Star Trek

So last night I used the kitchen pass I would normally have used for a role playing night to go see the new movie. (Apparently I either missed or misunderstood Forrest's announcement that we wouldn't play in 4 weeks meant 6 weeks). While I normally love our game, and the camaraderie of playing, I think watching this movie was well worth the disappointment I felt about missing the game.

The Movie

It Rocked! I loved it. I agree with all of the reviewers who thought this was just a great Star Wars movie. I put it right up there, just a notch below Wrath of Khan but ahead of all of the others. If you were a fan of the original series first then this movie is 100% for you. I had absolutely no problem slipping right into the story and no problem with the interesting idea for serving up a 'reboot'.

Things I Loved:

The action and Pace were awesome. At no point was I forced to sit and think: gee does this have any impact on the movie at all?

The concept for the reboot. I think the idea of jumping to an alternate reality time line really gives the creators freedom to do whatever they want, including returning the familiar and loved characters from the original series and movies. Because while the overall Trek universe is interesting, what brings most people to the series is the characters, especially the original crew.

The effects were awesome. I like the fact that they just made the decision to say: 'we realize the original sets were made on a shoe string TV budget from the 60's, that doesn't mean all spaceships should look analog.' Everything looked and felt right, none of the technology was out of place or jumped out at me.

The eventual camaraderie of the characters. It wasn't forced, you believed the way it worked. One of the results of the alternate reality is that now all of the characters are the same age, which makes some of the relationships more believable. And while some of the acting was a little forced (I liked McCoy but the acting was the closest to being an over the top impression of the original) for the most part it was great, and fit in the idea of how those characters always felt to those of us who grew up with the series.

The few things I didn't like

Uhuru: First, the whole idea of Spock engaging in a P.D.A. with anyone is wrong. And to have it be Uhuru makes it doubly wrong. Second, why did they pick the female crew members uniforms to be the one thing they wanted to retain faith with? Why did the poor girl have to run around in a uniform mini skirt and Go Go boots? It was the one thing that felt jarringly out of place.

The Enterprise was not the fleet Flagship, and if it was they wouldn't allow some freshly minted Captain to command it. I'm just saying is all.

Battle scenes were filmed a little too herky jerky. It got pretty annoying to be unable to focus on the action when the camera never stayed on it.

Overall though, I loved it, and would encourage anyone who enjoys Star Trek to see it. It was just fun. With lots of cool little nods to the adventures of the original cast. A great time was had by all.