Ten years ago this month, the first film in the Star Trek Kelvin timeline debuted. This film was the one that really made me a part of Star Trek fandom. Don’t get me wrong, I was a fan of the franchise since 1993 when I was a wee slip of a lad, but I had never been involved in the external fandom. I had dabbled on the internet sure, but taking part in actual meetings and conventions seemed difficult the young Apprentice that had only been in work for six months that I was when Enterprise went off the air in 2005.
Four years later, JJ Abrams, previously known to me as the creative force behind “Lost” was announced as the director for a Star Trek reboot. Once again there was new Star Trek to be had. A feeling of excitement that I had missed. Sure it was a reboot, (or was it?) but the franchise that got me hooked into the sci fi genre was back. Not only that, I had a bit of money to play with I could afford Star Trek conventions, and even travel to meetings of Star Trek clubs. As a result of this, I learned new people skills, which in turn have helped me, particularly in recent years in ways that I didn’t expect. In fact, without these films, the last decade would have undoubtedly be different for me, and I may not be the person that I am today.
But what about this film? This mad assault on the senses. Its been nicknamed “JJ’s Star Wars Show Reel”, its been the bane of many veteran Star Trek Fans (at least until Discovery was nice enough to come along in 2017). Some couldn’t get past the excessive Lense Flares, others despised the apparent deletion of the franchise’s established timeline. Others took Umbridge with the recasting of iconic roles. But the question is, is it a bad film?
Honestly, I say no. I would even go as far to as to say that it is a good Star Trek film. Alas, it was not feasible to bring the original crew together for one last adventure. The Next Generation didn’t generate the results that Paramount wanted at the time, and Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise didn’t grab the attention of the masses as much as the original crew did. That leaves one option, recast the original roles that made Star Trek so iconic.
By creating a new timeline, that has an awareness of the old timeline, Abrams succeeded in creating something that was new and yet similar. A great decision was bringing Leonard Nimoy’s Spock in. The undisputed elder statesman of the franchise, not only to Spock Prime serve as a guide for Kirk, Nimoy would prove to be a useful advocate for this new direction of the franchise by giving it his approval. By contrast, Nimoy famously refused to reprise the role for Star Trek: Generation at the start of the movie.
We get something that is quite different, it has hints of what came before, but it also moves things along its own pace. Vulcan gets destroyed. This ain’t your grandfather’s Star Trek.
Unlike the prime universe, the crew are more impulsive. In the Original series, we get the impression that the crew are seasoned experts, tempered by years of service. Here, due to the deadly Nerada, they are forced together without the benefit of that experience and it makes sense. Even the emotional Spock (played brilliantly by Zachary Quinto) make sense. When he attacks Kirk, Vulcan has been destroyed, including the loss of his mother. I don’t see how people can consider this out of character.
Much is made of the special effects, they are very crisp and necessary for the audience that Paramount were aiming the movie at – i.e. causal film goers.
Overall, I’d rate this movie very highly indeed. It took the franchise in a new direction, with new ideas and it provided a new take on the core “trinity” of Kirk, Spock and McCoy that gave the original Star Trek its heart. Whatever the future holds for this branch of the Star Trek universe, it kept the flame burning.
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