Two Shats to the Wind

Confession: I've been a Star Trek fan since the original series. I've been to the Trek museum in Vegas. I have gear (not so much) and I collected some space junk (very little). I can, of course, do the Vulcan "Live Long and Prosper." ...and yesterday, in spite of my workload, I did go to the new movie.

The Blogosphere has been buzzing about Chris Pine vs Bill Shatner for a long while, since the cast was first announced. Could he live up to the role? Could he fill the captain's seat? How could anyone have the bravado, the smirk, the style of Shat? I had low expectations, and I was wowed. This new kid in the 'verse is okay. He doesn't really have to live up to the role of the original James T. Kirk because the two JTK's have alternate realities, but that's for viewers to wrestle with. For my money, Pine is a diamond in the rough, and in this role, he rocks (to mix metaphors and cliche's about as much as possible).

I have thoughts of the film and issues to settle, but I do not want to blow the movie for anyone who may accidentally stumble across my blog. I can only, then, babble at random w/o spoiling anything.

This film has adequate bad guy-age. Not since that Borg queen have I been so wary of a villain, and like all great antagonists, his backstory justifies his badness, for we can empathize with his motives and actions. The non-Terran culture of the Romulans was conveyed well in the otherworldly interior of their ship. (The facial tats may have been a bit hokey, like some urban street culture bad guy punks, but what are you to do? Long black coats and big boots are only so foreboding.)

Star Trek had ample brain (and reason) twisting, totally flying in the face of time continuum theories--but that's all I can say about that, right now.

I was impressed with the stellar warfare, for in the Void it was largely void of those cinematic impossibilities in the vacuum of space (fire, explosions); they made up for it with an awesome soundtrack. Next time I see it, I'll attend to that even more.

The new cast, all the major figures from the original series, are good. Chekov was funny, but otherwise not that impressive. Scotty and Bones were excellent casting choices, but the very best was Spock, played by Zachary Quinto (Sylar from Heroes).



All that aside, I still have a better casting decision for Captain James T. Kirk, a guy who I always associated with the Captain, my Captain, my dad! He was always my hero, was always a leader, and had that same swashbuckling bravado (even on a farm) as Kirk, himself!