I think that folks have been unsuccessfully trying to popularize Star Trek through its movies for a long time. I remember reading that Nemesis was “Star Trek for non-trekkies,” but I’m not really sure it reached much past its base. This new movie could very well do it, though. It’s funny with incredible action and lovable characters, not to mention a good plot full of avenging loved ones and living up to one’s potential. Also, for anyone even remotely familiar with the Original Series’ crew, the baby Enterprise crew was just freaking adorable. And what about baby Spock? OMG - so hot! The dynamic between him and Uhura was almost too steamy for Star Trek. Almost.
I think one thing that helped the movie break through to non-trekkies was that it didn’t try to stick too closely to the original technology. The new (old) Enterprise looked really cool in this movie. If they had tried to stick to the original, I think you would have lost a lot of people. See below.
Also, transporting looked much better than the glitter-over-fade out method employed in the Original Series. That’s really how they did it; you can look that shit up. I actually think the transporting in the Burger King commercials looks the best. They must have perfected the special effect after the movie came out. Anyway, I’m glad they unapologetically went with new technology and special effects even though this is a prequel. I believe it made for a better movie.
Something that really struck me in this movie was the design and layout of the Romulan bad guy’s ship. The first time I saw it, I was reminded of a line about a gun from the Hitchhiker’s Guide, which I’ll just quote for you,
The designer of the gun had clearly not been instructed to beat about the bush. "Make it evil," he'd been told. "Make it totally clear that this gun has a right end and a wrong end. Make it totally clear to anyone standing at the wrong end that things are going badly for them. If that means sticking all sort of spikes and prongs and blackened bits all over it then so be it. This is not a gun for hanging over the fireplace or sticking in the umbrella stand, it is a gun for going out and making people miserable with."
This ship would be so comically impractical in gravity; I can’t even begin to explain. There were so many long “spikes and prongs” that would be constantly breaking off and getting caught on things that the driver of the dang thing would want to just blow it up, probably with him or her still on it. It was clearly designed to look very scary so the people on the wrong end of it know that things are going badly for them, rather than accomplishing star ship-related tasks.
The ship’s interior was similarly impractical and dangerous. Of course, the fight scenes wouldn’t have been nearly as interesting had the ship been in compliance with OSHA regulations (that’s Brian’s joke), but it was approaching ridiculous. There were platforms and planks at varying levels made of what looked like moist slate (read: slippery rock). There were no guardrails or safety structures whatsoever. If you slipped on a narrow pathway walking from one station to another, you would almost certainly fall hundreds of feet to your death. On the other hand, space fights are notoriously full of one opponent knocking the other opponent’s gun onto another level so that the first opponent has to jump onto that platform, missing and hanging off the edge. Then the second opponent jumps down safely and lifts the first opponent up by his neck. Etcetera. So it was good for that, but it was not a ship I would be very happy about manning.
Of lesser note, but still striking: near the beginning of the movie, when we are still learning about the roots of Kirk’s rebellious nature, there is a scene where young Kirk (like 10-year-old Kirk) is driving what the viewer is lead to believe is his step-father’s antique hotrod, and the music playing is the Beastie Boys’ Sabotage. Now, I like this song, but I found it to be disorienting in this context. Stick with me for a second, we know that Star Trek takes place in the future, but this is Star Trek past although we aren’t sure yet how far into the future past we’re talking about. This song is way too much of a 90’s era icon not to elicit feelings of the present past in anyone who was paying attention to popular culture in the 90’s. The song fit with the context of the action, but time wise, it was a little confusing. I’m just saying.
And since I’m talking about the 90’s, I was very happy to see an unexpected Winona Ryder, playing Spock’s mother. I guess I hadn’t been paying close enough attention to the cast of this movie, but I was really delighted to see her in this.
My only complaint besides the overdone Romulan ship: not enough Scotty. He was freaking hilarious.
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