Thursday, May 21, 2009

Star Trek

For months people have been asking if I am excited to see Star Trek. To all those people, I would like to say, "Have you seen the other Star Trek movies?" Seriously. Star Trek movies are not good. Out of all 10, there are only 2 watchable ones (II, and IV--if you care). The rest are only good if you are watching them MST3000 style. But, the positive reviews for the newest Star Trek gave me enough courage to pay to see it in the theater. And, to my utmost surprise, it was good. I was going to say that it was the best Star Trek movie ever but then I realized that wouldn't be saying much.

Naturally, there were all the typical science fiction flaws (loud space explosions, inconsistent technological abilities, convoluted plot) but it was still a very enjoyable movie. In fact, there was only one mistake that I cannot forgive and this is a mistake common to J.J. Abram's shows. To put it simply, and without spoilers, one character acted in a way completely inconsistent with not only his character but common sense in general in order to further the plot. This is the same fatal flaw of Lost. The writing is plot based rather than character driven.

To put it less simply and with spoilers: WHY DIDN'T SPOCK IMMEDIATELY CONTACT THE FEDERATION BASE WHEN HE WAS MAROONED ON THE PLANET? Seriously. If a crazed Romulan told you he was going to destroy your entire home planet, would you a) sit in a cave waiting for Kirk like Spock did, or b) run as fast as you can to the nearest base in order to get a warning message to Vulcan. Duh! Lazy writing like that makes me so mad.

Despite this glaring flaw, I was feeling pretty good about the movie and then I talked to my uncles who are real Star Trek fans. See, I like Next Generation but I was never that hardcore about Star Trek. My uncles, on the other hand, are a different story. For example, I have witness them debate for over an hour as to whether it was appropriate to display different scale models of star ships in the same room! Anyway, they HATED the new star trek movie. I got them to agree that it was entertaining but it was just "not Star Trek". Which made me laugh because of the onion spoof below. Apparently, they would agree with all the folks being interviewed.




Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'