It has a name: Star Trek: Into Darkness.

[Overmind One]

Have you seen "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and the character Mitchel? He was the first omnipotent god-like character in ST.

Indeed he was.

 

[YJ02]

Have you seen "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and the character Mitchel? He was the first omnipotent god-like character in ST.

yes- like a jillion times. I did not know that any "dot connecting" made him "q" though

 

[Overmind One]

yes- like a jillion times. I did not know that any "dot connecting" made him "q" though

He was not Q, but I think Bluce is addressing that "magic" element introduced by such beings in Trek. He was not Q. But the idea of the Q is similar. I believe that Trellaine was the first Q even though they did not call him that, and there was implying that his power came from technology and not "the Continuum". Watching the Q today seems like it came right out of Bewitched.

 

[YJ02]

He was not Q, but I think Bluce is addressing that "magic" element introduced by such beings in Trek. He was not Q. But the idea of the Q is similar I believe that Trellaine was the first Q even though they did not call him that, and there was implying that his power came from technology and not "the Continuum". Watching the Q today seems like it came right out of Bewitched.

got it

what about your ENTERPRISE comment? not fighting, just wondering

 

[Bluce Ree]

He was not Q, but I think Bluce is addressing that "magic" element introduced by such beings in Trek. He was not Q. But the idea of the Q is similar I believe that Trellaine was the first Q even though they did not call him that, and there was implying that his power came from technology and not "the Continuum". Watching the Q today seems like it came right out of Bewitched.

Couldn't have put it better myself.

 

[YJ02]

i looked him up (st wikia); in a 'canon' novel, Q squared, Trelain is identified as a member of the Q continuum. TRRwas accepted by Roddhe believed that Gene Roddenberry, whether consciously or subconsciously, was channeling Trelane when he created Q

 

[Joelist]

I have to disagree - Trek 09 was well written on several fronts.

Reason #1: The horizons are reopened
To me one of the biggest pluses of Star Trek 2009 is the reboot (alternate timeline) plot. This step was in my opinion absolutely necessary if Trek was to survive, as the Trek canon has gotten too tangled and involved. Now there is freedom again - our heroes really are once again "Going Where No One Has Gone Before".

In fact, I tried a little experiment along these lines - I watched a couple of TOS episodes (The Doomsday Machine, Amok Time and The Omega Glory) and then rewatched Star Trek 2009. I had the same feel of underlying optimism, the same sense of dramatic tension and the same feeling of an "open" universe in both. This is of course highly subjective but it illustrates the point.

Reason #2: The characters feel like "Classic Trek" again
I will start here by stating that I was REALLY disenchanted with Trek when this film came along. To me, starting with Deep Space 9 and culminating in the truly bad film Nemesis Trek went completely off the rails and got away from its own core values. They erred in making Trek too dark and moody, and adopting a pessimistic view of life and people.

Enter Trek 2009.

In Trek 2009, we get Star Trek stripped down to its core values and those core values are shining once again. The underlying optimism is back, as is the more positive view of life and people. The characters may have moments of anger and not immediately getting along, but they do bond together into the team we knew and loved. Their relating to one another is pure classic Trek - one great example is a discussion between Spock and McCoy following the destruction of Vulcan where Spock matter of factly responds to morale concerns by telling McCoy that if he feels that Spock walking the corridors weeping will help then he will oblige; McCoy under his breath (and Karl Urban nailed McCoy so completely it was spooky) mutters "green blooded hobgoblin". Classic!

Chris Pine also nailed Kirk perfectly. This is a younger Kirk, less disciplined and also one who grew up with no father (courtesy of Nero). But he is still very much Kirk the lothario and by movie's end he has grown a great deal - remember it's Kirk who offers Nero assistance when his ship was caught in the singularity. Plus, I loved the Kobiyashi Maru scene - it is both a nod to canon and shows a Kirk who still has growing to do - which happens under fire.

Now we come to Zachary Quinto as a great Spock. This is one reason I chose Amok Time to view - I wanted a Spock centric episode in the mix. Vulcans in TOS are cold-ish and logical on the outside but that practised exterior is to keep their VERY strong passions and emotions in check, as those passions in the past almost destroyed them. Quinto delivers this very well. Most of the time he is a stone cold Vulcan but there are times those passions break through (like his mother being insulted when he was a child and Kirk provoking him over the loss of Vulcan). His relationship with Uhura (which rightly consumed a grand total of 2-3 minutes of screen time tops) parallels his father choosing a human woman.

Simon Pegg delivered a good Scotty, but he did not have enough lines to really form a strong opinion on him. Anton Yelchin was an off chord as Chekhov, to me he did not work. John Cho was effective as Sulu.

Finally, no look at characters would be complete without a kudo to Leonard Nimoy. His Original Timeline Spock hit all the right notes as the "glue" that both helped propel the plot along and in handing the proverbial baton to Quinto.

#3: The "Trek" mood is back
I sort of covered this earlier, but Classic Trek had an underlying mood of optimism and an overall positive vibe on life and people. Trek 2009 returns to these from the overly dark and moody slop Trek had descended into . This mood extends everywhere from the way the characters overcome obstacles to stop Nero and bond together into a great team to the color choices in the ship; light colors were chosen to reinforce optimism.

Do "dark" things happen in Trek 09? You bet! Vulcan is annihilated, Kirk's father is killed and Starfleet loses several ships. We saw the same kind of events in TOS (Doomsday machine anyone?). But this is not the same as the whole movie being "dark". The difference between this sort of darkness and, say, Event Horizon is that while "dark" events happen our heroes (and they are real heroes not dark antiheroes ) rise above them and ultimately good triumphs.

#4: A Sound and clever plot
The final main thing for me was that the plot was both sound and clever. While there were small places where additional exposition would have been nice (like explaining what the Narada did for 20+ years), the plot as a whole was coherent, logical and flowed well. It also contained a VERY clever way to get the Trek franchise back on track and to free the producers up in subsequent movies . For example, now that we are free from canonical chains there is a real sense of danger to the characters because it no longer is set in historical stone that they must survive or win.

It is these factors which lets me overlook stuff like lens flares - they got the important stuff right. Trek isn't about the CGI (and really given the small budget of Trek 09 the CGI is impressive) it is about plot and characterization. And Trek 09 delivers there.

So, this overlong tome is why I like Trek 2009.


P.S: Yes I know I plagiarized my own earlier article....I was in a lazy mood and it still says my thoughts.

 

[Bluce Ree]

I have to disagree - Trek 09 was well written on several fronts. [...]

What post are you disagreeing with? We're talking about next year's Trek bringing back the omnipotent Mitchel character from the TOS episode "Where No Man Has Gone Before".

 

[Joelist]

Sorry Bluce, it was post #19 I was disagreeing with that takes issue with the writing and plot of Trek 09.

 

[Bluce Ree]

Sorry Bluce, it was post #19 I was disagreeing with that takes issue with the writing and plot of Trek 09.

Ah! Yet another good example of why replying with quote is a good idea.
--- merged: Nov 29, 2012 at 9:03 PM ---

[...] And what is up with the destruction of Vulcan? Don't see how this movie can fit with canon (maybe I missed something a midst the "cyclonic orgy" of SFX? [...]

I take it you missed the part about Trek '09 being a reboot in an alternate timeline created by Nero's trip back from the future?

 

[Joelist]

Yeah I probably should have at least put a link back to the original post---just a temporary attack of "Ruprecht-itis" from watch Transformers movies....

 

[YJ02]

Ah! Yet another good example of why replying with quote is a good idea.
--- merged: Nov 29, 2012 at 9:03 PM ---


I take it you missed the part about Trek '09 being a reboot in an alternate timeline created by Nero's trip back from the future?

like i said i was so "wow'd" with the SFX I couldn't follow the plot

to me, ST will always be the one that relied on the storyline and not the "awesomeness" of its CGI/SFX.

I don't really have a problem with the writing of it; seems they had a clear focus-show Kirk has an upstart and obnoxious young man who gets all the chicks and kills the bad guys

as i said earlier, i heard the line that "new st has great effects, can't wait to see it on my 56" screen with my surround sound" from ppl who never watched sc-fi before. they just picked it up because of its "looks". Kind of like picking a wife only because of her looks. good at the time, your wow'd, then time passes and you (maybe) forgot what she is all about-if you ever knew at all.

and besides, don't their shuttles have glass windows?

 

[Bluce Ree]

like i said i was so "wow'd" with the SFX I couldn't follow the plot

to me, ST will always be the one that relied on the storyline and not the "awesomeness" of its CGI/SFX.

I don't really have a problem with the writing of it; seems they had a clear focus-show Kirk has an upstart and obnoxious young man who gets all the chicks and kills the bad guys

as i said earlier, i heard the line that "new st has great effects, can't wait to see it on my 56" screen with my surround sound" from ppl who never watched sc-fi before. they just picked it up because of its "looks". Kind of like picking a wife only because of her looks. good at the time, your wow'd, then time passes and you (maybe) forgot what she is all about-if you ever knew at all.

and besides, don't their shuttles have glass windows?

Nope. Transparent aluminum. Roddenberry came up with that in the 60's and today it's a reality.

 

[SciphonicStranger]

I just hope the new movie brings back some of that old Star Trek music like Spock's Theme. They can even modernize it if they want...

 

[Overmind One]

got it

what about your ENTERPRISE comment? not fighting, just wondering

I got it wrong. I meant to say it was before TOS. And for me that made it worse because the tech was more advanced than in TOS and the Xindi came out of nowhere.

i looked him up (st wikia); in a 'canon' novel, Q squared, Trelain is identified as a member of the Q continuum. TRRwas accepted by Roddhe believed that Gene Roddenberry, whether consciously or subconsciously, was channeling Trelane when he created Q

Yes, he is as I said. But in the episode of TOS, it was implied that his powers came from technology hidden beneath the surface of the planet. The TNG Q was simply "omnipotent" and DeLancie's Q said the Q "have always been here". Hardly following any idea of evolution or technology advancements. The ascended Ancients in Stargate pissed me off for the same reason.

 

[YJ02]

Nope. Transparent aluminum. Roddenberry came up with that in the 60's and today it's a reality.

what about in ENTERPRISE? (and no, you can't say that show didn't count )

" got it wrong. I meant to say it was before TOS. And for me that made it worse because the tech was more advanced than in TOS and the Xindi came out of nowhere"

yes, the Xindi issue could have been handled better, like say, use one of the many races shown (as then friendly) in TOS or TNG. It makes it look as if they disappeared into nothingness after Ent.

I think the newer looking tech (more so then TOS) was just an issue of not having to go retro with their props. I think they did ok though with the "laptops" and the "slowness" and old feel (older then TOS) with things like the doors, the small rooms, bulkheads, no turbolift, and the feel as if much of what we see could be conceivably made in our time or the not to distant future (minus the warp engine)

 

[Bluce Ree]

what about in ENTERPRISE? (and Know, you can't say that show didn't count )

In Trek Universe, Dr. Marcus Nichols invented transparent aluminum in the 80's. He acquired the knowledge from Mr Scott in "ST 4: The Voyage Home". This was also mentioned in the TNG episode "In Theory".

So, there was no glass on any warp-capable starship ever in the ST universe.

" got it wrong. I meant to say it was before TOS. And for me that made it worse because the tech was more advanced than in TOS and the Xindi came out of nowhere"

yes, the Xindi issue could have been handled better, like say, use one of the many races shown (as then friendly) in TOS or TNG. It makes it look as if they disappeared into nothingness after Ent.

I think the newer looking tech (more so then TOS) was just an issue of not having to go retro with their props. I think they did ok though with the "laptops" and the "slowness" and old feel (older then TOS) with things like the doors, the small rooms, bulkheads, no turbolift, and the feel as if much of what we see could be conceivably made in our time or the not to distant future (minus the warp engine)

Some hardcore fans are obsessed with requiring the TOS Enterprise of the 60s to be the benchmark of tech in the ST universe for everything preceding it. Problem is that was what they imagined the future would look like in the 60s. The tech in Enterprise was inferior to TOS but it's all updated to 21st century imagination, which is perfectly fine. Anyone expecting a current series to respect the TOS cardboard set with flashing light bulbs as the baseline for tech preceding TOS is an idiot who spends too much time obsessing over nothing and should get out of the house more, maybe even get laid.

 

[YJ02]

In Trek Universe, Dr. Marcus Nichols invented transparent aluminum in the 80's. He acquired the knowledge from Mr Scott in "ST 4: The Voyage Home". This was also mentioned in the TNG episode "In Theory".

So, there was no glass on any warp-capable starship ever in the ST universe.



Some hardcore fans are obsessed with requiring the TOS Enterprise of the 60s to be the benchmark of tech in the ST universe for everything preceding it. Problem is that was what they imagined the future would look like in the 60s. The tech in Enterprise was inferior to TOS but it's all updated to 21st century imagination, which is perfectly fine. Anyone expecting a current series to respect the TOS cardboard set with flashing light bulbs as the baseline for tech preceding TOS is an idiot who spends too much time obsessing over nothing and should get out of the house more, maybe even get laid.

And don't forget the plastic square 'memory chips'

 

[Overmind One]

In Trek Universe, Dr. Marcus Nichols invented transparent aluminum in the 80's. He acquired the knowledge from Mr Scott in "ST 4: The Voyage Home". This was also mentioned in the TNG episode "In Theory".

So, there was no glass on any warp-capable starship ever in the ST universe.



Some hardcore fans are obsessed with requiring the TOS Enterprise of the 60s to be the benchmark of tech in the ST universe for everything preceding it. Problem is that was what they imagined the future would look like in the 60s. The tech in Enterprise was inferior to TOS but it's all updated to 21st century imagination, which is perfectly fine. Anyone expecting a current series to respect the TOS cardboard set with flashing light bulbs as the baseline for tech preceding TOS is an idiot who spends too much time obsessing over nothing and should get out of the house more, maybe even get laid.

I didnt like Enterprise for lots of reasons. The tech was part of it, but mostly the trampling of canon and the theme song and especially the Xindi. I did not like that the ship was an Akira class starship design from DS9 only slightly modified, I did not like the persona of the pre-TOS Vulcans, and it was just trying too hard.

 

[Joelist]

I didn't mind the Enterprise tech, and the ship design was cool to me as well, especially the somewhat austere interiors.

The Vulcans were a definite problem that they had to devote episodes to in Season 4 (otherwise known as the season Manny Coto used to make Enterprise fit canon). Ditto the whole Xindi plotline. Season one was actually good - it tailed off pretty quickly thereafter.