No spoilers in post (pretty much mostly), but no promises about the comments.
I’m going to avoid my standard movie review structure, since most of what I want to say was that this was a damned entertaining movie. It was highly reminiscent of The Original Series in that (a) it was action-oriented, (b) it paid more attention to the characters than the plot, which is good because (c) the plot (not to mention the science) does not bear close examination.
In fact, the plot is nearly irrelevant, as this is not about the Big Story (which is the same as the Big Story in 8 of the last 9 Star Trek movies, i.e., Big Powerful Bad Guy Threatens to Destroy Earth for Some Diabolical (or Inexplicable) Reason), but about the characters meeting and becoming a crew.
The conceit around which the whole canon gets rebooted was reasonably plausible, if not convincing in its effects (unless one believes in a Theory of Contagion in which the intrusion into the past brings with it some mimetic elements that cause so many of the “classic” Enterprise crew, no matter when they started in Star Fleet, to end up on the Enterprise at the same, improbable time — more of the rather shaky plot there), and extremely workable for the purpose behind it. Which purpose was to let JJ Abrams and crew restart the series with new actors and lots of decent homages to Prime Canon without being forced to abide by it.
The actors — and writing and direction around them — for the Star Trek crew were excellent. While a lot of the attention has been given to Kirk and Spock, Karl Urban’s McCoy was spot on by-the-numbers, channeling DeForest Kelley in an almost scary way (and with improved acting lessons).
(And Nimoy did marvelously as a Spock who has, over the many decades of his life, become much more comfortable in his own skin and in reconciling his dual nature. That’s been something he’s brought to all the movies he’s done over the decades, and it culminates here in a very authentic and poignant way.)
The FX were good, though the shaky-cam and lens flaring were almost excessive. The music — including some triumphant revisits of the classic Alexander Courage theme over the end titles — was great (adding the sound track to my wish list …)
Ultimately, as someone who’s been steeped in Star Trek lore over the years, I found the wholesale revisionism of this film not a bother, mostly because the core spirit of the original shone through. Though there’s a big baddie, the film is more about the protagonists and how they get together; the external challenge could have been practically anything. Unlike most reboots, which seem to come along because the new creator thinks he can do the original better, or that the original can be exploited by slapping the same names on something very different, this reboot felt like it wanted to be faithful to the original while not being bound to it.
By focusing on a new cast, we’re able to avoid stories that initially dwell on, and eventually try to ignore, that Everyone’s Gotten Old Since the Series. Instead, we can have crazy-ass action scenes, stuff happening and people emoting withou the need to fill in with dialog the why’s and wherefores.
But, again, it doesn’t bear much analysis. It was a very fun and entertaining film, a worthy successor to the Star Trek lineage. Ironically, I almost don’t care if they never make another, since if they end it here it would be on an amazing high note. They won’t, of course, so it will be interesting to see where they go next with the whole franchise.
Highly recommended. 
Star Trek (2009) (IMDB)
Good, now I can write my review with a clear conscious. =D
Der…
I’ll bring down the Comic that is the backgound to the Movie.
Okay, reading through many reviews, the biggest complaint is the the ever-increasing pile of coincidences that occur: both Kirk’s father *and* Kirk encounter Nero; Kirk just happens to run into Spock Prime on the planet, who in turn then run into Scotty; the entire core cast ending up on the Enterprise *and* on the bridge (except Scotty, natch) …
Rather than seeing it as an extension of fate, my thought is that the intrusion into this past / timeline by both Nero and Spock (and Various Nameless Romulan Miners) brings some sort of contamination to the timeline with them, driving events toward some semblance of what they once were, even if along different routes. Or, perhaps, instead it’s that Reality is trying to repair itself, resisting the changes by Nero by shuffling together key players to ensure that, a thousand years hence, things won’t be very different.
Or maybe it’s just poor writing, to be overlooked because it’s all such fun.
(I’m doing Google Reader Sharing of many reviews I bypassed intentionally before seeing it — to appear tomorrow evening.)
And, as proof ( http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1611247/20090512/index.jhtml ):
Which doesn’t mean it isn’t sloppy writing.
As I expected, this film is non-canonical. I think it’s rather like Marvel’s Ultimate comics. Not so good for fans like me who don’t want a different version of the original, but the “true” story of how the crew came together. Too many things just had a sour note about them. Some small (Chekov looked all wrong, and wasn’t even part of the original bridge crew, although that could be easily rationalized) and some huge (a certain… planetary… event).
I have to agree about the casting of McCoy, though. That was amazing.
Well, it is Canonical, it’s just a different string of time. All the things that happened in TOS have still happened, they are still there, and the time thread that Spock left is still going forward. This is just yet another part of the Infinite Possibilities of the Trek Universe that Gene Roddenberry envisioned.
Comparing it to the Ultimate universe isn’t a bad analogy here. The difference being that, really, we were going to have to put up with different actors and different sets, so we might as well have some fun with it — keep it from being an utterly predictable story.
It did remind me of one of the few ST novels I’ve picked up and reread over the years — Kobiyashi Maru, which is essentially a collection of tales about how each of the ship’s command staff dealt with test.
A thought on the very radical divergence between the Prime timeline / universe and the New timeline / universe.
The trigger for the change seems to have been the destruction of the USS Kelvin. The easy thing to do is to say, “Wow, who’d think George Kirk had so much influence on the world.”
Of course, as Ginny has pointed out elsewhere, Kirk is not the only person who died with the Kelvin. There’s the captain, of course, plus “Sucked Out Into Space Lass,” plus any number of other casualties. Those who didn’t die almost certainly had significant changes in their lives due to injuries, reassignments, etc.
The lack of the Kelvin would have meant certain missions would have gone undone, or done by other people — more or less successfully. There’s a huge set of ripples right there.
Plus there’s the general impact on Star Fleet. The destruction of a shift by a mysterious gigantic intruder would almost certainly change some budget priorities, research efforts, and general patrol patterns. Technological finds and advancements would change. Depending on public reaction to the loss (was this newsworthy, or only of academic interest?), it might have changed Star Fleet recruiting patterns, which could plausibly lead to the crew getting together that much earlier. It might also partially explain why a cadet could jump straight to commanding a starship.
And then there’s the Romulan factor. The new timeline still has the Earth-Romulan War in its past, but nobody has, by the movie, yet seen a Romulan … in the Prime universe. In the New Universe, there seems to be no guessing about who Nero & Co. are (Spock makes a comment about Romulans and Vulcans). Which makes one wonder how the relationship between the two sides has been different since the Kelvin’s destruction. Was there recognition of the intruding ship as Romulan? There were images of the crew — did that provide the basis for some sort of engagement between the Federation and the Romulans (or perhaps more war?)?
I’m sure all these questions are getting picked over by much more knowledgable fans than I. The coincidences of the movie still rankle a bit when poked, but the loss of one ship could have much more far-reaching effects than, at first glance, seem justified.
How can this be canonical when it prevents much of the original series and movies from ever happening? Unless a subsequent movie restores the timeline, many of the important events documented in TOS can’t have happened.
There are smaller matters that point to it being non-canonical, though non-purists will likely invoke “artisitic license” as reason to ignore them. For instance, the insignias of the Kelvin crewmembers were those of the Enterprise. Each starship had a unique insignia until the time documented in the movies, after which the Enterprise’s insignia was adopted for all ships in Starfleet.
Also, this was clearly not the Enterprise of the series. It had the “blue glow” deflector array and warp nacelles, which didn’t appear until the enterprise was refit in STTMP.
The official explaination, Avo, is not that time is linear, but that if you time travel you actually slip over to another universe where … you always time traveled to. No truncated timelines. TOS still exists (see! it’s on DVD!), but we’re now focusing in on this other universe over here. That’s why Spock Prime doesn’t do a Marty McFly and vanish away.
I always liked the various ship breast insignia of the TOS era. That said, there’s nothing to say that insignia didn’t get recycled over time, just as ship names are. In the Prime universe, the symbol of the Kelvin was recycled a decade or two later (assuming the ship was decommissioned) for Enterprise. The valor of that ship in the TOS days led to it being adopted as the insigia for Star Fleet.
In the New universe, then, something similar happened, save that the valorous fate of the Kelvin led to its symbol being adopted early for all of Star Fleet by the time of the movie.
On a parallel note — well, heck, if we’re willing to accept that the new actors are playing the old characters and ostensibly look like them, we might as well accept that, no, that’s really an Enterprise that looks just like the original, only played by a new, um, “actor.”
Again, Avo, all the things from the previous movies and shows happened, they are all still valid, this is just a different time thread in which things were changed because a huge borg tech Romulin ship hove in to the picture.
This was touted as the story of how the Enterprise’s crew came together. That’s what I wanted to see. That’s not what this movie gave us. I’m not interested in alternate-timeline Kirk and Spock any more than I am in Ultimate Spider-Man. It feels like a big ol’ cop-out to me.
Also, if this is supposed to be canonical, as you suggest, then it happens between The Cage and Where No Man Has Gone Before. The uniforms weren’t even of the style in use then! And why change the transporter effect to that stupid swirling? I can see no reason for not keeping the original effect (enhancing it if you must). For that matter, why the blankety-blank does Sarek have an English accent???
At least I’m not the only one who didn’t care for the movie:
Part 1 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsI7Mhu1G94
Part 2 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1WkVg3v9YQ&feature=related
Part 3 – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QO5uXUcbmPw&feature=related
Well, as a story of how the Enterprise crew came together, it was kind of goofy (“They all just show up”).
To a degree, I agree with you, Avo. While the story explains why things are different in the New Now vs the Prime Now, it doesn’t do a good job of reconciling with the Prime Past. I’ll confess it would have been cool to have seen a much more “accurate” (to the previously established canon — though given the breadth of novels I suspect there would always be nitpicking, so let’s just say to TV and movie continuity). I’m not sure it would have been as financially successful an effort, as it appears that the closeness of the current effort is good enough for the majority of Trek fans while being engaging enough for folks who start their reviews with, “I never was a fan of the old Star Trek …”
At that, I give Abrams & Co credit for trying to reconcile it at all. Too many movie reboots make no reference to the past. Sometimes that’s good. (Should Superman Returns been in continuity from Superman IV, instead of from Superman II? Did the Dark Knight really have to carry on from Batman & Robin? For that matter, should Burton’s Batman been based on the Adam West TV show continuity?) Often it’s irksome (Wild Wild West comes to mind.)
Dave, in Wiki-dom: Star Trek Memory Alpha is considered TV and Movies and the Prime Source of Canon material. Memory Beta is for the Books (comics, etc), which are not considered Canon.
Fair enough. Thanks for noting the distinction.
Wow, those two really had no idea how to follow the plot. It’s like they were watching a completely different movie from the one I saw.
They are two very clueless idiots.
The only books that I consider canon are the movie novelizations. I read somewhere that Roddenberry said that the animated series is not canonical (except for the Kahs-wan ordeal in “Yesteryear”), nor is ST5, whichh introduced Spock’s half-brother, Sybok.
BD, what do you think about these thoughts on the movie?
http://aphilosopher.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/thoughts-on-star-trek/
By the way, assuming that Star Trek: Enterprise is part of the canon, why didn’t the time cops get involved? Of course, they didn’t involve themselves in any of the TOS or TNG time travel stories, but that may be because the crews fixed time themselves.
I think the criticisms offered up there are moderately fair.
The paradox of solving a problem through time travel to the past meaning you never actually would have been sent in the first place is rarely adhered to (the one ST case I can think of where it made any sense being TOS’s “Guardian on the Edge of Forever,” where presumably the immediate area around the Guardian (and the Guardian itself) is immune to time changes.
The Nero storyline in general is dodgy anyway, both for the items noted and because it’s just an old theme.
Another difference: the size of the Enterprise.
http://gizmodo.com/5253324/how-big-is-the-new-enterprise-compared-to-the-old-one?skyline=true&s=i
Okay, that’s just weird. Not sure I understand the need to change that.
Bigger = better?
Larger ship = larger crew = more peril?
Hollywood = insanity?
Either unthinking whimsy (“Sure, let’s just make it bigger, that’d be cool”) or … I dunno what.
It’s not insane, it doesn’t actually hurt anything (I mean, really, we see very little of the Enterprise or what it’s about anyway), but it doesn’t add anything either.