“Star Trek” 2009 – My thoughts
May 8, 2009
Just saw the new Star Trek, here’s my initial thoughts.
Here’s my past Star Trek reviews:
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Comments (249)
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I thought it was pretty good, better than Nemesis.
Man, you are awesome James… I totally am going to see it tonight, but I thought “I wonder what James thinks of it”… I went to your site, and Blamo… you have a review… PERFECT!!!
I was really hoping you would like it as much as the reviews indicate on rotten tomatoes, but it is what it is.
Just wanted to thank you for a very prompt review that was perfect timing for me. Thanks!!
Very cool, thanks. Yes, feel free to disagree any day. Like you said, there’s my thoughts, it is what it is.
Maybe now’s a good time: what’s everyone’s favorite Star Trek movies from best to worst?
I haven’t seen it yet – I was never too big of a treky, but I do lover hearing your opinions!
As for star trek movies from best to worst, well.. The only movie I saw was the one where they had to save the whales, and I’m sure that no matter how many of them I see, nothing could get worse than that one. Blech!
James, I can’t agree with you on your nitpicking. It was an action packed ride and development of the characters could of been done so poorly and easily. Yet they all meet up in different scenarios.
And I can’t believe you’re ragging on Bones. His impression is dead on, I got lost in the movie thinking “wow these really are the early actors”.
Anyway, yeah you’re right everyone has their opinion on the movie, and I’ll state mine, just that I disagree with your view.
I haven’t seen the new movie yet, but appreciate the honest review! Too often I hear these glowing reviews of movies from people on-line, only to be severely let down when I actually see them. Indy 4 springs to mind.
It’s tough to put the Trek flicks in order from best to worst, but here’s my list…
4, 2, 3, First Contact, 6, 5, Nemesis, Generations, Insurrection, and the Motion Picture bringing up the rear. Again, I haven’t seen the new one yet though, so I’m not sure where that’d place.
[...] See the original post here: “Star Trek” 2009 – My thoughts [...]
Meh… It was ok. I’m no Trekie, I’m pretty much indoctrinated and still busy as shit trying to absorb the whole SW Universe, so I really don’t have time for Trek. Which is probably why I wasn’t blown out of my seat like my friends were, who are your above average fans of Trek. Honestly it seemed like the bigger the fan you were, the better the movie was. So many of the jokes were only laughable if you knew what they were referencing. The action was pretty good, story was ok… Acting was decent. Meh. I was expecting something more kick-ass… But overall I would give it a 78 out of 100.
Just got back from the movie and watched your review right away. I can understand some of your complaints, but I thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Many of the parts you thought were stupid were attempts to bring in a newer audience, and as old fans I think we have to understand that. Making a classic Star Trek movie today wouldn’t go well at all in the box office, but I think J.J. Abrams did the best he could. I appreciated the references to the classic movies and I think the characters were pulled off well.
I have to agree with you on the romantic relationship…wtf?
Anyway, thanks for the speedy review!
As for my favorite ST movies, i’ve only watched the original six and for me it goes:
4,2,6,5,3,1
I didn’t like the third for some reason…
I thought it was good movie–but, I’m no Trekkie, I’ve only ever seen Star Trek 4 and 8. I think what they were driving for when Kirk drives off the cliff were the severe differences between Spock’s and Kirk’s youth. I guess they didn’t have to go all out the way they did, but it’s a movie and stuff is supposed to catch your attention. I agree about the Uhura and Spock relationship though; I couldn’t tell where that came from.
im looking forward to seeing it. from the trailer it looks great and the special effects look awesome.
im not that familiar with the characters so i dont think how they have been portrayed in this movie will affect my judgement to much.
i guess they were aiming to create new fans as well as trying to please the old ones. always a hard task.
Just saw the new Star Trek as well. I don’t wanna spoil anything but as a big star trek fan you will have mixed feelings about it.
Excellent review, Mr.Rolfe. Very balanced and succinct review, I think we may have the next Ebert on our hands. I’m still unsure as to whether or not I am going to see the film in the theaters, but this movie tipped me towards the negative. Every reasonable critic out there seems to feel it’s just an “OK” movie, nothing spectacular, which makes me somewhat suspicious of those who are lavishing praise all over it. Something isn’t quite meshing. I blame it on fan starvation intoxication syndrome, akin to what happened during the first weeks of Episode One. People are starved for their Trek fix and they want it now, regardless of the content. The shinier the better. Sadly, it will take some time for reason to return and the creeping wave of buyer’s remorse to set in :p
I’m also a little weary of claims that it “had to be” this way, or that making the Trek film more a space opera than a sci-fi movie was a good and necessary decision. What use is a new creative direction if you are wholly departed from the heart and soul of the established idea?
Man I gotta be honest…I’m not a Trekkie in the slightest bit so I have no appeal to see this movie… I’ve seen some of the older films a few times, but never really latched onto it for whatever reason.
Hey James,
I saw this movie last night, too. And while I agree that they made Kirk out to be an asshole, I think it is key to remember that this is not the same Kirk. This is a Kirk who grew up in different circumstances.
In fact, I thought it was great that they explained the alternate timeline from within the movie. That explanation made the Spock outbursts and romance bearable for me and it made the seemingly non-canonical view of Kirk way more interesting.
Basically, I think in order to really completely enjoy this movie, you have to acknowledge that from the instant the Romulan ship comes on-screen, the entire Star Trek universe, from that point forward, is altered.
But I always love your reviews and I appreciate people who can articulate WHY they feel a certain way about a movie or game, so keep the videos coming.
Even though I liked this film I do acknowledge its weaknesses as you clearly pointed out. The one thing is that I think the whole heart of the film was supposed to be about friendship and fulfilling your best role. (I think that was what Nimoy was getting at towards the end of the film)
All the characters seem to go through it and really I think that all you can do with a prequel movie and I am positive, however, this message was not loud and clear.
On the film basis though I did really like the use of sound editing to intensify drama. (The Space is silent thing)
As for favourite Star Trek films. I am boring- 2,4,8.
What can I say I like Melville and humour.
i havent seen the film and i never liked star trek
but the trailer really makes me want to see it
i dont care what people think i love cgi remakes it just looks so cool there kinda showing people how fans of the series see the series
like transformers
anyway i cant wait to see it
also i now want to listen to sabatage
Thanks for the great review, James. I haven’t had much desire to see this film, and your review has pretty much confirmed the thoughts I had on it. I may catch it after it comes out on DVD, but until then…eh. Before the movie came out, Abrams said something to the effect of, “I’m not making this movie for fans of Star Trek, I’m making it for fans of movies”. I think it really shows.
Anyway, I always know I can rely on your reviews (even when I don’t agree with you, which is rare, I can always understand your point). Keep up the great work!
Good opinion but I am wondering how Wolverine is because I’m going to the theater this sunday and these two movies are playing.
Ok so here’s my thoughts. Firstly, i was never a Star Trek fan I was always a Star Wars fan. As a kid I hated Star Trek because i never could understand the story line. As I grew older i got into the next generation as it was aired on TV so my knowledge of the old series was limmited.
Going to see this movie I was very excited because one of my favourite actors Zachary Quinto (from Heroes fame) who played Spock was in it. The best thing I can say about this movie is that when i watched it, it wasn’t like Sylar was in this movie it was Spock. I completely forgot that it was the same actor in Heroes and could throughly enjoy the movie for the characters and story and not just for the actor in it.
Bad things. I agree that the car chase was stupid and had nothing to do with the movie but i gladly forgot about it. Also, the lover interest between Spock and Uhura sort of came and went and there was not real anything to it. I personally didn’t mind when Spock started attacking first the kids then Kirk. It just re-enforced the fact it was Spock doing it. I was afraid that Quinto would revert back to the Sylar mentality but it seemed like Spock, even though he is usually quite rational throughout the rest of the series.
hats my thoughts this post is way too long and if you read all of it you should get an achievement or something.
Wextell:
Wolverine is ok. Saw it last weekend. Many reviewers were saying that the story kinda sucked but the action was awesome. I thought the opposite. I can’t really remember any great action moments in the film. However, I thought the story (although a bit contrived) was pretty good. It’s decent and all, just not impressive. X2 is better. Unlike everyone else, I liked X3… I thought the ending of X3 was really spectacular in a visually overwhelming sense… like the big battle in Return of the King… just, Whoa! Anyways, I bet you’ll have a better time at Star Trek vs. Wolverine. It’s not as bad as all the reviewers say it is… it’s just not great.
I wasn’t really much into Star Trek in the least, but I think I’ll give this a gander. I’m more looking forward to the Astro Boy movie this year myself.
[...] The CineMassacre review. [...]
I caught a sneak preview at the OBX last night (May 7), and it’s definitely one to watch, if and any just to say you’ve seen everything ‘Trek.
I give it an 8.5.
Hey James, I’ve never been a real big Star Trek fan for the most part. My mom always liked it so I’d seen it from time to time, and “First Contact” was really the only movie I’d ever seen.
I just wanted to say my opinion on what you’d said about Jim seeming to be a quite unlikable and a little bit too rowdy of a character.
The way I would explain that away is that it really is an alternate timeline in where he never knew his father due to him dying before he was born. Whereas, as they say later, in the regular Star Trek timeline everyone’s used to, his father was still alive to see Jim become captain of the USS Enterprise.
I just figured it’d be an okay way to explain why he’d be such an unruly bastard when he was younger.
I’m willing to admit that, while I never had anything against Star Trek, I also never got into it (I was more into Star Wars). That being said, I’m actually thinking of giving this new movie a try maybe this weekend. Though something’s telling me this movie may not be the best place for me to start.
I went to the Imax Theater and Saw it. Got some Footage with some Fans wearing Trek Shirts and then I did some Post Reactions.
Not sure if your comments are embed friendly so here it is:
The Link:
http://blip.tv/file/2087261
The Embed:
i grew up in the Next Generation era, but i did grow up watching the original crew movies (incidently, mainly the ones James reviewed) and watched the original series whenev i saw it on. i remember seeing the NG movies in theatre, but i never really liked them that much. it was all about that classic crew.
i saw this yesterday in imax and I actually dug it a lot. i could even say i loved it, in the way that people say they love movies anyway. i thought everything was just awesome. pure entertainment adventure. takes a big dump on wolverine (they had the same budget? really?).
loved the cast. loved the action. the plot was muddled, but whatever, it’s star trek. Star Trek is actually cool again. anyway, i’m actually not surprised at James’ review.
5/5
I guess i’m easy to please, but I left this movie wanting to see more!
I liked the fact that they are doing new things with the characters, though.
But if I started to NITPICK then i’d ask about these two things:
1. If they can transport people, why did they need to parachute down to the drilling platform?
2. If Nero has Red Matter why not use it to create a blackhole to stop the start that destroys Romulus?
Maybe these were explained but I must have missed them, either that or they were deleted scenes.
It was interesting to get your opinion though, puts it in perspective.
I’m a pretty big Star Trek fan, but I don’t think I can see this movie. I’ve got such a bias against it that it would be a waste of money to see because there’s no way I am going to like it.
Ok, first of all… I’m not a native english-speaker, sorry if I screw up grammar.
Well, I guess I am a “casual Star-Trek-fan” too, but somehow I really like that movie. Ok, you can nit-pick on a ton of issues… but I guess you can never satisfy the “hardcore fans” entirely.
I agree that the scene with the car and the cliff was absolutely stupid and redundant for the plot. “Yes! Ok, you are ‘The Kirk’! We get it, you were born as a badass! Now get on with it!” But I guess they wanted to give both main-characters a ‘troubled-childhood-scene’, so that the film doesn’t look like it’s all about Spock (Again!).
I can’t even really point out why I like that movie, perhaps because there are a lot of hints on old episodes and other films… or perhaps because I expected that J.J. Abrams (and that shaky camera-style) would screw the film up for me. Or the german voice-acting does the trick, I don’t know.
Back at the cinema I had the impression that the film is ‘complete’, I didn’t miss a thing. Ok, the plot isn’t that “thought through”, but neither are the plots of the other ST-movies. The film feels much like a “fresh start” and was sure a great fun-ride. (Less Technobabble, more action.)
9/10, maybe even 10/10.
I pretty much agree with your final conclusion, James. It had action and comedy, but lacked much heart or any depth, really. It didn’t make me think, it didn’t really make me feel. But it was entertaining, at least.
The part where young Kirk steals that car and drives it off a cliff though, that part actually came off to me as a cry for help. His father had died when he was born and he obviously didn’t like his step father, since he stole his car and then was either trying to trash it or kill himself, but bailed out at the last second. That’s one troubled kid.
That leads to another thing. As old Spock told him, in the original timeline Kirk knew his father. Nero changed history by killing him, so as far as this movie being canon to TOS, all bets are off. Kirk was an asshole early on in the morning because of this. He’s not the Kirk we know, just as Spock is now not the Spock we know, since planet Vulcan imploded. In the long run, I guess this was a good move. It gives them some elbow room so they’re not stepping all over the established canon. It’s like a Back to the Future alternate timeline or something.
One part that felt off to me was at the end, when Nero’s ship was imploding. They offered him help, he refused it. Wouldn’t the Starfleet thing to do be to help them anyway, so long as they had the ability to do so? But no, they fire all weapons. At a ship being crushed by a singularity. Okaaaay.
Someone pointed out that maybe they thought the singularity would send them through time, and they were attacking them to stop that, but the scene really didn’t give off that impression in my opinion.
As for favorite Star Trek movies in order…
Wrath of Khan > Undiscovered Country > Voyage Home > First Contact > Generations > Star Trek 2009(?) > Search for Spock > The Motion Picture > Nemesis > Insurrection > Final Frontier
Fitting 2009 in there is kind of tough since it’s so new, and I haven’t had a good chance to think about it yet. Comparing it to past Trek movies also seems hard. I’ve put it quite high for being entertaining, but it didn’t feel very ‘Star Trek’ to me. In fact, I might have to bump it down to below The Motion Picture, which doesn’t rank too badly in my head because it actually felt like Star Trek to me, and the director’s cut was a lot better.
As for Generations, most people don’t like it, but it’s another that felt like Star Trek to me. The last one that really did, actually.
Not totally a big fan of Star Trek but I’m always fascinated in the show even now… the only movies I’d watched was the old Star Trek II, III & IV and Generations.
I haven’t watched the new Star Trek movie yet and I’m thinking if I’ll be watching it. I hope its a good one.
Anyway, thanks for giving me an idea about the new movie, James and your Star Trek Trilogy review was awesome! Keep it up!
Thanks,
my feelings are somewhat opposite. i liked the first half much more than the second. meeting all the characters was great, and the casting was flawless. also, the pre credit sequence and the sky diving scene are the movie’s two best action scenes in my opinion, and they were in the first half. eric bana wasn’t very threatening and bringing him down was pretty easy, so i felt the movie ran out of steam. overall, i liked it and will look forward to the next installment
dude spot the fuck on
thanks for doing what you do because through you i have the time to do and relive all the things i wish i had time to do lol
I went to see it yesterday, I thought it was one of the best movies I’ve seen in a while, definitely one of the best Sci-Fi movies I’ve ever seen.
I’m not a trekkie though. I’ve seen a few episodes of TOS and TNG and the fourth movie. That’s it.
I’m going to see it tomorrow, I just hope it doesn’t have too many ’sell out’ moments in the script like the trailers did. (This isn’t your fathers Star Trek? – One of the trailers said. Oh please!)
I haven’t seen this movie yet but from what I can tell it is an attempt to make Star Trek more interesting to modern audiences.
While the Uhura/Spock relationship did seem to come out of nowhere, I can understand why it was done in a sense.
The only thing characterisation wise they had with Uhura from the original Trek was that she tended to sing with Spock. So maybe the thought was, in the first Trek universe (the one from the TV shows) had considered a relation with Uhura, but didn’t see the logic in it, where as the Spock of this new universe, without a planet or a mother, needed someone to find comfort in, and was more open minded to such a relationship.
I do like how they gave each of the original series characters that were in the movie, including Pike, something to do in the movie though. That’s one thing that the latter Trek series got right, it wasn’t JUST about 3 characters.
Hey James I gotta say that it seemed pretty clear to me that this version of Star Trek was not really a prequel and actually an alternate universe. I mean the writing literally had the characters say that they were an alternate universe and therefore all their actions could not be predicted. Obviously this was done to avoid any messing with the original timeline and allow for a fresh reboot of the series. Just wanted to point that out since in your review you were wondering how the whole Spock/Uhura (sic?) romance fit in.
As to the movie, I liked it a lot. The amount of cheesiness seemed just enough to avoid making the movie too serious like Star Trek 1, but the action was intense enough to let you know the movie was for real. I thought the characters were well cast and I really don’t have a problem with any of them. Even Harold did a good job as Sulu and I was primed to just think of him as a pot head looking for fast food.
The only part of the film I didn’t like was the scene where Scotty got stuck in the water tubes, it seemed ludicrous even for this movie and it just slowed down the action just as they were getting back on the ship. All in all I really liked the movie and it looks like it might be the best of the summer blockbusters (if T4 doesn’t deliver) and I can actually be happy with that.
AngryJoeShow
I got the answers for ya:)
1. Something about the drill was blocking all ability to transport, my guess is to keep the Vulcans there so they would be killed, how it does that can only be answered by Star Trek science.
2. Nero got the red matter from Spock’s ship that he captured 25 years after going through the time warp, I agree, this part was kinda hard to follow.
I want to go on record as saying that I really don’t like Star Trek. Well, maybe I just don’t like how it turned into a big cult thing. I guess I appreciate the franchise, but really don’t prefer it. I’ve never seen any of the movies, nor do I plan on it. Of course that didn’t stop me from watching the review or the retrospect on the “trilogy”, but then I am always interested in how people see things. It’s always good to get a fresh perspective.
I, too, am pretty much a casual fan of the series. I’ve seen the original three seasons of the classics, the animated series, all eleven films, and the first season of Next Generation. While the shows really aren’t my thing, I enjoyed the first six films, as well as this newest venture… I thought it was quite brilliant, although I agree with James, it needed more heart. I’m thinking they’re leaving that for the sequels, so I consider this the “Motion Picture” of this new “re-boot.”
That being said, here’s the order of my fav Trek films, from best to least best:
1) Star Trek III: Search for Spock
2) Star Trek (2009)
3) Star Trek IV: Voyage Home
4) Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan
5) Star Trek V: Final Frontier
I’m going to stop right here and just say, for the record, I am a fan of Star Trek V, and yes, that is the one with Spock’s half-brother, Sybok. Yes, it’s a slap-sticky film, for but what it’s worth, it’s a feel good movie, and deserves more than one look. I know everyone considers it the worst in the franchise, and honestly, this is a mystery to me, one in which I don’t think I’ll ever solve. Anyway, moving on:
6) Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country
Star Trek: First Contact
7) Star Trek: Motion Picture
9) Star Trek Generations
10) Star Trek: Insurrection
11) Star Trek: Nemesis
About the new Trek film: I don’t have much bad to say about it. Yes, it had a lot of glitzy effects, which I think were pretty awesome. I love CGI when done right, and this was one of the few occasions in film where they didn’t detract from the story; they just made it look a hell of a lot cooler.
The characters didn’t look much like their original counterparts, but their performances were spot on. I like how they did Kirk, and thought he was pretty funny throughout. My favorite character was McCoy; I thought he was done to perfection. If anything, I really thought Scotty was more imitation than the others. The entire cast has an important role to play in this movie, and the best Trek films are the ones where they utilize the entire crew.
The only thing I thought was jarring was the fact that, because it deals with the villains coming to the past and altering events, this isn’t a complete prequel. You really can’t accept this as the first Trek adventure, because certain events contradict things that we’ve come to know from the films; for example, Spock’s mother, which I won’t spoil. This annoyed me, but I have to overlook it because it allowed for the older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) to have a plausible role in the story. He doesn’t have a lot of screen time, but he certainly plays a big role in the overall story.
All in all, it was one of the more impressive action films I’ve seen in a long time. Just keep in mind, this is supposed to be a re-boot of a fresh new series, and it could be considered the “Motion Picture” of its time. Just remember how Wrath of Khan looked in comparison to the original film. I’m sure with time, the characters will grow, and if this film is any indication of what’s to come, I welcome it.
Ok I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned this.. Don’t want to read every comment… But
I agree alot with you James… But the one thing I want to mention that I don’t know if its going to get talked about is the fact that this isn’t really a reboot for the series. The whole time travel element changed the events of how things should have happened.
So I look at this from more of a Different Dimension Star Trek…… If that makes since to anyone else let me know..
So it doesn’t really throw out the old stuff because the old stuff would have happened. Old spock explained it best.
I think over analysis of this movie is going to kill fans and movie buffs. It’s a pretty simple action sci-fi flick that can be summed up in 10 words:
I’m Captain Kirk and I’m going to kick your ass.
When it’s taken at face value like that, I think it’s one hell of a fun flick to watch.
Ok, I just got back from seeing it. It was really good. I don’t know that they could have done a better job with it. It ticked all the boxes… but a lot of you are right… it was missing that “trek” heart / feeling. Just something was a bit missing from it that other Trek movies / shows had.
2 things I did NOT like at all. Spock’s love interest thing… that had to go. I also didn’t like all that lens flare / glare effects. Geeeezzzy peeeezzzzy, we get it Abrams, you like glare and light flare effects… did you have to add them to every single scene in the movie? I felt like I was looking into a flashlight through diving googles the whole damn time. Here and there is fine, to add a visual style / slickness, but there was WAYYYYYY TOOOO much of it, especially in the normal dialog scenes. Annoying.
To Yalskey
MMM.. I only really noticed the lensflare in one scene… It’s really stick out that much for me…
Then again I was sitting so close I had to lean my head back to see it all. lol.
No seats anywhere else.. Place was packed.
about the spock/uhura relationship:
now its been a long time since i watched TOS, but the uhura character had subtly attempting to reach out the spock, particularly his human side, in the TOS tv show. i say that this was a “subtle” attraction because uhura didn’t get really that much screen time compared to spock.
this relationship between uhura and spock was pretty much limited to uhura singing (pretty awful) songs about spock and the two of them playing the vulcan lyre (which was supposed to be something only a vulcan could master).
it was always my belief that uhura was secretly attracted to spock, but because of spock’s emotional suppression, spock never allowed the relationship to evolve beyond a platonic, mentor-student type relationship (an unrequited love). by the time of the TOS movies, the characters had matured to a point that they’ve pretty much resigned themselves to being comrades in arms.
anyway, while spock’s overt displays of affection in the film were somewhat surprising, i don’t think the romantic relationship between spock and uhura were really that out of left field. i would have expected that he’s be far more discrete though.
First off I have never been a big Trek fan. I’ve caught episodes from time to time through the various series and I saw Nemesis in theaters.
This Movie was amazing. It greatly exceeded my expectations. The first 40 minutes are kinda slow with some weird stuff that wasn’t really necessary, but after that the movie just gets better and better. I was totally digging the story. The whole alternate Timeline idea really worked for the movie.
Its important to understand that since time was disrupted all of which has happened in the TV series and other Movies essentially will never happen to the crew of the enterprise. And all of that older stuff now only exists with Old Spok. This essentially becomes a new beginning for Star Trek in more ways than one.
The Spok and Uhura relationship shouldn’t make any sense due to the whole time altering situation things can easily change.
Its also worth noting that the entire main cast has contracts for two more movies if this does well enough. So recommend the movie so we can get some more of this good stuff!
Overall it was a good time at the theater, and I think this is just what Star Trek needed.
James i trust your reviews more then anyone because you never get sucked into just saying how great something is because everyone else is doing it.
At first i was like yeah sure whatever it looks ok but not like a TREK film then i hear how AMAZING it is and start to think ok maybe i am wrong, Maybe it will be amazing.
Then i finally get to see someone who talks the truth so thank you, When i see it tomorrow i can go in watching the movie without the pressure of having to love it on my bad.
I thought this was probably the best Star Trek movie to date. The best thing about that movie is the much needed makeover the Romuelens recieved. I grew up watching the Next Generation series and the Romuelens were prety much the main villians (one can argue the borg…) with a very interesting backstory that never really seemed to be depicted by the actors that played them. They were always lame in the series; pretty much depicted as having the same looks and stale emotionless personality Vulcans had only they did devious things… In this movie they were full of emotion, they were violent, and savage looking. You can actually see why the Vulcans followed the all logic phillosophy to purge all their emotions. The Romeulens actually depicted what the Vulcans were trying to avoid.
If Christopher Lloyed was in this film then I’d go see it. As it is I could care less about Star Trek
“Eighty-eight miles per hour!!!”
Thanks for having the movie review so quick, nice to hear your opinion as always! Keep up the good work!
In my opinion THIS movie is what the franchise needed, a way for the plot to mature differently(don’t want to give anything away), new visual style(presentation/cinematography), and yet keep the soul of what kept the original series great. The old way of writing Star Trek needs to be retired. This is why I think the last two series/movies of Star Trek did horribly. They basically just started recycling the old stories over and over again.
I disagree with you on the point that the car chase was unnecessary, the extra character development for Kirk, showing that along with Spock they were both dealing with inner demons at that age. It’s not like it was that long either, there was only the car chase and the bar scene that that really focused on it in the beginning of the movie. And the bar scene introduced a new major character so it wasn’t all about Kirk and how much of a “rebel” he was.
And I don’t know of any other POP song that was in the movie. He was listening to the radio, anything could have come on the radio, I’m just glad they decided to pick an awesome older song, instead of trying to plug some new song by “Insert Current Pop sensation here” and cash in on marketing dollars. The rest of the movie from what I remember seemed to be mostly orchestra and slightly reminiscent of the rest of the series(especially the fight scenes).
That is all I’m going to nitpick about your nitpick. I realize everybody has their own opinion. Keep the reviews coming, they are very entertaining.
I have watched all the Movies, all The original series, Next Generation, DS9 and Enterprise(Not a fan of Voyager) and I loved most of it. However, the old material is just that OLD. A revitalization of the series, that this movie offers is just what the franchise needs to stay alive and relevant.
i would say im in between a trekkie and a casual viewer, and i would have to say i pretty much agree with you 99%, the very last comment summed up how i felt about it. thank god im not alone!
now for some nitpicks
I walked out thinking i didnt like the movie, but then again i did. So i tried to figure out why i didnt. My friend was with me and wanted to know what i thought, i told him it was an A movie, but it wasnt great. Then i didnt hear the end of it from him…I was telling him i didnt like how they werent going to try to fix the timeline, my friend brought up good points, thats the reality the characters except, i mean TNG did an episode about this dilemma…i mean if youre dead in one timeline, why would you want to change it back? but, thing is, a WHOLE PLANET was destroyed, i think this alternative reality had its time in the sun…And Kirk wouldnt want to change it either?! his dads dead in this one, and both kirk and spock know of this alternative timeline! all for the sake of sequels…which is stupid reason. i mean the FX were good…the acting was alright, umm when people say its dumb down its just the drama the movie could be conveying isnt there, its been fluffed…so you the audience can continue having fun without being dragged down emotionally. Look at first contact, and how patrick stewart got angry and mad and was screaming, i didnt see any thing like that in a performance level, so it felt like an live action cartoon to me…
lets hope the next one is better….
I basically just walked out of the theater and i really liked it. I wouldn’t consider myself a Trekkie But definitely a semi Trekkie ive been watching star trek since my dad introduced it to me as a little kid. I walked into the theater with high expectations which to my surprise were basically met. My biggest concern was the cast and how they would portray these iconic characters i grew up with. And they did pretty well in my opinion, I mean there were a couple of out of character moments but when you think of it kirk was a big flirt and this was when he was allot younger so i think it fit. Uhara and Spock now that’s the only thing i thought was weird but this was an alternate time line so i couldn’t really argue.
Good review James, thanks.
I agree with alot that you said, although the car scene at the beginning may have been warranted. It basically was a foreshadow into Kirk’s reckless behavior and I thought it went with Spok’s childhood scene good.
The CGI really did it for me, I just got back from the theatre 30 minutes ago, very prettyyyy.
Like most ppls comments, I’ve always been more of a Star Wars fan. Star Wars always seem more vast and action packed where Star Trek was more idealistic.
Well, I agree that the original movies were a bit too slow for most audiences, and it was refreshing to see this new installment. I guess the biggest problem of the movie for me was the pace was too fast, and by the end I was left wanting more.
It seems like what we had was an awesome prequel playing on fast forward, and for anyone that grew up with Star Trek, the movie felt like a lot of the idealism and story of the film was sacrificed for fast action and what Roger Ebert likes to refer to “space oprah.”
I found the appearance of Leonard Nimoy very essential to the movie because he grounded it for me. He anchored the film, and I might have felt lost in the two hours watching this film if he hadn’t shown up…
All in all awesome flick….they just need to pace it down a little.
The best Star Trek movie in my opinion is Star Trek IV, but you went into great detail on that one. It had a lot of heart, and it makes you feel good after watching it. I also liked Star Trek II, and Insurrection. I liked Insurrection, because it wasn’t at all flashy, which is better than extremely flashy like the new one. I never watched the series, but Insurrection was still very entertaining, because like you said, it didn’t treat itself differently than an actual episode, which to me, is a sign of a good movie based on a TV series.
The new Star Trek just looks bad. It actually pains me to say that, but just look at Spock. I know it’s young Spock, but I’m not buying it. That’s not to say he’s a bad actor. It also looks to flashy with special effects. That doesn’t make a movie good, to me it takes away from the experience. If I wanted to play a fucking video game I would. My favorite movies of all time are A Clockwork Orange and V for Vendetta. They didn’t rely on special effects, instead they entertain you with a story, art, and clever writing.
I felt exactly the same as you, Rolfe. (I mean that the movie didn’t have the heart of the old Trek.)
The old Trek (especially the TOS) was always about something (or at least tried to be about something): racism, war, religion, etc. But this movie was just action-action-action.
And I think this would be alright if this would’ve been just another sequel, there were worse. But this is a reboot (probably the start of a new line of movies and series), so I think I have the right to expect that it’s more than just another summer blockbuster.
I have to say James…your review really does leave me scratching my head. I really did anticipate your review of the movie, but unlike my hyped anticipation of the movie which was finally realized yesterday, I felt your review failed to deliver. First off I did agree with some of your complaints about the movie. Some of the action scenes were very far-fetched and absurd…driving a corvette at 80 mph off a cliff at 10 years old does seem like a stretch. But to say it had nothing to do with the movie is inconsiderate. After Nero killed Kirks father it opened up a parallel universe so Kirk didn’t have the direction of his father to guide him, and the writers wanted you to see Kirks brash reckless behavior without the guidance of his dad. From the bar scene to getting innoculated with some potentially fatal disease to running from giant ice monsters on some random distant planet..it seemed like writers really wanted to give you an alternate view of a darkened fearless Kirk angry at the universe for prematurely taking his pops at an early age…at least thats what I got out of it. Not having your father can change a lot in your person..trust me i know from experience maybe that’s why i connected with Kirks disarray. I guess I am just a bit dumbfounded because on every other review i agreed with just about everything you said and I was really hoping you would enjoy this movie. In any case thanks for reading.
I went to see the movie the other night, and guess what? After an hour or so, the FILM BROKE on all three cinemas showing Star Trek. So I’ll try again next week. But what I saw to that point was pretty good. I didn’t really like the rock music either, but the young Kirk in a bar fight was pretty bad-ass!
Btw. why do I have to get me a new passowrd everytime I wanna login here ?
Okay, I really appreciate this review you did, although I really did love the movie myself. I’d like to say that I was a pretty big fan of the Next Generation and Voyager and was not exactly a huge fan of the original series. Frankly, I thought it was silly.
While I did enjoy The Wrath of Khan and the Trilogy, I am more familiar with the cast of Next Generation and Voyager. My thoughts anyway.
VideoDrone,
I’m the other way around. Loved TOS, thought TNG was okay, but the rest of the stories were just too silly, monotone, and dull for me to get into. Not to mention how much of a rip off of babylon 5 Ds9 was..
Really didn’t agree on this one. Loved it, a great flick, the best so far.
@sloth_72 & AngryJoeShow
“2. If Nero has Red Matter why not use it to create a blackhole to stop the start that destroys Romulus?”
He’s right with that issue: At the point in time Nero took the matter from old Spock, the supernova that destroys Romulus hasn’t occurred. So he could destroy the star that goes supernova in the future, to prevent the destruction of his planet. Or he could at least leave some information when and how the supernova is going to happen… but hey, who expects logic from a romulan psychopath?
And why is on that little ship enough “red matter” to destroy 1000 supernovas and 10000 stars, if they can stop a supernova with one single drop – isn’t that a little bit irresponsible, in case the matter falls into the wrong hands? *wink-wink* (Well I guess that was Abrams idea. There was a red ball in “Alias”, too, so I guess he has a thing for this doomsday-symbol… also there is a ‘Slusho’ in the ST-movie.)
I personally didn’t get how and how often Nero and his crew travelled through time… but then, all of this is nit-picking. I liked both parts of the film, the build-up in the first part and the action packed, ‘flashy’ rest of it. The flick is “presented” so well, I willingly oversee all those small and big plotholes.
I am actually a really big Star Trek fan and I thought this one was easily the best in the series and is pretty much the direction I was hoping JJ Abrams would take it.
That being said here is my list from most fav. to least fav.
Star Trek (2009)
Star Trek II
Star Trek: First Contact
Star Trek VI
Star Trek IV
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek III
Star Trek: Generations
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Trek: Insurrection
Star Trek V
You mentioned at the end that you wondered what effect the relationship between Uhura and Spock had on the original series.
The answer: none whatsoever. This move is in a separate timeline that broke off the Kirk was born. Several other elements, especially *SPOILER* the destruction of Vulcan are things that definitely mark it as different. All bets are off, the new writers can do whatever they want with the characters and setting and it has no bearing on continuity.
You have to understand, the reason Kirk was such an asshat in this version at the beginning, is because his father, a man who was a constant inspiration to him, wasn’t there. Because Spock opened the time portal, it set up the situation for Kirk’s dad to die, and without his father he never had a good male role model.
you forgot to give the rating! anyway great review. i saw it and thought mainly the same thing.
Pretty solid movie thoughout. I thought the chase scene on the ice planet, and scotty in the water pipes were retarded, but other than that, not too much to complain about. The alternate universe idea was a good way for them to go about this, and they did a pretty decent job pulling it off. Although, the way they pull scotty into the story is retarded. Scotty is the jarjarbinks of this movie. Leave him out of the alternate timeline and the movie would have been a lot better.
McCoy was done pretty well.
Hey James, love your work.
The biggest problem with this new Star Trek is that it egregiously annihilates all plots that we’ve ever known about Star Trek in the interest of opening up a whole new future of remakes. Never mind creating something new – that would be just too damn hard. They had to pretty much burn the bible so that they could profit more from the Bible Redux. It’s the same disease of creativity that shows itself in the use of pop songs. In terms of understanding the relationship to the old series, read ImpudentInfidel’s comment above – everything that ever happened is now completely irrelevant.
A small thing I hated was in the scene when Kirk finds Spock on that snow planet. He starts being chased by one monster, which is then immediately killed by a bigger monster, which then continues chasing Kirk. It’s a cheap thrill that belongs in movies like True Lies, not Star Trek. The best part was that the monster is then scared off by a flame no bigger than a candle. And that Kirk just happened to find Spock there by complete coincidence, rather than by something remotely rational? Makes me wonder what I’m watching. He could have at least followed a signal there.
I’m also not a fan of the Harold and Kumar guy being Sulu or of Shaun of the Dead being Scotty. They both did very well, and I like them a lot, but it’s hard for me to divorce them from being Shaun and Harold, and their presence gives the movie still more of that pop feeling.
You’re absolutely right about the imitation of McCoy. I don’t have a problem with them making him sound right, but they really could have omitted the verbatim “Damnit, I’m a doctor” line.
As much as I complain about plot rationality, my favorite Trek movie is part IV. As weird as it is, it makes sense within the premise and doesn’t have any double-monster-coincidence nonsense. “One damn minute, Admiral” is probably my favorite line from all the movies. The worst had to be V… I knew it sucked even as an 8 year old.
Hey James,
Its strange seeing your reaction as I thought you would love it. If I recall, I remember you saying that they should have done something fresh to restart for another line of sequels and maybe even a series for the new cast. Well isn’t that what they did? I was hoping that you would have brought that up because I thought that this movie targeted audience new to the franchise just as much as it targeted fans. I mean, it sparked some interest in me to go back and look over the original series. So in conclusion, I think this movie was to reintroduce Star Trek to the media and hopefully spark interest in many people just as it has in me
I guess I could say I am a half-breed trekkie and a hardcore Picard fan, so I had pretty negative approach for this movie, but it kind of suprised me. I always wanted to see a Star Trek movie that was much more flashy than usual ones, and considering how nowadays CG is taking over, it was a chance. To be completely honest, the only one really staisfying battle I’ve seen so far is the one at the end of Star Trek Nemesis, and the one from First Contact is pretty spiffy to. So if you ask me, there could be more blazing.
My impression though is that this one has kinda strange Star Wars-like feeling, especially with handheld weapons making strange sounds. But maybe that’s just me.
Anyway, the whole thing (because of past-altering thingie) is probably one big plot to wipe Picard out of existence, because apparently Kirk grew to many complexes along the way. Surely there’s gonna be load of new sequels, now that we have whole past rewritten.
One last thing. What is the poin of Winona Rider there? She’s in the movie for like 3 minutes. Could’ve been any other actress XD.
A bit of a lurker but a movie buff as well. Here’s my list
Best Trek? Wrath of Kahn. Of course, right? I mean who wouldn’t rate this the best. It’s not just a Trek movie but something which could stand on its own.
2: Undiscovered Country. This one is just flat out fun.
3: The Search for Spock. Cheesy but it is another fun one.
4: Voyage Home: Again, cheese, but funny. Really funny.
5: Generations: I rate the Next Generation movies kinda low because they were more like episode movies than actual full blown Trek Movies like 2, 3, 4, and 6.
6: Motion Picture: I actually liked this one. It’s slow but it’s eye candy.
7: First Contact: This one is okay. I thought the plot was full of holes and I was sick to death of time travel.
8: Insurrection: Better after the first initial watch. It’s uber cheese, but enjoyable .
9: Nemesis: Pretty good, but poorly written, and executed.
10: Final Frontier: Awful. No appeal except for the first 30 minutes.
I thought the movie was ok, but I’m getting really tired of plots involving time travel in Star Trek.
The relation between Spock and Uhura was ridiculous.
Great review as always James.
I can understand your opinion of the movie, however I thought it was a great movie. I can’t really compare it to the other movies because until now I pretty much ignored star trek all together. Going into the movie, I only had a knowledge of the original character’s names and some background info on them. I did think the driving scene was pointless. I also admired how the filmmakers had the balls to do what they did (I’m not giving away spoilers) to make it so it could have sequels unlike the original series.
I liked it, but I generally agree with your nitpicks… there were a few things that kind of bothered me, but it was so entertaining it made me not care much, so I consider it good.
A few things that I didn’t like were that the whole time travel thing explains why some things are different, like why Kirk has a more rowdy personality, but not others, like why everything looks completely different… a friend of mine said that maybe the black hole made Spock and the Romulans travel to an alternate dimension, as well as though time, and that works for me, but I don’t remember them saying anything about that in the movie, just mentioning that time travel altered the timeline.
The main gripe I has with the movie was that the villains were pretty bland and boring… Nero is pretty much just “I saw my planet die so I’m going to punish everyone even though they tried to help me and the people I’m killing haven’t even done anything yet and I could probably prevent my planet from dying in the first place by telling them it’s going to happen in the future.” I guess you could say that seeing his planet blow up made him insane, but he seemed more like he was just stupid and being evil for the sake of being evil.
I thought it was better than some of the old Star Trek movies, but not as good as the trilogy, or Star Trek VI. It’s a fun action movie, but it seemed to lack the morals, compassion and intelligence that for me are a core element of Star Trek.
I love the video game reviews, I have already seen most of them and have only just recently discovered your site in the last few weeks. (I even watched your Horror Movie marathon from start to finish, Amazing!)
I’ll give you credit for jumping on your site and giving a “neutral” review amidst the overwhelming praise the movie is getting from just about every professional critic. I realize and respect that your review was just your initial reaction and not a thoroughly thought out piece.
I am just going to mention where our opinions differ. I just saw the new Star Trek and find it to be easily the best submission into the Star Trek Universe to date, film or series. The first scene, I thought was one of the most effective and powerful openings I have ever seen. I also felt the movie sizzled hot for the first half and then lost steam. I also thought the use of the Beastie Boys song was fantastic in that it connected that universe into our own in a surprisingly simple manner. Plus, the rest of the score was exceptionally well done.
Lastly, I want to address two things that almost every negative review has touched on. First, the idea that some scenes are too “over-the-top.” An idea that I hate so much, I felt I needed to mention it. An action based summer flick is modern day escapism at its strongest!! Whenever I hear that complaint– the review loses its validity immediately with me. Secondly, The Spock and Uhura thing, I thought it WAS necessary and important. It helped develop the idea that Spock had feelings after all. Remember this is an alternate reality now, which has caused Spock to have a different personality set off by the destruction of Vulcan and the death of his mother. It showed that Spock was not in control of his feelings, it was a major theme throughout the movie. How that is lost on so many people is surprising to me.
Okay, thanks for letting me post and share my opinions on here. Again, great site, great stuff, keep it up James.
Spoony also has a review up.
Clever and hilarious as usual.
http://www.spoonyexperiment.com/2009/05/09/vlog-5-9-09-star-trek/#comments
@Amador10: “First, the idea that some scenes are too ‘over-the-top.’ An idea that I hate so much, I felt I needed to mention it. An action based summer flick is modern day escapism at its strongest!! Whenever I hear that complaint– the review loses its validity immediately with me.”
I hate your take on it as much as you hate the idea, to be frank. Escapism is fine, but when things go stupidly over-the-top in contexts that don’t make sense, it, for many people, destroys the suspension of disbelief and ruins the escapism. If the premise is that the world the story is being told in has different rules from our own, then you can accept things without having to rationalize them, even subconsciously. The Matrix would be a good example. Tons of over-the-top effects and such, but it goes with the territory. But if the movie is set in our world, going by our rules, like Star Trek is (excepting the incredibly advanced technology, of course), it just makes things silly, and destroys the ability for people to immerse themselves and escape. So to say that a review loses validity because it lodges this very reasonable complaint, is rather unfair.
I saw the movie yesterday with my brother. It was entertaining and i liked it. I’m glad i saw it. People take movies too serious these days.
I liked your thoughts on the movie, James. I disagree with most of them, but that is fine. I was so thoroughly entertained by this movie, I can hardly believe it.
The Spock/Uhura thing was ok. As mentioned above, I think it helped expose the differences that Spock has in this new timeline. And I think the movie started really well. “The first half sucked”? Ha ha, ok to each their own, whatever.
And I know that many have mentioned this, but I will reiterate it: This is not a prequel! It is not meant to mesh up with the Star Trek we already know. Let it be; it is what it is and that is a clever way to keep the original canon untouched but opens the door for new content in the same universe—excellent. I for one loved this installment and am excited for more in this “revamped” universe.
Thanks James, keep it up, I love your site.
Oh yeah, here are my rankings, I really gave it some thought:
1. Star Trek (2009)
2. Star Trek II
3. First Contact
4. Star Trek VI
5. Star Trek (original) — I know no one else likes this one.
6. Generations
7. Star Trek III
8. Star Trek IV — And I know everyone likes this one more.
9. Insurrection
10. Nemesis
11. Star Trek V
I really did enjoy your review, James. So much so, in fact, it prompted me to register so I may comment. I do have mixed feeling about this particular movie. I loved it as a movie, but not AS much as a “Star Trek” movie per se. Though I appreciate the method in which J.J. Abrams did what he could to even make it “pseudo-canonical.” I also loved the new score they added for the movie, it was both breath taking and epic. I have so much I could say about it, but I will save your ear as it is a repeat as what many other have already said. Though I DO want to see not only this time line progress, but the original star Trek universe post Voyager…
As for my Favs:
11: Star Trek V
10: Insurection
9: Star Trek I/The Motion Picture
8: Generation
7: Star Trek III
6: Star Trek II
5: Star Trek 2009
4: Nemesis
3: Star Trek VI
2: Star Trek First Contact
1: Star Trek IV
Not to say I hate the bottom ones, they just don’t move me as much as the others.
I’m 19 years old, a girl, has seen maybe 3 Star Trek episodes (my older brother is a Trekkie) and I enjoyed this movie a lot. I love a good action film, and I think they did an excellent job on making it enjoyable and interesting to both hard core fans and those new to Star Trek. I thought the acting was really good along with the special effects. I recognized a few of the lines and other well known aspects just from being around my brother. I didn’t expect it to be as funny either. Overall, I found this movie to be very enjoyable and I’m now intrigued in the rest of the series.
i just saw it and it thought to myself, hey, maybe James has already wrote his review , and here it is! i also thought it was ok, i expect it would be better but im not to disapointed either. i had maybe too much high expectations. it was fun to see young kirk, spock ,sulu etc…and i have to say i was happy to hear the original song at the end! Ive seen it with my dad cause for me star trek= my dad. i used to watch it with him when i was young (mostly the next generation era) and i learned my first english word ‘comouter’ (im french canadian)
anyway . Yeah the spock/ohara thing mae me raise an eyebrow , but at the end, i thought they were cute. and i found funny to see that we were like, 2 or 3 girls only in the crowd at the theater!
This movie is downright ATROCIOUS.
It doesn’t even fit with the original story and i’m not even nitpicking !
In ‘Generations’, we see Kirk explain his youth at a ranch where he wanted to be a peaceful farmer, live with his future-(not)-to-be-wife and raise horses.
This is yet one more lame “modern hollywood” attempt to promote a signed-on actor (that blonde dumbass) using an epic franchise that would have been best LEFT ALONE.
It’s got the worst combo of what modern cinema has to offer :
- Bleached teen actor playing a wannabe gangster type character who magically becomes wise and responsible.
- Sexual undertones all over (what the fuck… it’s star trek!)
- Politically correct crap that doesn’t fit with the original story (the ‘kind of asian’ spock wanting to screw the ‘kind of african’ uhura ? VERY credible…)
- A dramatically BAD scenario with more incoherences and plot holes than swiss cheese !
Outright horrible movie that only kids who never saw the original ones can watch without having the urge to unscrew the producer’s head.
Just going to say I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, The only thing I never truely understood, like many, was the romance but I mean whatever that wasn’t a movie ruiner.
For all those wondering why they couldn’t transport to the platform, (Roger Ebert said the same thing and sort of annoyed me but) was because it was causing interference with all the electronics, which is why they had to destroy it in the first place. Also one has to realize that what would you rather have an actor trying to imitate or be exactly how william shatner was as Kirk or have maybe a new sort of aspect, because guaranteed if he had tried to imitate shatner there would be alot more people saying how much he sucked and that shatner was better. I actually thought Frost did a great job.
My favourite aspect of the movie was the intensity of the sound when the ships would go into warp that was awesome. And I believe the reason they added the car chase scene was to sort of show how Kirk is portrayed as being rebelious as he grows up and to sort of compare how similarily Spock grew up and had the same sort of anger or lack of control. I actually thought it was sort of funny but yes it could have probably been taken out but to me it didn’t take any of the enjoyability away.
@ Leshrac
I’m not saying you can’t have an opinion or anything because everyone is entitled to one. But I just wanna point out that 1. Zachary Quinto (Spock) is not in the least bit asian and 2. There were quite a few sexual undertones in all the star trek series, well I dunno about the original but still. Also I rather take everything as a seperate piece rather than trying to compare it to all or any star trek series/movie because I don’t believe it’s meant to tie into any of them and also realize the timeline has been altered so you cannot say that Kirk from the Star Trek series who didn’t lose his father is going to be the same as his Kirk who never knew his father and is in a revenge mentality. I’m not trying to change your opinion and I don’t wanna get in a fight or anything just wanted to point out those few details
*edit* that would be Pine not Frost thinking wrong actor Haha
Hi, I’ve enjoyed your reviews in the past (eventhough sometimes there is too much story in the video game reviews, I just want the review, not to see you dressed up as everyone from the Adam’s Family or you playing a video game with a piece of shit that looks like you, but I digress), but you totally missed the point of showing the young Kirk. Ok, first, the whole point of the Beastie Boys song “Sabotage” is a reference to this clip: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nlOTRxt-dIw in which Shatner says that he says pronounced the word Sabotage in his own way. Second, the point of that scene and of “asshole” Kirk is to show you that NO this isn’t the Kirk we know, why? cause he wasn’t raised by his dad and maybe resents him for dying or something. That car he crashed was his Stepdad’s car. So yeah, sorry to hear that you didn’t really enjoy it much, but that scene was great for different reasons.
Is anyone going to fess up to being a hardcore Star Trek fan on this thread? I find it hard to believe that a videogame website would not have at least a few hard care Star Trek fans…
“Very cool, thanks. Yes, feel free to disagree any day. Like you said, there’s my thoughts, it is what it is.
Maybe now’s a good time: what’s everyone’s favorite Star Trek movies from best to worst?”
Hey James! It is cool that you read the comments. I was eager to hear your opinion about the movie, too.
Btw. I had to register again because my account was somehow lost, I used to be MetalManni, but this username is cooler anyway.
So, I would give the new movie about three out of five stars if it was a generic scifi movie, but as a star trek movie I would probably give it only one, because it screws the whole time-line and even worse: There is no deeper message in it, it is all pretty bland. But now you can say, “Well, you are a nerdy Trekkie geek anyway, so why listen to you?”
). Secondly, Spock DID try to help save his planet, but sadly failed, so I will DESTROY his planet, too!
But the reason why I would not give the movie more than three out of five stars in any way is, because the villain had little screen time and had the most ridiculous motivation for a villain I EVER saw in a movie: take BLOODY VENGEANCE on the one guy who wanted to help his people! and destroy his planet and any other planet of the federation. So basically his aim was: The whole federation did not help save my planet, I will DESTROY their planets (btw Would the proud Romulans have asked the federation for help anyway?
You cannot take revenge on the people that did not help you AND on the ones who DID try to help you.
So, anyway, I however liked the character portrayals of the main characters. I think they were pretty much on spot, everyone. Especially Quinto as Spock and Urban as McCoy were brilliant. But the problem is: They were not really used as characters! The whole movie felt so rushed that none of the characters could actually evolve. The actors did their job well, but they did not get much chance to show their acting.
The trailers promised that we learn how Kirk and Spock became friends, but the film felt so rushed, the conflict was so tense, that did not really see any bonds whatsoever. And McCoy totally had too little screen time.
So, here my ranking of STar TRek films:
1. IV: The Voyage Home
2. II: The Wrath Of Khan
3. VI: The Undiscovered Country
4. V: The Final Frontier
5. VII: Generations
6. IX: Insurrection
7. VIII: First Contact
8. I: The Motion Picture
9. III: The Search For Spock
Your review of IV was spot on, how you pointed out, the movie was about communication. That is exactly the point, what they did better than in the new flick. All the character had so much to say. I especially liked that this film had no cliché villain, that gave the main cast better chance to interact with their environment rather than just scream at the villain (like KHAAAN!). I also really like V, because the story was far better than everyone says, I like the message (that God is in our hearts)Also I especially liked the scene where Spock told his brother that he may have had difficulties in the past with being and outcast, but in the course of his life he learned who he was and who his friends are. One of the most emotional scenes with Spock, but without being out-of-character. Sybok was IMO the best ST villain because I could understand his ambitions and he was no cheap cliché villain, he had an aim and when he found out that he did not find what he was looking for he realised this.
Sorry, James, but you’re just DEAD WRONG about some stuff in the movie and I frankly wonder if you understood the plot at all.
You’re talking about this movie to be a prequel, because it has been promoted that way. Well, guess what, that’s only half the truth. It’s right that this movie could be seen as a prequel to the original series, but in fact it isn’t. The original series, where for instance Checkov joined the vrew in later seasons, played in a totally different timeline WHERE VULCAN HASN’T BEEN OBLITERATED! Omg, James – didn’t you get that?
Same goes for your idea of Kirk being off. It wasn’t the same Kirk portrayed in the series. Like the older Spock mentioned in the movie: In the reality he came from, Kirk knew is father, in this reality, however, he grew up without him, what made him kind of a rebell. Another thing about this reality being different is the fact, that Cpt. Pike wasn’t crippled under mysterious circumstances and actually seemed quite well at the end of the movie.
What Abrams actually did was quite clever. He created parallel universe where he could set up his own set of Star Trek movies, unbound by their predecessors with Shattner and Nimoy, because this timeline ceased to exist.
I’m having a little Star Trek-medley for the moment. They are showing all the movies plus the series on TV all the time so it is a great chance to see all the movies in a row. I have reached “Generations” which I’m watching right now.
Well, anyway. What I don’t get is that car-scene. I haven’t seen the new movie yet so I don’t know to much about it. But what I wonder is: Why is Kirk driving a car? Isn’t it obvious in the old TV-series and “Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home” that captain Kirk has no or limited experience with cars? I just think it is a little bit anachronistic. If anyone have an other opinion or can explain the whole thing with the car, please do so.
The above comment by BloodyFox explains that, too. Then maybe Jim Kirk’s real dad had no car, but his stepfather had one and PineKirk grew up with this stepfather whom he presumably hated, but ShatnerKirk grew up with his real dad, who was still alive.
I am just assuming that, because frankly, Abrams used this altered time-line/ parallel universe thingy just so that he got all crazy kinds of artistic freedom to justify any change.
I saw the movie last night, and as a huge trekkie, I liked it, but it left me disappointed. For those who didn’t like Kirk being a rebel, or thought it was out of character, it wasn’t. Kirk was always a rebel, hence cheating at the koybiashi mayru scenario, which is from the original series. He also stole a star ship once too, and disobeyed direct orders enough that in any real chain of command, he’d have been imprisoned.
My real problem with the movie, is not only the alternate timeline thing, which i didn’t find all that clever…. since i’ve seen every star trek movie/episode…. been done. Or that Nero didn’t seem to be a great villian… though, i found him hilarious when he contacted the enterprise… that was great. His ship didn’t make sense… they said it was a mining vessel… with advance weapons it seems, but the look and design were just all over. It wasn’t threating, it was a mess. Compared to the Reman Warbird the Scimitar from nemesis, the Narada is just a silly design. For something that was suppose to be a mining vessel, it has no practical design… nothing about it looks like a work vessel.
The ice planet chase scene, and Scotty being trapped in the water tubes were both ass. I would have been glad with more Scotty, as i love simon pegg, and more Sulu kicking ass, less Chekov, he just seemed there to be a funny voice… it was funny for nuclear wessels… i’ve moved on.
Anyways, too long of a post, overall, liked the movie, but made me want to go back to the original crew, and watch them all over. I do consider this to be the worst of the movies, but i’ve only seen it once, so there is a chance it will grow on me, but they need to do something about the music… all of it was awful, lacked any star trek feeling, aside just being bland… and for christ sakes, no beastie boys in star trek! Oh, and i do like all the star trek movies, 1 thru 11 now. Each has moments of actual greatness…. and once again, i’m a diehard trekkie…. oh, and i though Karl Urban was great as Bones. It felt real, unlike Chris Pines whiny voiced Kirk….
I actually really enjoyed the new Star Trek film. I think it was an interesting reboot that gave enough homage to the classic star trek while not feeling contrived or stupid (see AvsP2 as the ultimate example). The most important thing which made me enjoy the film was it carried on the good vibes the audience gets from seeing Spock and Kirk as friends no matter how the future plays out; it’s their friendship that makes them who they are or now, who they will be again. That classic hero and sidekick motif really stands up in this film and there were inklings of the same happy feelings I get from watching the very best of the older movies and episodes that define the worth of star trek to the casual fan.
JAMES RULES!!!!!!!! HOLY CRAP YOU ARE IN THE THATGUYWIHTTHEGLASSES.COM 1 YEAR ANNIVERSARY VIDEO. ALL OF YOU GREAT INTERNET PERSONALITIES…ONE EPIC BATTLE. I’VE NEVER LAUGHED SO MUCH FROM ANY VIDEO EVER!!! GREAT JOB TO ALL OF YOU!!!
you’re a true inspiration man.
I’m mixed on how I liked it. I agree that the scene with Kirk and also Spock in the beginning of the movie didn’t have much point other than to add substance to Kirk and Spock.
I had a real problem with the main characters becoming bridge crew so fast. We had Checkov on the bridge to begin with. But then “Oh I’m Hikaru Sulu, the Helm officer is sick right now.” Or “You speak Romulan? Okay get on the bridge, even though these Romulans appeared to speak English anyway.” And then “I’m leaving the ship. Hello Captain Spock and Kirk, you’re not supposed to be here but congrats on First Officer!” At least with McCoy when the Chief Medical Officer died and they went to do the bs promotion with him, he pretty much went “No shit.” I felt it was lame and for some of the characters they didn’t need to have a stupid excuse to put them on the bridge, just have them there to begin with.
I did feel that Karl Urban did a great job as McCoy. Ever since I first saw him in a scene, I felt he did a perfect job as McCoy. The others I’d say are believable as their characters, but they all just didn’t have the charm that the original cast did.
The nods to Trekkies were great. Some of them only hardcore Trekkies would get, such as Sulu’s fencing combat training, taken from The Naked Time.
Speaking of only fencing training, since when did fencing become a ninja sport? They drop and he has a katana and starts flipping around and stuff. And what’s the deal with the aliens in this movie. You don’t see one Klingon, and the rest you see (minus the one Orion and a few Vulcans) seemed like George Lucas went wild. “Hey let’s have a random alien we’ve never seen before deliver James Kirk. And let’s do another crazy looking alien here.” I mean, I was hoping to see some Andorians and Telerites and a few of the other races that spawned the United Federation of Planets.
One last concern I have are the changes to this “alternate reality”. Now will we see new Star Trek TV shows continue the canon storyline we already know? Or are they going to spawn off of the new movie? I’d prefer to see the series go past where Nemesis left off, and I guess we’ll get to see some of that with Star Trek Online, but I’d like to see a new series that continues from the other series. I don’t want to see the original Star Trek abandoned for this fresh new take on it.
Overall, I still don’t know what I think of the movie. I think I have found more things that I didn’t like that I did like. I went in hoping for Star Trek, and that’s what I got, only watered down so anyone could walk in and enjoy it, whether they’re a Star Trek fan or not. And I think that’s what threw me off about the movie.
This is my third post, probably three too many. But I just had to point out the LESHRAC post above is the epitome of ignorance. He totally missed the point of the movie. It is not a prequel to the previous star trek stuff, it is not supposed to connect to the story lines we already know.
But that is not so bad, what really bothers me is the idea that he expresses about an “Asian” and an “African” having a relationship as some sort of modern sell-out to political correctness. First, I am pretty sure they are both Americans (not that even matters). Second, I don’t think Zachery Quinto is ethnically Asian. And finally, the idea that a relationship is wrong based on the colors of someone’s skin is so full of hate and upsetting to me that I just felt I had to say something. LESHRAC, please spare us from your archaic and backwards way of thinking.
@Mokoleus
I think those “sophisticated weapons” were actually cluster mines used for mining huge asteroids. Since those cluster mines were probably invented in the late 24th century , they’re technologically superior to any “normal” weapon from the early 23rd century, despite the fact that their primary use is not for combat. As a result it’s no surprise they easily pierce through any Star Fleet shields of that early time period. It’s just like at the end of Voyager, where one Transphasic Torpedo was sufficient to destroy a borg cube – and those torpedoes were only invented about 20 years into the future from that point of time.
I agree with you, the movie was slow and… ok, not good or bad, a lot of scene that where senseless and did not need to be in the movie, like the car scan with Kerk, but it did have some consistory like James fucking a green women. Main thing I think killed the movie was they did not use the same classic transporter effect from the star trek movies, and the camera never stopped moving like someone who was holding the camera had full bodey turrets.
The Real pisser for me was not the movie its, but the crowd of people seeing the movie could not SHUT THE FUCK UP!!. I saw the movie in IMAX and yet the people all around me watching the movie where louder then the film somehow. will someone please try to me why? it spoiled the movie for me. I could nave tolerated the laughing but.. CLAPPING!?!?! who the fuck where they clapping for? the people in the movie? there on a cinema screen, the sound of clapping is not going to travel throughout time and space and somehow reach the actors in the film. That pissed me the fuck off big time
From what I’ve read an seen, everyone seem to hate Star Trek Nemesis, and I fail to grasp why. I watched the movie several times, and to me it was well made, and it featured first truly satisfying space battle. Having said that, here’s my list of favorite Star Trek movies:
1. First Contact
2. Nemesis
3. Insurection
4. Generations
5. Wrath of Khan
6. Search for Spock
7. The Voyage Home
8. The Undiscovered Country
9. The Motion Picture (Original)
10. The Final Frontier
I don’t put the newest one on the list, since I saw it only once and I think I need time to have a proper opinion about how to place it amongst the other ones.
@BloodyFox
thats fine about them being cluster mines, for mining asteroids, and i’m not disputing it’s technology over the “current” time periods. I do find it hard to believe that a mine designed for drilling or breaking apart asteroids, would decimate a fleet in seconds to minutes. seems like they wouldn’t be made for moving objects that are capable of changing course dynamically. plus, it’s not like it was a romulan star empire ship, it sounded like Nero was just a miner, making a living in a normal kind of job. I still say the overall ship design pales compared to all other star trek starships. even the borg cubes felt more threatning. i still liked the movie, but it’s at the bottom of the list, till i see it a few more times… i’ve found every trek movie gets better on multiple views…. oh and Ender, i quite enjoyed nemesis, the first time the Scimitar decloaked i was enthralled by the first true warship in star trek…. nothing even came close to that beauty
Totally agree with you about Sabotage and the whole car scene in general, just feels completely tacked on so that the good Spock scene doesn’t influence the audience into seeing him as the main character early on. The most annoying part for me is that when Sabotage starts, it’s played as if he’s listening to it on the radio, but when the car falls off the cliff the song doesn’t fade out like it would if it was being played from the car, which would have worked a lot better. Obviously the idea is to show that he hates his uncle and how that has changed his future – a situation that wouldn’t have occurred had his father not been killed – but the fact that he doesn’t say anything other than his name and we never see any repercussions or WHY he hates his uncle makes it totally hollow.
These scenes do exist but were cut, as was most of the exposition and character development of Nero, who in the finished version of the movie is as one-dimensional a character as Shinzon from Nemesis, and it doesn’t help that he’s a remarkably similar character (Bald Romulan flying a super-ship with a super-weapon heads to Earth to destroy the Federation – it’s basically a carbon copy. OK, technically Shinzon wasn’t Romulan but you see my point).
I think it would have been a far superior movie if Abrams hadn’t felt the need to cut a bunch of stuff so that the general public (read: idiots) wouldn’t have to wait 5 minutes through some – gasp – dialogue before the next explosion. Were you confused by Nero’s reference of waiting 25 years for this moment? Yeah, that’s because he spent 25 years on Rura Penthe, the Klingon prison planet from Star Trek 6, which is why Uhura mentions Klingon ships being destroyed (and which is where the line from the trailer “the wait is over” comes from). Cut completely from the film, so all we get is a 3 minute mind-meld where Spock tries to explain a rather convoluted idea in far too little detail.
I’m surprised you think the entire first hour sucked – I enjoyed the Kobiashu Maru scene, particularly because it was the first moment I really saw Pine as Kirk. His delivery of the “so, we defeated the Klingons, saved everyone” line was pure Shatner. If anything, I preferred the first half to the second half, particularly as the ending just felt WAY to easy – Spock shoots through a cable, and they eject the warp core in order to escape a spacial anomoly – I mean, how anti-climactic is that? Ejecting the warp core? How much more of a cliche solution could they have chosen? Maybe it’s meant to be a homage since Scotty says it like it’s never been done before, but as the last piece of action in the film it’s not good enough.
Worst part about the film was Scotty being reduced to comic relief and the fact that he had a stupid little Ewok buddy, the only purpose for whom was to be told to stop sitting on things. What the fuck kind of shit was that? That’s the sort of bullshit I expect from Star Wars, not from Trek.
Overall I dug it – this was the only way to make Star Trek a viable property again. We can go back to Star Trek 4 to see that a mainstream-friendly film can allow for expanding the franchise into different directions. A year after the 4th film we get TNG, which I’m sure had a lot to do with the sudden increase in popularity of the brand name. This new resurgence could allow for the next genuinely great Star Trek down the line.
Just a few short years ago, Star Trek as a brand was practically valueless – two pretty bad movies and 3 very unpopular TV series had driven it into the ground, not to mention the general “Trekkies are geeks” recieved opinion people have, even though Star Wars fans are just as bad if not worse and yet that’s apparently “cool”. Now, it’s “This Year’s Iron Man” and we might be at a point where Star Trek is “cooler” than Star Wars. This can only mean good things for the brand as a whole.
So, best Trek films? From bottom to top:
Insurrection
The Final Frontier
The Motion Picture
The Search For Spock
Nemesis
Generations
Star Trek (2009)
First Contact
The Voyage Home
The Wrath Of Khan
The Undiscovered Country
RenderedToast: “Worst part about the film was Scotty being reduced to comic relief and the fact that he had a stupid little Ewok buddy, the only purpose for whom was to be told to stop sitting on things. What the fuck kind of shit was that? That’s the sort of bullshit I expect from Star Wars, not from Trek.”
Exactly what I’ve been saying. Scotty was the jar jar binks of this movie. Take Scotty out of the movie, and the movie is instantly better.
Jar jar was good for getting help from the gungans. Scotty transported a few people.
Other than than, they were both total tardshits.
Here’s my one-line review: “A non-stop thrill ride of wild coincidences, tumbling camera angles and lens flares.”
*SPOILER ALERTS!*
The movie made no sense whatsoever. I still found it mildly entertaining, but my attention (like everyone else’s) can be maintained with enough shiny things.
Someone has already mentioned the absurdity of the monsters on the ice world and the fact that Kirk happens to run into Spock with no reason why.
But the whole explanation for why Spock and Nero are there makes no sense either. How could they not have predicted the supernova that destroyed Romulus? Stars don’t just spontaneously explode. There are warning signs.
Assuming that it was a complete surprise, Spock somehow has time enough to promise to save Romulus
and build a ship, but the Romulans had no time to evacuate the planet… For that matter, since the Vulcans were aware that they were under attack before the rest of the Federation, why didn’t THEY make any attempts to evacuate before it was too late?
Then, Spock somehow fails to save Romulus in time, but apparently had no way to calculate that he wasn’t going to make it and still uses the red matter in spite of the fact that the planet’s already been destroyed.
So Spock and Nero go through the blackhole completely by accident and in spite of the infinite improbability of going through a wormhole, they do and Nero ends up at EXACTLY the right place to change the life of Kirk and the other members of the Enterprise crew. The universe is expected to have a life span of 50+ billion years, and there are upwards of 100 billion galaxies but he ACCIDENTLY winds up right at this particular time and place. Not only that but Spock doesn’t come through the wormhole until the exact right time for Kirk to save day! If he’d dropped out of the wormhole when Kirk was a kid or shortly after Kirk would have been thrown out of the academy, Earth and the Federation would’ve been destroyed.
If the main villain had set out to change history, it would’ve been both interesting and it would’ve made sense. But to add this twist that makes absolutely no sense for some cheap “Ah ha” moment immediately knocked this movie down one star for me. Plot complexity is not a substitute for it making sense.
Just happening to meet up with Scotty on the ice world was rather ridiculous as well.
I had the same feelings, but I’d say I was a little more than neutral. It was refreshing, and I wouldn’t say it was as disappointing as other remakes/add-ons like the Star Wars prequels.
Previous Star Trek movies are unwatchable to me as is the TV show. This movie is fucking amazing story is actually believable. Little do they know Captain Kirk will soon turn into a overacting asshole and Sooloo will turn fruity.
The wierdest thing about Star Trek is at the end, after the credits, it shows them watching Threes company on the bridge, and its that episode where you see john ritters balls
I thought the movie was pretty good. I would give it an 8 or 9 out of 10 stars. The best part of the movie was probably the end when Kirk got his signature orange/tan uniform. I also loved including Leonard Nimoy reprising his role as Spock in this new film. Lots of product placement, but it didn’t really bother me. Just a sign of the times. Also, my biggest gripe/WTF moment with this film is Uhura and Spock. I also thought it was slightly annoying how there would always be a lens flare effect in the scenes of the bridge of the ship, like they are trying to disguise the bridge or something. I have seen the previous 10 films and here is how I would rank them:
1. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
2. Star Trek: First Contact
3. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
4. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
5. Star Trek
6. Star Trek Generations
7. Star Trek: Nemesis
8. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
9. Star Trek: The Motion Picture
10. Star Trek: Insurrection
11. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
I noticed a funny movie mistake. The new Spock, the character from Heroes, he’s got attached earlobes. But, the old Spock’s earlobes hang down. Wow, I’m going to make a few fans mad aren’t I? If you go to watch the movie keep an eye out for that.
For my opinion: It was awesome, but of course, I’m 16 and I never got into Star Trek. So I think that it’s appealing to a younger audience because of all the technology and that.
First off, i love yer stuff James. Next about the movie… I am not a huge Trek fan, I mean i used to watch NG every once in a while and have seen a few of the movies but I’m definitly not a “Trekkie”. My take on it was that this wasn’t a prequel like it was said to be… It was even stated in the movie that because the Romulans went back in time and killed Kirk’s father it splintered off an alternate reality. Therefor the ways that all the characters interacted wasn’t necessarily how they acted in the true Trek past.
This alternate reality caused the destruction of Vulcan, making Spock far more vulnerable to emotion then he was in any previous movies or the series.
So in my opinion we still don’t know what REALLY happened back in the academy that lead to the Star Trek we all know. But I did find this movie very entertaining. It kind of seperates itself so its its own entity and I like that.
If someone said this was a sell-out, I’d have to agree – it does trade a lot of the more serious (albeit snobby) qualities that have come to define the Star Trek franchise in for something flashier and a bit empty. I let it pass, though, because it’s nice sit down once in and awhile and actually enjoy a science fiction film, as opposed to just wading through heavy-handed and thinly veiled social commentary until they light up the special effects. Besides, they can always re-inject some of that purposefulness in a sequel. But the thing that impressed me the most was the escape hatch it allows for purists – it can be categorized as an alternate reality.
I was thinking of seeing this movie but you know what? I am not going to. I’m looking forward for Terminator Salvation. Speaking of Terminator, can you make a review for all of the terminator movies since Terminator 4 is coming out? I really want to know your opinion.
Being a lifelong Trekkie, I have to say that this was the best Trek ever. It succeeded on so many levels and really sets things up for an entirely new Trek universe where there won’t have to be bickering over canon and such. Initially, I was worried that the movie would deviate too heavily from all that has come before, but that all went away as I realized that in order for Star Trek to ever be successful again, it had to change. I’m all for it. Trek films never had the chance to live up to the franchise’s true potential.
Here are my new rankings:
1. Star Trek
2. The Undiscovered Country
3. First Contact
4. The Wrath of Khan
5. The Voyage Home
6. Generations
7. The Final Frontier
8. The Motion Picture
9. Nemesis
10. The Search for Spock
11. Insurrection
[...] Trek came out. That crazy piece of work… alright, do you want to know what I thought? Well, I thought EXACTLY what the famous(er than us) James Rolfe (aka the Angry Video Game Nerd) thought. Yes. Click that link and watch his video. It’s good. My thoughts [...]
I was under the impression that what we are seeing is a parallel universe from the original series because of what Spock did with the black hole and the time travel stuff. Therefore, Kirk grows up a juvenile delinquent.
This goes to steve.glauser:
I didn’t miss the fucking point, i was trying to point out that this “alternate reality” bullshit isn’t even worth mentionning.
It’s just a sad way of doing yet another self-promoting, sfx abusive movie for “actors” that are too bad at acting to be convincing in any way.
These clean-cut, post-modern crap movies are a waste.
Now image i’d decide to do a back to the future “alternative” because “SOMEHOW” the machine of doc brown caused a paradox ? Best most people would be pissed right ?
Why ? Because it would :
- Kill the original story
- Rip the style out of the first 3
- Be a shame.
Some movie series are better left untouched, star trek was one of them.
The only one that succeeded (up until the last 15 minutes) to keep the pace and original style of the first movies was indiana jones 4; minus the stupid “mind controlling zergs are invading our world” ending…
I still need to go see the movie itself but so far I like what I hear in the fans reviews. “It’s not awfull at all but it has it’s flaw.” is the most recurring thing I hear about it.
That was a pretty good review James, I love this type of reviews. You should do a join review with MovieBob sometimes, it would be nerdtastic.
http://moviebob.blogspot.com/
I saw it yesterday, and loved it. It’s not got a very strong plot, but the characters made the film, and it set up for a brilliant sequel, now that everything’s been established.
I’ve heard a lot of people complaining about the science in the film, which I find ridiculous. Star Trek has always been very much science fiction, with no basis in reality, so this is no different.
The effects were insanely good, the score was good, the writing was grand (the actor’s deliveries made the script better than it was on paper I think), the plot was adequete, the acting was top notch, and it was hugely entertaining. Roll on Star Trek…2? They’ll need to think about the title of the next one I’d say.
At the least, even if a Trek fan hated the film ,he should be grateful for it’s existence. Trek was slowly dying for twenty years, and has been dead to the world at large for years now, this film has given Star Trek a pulse, giving it life again. Even if you don’t like the film, be glad that Star Trek is alive and well again, with the possibility of new TV shows and the like now on the horizon again.
Hi James, thanks for all your hard work making the AVGN videos over the years. My son and I love your work and eagerly look forward to every episode.
As far as your comments regarding the new Star Trek movie, the OTT past of Kirk, the romance of Uhura etc has happened because of changes in the timeline creating an alternate reality… basically the Romulan mining ship coming back in time has altered everything that happens after and forever onwards.
It’s a brilliant idea in that they can now make new films with this new crew because none of the episodes you have ever seen will happen like they did or at all because the timeline has been changed.
There’s no longer a canon timeline as observed from TOS.
Keep up the good work!
Manchester, England.
Hey. I enjoyed the movie a lot, but now after reading a lot of the comments here I suppose I can find lots of faults. But when I watched it, in IMAX, I was just going “Wow – Awesome”. I particularly liked the little lines that Bones and others said to make us older fans happy. I wasn’t expecting it to relate much to original shows and films other than it having a guy named Kirk on a ship called the Enterprise. What I expected it to do was to try to appeal to today’s viewers and I think it did that pretty well. But I was actually surprised how much it connected with the traditional cannon, other than the Uhura/Spock kiss. I never thought about the alternate timeline all that much. I figured that now I finally know why the Romulans destroyed Vulcan. What really annoyed me is the damn product placement. That’s the only thing that I felt did not fit in. I mean, after World War III and 90% of the worlds population getting wiped out and the post-apocalyptic horror that Roddenberry envisioned, I doubt companies like Budweiser and Nokia would be still around.
If you look at the shows themselves, each series seems to target a particular generation of viewers. I personally liked Voyager the best, but I can enjoy any of them.
Now as for which order I liked the movies… well let’s see.
1. The Voyage Home (IV) – Funny and in the good old 80’s. Also, it was interesting that they were in a Bird of Prey and having a hard time with all the Klingon controls. It’s like the Americans in the German U-boat in U-571.
2. The Motion Picter (I) – Besides the 10 minute ship expose scene and the horrid costumes, I thought it was a good story. I was so fascinated by the Voyager programs as a kid so I thought the whole V’GER thing was clever. Plus it had the biggest and most powerful enemy than anything else in it.
3. The Wrath of Khan (II) – Every one seams to say this is the best so I guess it should be somewhere on the top of my list. I hated those damn mind control bugs. But it had a good bad guy in there.
4. The Undiscovered Country (VI) – A very important one as it explains why the Klingons joined the federation.
5. First Contact (VIII) – I love the Borg battle in the beginning.
6. Nemesis (X) – Nice to have another good bad guy character.
7. Generations (VII) – Nice to see both Kirk and Piccard in the same movie. Sad to see Kirk dying.
8. The Final Frontier (V) – The beginning was interesting, the end with the “God” thing was retarded.
9. The Search of Spock (III) – I remember this one being a bit weird for some reason.
10. Insurrection (IX) – Nothing really stood out from this movie. It would have made an OK TV episode.
Now I don’t think the new movie really fits in the same category as the old ones so I won’t include it on the list.
Always good to hear differing viewpoints. I’m a big fan of Star Trek but not a trekkie (never been to any conventions, just not my thing). I walked into this movie expecting it to be horrible…I thought the idea of rehashing ST (especially a prequel) was a BAD idea, and my thoughts on the writer/producer were mixed (kinda have a love/hate thing with his work). I didn’t read anything about it and walked in blind…and quite honestly, was pleasantly surprised. I’d rate it as a 9/10.
Sure, there were some things that bothered me. Having the younger versions of the old cast with new faces was a bit odd at first…but some of them looked a lot like the original cast (esp spock)…but others, like Uhura and Chekov…not a thing at all. The romance didn’t bother me at all…hey, why not? But the actress that played Uhura seemed to be picked for her looks rather than any resemblance which I thought was kind of lame. Also I’d wished that Sulu was actually played by a Japanese guy…sorry, no sneaking a Korean guy past me…maybe some people think that all Asians look alike, but I can tell them apart at first glance! Bones seemed a bit too cheesy at times with his lines…and yeah the weird monsters on the ice world made me immediately think of Phantom Menace (aghhh!), but the really good parts far outweighed these things.
Overall…I think this movie will not be fully appreciated until many years in the future…kind of like the 1st movie since it’s doing much the same thing. Yes, the first movie is pretty boring…but people tend to forget that it was the bridge between TV and Cinema…and without it…NOTHING…no new ST TNG, Wrath of Khan or anything else probably would have followed. They took a risk…as it could have either brought new life to ST or killed it forever…and it worked! This movie did the same in my opinion…it resurrected a dead franchise and also had an appeal to a new audience which is very important for the survival of the ST universe.
My thoughts here stem from the fact that ST was starting to decay with Voyager…which started kind of cool but then descended into a Jeri Ryan boob fest (hey, not that I’m complaining, but sci fi should have a balance of all good things, not just boobs)…I guess that’s a perk of boinking the producer/writer…all I knew is that seeing that the two idiots who nearly killed ST were NOT involved with this new flick gave me some hope of this movie’s success. Don’t get me started on Enterprise…and I feel there hasn’t been a good movie since First Contact…Nemesis…to me, was horrible…and one of the final nails in the coffin (the last being Enterprise) that nearly killed ST for all time. I had more fun watching the recent Family Guy episode with the TNG cast much more than the last few movies.
So to sum up…I was original really opposed to this new movie…and worried that if it tanked, ST would be dead forever. But it actually did the opposite…it really brought new life back and hopefully will be pivotal into bringing more in the future.
Well James i am a hated….I hated this film and I like you am more of a here and there fan. I know enough to know the storys but without a doubt no hardcore fan but
WOW how amazingly BAD was that film, You guys may have liked it and that is cool, BUT i do not understand why but to me that film was SHOCKINGLY BAD!
Not one good thing came from that film, TRULY not one. Ok the actors did their part and The Story was ok that is IT! AS FOR SPOCK my god was he ruined (not the actors fault) it was the writing (not giving away anything but will say the word RELATIONSHIP and as for the rest of the cast they did their jobs well all but the ones who were totally miscast.
I truly don’t see what film people saw because that was Phantom Menace all over again ONLY WORSE. Now given the fact people like different films I get that but that is by FAR the worst Star Trek movie (for me) The heart was totally missing from the film which was in the first 6 films.
The effects were overdone lame CGI (no model work AGAIN like all modern day films) with the shacking camera style GET OVER THAT PEOPLE!
Oh yeah I am no hardcore Trek fan on a rant here sure i know the films but I am not one to watch the TV shows so don’t think i am just so bitter fan because that I ain’t I am someone who likes a good story with decent characters which was robbed from this film.
It was just a film of OHHH look at the Pretty lights and effects with no soul behind the story or heart. The friendship of Spock and Kirk is forced which makes no sense since (small spoiler) OLD Spock goes on about how the future is now different and yet Kirk and Spock will still be friends? Ah how does he know that in this future?
I know I will get all hate comments saying I don’t know what I am talking about and blah blah blah and say what you like, You may love the film I on the other hand HATED it with a passion.
If i had the choice i rather see a straight up prequel or a fresh film set long into the future with a new cast, new crew and new storyline.
THANK GOD Terminator is on the way and Hope it can save this summers films
p.s oh and Scotty with that alien HA HA HA really funny………Jar Jar
WITH saying that my list of Trek Films
Now i am like you and consider 2,3 and 4 a Trilogy but if i had to break them up this is how i would list them
1- WRATH OF KHAN
2- The Undiscovered Country
3- The Search of Spock
4- The Voyage Home
5- The Final Frontier
6- Star Trek The Motion Picture
7- First Contact
8- Nemesis
9- Insurrection
10- Generations
and yes last of all
11- Star Trek (09) yes i hated it that much.
I have to say i almost universally agree with you on everything james , in fact we’re the same age and I had similar teenaged years doing haunted houses and editing video with multiple tape decks and bits and peices from radioshack
but this i dont , there are obvious flaws in some of the science and certain things seem a little convinient , but i was shocked with how fast i was grabbed into this movie and it never did let go ,
this is no indiana jones 4 for sure this is an above average summer block buster and deserving of a spot in the top 3 startrek movies… in fact heres my list from best to worst
st II wrath of khan
ST 2009
ST VII the undiscoverd country
ST IV the voyage home
st THE “slow” motion picture
st III the search for spok
st Nemisis , i thought this got a raw deal and was better then most people give credit for and suffered mainly cuase startrek was so worn out at the time
ST First contact
st V kirk is tougher then god
st Gnerations
ST insurection by far the worst
I saw this movie and LOVED every minute of it. it was exciting and refreshing to see. Im very glad they decided to clean the slate so to speak and make a new universe without any continuity problems. They basically did what DC does when they want to clean up there universe. Now we have a fresh clean ST universe where hopefully no one screws it up. forget everything you know about Star Trek…cause it never happend. This movie basically rewrites history meaning the events in TOS, TNG, DS9, and Voyager and quite possibly Enterprise(mabey) never happend. Im excited to see what they do with this new universe.
I haven’t seen “Star Trek” yet but on the first ten movies my ranking is this:
01. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (DVD SE)
02. Star Trek: First Contact
03. Star Trek: Generations
04. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
05. Star Trek: Insurrection
06. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director’s Edition)
07. Star Trek: Nemesis
08. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
09. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
10. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
As for the shows:
1. Star Trek: Deep Space nine
2. Star Trek: Enterprise
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation
4. Star Trek
5. Star Trek: Voyager
You people need to stop trying to emulate the corporate nerd to try and look “cool”.
Nobody gives a FLYING FUCK about “your own little star trek rankings”.
At best you watch a review to COMPARE WITH WHAT YOU THOUGHT ABOUT IT, not ping-pong back and forth about who thinks what, it’s a matter of PERSONAL TASTE, something that can not be ARGUED.
Oh, and to go against the steamroller of “agreeists”, the fact that the nerd so blatantly missed the OBVIOUS goal of this piece of trash* doesn’t really make me feel comfortable about the state of PERSONAL OPINIONS AND WILLPOWER these days…
* Shiny, teen-riddled, cgi-overabusive movie intented to promote the next crop of bad actors signed by big-movie not for their talent but for their appeal to teens.
It’s an absolute shame. Both this movie and the overwhelming majority of these fucking comments !
Scronan:
“I think this movie will not be fully appreciated until many years in the future”
—
You gotta be kidding me… This is like the ultimate argument winner for every wannabe artist out there :
“oh noes i’m doing crap so i’m going to pretend the world doesn’t comprehend my work”.
Give me a fucking break…
I totally agree with your assessment of this movie. Very concise
Can’t anybody disagree with James? Just because you’re a fan doesn’t mean you have to alter your initial opinion. I find it hard to believe that so many people walked out of the movie theater saying: THAT SUCKED!
As a moderately big fan of Star Trek, I initially liked the movie. After thinking about it for a while, I love it. I think it was the absolute best that J.J. Abrams could have done. If James said that, would you follow along? I’m a fan of James too, but I know how to have an original opinion. Just don’t lie to yourselves, I’m sure he wants to hear your honest thoughts anyway.
TehJimmy: “Your opinion is different to mine, so you must be lying!”
Seriously though, I saw it for a second time and I’ve come to love it. I still think it has flaws or things missing, but considering the nature of the film (prequel, reboot, setting up an alternate timeline, whatever you want to call it) I don’t think they could have done much better.
I saw the trailer on YouTube. I thought it was a fucking joke.
Fuck this movie.
You’re right, I wanted to know your thoughts. You’re also right, they’re just your thoughts because I really enjoyed the movie. Thanks for giving us a couple of words on the matter.
I personally loved this movie. I was never a big Star Trek fan, and I probably learned more about Star Trek from your game and movie reviews than I had before, but so many like me were in the same boat… not big Star Trek fans, but went to see the movie anyway since it looked awesome and had some of the best reviews (higher than Dark Knight and Slumdog Millionaire), and loved it!
I’m going to have to disagree with you, James. However you always present your opinions respectably. If you didn’t, I wouldn’t have bothered typing something you may not even get the chance to read.
I’ll start with the front-end of my opinion: I thought it was absolutely amazing. For me it had that “wow” factor so little films of the summer have these days. How the CGI felt natural, completely integrated among brilliant set design to tell the story instead of showy and obnoxious was just great. I strongly disagree that the first half was bad, mainly because as point of fact… the opening sequence was perhaps my favorite part. The way J.J Abrams drowned out the sound effects in favor of Michael Giacchino’s emotional score work was breathtaking, as was the fact that this small sequence was somehow heartbreaking after only knowing these characters for a few minutes. It’s a huge part of what I mean when I say “wow factor”. J.J. gets how important music is to a film. I for one felt the film hugely relied on old-fashioned thematic score work, not lyrical songs. I liked the use of “Sabotage” however. I thought that sequence, while over the top, was a cool way to introduce who Kirk is and the use of that song for me just fit perfectly. If they would have repeated themselves with more lyrical songs like that, I would agree about using such over traditional score one, but they didn’t. It happened just once and I felt it worked.
Personally I think calling Jim a “jerk” might be a bit harsh. He was being very flirtatious and probably as subtle as a sledgehammer but I felt his character at that point was definitely meant to come off as lost. I felt the whole point was to show someone who is acting far inferior to what he *really is*. Personally I just felt the writers were trying to show us someone who thinks they can get by “not caring”, so to speak. When it is obvious that they should, because they have great talent and should be utilizing it instead of treating themselves like crap because they don’t believe in themselves enough to be better. Actually, I think that’s somewhat of a fine message.
I don’t want to drag this out too long because if you don’t have enough time to see every summer film, you certainly don’t have enough time to read every persons comment and let alone reply. I hope you do, but I’ll understand if you don’t.
I know I concluded my last post, but I felt I had to add one more thing:
I hugely disagree about Spock. I felt he was one of the great characters of the film because of how well they explored his human side. He isn’t just a straight standing blinkess alien, he actually has humanity in him; good and bad. I loved seeing Spock become angry and in contrast see him love. I also thought it lent itself directly to the story where future Spock is forced to see his planet implode and informs young Kirk that “I just saw my world destroyed. I *am* emotionally distraught.” Or something along those lines. It’s hidden, but it’s there. It’s the conflict within himself and I loved how Kirk was forced to bring it out of him for the greater good. I feel great movies need layers of conflict, and this contributed to his character and the outcome of how we know him as wonderfully.
Here’s my favorite Star Trek flicks from best to worst (warning, some strong opinions ahead).
1. Star Trek III: Search for Spock – My all time favorite…I think it has the best acting out of all of the movies, especially between Kirk and Bones. I also love that it allowed some of the other characters to shine…ie Sulu kicking ass (don’t call me TINY!) and Uhura teaching the uppity young cadet about what happens when you wish a little too much for some more adventure in your life.
2. Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan – I love this movie…even if the bugs crawling into people’s ears scared the crap out of me as a kid when it premiered. Heck, this movie actually gave my dad nightmares..so much that he flushed one of my pet bugs (which oddly enough, looked a lot like the ear bugs!) down the toilet in the middle of the night. =)
3. Star Trek VI: Undiscovered Country – A great end to the original movies…and hey, what’s not to like about kicking a guy in the knee only to find out that you just kicked him in the nuts? ^_^
4. Star Trek IV: Voyage Home – A very different ST movie…but one that had a good message and put a nice twist to the main storyline…plus the humor was awesome. “That’s not what you said, Farm Boy!”.
5. Star Trek: First Contact – Although I see TOS and TNG as kind of separate entities…this is one of the best of all the movies…I remember seeing it in the theatre when it came out and I loved it from beginning to end. It’s the only TNG movie I really like.
6. Star Trek: Motion Picture – A great movie…a bit slow at parts and I’ll admit I’ve fallen asleep while watching it a few times…but a very worthy flick due to all it did for the franchise. And it also proved that bald-headed chics can be very hot. =)
7. Star Trek V: Final Frontier – Yes, this movie isn’t all that great…but I think it’s a lot of fun. Plus, I think it has one of the best scenes ever when McCoy is forced to face the memory of his father’s death.
8. Star Trek Generations – I don’t know exactly why I didn’t like this movie…but it’s one that I just couldn’t bring myself to enjoy. I’ve watched it maybe twice. I’ve seen First Contact at least 25 times.
9. Star Trek: Inerection, whoops I mean Insurrection – Not really a bad movie…but it’s another that just didn’t have any memorable scenes for me. I’ve heard some good arguments from others on why they like it…so perhaps in the future I may change my mind about this one.
10. Star Trek: Nemesis – A very biased personal opinion, but I feel this is the GRAND TURD KING of all the Star Trek movies. From the moment it started…having read nothing about it or watched any trailers for this movie…I was able to guess almost everything that was about to happen next. No surprises…no depth…no scenes that really drew me in…it was just, BLAH. Sure, it was nice to see TNG folks in action again…but it just was such a STUPID idea…the plot was silly and I felt it was a poor, poor send off for such a great cast. And yeah, I thought that killing off Data was way too predictable and lame…as much as finding a magical third Data who had been gathering dust somewheres I guess…he was a busy guy, that Dr. Soon. Once again, the forces of evil smited a once proud series into the lower bowels of the PITS OF THE ETERNAL STENCH. To sum up, yea, I kinda hated this movie.
Regarding the new movie…I’ll need more time to see where it fits. However, it will be near the top of my list!
@Paul – Thank you for sharing your viewpoints…especially about the young Spock. Very well said…it’s given me a lot to think about…damn, I really must go watch the new movie again.
I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy it. I thought it was amazing. I felt like Abrams really made some great improvements while keeping what fans like me grew up with and loved. I can understand how some people might hate Kirk because he’s an ass or might hate Spock because he has those bursts of anger but I feel like many people are forgetting that these are not suppose to be the same characters. Abrams introduces the same physical people but the viewer should realize that all the reasons those characters we grew up with, all those experiences they had who made them who they were, never happened. Well, they did happen, just in some alternate timeline. So you have to look at the movie from a fresh point.
But anyway, to me the movie was incredible. It was great to see a new cast pick up the baton so well. The movie blew me away and I can’t wait to see more from this group of actors and the team that produced it. Finally I have to say that the first time I heard that new “warp jump” sound that it gave me goosebumps it was so awesome.
Hey, I decided to make an acount to post this and maby some other avgn vids.
TO AngryJoeShow:
They couldnt teleport because they were being jamed,
Im thinking he didnt use it on the sun because he was too obsesed with revenge on Spock and or the sun was required at the time for something and destroying it then would cause problems or sumthing.
As for the guy who posted a link to first impretions, I liked the glare in the movie, it made it more dynamic and imersive, though it may not look as good on the dvd release.
My Star Trek movies ranking:
1. First Contact
2. The Motion Picture
3. The Undiscovered Country
4. The Wrath of Kahn
5. The Voyage Home
6. Generations
7. Insurrection
8. The Search for Spock
9. The Final Frontier
10. Nemesis
11. Star Trek (2009)
To 3DMaster:
The Motionless picture is your number 2?? Blasphemy.
I think the Uhura/Spock relationship makes sense from the context of the movie, as this Uhura seems like she’d be the type to after a commander. There is also a lot of potential in that we don’t really know how Spock feels about Uhura. He could’ve ended off “Tell Uhura…” with “Not to worry about me because I don’t really love her”. At any rate, it’s one of the reasons I’ll watch any sequel they care to have now.
Wow, a lot of opinions here. While most sensible things have probably already been said, as a trekkie who just saw the movie yesterday, I feel a need to share my own take nonetheless:
Well, I thought it was pretty good, as well as pretty Star Trek. Which adds up to rather awesome in my book. Still, immediately after watching the movie, I couldn’t help but feel violated by the way they messed with the continuity, seemingly invalidating all previous movies, as well as all episodes of TOS, TNG, Voyager and DS9.
Thing is, I went in expecting a prequel, so that was what I saw. It was only afterwards I realized that in Star Trek, there is not necessarily just one timeline. The idea of parallel universes have been established several times in earlier Star Trek stories. As others have pointed out, the events in Star Trek XI take place in an alternate universe, a timeline which is created when the old Spock goes back in time.
This means the movie is actually a sequel, and everything which has happened in the previous Star Treks remains in the “canon”. Personally, I think this was a great way of doing it, as it allowed the creators of the new movie to make something fresh, without fear of messing up continuity, while at the same time being respectful to the old fans and what was made before.
In light of this, some of the things which may confuse a bit initially, may be more understandable. Most importantly, it explains the changes in Kirk. In this universe, he grew up without his father. This is the likely cause for his somewhat more rebellious, unsympathetic nature early in the movie. The car chase and bar fight scenes actually serve a purpose in establishing this.
So, to sum it up: I think they did really well. I liked the new actors, and felt that they stayed fairly true to the essence of Star Trek, making this a worthy addition to the other movies and shows. I would not mind to see other movies, or even a new TV show with these people.
By the way, although I didn’t quite agree with the conclusion: nice video, James.
Kay
Ugh, there was nothing respectful about it. And this shit about “fear for messing up continuity” and “having to stick to continuity” is coming out my ass by now. How come the novel writers seem perfectly able to produce stories that don’t mess up continuity and even use continuity to produce great story after great story? Just look at the Vanguard series. A few little tidbits from TOS S1 – most notably that the Klingons and the Federation have been building toward war as per Errand of Mercy for a long time – and we have a series that directly deals without how these two organizations built toward being at the brink of war.
And most importantly they took the very heart of Star Trek; a positive hopeful future, and trampled all over it, ripped it to shreds, and for good measure pissed on it to boot.
What am I talking about? The ship is built on the ground.
Now why is this significant, what does it mean?
Let’s for a moment paint the positive future that Star Trek has depicted up until now, one we’re poised to follow: we go into space, we build colonies and shipyards everywhere, we have hotels in space, a tourist attraction is to ski down on lower gravity worlds in environmental suits; we achieve FTL and gravity-control technology, move beyond our solar system, meet other species – have some wars – we found the UFP, spread to over a thousand colonies around the local galaxy by the time of TOS.
This is a humanity that is brazen, forward, positive, embracing what’s out there – in short a positive hopeful future.
Now, building a ship in space is 1. cheaper, 2. more efficient, 3. last, but most importantly safer.
So if the above all is true, why was it not built in space. Only one answer: the above is NOT true. Humanity is either:
1. a bunch of apathetic bastards unwilling to get off their own planet except a select few
2. a bunch of ignorant uneducated (misseducated?) hicks irrationally so afraid of space they’re unwilling to work there.
Both options produce a horrifying, horrifying dystopian horror scenario for our future that I have no real reason wanting to read about (I’m reading it now in Pandora’s Star ironically) let alone that it is supposed to be the positive, hopeful future that Star Trek is supposed to be.
They took the heart of Star Trek, and trashed it.
I think they eluded to telepathy in the uhura/spock relationship but im not quite sure…in the teleporter room @ one scene they seemed to be reading each others minds. Possible diana troy ancestor?
Well, 3DMaster, you are of course entitled to your opinion, but I think that is very, very harsh. You seem to take what is, in the context of this movie, a very minute detail, and extrapolate a significance which is just way out of proportion. They do some ship construction on the ground, thus humanity is either a bunch of “apathetic bastards” or “uneducated hicks”? Now, I will not comment on the merits of doing major construction in space as opposed to doing it on the ground, beyond that you may be making one or two too many assumptions about them. But I will comment that both your conclusion and anger seem somewhat disproportionate. Seriously, a “horrifying, horrifying dystopian horror scenario”? Perhaps you just need to take a step back and calm down a little.
I may have benefited somewhat from not going in with a my expectations sky-high. To some extent I feared that they would take the movie in a darker, more gritty direction, more akin to Battlestar Galactica, or that they would make it a “standard action movie” with little regard for the existing Star Trek fan base. Instead, I got the impression that they made a very good effort in tying together the old an the new, using the old Spock as a bridge for the storyline, as well as making a real effort to get the new versions of the characters from TOS right.
It is not out of proportion. As they say, the devil is in the details. You show something, it doesn’t matter how short that something is, that something will have consequences.
Also, the characters were not like TOS at all. For one thing, they’re all too old. When Checkov and company are in the academy, Kirk and Spock are already on ships. For another, Kirk is not a “bad-ass rule-breaking” asshole when he was a kid and when he was in the academy, at that time he was a serious nerd that got bullied. He grew to be the Kirk that kicks ass and takes names later.
Finally, I’ve don’t give a shit and have no interest in watching Star Trek’s bastard parallel time line, I’m interested in Star Trek. There were plenty stories that could have been told without jumping over to another timeline.
Well, Spock was already an officer here too, wasn’t he? As for Kirk, his life took a different trajectory right from the start in this timeline. Without his father, he was no “serious nerd”, and joined the academy later. You may be right that the age difference is still a bit off, though.
Anyway, I still think you are reading way too much into a relatively small detail. To extrapolate that this must be a “horrifying, horrifying dystopian horror scenario”, frankly, that sounds a bit…insane.
3DMaster, you’re jumping to a whole pile of bizarre conculsions. I’d pick your post apart but really, it’s ridiculous enough to stand on its own.
I will say one thing though – ships in Star Trek have always been built on the ground. The Utopia Planetia shipyards on Mars? You can see in the TNG episode Parallels that the ships are being built, at least in part, on the surface, and that’s in TNG times. You should be more pissed off that it’s getting built in Riverside, Iowa, but even that is only a canon violation – certainly not indicative of the kind of vast leaps in logic you’re making.
Is it a coincidence the same 3 movies reviewed here now have their own box set?
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
Star Trek III: The Search For Spock
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Maybe a lot of people view these 3 as must-see?
I never saw any Star Trek movie, mostly because there’s too many things, movies, series etc.
But this one, special effects aside looks pretty lame.
I’m very tired of those “High school Bad boys” main characters.
Real badass like Marv in Sin City or Hellboy is okay.
But lame ones like Hugh Jackman Wolverine i’m just tired of it.
The Enterprise D was not built on the ground. What you see in Parallels and other episodes is the TESTING facility. It’s where a prototype is developed. This is an entirely different thing as construction sites. Construction sites are in space.
Nice review. I too thought it was ok, but that it was one of the better Trek movies they’ve made in a while. My biggest beef with the movie was the Spock/Uhura relationship which I didn’t get. Was she just trying to make him feel better or was it more. Either way I wouldn’t mind seeing them continue this series and hopfully boldly go where they haven’t yet gone before, instead of recycling old ideas…unless it’s a MIRROR MIRROR movie then I say bring it. haha
Now I HAVE seen “Star Trek” but didn’t like it:
01. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (DVD SE)
02. Star Trek: First Contact
03. Star Trek: Generations
04. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
05. Star Trek: Insurrection
06. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Director’s Edition)
07. Star Trek: Nemesis
08. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
09. Star Trek V: The Final Frontier
10. Star Trek
11. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
And the show ranking again:
1. Star Trek: Deep Space nine
2. Star Trek: Enterprise
3. Star Trek: The Next Generation
4. Star Trek
5. Star Trek: Voyager
Their are a couple points I really have to say something about. The kid scene was not entirely pointless, it was more to show him having some daddy-issues and being a bad kid.
Which is the reason they made him out to be such a bad guy and that much more different the the normal Kurt, who knew his dad. Because, this whole movie is like an alternitive timeline where Kurt has daddy-issues.
Besides that, dead-on review. The Spock/Alura thing is just weird.
Rating wise, I’ve only seen the first half of Nemesis and this. So..this > Nemesis.
Who the fuck are “Kurt” and “Alura”?! Oh you mean KIRK and UHURA?! Why comment when you don’t even know the character’s names?
That being said, my list of the Trek movies from best to worst are:
IV: Voyage Home
VI: Undiscovered Country
First Contact
Generations
II: Wrath Of Khan
III: Search For Spock
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
V: The Final Frontier
Insurrection
Nemesis
I’d like to defend the fact that Generations is high on my list. It’s a great movie featuring cast members from TOS and TNG, not sure why so many people hate it. Also, even though II and III are lower on the list, I still think they are fantastic. The only ones that outright blew were the 2 most recent TNG ones. Nemesis was just awful and Insurrection was boring and could have been an episode. Even The Final Frontier (or as I like to call it, Star Trek V: Dude Where’s My Budget?) has it’s moments, such as Kirk and Spock’s shower conversation in the turbolift.
I haven’t seen the new one but after reading 50 plus reviews (good and bad) I’m afraid it’s going to suck.
Alright, on this one I’m going to have to disagree with you.
The first half of the movie was fine in my opinion, although I really didn’t think anything very relative to the plot happened between the USS Kelvin’s destruction and Kirk’s little episode at the bar.
Once Kirk and McCoy get to the Enterprise I was extremely happy with the film, everything started picking up the pace and eventually snowballed into a GREAT ride.
I thought that the way they explained the changes to Star Trek canon was pure genius, it sort of attempted to get the hardcore trekkies to accept the movie a little bit better, although the downside most definitely has to be that it pretty much renders all previous installments, and the original series itself, pretty much unneccesary.
What this movie did was attract a completely new fanbase, and took the risk of losing the old trekkies in the process. I thought it was a good film and a great addition to Star Trek canon in that it was an installment that boldy went where no Star Trek had gone before.
I also thought that the tone, style, and effects (ESPECIALLY in the mind meld scene) were outstanding. The way in which the camera moved, and the audio panned from one speaker to the other and became muffled was GREAT.
Except for the lens flares. They were okay in some parts, but when the actors are in a starkly lit room and a lens flare engulfs the whole screen it started getting irritating.
All in all I’d give it an 8/10. Hell maybe even a 9, if only just because the theater had a demo of Batman: Arkham Asylum set up in the lobby. I NEED A PS3 JUST FOR THAT GAME.
Sabatoge is NOT a pop song! I liked the movie.
Double True!!
That is all.
Lepper Out.
I prety much felt the same way. My main beef was that it seemed to be geared towards people who have extreme adhd I understand It is supposed to be action packed but they overdid it big time in my opinion. There was definitely a storyline in there but.. just way too much shit happeneing all the time.. OMG The planet is going to be engulfed by a black hole while a rescue team has mere minutes to rescue a family member of the ship while their shoot wont open and they have to dodge blazing fire while also rescuing one of the members of the rescue team falling at 300mph while being beemed back onto the ship at the same time! My fucking god, does the entire movie really need to be a climax?
I had to take a piss through the entire movie but there was never a slow moment at all, so I nearly pissed my pants (I had about 5 beers before I showed up at the theater). I’m by no means a huge star trek fan but what I did like about the show (which I would watch occasionally late at night when All in the Family and green acres were over) was the depth of story and the science that was roughly based on actual scientific theory. They should have got someone else to direct this, JJ Abrams was the absolute worst person imo. Sure it expands the viewer base immensely but does everything have to be about fucking money in this country? The special effects were top notch there is no doubt about that and I was pretty damn impressed. It had me thinking the only way you could possibly top it would be to switch to like a holographic 3d screen in the future to outdue this film but I would trade a slow going deep story line for the action/graphics. This is all due to my own personal taste and the film did not suck by any means, although I do think Abrams shit all over the star trek community but I could be wrong on that. To someone who likes action films (the girl who dragged me along to see this) would be in heaven but why did it have to be a star trek film?. If you’re a laid back person who likes films they have to watch over and over to catch all of the details and continuity this is not for you.
Also why do all of the actors on the ship have to look like freshmen in college? I mean these fuckers barely have hair on their nuts and they are supposed to be able to outmaneuver an evil genius and this crew (who have more sophisticated technology)
None of it seems plausible at all, the casting, the storyline, the way they escape their impending doom time and time and time again (nearly every scene there is an outlandish conflict that gets resolved in an even more outlandish way)
Get some adults on the ship, get a new kirk for SURE, put a 2 limit conflict on any given event per scene, alot more storyline and alot less action and I would bitch alot less
I don’t know if I should bother with this given how many comments there already are, but here goes. I’m not sure if somebody else pointed this out, but the original Trek timeline was pretty much obliterated by Kirk, Sr.’s death. All of the events regarding the Trek cast changed completely, especially Kirk. He had no role model for wich to base himself on. Now, I pretty much agree with you that the beginning was kind of lame, especially with young Kirk because it was only there to set him up as a “rebel” and for him to say his full name as if the audience didn’t know who he was. Otherwise, I only have two points of contention: McCoy and what you said at the end. I thought McCoy was great and was the only actor who really got into his roll. He talked, carried himself and even looked like the original McCoy. By contrast with the other actors, it might have seemed like he was over-doing it but that was because he was the only one trying to be the original character. Also, he’s a bit older than the others and so the change from his old character to the new was less dramatic. Now, about Star Trek having “depth.” My best response to this is simply to say: intergalactic nymphomaniacs. Think about it for a moment. This show was basically a fanboy wet dream. A bunch of guys get together, explore space and get some serious interstellar ‘tang. Now, I like the series, but let’s be honest about what it is. Any depth you may feel it has, is probably something you attributed to it and not something that was actually there. Which isn’t to say it is completely without it, just that I think you’re overstating it.
The new movie is ok, pretty much what you expect.
These are the best series.
1 TNG
2 Voyager
3 Star Trek
4 DS9
5 Enterprise
Any one who has wasted their life watching this stuff like me will agree.
The movie is pretty much the opposite of what I expect to get from a Star Trek movie. Although, from the trailers and comments it was pretty much what I’d expect this movie to be: bad.
As for the series, you pretty much got it backwards:
1. Deep Space 9
2. Star Trek
3. The Next Generation
4. The Animated Series
5. Voyager
6. Enterprise
Like you, I am a casual Star Trek fan. I’ve seen the movies and I’ve watched a respectable number of episodes of the original series, but I am by no means a “trekker”.
That being said, what I found creative and unique about the film is that it was neither a prequel or a remake. This was a legitimate sequel.
Leonard Nimoy plays the same Spock that we all know and love from the timeline we’re accustomed to. He is accidentally drawn back in time along with a band of renegade Romulans. These Romunans change history with their attack on the father Kirk’s starship.
From here, I’d compare it to Back To The Future 2. The actions of the Romulans have a significant impact on James Kirk’s upbringing. He is fatherless. The scene with the car implies that he has a stepfather that he can’t stand. This explains why this new Kirk is a bit of a prick. Imagine how life would have been different if one of the key elements of your upbringing wasn’t there.
The same is true of Spock. In the original series and movies, Spock’s mother is very much alive (remember the beginning of the 4th film with the “How do you feel” scene). Because he is half human, he could realistically go either way: emotionless Vulcan or emotional Human. The trauma of losing his mother, combined with the softening of his father (as a result of losing his wife) has resulted in a more balanced Spock: the logic of a Vulcan but the emotional control of a human (albeit a well controlled human).
The difference from Star Trek to Back To The Future II is that separate timelines can co-exist. Old Spock doesn’t disappear because of the changes to the past; he is simply a product of a different timeline (much like Quinn Mallory in the Sliders series). The original canon exists unchanged. What we are seeing now is a paralell dimension of what would have occured if Kirk and Spock lost their father and mother respectively at a young age. “Spock Prime”, as Nimoy is called in the credits, serves as the bridge between the old series and this new alternate reality.
I agree with you whole heartedly about the use of Sabotage. Even if they’re trying to pass this off as a song that young Kirk is listening to on the radio, the Beastie Boys would be hundreds of years old. As much as I dig the Beasties, I don’t think they’d have that kind of staying power. A score would have been better.
Also, I noticed several times throughout that it felt like I was watching a Star Wars film (particularly the opening 10 minutes and the action scene with Kirk and Sulu). Not a complaint; just an observation.
This also sets up a great deal of plot elements for part 2 with Spock Prime setting up a Vulcan colony. Might the second movie of this new series also conclude with the death of Spock?
As always, I enjoyed your review. I’d be interested in your thoughts on my comment, but I’m sure you get way too many to respond to. Take care, man.
- Will
In my opinion J.J Abrams is not a person that I am going to accept as a new Star Trek maker. To take away what Gene Roddenberry created hell no. This new Star Trek is a no brainer taking stupid decisions weird outcome just pisses me of. Star Trek have always been “find out how the situation is, taking readings, not to take action before knowledge.” In all high IQ
If you ask someone that have never watch a star trek movie or series then they will say it’s a good movie.
For a action movie it’s good yes, but if you want it to be anything like star trek then it fails horribly.
And this disease of creativity as MacReady said is so true. Why is it always like this? Open up a new way to make remakes.
Like it’s hard to do anything with what they already have. Same with Star Wars Universe yeah it’s so hard to make a new movie. I have tons of ideas for Star Trek movies and series I just don’t have the power to do anything about it. If J.J Abrams wanted to make his own Star Trek Universe then why on earth use old character’s we know all about? Why not make it a totally unknown crew that would open up something new and interesting.
DS9 sucks. They’re just sitting there season after season
Just wanted to add a comment on the whole Spock & Uhura relationship side of the film.
Might be wrong here, but in the original TV series the very first inter-racial kiss broadcast on TV in USA was between Uhura & Kirk. The original scene was wrote to be between… Uhura & Spock, before Shatner forced the director to change the scene to be with himself.
Personally, believe that the whole thing could be an echo towards what could have been in the TV series, as Kirk is shut out from the relationship totally (the scene before they teleport with Uhura & Spock).
Anyway, just a wild guess, but can’t really see any other reason for randomly pairing them up and not her with Kirk as would fit with his womanising image.
I haven’t been a Trek fan for nearly as long as some of my friends, but I have done my best to absorb as much of the franchise as I can over the years. I consider myself a fairly devoted fan.
As such, I’m really happy with the new movie. I went into it knowing and accepting that I was going to see familiar character portrayed in new ways. I was apprehensive about it, but I tried to keep and open mind and it paid off. When you say the words “Star Trek franchise reboot”, I can’t help but think of something just like this movie.
A lot of the things that James mentioned in his review were also details that stuck out in my mind, but for me they weren’t the types of things that set the movie back any considerable distance. You can find those kinds of details in any Trek movie or series.
This flick did exactly what it set out to do – reinvigorate the franchise. The story has ties to the old Trek while setting the scene for new adventures in the future and I, for one, would love to see these versions of the Enterprise crew again soon.
The canon thing regarding Spock/Uhura can be explained in that the time travel plot has made this new series of Star Trek films an “alternate timeline”. Although I have issues with the Spock/Uhura thing, the alternative timeline thing is a great idea, it gives the writers more freedom in what they can do.
I didn’t feel that anything in the film was out of nowhere.
I thought the Sabatoge and car references were meant to firlmy ground the film in reality. THe characters of James and others are meant to be human, from earth, but just in the future.
As for Jim’s wreckless behavior, I thought it was meant to illustrate the important part of his character that destinguishes him from other captains… the fact that he never really wanted to be a starship captian in the first place. He’s not a believer in starfleet or the mission or the prime directive. He’s just there beacause Pike dared him to do it.
Of course he might change in the future, but I think it’s important to his character.
Nice review, James! You put your finger on just about everything that bothered me about the movie. The only other thing I had problems with was the Romulan (sp?) race. They looked like a bunch of badly tattooed bald guys! I’m sure they could have done much better with that. Plus, it didn’t help that their ship looked like a massive pine cone with tentacles.
i apologize if this has been previously addressed, but I’m not going to go over all the comments just to figure out if people got this angle of the movie or not. I see lists and nerd fights, which are fine, but take away from what I’m trying to read.
This film really isn’t about classic kirk, instead, it is meant to be a look at a sort of ’shattered’ kirk. The original canon character of kirk grows up in a pretty stable family enviroment, whereas this kirk has no strong father figure and instead looks upon star fleet as having a black spot regarding the death of his father. There’s a huge difference in the character, whereas the original canon kirk is a driven and somewhat reckless man, he’s still attached to certain ideals. This kirk is born into a much less stable enviroment and shows deeper signs of what his family life impacted upon him. He is Kirk with a much bigger chip on his shoulder than ever before.
At the same time it is really important to recognize that the studio and people writing the film very clearly said “this is not original canon” several times in the film – in fact, they went so far as to do so literally. If this doesn’t feel like your kirk or your spock, it isn’t, since the nero thing totally modifies the flow of time in regards to how the original series and TNG pan out.
I was personally a bit disturbed by the fact that, once again, the people in charge of star trek willingly diverge from the tos/tng canon just to tell a story they feel like telling … But let’s be honest here: This isn’t really Star Trek, and it is entertaining as film in and of itself once you get away from nitpicking the movie as a fan of the earlier works.
And honestly, there is so much crap coming out and being produced that I’m willing to give them a pass simply because I felt like it was worth the ticket price. On that note, my parents, who grew up with TOS and watched TNG while I was only a very young child (I was like eight when it first came out) felt it was an excellent film and very much enjoyed how the characters were played. To me that says a great deal about the success of the film, since my parents were always big fans but haven’t really enjoyed Star Trek since DS9’s middle seasons or so.
Myself, I absolutely loved it. Then again, I’ve watched nothing of the original series, but I know who all the characters are. I saw one other Star Trek movie where they got back in time to the 80’s to find some whales. That was pretty weird.
But I think the reason I liked this movie a lot is because it had a bunch of actors that I really like in there. Spock especially, I’ve been following that guy since the first season of Heroes. And I can believe in a black hole causing time travel a lot more than I can believe time travel being achieved by whipping around the sun. It just made more sense to me. And I like how they created an alternate reality too. So that’s why Spock’s relationship with Uhura doesn’t have to connect to the original series.
Well I was a Star Wars fan as a kid and my father liked Trek; I’ve grown tired of Star Wars and I guess I’m a casual fan of Trek now. Having said that these are the things I liked and disliked about the new movie:
I liked:
–Kirk is an asshole (nothing wrong with that. At least he’s not some corny ‘double dumbass’ pansy).
–Space is silent
–Eric Bana wasn’t invincible
–Bones and Scotty were dead-on (Pike was good too)
–Leonard Nemoy made an appearance, and (thank god) William Shatner didn’t.
I disliked:
–Uhura and Spock romance was completely out of nowhere. Come on, couldn’t they put that shit into context? Just throw in one scene of Spock and Uhura hugging or something prior to that.
–Kirk was an asshole, yeah, but Spock was a real prick for most of the movie. Nobody likes an insipid know-it-all.
–Mind-control bug put into Cpt. Pike. I thought it was a stupid idea when Kahn did it; I wansn’t thrilled to see it make another appearance. Seriously, how many of different varieties of mind-control bugs are there in the universe? Seems like a long shot that there’d be even one species, let alone two or more. To top it off the damn bug didn’t do anything useful for the bad guys anyway (J.J. should’ve just given that whole bug concept the axe).
I know this comment is already long as hell but I still want to mention the car chase:
It wasn’t inherently bad, but they shouldn’t have put it in the trailer. We all watched that part of the trailer about ten times before seeing the movie; we already knew the Corvette would plunge into the ravine and Kirk would escape unscathed. It would have been an acceptable scene if the trailer hadn’t beaten it to death by the time the movie came out.
Overall I really liked the movie though, I wasn’t expecting much so I didn’t get my hopes up. Come on people, it’s Star Trek, you’re not supposed to think about it too hard; just be entertained.
I just saw Star Trek today. It exceeded my expectations; I truly enjoyed it. It’s the first “cool” Star Trek picture. Anything that’s been done before wouldn’t be accepted by today’s young audience. I saw this movie with my girlfriend, who was reluctant to watch it of course. After the movie, she was really happy with it. It had flashy effects, funny moments, modernized concepts like the kids calling Spock’s mom a whore, and things like that. I prefer it to the older movies, just because I’m not much of a Trekkie and those movies, while pretty good, tend to put me to sleep. I very much enjoyed this new one though.
hey james im a big fan of yours and im not mad at this review but I can tell you the problem with almost all your complaints with this movie. Well I dont really see why you thought the first half sucked because I was fine with it and I thought it was a fine set up for the rest of the movie. Then you say you didn’t see the point for the car chase scene in the begining, well they showed that scene just to show how this Kirk is a rebel to his parents and how he likes to break the rules, and you also complained about how they did it to the song sabotage, well would your prefer they showed that scene with some classical bethoven piece in the back ground, I dont think so. Then you dont like how they made Kirk such an ass whole and isn’t really like the original Kirk, well thats because this isn’t the same Kirk from the original series, this is a Kirk who grew up without his father and was rebelling against his parents through his child hood. You were also complaining about the whole Spok-Ohorah romance, well I will agree that it kind of came out of no where, but there was no sign of it in the show for good reason, because these guys arent really the same people from the show, the romance happened because Spok’s mom died and they didn’t have the romance in the show because im pretty sure Spok’s mom was still alive although im not sure about that. Now you said that you thought that a hard core trek fan could probobly disprove your nit picks, well the reason that its wierd to me that I can disprove these is the fact that im hardly a trek fan. I’ve only seen like 2 or 3 episodes of the original series, I only watched the first 3 movies and only saw the fourth one when I was like 7 and it was on TV. I know a little bit more about the Next Generation series but that had nothing to do with this movie so that didn’t help. Another thing that seems wierd to me at the fact that I can disprove your nit picks is the fact that im only 15 and I easily did it as I was watching the movie for the first time. Well thats all I have to say about this subject and im looking forward to the rest of your reviews of the movies this summer and if I could suggest the movies you review this summer I thought it would be really cool if you reviewed XMen Origins Wolverine, GI Joe, and Transformers 2.
Hey James. I’m a casual Trek fan, too. The extent of my fandom is enjoying the movies and owning an insignia pin and a Kirk “KHAN!” action figure.
But yeah, I liked this movie. I agree with most of what you said. At the time, the first half of the film seemed just fine to me, but hearing our perspective, I can totally understand that point of view.
And yeah, you’re right. The Spock/Uhura romance was just strange to me. Maybe my fiance could explain it as he’s seen a lot more Trek than I have, but it seemed kind of thrown in there.
Anyway, I’m hoping this is the first of at least a few films. While it was very modern and commercial in appearance, I think it was mostly true to the tone of the original films, and I would welcome seeing more of the same.
Ah yes– since it was asked, my favorite Trek films. I haven’t seen them all, so I’ll just say that my favorite is The Voyage Home. It’s silly, I know, but it’s just such a change up from the usual that it stands out in a very charming way.
I like your points. I agree mostly, but I really liked the movie.
Got to say, WAY better than Nemesis. Sorry.
However, there is a comic book that bridges Nemesis and this movie!
Good film, but not a good Star Trek. My reasoning for disliking this film is that it totally destroys the entire Star Trek universe. Now JJ Abrams can do whatever he wants to in the upcoming sequels. Also a casual fan, I’ve only seen the movies and only watched Next Generation, I sat dumbfounded as the board suspended Kirk for the Kobiyashi Maru scenario when he was supposed to be given accomendation. Half the time I was going “Wait, what?”
I hope they fix the timeline in an upcoming movie.
Yeah I know. This time line makes so that all the other movies and series never even happened. I thought they were going to fix the time line by the end of the movie but they never did. They might as well have Biff running an intergalactic casino, kill Biff, and never fix the damage that was done.
I’ve seen this movie twice so far, and personally, it’s won me over almost completely. I mean sure, there are obvious issues that I can nitpick (mainly the Spock/Uhura thing, seriously, wtf man?) but other than those, I really enjoyed it. Star Trek 4 will always be my favorite because I used to watch that with my mom and dad all the time as a little kid, but seeing as how this’ the first Trek movie I’ve seen on the big screen, it’ll always be special to me. I think the cast was well-picked out, and my only complaint is that Scotty didn’t have more screen time.
I’m no pro at reviewing things, but this movie gets and A in my book.
James,
First of all, I’m a big fan of yours and of Star Trek as a whole. I really got into Trek during the TNG days, but I’ve developed a respect of the original series and of the first six films in that they are what a lot of science fiction strive to be. I agree that the film was flashy, but that is what it needed. Star Trek films have needed a shot in the arm for a long time to catch up with what is going on around them. Trek has always had great character stories, but the action leaves something to be desired. The space battles are great in some of the films, but they always leave me thinking that they could have done more. These ships have to be capable of more than what we see them do, and I think that this film is starting to scratch that surface. Also, you have to remember that for years when we watch a Star Trek film we’re dealing with characters that are well into retirement age. That’s fine because they are beloved characters. But I think that they are starting to show us these characters doing things that aren’t believable due to their age…kind of like Indy and the Crystal Skull. We need younger characters. And they could either revamp the old characters or create new ones. I think that after a couple more of these films we’re going to find that they made the right choice. Just an opinion. Anyway, when are we going to get some more nerd videos? Maybe AVGN:The Motion Picture?
James,
I thought of something else that I need to share. Look at the similarities between this film and the first Star Wars film. It opens with a big ship attacking a smaller ship and then cuts to a farm boy (Luke/Kirk) who looks to an older and wiser man (Obi-Wan/Pike) to show him the way. He gets into a bar fight and later meets a guy who he hates at first but later becomes friends with (Solo/Spock). There is a ship that can destroy planets that gets destroyed (Death Star/Nero’s Ship), and in then end there is a ceremony where the farm boy gets a medal. It’s kinda scary.
I honestly dont mind that they got rid of the old continuity. I personally see this as a great prequel/sequel. I mean its not like they ruined anything that great, I mean I can see why some people might complain about the starwars prequels because each one of the original movies was great. But come on the first star trek movie sucked and I never got around to seeing part 5 or 6 but I havent heard anything good about part 5. And come on guys lets face it, this movie was awesome, some people at my school who hate star trek loved this movie and I loved this movie, I might even say this could fit on one of my top 30 favorite movies. I honestly think were better off with this new continuity than we were with the old one and im looking forward to sequels to this movie
I tottaly disagree James. The movie was amazing. Mabey it’s becuase of the movies I was born into but anyways, the begining was awesome and the car scene was great because it showed him as a rebel and introduced him.
Second of all, I wasnt a huge fan of the old star trek tv episodes they were too cheesey and unrelatable. And the new generation was just more of the same just less cheesey. The movies were better I liked those. But this one topped them all. It was relatable, realistic (in the sci-fi way ofocurse) and entertaining.
My thoughts.
Maybe I’m just a nitpicker.. but as a hardcore fan.. the movie had a lot of in consistencies even an altered time line couldn’t explain, product placements..I could go on for a while…so I won’t..
however I did enjoy for what it was.. it was a good sci-fi flick.. just not a good Trek flick.. 2/5
best to worse:
movies: 2,4,8,6,3,7,10,5,9,11,1
series: TNG, TOS, DS9, VOY, ENT
I disagree a lot, James. First thing is: The first half did NOT suck! At all! The film was totally amazing! And Kirk flirts pretty strongly but I wouldn’t say he harasses Uhura! It’s not only a good Sci-Fi-Flick, it’s also one of the best Treck flicks, so I have to disagree with Birch too, but I’m also a hardcore fan, so, it’s unpredictable, as you said.
Best to worse:
Movies: 11, 4, 6, 5, 3, 2, 7, 10, 8, 9, 1
Series: ENT, TNG, TOS, DS9, VOY (VOY last because of the stories, not because of a female captain, which I normally would welcome)
i didnt read any of the comments here and i am not really a star trek fan i do like all the movies but not the show that were or are on tv.
with that said i like this new movie alot it is pretty good i would have to say it isnt the best star trek movie but is damn close
Hi James, long time watcher first time writer, wow that makes me sound like a stalker.
I just wanted to say this is Star Trek in an alternative time line, or as I like to think of it Ultimate Trek (like the Marvel reboots). So the stuff with young rebel Kirk isn’t pointless it’s showing you that he’s grown up without a Dad and shiz, and he’s plenty pissed.
From a film fan and not really a Trek fan I thought the whole thing was cool and good to see life (and style) breathed into an old concept.
I consider myself a Star Trek fan and I have no clue where the Uhura Spock relationship came from. I suspect it was deemed necessary to put in the movie to meet a quota of some form.
I agree that Kirk goes wayyy off to the side at a few moments in the first half of the film. To me, he came off as unlikeable and only redeemed himself with his interaction and change of heart with Spock and other Starfleet officers. This side of Kirk may serve as good contrast with every other character in this movie, and the perfect middle-ground that uses future-Spock to connect the original series and the 2009 presentation.
With this, I wish Star-Trek and its past glory the best of luck wherever it may be heading to.
Great review as usual !
no mention of simon pegg as scotty?
I thought this movie was good. I agree the beginning was ridiculous. The whole point was that asshole nero changing time screwed everything up and messed up kirk and was up to spock to set him straight. overall i thought spock and mccoy were potrayed well. scotty was funny. i love simon pegg. kirk overall was so-so. The movie fixed itself at the end and so far has been the best movie i’ve seen in a long time. i’m a big fan of the original trek series. overall i thought the movie could have been better but i thught it was great.
Mm ..
In order of best to worst ..
11, 06, First Contact (08), 02, Insurrection (09), Generations (07), Nemesis (10), 03, 04, 05, 01
Another real quick nitpick at this movie. Ok, a distress call from Vulcan means empty out StarFleet Academy? Its just a distress call. 911 operators get them everyday. Nero hadn’t even started the attack yet, so no one can really say that it was due to the threat. StarFleet had no other ships but those filled with cadets? And isn’t Enterprise the flag ship? Why would you backfill the largest most important ship with cadets? Lastly, Kirk is commissioned a Captain before he graduates the Academy???? WTF?! Thats like a senior at West Point being promoted to Colonel. Hey Kirk, go graduate and be an ensign like everyone else in StarFleet. and then they give him the Enterprise??? As I think more about this movie the more I get mad. They had better fix the timeline in the next film. Work Shatner into it or something. Better yet, have the mirror universe attack. That way it wont matter about canon.
I’m a Trekkie at heart, being raised on the tail-end of TOS and the beginning of TNG, so I must say I have mixed feelings about this.
One of my concern is how they’re going to portray the characters. Its really hard to play in a role as someone’s pet character, and as you mentioned about Bones, without coming off as imitating someone.
My biggest gripe though is this: Kirk gets WAY too much attention. Yes, I like him. He is a badass captain. But really…ANOTHER Kirk movie? Oh well, at least it wasn’t a movie based on the Enterprise series.
Just the mini review and looks as though they have gone for a different direction. the previous star trek films had like a basic feel to them and i feel new films like this are just too dam big, like in skope. i dont htink it helps having a totally new cast because uptil now, they were in a series THEN the movies come out. This is another thing about this new movie, new cast with no series behind it
I thought your criticism of the canyon scene was funny because I have lived in Iowa for all 22 years of my life and I have never seen that giant canyon or anything close to it within my state’s boundries.
Good review james, i just managed to see the film the other day. as a big fan of the star trek series & films i have to say i was impressed. it was a LOT better than i thought it was going to be. but also the way it pissed all over events that had been established in the ‘time line’ of the trek universe irritated me. Fair enough try and make it exciting and bring in new viewers but did they REALLY have to blow up vulcan? what did the vulcans ever do to JJ abrahms that he did that? overall i was impressed, but i hold it as a seperate entity to the rest of the trek universe (probably as it’s meant to be seen considering they said ‘alternate reality’) at which point i knew things were going to go tits up. i like it when things tie-in. like when you realise “wow, so thats how they knew each other, or thats why that happened” but because the film shat all over the canon it was impossible to do that during the second half of the film. still tho, it was visually pleasing and i enjoyed it. they should have paid me a few quid to be on the consulting team tho and it would have been WAY better!
keep up the good work james.
I have not seen this movie. I do not intend to. Oh, maybe I’ll rent it a few years from now if I am really board. I am not a Star Trek fan. One thing that I find stupid is that the Enterprise is constructed on the ground instead of in orbit. Ask anybody at NASA and they will tell you that any large object which goes into space is constructed in Zero-G because it’s too hard to lift that much mass into orbit. Probably it would have been built out of materials mined from asteroids.
Hey James yeah im with you on not being a trekkie but hey we both watch time traveling movies and we both understand how things can change and how even thou this movie might have been intended to be a prequal it still wasnt a prequal of the ‘orginials’. It was a movie that now the industries can cash up on by changing the whole story and palming it off as “oh we know that didnt happen but this is a different time line”, so guess what now we well see movies that might be similar but can be totally different so that the new fans it will be thumbs up and for the old might be one thumb. This movie was good but i think you just had to sit back and enjoy the ride of a different kind, otherwise you would only knit pick. oh and being that kirk was a dick at the start, you need to remember that kirk knew he father the first time round. Being that this around his died, his father never taught him respect.
I thought it was a great movie. Im not really a start trek fan i’ve seen only a few episodes of the different shows and none of the movies except this one but i really liked it and i disagree with you on most of the stuff you said. I actually liked Captain Kirk even when he was an asshole, to me he just seemed badass lol. I liked the story and it made me want to watch more of the series which i think it will do for the younger generation as well which is a good think. Good review anyway though, thanks.
just to give you a heads up the reason for the love interest of UHARA and SPOCK is because UHARA saw what happened to spocks mother and she felt sorry for him. there just incase all of you are figuring why all of sudden that happen
Yeah this film was pretty good I enjoyed it other than the fact I lost a £10 bet on this over the fact he never said
“Second star to the left and straight on till morning”
Now I don’t know im not a hardcore trek fan but isint that like his catchphrase. The whole being an asshole thing at the start of the film I thought set up the character to grow into the man we know from the show was set up perfect not having a mother or farther around but when it comes to crunch time he does what needs to be done which is why he is the captain.
And what was up with the actor from Harold and Kumar in there great actor yes but that kinda stuck in my mind the whole time also could he be any more of a stereotype with the sword I mean come on seriously did they think ok Chinese guy……… Humm SWORD!! Feel free to correct me if Sulu does actually use a sword like I said kinda new to Star Trek but other than that great film one of the best I have seen in god knows how long and great review.
Keep them coming along James.
The movie was okay. It was entertaining enough but I was all that impressed with it. The highlight for me was Michael Giacchino’s score.
One thing about this movie that should be considered is that it has been a very long time since there was a Vulcan main character on the big screen. The Vulcan species needed to be clearly defined for people who are unfamiliar with Vulcan’s and their nature. When I watch the original series with my wife she sometimes asks me, “Why is Spock doing that? I thought he didn’t have emotions?” Well, they do, they just learn to control them. Take that and the concept of the Vulcan neck pinch along with mind melds and you end up with a lot of things to put into a single movie. I think they did that well.
I agree with your views on the Uhura/Spock relationship. I felt that the character Uhura lost all her dynamic in the reboot, so they threw that in there so they could have something for that character to do.
Overall, taking into account that it’s only entertainment, I thought it was a great film.
I’m not a fan of Star Trek, I don’t even like the universe.
So I had no expectations about this movie, and I think you shouldn’t have any – otherwise you get easily disappointed.
I think the story was acceptable, the characters were nicely done, but the romance between Spock and Ohura? Hell no! That was so unnecessary!
I thought the movie was one of the best movies made. It had something for everyone. Its main audience was non-Star Trek fans, but it had some elements for Star Trek fans. I believe this is a 100% remake, nothing more. Nothing less. It had a Star Wars 3, feel to it and had a lot of action. The only “bad” thing about it is the main plot. It isn’t the worst plot, but not the best either.
My Star Trek Movies Best to Worst:
Star Trek (2009), Nemesis, First Contact, Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, The Undiscovered Country, Generations, Insurrection, The Search for Spock, The Final Frontier, The Motion Picture.
The movie was pretty entertaining, but the main thing that bothered me is the plotline was basically the same as Nemesis, only with Kirk instead of Picard. Stop a super powered Romulan ship on the way to destroy Earth with some doomsday weapon. In fact, a lot of the Star Trek movies involve some kind of super powered ship we’ve never seen before heading to earth. I mean really, couldn’t they have thought of a better plot? I’ve seen this tired old plotline before, and I’m sick of it.
And yeah, James is dead on when he says that Kirk was an asshole. I didn’t like his character at all, which was something that brought the movie down a bit. And there were just too many over the top scenes. Like Sulu’s extending high tech sword. What the hell? I mean seriously, why would they equip an officer with a weapon like that when they have phasers? I mean, they’re not the klingons. That part, while being kinda cool to watch just really strained disbelief for me, and just felt contrived.
Spock’s rage actually had basis in the original series, as there was one episode where Kirk had to make Spock angry, so having a young Spock with the same defect was a nice throwback, though if you hadn’t have seen that episode of TOS, it would seem odd to the casual viewer.
How Kirk became captain was a bit stupid too. I mean, why would Pike randomly make Kirk first officer? It didn’t make any sense. He shouldn’t have even been on the ship, and yet the captain promotes him. What the hell?
The plot just really felt contrived. I thought they should have had a somewhat older Kirk, instead of making everyone be fresh out of Starfleet academy. I can understand wanting to include the Kobiashi Maru simulation since that’s a famous thing Kirk is known for, but it really just didn’t seem right that a random cadet (on suspension no less) would ever get command of a starship.
And of course, I’m still wondering how Scotty becomes the lead engineer somehow, given that he wasn’t familiar with the ship at all. That didn’t make much sense either.
Now that being said, in terms of film making, the actual cinematography was great and the movie had a nice pacing to it that kept you interested. If you can get by the bad plotline, the movie was actually very good.
I was so impressed with the film the first time I saw it, I saw it again the following week and I didn’t change my mind a bit. From the very beginning I felt like I was watching Star Trek – there were all those tiny details everywhere, which made watching this film feel like watching a longer episode of the original series (and with a bigger budget too). There may have been a few nitpickable bits here and there, but I forgot them by the time the film ended. And when I heard Leonard Nimoy’s closing monologue and the credits rolled, complete with the original series theme music, I knew I could never rate this film any lower than the perfect 10/10.
my favs
1.star trek (2009)
2.star trek: the voyage home
3.star trek: wrath of khan
4.star terk: search for spock
Personally, I really dug the new Trek, but I mostly agree with much of what you said in your review James. Anyway, here’s my top Trek, best to worst.
1. Wrath of Khan
2. Undiscovered Country
3. Star Trek (2009)
4. The Voyage Home
5. First Contact
6. Search for Spock
7. Generations
8. Nemesis
9. The Motion Picture
10. Insurrection
11. The Final Frontier
Thanks for telling me about your thoughts of the movie. It was odd for me when all my friends seemed to enjoy the new Star Trek while I was the lone figure that had mixed feelings about the movie. Frankly, while I felt it did a good job of bringing Star Trek into the modern era, it loses its touch in the process.
The first thing that I had mixed feelings about was the cast. While Scotti and Zulu were well played and Zachary Quinto did a decent job at Spock, Chris Pike doesn’t have the will power to carry such an immense role throughout the movie and Uhura doesn’t seem to do the best with written material and source she is given.
One of the most annoying qualities to the movie was the immense ammount of references and quotes they made to the source material. Don’t get me wrong, making jokes and references to the old Star Trek shows and movies isn’t the issue, it’s just how heavy handed and sloppily inputted they are in the script and how cheesy they seem to stand out. While certain references (such as Spock Prime being played by Leonard Nimoy) are great ways to make fan service, Many of the quotes such as “I’m a doctor, not a physicist!” and “I’m giving it all she’s got!” are great examples of how blatancy can ruin the moment.
However, what really takes me as the biggest flaw was its direction by J.J. Abrams. The whole movie seemed to have been given the Star Wars Prequel treatment where special effects, action sequences, and presentation values have been amped up to eleven while scriptwriting and acting seem to be last on the priority list. While Star Trek comes out more unscathed than the Star Wars prequels, It still feels as though it has the Star Trek touch lost in translation.
I thought the movie was pretty good as well.
James: I don’t really think the romance with Uhura and Spock was out of the blue, seeing how Spock tried to assign her to a different ship so that things wouldn’t look “bad” if he assigned her with him, then she goes on to give him that “do it or you aren’t gettin’ any” attitude to get assigned to the Enterprise.
I’m gonna try to explain a few things. And don’t take this too hard, I’m only 13.
The cop chase sequence was meant to show that even in his youth, Kirk was a very troubled and rebellious youth. It’s just a different angle and example of it, much like the bar scene. Plus, the dick-head dad of his really showed why he was so messed up, because he never had a real father, and his mother was dating lots of different men, presumably.
The relationship between Spock and Uhura was not entirely secret until that one kiss. You can sort of see how they might like each other, since they are both highly intelligent. And besides, Spock had learned from his father at an impressionable age that just because he was a Vulcan didn’t mean he couldn’t love a human.
There are many more things I could go one about, but this really is the “combo breaker” of sorts:
IT WAS SET IN AN ALTERNATE REALITY, SO IT DOESN’T HAVE TO BE PERFECT!
Think about it. I can defend the fuck out of it all day.
Couple of typos, please don’t get angry and freak out.
Woot… Video just keeps on loading, been 10 mins now… Nothing wrong with internet…. i use Internet Explorer…but i can watch everything else on the site..
First star trek movie i seen. All movie i thought the guy with pointy ears was called spark, just later I was told it was Spock.Anyway, thought the movie was great.
Scronan right on!
I liked your thoughts.
I saw the new Star Trek 5 times in the theater.
It’s fucking amazing. All the way through. Shot for shot, note for note.
At first i was extremely aprehensive and pensive and nervous about what they were going to do.
Then i saw the truth, the reason you (any of us) didn’t like this movie is because it really shown down upon us our need to LET GO!
It brought sexy and awesome back to star trek.
My favorite star treks in order.
4
The new Star Trek
6
1
2
3
First Contact was sweet.
Love yall.
This movie was fucking amazing on so many levels. If it was up to (you- universal you) you would of made another beat up old piece of shite.
word and love
One problem I usually have with one of the cast… Carl Urban.
The few movies I’ve seen him in before (Lord of the Rings most notably) he overact horribly… like fuck man, can you get more wierd when delivering lines like he did in Towers? Pompous as all hell.
But, as Bones…. it kinda works.
Then there’s that green chick. First it had me facepalming but then….I kinda thought it’s a nice gesture to the original series. Standard oldschool alien.
I know this is an old review, but I just saw the film and watched this review again and had to comment even if no one reads.
All I have to say is even though I havn’t seen the series much and none of the movies I think it worksreally well to change the characters from the old movies. Like making Spock and Kirk more aggresiv and so on, since this is an alternative timeline than the series (The original timeline is where old Spock comes from). Here Kirks father dies and gives him more reason (?) to be an ass hole I think. It is a fine touch making this alternativ timeline giveing room for a new story to evolve. I kind of hope for a sequel following this movie couse i really liked it.
I enjoyed the movie mostly, Too be honest I saw it mostly for Simon pegg….lol I went in expecting not too like it to my surprise I enjoyed it and seen it twice(which is how you should see a movie twice, once for the enjoyment and the second too break it down and understand it) the bar scene I felt ended the wrong way…Kirk is a fighter he shouldn’t have had trouble with a few goons. The new Spock was pretty good I liked that they put his emotions on his sleeve showing that Spock is more human then everyone knows.
Sulu was cool I thought John Cho did good you got too see a kick ass side of Sulu, I really didn’t like the Spock and Uhura thing…I’m not sure where they got that from… Nero was under used I felt even though he was the main villain it felt rushed he came blew up a ship…..couple years later…fights Kirk who in turn kicks his ass the end. Now like I said I enjoyed the movie I think the next one they could go with a better thought out villain.
All in all though it felt like a star trek movie which was the point if I had too give a number rating 7/10 so I’ll stop here so there’s not a wall of text.
I loved the new film but agree Kirk could have been characterised better. I look forward to the sequel.
I’ve done a review in parody form of the latest Star Trek Film
http://purpleslinky.com/humor/satire/star-trek-xi-first-draft-parody-script/
and the first TNG episode
http://purpleslinky.com/humor/satire/star-trek-tng-encounter-at-far-point-first-draft-parody-script/
I’m trying to get into writing more humour and would like to know what people think.
I have never considered myself a Star Trek fan, but even the preview for this film begged for my 10$. Honestly one of the best films I have seen in a while. I don’t agree with James on a few points though. I think what you need to understand most is that it doesn’t necessarily affect the story line as a whole. The events could be as they happened in the series OR it could be an alternate beginning to the series. It gets all the big characters in there, and how they got there without really saying that this is how it “actually” occurred. I think it was a nice touch. The bonds were formed one way or another.
This was actually the first Star Trek movie I ever saw (which is a little odd as I inherited by Grandmom’s entire Star Trek collection when she died) and I thought it was pretty good, but I didn’t think it was as good as the critics made it out to be, some of the points you made out were also some of my gripes but I also has a couple others as well which were also in the beginning of the movie.
Good review dude.
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Sabotage, it’s about that Shatner clip where he’s like “I don’t say ’sabotage’. YOU say ’sabotage’. I say ’sabotaage’”
my problem here is with the review not the movie. i have always loved avgn and these movie reviews however i think he was afraid that he would loose half his audience if he went one way or the other. i would have rather herd his true feelings on the film rather then pretend it was half good and half bad
I honestly have to admit that I felt the 2009 Star Trek captured a decent mixture of elements from the old Star Trek shows and movies and blended them nicely with current actors and movie-making styles. The old Spock really sells it and I like how it creates an alternate universe in which Abrams can unfold new events using familiar characters for a whole new audience to appreciate. This said, I’m not even a hardcore Star Trek fan to begin with so my opinion might be worth jack shit to “true” fans.
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I can’t believe any Trek Fan wouldn’t have Wrath of Khan at #1. It’s not only by far the best Trek film ever made. It’s one of the best Science Fiction movies ever made! Also blasphemy to whoever didn’t put Final Frontier on the very bottom of their list. It’s easily the worst Trek film ever, storywise and effects wise. It used stock footage from other Trek films for godsakes! What were they thinking? Right there it’s the worst Trek film!
What to know something sad?(BTW i liked it and am not a star trek fan i probuble would like it if i watched it but never did except this new one i watched with my father on fathers day he is a huge treky) this is scarier then the strangers :}
From what I understood of the movie it was basically a franchise reboot for a younger generation. As you outlined in the trek-a-thon and as most people know they travel to vulcan (vulkan?) in the original series movies. In this one vulcan gets blown up which to me would denote an alternate reality.
Forgot to add my opinion. I agree with pretty much everything you said but my biggest problem was the new sulu. Had a hard time seeing him as sulu due to having watched the two harold and kumar movies.
I signed up because I wanted to for a little bit and then you actually said you were equally interested in my opinion and that was the, brick that broke the camels back. A straw wouldn’t have done it and you expressing interest in your fans opinions just made me like you quite a fucking bit more.
Anyway, my opinions on the movie were thus. 1. Alternate time line sequels/prequels/remakes/fan productions piss me off unless time travel is a main theme. And while time travel has happened a lot in star trek it is FAR from being a main theme. My opinion at least. Additionally, if you create an alternate time line while fucking with the past then that exact version of you never quite existed which has always meant to me that there would be some weird thing that alters you repeatedly every time you’re altered until you reach some logical extreme of whatever alterations you made. 2. If you have a conversation with your past self, assuming you don’t have some sort of head trauma, you would already know everything that would be said in that conversation. Which makes the conversation superfluous. Which is a paradox in itself and furthermore a very rarely addressed paradox.
In conclusion, I don’t know what it was about the plot or about the characters or about WHATEVER it was in the movie that made it this way for me but, it was all incredibly meh. I mean really, entertainment-wise, it was about on par with throwing a ball at a wall and catching it for a few minutes. All very forgettable. Thanks for reading if you actually took the time and did. You fucking rule if you actually took the time and read all this.
I was thrilled by the new film honestly. I wanted to go back and watch the next showing after the end of the first time.
I did not like the Uhura/Spock theme, though. And speaking of Spock, I think his character lived up to Nimoy’s portrayal the least of all the characters. Nimoy had the “emotionless humanoid robot” act down completely. I say the same thing about Kristie Alley’s portrayal as a Vulcan in ST:II; she just didn’t cut it. I also don’t like how Spock was the one who wrote the Kobyashi Maru program, that just seems as little far fetched to me.
I was impressed by the subtle references to other Star Trek canon. Scotty mentioned he used Archer’s dog in an experiment and got in lots of trouble for it, a reference to Captain Archer and Parthos from the ill-fated tv series Enterprise. A friend also mentioned there was a line from ST:VI as well, but I must have missed it.
All in all, this movie kicked ass, and if there ever was a way jump start a 40+ year old series, this is the right way to do it. J.J. Abrams really hit the mark on this one, or at least came very close to it. It kept enough of “the stuff” to keep us “old men of Star Trek” interested while at the same time not overloading it to scare off new fans.
AVGN, you really didn’t think this was better than O.K.? Hmmm. This seems so odd–I’d think you would have a better handle on this (or that may be the guise you are putting on–who knows). Abrams was providing a reinterpretation of the story, which would necessarily violate some precepts of the original series. Spock and Ohara’s(?) relationship is meant to be unexpected and shit-shocking. McCoy is meant to somehow reflect the original without but have a somewhat new characterization. Kirk’s character isn’t that extreme but is an idiot who, as you say, redeems himself at the end. There is a lot about the movie that could have been better somehow–time traveling through a black hole or shifting the captain’s seat to Kirk for instance–but it was meant to be somewhat unbelievable.
I thought this movie was terrible from start to finish, the only good thing about this was the choice for bones mckoy was perfect and ohura was hot. Other than that terrible, I just hope they do the next movie based on the proper timeline and not this alternative shit
I didn’t think of this one as a good Star Trek movie per se, but I did consider it an entertaining one. It was great that Nimoy was in it, the new Uhura is hot, overall the new cast isn’t that bad. Of course I prefer the originals, but maybe some good new movies will come out with the new cast.
Wasn’t the time travel thing supposed to make this movie non-canon so that Trekkies don’t complain about it?
I had a good time with this movie but it wasn’t all that special.
I HATE THE MOIVE
i don’t know if this comment has been made already but the song Sabotage is actually an homage to Shatner because he says it differently and actually got in a “argument” with a producer about it.
I’d have have to say that yes, the first scene as him as a kid wasnt completely needed, but I thought it was a good way to illustrate that he’s a bad ass. Now, the whole jumping out of the car thing had me thinking WTF in a bad way, but, I do think it was an important part of how you think of him.
I actually love this film, but to each his own.
I know I’m a bit late to comment on this, but just started watching your movie reviews.. I don’t consider myself a big fan of Star Trek, but my parents certainly were, they had every original series episode on Laserdisc as well as the original pilot and original movies.. So, as a result I ended up seeing quite a few of them over the years.. Later they also got Next generation on dvd, so seen alot of those too. Sorry for the length of this and perhaps forgotten details but it’s been years since I’ve seen the old episodes.
Now granted, I was kinda biased against this movie to begin with, sort of knowing they were going to change things, but I never really care for remakes taking a huge crap all over the original and just explaining it all away in the simplest way possible. It’s been a while since I’ve seen alot of the episodes but I remember enough to nitpick this..
Ok, in the movie the planet vulcan gets destroyed right? Well, there’s an episode in the original series where spock is going through some weird vulcan puberty like thing that mccoy tells kirk if they don’t get him back to vulcan he’ll go insane or something like that, and then spock and kirk do some fight to the death thing on vulcan and I guess he gets it out of his system.. Ok, so if vulcan is destroyed then that means at that time in spock’s life, he can’t go back thus I guess permanently insane or whatever, thus removing his presence from any later episodes, that being the case I’m sure that had to be an episode later on where if spock had not been around then kirk or the whole crew or somebody would be dead so just kill the original series from that point on.
Now assuming that kirk is likely dead from the previous issue, well most of Next generation would be intact with the exception of a few episodes where spock was in the episode. Get rid of Star Trek: generations cause probably no kirk around to have been on the ship.. Change around voyager (didn’t watch much at all of it, dunno if Tuvok was that important of a charachter but cause he’s vulcan well they were pretty much wiped out entirely with vulcan being blown up and the rest gone insane cause they couldn’t get back to vulcan either)
Anyway, someone who really is a trek fan could nitpick it alot better than me, I’m just going with a few I remember.
All in all if you’re new to trek you probably liked it. However if you’re like me an have a serious issue with plot lines being butchered for the sake of modernization then you likely won’t. And I’m sorry but I hate it when they just change everything and give some cheap excuse as to why.. in this case time travel, yeah, that’s not been done before..