Star Trek

Before beginning, let me explain why Star Trek is of such importance to me.

When I was very young, my Grandmother would live her life around Star Trek (TOS). She would lock the doors, take the phone off the hook, and sit me down with her in the living room. Kirk, Spock, Grandma and I would share an uninterrupted hour of exploring the stars. Campy and cheesy as it was, it’s at the core of who I am.

Having said that, it would seem that the new Star Trek movie would be fighting an impossible battle for approval from me and more of my ilk. That’s fair to claim, and it’s something I was mindful of when I walked into the pre-screening on Saturday.

Star Trek is the eleventh movie in the epic franchise’s history. It sets about to ‘reboot’ the continuity, and provide a fresh pallet from which to tell stories. After over almost 50 years, four spins-offs and nearly countless novels, writing a compelling story that doesn’t violate some measure of canon must seem pretty daunting.

This movie accomplishes that, while still managing some measure of respect to all those that came before.

The threat is provided by a Romulan Miner named Nero, who far in the future, witnessed the death of his world at the hands of a star gone supernova. Blaming the Federation for not helping he sets about to gain his revenge in the past. Kirk, Spock, Uhura and all the rest must stop Nero, before the Federation is destroyed.

The plot however, centers around Kirk as he struggles to calm his rebellious side, and gain Spock’s trust all the while convincing his commander that he’s not some unfocused rebel.

The score is fresh and isn’t derivative of anything we’ve heard in Star Trek before. But it’s a bit over the top. It actually reminded me of the musical hyperbole we heard at the closing of the Next Generation episode “Best of Both Worlds Part I”.

The acting is solid (with kudos to Zachary Quinto for his spot on portrayal of Spock) and the much anticipated Simon Pegg as Scotty, was funny, while still managing to convey a sense of competence. But it’s Zoe Saldana as Lt. Uhura, that took just about every scene she was in. Uhura, was well written as a fierce, headstrong woman, and conveyed the no nonsense toughness that Nichelle Nichols had.

Overall it was a fun movie with plenty of action and a few surprises. But the plot holes and the sometimes forced use of the catch-phrases were equally annoying. If your a younger member of the audience I suspect that this is going to be right up your alley. For those of us that remember the days when Star Trek was full of allegory and character development, I’m afraid that those days are gone. But the optimism, and the wonder of it all is timeless.