When the show first went on the air in the late '60s, I remember having to ask my parents for permission to stay up late and watch it. After three years the show was canceled, and I figured that was the last I'd see of it.
However, it found new life in syndication, and viewers could enjoy those original episodes over and over again. Eventually, a series of movies followed (with various degrees of success - you can see the ratings of those movies by my pal Jim Ross right here in his Hot Topics blog, and my own rankings are in the comments section).
That led to a series of TV shows, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, which eventually was spun off into more feature films.
Now the original crew of the Enterprise is back in a new Star Trek movie that brings the concept back to the original series. The crew, pictured above, includes (from left) Chekov, Kirk, Scotty, Bones, Sulu and Uhura.I went to see the movie hoping for the best, and I'm glad to say that I really enjoyed it. The good news is, you don't need to be a fan of the original, or know much of anything about Star Trek to enjoy this film. Since it tells the story about how the crew members first met, you get all the information you need as the story rolls along.
The story sets up a menace from the future - a monstrous ship that's out for revenge on the Federation of Planets. The story moves along briskly, all the cast members have memorable on-screen moments, and they capture the original characters without being outright imitations of the original actors.
The film sets up something of a clean slate for future films, and judging by the success of this one, there should be many more in the years ahead.
(And yes, I know this post didn't really have anything to do with theatre - but it's so nice to have a good Star Trek film to write about, I couldn't help myself!)
8 comments:
As I said in Jim's blog, I think the new film tops them all. Denise wants to see it again, and that never happens!
this new Star Trek is probably the best movie I've seen in the theaters all year; the new cast did an awesome job emulating the originals as did the script writers -- tons of fun
Len, I think I'm going to try to talk Jeanette into seeing the movie - and that'll give me an excuse to see it again!
Coffee, I agree, though I haven't seen too many movies yet this year. But I agree, this one was a lot of fun!
When the movie was over, I turned to Len and said, this is the best movie ever, and meant it. I loved it and we're going to go see it again, a rare occurrence in Denise land.
Denise, high praise indeed! Glad you enjoyed it - now you can help me talk Jeanette into going!
For the most part, I liked it, but I had some serious problems with it, too.
For one thing, it relied too much on gimmicks that the Star Trek universe has run into the ground. I'm tired of (sorry, no spoiler) and (sorry, no spoiler again).
The characters, however, were good. Chris Pine had Shatner's looks down pat, although... he lacked... some of ... Shatner's ... vocal tics.
Afterward, you get the feeling Kirk is the one who is in control of his emotions because he knows how to use them, while Spock makes the Vulcan mistake of confusing restraint or abstinence with control.
Anyway, the movie was good, but I have to wait until the next one before I render final judgment on it.
And was that really Eomer in McCoy's outfit?
Jim, I agree, there were a couple of events in the movie that strained credibility, but that was common to the original series, too, so I forgive the demands of the story (thanks for the spoiler coverage, by the way).
I like that the new actors evoked the original actors without doing an outright imitation. A Shatner impersonation would... have... been... distracting!
And yes, Bones is Eomer. I didn't believe it either until son Justin pointed it out.
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