This evening, Ariela and I saw the new Star Trek film, for the second time. Phil Plait and PZ Myers have both already reviewed it, but I think left out a few really interesting (and disappointing) things about the film, so I would like to add my own review to the pile.

To summarize, it was awesome. Despite a few plot holes, scientific inaccuracies, and awkward interations between characters, it was an excellent Trek movie, worthy enough on this description alone to have broken the “Curse of the Odd-Numbered Trek.”

Warning: Spoiler Alert - You have been warned.

First, I find their Trekkish means of changing the course of events and the characters involved was, in Spock’s lingo, fascinating. By Captain Nero (and Spock “Prime”) going back in time, they changed the timeline significantly enough to alter the characters on a personal level, while still allowing the original crew to be gathered together on the Enterprise. Kirk grew up without his father, gaining a more rebellious nature. Spock witnesses his mother and his entire planet destroyed, making emotion a bigger issue for him than before.

What is Trekkish about is that rather than rewrite the story to change these things, denying Trek “Canon,” they instead re-assert the canon - the previous Kirk did exist, and the previous Spock does [still] exist as they were, but the ‘new’ young Kirk and Spock are different, and exist now.

One question about this remains unanswered in my head, though, as to how time travel works in the ‘new’ Star Trek Universe. There are several different ‘theories’ about how time travel works in the Trek Universe, from the inevitable set-in-stone past-present-future as presented in episodes such as Time’s Arrow, or the history-altering interventions seen in The Year of Hell (I and II), for example. See six versions of how time travel works in Trek here, including some that don’t make any sense at all.

So in this new film, people from the future come back to the past and change the course of history, including themselves. Spock’s life is changed by his older self. There is some humor about “Universe ending paradoxes” over this, but under one set of ‘time travel rules’ this would have already happened, or at least the old Spock would retroactively know how it all turned out because it is in his past. It seems that they may be going with the non-inevitable theory, (non-in-evitable?) but we shall see how this pans out when they restart the series. What, you don’t think they will?

Next, I wanted to compliment one important change in Trek as a result of the events in this film - the destruction of Vulcan. Superb. I love the Vulcan species like any other Trekkie, but turning an old, established, logical and proud race into a scattered band of refugees would certainly make for some interesting story possibilities. And since we have already observed the wealth of Vulcan behavior and culture in the “prime” timeline, we may see it change in the new timeline as a result of this change. For the species in the galaxy alive at this time, it will make the Vulcans all the more mysterious.

Next, my short character review. Chekhov was endearing and brilliant, Sulu a little less confident than we’re used to but skilled with a blade like we might expect. Some of Kirk’s characteristics have been magnified, others suppressed - he seems to hound after women with a bit more zeal, and faster to leap before he looks. And the William Shatner over-acting seems to be absent. Ariela was impressed by Chris Pine’s performance. Spock, as I mentioned, is a little more emotional and carries a small thoughtful smile most of the time, and Uhura is more of a smart-talking, um, smart talker/translator. But the two of them together? Absolutely no chemistry. Big mistake, producers. I realize that it is difficult to make an emotionless character display love toward someone, but if Spock’s parents are believable then this shouldn’t be too hard.

Scotty and McCoy, however, were phenomenal. The first time through, I was blown away by how well Karl Urban resurrected the ghost of DeForest Kelly. The second time through I also felt that Scotty’s excitability was right on, and I could see James Doohan in him.

On the plot, the end was somewhat predictable - it is more of a Hollywood thing than a Trek thing - Villains always seem to meet their end at the hands of their own devices. Khan blew himself up with the Genesis device, just like Scar in The Lion King died at the claws of the Hyenas. Therefore, Nero in Star Trek XI had to die in a black hole made by the “red matter” he was using to attack others. Poetic, sure, but cliche’ as well. Nero had the mindless desire for vengeance that we look for in a villain, but he did not display the kind of brilliance that Khan did. An average foe, not too intelligent, but certainly willing to go all the way, ad absurdum if he felt like it.

The scenery and cinematography were great. Rather than a flying-plastic-model-view of the Enterprise, we got to go between the warp nacelles, and see inside the cargo bay. (Which, I might add, makes more sense with racks of shuttles than one or two!) They clearly understood what space was like in this film, bringing it up and beyond the Reimagined Battlestar Galactica and Firefly. Many angles shot of the Enterprise were odd and beautiful in perspective. One shot of the ship’s saucer section passing by us might seem like a view from underneath, until you notice that that is the Bridge you are seeing - the ship is flying ‘upside down’ with respect to the camera. Plus, space ’sounds’ are minimized and muffled effectively. I also liked the interior detail on the ship - pipes and tanks and stanchions throughout added an extra realistic detail missing from previous Trek.

Phil Plait went at length about scientific problems with details in the film, so I will not reiterate them here, suffice to say that there were problems, but I think they did not detract from the film like many of the problems typically seen in SciFi. I do wonder where all that fantastic mass came from to form the black hole in the final battle scene - but we can all just shrug and say ‘must be something special about the Red Matter.’

Also, this film poster is kinda dumb looking. Yes, it is the Enterprise at warp in black-and-white, but it looks dumb.

Finally, the music was Fantastic! I still have the main theme song in my head, although it was not particularly Trek-like, is had some good qualities to it. At first it sounded a little awkward, however I have come to like the way it hangs off the first few notes and then modulates after that. It is hard for me to describe it without the music. But that hanging moment gives it a feeling of suspenseful uncertainty. As with every Trek film that has Spock in it, there is a Vulcan-centered theme - usually contemplative and slightly sad, yet somewhat spiritual. In this film, the Vulcan theme was decidedly more tragic, which fit the story well. Nero did not seem to have much of a theme like a proper villain should have, but overall the music in most of the scenes was very satisfying.

The one musical mistake was that the composer, Michael Giacchino, chose to re-use the main theme in a slower version to set a more somber mood. I think it’s cheap. I’m no composer or music theorist, but from listening to SciFi film music for years, I can say that the best ones make a somber theme that connects to the main theme musically, but is not the main theme itself. Both the strong and sad themes in Star Trek Nemesis were also the same exact tune, just at different speeds and with different instruments. When Ariela and I walked back to the car, I compared it to that puppet-film by Trey Parker and Matt Stone: Team America World Police. The upbeat ‘action’ theme song hailed “America… F#ck Yeah!”, and when things were sad they slowed it down to say, “Amerrrricaaah, foouuckkk yeaahhhh.” This is a call to all SciFi composers - don’t be cheap with your themes! John Williams… I’m looking in your direction, too! (Listen to E.T. and then Star Wars.)

I quite enjoyed the new Star Trek movie, as you can see, and I look forward to when they restart the series. Not if. They have the sets, the cast, and plenty of proceeds from the theater run.

Finally, where does this film rank amongst the other Trek movies? It does not beat The Wrath of Khan, but it most certainly beats The Final Frontier! I hesitate to put it above The Undiscovered Country and The Voyage Home because of the lackluster villain, however, it didn’t have some of the corniness that those two films had. I also really liked First Contact, however the invention of the Borg Queen (thus destroying what the Borg was) was worse than Nero. So this puts it in my top four, underneath Khan, and tied for second with Undiscovered and Voyage.

As far as non-trekkies are concerned, it is either #1 or #2. Case-in-point, although I have been thinking about the movie since I first saw it, the impetus to see it a second time came from Ariela, who seldom enjoys SciFi. The Curse has been Broken!