An Ode to Star Trek

As Star Trek makes it's way to DVD, I had the opportunity to watch it in the middle of the SCC parking lot. Despite having to endure a forty minute bus ride-due to misreading the sign-I was only a few minutes late. To be honest, I enjoyed the movie from the opening title sequence to the credits.

To me, Star Trek had a good balance of elements they used from the show blended with special effects the film industry have developed in the last several years. Infamous lines that originated from the show were spoken by the characters were spoken were not overused, but rather spoken at appropriate times.

The music went in nicely with the scenes "shot" in space. The scenes where the characters were in danger were fast paced and the use of scientific terms were not confusing. One thing I found amusing was the reference James T.Kirk's (played by Chris Pine) preference for green-skinned women.

One unique feature was the sleek design of the Starship Enterprise.

One of the things I really liked about the movie were the characters. Each actor who played one of the main characters stayed true to the mannerisms used by the actors in the old show. However they also put their own spin on it. What really surprised me was how the younger Spock (Zachary Quinto) closely resembled Lenoard Nimoy's character from the show. Each Character was also able to demonstrate their abilities that helped them pull their weight aboard the ship from Sulu (played by John Cho) and his fencing skills to Chekov‘s (Anton Yelchin) quick thinking.

I also really enjoyed about the movie was it's overall plot.

What was great about having the story as a prelude to the series is that the audience gets to see the crew of the Enterprise at their start, where they are thrown into dangerous situations and make mistake that could result in their deaths. Where the Enterprise crew were not the calm, cool and confident characters they were in the series, but rather hot-headed, know-it-alls (for lack of better term) who paid and learned from their faults.

I am also a fan of a hero who gets the crap beat out of them, only for them to cling on for that last bit of strength and fight on despite overwhelming odds. Many times the Enterprise's crew- Kirk especially- faced these odds and prevailed.

One topic my roommate and I were talking about was how hardcore fans of the old show might not enjoy the movie as much as new audiences. Like many die hard fans of science fiction shows and comic books, Star Trek fans are genuinely the type to find flaws with the differences the film presents. Perhaps the biggest complaint would be that there was no appearance by William Shatner, although to be honest, I was not missing the old Captain Jim Kirk.

Not that I don’t like Shatner, but the way the story was written, the movie would been centered around Shatner’s Kirk, rather than the whole crew of the Enterprise.