Movie Review: Star Trek

I have been, and always shall be, your friend.

I'm postponing Friday Links in order to tell you that you need to go see the new Star Trek movie. And I'm gonna try to do it spoiler free.

There are a lot of possible names for this movie.
Star Trek
Star Trek XI
Star Trek: Reboot
Star Trek: Proof Rick Berman is a Hack
Lens Flare: The Motion Picture

I'm assuming by now that we all know what a reboot is. We've seen Batman rebooted a couple of times. We've seen two takes on The Hulk. James Bond has returned to it's origins. And now Star Trek has done the same thing and done it well.

J.J. Abrams needed to be able to start fresh. 43 years ago Gene Roddenberry finally sold one of the many ideas for a show he'd been developing. Gene was a science fiction writer who chose TV instead of books as his medium. He knew his science well enough that even when he was making up impossible tech it kept a foothold in real technology. He made sure that the writers used his ships correctly. He had whole languages developed for many of the alien races. Much of the technology that he created for the show has been the basis for real world technology ever since. Some of the bleeding edge science he addressed has been investigated and proved prophetic.

The show only lasted 3 years. When it came back as Star Trek: The Next Generation Gene had "help". Rick Berman, a man with almost no experience writing, directing, or producing, became Gene's right hand man. Gene successfully guided the show until his death. Then came Deep Space Nine, a show best viewed when you know how it fits with the better and later seasons, Voyager, who couldn't keep it's own story consistent let alone jive with the rest of Trek, and Enterprise, who drove the final nail in the coffin despite a great final season. Rick Berman took a lot of the blame for the decline and fall of Star Trek. It appears now that he deserved it.

With the huge base of fans who know every little nuance of the 43 year history J.J. Abrams had a problem. He had to get too much right. He had no room to move in order to make a good movie. It was time for a reboot. But instead of just starting fresh he found a way to create a whole new Star Trek universe based on the old. I just can't tell you what that is because of spoilers. He's disposed of the baggage that comes from a long history but kept what made classic Star Trek great. He kept the characters.

If you were a fan of the original you'll like what Abrams has done with Trek. If you weren't a fan this is still a damn good movie. If you hated the original you'll still probably like this movie. If you've never seen any Trek you'll find you're not missing anything important.

I will be getting this movie on DVD. I don't have any Trek movies on video.

A sequel has been announced and the writers selected. I'm hoping it goes into the war with the Klingons and helps explain why they hate Kirk so much.

I also recommend you read what Scott Kurtz has to say about the new movie. [ link]

Seriously. Go. See it.