Categories: Arts

Star Trek, from a fan's point of view

The prequel has a sci-fi plot that even neophytes can follow and just enough action

by Patricia Treble on Thursday, May 7, 2009 3:51pm - 6 Comments

When director J.J. Abrams was selected to restart the Star Trek series with a new Kirk and crew, this fan wasn’t cheering. I might not be a full-on acolyte who knows the name of every Romulan character in each of the five TV series, but over the years I’ve enjoyed watching the trials and tribulations of the Federation and its flagship, the Enterprise. But the show I liked the least—even loathed—was the original. I’m not sure whether it was my older siblings and their friends mocking the series or the blatant misogyny, crappy special effects and arrogance of Capt. James T. Kirk that turned me off.

So the thought of another Kirk film held no appeal. And while Abrams is a small-screen genius (Lost, Felicity, Alias), his feature film track record (the dreadful, at least in this writer’s opinion, Mission: Impossible III) didn’t inspire confidence. But he redeemed himself with Star Trek, which is sure to be this summer’s must-watch.

Also at Macleans.ca: Brian D. Johson’s review of Star Trek

Star Trek is just plain fun. The dialogue is fast and sharp. There’s a sci-fi plot that even neophytes can follow. There’s enough action to thrill the guys. And, while not giving away any plot secrets, there is one spectacularly satisfying “expendable crew man” death (a plot devise heavily used in the original series). Devotees will be happy that “canon law” has not been violated. Fans like me will be thrilled that the same-old same-old of Star Trek—the Federation is one big happy family and everything is neatly wrapped up at the end—has been turned on its ear. And newcomers will enjoy it for what it is: a perfect escapist film.

Most importantly, it’s packed with young, hot actors who present new facets to characters familiar to anyone who’s paid the slightest bit of attention to popular culture in the last 40 years, especially Chris Pine who takes the edge off Capt. Kirk’s arrogance. But the real standout is Zachary Quinto’s (and Leonard Nimoy’s) portrayal of Spock. Kirk might be the “face” but Spock is the heart and soul of the Star Trek universe.

I don’t usually see movies twice, but this will be an exception. Among a few other things, that flashed by during the first screening, I’ll want to see if that “expendable crew man” is wearing the correct “red shirt” of death. Something tells me Abrams didn’t tweak that tradition.

Tags: Alias, Chris Pine, Felicity, J.J. Abrams, Lost, Star Trek, Zachary Quinto

More by Patricia Treble

Lord Kitchener’s Own

Oh, he’s definitely wearing a red shirt! I thought of it the moment I saw that character… I knew he was doomed.

On a more serious note, allow me to take (pretty serious) issue with your characterization of the “blatant misogyny” of the original Star Trek series. I don’t know whether you’ve horribly misunderstood the show, or horribly misunderstood the meaning of the word “misogyny” but I really feel you’ve either slandered Gene Roddenberry or downgraded the impact of the word misogyny almost to the point of meaninglessness.

Star Trek aired from 1966-1969. The original pilot had a woman serving as first officer. The series itself had an African American woman serving as an officer on the bridge of the flagship of the Federation (this was 12 years before a woman would be allowed to serve on a U.S. warship). Was there a fair bit of sexism in Star Trek? IT WAS THE 1960s!!! But to accuse a show like Star Trek of “blatant misogyny”… it’s just totally insane.

madeyoulook

You see, LKO, that’s the trouble with Treble.

Sorry. Couldn’t help myself. And I’m not even a trekkie.

Nathan Loiselle

Tribbles! Tribbles! They’ll eat everything…even the mildew in my shower!

But really, we should give James T. Kirk and his merry band of almost rebels sauntering across the galaxy on their great steed Enterprise some slack. James had his fill of women and that we can’t question. But he was young and not particularly interested in growing up. I’ve met many real men who are the same way and they all like lots of skirt too.

This was a show that not only pushed boundaries in Hollywood and the rest of the world. But one that made us dream. It encouraged people to think of a world where we were connected. Where we followed our interests and passions and which it was simply good enough to have been involved. While we are connected, I think many bosses and their bosses even more so have forgotten to remember all that off screen time where the crew of the Enterprise just sat around and enjoyed life instead of looking at really boring fake hollywood dials.

Eva

Hehehe I just find those two guys cute
hosertohoosier

Star Trek the Original series wasn’t only a progressive show (Martin Luther King Jr. was a fan), it was the ONLY Star Trek to actually push beyond the boundaries of what was considered acceptable. For instance, it featured the first on-screen interracial kiss. The crew of the USS Enterprise included women, and a Russian, an East Asian, an American and an African (I am guessing here but I don’t think Uhura was supposed to be an African American). Whoopi Goldberg cited Uhura as one of her inspirations – I mean it is very hard to find a movie from 1966 and before that portrays a black woman as being intelligent as Uhura (and the miniskirts can be defended by the fact that it was the 60′s).

Star Trek: TNG was a decent show, but it was defending essentially the same ideals of the original show, but in a time when those values were essentially accepted. It never pushed ahead – for instance, peace between the Federation and the Klingons (clearly a Cold War metaphor) only came well after detente. It wasn’t immune to some pretty regressive plot-lines either, like in the episode where Tasha Yar is kidnapped by space-Africans. Deep Space Nine did have a bisexual character, I suppose, but that is primarily because it was entirely ripped off from the plot for Babylon 5 (I like B5 philosophically – don’t go so far into the future that technology has solved all problems, though the show lacked in acting talent. I also preferred Sinclair to Sheridan).

Moreover, the setting of TNG and Voyager precluded a lot of the kind of moral dilemmas posed in the original Star Trek. Picard and his crew got out of problems by using technological solutions – usually some obscure application of transporters. In particular, after the original series, you have replicators, which eviscerate the core problem of economics – scarcity (though I was happy to see that Spock, in the movie, was taught public good theory). Indeed, that sole fact should make us scratch our heads over why the Ferengi are money-grubbing capitalists when they could just replicate anything they wanted (apart from the extremely heavy-handed slap at American conservatives).

Moreover, every series had blatant eye-candy. TNG had Deanna Troi, Voyager had Seven of Nine and so on. Tasha Yar, who didn’t fit that mould, didn’t last very long on TNG. Janeway, another “strong woman” type character is probably the least popular captain.

Finally, anybody who is a fan of TNG has to take the good and the bad. The first two seasons were simply terrible. “I’m sorry, I must resign my post to become a being of pure energy.” I identify with Picard much more than Kirk, sure, but the beauty of the original series was how they set up the ID-EGO-SUPEREGO relationship between Kirk, McCoy and Spock. TNG didn’t find its stride until it adopted the same formula, with Data as a stand-in for Spock, and Crusher/Troi standing in for McCoy. Many of the other characters fell flat – everybody hates Wesley Crusher, Riker forgot to have a personality (he couldn’t pull off the lady’s man thing), and Troi is rather annoying. Picard carried the show (O’Brien was also an interesting and under-used character).

Nathan Loiselle

Ah, O’Brien…the gruff lovable Irishman who you suspect has been drinking on the job and complains about how people keep abusing the equipment. Can we say Montgomery ‘Scotty’ Scott anybody? Because Jordie (who I loved to hate because he was just so boring) certainly never pulled it off.