Speaking of new movies (which I was in the last post) … if the new Star Trek movie involves Kirk having a fling with Uhura, as seems to be indicated in the commercials, I will throw an almighty fit. I’m a Trekkie, and proud of it; I’m a purist, and also proud of it. I came pretty bloody close to walking out of one Star Trek movie; if Uhura ends up in Kirk’s bed (or vice versa), I’m outta there.
I’m none too sure about the movie to start with; I have serious doubts about J.J. Abrahms… On the other hand, they made a point of having Majel Barrett Roddenberry voice the ship, which she finished just before her death. On the other hand, this Spock looks like a thug and Kirk is even prettier than he should be. On the other hand, there are cameos by Randy Pausch and James Doohan’s son Chris. ( “Star Trek fan and Carnegie Mellon University professor Randy Pausch (who died on July 25, 2008) cameoed as an Enterprise crew member, and has a line of dialogue. Majel Barrett, the widow of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, reprised her role as the voice of the Enterprise’s computer, which she completed two weeks before her death on December 18, 2008.”) On the other hand (just call me Tevye), the commercials for this thing look like a Bourne movie, not Star Trek. On the other hand … I don’t think I have a positive counter here. I don’t like the premise. I hate that there’s time travel (which makes, what, five of 11 movies?) and that Leonard Nimoy is appearing (and that Shatner got his nose out of joint when they wouldn’t let him too). And I hate, hate, hate that there are Romulans. I mean, the first sight of Romulans in … that episode (it’s been a long time) was a huge revelation to both the audience (who had actually never heard of Romulans before, but still) and the Enterprise crew – who all turned and looked at Spock. (It’s funny how much dust I’m having to blow off the old Trekkie reflexes. It’s been a very long time since I’ve seen more than a few minutes any of the movies or classic episodes. When they were all there was, I used to be able to identify a TOS episode in, no exaggeration, ten seconds or less. I used to while away the long dead periods at work at the front counter of Forest Grove Pharmacy by challenging myself to list all 79 episodes. I could do it, too.) Some alterations to the canon I can tolerate. Maybe. There doesn’t seem to be any way that this is one of them. I’m none too sure about when this is supposed to be taking place – Chekov is there. According to accepted canon, although Chekov didn’t actually appear until the second season he must have been aboard the ship during the happenings of the first, because Khan recognized him in TWOK. (See, I told you I was a geek. I mean Trekkie.) So, okay, I’ll go with that – but Janice Rand and Christine Chapel had BEST make appearances.
I’m intrigued by Karl Urban, known to me already from that other geek enterprise (small e, no italics), and trying very hard to fit the young Aussie actor into the role of McCoy, the Kentucky doctor originally played by the oldest actor of the cast.
The fact that McCoy was my first love has something to do with this quandary. I’m disappointed in some of the other casting; there was someone up for Scotty that had me excited, but oddly I can’t recall who … they cast Simon Pegg… Now, as a sort of aside, this is a nice touch in the geek universe; to my knowledge, Star Trek, Tolkien, and Doctor Who have never all been linked before. I don’t know a blessed thing about anyone else in the cast, except that “Spock” is a little thuggish looking (perfect casting, folks, she said snidely) and “Sulu”, from one photo I saw, is lookin’ a little crosseyed (Jin from Lost. Woulda been perfect. All I’m saying)… It’s hilarious, though – I’m tickled by the casting of an actual Russian for Chekov… but …
I cautiously love, part of at least, “The filmmakers sought inspiration from novels such as Prime Directive, Spock’s World, and Best Destiny to fill in gaps unexplained by canon” – Spock’s World is by Diane Duane. They can’t go wrong with that.
I wonder if they’ll remember Finnegan, “upperclassman evidently hazed “Jamie-boy” mercilessly throughout their shared time at the Academy”.
I don’t know when there will be money to go to a movie, but I think I need to see this in the theatre. Although it might be safest to find a bootleg transcript or something first.
Stewartry 