Star Trek

[tealin]

So ... I [finally] saw it.

Aaaaand it was awesome.

Yes, did you hear that? It had egregious scientific errors and logic gaps and whatever, but it was so much fun I didn't care.


1. All L.A. filmmakers (and actors) intending to make a film that features a frozen wasteland or, indeed, any severe wintry conditions should be required to spend a week in Winnipeg in January. Get a feel for what real cold is like. Familiarize yourself with how it slaps you in the face when you open a door. Learn how to breathe when you can feel every molecule of air freezing the inside of your nose. Wear a hat.

2. Sherlock Holmes quote! [high-five J.J. Abrams]

3. I think someone saw Treasure Planet and thought 'I could do way better than that.' I mean, not the whole thing, but Troubled Daredevil Young Jim and Let's Surf The Explosion From Inside the Black Hole are ... kind of ... familiar.

4. You know what I don't care about? Sound in space. I mean, I do care about it, and yes it was inconsistent in this movie, but every time the choice presented itself – sound or no sound – they went with the choice that would have the most dramatic impact. I respect that.

5. Stranding a 'Scott' on an ice planet ... I like it. Perhaps it was unintentional but I like it anyway.

6. CHARACTERS = YES. Except perhaps Uhura who seemed to be there mostly for the same reasons as Lupin in the last three books of the Harry Potter series: exposition, hugs, and giving other characters motivation. I might find this disappointing but there were so many other really great characters that I ... just ... really don't care. Nice casting, whoever was in charge of casting! (And I don't just say this because they cast Simon Pegg.) I didn't recognize many names, so I hope this movie launches all their careers.

7. A couple times I got distracted by my own thought process about last-minute changes on Frog (the sort of thing my brain can gnaw on for hours, uninterrupted) but the movie pulled me back in. That's how fun it was.

8. A thought occurred to me when I saw Star Wars for the first time, which occurred to me again tonight: I wonder how much a good score that takes itself seriously can counteract what might otherwise be perceived as hokeyness in a movie. Take away the John Williams score and Star Wars is, in many ways, just another corny mid-century scifi flick – if Star Trek did not have Michael Giacchino, would it have had the dramatic integrity that it did?

9. Okay okay okay, you know what's awesome? The new warp ... thing! The way they go 'neeeeooooowwwwww ... PK!' and they just GO! Like, with one or two frames favour just to let you know they're moving forward, but you can feel the force, it's so cool.

10. That little green dude with the wrinkly head could so have been the annoying-voiceover sidekick. But it WASN'T! Mr Abrams, I could kiss you! (... if I were Uhura. Which I am not.)

Comments

[conga-chili.livejournal.com]

OOOH that's where you were! HM and I were looking for you at din din time. Glad you enjoyed it, much more fun than sitting at a desk which I am in right now.

[conga-chili.livejournal.com]

And yes: their snow felt warmer than Winterpeg snow. Or even snow in Vancouver. Plus it never melted, that annoying one on his lip.

[soloproject.livejournal.com]

HAHAHHAHA, I was so excited by the sound effects and the lasers and chirping communicators + the whole Dolby Digital Surround sound thing, my cousin and I kept twisting in our seats trying to follow the noises XD Great fun.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

THE SOUND WAS AWESOME!! Definitely worth seeing it in the theatre just for the sound.

YAY FINALLY :D

[putri-nih.livejournal.com]

Re: Snow.
Now that you mention it--considering that Kirk is a guy raised in a mid-western American dessert, shouldn't he be more shocked with the cold...

Re: Scottie
SIMON PEEEEGGGG <3

Re: Uhura
She's probably there for the sexy. (btw what did you think of Sulu or Chekov? I should say, did you see aimo's hilarious Chekov fangirl comic?) Also, romance was kind of...HERES YOUR ROMANCE QUOTA HERE HAPPY NOW. Thoughts?

I LOVE THAT MOVIE THOUGH :D

Re: YAY FINALLY :D

[putri-nih.livejournal.com]

ALSO OMG BONES :DDD HE IS SO AWESOME.

Re: YAY FINALLY :D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Actualy Iowa has pretty darn cold winters. In the present. Before global warming turned it into a dusty landscape that may have been somewhere in California because they didn't want to shoot in Iowa, I dunno.

Oddly enough the romance didn't bother me so much, I mean at least it accomplished stuff plot/character-wise and wasn't just doey eyes and gauze filters. And never lasted more than about 3 minutes at a time.

Chekov was so cute in his boyish enthusiasm, that's the sort of character you don't get much these days. Sulu ... don't really have many thoughts on Sulu besides 'You took your helmet off to swordfight?' I know it makes for better acting but the whole time I was thinking 'Helmet! Helmet!' Granted I think the same thing during those cop shows where there are people hiding behind cars and shooting at each other. I guess I am just overprotective of my noggin.

[renshai.livejournal.com]

Ha! I saw it on Father's Day, and as a veteran of winters from Winnipeg to Calgary and all points in between I spent my time wondering how Spock kept the tips of his ears. My brother, sitting beside me, went "Don't get out of the pod! Did you not look at the weather?!"

[infiniteviking]

I saw it twice and McCoy blew me away both times. And it's rejuvenated the fandom and it's shiny and AU and doesn't supplant TOS and has new and interesting territory to explore and EEE AWESOME.

*cough* I liked it, rather. ^___^

[stevie-roch.livejournal.com]

I have to say, I really like the fact that they used the whole multiverse time travel thing to "preserve" the original series, while still being able to use the same characters.

And oh my god Bones.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Time Travel: It'll make your life easier, or else FIENDISHLY COMPLICATED. :)

[leia-grace.livejournal.com]

BONES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

He kept making me think of Nathan Fillion.

Next!

[seancovernton.livejournal.com]

New assignment: go see Drag me to Hell

[anathelen.livejournal.com]

I heartily agree that the movie was so fun that it made one willing to gloss over the silly parts. I was fresh from a semester of general relativity equations and could've winced at the whole black hole thing at the end... but no, I was enjoying myself too much to grumble.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I think this might be because it wasn't about the science ... the science (or lack of it) just gave the characters some external stimuli. If the focus had shifted away from the people or the action and towards the world-building, the logic gaps would have compromised the foundation of the movie a lot more. As it was, they did build a world, and built it confidently and effectively enough that they could set their characters loose in it and have it be totally convincing without having to explain it so much.

[ubiquitouspitt.livejournal.com]

YES! YES!

1.) Yes. I did not think that Kirk was effectively expressing with his physical reaction how FREAKING COLD cold can be.

2.) YES! I totally forgot about that! I turned to Marc and gaped and giggled right after, "Didju - didju know that Sher-"

"Shut up."

"Aw."

6.) Yes. I was totally in to what happened with Uhuru and Spock. But a better fleshing out of character would have made her seem even more deserving. When what happened happened (*casting eyes about wearily for anyone who hasn't... seen the movie* = zero) I was like, "YAY SPOCK!" And not, "YAY SPOCK and UHURA!"

Besides. She's not an ENTP. So it'll never last:

KIRK!SPOCK!4EVR OTP baby

Tho, I wish she Uhura had the hair she had in the original series. That was hot.

9.) Oh yeah - warp was awesome! I actually flew back in my seat, heeee.

10.) YES - I agree. And, while I know Scotty is, well, Scottish - does that thing not remind you of... a leprechaun..?

[(Anonymous)]

I finally saw it on Monday, and I agree that it's friggin' awesome!

1) I agree with Kirk's lack of reaction to something so obvious, and I'm from Texas, so I can legally agree about the body reacting to the slightest change of temperature after being born/stuck in arid and humid environments that have triple-digit temperatures for one year on Earth. Either send those actors to Winnipeg, or maybe send 'em as far as Alaska, get a feeling of 'freezing cold' with the polar bears :)

4)Another thing you can compare to the "sound-in-space problem" is with Star Wars. More things blow up in that series than any other American film in existence! But nobody cares about whether it can be heard or not, 'cause it doesn't matter!

9)Another thing that all sci-fi fans love is Warp-Speed! Wooooohoooooo! I'd love it if they had put this in IMAX theater, so everyone can get the feeling of melting into your seat as the ship hits GO time!

I'm probably going to see it again, it's so much fun to watch the second time!

[beckychan.livejournal.com]

I saw it opening weekend! It was so much fun! I was never much of a Trekki (are you aware that that's the only word in the English language that rhymes with Becky?), but I really enjoyed it for what it was. All the characters were well-cast and so delightful, and they even did away with the random red shirt. XD How very entertaining that movie was. I may be forced to own it later.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Hang on, the guy who pulled his parachute too late in the dive to the drill platform had a red shirt, didn't he?

[lunylucy.livejournal.com]

It had egregious scientific errors and logic gaps and whatever, but it was so much fun I didn't care.


Haha, exactly! This movie is The Rule of Cool (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RuleOfCool) in full force.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

This website merits much further study ... yeesssss ...

[moonmystique.livejournal.com]

We sat in the 3rd row from the very front, so I ended up missing a few things as I had to turn my head to see the other end of the screen, like the whole love interest thing. That came outta nowhere for me when it became more obvious.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Was ... the love interest ... on the side of the screen? \: '

I do not envy you; had I sat that close, or been in a larger theatre, I probably would have had to experience most of the movie as a radio play. As it was the shakycam was still giving me a hint of nausea.

[uberklutz.livejournal.com]

Ohhh man, the Iowa. I was weirded out that it seemed less inhabited than it is---even all around the future Des Moines. Which... is... rolling hills...

Dialogue of a friend and me during the IA scenes:
"What? There are no cliffs in Iowa."
"They're mining for something."
"Whaaat?"
"Lithium?"
"The only reason they'd be mining for lithium is if it came from corn or pigs!"
*cut to dusk scene outside Des Moines and fields of... cabbage?*
"Oh great. Lets hope Des Moines has a freakin' nightlife in the future."
(happnin' club)
"Apparently it does."
"NOOOooooo!"

You make a good point about the cold planet. You can't NOT have a hat. I was impressed by Kirk who had classic pretty-boy looks but was actually really good at comedy. You're right--the characters all had what felt like naturally occurring interactions based on their personalities and circumstances. And the soundtrack. Horngasm. But the purchasing of the CD made me realize just how reluctant stores are to carry them! They list the whole orchestra and choir roster! I've never seen that before! *inspired*

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Haha, I too was a little mystified by the random ROCKY CHASM, but that was one of the many things that I forgot in the course of fun. Perhaps it was the result of some horrible industrial accident, or ... a very long and narrow quarry ... there's a whole bunch of rock right close to the surface in Iowa, right? ;)

Was that supposed to be Des Moines? I must have missed the reference ... I thought it was just Random Town on the horizon. Oh well. the great big spaceship hangar things were cool though! They reminded me of Vandenburg Air Force Base, which you can see from the LA-SF train, and took me very much by surprise because it looks like a sci-fi moon base. I plan to take pictures next time.