| Review : |
It seems that there are a few "classics" that are being 'rebooted' (ST), 'reimagined' (BG) or 'revived' (DW) with various degrees of success. One was pulled off admirably (ironically the British show "Doctor Who"), one was an unmitigated failure (Battlestar Galactica) and one (Star Trek) falling somewhere in the middle. As action and science fiction, ST XI was pretty good. As good (or even just adequate ST) not so good. First, the not so good. No more Vulcan and no more Ch'Rihan/Ch'Havran. James T. Kirk as an adrenaline junkie. The Enterprise bridge set. The Kobayashi Maru scene. Spock and Uhura?? The good: The Enterprise exterior, Dr. McCoy, Zach Quinto's resmblance to Nimoy's Spock. There is something called the 'willing suspension of disbelief' This is something that casual and hard-core trekkers and trekists should have tried to bring to this movie. I know I sure tried when I first saw it. Judging from the dichotomy of opinions, not many others did. Analysing the movie on several levels, the first and foremost being to make money for Paramount. That it did. As a 're-boot' of a classic American it probably succeeded at that too, bringing new fans into an old franchise. Veiwing it in that light, trying to stay true to the "Wagon Train to the Stars" that Gene Roddenberry envisioned while trying to inject new life into it and hence new fans, it is a difficult proposition at best. It seems that the reaction to this ST movie is kind of like ST-TMP, trekkers were just so happy and overwhelmed at the first new ST since the animated series that expectations were very high and hence a high level of disappointment at the actual results (although the director's cut and extended cuts are an improvement over the theatrical version). The same thing happened here, the first new ST since "Voyager" and expectations were up as was the disappointment (and ire) being up. The Star Trek Movies took a bit to really get going, so it looks like it will be with this reboot. It also did not help that this movie was laboring under the 'odd-numberd jinx'. Let's see where to new cannon takes us and hopefully we as ST fans have an open enough minds to give this a chance. |
