Star Trek Review--Sure Feels Good to be a Trekkie

I really do love Star Trek. I can't however, call myself a full fledged Trekkie. If Trekkies were categorized according to the Starfleet's table of ranks, I'd probably only be a junior grade lieutenant, a provisional lieutenant commander at best. But compared to the average civvie, I do concern myself with the details, background info and plot consistency--the lore, really--of the Star Trek Universe. That's why, despite a few awkward moments, I'm genuinely surprised and pleased to have loved the hell out of J. J. Abram's Star Trek: The College Years.



Star Trek succeeds, let's face it, largely because the Star Trek mythology is awesome. It's potent and recognizable even to people who never followed the series religiously. Just consider the universal name recognition of the following phrases: "captain's log," "Klingon," "beam me up Scotty," "live long and prosper," "to boldly go where no man has gone before" (which, by the way, single handedly regularized the split infinitive in modern English... even in England!). Even if you're unlikely to admit it, Star Trek is a part of our culture the same way that, say, Bruce Springstein, apple pie and the Super Bowl are.

I'd wager that even if you use "Klingon" to denote abject loserdom, your heart races a bit at the site of Bird of Prey decloaking. Even if you pointed and laughed at Trekkies lining up for the Star Trek premier at your local megaplex, seeing Leonard Nimoy raise his hand to form the Vulcan salute will rouse the sweetest of nostalgias. I can't imagine the pleasure-hating jerk that wouldn't feel a swell of joy upon seeing the Enterprise arrive to save the day at just the right moment. You see, that's why pretty much anyone will, at the very least, leave Star Trek with a spring in their step--we're all Trekkies to one degree or another.

The actors preserve the familiarity of the original series remarkably well. Young Zachary Quinto pulls off Spock masterfully, although, I don't remember the logical sage as quite so sarcastic. Chris Pine preserves the swaggering vigor of a young Bill Shatner even if he didn't bring the stop and go cadence of the original Captain Kirk's speech. Throughout the film, there are plenty of familiar faces--Sulu, Scotty, Chekov, Uhura, Bones... Yeah, they're all on board the USS Enterprise and all young and good looking.

And if you happen to be that misanthrope who really, really hates all things Trek, there are plenty of explosions, guns, fighting, and people undressing in Abram's Star Trek... He even threw in a Cloverfield monster for you. Make no mistake about it, Star Trek, whatever else it might be, is an action film.

In contrast to other Star Trek franchise films, Abram's just feels like a Hollywood blockbuster too. Star Trek purists will be a bit put off a bit at moments, I mean, the Beastie Boys?! Come on, it's the future! There's even Nokia and Budweiser product placement for Stovokor's sake! As if 'mericans are still going to be pounding back Bud Light in the 23rd century. Mr. Roddenberry must be turning in his space coffin over that one.

Using the ol' time travel thing to reshape the Trek universe borders on blasphemy too. But, because I didn't grow up with Kirk, Spock, Scotty and Chekov, I wasn't terribly offended by the gross rewritings of Trek history. Ultimately though, I was only able to love this movie because the characters from TOS aren't deeply important to me. As God is my witness J.J., if you so much as consider an alternate-universe-timeline for my precious Picard, Worf, Data, and lovely Diana Troy, I'll show up at your home in a chain baldric wielding a bat'leth. That's a promise, sir!

But enough worrying about my TNG, this year's Star Trek reinvigorated the sputtering brand. Despite some blatant product placement and squid-faced Cloverfield monster, J. J. stayed true to the core "hard sci-fi" mythology that we Trekkies adore. The movie managed to conjure up a convincing vision of a future utopia still charged with the Star Trek series' trademark possibility for fun and adventure. I understand it wasn't all that bad for the uninitiated of you out there either.

While I raise my glass to a Star Trek sequel for 2010, maybe Star Trek II: The Gang Goes to Grad School, why not read read more movie reviews on our movie page?

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