Star Trek Into Darkness
Jun. 28th, 2013 04:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chuckroThis movie is a travesty! We finally saw it last weekend, and I was absolutely appalled. SEATBELTS? SEAT BELTS ON THE GODDAMN BRIDGE? Not on this man’s Enterprise! JJ Abrams obviously never understood what the franchise was about.
Seriously, though? It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun. It makes me A) Want to rewatch chunks of TNG and DS9 (which I did a little of the next day, because they’re on Amazon Instant Streaming), and B) Miss the Nitpicker’s Guides immensely.
The thing is, Star Trek has always been riddled with continuity errors, questionable science and the need to fanwank up explanations. In this case, apparently long-range sensors just aren’t a thing at all in the reboot universe. Something’s happening in orbit? Apparently people just never look up anymore. And if the villain’s entire plan hinges on killing you so you can’t tell anyone his plan, perhaps, I don’t know, BROADCASTING THAT CONVERSATION DOWN TO EARTH might work better, plan-wise, than partnering with a guy you know is going to suddenly but inevitably betray you to space-jump through a trash chute. But several large plotholes are easily explained by “Spock was a dick," which I totally accept—Spock inventing the “temporal prime directive” and only breaking it when he’s in the mood is totally within established character.
Similarly, there’s no reason to expect someone named “Kahn Noonian Singh” in the early 21st century (or thereabouts) to be a white guy, but Star Trek science can make you look like a different species in an afternoon in sickbay. Obviously, Admiral Marcus got “John Harrison” a new face so he wouldn’t raise any suspicions by looking just like Kahn appears in history books.
(The Tumblr Social Justice Warriors got all up in arms about Bendyback Chumbawumbitch playing Kahn, never mind that Ricardo Montalbán isn’t Indian either, and it’s not like “all brown people are the same” is exactly an improvement over “whitification”. They also got upset over Carol Marcus’ gratuitous underwear scene, which makes me wonder if they had ever seen an episode of TOS, the show that ran on the "Theiss Titillation Theory” of costuming.)
As Jethrien noted, the casting director from the first movie deserves massive props. Quinto is amazing as Sassy Spock. I was also very happy that every one of the leads got something important and useful to do (this was a “Good Troi Episode” all around), though I could have used a little more Sulu.
Overall: It’s not the greatest Star Trek movie ever, but I’d put it solidly in the middle of the pack. It’s no Wrath of Kahn, but it’s certainly better than stinkers like Nemesis, The Motion Picture, or The Final Frontier.
Seriously, though? It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun. It makes me A) Want to rewatch chunks of TNG and DS9 (which I did a little of the next day, because they’re on Amazon Instant Streaming), and B) Miss the Nitpicker’s Guides immensely.
The thing is, Star Trek has always been riddled with continuity errors, questionable science and the need to fanwank up explanations. In this case, apparently long-range sensors just aren’t a thing at all in the reboot universe. Something’s happening in orbit? Apparently people just never look up anymore. And if the villain’s entire plan hinges on killing you so you can’t tell anyone his plan, perhaps, I don’t know, BROADCASTING THAT CONVERSATION DOWN TO EARTH might work better, plan-wise, than partnering with a guy you know is going to suddenly but inevitably betray you to space-jump through a trash chute. But several large plotholes are easily explained by “Spock was a dick," which I totally accept—Spock inventing the “temporal prime directive” and only breaking it when he’s in the mood is totally within established character.
Similarly, there’s no reason to expect someone named “Kahn Noonian Singh” in the early 21st century (or thereabouts) to be a white guy, but Star Trek science can make you look like a different species in an afternoon in sickbay. Obviously, Admiral Marcus got “John Harrison” a new face so he wouldn’t raise any suspicions by looking just like Kahn appears in history books.
(The Tumblr Social Justice Warriors got all up in arms about Bendyback Chumbawumbitch playing Kahn, never mind that Ricardo Montalbán isn’t Indian either, and it’s not like “all brown people are the same” is exactly an improvement over “whitification”. They also got upset over Carol Marcus’ gratuitous underwear scene, which makes me wonder if they had ever seen an episode of TOS, the show that ran on the "Theiss Titillation Theory” of costuming.)
As Jethrien noted, the casting director from the first movie deserves massive props. Quinto is amazing as Sassy Spock. I was also very happy that every one of the leads got something important and useful to do (this was a “Good Troi Episode” all around), though I could have used a little more Sulu.
Overall: It’s not the greatest Star Trek movie ever, but I’d put it solidly in the middle of the pack. It’s no Wrath of Kahn, but it’s certainly better than stinkers like Nemesis, The Motion Picture, or The Final Frontier.
