Friday, May 08, 2009
12:34 by FoxTwo
I just watched this movie at the 7.15pm screening at Orchard Cineleisure last night. As a Trekker, I was waiting with bated breath for the new movie to be released. It has been a few years since the last one, and with an all-new cast, I was curious to see what director JJ Abrams can do with the Trek universe.
What I can say is, after the whole movie was over, we felt a sense of loss. The whole Trek universe has been turned upside down. What we knew as "canon" may no longer be.
Small inconsistencies aside, such as Kirk being in Starfleet after the majority of his crew (including Pavel Chekov, who is only 17 in the movie), the movie had this feeling of "emptiness". No real story other than "The Bad Guy Must Be Stopped!". There is no underlying story to make you go "hmmm" after you walk out of the cinema. The whole movie feels more like Mission Impossible in the 23rd Century.
There are of course, references to canon Trek, like Kirk cheating on the Kobayashi Maru test (quite funny actually). Other funny parts - Sulu forgetting to "release the handbrake" (in this case, activating inertial dampeners) before going to warp, Chekov trying to speak a password into the computer and the computer rejecting him due to him pronouncing "V" like "W", a Red Shirt dying (as expected) after jumping onto the drilling platform, and Scotty's (new) cute companion, to name a few.
Actor Karl Uban, who portrays McCoy, did an outstanding job. As my friend said, we recognised him immediately the moment McCoy came on-screen. Same speech patterns, same fears, same everything! Personally, I liked that I finally know how he got his nickname - "Bones". I think Karl Uban might have spent a lot of time watching the old TOS episodes to learn how DeForest Kelley performed as McCoy, and to copy it over to the movie.
And, when he said "I'm a doctor, not a ....", my friend and I were nudging each other and smiling. Yep, that was his signature line.
In stark contrast, we didn't recognise Kirk at all, until the final scene when he finally wore the Captain's uniform. THAT was when he moved and talked like Kirk, the Kirk we knew.
Zachary Quinto, better known as Sylar from Heroes, did an admirable job as Spock. Just enough conflict within him, the human and the Vulcan half. If you've never seen a Vulcan get angry before, Zachary Quinto's Spock will make you think twice before you provoke a Vulcan.
As a Trekker, my eyes light up whenever I see or hear something familiar. The chirp of the communicator, the whine of the transporter, the bridge sounds. They took what was familiar and improved on them. The transporter effects are impressive, with swirls around the entire body as opposed to just a sparkly effect on all Trek episodes and movies before this. The "jump to warp" sequence is breathtaking too, and looks more "logical" on screen this time around. The engine builds up power while the ship is stationary, then it starts to shudder, then an immediate "bang!" and the ship leaps into warp. You really have to see it! Even in warp, the effects are much better than anything before this movie.
Here's something notable - when Spock ("old Spock") appeared on the screen and saw a young James T Kirk, Spock smiled. I have not seen Spock smile since the original pilot back in the 60's. Further along in the movie, Old Spock spoke to Young Spock. That scene was pretty touching, I admit.
As for the story, not much to tell other than as mentioned before - good guys must stop the bad guys. The problem is, in the process, they destroyed the planet Vulcan. Spock is now part of "an endangered species", to quote him from the movie. With the destruction of Vulcan, the majority of what was canon in Trek, is no longer going to happen. The most obvious one is of course, the attempted reunification of Romulus and Vulcan in TNG, and Ambassador Spock was the one facilitating these talks.
Yeah, the whole Trek universe had been turned upside down. What we used to know as Trek, may no longer be. Since Old Spock appears to be "trapped" in this timeline, it is even more reason to believe that the original timeline will probably not be restored, and from here on out, the future is unknown and new.
Hence, the feeling of loss, but also curiosity about what will come next.
Don't get me wrong. The movie is good. It is probably going to earn alot of money at the box office. It's just that the Trek universe we all know, is gone. It's not like other "reboots" like Battlestar Galactica, where they started everything from scratch. This time around, they made it canon - people from the future (original timeline) coming back in time and causing havoc, and at the end of the movie, the timeline is not restored.
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12:34 by FoxTwo
Star Trek - The Beginning.... AGAIN
Image via Wikipedia
Spoiler Alert!
This post MAY contain spoilers about the new movie, so if you do not like spoilers, STOP READING NOW!
Thank you.
I just watched this movie at the 7.15pm screening at Orchard Cineleisure last night. As a Trekker, I was waiting with bated breath for the new movie to be released. It has been a few years since the last one, and with an all-new cast, I was curious to see what director JJ Abrams can do with the Trek universe.
What I can say is, after the whole movie was over, we felt a sense of loss. The whole Trek universe has been turned upside down. What we knew as "canon" may no longer be.
Small inconsistencies aside, such as Kirk being in Starfleet after the majority of his crew (including Pavel Chekov, who is only 17 in the movie), the movie had this feeling of "emptiness". No real story other than "The Bad Guy Must Be Stopped!". There is no underlying story to make you go "hmmm" after you walk out of the cinema. The whole movie feels more like Mission Impossible in the 23rd Century.
There are of course, references to canon Trek, like Kirk cheating on the Kobayashi Maru test (quite funny actually). Other funny parts - Sulu forgetting to "release the handbrake" (in this case, activating inertial dampeners) before going to warp, Chekov trying to speak a password into the computer and the computer rejecting him due to him pronouncing "V" like "W", a Red Shirt dying (as expected) after jumping onto the drilling platform, and Scotty's (new) cute companion, to name a few.
Actor Karl Uban, who portrays McCoy, did an outstanding job. As my friend said, we recognised him immediately the moment McCoy came on-screen. Same speech patterns, same fears, same everything! Personally, I liked that I finally know how he got his nickname - "Bones". I think Karl Uban might have spent a lot of time watching the old TOS episodes to learn how DeForest Kelley performed as McCoy, and to copy it over to the movie.
And, when he said "I'm a doctor, not a ....", my friend and I were nudging each other and smiling. Yep, that was his signature line.
In stark contrast, we didn't recognise Kirk at all, until the final scene when he finally wore the Captain's uniform. THAT was when he moved and talked like Kirk, the Kirk we knew.
Zachary Quinto, better known as Sylar from Heroes, did an admirable job as Spock. Just enough conflict within him, the human and the Vulcan half. If you've never seen a Vulcan get angry before, Zachary Quinto's Spock will make you think twice before you provoke a Vulcan.
As a Trekker, my eyes light up whenever I see or hear something familiar. The chirp of the communicator, the whine of the transporter, the bridge sounds. They took what was familiar and improved on them. The transporter effects are impressive, with swirls around the entire body as opposed to just a sparkly effect on all Trek episodes and movies before this. The "jump to warp" sequence is breathtaking too, and looks more "logical" on screen this time around. The engine builds up power while the ship is stationary, then it starts to shudder, then an immediate "bang!" and the ship leaps into warp. You really have to see it! Even in warp, the effects are much better than anything before this movie.
Here's something notable - when Spock ("old Spock") appeared on the screen and saw a young James T Kirk, Spock smiled. I have not seen Spock smile since the original pilot back in the 60's. Further along in the movie, Old Spock spoke to Young Spock. That scene was pretty touching, I admit.
As for the story, not much to tell other than as mentioned before - good guys must stop the bad guys. The problem is, in the process, they destroyed the planet Vulcan. Spock is now part of "an endangered species", to quote him from the movie. With the destruction of Vulcan, the majority of what was canon in Trek, is no longer going to happen. The most obvious one is of course, the attempted reunification of Romulus and Vulcan in TNG, and Ambassador Spock was the one facilitating these talks.
Yeah, the whole Trek universe had been turned upside down. What we used to know as Trek, may no longer be. Since Old Spock appears to be "trapped" in this timeline, it is even more reason to believe that the original timeline will probably not be restored, and from here on out, the future is unknown and new.
Hence, the feeling of loss, but also curiosity about what will come next.
Don't get me wrong. The movie is good. It is probably going to earn alot of money at the box office. It's just that the Trek universe we all know, is gone. It's not like other "reboots" like Battlestar Galactica, where they started everything from scratch. This time around, they made it canon - people from the future (original timeline) coming back in time and causing havoc, and at the end of the movie, the timeline is not restored.
