Trek! (mark II)
May. 23rd, 2009 04:18 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kd7sovSo! Saw Trek last night. 3.5/4 stars.
Let's start with the previews, shall we? They were for Up (will see), 9 (probably will see, but perhaps not in theaters), Transformers 2 (might see, but likely not in theaters), G.I. Joe (might see, might not), Year One (not likely), and... I don't remember any others.
For the movie itself, my biggest gripe is the timeline. Yes, all right, there was a Romulan ship of the fyooture that showed up once and then apparently wandered off for a long time, but Chekov and probably Sulu should've been rather too young for their roles. Also the Feds knew way too much about the Romulans. I wasn't following Enterprise much, but I had the distinct impression that they were continuing to allow Kirk&co. to be the first to see a Romulan. Spock knowing that they shared ancestry with Vulcans, Pike claiming their language was similar to Vulcan: implausible.
Speaking of which, how did they know it was a Romulan ship? It was far beyond the abilities of anything anyone in the area had at the time, it had no distinguishing marks that I saw at any point, and yet everyone accepted without question that it was of Romulan make.
I didn't like how they did Scotty. In TOS he was a little gruff, although not as much so as McCoy. This movie made him a kid in a candy shop. Not happymaking for me.
Quinto!Spock was an interesting case. During the movie I didn't like him - Single Point Of Correspondence, you might say - but on reflection his lines were consistent with Nimoy!Spock. I've come to the conclusion that what I don't like is that his mannerisms and the structure of his voice are Quinto's rather than Nimoy's. On the plus side, I can now distinguish what of Sylar's characterization is Sylar, and what is Quinto.
Kirk and McCoy were spot-on. No complaints there, although I was wary after the first scene with Bones in it.
Uhura's roommate was clearly just there - or at least, just the way she was - for the Green-Skinned Space Babe trope, and she didn't do it very well. The only green race I know of in Trekverse is the Orions, who've just about always been a background-hostile group.
Chekov was pretty good, although I don't have nearly as good a handle on his voice as on any of the others. He didn't say anything about Russian Inwentions, but he's always been a comedy character and he did that well here.
But come now, Mr. Abrams. Spock/Uhura is just not on. You had someone mention Nurse Chapel; she's Spock's romantic interest. What you did was jarring.
In all, quite good. And they've done something very interesting: left themselves a completely blank slate (except for the smudge where Vulcan used to be) where they can put any sort of future projects in any medium. Bravo there.
Let's start with the previews, shall we? They were for Up (will see), 9 (probably will see, but perhaps not in theaters), Transformers 2 (might see, but likely not in theaters), G.I. Joe (might see, might not), Year One (not likely), and... I don't remember any others.
For the movie itself, my biggest gripe is the timeline. Yes, all right, there was a Romulan ship of the fyooture that showed up once and then apparently wandered off for a long time, but Chekov and probably Sulu should've been rather too young for their roles. Also the Feds knew way too much about the Romulans. I wasn't following Enterprise much, but I had the distinct impression that they were continuing to allow Kirk&co. to be the first to see a Romulan. Spock knowing that they shared ancestry with Vulcans, Pike claiming their language was similar to Vulcan: implausible.
Speaking of which, how did they know it was a Romulan ship? It was far beyond the abilities of anything anyone in the area had at the time, it had no distinguishing marks that I saw at any point, and yet everyone accepted without question that it was of Romulan make.
I didn't like how they did Scotty. In TOS he was a little gruff, although not as much so as McCoy. This movie made him a kid in a candy shop. Not happymaking for me.
Quinto!Spock was an interesting case. During the movie I didn't like him - Single Point Of Correspondence, you might say - but on reflection his lines were consistent with Nimoy!Spock. I've come to the conclusion that what I don't like is that his mannerisms and the structure of his voice are Quinto's rather than Nimoy's. On the plus side, I can now distinguish what of Sylar's characterization is Sylar, and what is Quinto.
Kirk and McCoy were spot-on. No complaints there, although I was wary after the first scene with Bones in it.
Uhura's roommate was clearly just there - or at least, just the way she was - for the Green-Skinned Space Babe trope, and she didn't do it very well. The only green race I know of in Trekverse is the Orions, who've just about always been a background-hostile group.
Chekov was pretty good, although I don't have nearly as good a handle on his voice as on any of the others. He didn't say anything about Russian Inwentions, but he's always been a comedy character and he did that well here.
But come now, Mr. Abrams. Spock/Uhura is just not on. You had someone mention Nurse Chapel; she's Spock's romantic interest. What you did was jarring.
In all, quite good. And they've done something very interesting: left themselves a completely blank slate (except for the smudge where Vulcan used to be) where they can put any sort of future projects in any medium. Bravo there.
