figure that out.
~Ingenue
@ Ingenue:
Huh?
Jus tkidding, lol!
~Johnny
Spa cin g…
@ Ingenue:
Yeah, there’s an old saying, as per #249:
“You can get more flies with honey than you can with vinegar…”
Unless you are Barack Obama – then you just remember the teachings of Mr Miagi, grab your chopsticks, and go “Hai!!”, hahaha!
That’s an old ‘Karate Kid’ reference, sort of an inside joke about an interview with Prez Obama last week – he was getting, well, bugged, and hauled off and nailed a huge persistent horsefly in the White House, and I just had to share it.
Quite a lot of sport was made of the old Karate Kid movie, wheen it was shown that, yes, a man who can catch a fly with a pair of chopsticks can do just about anything. O’course, BHO did not use chopsticks; if he had, he might not’ve gotten a poison pen email from PETA, over the death of the fly – NO KIDDING!
Can you believe that? Hahahaha!
~Johnny
@ Johnny
Omg I couldn’t believe how everyone was up in arms about that. I mean come on it’s a freakin fly, for goodness sake. What has the world come to *shakes head*
~Ingenue
@ Ingenue:
Sometimes I think some oeople & organizations just have to make themselves heard if it means getting into the news, even if it means making a fool out of yourself. A part of me admires organizations like the ASPCA, I love animals but I won’t ever give up eating meat – a group like PETA, I’m sorry, they are just beyond the pail!
I’m pretty sure even they don’t care about some damn fly, but some Press a**hole probably said something, somebody else just assumed, and the next thing you know they were releasing a statement, likely not a scintilla of truth to any of it – but with them, you just never know, hahahaha!
Goodnight, sweetie.
~Johnny
Whoops! I meant ‘people beyond the pale’.
I’m tired, my only excuse!
~Johnny
@ Johnny
Yeah it’s rediculous.
‘Night, dear friend.
~Ingenue
@Johnny
that quote sounds like Flint talking to Rayna, but I thought he said, “He is not your intellectual equal, nor mine”.
You could try this to underline.
Are you all kidding? PETA got upset because of that scene in Karate Kid? It wasn’t even a frakking animal, it was an insect! So I guess if a mosquito bites you, just let him suck away, don’t squash him. And, I’m sorry, a mouse or rat in my house is toast!
Oh wait, I belong to PETA: People Eating Tasty Animals.
I agree with Kahless on the quote, now that I’m awake and cogent.
Also, there is an old saying: just because one can does not mean one must. Yes, HTML supports bold, underline, italics, strikethrough, and several other tags. However, this bulletin board program does not recognize all of them, which is why the “u” tag doesn’t work. Kahless tricks it (cleverly) into thinking a word is a URL, but that aside, it might cause problems if someone tries to click on it. And for people like me (A.K.A. lazy in the morning) it’s kind of difficult to read all of the posts in email because the source code is there with all of the b, u, i, strike, and other code in place. Not that I want to stifle creativity, but must it be used in almost every post? I’m going to have to start doling out prescriptions for Retinox-5.
Cheers,
~Doc
@DOc
“I’m allergic to Retinox-5″
Maybe a good Romulan aile would be better.
I hope smilies are OK.
Kirk to McCoy – ST:II.
Oh – wait. Was that a quote?
@Fury
Nope, that wasn’t part of the game. Sorry, no prize for you. I know to really wanted one of my famous prizes but alas, Johnny has not confirmed whether I got his quote right.
@ Kahless:
Hi, John (and everyone), OLLLLD retired guy here, it’s past noon and I’m just now having coffee & a smoke, so sorry to keep you all waiting –
Yes, Kahless, you nailed it right away! It was Flint (John Daly, father of Tim & Tyne, btw) who said that to the lovely Rayna Kapec the android in ‘Requiem for Methuselah’, and as usual I mangled it, my bad, you got the wording exactly right too. Bonus points!
In view of Steve’s observation about wading thru’ hypertext in one’s mailbox, that is the last time I am using it unecessarily, hahahaha!
Oh, and Kahless – PETA (People for The Ethical Treatment of Animals) didn’t make a fuss about the scene with the fly in ‘Karate Kid’; I don’t believe they even existed then – but I wouldn’t be surprised if those wingnuts had! They were complaining about the Prez smashing one during the John Harewood interview, with his lighning fast reflexes. In all fairness their heart wasn’t in it, lol.
Personally, I like your version – People Eating Tasty Animals; at heart (dietarily at least) I AM A KLINGON!!! Okay, one last time. I like that very much! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Very good, John!
“This is your captain. You are now free to quote around the cabin”, lol.
Good catch, warrior!
@ Doc: for the sake of avoiding email alphabet soup, I will show some restraint when it comes to hypertext, Paisan. You are soooo right, just because one can doesn’t mean one must.
Well, gonna fix m’self some brunch now, have a good day out there, one & all.
~Johnny