Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek

Star Trek - Directed by J. J. Abrams, starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban - Rated PG - 13

A solid Chigurh for this thoroughly entertaining summer movie.



The previews for the new Star Trek film claim that this “is not your father’s Star Trek” and I have to agree, slightly. But that doesn’t mean that old fans should avoid this immensely entertaining film. It is technically a reboot of the series, but there are enough little jokes and throwbacks to appease the older fans while embracing the new. Maybe the hardcore fans will denounce it, but people like me (who have only a slight interest in the series) will love the comedy and constant action. The film begins with James T. Kirk’s father saving his passengers (including his newborn son) while he sacrifices himself to a Romulan madman (Eric Bana in a role that should’ve been expanded). We then see James as a troubled youth in Iowa alongside scenes with the half-human Spock as he battles with logic and emotion. That is really the main storyline here. Sure, there is a struggle that involves the fate of entire planets, but this is the story of the beginnings of a great friendship between Spock and Kirk. That aspect of the story is made much better with the foreknowledge of the original movies. We know that Spock and Kirk eventually become good friends, and that is what makes their tense early moments enjoyable. It’s like the audience is in on a joke that the cast is unaware of.
That joke continues as each crew member is introduced. We know that “Bones” McCoy (played to perfection by Karl Urban) is a grizzled doctor who speaks his mind, so when he states his trademark line (“Damn it, man, I’m a doctor, not a physicist!”) we are waiting for it. Then you add Simon Pegg as Scotty (a perfect choice) and the comedy is amped up to a level not usually associated with Star Trek. Should a Star Trek movie have multiple comedic moments? Some might shudder at the idea, but I thought the comedic aspect referenced the old movies aptly. It’s natural for Kirk, an arrogant ladies man, and Spock, a logical unemotional Vulcan, to clash in funny ways. Star Trek may be known for its lofty and even philosophical ideas, but it has really been a big, expensive summer movie waiting to happen all along.
Summer movies may be known for comedic relief, but they are also known for action, and this film does not disappoint. While the action might seem forced at times (you rarely get a chance to take a breath before another action set piece begins) it is always impressive. This film finds the balance between awesome visuals and entertaining action. You’ll see a shot of a planet with spaceships movin slowly one minute, then a sword fight atop a futuristic drill the next. The pace might be frantic for some, but you’ll be entertained. And if you forget what just happened for a minute, you don’t have time to dwell on it because an impressive new scene has already started. This movie is excellent at keeping you occupied long enough to embrace the fun moments while you forget the scenes that might not make sense.

But all of this couldn’t work without the acting skills of the two leads. Chris Pine (Kirk) is a relative unknown who will quickly make a name for himself because he played the part of Kirk as if it was a brand new role. This is no William Shatner impression. Zachary Quinto (Spock) is in the same boat, though he had to follow more rules than Pine. Spock is a character that is required to act a certain way. Quinto does an admirable job as the emotionally troubled Vulcan. We don’t get the sage from the older movies; we get a character that will eventually become that sage, which is much more interesting in my opinion. It also helps that these two actors work well together in a plot that takes the audience’s preconceptions (like the idea that Spock and Kirk are friends) and turns them upside down.

Finally, the style of the film should be addressed. J.J. Abrams, the director, has created a sci-fi look that may remind some of “2001” and “Star Wars,” but still stands on its own legs. Some have complained that lens flares (when the camera seems to be pointed directly at a light source) are present in nearly every scene. That didn’t bother me. In fact, that added to this movie’s style. I will say that the constantly moving camera became annoying at times, but that is the only minor complaint I can think of for this visually arresting film.

Is this your father’s Star Trek? No. It’s everybody’s.

*Once again, my summer reviews might end up in the Perry County News, so I want to add a bit to the site review.

I want to talk about the cast a bit more. Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett) does a servicable job as Chekov, but it is important that people know about the character of Chekov before they see the movie, otherwise his performance could come off as silly. Those of us that have heard Chekov ask about the "nuclear wessels" will get a kick out of Yelchin's performance. Newbies might scratch their heads. Zoe Saldana as Uhura is probably the least interesting of the cast, but it's not from a lack of acting, but rather from a lack of character development. But when you're dealing with a movie that is meant to introduce so many characters, one or two have to take a backseat and maybe get some attention in a sequel. The same goes for John Cho as Sulu, though he has a few more interesting moments than Uhura.

Eric Harris - www.canneltoncritic.com

Star Trek 2009

Firstly i have to say i fully enjoyed this first installment of the 'new' Star Trek legacy.

Secondly i'm trying to write this with a huge headache, im try to come to terms with the new time-line shift ....but you know what it works for me (With J.J Abrams and Bryan Burk onboard we knew this was coming) and i'm so glad the writers introduced an alternate timeline idea as something new and not out of proportion to the old saga...abandoning it,it certainly doesnt. Ultimately when this new series is complete i imagine and hope it will run well along side the original franchise.

The casting is excellent i don't need to mension the uncanny performance of Zachary Quinto as Spock. Chris Pine is cleverly placed in what is an annoying role and Eric Bana is the new brilliant vindictive nemesis.

You know a movie as good as this hits a nerve when you immediately want more after its ended. On that note when is the next installment due??

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http://robinollysays.blogspot.com

Last updated: 2010-04-13 10:57:30 by Robinolly

Star Trek Review

I know this is old news for the majority of you… but I just saw the new Star Trek movie and I thought I would share my thoughts. Before I start getting all analytical and stuff let me just say: Awesome! I’m sorry, I don’t like to shamelessly praise movies but every so often there comes a movie where one just can’t help it. I loved it. Here’s why: 

This movie literally had everything the movie-goer could ask for.  High energy action, just the right amount of comedy, some genuinely touching moments, and pretty people! Speaking of pretty people… the casting was absolutely brilliant. They managed to find the perfect person to play every role! Some particular favorites were Simon Pegg as Scotty (Love him!) Zachary Quinto as Spock (He was great in Heroes he was great in this.) And Eric Bana as Nero. (Didn’t even realize it was him until the end.) Oh, and of course Leonard Nemoy was also cast spot on. ;) While we’re on the subject of pretty people I need to give a head nod to the make-up crew of this film. Everything from prosthetics, to cuts, shaving eyebrows, to painting bodies green. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Oscar nominee for those folks. They helped us believe that these were the younger versions of all the characters we know and love in the original Star Trek.
 
Now, while I am by no means a qualified ‘Treky’ I do know a little about the original and from what I could tell die hard Star Trek fans should thrilled about the care taken to protect the integrity of the franchise. Everything from the costumes, the sets, the design of the starships, the history, even the dialogue just ‘fits’ into the original. My only qualm on this issue is that Scotty never said “We need more power!”  But he did say “That’s all she’s got!” though, so I’m fairly satisfied…

Well, I guess I never got to the “all analytical” part of this review. But I think that’s because while you’re watching Star Trek you just don’t care about that kind of stuff. The movie is just so much fun.  If you’re one of the few people left who haven’t seen it yet… you should. And see it in the theatres. It’s just not gonna be as good if you RedBox it.

I give it an A

Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), The Matrix , (500) Days Of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)

Last updated: 2010-04-12 10:52:19 by user08

Mini-Review: Star Trek

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Last updated: 2010-04-11 21:26:11 by user01

Star Trek

Directed by J.J. Abrams
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Carl Urban, John Cho, Eric Bana, and Anton Yelchin
Rated PG-13
127 Minutes 

Plot: The story of the U.S.S. Enterprise's first flight, as well as the origins of Captain Kirk and Spock. 

Armed with the best opening sequence (not credits) of the year, Star Trek began and ended, with a bang (literally!). Whether a fan of the franchise or not, J.J. Abram's reboot of the classic is gorgeous to look at, grand, and immensely entertaining. The epic space battles are totally kickass and make great use of today's CGI technology. The inside of the Enterprise looks great, too. Abrams, to be frank, exploits the use of shiny plastic and several thousand lens flares throughout the space opera. A great score accompanies what is already good in itself- nothing could have pumped me up more when the Enterprise was shown going into warp speed. Star Trek has stellar action as well, from the fight on the "drill" to the platform jumping climax. Within all of this, the cast fills their roles perfectly. Simon Pegg is hilarious, and Zachary Quinto (as Spock) makes great use of the logic vs. emotion battle that is constantly raging inside. J.J. Abrams makes Star Trek shine, and thus it is one of the best (popcorn) movies of the year.

Last updated: 2010-04-11 20:09:22 by user01

Star Trek: The Wrath of Nero

Short version: Wow. Just… Wow.

Long version: The long-awaited relaunch of the venerable science fiction media franchise has arrived. Relaunch? Make that a reboot. To summarize…

Somewhere in deep space, a Federation starship called the USS Kelvin encounters a strange phenomenon in space, a weird energy storm of some kind, out of which comes a very big, very scary-looking, and very powerful starship, which proceeds to destroy the Kelvin… but not before its first officer manages to hold off the strange newcomer long enough to allow the rest of the crew to escape in shuttlecraft and emergency pods. Among those who get away are the first officer’s very pregnant wife, who gives birth just as the Kelvin, with her husband aboard, is destroyed. The officer’s name: George Kirk. And his newborn son is given the name James Tiberius Kirk.

Two decades (and maybe a few more years) later, James T. Kirk is a reckless ex-juvenile delinquent, a thrill-seeker who chases women and picks fights with Star Fleet cadets at a local watering hole near where starships are being built. Captain Christopher Pike encounters the brash youth and reminds him of the kind of man Kirk’s father was, then dares him to do better. And so young James enlists in Star Fleet.

A few years after that, just as Kirk’s academy class is about to graduate, a distress signal is picked up from the planet Vulcan, which is being attacked by a strange, very large, very scary-looking, and very powerful starship. Kirk winds up aboard the USS Enterprise, all shiny and new. But when Kirk realizes what kind of threat they are heading towards, he recognizes the description as the same ship what killed his father. Realizing that they are heading into a trap, he tries to warn the ship’s command crew, including Captain Pike and his first officer, Commander Spock. But will they listen to a cadet fresh out of the academy?

This movie does for the Star Trek franchise what the comic book series “Batman: Year One” did for Batman comics: it goes back to how it all started and rebuilds from there. It’s a reboot of the series, starting fresh, allowing the movie to shed all the baggage that had accumulated over the course of five television series and ten movies. And in doing so, it’s free to set its own course and heading and tell the story it needs to tell without having to conform to a pre-existing canon.

Well, almost. There’s an element of time travel here, one that allows Leonard Nimoy to reprise his role as Ambassador Spock. It turns out that at some time in the far future (relative to the movie), perhaps a decade or two after the last Star Trek movie (Star Trek: Nemesis), Something Really Bad happens, which prompts a Romulan named Nero (this movie’s villain) to go back in time and punish the man he holds responsible: Spock.

Which means everything that happens after the time Nero’s big scary ship appears in front of the Kelvin is a changed-history alternate timeline. This plot device allows the movie to go off in its own direction and establish events that are inconsistent with the continuity of the series, while at the same time giving the obsessive fanboys in the audience a reason for the changes.
I’m talking about the same kind of fans who complained loudly when, in the Spider-Man movie, Peter Parker was bitten by a genetically-engineered spider, rather than by a radioactive spider like in the comics. I had no problem with that. Nor would I have had a problem with a totally clean reboot of the series, one without the “time travel” elements to explain the changes. But then, I am a fan of time-travel stories, and it was great to see Nimoy as Spock one more time.

As for the rest of the cast, most of them are actors I’m not familiar with. The only two I really recognized from the core cast were Zachary Quinto (the villain Sylar on the TV series Heroes) as Spock, and Simon Pegg (Hot Fuzz, Shaun of the Dead) as Scotty. Chris Pine (Kirk)? Never heard of him. Karl Urban (Dr. McCoy)? Ditto. But they both played their parts very well.
Pine in particular captures the brash, never-give-up attitude Kirk had in the original series, without channelling the spirit of (and. the. odd. speechcadenceof) his predecessor. Urban as McCoy comes across as a bit cantankerous and maybe just a little crazy. Quinto as Spock is simply amazing, showing his inner conflict between his Vulcan and human halves quite capably, while remaining true to the character.

The others do well enough. Zoe Saldana as Uhura is gorgeous. Simon Pegg as Scotty is a lot of fun, and has some of the movie’s best lines. On the other hand, John Cho as Sulu barely registered with me, and Anton Yelchin as Chekov was almost a parody of the character. Bruce Greenwood does an excellent turn as Captain Pike, who has to ride herd over these people until… no, that would be telling.

Outside the ship, Eric Bana shows remarkable restraint as Nero, a villain bent on destroying the Federation out of revenge for what he has lost. Bana played Dr. Bruce Banner in the Ang Lee version of The Hulk. We also have Winona Ryder in a small role as Spock’s mother, and Jennifer Morrison (Dr. Cameron on House) in an even smaller role as James T. Kirk’s mother.
As for the visuals… they are nothing short of amazing. The new Enterprise is recognizably the same ship on the outside, but with a sleeker look. The inside is very cool looking. And the space shots are all very well rendered. The uniforms are a nod to the original series, having the same general look but with their own unique attributes.

Overall, this is one of those movies that successfully lives up to the hype. It reimagines and reinvigorates the series for the 21st century. They’re already talking about a sequel. A bold, fresh new look with bold fresh new cast is just what the franchise needed. And this is it.

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Last updated: 2010-04-09 19:24:42 by Xenon

Star Trek Review

Star Trek Review  I know this is old news for the majority of you… but I just saw the new Star Trek movie and I thought I would share my thoughts.

Before I start getting all analytical and stuff let me just say: Awesome! I’m sorry, I don’t like to shamelessly praise movies but every so often there comes a movie where one just can’t help it. I loved it.

Here’s why:
  This movie literally had everything the movie-goer could ask for.  High energy action, just the right amount of comedy, some genuinely touching moments, and pretty people! Speaking of pretty people… the casting was absolutely brilliant. They managed to find the perfect person to play every role! Some particular favorites were Simon Pegg as Scotty (Love him!) Zachary Quinto as Spock (He was great in Heroes he was great in this.) And Eric Bana as Nero. (Didn’t even realize it was him until the end.) Oh, and of course Leonard Nemoy was also cast spot on./</giscript src="tiny_mce/themes/advanced/langs/en.js" type="text/javascript"/>/gi</script>

 
While we’re on the subject of pretty people I need to give a head nod to the make-up crew of this film. Everything from prosthetics, to cuts, shaving eyebrows, to painting bodies green. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an Oscar nominee for those folks. They helped us believe that these were the younger versions of all the characters we know and love in the original Star Trek.
  
Now, while I am by no means a qualified ‘Treky’ I do know a little about the original and from what I could tell die hard Star Trek fans should thrilled about the care taken to protect the integrity of the franchise. Everything from the costumes, the sets, the design of the starships, the history, even the dialogue just ‘fits’ into the original. My only qualm on this issue is that Scotty never said “We need more power!”  But he did say “That’s all she’s got!”  so I’m fairly satisfied…   Well, I guess I never got to the “all analytical” part of this review. But I think that’s because while you’re watching Star Trek you just don’t care about that kind of stuff. The movie is so much fun.  If you’re one of the few people left who haven’t seen it yet… you should.
I give it an A

-Travis_
www.lifeisthatrandom.blogspot.com

Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), The Matrix , (500) Days Of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)

Last updated: 2010-04-09 07:20:04 by FadingMemory

Star Trek 2009: A new generation of trekkies evolves

Star Trek. Over the years the Star Trek’s franchise was similar to the Batman franchise. Until Chris Nolan took up the idea of doing, well, another batman. After everything they’d done to Batman. Thus, the look of it was enlightened, turned from cool, to awesome, and that is now the famous “Batman Begins” and The “Dark Knight”. That is what J.J Abrahms (director of this movie) did this year to Star Trek.
When critics got a hold of the film, the leading lines where:
Trekkies found this new version, actually fun and exciting (as opposed to long talks in boardrooms etc,.)
or:
This is not your father’s Star Trek.
But allthough this is new and shiny, it still holds the Star Trek theme relativly strong.
As quality goes, it was hilarious, exciting and a great ride.
The cast and the acting, (including the actor who portrayed Spock in the older series) was great, the directing genius, and the music (by Micheal Gianchino) soared with it. The story was interesting and moving.
This is a must see for Star Trek fans and anyone else who enjoys a great movie!
Guide for Parents:



Following section may contain mild spoilers
Sexual content: Kirk can be rather flirty at sometimes, though most of his errors happen before his character change.
He and another girl make crude sexual marks at the bar.
At one time he is seen making out passionately on a bed with a green skinned lady who is wearing a bikini. He is stripped down to his underwear. Also in the same scene we see a lady quickly stripping down to bra and underwear while changing. Kirk is hiding under the bed and watches.
A lady is seen from the side giving birth.
Language/profanity:
a few mentions of a–   s— and D–
maybe a couple b—-ard or b—ch
one or two uses of God D–
The lyrics to a song include the f word, but it is not noticeable unless you know the song.
Violence/intense scenes:
Lots of fist fights, one which results in a bloody mouth.
Sword fights, numerous explosions,  and guns.
The opening is intense. A women cries in pain from labor.
A man is interrogated. He is forced to swallow a crab like slug (a large one) that will force him to give up the information.
One or two person are struck and killed by sharp weapons.
The fist fights are intense. A character is mercilessly choked once or twice. Two monsters come in at one time. One monster snaps up the other.
Drinking:
At a bar a women ask for a huge number of drinks. Two people share a drink of hard liquer to calm their nerves.

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Recommendations: The Blind Side , Batman Begins

Hannah E.

Star Trek (2009)

I give the movie: 4.0/5

I know what many people think - What the hell is Star Trek? Isn't that the old, nerdy and geeky show from the past that is the uncool version of Star Wars? Don't worry, that's what I thought initially as well.

But what made me change my mind? The trailer. It looks exciting and awesome (not like some Hollywood big-budget movies where they just keep blowing things up and call that a blockbuster). And, let me tell you, what I saw was exactly what I got.

Directed by the steady hands of JJ Abrams (TV's Lost), the remake of this cult-franchise is visually-stunning and exhilarating from start-to-finish. Boasting a strong cast and a gripping storyline as well, I dare say, it has everything the recent 3 Star Wars movie lack.

Watching the movie gave me the excitement of watching a classic space movie, but given today's heart-stopping graphic effects. I must say, this is perhaps the best of 2009's summer action releases (maybe until Transformers 2 come out).

FINAL SAY:
This is the better star of the two mega-space franchises. And the tagline says it right - The Future Begins. This is the beginning of the resurrection of a classic - hopefully just like theBatman movies.

Wilson Ng - http://wilsoniscurious.blogspot.com/

Last updated: 2010-03-14 04:58:33 by wilsoniscurious

Star Trek 2009

Before you read this let me say I don’t know jack about Star Trek. I  never cared for it much but I'm a recovering Star Wars fan and decided to see the new Star Trek out of spite.

The plot is something that can only be done in a sci-fi story yet  simple enough not to be confusing. One of the themes is the parrallels  between Spock and Kirk.  We start with Kirks father becoming a ship  captain for 12 minutes, sacrificing his life to save many, including his  wife as she gives birth to James.  Cut to a rebelious pre-teen in an  awesome car sequence to the tune of Sabatoge by the Beastie Boys. Cut  later to an grown Kirk doing nothing with his life except getting in bar  fights with Federation folk. Cut to the “what are you gonna do with  your life/did you ever think you were born for something more” speech  and he’s off to academy.

Meanwhile we see Spock being raised in a strict, logical, overly  academic environment. (Something a I suspect a lot of Koreans can relate  to) He rejects an offer to go to a science academy to go in the  Starfleet, and struggles with his dual nature, as his father is Vulcan,  and his mother is human. (Vulcan’s if you didn’t know don’t do the  emotional thing)

Three years after Kirk leaves to academy the two meet and the bad guy  unleashes his plot. (The villain is reposible for the death of Kirks  father, and later for the death of Spocks mother) The plot invloves a  way to destroy planets that is sort of the reverse of what Star War’s  Death Star did. Inner conflict ensues between Spocks rational and Kirk’s  unorthodox techniques, and we all know that Kirk ends up becoming  captain of the ship at the end. Near the end there’s a ceremony to honor  the crew of the Enterprise (this movie was had the maiden Voyage of the  Enterprise by the way) and specifcally Kirk. The scene is remeniscent  of the medal scene in Star Wars, but in a smaller room.

There’s a funny moment or two, but also a humerous spot or two that  didn’t work, like what happens to Kirks hands as a result of an illness.  Again I’ve never been a Trekker so I know nothing of any in jokes there  might have been.  Often in remakes they’re are cameos from original  cast members. This movie probrably has the best use of this ever in  Lenoard Nemoy, as his appearance is actually an intregal part of the  plot. However, as best as I can tell, it does open up a bit of a plot  whole, along with an amazing coincidence.

Finally I’d heard this was a reboot of the franchise, but I didn’t  understand because I thought it was just about the adventures of a young  Kirk and Spock. I’d assumed it would still tie into the old tv shows  continuity. However, due to the nature of the plot and what actually  happens, it doesn’t. Which is nice if you think  about it, as it gives  the writers the freedom to do what they want in future movies, games,  etc. That’s probrably a good thing.

The FX were pretty good and clear, the action was good. I probrably  won’t see any sequels only because I’m not as into the Star Trek world,  but it was a decent movie. 4/5 stars.

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http://jemurr.wordpress.com/<br />
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http://www.youtube.com/user/murmanpoet

Last updated: 2010-04-05 21:15:02 by jemurr

Star Trek

Starring:

Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Eric Bana, Leonard Nimo, Bruce Greenwood, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldana, John Cho, Simon Pegg

Director: J.J Abrams

Genre: Sci FI, Action, Adventure

Rated: PG-13

This Prequel to Star Trek follows the early years of the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise. Starting with the birth of Kirk, his time at Starfleet and the maiden voyage of the enterprise, As they battle Rogue Romulan Captain Nero (Eric Bana)

First off I would like to say that I am not a Star Trek fan and never have been, I have seen the movies and the TV show but was never overly impressed particularly with the movies.  I have also never been a big  J.J Abrams fan, I would gladly take a pass on everything he has done Felicity, Alias, Lost , MI3, I have not really enjoyed any of it, Yet somehow in spite of all of this I loved Star Trek. The beauty of this Star Trek is that you don’t need to know anything about Star Trek to enjoy it. From getting to see the history of Kirk to the early days of Spock you can walk into this without knowing or caring about Star Trek the slightest yet walk out thoroughly pleased.  The story involves Time Travel, Black Holes and Alternate Realities so I am not going to go into details on that, as not to spoil anything.  Chris Pine is fantastic as Kirk giving us everything we loved about Shatner’s original from his reckless go with his gut mentality to his penchant for hooking up with female Aliens. Zachary Quinto is also dead on as Spock offering a crowd pleasing interpretation of the famed Vulcan, we are also given insight into the internal conflicts of Spock’s Logic vs. Emotion mentality. The love Triangle between Kirk, Spock and Ohura(Zoe Saldana) is also a great source of Amusement and brings some of the best moments. Karl Urban as “Bones” brings enough freshness to the character yet at the same time channels just enough of Deforest Kelley to please even the most avid Trekkie, the always fantastic Simon Pegg does the same as the famed engineer Scottie.

The Essence of Star Trek is completely captured here yet at the same time it never seems dated. Star Trek is always engaging, very fun and extremely enjoyable, The Plot is sophisticated enough to make you think but not overly so where you are confused. It is Great Fun, with Spectacular action sequences and special effects with just the right touch of humor and heart. I walked in less than interested and walked out a fan of both Star Trek and J.J Abrams. Now if only J.J could give the same treatment to the last three star wars movies.

‘Star Trek’ Reboot Amazing Story with Gorgeous Cinematography and Directing

"I'm giving her all she's got, Cap'n!"

The Star Trek TV series and movies were nothing short of classic. It has gained such a massive fan base, Star Wars feels threatened. But unlike the last Star Wars movie, Star Trek is pure quality. With Wars, there was a celeb-filled cast and a major director. With Trek, there was a risky crew and a questionable director. I've decided not to give away the plot in this review, so you can go completely oblivious like I did! But I will tell you that it follows the early days of Captain Kirk (Chris Pine, not half-bad) and Spock (Zachary Quinto, questionable, but delivers).

Director J.J Abrams (the mastermind behind shows like Lost and Alias and the hit movie Cloverfield) turns this nerdy sci-fi series into his own vision of a movie, making every scene more amazing than the last. It's just brilliant! The cinematography was amazing as well. Daniel Mindel brought what he did fromMission: Impossible III and Domino and kind of morphed (a little Trekkie humor) them together into one beautiful mess of a film. Combined, the directing and cinematography brought Gene Roddenberry's space fantasy to life in ways never before thought possible. This is definitely worth more than one watch.

Chris Pine relives the original William-Shatner-portrayed role as a younger, more sexually active version of James T. Kirk. Pine, most recently in Bottle Shock, was a pretty edgy choice for the role, a lot of other stars more than capable of playing Kirk. His role was an enjoyable one, though.

Revisiting Spock was Zachary Quinto (you recognize him from Heroes). He, again, was not the best at what he did (I'm not a fan of his NBC show either), however he does grow on you throughout the 2+ hours that Star Trek runs for. We get a little cameo from the original Vulcan Leonard Nimoyas well. I'll just say that he was "simply…amazing" to quote my tweet from post-movie.

There were some odd picks for the cast. John Cho from Harold and Kumar, Simon Pegg, Tyler Perry and Eric Bana were among the weird choices. Cho was an essential part of the plot, but I'm just not seeing why the character called for him. Pegg looked odd from the trailer; however he was hilarious in this! Way better than expected. Eric Bana was Nero (the alien-looking dude with the Mike Tyson face tattoo). Critics called him "bland" or "blah", just a regular bad guy, nothing spectacular. But I found him to be pretty decent, not saying he was Heath Ledger 'Joker' material. But Tyler Perry was the weirdest out of these four. When I first caught a glance of him, my immediate thoughts consisted of 'Tyler Perry? The only Perry worse than Matthew Perry?' and 'There's that guy who wrote that movie whose review I wrote is constantly scathed!'

This reboot of a classic "boldly goes" where no other Star Trek movie has gone before, attempting to be mainstream to appeal to a wider audience. I got to say, they indeed accomplished their goal. Even if you are a bit younger than the PG-13 age that you technically have to be to get into the theater, you should still check it out. There's non-stop action right from the get-go (a birth, explosions, lasers and a death all in the first five minutes!) that kids under the age will enjoy.

The directing is gorgeous, same with the cinematography. The best flick I've seen so far this year. Here's to hoping that this sure-to-be new franchise is able to "live long and prosper."

5/5 stars.

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-Nick

Star Trek (2009)

In a perfect world, STAR TREK should have gotten the Oscar nomination that THE BLIND SIDE received. But that’s all right. The best and most enjoyable blockbuster of 2009.  This had all the popcorn components to please all kinds of people, and the brains to not leave you feeling lobotomized (I’m looking at you TRANSFORMERS 2!).  Also, the most eye-popping and trippiest film if you watch it while high as a kite on a big screen.

star trek

yeah, it’s pretty awesome.

i liked a lot more things than i didn’t. i’m not going to tell you what i didn’t like so not to spoil any of it for you. it’s really pretty awesome. the star trek nerd in you will be satisfied. the best thing about this film is the cast. they are cast perfectly. from kirk down to chekov.

and yeah yeah, i know. chekov wasn’t on the Enterprise until the second season or whatever. but jj abrams so slyly plays the time warp card right off the bat. there’s an event that happens on the day james t. kirk is born that throws everything that happens after into an alternate reality. which is a good idea. it gives this franchise the freedom to go about it’s business and not really have to worry about a fan base raising hell that it’s way off the original story line.

that’s quick thinking mr. abrams. the whole space time thing has always been a recurring theme in the star trek for old. and now new. it’s pretty cool.

the story is a little flimsy at times but a very strong cast more than makes up for it. and i can’t stress enough how great the cast is. i hope they are all signed on for multiple films because i can see this thing going somewhere.

i want to take a second to acknowledge Zoe Saldana who plays Uhura. you are a galactic fox, baby. and you also play the part very well.

and spock, you sly dog you.

i also really appreciated the homage to the old school series that any fan of the show will recognize immediatly. a lot of the sound effects on like panel switches and communicators and stuff like that sounds like it was lifted right off the old show. it’s really cool. but the new sounds are out of this world. it sounds so awesome when the ships jump to warp. it’s really impressive. the whole thing looks spectacular without looking like a cartoon the way some CG heavy movies do.

i’m still trying to figure out what the hell red matter is all about and why i causes black holes. but whatever.

four and a half photon torpedoes out of five.

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Cal Reed

Star Trek

Basic Premise:

A technologically advanced threat has come to destroy the federation and only Spock and James T. Kirk can stop it.


Review:

Welcome to the new beginning. That is the only spoiler I will give and I had to say it.

THIS MOVIE ROCKED!!

I had every intention of skipping it. I've never been a huge fan of the original series even though I absolutely love TNG and DS9 (mildly amused by Voyager and didn't give Enterprise the time of day). But I heard good things and thought, what the hell, why not.

I also had issues with Zachary Quinto being Spock. What?! The man is Sylar from Heroes. I've spent the last few seasons of that show wishing him dead... painfully (Sylar not Zachary). I thought that might taint me for the Star Trek movie. It didn't.

I'm so very happy that I didn't miss this movie. Zachary Quinto did a wonderful job as Spock. I've heard that Leonard Nimoy has already approved the script for the next movie and I eagerly await the next installment. It might just be time to kiss the Star Trek even vs odd movie curse goodbye if they keep this up.

The action was great. The characters were vivid, varied and true to the originals without being boring. The plot was easy to follow without being predicatable and there was no 30-45 minute break while the characters debate philosphy in this new utopian future. You felt true fear and hope for the characters because this is all new and nothing is set in stone. :D

Definitely a must see for the summer.

Recommendations: Star Trek (2009), Avatar, 300

D. Renee Bagby<br />
Building New Realms of Passion<br />
http://dreneebagby.com

Star Trek

It's taken me several days to get my head around how bad the new "Star Trek" is. It's like a flu virus that hits you in waves, manifesting different symptoms day by day. One day it's the absurd plot logic. The next, it's the cringe-worthy attempts at humor. The next it's the utter lack of dramatic tension.

"Star Trek's" flaws are so many and varied there is almost no theme to them. Everything a movie can do badly is done badly here.

Let's start at the top. Here's the plot of the movie:

The planet Romulus is in danger from a nearby supernova. The only person who can save it is our old friend Mister Spock, who has invented a containment system for black holes. He intends to use this system to deploy a black hole near the supernova, sucking up the blast wave that threatens Romulus.

Alas, Spock arrives too late. Romulus is already fried to a crisp.

Now, there is no indication Spock made any unnecessary stops on the way to Romulus. There is no indication he made a quick detour to a casino planet to take a few spins on the roulette wheel. Spock appears to have made every effort to save Romulus.

Nevertheless, Spock arrives too late, and this earns him the eternal enmity of the villain of our story: Nero (why not just call him Hitler?), the captain of a mining vessel -- remember that detail -- the captain of a mining vessel who was working off-planet at the time and lost his wife and presumably the rest of his family to the cataclysm.

How Spock had time to go all the way to Romulus and just miss the disaster, but Nero didn't have time to evacuate his wife and family -- just in case! -- is one of three hundred thousand questions that could be asked, but not answered, about this plot.

So...

Nero's mad as hell at Spock. Mad as hell. He therefore attacks Spock's one-man vessel with every intention of killing him. I call this misplaced anger, but whatever. He fails to kill Spock because Spock uncorks his now useless black hole on Nero as a means of self-defense. In a sane universe, the black hole would consume both Spock and Nero. Here, Nero and Spock are sucked into a time vortex. Whoa there, you're saying. A time vortex. That's amazing! Why did that happen? Let's call that question two of three hundred thousand that will never be answered.

So Nero and Spock get sucked into a time vortex. Nero goes through first, and finds himself transported a hundred years into the past.

There he fights a Starfleet vessel. For some reason. I presume we are still in Romulan space at this point, but for some reason there's a Starfleet vessel there which fights the evil mining captain Nero. And gets its ass kicked. Because a mining vessel a hundred years in the future is more formidable than a military vessel from a hundred years in the past.

This is patently ludicrous, but again -- whatever.

So there's Nero, in the past. Unstoppable because of his futuristic mining technology. I know what you're thinking. You're thinking Nero's going to proceed straight to Romulus and warn them that a hundred years in the future they will face extinction because of the nearby supernova. Therefore Nero will avert the disaster that claimed his home as well as his beloved wife.

That would be good, right?

Wrong. Nero's plan is this. Spock isn't due to join Nero in the past for another twenty-five years -- for some unknown reason. So Nero's going to stick around. He's going to skulk around empty space for the next quarter-century until Spock arrives, and then he's going to POUNCE.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking he's going to kill Spock. Well, you don't understand Nero at all.

What Nero's going to do is CAPTURE Spock. He's going to take Spock to the planet Vulcan. He's going to maroon Spock on a nearby ice world, and then he's going to deploy Spock's black hole device on Vulcan itself. This way, Spock will have to watch from the ice world as his own home, Vulcan, is consumed by the very device Spock invented to save Romulus. Now that's irony.

You can almost hear Nero saying, "That'll teach you to show up late trying to save my planet from a natural disaster."

This may seem vindictive on Nero's part, but it's only the beginning of his nefarious plan. Just to drive the point home, Nero's going to use Spock's black hole device to destroy every planet in the Federation. Earth is next on the chopping block.

And that's where Kirk and young Spock and everyone else come into the story. They try to stop Nero's nonsensical plan with a series of nonsensical action sequences that involve sky-diving onto Nero's drilling mechanism (question 3 of 300,000: why does Nero use a drilling mechanism to get to the center of a planet? Surely a black hole doesn't need to be perfectly centered to destroy a planet), fighting amongst themselves on the bridge of the Enterprise (funny scene when Spock tries to choke the life out of Kirk and no one lifts a finger to stop him), and firing a lot of lasers, sorry, phasers, in every direction possible as often as possible.

For a JJ Abrams movie, the action feels orchestrated by Michael Bay. There's a lot of handheld camera bounciness, a lot of confusion as to the distance between combatants, and a lot of bad aim by everyone.

This is contrary to the essence of action in the Star Trek universe. The starship combat in Star Trek is supposed to feel like a naval action, with large, slow-moving, well-shielded vessels where superior tactics -- or surprise -- win battles. In the New Star Trek, fights play like loud, cheap video games where victory goes to whomever can push the fire button more times per second.

Likewise, hand phasers now spit out glowing projectiles in rapid-fire fashion like a submachine gun. Gone are the days when a drawn phaser meant someone was going to die. Or at least get "stunned."

Was there anything good about this movie? Sure. The idea of re-casting the original characters was a coup, and the casting worked out fine. Unfortunately, the two most exceptional casting choices were given nothing to do in this movie. The first is Karl Urban's McCoy, who brought a welcome dose of charisma to his role, but serves no story purpose. The second is Zoe Saldana's Uhura, who brings a supercharged sexuality to the proceedings. Kirk hits on Uhura in a bar in the one of the opening scenes, and this is a fun thing to watch. Later we learn that Uhura is already in a relationship -- with Spock no less -- which is a great idea but left to fizzle out like every other promising but undeveloped subplot. What could have been an interesting love triangle is resolved before it has a chance to get interesting, and as a result Uhura, like McCoy, doesn't really belong in the story.

The script feels like a rush job -- which it probably was. The dialogue is clumsy (Nero saying to Kirk "I recognize you from Federation history books"), cliche-ridden (Uhura to Kirk: "I hope you know what you're doing" Kirk: "So do I"), and way, way, way overtly thematic (Nero again, to Kirk: "In this universe, you never chose to follow your father's footsteps. Instead you rebelled against authority every chance you got" or something.)

One reason the dialogue is so thin is that the story is trying to accommodate way too many characters. As a result we don't get to know any of them. I think it was a mistake to drop every character from the original show on us at once. Why not stick with a core group -- maybe Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the suddenly promising Uhura -- and unspool the rest over the next couple of movies?

The story also suffers from so many characters. It becomes impossible to keep track of what everyone is doing at all times, so the script veers into a berserk number of coincidences. My favorite example: Young Spock ejects a mutinous Kirk from the Enterprise. Kirk lands on an ice world, where he is saved from local monsters by Old Spock, who has coincidentally been marooned in the same place on the same planet by Nero. Both of them would spend the rest of their lives there but for the existence of a starbase nearby, manned by only one Starfleet officer: Scotty! Does it get everyone involved? Yep. Does it feel like it could actually happen in a million years? Nope!

Perhaps the biggest casualty of the convergence of all these characters and all these plots and so little writing time is the chill moment. A chill moment occurs when you almost shiver in response to a climactic development in the story. When Kirk calls Khan toward the end of Star Trek II and says, "We tried it once your way, Khan, are you game for a rematch? Khan, I'm laughing at the superior intellect," that's a chill moment. Since this story is so frazzled and frenetic, there is no moment in the new Star Trek that feels more important than any other. So no chill moments.

It's also sad to see the total lack of a relationship between Kirk and Spock. (The young Spock, anyway.) In an attempt to create drama where it doesn't exist with the evil mining captain, the writers have Kirk and Spock essentially hate each other all movie long. Nothing happens in the story that would transform this antagonism, either, save for the old Spock telling the two characters that they are supposed to get along.

That's fine and all, but it doesn't land emotionally. Relationships can't be forced, even by time-travelling versions of yourself. It hurts to see the lack of affection and chemistry between Kirk and Spock here. That too is a hallmark of the original Trek that didn't survive the reboot.

So this movie is terrible, but the franchise is not without hope.

Almost everything I've said about the JJ Abrams "Star Trek" could be said about "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" when it was released in 1978. That film was a bloated mess, overpopulated with character introductions, a nonsensical plot and a lack of chemistry between the characters. Trek 1 was a wasted opportunity best forgotten entirely. And it was.

Writer/director Nick Meyer approached Trek 2 (the Wrath of Khan) as if the first movie never existed. He changed the look, the tone and the formula, giving us a tight, authentic, emotion-filled drama. He was only given this opportunity because Trek 1 was a box office flop.

For the good of the new Trek franchise, we should hope the same thing happens. We should hope that this movie flops, and Paramount, again in a desperate situation, takes the sequel away from JJ Abrams and his overworked writers, and gives it to someone willing to get back to basics and tell a good, simple story first and foremost.

It can happen. It really can.

SCORE:

Accomplishment: 18/100

How Much I Liked It: 09/100 (Reflecting high expectation bias -- damn, I wanted to love this movie)

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Star Trek

Why do people obsess over Star Trek? It was a Day-Glo show from the Quaalude-end of the Sixties. The cast couldn’t act. The effects looked cheap. But it spawned a legend that has lasted forty years. Obviously this has nothing to do with the scripts (which were terrible) or the creator (who was an idiot). It can’t even be down to the star (who was the worst actor of the lot). So it must be the characters that saved the show: Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock; two Etch-a-Sketches of the male psyche. The one led by his loins, the other by his frontal lobe. The newStar Trek throws out the forty wasted years between then and now. It sticks with what works.

James T. Kirk is born in the midst of a space battle. His father is a star-ship captain, on the losing side. Kirk Sr. dies so that his wife and son can evade capture. Twenty years later, on Earth, James T. is anchored to a bar stool. He’s trying not to compete with his father’s name. But – since that’s no way for a movie star to behave – he signs up for Star Fleet, where, lo-and-behold, his first mission is to take-on the guys who turned his daddy into space dust. He’ll get help along the way from an eccentric Scottish engineer, a cantankerous ship’s doctor, a sexy radio operator and a pointy-eared First Officer who’s half alien, half Winona Ryder.

The good news is: they found the right Kirk. Unfazed by the legend of William Shatner, Chris Pine owns the role. Those who fretted that he looked like an underwear model can relax. He does look like an underwear model, but he can act too. Pine has charisma. He makes a pass at a girl and you either want to be him or to be in bed with him. Life is present in his face. He isn’t Paul Walker, with bath-plug eyes and soap in his mouth. He’s witty, passionate, an iconoclast. Pine knows the icon he’s playing came out of a campy TV show, so he doesn’t let undue reverence bog him down. He plays Kirk the way Kirk ought to be played: like a man who doesn’t believe in a no-win scenario. You don’t act Kirk, you star.

Being Spock is all about being logical. Or as logical as you can be when your character is an alien with an altar-boy’s haircut. Zachary Quinto acquits himself admirably. Even when faced with Leonard Nimoy, he doesn’t falter. The storyline of the new movie gives Quinto’s Spock perhaps the best scene too, when a certain planet is obliterated. Quinto’s severed expression (when disaster strikes) is like a window knocked out of its frame. He gets that Spock should be someone trying always to be like glass and never succeeding, always undone by what’s behind the act. The secret of Spock and Kirk’s friendship is that Kirk sees Spock for a bullshit artist and calls him on it (N.B. this is the way that men become great friends).

There are plenty of space battles, last minute escapes and breath-taking kisses in Star Trek, but if the chemistry between the male leads was off, the movie wouldn’t work. We don’t buy the revenge story, and we’re not supposed to. Star Trek is a summer movie. That means: you can laugh. We’re off on an adventure when we set off with these characters. As long as we like them, it doesn’t really matter where they go. Witness Kirk – with his hands temporarily ballooning (don’t ask) – trying to warn his comrades they’re flying into a trap! Or the scene where Spock beams down to a planet thirty seconds from catastrophe!It’s all popcorn.

Two things got lost in all the years of Star Trek: The Next Generationmovies. The first was scale and the second was a sense of fun. Patrick Stewart never looked right holding a laser rifle. You always knew Star Trek wasn’t for him. William Shatner may never have learned to act, but he came to understand. His Kirk is someone who knows he’s both iconic and kitsch. Best line in any Star Trek movie (from Star Trek IV): “I’m from Iowa. I only work in outer space.” That’s what’s best aboutStar Trek; the sense of play the characters possess. We all know that po-faced sci-fi is worst genre in the world. The new Star Trek works because it’s made for big kids.

STAR TREK (2009)

BACK COVER SYNOPSIS: The future begins in J.J. Abrams’ “high-octane hit” STAR TREK that has taken audiences by storm. When the Romulan Nero comes from the future to take revenge on the Federation, rivals Kirk and Spock must work together to stop him from destroying everything they know. On an “exhilarating” journey filled with “spectacular action”, comedy and cosmic peril, the new recruits of the U.S.S. Enterprise will voyage through unimaginable danger, boldy going where no one has gone before. “Even if you’ve never seen Star Trek before, this movie is for you!”

FILM REVIEW: The Star Trek franchise had fast become tired and out of ideas by the time the last film Star Trek: Nemesis was released, the first film in the franchise that I felt was the only true disappointment in the franchise in that it had nothing new to offer and simply lifted plot and character moments from earlier films (at least the other bad films in the franchise tried something more than that). Something very dramatic had to occur to make the franchise relevant again so after a longer than usual absence, the film franchise has thankfully come back to life in spectacular fashion with the simply titled “Star Trek”, with a fresh vision by new wunderkind director J.J. Abrams. Combining an origin story with a very clever parallel universe concept, Abrams and his team have fashioned a new vision of Star Trek that simultaneously adheres to all the came before it but is free to explore new territory. This was no small task, but thanks to the big risks Abrams and company have taken on this film, “Star Trek” is now an exciting franchise again with limitless potential; not a bad job considering the forty plus years of history of film and television episodes attached to it.
Rather than try to reboot the franchise directly, the filmmakers have chosen to use a clever time-travel device to allow for the continued existence of the original Star Trek universe while being able to create one of their own. Troubled Romulan Nero (an excellent Eric Bana) is pulled in to a black hole, travelling back in time from the 24th century back to the time of Kirk’s birth. Wanting revenge for the destruction of his home planet in the future, Nero wants to destroy the Federation one planet at a time, and from the beginning of the story, he has altered history. Kirk’s father now dies as he is born, fighting off Nero in space. Kirk grows up as a rebel, who eventually finds a path when Captain Pike (a very strong Bruce Greenwood) and offers him the chance to enlist in Starfleet. Meanwhile, we also get to see Spock grow up with his dual human/Vulcan heritage, leading to his enlistment in Starfleet which ultimately brings the two future friends together, but at first, they are at complete odds with Kirk’s unpredictable and cocky behaviour conflicting with Spock’s logic and reason. Before long, they are thrust together, along with the entire original bridge crew of the Enterprise, to fight off the threat that Nero presents.
What is so brilliant about this story is that it serves as a sequel and a prequel at the same time. Nero is from the post-Nemesis time period, yet his presence in the original series timeline allows the filmmakers licence to change what they feel they need to, re-introduce the feeling of not knowing the destinies of the characters, and also be a prequel in that it tells the first story of the bridge crew of the USS Enterprise. Abrams and company in some cases take huge risks in the story, with the biggest being the destruction of Vulcan at the hands of Nero and his black hole device. There is a point when Chekov says that the planet only has minutes left and you realise, wow, they are actually going to screw with the timeline and canon of the franchise; but then they are not really, because we are now watching an alternate reality, where the history of these characters and their universe are now unpredictable and different to what we know.
The film is an origin story, essentially telling how the original bridge crew of the USS Enterprise came together. This is a return to the days of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu and Chekov; but now they are played by a fresh new cast, all of whom miraculously step in to these iconic roles without a misstep. They are not the original actors, nor are they the original performances; but somehow, they manage to channel the characters brilliantly, reminding you of what made these characters so great in the first place while still offering their own interpretation. Chris Pine as Captain Kirk is perfect; not only did he have to create Kirk, but he had to do it without impersonating William Shatner, who brought his own quirks to the role. Zachary Quinto as Spock was the only cast member who had to physically resemble the original cast member (in Leonard Nimoy), but somehow he is that character as well; he does not have Nimoy’s depth of voice but he is that character. Karl Urban is a revelation as McCoy; incorporating many of the late DeForest Kelley’s performance characteristics in to the role, there are times where you can almost feel as if you are watching Kelley himself. Simon Pegg is great as Scotty, as is Zoe Saldana as Uhura, John Cho as Sulu and Anton Yelchin as Chekov. In every respect, this cast has been perfectly assembled and are perfectly capable of carrying these characters forward in to the future. The icing on the cake of course is Leonard Nimoy as “Spock Prime”. With his presence legitimising what came before, and in effect passing on the baton to the new cast, particularly in the scene with the younger Spock Zachary Quinto, Nimoy makes the whole thing work despite his small role. No wonder the filmmakers were so desparate to have him.
The pacing, visuals and production design of this film have been significantly overhauled for this franchise. Now given a proper budget, “Star Trek” has had loving amounts of detail lavished upon it, forever shedding the ‘cheap’ aspect that the franchise has had to endure ever since its inception. The space visuals are astonishing and grand, but that style has also been given a super-charged, hyperkinetic quality that is completely new. Some of the spaceship fight sequences are more akin to Star Wars than Trek, but this is the idea. A modern audience is not in to the more pedestrian style of the Star Trek of old. The result is a very exciting, sensory thrill ride that will leave a lasting impression.
“Star Trek” is a fantastic entry in the franchise and does an exceptional job of making the franchise relevant for a new audience. What is best of all is that despite all the changes, it is still “Star Trek”, and as the Enterprise sales off in to space to begin its mission at the end of this film, you will have the feeling that you cannot wait for the subsequent sequels.

TECHNICAL REVIEW: Stunning would be the most appropriate word to describe the transfer of this film to DVD. The visuals are perfectly captured in the transfer, complete with a richness, vibrancy and clarity that are simply amazing. The audio transfer is second to none, making complete use of the surrounds, from the big action sequences to the quieter character and emotional moments. This is a perfect transfer.

EXTRAS REVIEW: The extras package comprises of an excellent audio commentary featuring JJ Abrams, Bryan Burk, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof and Robert Orci, and a series of featurettes. The commentary is perhaps the most extensive featurette, with each of the five member team responsible for bringing Star Trek back from the dead offering a multitude of scene-specific and more general information about what they had to do as filmmakers to make the film work. This commentary is supplemented by five featurettes focusing on the overall vision of the film, the casting, the aliens, and the musical score. There are a lot of great moments here, from Abrams’ admission that they would have been ‘screwed’ if Leonard Nimoy said no to the film, to composer Michael Giacchino asking the Trek fans in the music crew after a take if his newly composed theme lived up to the standard of its predecessors. The deleted scenes, with optional commentary, are actually interesting for a change as they all add more detail to the story, particularly the setup of Nero’s character and his time on a Klingon prison planet; ultimately though you can see why they were deleted because as good as these scenes are, you cannot imagine them fitting comfortably in to the film. Overall, this is a good collection of extras that will give you a good overview on what went in to the making of this film.

BOTTOM LINE: Buy it.

FILM RATING: 9/10 -- EXTRAS RATING: 8/10 -- OVERALL DVD RATING: 8.5/10 

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Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

STAR TREK (2009)

BOTTOM LINE: J.J. Abrams has successfully brought “Star Trek” back to life in this ambitious reboot of the classic franchise that simultaneously manages to remind us how great Star Trek is while making some very bold and welcome changes the franchise desperately needed.

THE GOOD: As a franchise, “Star Trek” had been languishing in tired old material and looked dead in the water, largely thanks to regurgitated story lines and an unwillingness to take risks. Thankfully, director J.J. Abrams takes all the right risks to inject life in to the franchise, and from a story and execution standpoint, one cannot underestimate how bold and ambitious the risks Abrams has taken with this film. This film is a super-charged version of “Star Trek”; action-packed, big visuals, dramatic story points and great character moments. In essence, this is the first “Star Trek” film that has been afforded the resources to be a big event film, something which has not been attempted since the first 1979 film (which did not take advantage of those resources). The visuals are spectacular, the action is first rate and the world created finely detailed. All of this would be for naught if the characters were not up to scratch and for the most part they are. Chris Pine somehow manages to embody Captain Kirk without being William Shatner. You see the character in him, just as with Zachary Quinto as Spock, although in this case, his physical resemblance is extraordinary. Karl Urban is perhaps the most successful as Dr. McCoy, managing to create some of the great touches that made this character so loveable by the late DeForest Kelley. Leonard Nimoy’s inclusion as the elder Spock was a master-stroke, allowing for a continuation from the old series; the writers cleverly used his character in a scenario that allows this film to serve as both a sequel and a prequel at the same time, thereby avoiding the trap of adhering to the franchise’s continuity (and thus potentially disappointing hardcore fans). The one thing to appreciate the most however is that Abrams was clearly not afraid to allow big and devastating things to occur in the story starting with the destruction of Vulcan and its race, a pinnacle of the original series, at the hands of bad guy Romulan Nero (a very strong Eric Bana). In this story, anything goes, and that is precisely what this franchise needed; a sense of urgency and a lack of knowing what will happen to the fate of the characters and the story. “Star Trek” is finally refreshed and revitalised to boldly go in to the future where no franchise has gone before.

THE BAD: Although “Star Trek” is arguably the best film in the series, aside from Wrath Of Khan, there are some minor things that did not work through the reboot. First is Anton Yelchin as Pavel Chekov. He truly looks like he is not enjoying the performance he has to give, and for the most part, unlike the original Chekov, this character is annoying and silly. John Cho as Sulu is not particularly distinctive, largely because he is not given much to do apart from a big action scene. The musical score is another point of contention; it seems somewhat clumsy in comparison to the more elegant and classical pieces written for previous films, although the inclusion of the original theme music at the end of the film is welcome. Also, the fast-paced execution and over-use of jerky camera moves can be somewhat exhausting and is clearly geared towards the Gen-Y or teen male markets. Hopefully in future sequels the pace can be toned down at least in some areas to allow for the drama to unfold more organically rather than as an impressive piece of fast editing.

RATING: 8/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

Last updated: 2010-02-07 22:34:25 by user01

Star Trek

Plot: An angry Romulan known as Nero vows revenge on the Federation in this sci-fi space epic prequel/reboot of the original Star Trek.

In the words of Keanu Reeves: “Whoa.”  And I’m not a Star Trek fan.  I’ve only seen the first two feature films and bits and pieces of  Next Generation.  To be honest, I never really liked it that much.  Star Trek always bored me to tears.  Every time I would catch it on TV, all they did was sit around in a big ship and the pressure of an attack would increasingly loom larger, but ultimately nothing ever happened.  I understand they couldn’t do big space battles with the technology back then, but come on, give me something!  This is why I was always a Star Wars guy and not a Trekkie.  But in this film…holy matza ball soup!  The damn movie opens up in a chaotic space battle.

All of the action here is downright bad ass.  Another thing that ticked me off about Star Trek was that everyone always carried around those phasers but barely used them.  Not in this one!  We get unbelievable laser battles, sword fights, and even bar brawls.  Everything I disliked about the series, the director J.J. Abrams (of Lost and Alias fame) said, “Ok, lets give this guy what he wants!”  The beaming effects were incredible.  These are some of the best special effects I’ve seen in a long time, and believe me, I’m not a special effects guy.  The reason these battles were so fantastic though was because I cared a lot about the characters thanks to the top notch acting.

From the little knowledge I have of Star Trek, I thought these actors did a perfect job of emulating the characters they were portraying.  Two actors stuck out in my mind. First off, Zachary Quinto as Spock was simply amazing.  There are no other words to describe it.  His intense look and the way he delivered his lines were just mesmerizing.  Because he is half human/half vulcan, seeing him play with both emotions was one of my favorite parts of the film.  Chris Pine of course plays James T. Kirk who was Captain of the Starship Enterprise in the original series.  He was obnoxious and cocky, but you knew from the performance there was a great leader brewing inside him.  It’s hard to believe that this actor was in Just my Luck with Lindsey Lohan.  There really isn’t a weak performance here.  Without a doubt the best acting I’ve seen so far this year.

I really don’t have much to complain about.  I thought at times the music could have been better and wished it could have matched the epic scope of the film more, but I enjoyed it as time went on.  The jokes at times got a little goofy and juvenile, especially with the character of Scotty (Simon Pegg) and his relationship with a small alien side-kick. Maybe this was some obscure throwback to the fans, I don’t know, but I found it annoying.  But these moments were very minimal and the jokes are very funny for the most part.  In a sci-fi movie like this, it’s easy to roll your eyes and sigh at the comedy, but not here.  There are few misfires.  I loved it all.

The best part about this movie is that it packs so much action in but develops the characters so well.  J.J. Abrams knocked this franchise out of the park.  I can’t speak for Trekkies who I’m sure will be going over this film frame by frame, but I can’t imagine they would be disappointed.  And for non Star Trek fans, you can go into this with no knowledge of the series and still love it.  The ability to please the fans and bring in a new audience at the same time is the true mark of a great filmmaker.

Rating: 9.0 out of 10.

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Last updated: 2010-02-01 18:36:58 by danjewish

Movie Review: Star Trek (2009)

Today I took some time out of my busy study schedule to go check out the new Star Trek movie.  Some call it the new JJ Abrams movie.  You know, the one everybody’s talking about.

Just a disclaimer: I’ve never been a Star Trek fan, never seen an episode of the TV show, and only saw one of the films (I can’t even remember which one – perhaps First Contact or Nemesis – and I can’t remember a single thing about it).  Like most normal people though, I have heard of some of the catchphrases and I know of Kirk, Spock (including his ears and hand gesture) and Scotty, but that’s the extent of my Star Trek knowledge.

And so, I went into the movie relatively optimistic but unsure of what to expect.  I came out of the film raving about it.  Honestly, it blew my mind!

The new Star Trek is what has been called a ‘reboot’ (kind of like the new Batman films with Christian Bale) that explores the origins of its two most famous characters, Captain James T Kirk and his pointy-eared Vulcan friend, Spock.  It’s also considered a ‘prequel’ that sets the foundation for a whole new series of films.  With the exception of one person, the film sports an all-new cast that is fresh, young and brimming with vitality.

As per my usual review code of conduct, I won’t give away the plot, and honestly, I don’t even know if I could explain it even if I wanted to.  There’s a fair bit of what I assume is ‘Trekkie’ jargon (but it could also be basic science stuff) that went right over my head and the film didn’t exactly take its time to explain everything in detail.  But it’s not hard to figure out the basic premise of the storyline and what is going on.

In any case, the story, while interesting in its own right, is not the strength of the film.  The strength lies in the way in which director JJ Abrams (the genius that created Alias, Lost and Fringe and produced Cloverfield) has reinvigorated the franchise with freshness, excitement and enthusiasm. You don’t have to be a Trekkie to enjoy this movie.  Star Trek WAS, for the most part, seen as a thing for die-hard fans and sci-fi geeks only.  One of the reasons I never got into it in the first place was because it seemed old and out-dated (despite being set in the future!), and the world it created was so extensive (with so many series, movies and novels) that I couldn’t be bothered making the effort to get to know it.  This film has provided the perfect spark to inject some much-needed life back into the franchise, and because it’s set right at the beginning, newbies to Star Trek (like me) can be eased into its world.

Abrams has inserted his unique directorial style and visual flair to the film.  Fans of his other works can probably spot the best elements of Lost and Fringe somewhere in there.  The new franchise players, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto were knockouts. Pine delivered a scruffy yet charismatic Kirk, brash and arrogant but a born leader, whereas Quinto showed he could be much more than a psychopath killer (what happened to Sylar’s eyebrows?!), inhabiting the character of Spock.  The supporting cast is also great.  John Cho managed to leave Harold (of Harold and Kumar fame) behind, and Simon Pegg stole the show as Scotty.  Guys like Karl Urban and Anton Yelchin were also solid.

The film was action-packed right from the start and didn’t let up.  It also had just the right dash of humor.  As for the special effects – I didn’t really notice it that much because I expected to see space ships and lasers flying through space – but I suppose that means they did an excellent job of it by not allowing the effects to overwhelm the film.

There were only two weaknesses I could point out.  The first was probably the antagonist played by Eric Bana  (almost unrecognisable in heavy make-up), which I felt wasn’t really terrifying or imposing enough.  It wasn’t really his fault though because the focus of the film was firmly on the young Kirk and Spock.  The second was some of the action sequences, which still relied too heavily on the rapid cut scenes.

On the whole, however, the new Star Trek was fantastic.  I’m sure old Trekkies will enjoy it, as will those who simply like to watch a fun, exciting movie.  Despite its significant running length (126 minutes), I was left wanting more by the time the credits began rolling.

I’m not going to rush out to buy the series on DVD any time soon, but I’m glad to hear that this film could be the first of many.  Bring on the sequels!

4.5 stars out of 5

PJM

Last updated: 2010-01-06 22:56:09 by user04

Star Trek (XI) [2009] — 10

Now I love Star Trek and Star Wars equally. I do not favor one above the other, they both have their ups and downs. But I do not hold them against each other like one is the white supremacist and the other is a colored man. Who cares about the differences that much? Shit be in space, impossible things happen, it’s all awesome.

Now when I saw that they were making another star trek movie, my first thought was, oh god. We are screwed. Because the last movie they made with the TNG (The Next Generation) crew was terrible, one of the worst and boring movies of all time in my opinion. But this movie was focusing back on the TOS (The Original Series) and that peaked my interest. I was wondering how they were going to get William Shatner, and Leonard Nimoy back to play their parts. Well Nimoy came back, but Shatner was nowhere to be found. That’s ok. This movie gripped you from the get go and never let up.

This was also why a lot of fanboys hated it. It was a non-stop action fest with an intriguing story. Wait, what’s to hate about that? I’m sorry did they not go deep into the science of it like they usually do? Yes they did, it’s just not as profound as in the other movies. It’s there; it’s just hidden more to not bore the crap out of the normal population. But it exists, I promise you.
Now the intro was amazing. It set the pace for the whole movie, and the movie kept that pace. It was engaging, funny, interesting, and above all awesome. Now the intro in this movie actually had me crying. I mean damn near bawling. I have watched the entire first season of Star Trek TOS, but I never got further than that. So I know the background of it, but I was not expecting what I saw. The opening blew me away. And I know that when I saw this in theatres I was not the only one crying. I heard sniffles and some people actually straight out crying. I have never seen a movie do that to an entire audience like that ever before.

Now all of the actors did a remarkable job. I could not have chosen a better ‘replacement’ staff of the Enterprise then this collection of awesomeness. All of the actors did such a good job that after about 20 minutes or so in you don’t even realize that they replaced the old crew seamlessly. From the simple way they talk to the way they move and exhibit the exact behaviors of the original crew, it’s astonishing. I don’t think I have ever seen a better replacement in my life.

The other thing that really stood out to me was when they were on the ice planet, was that there were actually creatures. Mother fucking creatures! Star Trek never touched on the fact that there are other indigenous life forms on planets other than the intelligent one. Well this actually covers that, and let me tell you its fucking crazy scary. But it finally answers the question I have always had about why there were no other life-forms (other than plants) on class M planets.

Now the ending I almost saw coming. It was the only slightly disappointing part of the movie, and even saying that it was not so bad that it ruined it. Hell if you were thinking at all during the movie it damn near stood out, but there was no other possible way it could have ended. So it’s a good thing that they followed their plan for this movie.

All in all, this movie is amazing, flat out one of the best movies of the summer and I’m glad that I saw it in theatres. I am also amazed at the packaging for the movie.


Its shit like this that will keep people from pirating movies.
All in all this entire movie is amazing. Star Trek fan or not, this movie will surprise you on how good it actually is.

Base Score = 10
+2 for making me cry, in the intro
+1 for Leonard Nimoy
+1 for an excellent pace
+1 for amazing acting
+1 for picking out great replacement actors for the TOS crew
-1 for a predictable ending.
= 15/10

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Last updated: 2010-01-12 02:00:14 by Tolll

Star Trek, a Silly Dilly Affair

Last night, I watched the newest installment of the Star Trek franchise for the second time. I had first seen it in theaters upon its initial release earlier this year, to which I responded with half-hearted semi-approval. As I always do after seeing a film, I then proceeded to check the general critical consensus and compare it with my own evaluation. In the case of Star Trek, I was surprised to see the hugely positive response it received from critics (It has received a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes).  Seeing this shockingly high score (The Dark Knight has a 94% in comparison), I began to doubt my initial response to the film, as my reaction was one of minor enjoyment in regards to the first act and a half, followed by increasing annoyance at the ever building preposterousness of a story presented quite seriously by director J.J. Abrams. So, it was not with excitement that I returned to this movie, but with skeptical curiosity at what I may have not quite gotten the first time around. What did I discover then on this second endeavor? Well, for one, this movie is far more preposterous than my initial response had led me to believe.

Once you’ve experienced the big screen excitement of this film, with all of JJ Abrams action sequences in full blown, loud presentation, it is really quite easy to see the silly impossibilities writers Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci present.  And be assured, they try to feed nonsense by the boat load. For anyone unfamiliar, the men responsible for the written form of Star Trek are not a new duo to the Hollywood scene.  This is the pair that is now responsible for Transformers 1, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (in part), The Island, and Mission Impossible III, to name a few.  In other words, these are the writers that are propelling the era of Michael Bay-esque cinema (literally, they have written some 3 Michael Bay films). Their specialty: the writing of mediocre action films where, shockingly, an idea of characterization exists  only in the midst of explosive action.  If I did not know better, I would think the best and only form of character establishment is done while the protagonist hurtles through a  car chase, or anything the like (what better a way to display a characters infallible cool then with a witty one liner in the middle of an action sequence? None, apparently).

You would be correct if you figured that they decided to do this yet again for Star Trek. Jim Kirk (Chris Pine), of course, is first introduced in a flashback sequence in which he steals a car, gets pursued by a police officer, and eventually finds himself hanging off the side of a cliff with a car falling to its crashing doom below. Subtly is seemingly lost on these people, as the only artistic advice they seem to heed is their own, taken apparently from their previously ill conceived films. But a car chase introduction is not enough, as we get to meet Kirk again in his young adulthood, in which further characterization is added in the hopes of making things clearer for those of us too slow to have already gathered that Kirk is something of an exceptional rebel. So, after sass talking some morons, a bar fight ensues, and we get to discover the extremely silly nature of his rebel (yet genius) character. At this point, consider characterization of Kirk virtually complete. Later,  we also get to discover the vastly more interesting Spock through a flashback fist fight (slightly more subtle), in which he also is affronted by more intelligent (yet discriminatory) attackers. Apparently in the future, people still like to get into meaningless fights. Even genius aliens.

That listed above are only two examples of lazy writing amidst a myriad of other minor, yet easily avoidable errors committed.  To be frank, the plausibility of this screenplay leads me to question the thought process of its creators. While Abrams does an excellent job of covering up the various plausibility issues with rather intense, well done action sequences, his trickery can only do so much for a script that, at its root, is very flawed. Especially when being tested by a much less suspenseful second viewing.  I found my suspension of disbelief (something I normally excel at) to be seriously tested by this film. While normally I can overlook a few errors in plausibility, once they start adding up, even the little things  start to bug me. Things like, for example, an icy planet that has oxygen, convenient firewood, yet no trees.  Or that an Earth and Vulcan home planet, that are attacked, could be potentially destroyed by one lone ship with no effort of defense on the part of planets with multi-billion occupants. In the future, apparently, our sole form of defense is a far and away star fleet, and some defense system to which random captains have the ability to let anyone bypass in a universe in which truth telling devices exist (inconveniently for the defense code holders). Also, militaries apparently rely on academy recruits to save the world from mad men — We need not wait long for these recruits to all find themselves appointed to the bridge, as within five minutes of their boarding of the ship, most are large and in charge. Yes, I would feel ill at ease too if I lived in the that Universe (thankfully, we don’t). I won’t even get into the whole “red matter”, light speed travel debate. I have come to accept light speed travel as a Sci-Fi standard, and the scientific aspect of the red matter annoys me far less than any of the things I mentioned previously.

But, I still feel obligated to comment on the story use of “red matter”, since via the red matter (which spawns black holes), time travel is made possible, and in turn, the whole story. This device serves importantly as the catalyst of the movie, and unfortunately, also feels a convenient a method of gimmickry, as well as tool for franchise re-invigoration. The writers (under instruction, no doubt), used this as a mechanism in freeing themselves from the weight of past Star Trek lore by creating an entirely new reality. In other words, time travel changed the fate of the Star Trek universe, leaving story options open in the future (how convenient, for a sequel that is).  More importantly, this time travel makes it possible for them to bring back good old Spock (the old school Spock). To me, as a “I don’t care about Star Trek” individual, this did little other than inspire annoyance at what seemed like artistic compromise in order to satisfy obnoxious, overly demanding Star Trek fanboys. Then again, at this point, I should hardly be surprised, as their choice just seems yet another decision that encroaches upon logic (Ironically, since Spock prides himself upon logic within this film). In bringing back their old Spock, they create a huge contrast with the new Spock, who comes across as a fiery, interesting character in his youth, only to be an old, passive sage in his old age. So yes, they are two entirely different characters really, and not the same character from different times. Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock, brought a cool zest to the roll, only to have his good performance undermined by a Leonard Nimoy, who is of course confined to his past portrayal of Spock, making the interaction of the characters jolting, to say the least.

Which makes me wonder, do these movie creators not know by now that what ultimately matters in the minds of rational individuals is the creation of a good movie? Let past story be damned. Most won’t mind if creators just bravely forge ahead by making something new. All those offended nerds have to pay to see your movie to be offended in the first place anyway. The motto should always be: “If you build it well, they will come!” And it should never be: “If you build it pretty good and with lots of explosions, a lot of people will still come, and a lot won’t. We’ll still turn a sweet ass profit though!”

3 out of 4 stars – If you are wondering why, after that rather harsh review, I am giving this a 3, consider it a product of my original viewing. Initially, I found myself very much entertained (until the last 30 minutes or so). If I were to rate it based on the second viewing though, I would give it a 2.5.

Recommendations:

Last updated: 2010-01-02 22:52:54 by user01

STAR TREK

Star Trek is a new, fresh take on a franchise that was certainly losing steam.  Someone, most likely director J.J. Abrams, decided to enliven the franchise by making sort of a prequel by casting young actors to play younger versions of the famous characters we’re all familiar with.  It seems this ploy has worked as many people have been very excited about this franchise re-boot, and most people seem to like it a lot.
I must say I found the movie to be just okay, not great.  I think seeing a younger, funnier, and cockier James T. Kirk (played by Chris Pine) is cool enough to leave people thinking this is a really good film.  The truth is that all of the actors, especially Zachary Quinto who plays the young Spock, pretty much nail the parts of their predecessors… yet there’s nothing really interesting about the plot.  The film basically gets by on excellent casting and good special effects.  But telling a good story didn’t seem to be a priority.
The movie even features a rather confusing scene involving time-travel which is basically just a ploy that serves two purposes: to get Leonard Nimoy who played the original Spock to fit into the movie and to serve as reason for the future films to not have to replicate the old ones as the characters will eventually get older.  After all, who would want to see re-makes of the same old stories with just younger actors.
After seeing this movie, nothing resonated with me that has caused me to think back upon it or really remember anything that interesting.  A really good movie keeps you thinking.  This one didn’t.  I just think they could have done more.

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Recommendations: The Shawshank Redemption (1994), Se7en , 25th Hour

http://www.examiner.com/movie-in-philadelphia/danny-porcaro

Star Trek

Director J. J. Abrams (of Lost, Alias, Cloverfield, and Mission Impossible 3) made an exceptional achievement of breathing a new life to an otherwise classic cult of the 1960s. This is an accomplishment of unparallel proportions because he was able to please both Trekkies (fans of Star Trek) and newbies (younger generations that haven’t heard of Star Trek).

When we watched the movie, there was a sizable crowd, which is surprising considering the minute population of New Zealand. It is interesting to note however that majority of the moviegoers are adults, most probably people who have seen the original Star Trek series.

The movie boasts of a stellar cast of first-class actors. The plot is believable and well crafted.

Director J.J. Abrams also resurrected his “Cloverfield” monster in one part of the film. It’s a bit silly but I guess the director wants to leave his signature.

The action scenes were made in such a way that it looks authentic. J.J. Abrams added the exact amount of camera shake so that the audience feels the quick pace without the nausea. The special effects are amazing. I particularly liked the experience when the USS Enterprise enters and leaves hyper speed.

Simon Pegg playing Scotty provided the much-needed comic relief to the otherwise very serious tone of the movie. There are a couple of well-known Hollywood stars who did cameos in the film. Be sure to watch for it, because some are in the film for as short as a few minutes.
For people who are familiar with Star Trek, the last minutes of the film will be a treat.

Last updated: 2009-08-12 08:18:36 by edthehead

Star Trek

Star Trek has been entertaining nerds…er…fanboys…er…individuals for 30+ years. In that span, there have been at least 4 different series and 9 (not counting this one) films. Since I’m not a “Trekkie”, i’m not up in the Star Trek history and whatnot, but I know the basics. This film takes those facts and reintroduces them to new fans and a new generation.
I will never be a Star Trek fan, it just isn’t in my nature, and I’d be betraying Star Wars, but this film was done so well, that italmsot is good enough to convert me. I like how they sring in a new history with all the characters, while leaving the original history alone in a seperate universe, and tie it all together with the use of time travel and Leonard Nimoy. I have respect for these filmmakers for finding a way to keep the old school, die hard fans happy, as well as appeal to the new ones and the mainstram move goers.
Chris Pine steps into the role of James T. Kirk and without blinking, makes it his own. I was expecting some sort of bad Willima Shatner impression or something along those lines, but instead, Pine makes the character his own, capitalizing on the rebeliousness, maybe a bit too much.
Zachary Quinto seems like he was born to play Spock. It is especially weird to see his as a hero when he is best known for beign the villainous Sylar on Heroes, but here he is. In a manner similar to Kirk, Spock is a bit of a rebel, but he is more subdues,and like the original, more logicval and into the facts. Whereas Pine didn’t really show much of Shatner’s influence in his character, Quinto obviously did his homeowrk on Nimoy’s portrayal. He may have even consulted him, since they were on set at the same time.
Eric Bana is almost unrecognizable as the viallanous, twisted Nero, a Romulan who has managed to travel through space and time to get his revenge on Spock. Bana’s performance is pretty good, but it is his ship and the other toys that he uses or commands be used that really captivate the audience, such as the drill that doesn’t allow for communication or beaming up.
Speaking of beaming up, it was good that they included that in here, as well as the “redshirt” getting killed, and some classic lines from the original series, albeit paraphrased, we got the picture.
My issue with the film is that the only space fight part of it was at the beginning, the rest of it seemed to be more about the growth and drama. Since this is an origin flick, that isn’t too badm but if there is a sequel, that stuff needs to be pushed by the wayside in favor of more space scenes.
Another issue I have is that the on;y character that seemed ot have any life was Quinto’s Spock. Pine’s Shatner seemed to be nothing more than a frat boy with a brain who somehow gets to be captain of the ship. Urban’s McCoy is paranoid and schizophrenic. Zoe Saldana is used less in this film, than Nichelle Nichols was in the show. In other words, character development was a problem, but that’s just me being a bit on the nitpicky side.
The Enterprise looked really good. I was impressed. They were saying it was a brand new ship, and the way the sets looked, they had us believing that, rather than some sort of Hollywood sound stage.
Fans of the original series were skeptical about this when it was initially announced, Some even detracted and protested it, but as soon as it was released they soon changed their tune. For me, I’m not one to celebrate remaking anything. I believe Hollywood should come with their own ideas, but this film was so good that you forget about the original series, at least if you’re like me and have on;y seen 1 or 2 episodes of it. Star Trek should be a must see for you, so go see it!

http://thankyounetflix.wordpress.com

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