J.J.'s New Star Trek Movie (Don't worry: spoiler-free zone)
Offline ...I feel... weird about this film. It was very enjoyable; well cast, well written, awesome production values... great movie all around.
But, man... I think Gene Roddenberry hasmessed with my brain. All of the stuff that is, well, bad about a Star Trek film (the geriatric cast, the dull and slow moments where the characters try to impart some moral lesson on the audience, etc) is essentially missing from this new movie... and, for some horrible reason, I think I missed it. Some bizarre part of my brain thought the movie was, well, just too much fun. The characters were too sexy, the sequences made too much sense, there was too much action... o.O
It was, in short, just too good to be a Star Trek film. And just it was just so very, very, very Star Trek. J.J. could not possibly have paid more respect to the license without making the movie less entertaining.
It's messing with my head. 
I almost want to find fault with it because the combination is so weird, but I just can't. I just enjoyed the Hell out of the movie, despite my logic circuits misfiring in confusion.
It was really great. I hope J.J. runs with this for a few more films (I imagine it'll make him enough money to spur some sequels on).
"Natasha has just come up to the window from the courtyard and opened it wider so that the air may enter more freely into my room. I can see the bright green strip of grass beneath the wall, and the clear blue sky above the wall, and sunlight everywhere. Life is beautiful. Let the future generations cleanse it of all evil, oppression and violence, and enjoy it to the full."
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
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I'm not going to see it. I like to think of myself as a better than average trekkie, that is, knowing more random trivia than 99% of the population. But this doesn't look like Star Trek. Nemesis was pushing the envelope. I mean, in the first 10 minutes we have Picard beaming down to a unknown alien planet. What? Did Abrams ever watch TNG? Riker never allowed Picard on away missions, now he just beams all over willy nilly.
I have only seen trailers for the new movie. The thing is, you can't even tell it's a Star Trek movie until you see the Enterprise or it actually says Star Trek. All you see is stuff blowing up and nudity. By all appearences, this is just another Hollywood blockbuster, catered to the mindless masses that will bring in the money, not fans. Star Trek has never been about blowing stuff up (although it is a fun part) If you want large amount of carnage, watch Star Wars. ST has always been a vision of man's better future, of peace, co-existence, and cool technology. Paramount wants money. That's cool, it's how capitilism works. But at what cost.
I'm sure you will say I should see the movie before I rant and rave. But again, this doesn't feel like Star Trek
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
Loc, no joke dude: this is as Star Trek as Star Trek gets. It hasn't been this good since Wrath of Khan.
See it. Please? There's a part that you will simply laugh at until you hurt if you're Star Trek fan. I know they made the trailer to look like there's nothing but boobs + explosions, but seriously, none of it feels forced into the movie for the sake of giving Joe Average Customer a boner. It all fits within a very well crafted framework.
Trust me, if you liked Wrath of Khan, this will feel like Star Trek - just with the lame/bad parts removed.
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
... so i guess Kevin doesnt feel this was as big of a franchise rape, as M.Bay / Transformers?
I have very few "pure" childhood memories left, that Hollywood hasnt decided to molest...
What Would Kharn Do?
I don't care about star trek but i do wish hollywood would stop molesting classics. They are better left as memories because 99% of the time they just ruin them. gert a bit creative and make somthing new.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
I dunno..I hate to sit in a theater full of commoners that wouldn't know a bat'leth from a k'tang. ( I really hope I spelt that right)
Psalm 14:1 "the fool hath said in his heart there is a God"-From a 1763 misprinted edition of the bible
Argument from Sadism: Theist presents argument in a wall of text with no punctuation and wrong spelling. Atheist cannot read and is forced to concede.
I thought it was amazing even through I kept on expecting Sylar to cut someone head off (woops wrong film) but where I disagree with some of the reviewers here that is DOES keep all the tackiness of the TV series.
You do have no name extras dying, you do have the awful moralising. This move reallly did feel like it was made by genuine fan not just a blockbuster junkie.
By the way does anyone remember the film Doom which while awful in many ways did feel it was also made by a fan (it was never designed to be a film)
While i dont consider Doom to be a "Franchise Rape" it was a movie based on a video game... therefore it was terrible.
What Would Kharn Do?
I saw JJs Trek last night and in a rare moment of agreement with Kevin I agree it's the best Trek film since Wrath of Khan. There are only a few dumb ass scenes in it compared to previous Trek films. It's a rush throughout and leaves you with many questions as how this can be if you know the Trek world. It's worth it in any event. JJ will have to do at least one or two more Trek films just because. If so, hope he can keep up the thrill.
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"I guess it's time to ask if you live under high voltage power transmission lines which have been shown to cause stimulation of the fantasy centers of the brain due to electromagnetic waves?" - Me
"God is omnipotent, omniscient, omnibenevolent, - it says so right here on the label. If you have a mind capable of believing all three of these divine attributes simultaneously, I have a wonderful bargain for you. No checks please. Cash and in small bills." - Robert A Heinlein.
Okay, Doomy - here's where we have to admit something:
I think everyone within a certain demographic range watched transformers as a kid and thought it was awesome. But, guess what? It sucked, dude. It was bad, bad, bad. The story made no sense, the dialogue was bad, the characters were cookie cutter stereotypes...
Recreating that as a movie would've bombed.
I don't like Michael Bay's movies as a rule, and I have some big complaints regarding Transformers (breaking the 4th wall all over the place in ways that didn't work for me, Bay being unable to track action scenes with a camera, etc), but 'raping the franchise'? No, dude.
If anything, the movie breathed some new life into it.
(Season 1 & 2 are bad... but did you ever watch Season 3 or 4? Or Headmasters? That stuff sucked my balls. The best animated Transformers showing we got was TF: The Movie, and even that was pretty mediocre. Conceptually, I love the Transformers. But it's one of the many good ideas that hasn't yet had a talented storyteller run with it. If someone were to do for Transformers what G.I. Joe: Resolute is currently doing for G.I. Joe, I'd be thrilled).
- Leon Trotsky, Last Will & Testament
February 27, 1940
precisly why I say they should be left as memories.
Whatever goes upon two legs is an enemy.
Whatever goes upon four legs, or has wings, is a friend.
No animal shall wear clothes.
No animal shall sleep in a bed.
No animal shall drink alcohol.
No animal shall kill any other animal.
All animals are equal.
I saw it last night, and I must say it was a great star trek movie, it even has moral lessons in it. However it wasn't as the campy 60's and next generation style. Sure there was some "sex" scene ok, no not really it was a scantily clad woman, that's it. Let admit, star trek of the 60's Kirk got laid by alot of alien women, at least that was implied, and so was this one. As for explosions, and action scenes, since when is this a bad thing in regards to the star trek franchise? All the movies in the past have had a few things that this movie has, death, explosions, action and characters that we come to love, this just shows them at a far younger age. But I think they are dead on and don't make fun of them at all, on the contrary it plays on it's past and fleshes out the characters.
Bones was great, Young Spock was great, Scotty was fun, Uhura sexy (as she was portrayed in the show really) and intelligent, Sulu was fine with me, and Chekov although had the stereotypical accent was fun as well. James T. Kirk was a bit more brash than I would have imagined, however there is a reason for this and it more or less is explained in the movie as to why more or less. But they can now have a fresh start to this franchise, and don't see it as a bad thing. The franchise needed a new start a fresh start and this couldn't have been better.
There was a good possibility they could have completely screwed this up, but they didn't, at least not in my eyes. I also have the entire original video collection of star trek, I say this as a fan, this was a great movie.
The trailers gave me the exact same impression.
Although I expect it to be crap, I'll check it out anyway.
BTW. The post above about xformers being garbage... I'm
in complete agreement, and it amazes me how few people (way past their teen years) considered it a great movie.
(As to how many xformers movies were made, I've no idea, and don't give a rat's ass.) --- I also agree that xformers could have been an entertaining moviie for the same reasons mentioned above.
BTW. The Wrath of Khan wasn't
such a great film... compared to even an original Star Trek episode with silly costumes and shitty effects, the Star Trek movies have varied from very boring to mediocre.
Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'
I'm pretty sure this was my first time viewing a JJ Abrams production, and I'll admit that the kid's got style and that this was easily the most entertaining Trek movie since Wrath of Khan, and actually a good bit more entertaining than that film, beloved pile of cheese that it is. There were a few too many hugely game-changing coincidences in there, but then again, we wouldn't have the final 3/4 of Star Wars Episode 4 if the red R2 unit didn't have a bad motivator.
"The whole conception of God is a conception derived from ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men."
--Bertrand Russell
I just saw the movie over the weekend and I thought it was really good. I don't think it does anything bad to the franchise. On the contrary, I think it does a lot to respect the previous material. They even use plot points originally devised by Roddenberry that never appear because of Shatner's ego!
So yeah - it's a cool blockbuster even if you're not a Trek fan, but there's plenty in there to keep you happy if you are.
the only thing I have to complain about is that I got sat next to a bunch of Americans during my screening. I'll just say they didn't do your country proud. As well as being loud and obnoxious, the applauded at the ending (a pet peeve of mine)
M
Forget Jesus, the stars died so that you could be here
- Lawrence Krauss
I don't get why people would applaud a movie. A live performance gets applause because you are letting the performer know that you liked their performace.
Is the applause for the movie screen for reflecting the light well? Is it for the sound system for playing the sound well? It's absurd!
I didn't get to see it yet, but I am looking forward to it.
Remember how you figured out there is no Santa? Well, their god is just like Santa. They just haven’t figured out he’s not real yet.
As an old-school Star Trek fan and having just returned from seeing this "reboot" of the franchise, I have to comment:
Fuck that was fun!
"Anyone can repress a woman, but you need 'dictated' scriptures to feel you're really right in repressing her. In the same way, homophobes thrive everywhere. But you must feel you've got scripture on your side to come up with the tedious 'Adam and Eve not Adam and Steve' style arguments instead of just recognising that some people are different." - Douglas Murray
Holy shit Kevin.
Ditto.
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