Star Trek

I have to admit that I haven't given STXI a proper watch since the first time I saw it in the cinema. So since there's nothing on TV (as usual) I'm going to try and talk my sister and niece into watching it with me later.

It will be interesting to see if a.) my opinion changes on it at all and b.) if my sister (who has seen some of TOS and lots of Voyager) shares any of my gripes about the film.

Pike: Mrs. Starbuck, join the New movie fans. You can go on a date with the NuSPock in less than 4 hours. Or you can do it in 3 hours. ¿

We need YOU! Join Starfleet today!

*gasp* Captain Pike! I can't go on a date with nuSpock, I'm practically betrothed to prime Spock!
(or is it not considered cheating if it's in an alternate timeline? )

Anyway, the status right now is that my niece has Girls Aloud on the dvd player...so I'm waiting my turn, lol!

Quote (MrsStarbuck @ Jan. 03 2010, 10:26 am)

*gasp* Captain Pike! I can't go on a date with nuSpock, I'm practically betrothed to prime Spock! (or is it not considered cheating if it's in an alternate timeline? ) Anyway, the status right now is that my niece has Girls Aloud on the dvd player...so I'm waiting my turn, lol!

Pike: Practically and actually is two different things. Is he your Fiance or not? If not, nuSpock is waiting...  

Quote (BrotherofShran01 @ Jan. 02 2010, 4:31 pm)

Pike: Practically and actually is two different things. Is he your Fiance or not? If not, nuSpock is waiting... ¿

Well technically he is...

...but it's the same person anyway so I guess it's all good

Okay, *sigh* the status now is that I've been tasked with taking down our Christmas tree before I can watch any dvd's

But everyone has agreed to watch it when I'm done, yay!

Quote (MrsStarbuck @ Jan. 03 2010, 10:02 am)

I have to admit that I haven't given STXI a proper watch since the first time I saw it in the cinema. So since there's nothing on TV (as usual) I'm going to try and talk my sister and niece into watching it with me later. It will be interesting to see if a.) my opinion changes on it at all and b.) if my sister (who has seen some of TOS and lots of Voyager) shares any of my gripes about the film.

Very cool! I found after watching some more times on dvd there was so much more I noticed. I have much appreciation for this movie.

Okay, the Christmas tree is gone. Five minutes until our STXI watching commences, then I shall come back and post my honest opinions in light of this new viewing

Okay, so I have just watched STXI, and I have to report that my feelings on it remain largely unchanged.

The things I originally loved about it, I still love about it:
- The opening is one of the best (if not THE best) I've seen in a Trek film so far.
- The performances are great, especially McCoy and Spock.
- The music and visuals are fantastic for the most part.
- And probably the most important thing I got from this viewing, that I missed the first time round, is the sheer joy of seeing Nimoy don those pointed ears again. It was a truly (belated) magical moment.

BUT, the things I originally didn't like about it have not grown on me:
- I still find Kirk annoying for most of the film (although I DO now see what people mean about his final few moments on the bridge, and I still believe that I'll like him a lot more in the next film).

- I still find Nero to be a very bland bad guy (and a complete disservice to the honourable race of Romulans that TOS so carefully crafted).

- I still hate engineering (especially since I watched TMP last night, which, to me has the best vision of engineering that I've seen so far), and I'm still not sold on Simon Pegg's Scotty, he still feels a bit too comedic for my liking.

- I still think that certain scenes have an overwhelmingly 'Star Wars' feel to them, particularly Kirk's fight with Nero and his second in command inside the Narada.

- I still don't fully buy Kirk's ascension to Captain so quickly. In fact, even more than that was his ascension from stowaway to First Officer...that bit actually made me have a WTF!?! moment this time.

One thing I did change my mind on though:
- I'm going to give Uhura a bit of slack. I still don't like the Spock/Uhura romance, and I still think it feels like she's mainly there to play the love interest, but she DOES have a few moments where she shines, and I enjoyed those immensely.


By comparison, my sister, who had never seen STXI before, agreed largely with my opinion of it, although, like me, she enjoyed it as a sci-fi/action film...she also liked Scotty more than me, and she didn't have a problem with Spock/Uhura. But she found Kirk as annoying as I did, and she agreed that it's not a great Trek film.

So there you have it. I'm really glad I watched it again, and I'm still the biggest fan of Zach Quinto. AND I'm still really excited for the next film, when I honestly don't think I'll give a stuff about any of my gripes with this film if they can make STXII enjoyable enough.

   

Quote (MrsStarbuck @ Jan. 02 2010, 11:26 am)

*gasp* Captain Pike! I can't go on a date with nuSpock, I'm practically betrothed to prime Spock! (or is it not considered cheating if it's in an alternate timeline? )

   

Quote (VAD_BAXTER @ Jan. 03 2010, 2:48 am)

I agree with everything except the Star Wars part...... I just don't see it.

Really? If I get chance later I will try to dig up some screen caps because there's one shot, when Kirk and Nero are fighting on that thin walkway inside the Narada, and there's this huge round window behind them, and it looked almost identical to Luke and Vader's fight on the Death Star.

My sister commented on this too, and she's nowhere near as familiar with the Star Wars films as I am.

Quote (VAD_BAXTER @ Jan. 03 2010, 2:48 am)

Also Nero was kind of bland to me because he seemed like a normal angry person and not a true adversary.

Yes, exactly. He wasn't a true adversary in any way.

Quote (VAD_BAXTER @ Jan. 03 2010, 3:52 pm)

Right because he wasn't really coming across as if he were trying to seriously hurt Spock nuSpock or anyone else. He was just mad at everything around him except for the Narada and it's crew

It's almost a shame that Spock finally gets a nemesis all of his own...and he's lame-o!

Okay, I wasn't sure where to put this question, and apologies in advance because I'm sure this has been discussed to death already (and if someone just wants to link me to a previous thread then that's cool).

But since watching the film again the other day, I've been thinking a lot about Spock Prime's role in all of it. Does anyone think that it was simply too much responsibility to be placed on one man...to destroy the star and save the entire planet all by himself? Why did he not have any Federation backup assisting him? (Or did he, and I just missed it? )

Some of this back story is in the Countdown comic series. The summaries can also be found online if you are wondering. There are also references to the Next Generation story.

Oh...that's cool then. I didn't realise that Spock Prime's story in this film had been established previous to STXI.

I've heard a lot about the Countdown comic, I shall have to make an effort to read it.