STAR TREK!!!

The good Dr. Beeman and myself went to a free showing of Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan (unarguably the best Star Trek movie) at Alamo Drafthouse. Thanks to the folks at Ain’t It Cool News and Fantastic Fest we were also going to be shown 10 minutes of the new J.J. Abrams directed Star Trek movie. To present the preview of the movie was the three writers: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman and some other guy (apologies to other guy but IMDB don’t have your name listed) which was pretty cool.

Five or so minutes into Wrath of Khan the film messes up. Lights go up and the crowd boos. The three writers come back up and are going to do a Q&A; right around the first question who shows up but Leonard Nemoy with a Film canister and announces that we are going to see the WORLD FREAKING PREMIERE of the new STAR TREK movie 3 hours before the ‘real’ premiere in Australia and a full 5 weeks before the release date.

Anyone who knows me, even casually, knows I am a Star Wars geek but very few know that I am a big Star Trek nerd as well. All space movies melded into one in my mind as a child and I played with my Star Trek action figures along side the Star Wars, Buck Rogers, Black Hole and Battle Star Galactic figures. So seeing the new Star Trek movie was a huge treat and it did not disappoint.

As much as I LOVE reading spoilers I am not going to ruin anyone’s fun. I will say these things.

a) The plot is solid. I am not super verse in Star Trek lore but this is a clear reboot of the original series that is completely congruent with all movies and TV show that have come before. It follows a ‘revenge’ trajectory along the same lines as Wrath of Khan and has a ton of familiar Star Trek lines and familiar situations that will satisfy the hard core fans.
b) The characterizations are amazing. All the actors do excellent jobs recreating the original crew without acting like SNL parodies. I had severe doubts of pretty boy Chris Pine being cast as Kirk but he owns the role. The rest of the main crew is brilliantly places and I look forward to seeing them in these roles for several more movies. And the guest role that Leonard Nemoy plays is a vital plot point and ties this movie to the rest of the Star Trek timeline.
c) J.J. Abrams directing is spectacular. I recognize a number of the same techniques that he used in Cloverfield and worked so well being brought into this project. Although I have never seen Lost this makes me think I am missing out on something.

So now I am at home watching Wrath of Khan :)