I spent a lot of the movie waiting for them to make-out. No lie. :)So it was a kick-ass movie. Great action sequences, great character moments (Sulu and his extendable fencing sword? LOVED IT.), great pacing. But then the moment you stop being in awe of the effects and the sheer great story-telling of the movie, you stop to think about IMPLICATIONS.
Without Vulcan, what does that mean? I realize a lot of fans are super-excited about this development (Freedom to do whatever! No one's safe! It's a series of alternate-reality movies!), I can't come to grips with it. I don't think you can make a movie this explosive and relegate it to an "alternate universe." At the same time, accepting this into canon is dangerous. No Amanda scenes in TOS or the movies. No scenes on Vulcan EVER, and even if there are scenes, it's not the same Vulcan. Who has died? All of those humans, Vulcans, and Klingons massacred. (Tuvok?!) Which characters that we love from the 24th century won't even be born?
And don't tell me they're going to repopulate Vulcan. These people reproduce once every seven years. With 10,000 people to start? I'm not good at math, but your rate of reproduction is CRAP.
I like the idea of an exciting, new Trek. The new-and-improved Battlestar was awesome. I'm a Chloiser on Smallville (Chloe = Lois Lane). I realize a lot can be gained by Spock being one of the last survivors of his race, especially as a mixed-breed who is more willing to accept his human side. But I feel that you can't play loose and fast with a canon that spans five TV shows and ten movies. I would have accepted George Kirk and Kelvin. Even Spock/Uhura had elements that captivated me (although it was poorly explained and relegated Uhura to a sex object more than I liked).
But destorying Vulcan leaves the entire 24th century in peril. And, unfortunately, I doubt we'll get a canon verification of what the hell is going on in the 24th century any time soon as they make new Star Trek: 90210 in the Abramsverse and let the adventures of Picard, Sisko, and Janeway fall into DVD obscurity. I need an official announcement that there will be a reset of this movie, that this movie is an alternate universe, or that the 24th century was (surprising) unscathed. Until then, I can't help but see a screwed-up 24th century where Picard is never born and the Enterprise D is being run by Wesley Crusher and Tuvok NEVER EXISTED and Janeway is out one best friend and possibly never went into the Badlands after the Maquis because he wasn't an undercover agent! (I love Tuvok. Could you tell?)
Also, if Romulus is destroyed in the future (will it be, now that the supernova is known about?), is the Alpha Quadrant at peace? The Klingons are allies, the Romulans destroyed, the Borg impotent, the Dominon gone...WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?!
And where the hell are the time police from the 29th century? They need to get on their shit.
(Side Note: Did anyone want this movie to finally resolve Enterprise's temporal cold war? Yeah, me too. :( )
So the movie was great. Killing red shirts, Kobayashi Maru, Scotty giving it all he's got. Really pretty. But I can't stop having FEELINGS about the IMPLICATIONS.
I need a drink.
1 comment:
I have absolutely no time for these thoughts or to type them up, but I would like to say that I'm having them too (especially the "what about Tuvok?" thoughts) but I wanted to let you know you're not alone. Honestly though I was expecting them to end the movie by negating the whole movie somehow (undoing something so that the Romulans never came thru and killed Kirk's father, etc...) but it's unlikely they would do that since negating a whole movie you just made is stupid and angering. That said, I have made some peace with the weird AU-ness of it by saying Tuvok's parents must have survived and they must have named the new planet Vulcan. I mean, it's odd that a planet wide holocaust would go unmentioned in the subsequent series, but my brain is okay with it a little bit more when I think of it that way.
Plus, it was *really* cool looking. I like how the ship actually looked like it had parts that could break or might actually need engineers. Star Trek has always been a bit sterile for me. Gel packs and a glowing blue cylinder don't cut it. Though one of my computer sciencey friends pointed out that engineering would probably deal mostly with software problems...
also, I saw it in IMAX, so PRETTINESS outweighed a lot of other things. I'm easy to distract with shininess and explosions. And that opening battle sequence. And Leonard Nemoy saying live long and prosper. And Karl Urban. And Chekov/Anton Yelchin. And...
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