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STAR TREK |
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When Gene Roddenberry brought us the
original Star Trek in the 1960s he offered a well-integrated space ship with
two central strong characters (Captain Kirk and Spock), two back-up strong
characters (Dr. McCoy and Scotty), a few important underlings (Sulu, Uhura,
Nurse Chapel and Chekov) and an endless supply of no-named expendable crew. The ships mission was to see how
many females - both human and alien - Kirk could nail while fighting
creatures twenty times stronger.
Kirk provided the foolish emotion and Spock corrected it with logic.
But there was always a quiet conflict between the two. It conflict appeared Season
1: This Side of Paradise when, after being zapped by wild spores, Spock
gained emotions and beat the crap out of Kirk. Then again in Season 2: Amok
Time, when Spock again beat the crap out of Kirk. But the other times the
competition was more of a subtle logic versus emotion. |
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After that, we were given movie versions that occasionally
continued the interaction among the crew. Suddenly that was gone and we got
Star Trek the Next Generation. Ugh! But now comes JJ Abrams version of
"Star Trek" re-introducing the same old characters in a relatively new light.
It's a Star Trek origins story. Not like that weak as diluted water Star Trek Enterprise television show.
No Abrams takes that competition and magnifies it. He bases most of the
story on that testosterone contest. Yes, Spock (Zachary Quinto) as a
desiring flagrant emotional Vulcan with inner conflicts and a disdain for
Kirk's (Chris Pine) reckless abandon. |
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After introducing both separately as
youth, we see the personal challenges each faced that drew them to Star
Fleet. Kirk as a fatherless boy who hates his mother’s choice in new
husbands. Spock with his well-known mixed heritage of human mom and Vulcan
dad. They come together and immediately
the friction begins. As the same Romulan evil guy who killed Kirk’s father
year’s prior challenges the galaxy, Kirk and Spock are thrust into action
under Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). Oh yeah, Pike is still
alive. Coming in between them is the hottie
Nyota Uhura (Zoe Saldana) who has a thing for Spock. Yup Spock! In addition
rouge medical doctor named Leonard McCoy (Karl Urban) befriends Kirk and
stands by his side emotion for emotion. We get an equally rouge but brilliant
engineer named Scott (Simon Pegg) accidently offering his assistance after
escaping the frozen outpost he was assigned. |
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Making more than a cameo is Leonard
Nemoy as the Spock from the future who aids Kirk to take on the notorious
Romulan Nero (Eric Bana). It is well know this irritated the hell out of
William Shatner! "Star Trek" is a fun movie that
injects much needed life into a dead franchise. It will make you appreciate the old
stories and the old cast. It is for old Trekkies and newsies who didn't quite
get the original series. Pine and Quinto are great in the leads. But more
importantly Urban and Pegg are dead on as McCoy and Scotty. I wasn’t all that
thrilled with the Uhura character - I always thought she was destined to hook
up with Scotty or Sulu for some reason. Remember it was Nurse Chapel who had
the hots for Spock in the original series. I'm nit picking. "Star Trek" is
fabulous. Period. --GEOFFREY BURTON
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