Star Trek 2.0

By Wolfen Moondaughter
A threat from the future is hellbent on rewriting history; a group of cadets take the Enterprise on her maiden voyage in an effort to stop them.

I’ve had plenty of reservations since I first started hearing about this production, about the casting and about the screenplay writers, but I’m here to assure you that all of them have been laid to rest, now that I have actually seen the film. Sure, there was a lot of hype leading up to the release, but as far as I’m concerned, it lived up to it. Hell, exceeded it! This “Trek 2.0″, as much as I love the original, is so much better than the source material.

How did it succeed? For one thing, unlike the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica this is not a replacement, per se, so much as a compliment; it does not ask us to ignore the original canon. Instead, this is, as Spock tells us within the film, an alternate Universe. The timeline is changed in the first few seconds of the film; it’s explained that the original timeline we love so well still exists. I have to say, this is a relief, as I hate “fix the timeline”/time paradox stories vehemently. Actually, I don’t normally like alternate timeline stories either (as they suggest that nothing we do matters because there will always be a reality in which we took the other path), but I like it here because it means we get to explore the characters deeper without having to worry about keeping it from negating canon. Old Trek is honoured and retired with dignity, and fans of the Old stand a better chance of embracing the new. (Of course, I still know some fans who refuse to even give the new a chance; I understand and respect their reasons why, but I think they are missing a real treat!)

This new film takes story seeds that were there before and, after all these decades, finally letting them blossom into their full potential, without worry of retribution from old-fashioned morals. Old Trek challenged the lines and crossed them now and then, but many of those lines no longer even exist. Now the characters can go boldy past where those lines used to be. The film also faithfully keeps the original spirit inherent in all the characters, yet somehow still allows the actors to make the roles comfortably their own.

I have to admit that I initially was quite skeptical of Karl Urban as Bones, but while he’s not exactly a doppelganger for DeForest Kelley, he looks (and sounds) closer to Kelley’s performance than I expected, and his mannerisms are even more similar. His Bones is just as cantankerous-but-lovable, as wary of science and space travel, and as loyal as I’d would expect the character to be.

Anton Yelchin’s Chekov is more noticeably different, but still endearing with a youthful charm, just as the original was – perhaps even more so. I’m glad to see him having stuff to do that involves more than sitting in a chair, responding to commands, to “do” things rather than mostly just be there to react to the captain. We get to see Chekov actually do the stuff we mostly just heard about him doing on the original series, look over his shoulder and see just what sort of effort actually goes into it. And despite his being something of a genius and only being three years older than Wesley Crusher, I don’t think we’ll be seeing any “Mary Sue” complaints about him. I’m torn about the gags about his accent: on the one hand, they could be considered a little culturally insensitive, but on the other hand, they were damn funny! And the first gag in particular, when he’s trying to give vocal codes to the computer but it doesn’t recognise what he’s saying, nicely illustrated the sorts of problems that can occur when working in a multicultural environment. So maybe it’s not culturally insensitive after all – we laugh with poor rueful Chekov more than at him.

John Cho looks and speaks quite a bit different from Takei, so that was a little jarring, but I got over it pretty quickly. Sulu was well used in demonstrating the difficulty a cadet faces in going out on a mission the first time, the “live and learn on the job” aspect. And he made up for his mistake later with a kick-ass fight scene! Loved the swiss army katana – and the simple fact that Sulu’s love of  swordplay was included! I hope we see more of it in the next films!

Scotty was probably the most jarringly-different, in personality as much as looks, but Simon Pegg was so lovable in the role, in the end I didn’t mind. Besides, his Scotty still managed the last-minute save, getting more out of the Enterprise than was initially believed top be possible, so I guess he’s not so different after all ….

While all the characters are “better” – more dynamic – Zoe Saldana’s Uhura exemplified the best improvement in a character. Now, don’t take this as a slight on Nichelle Nichols, because it’s not meant to be at all. It’s just that, like with Chekov, we get to see more of Uhura in action with her job – she’s not just the ship’s switchboard operator, receiving hails, she has an ear for language and can understand the nuances of sounds in space. She takes initiative, she throws her weight around, and she doesn’t take anything from anyone. Not that Nichelle Nichols was some shrinking violet, but I feel like in her days the character was mostly just an ideal that was loosely sketched, while here the character is allowed to really pop of the page. She’s a person now, rather than an icon for Women’s Lib (or eye candy for ratings). The fact that she’s also rather stunning is almost an afterthought to the confident willfulness of her character. And yet she’s still quite capable of empathy, not some cold-hearted bitch who cares for nothing but her career, as so many “strong women” are portrayed.

Chris Pine may not have of the trademark speech inflections of Shatner, but there’s no questioning, for a single moment, that this is Kirk: hotheaded, troublemaking, authority-bucking, fearless, womanising, and secretly smart as a whip. Kirk’s a jerk, and frankly doesn’t have a lot of redeeming qualities, yet somehow I can’t help but see him like Captain Pike does, like there’s a diamond in the rough that it seems even Kirk himself can’t see. And by story’s end, that diamond shines. I think it’s something his the eyes; Pine’s are absolutely captivating ….

We knew Spock struggled with his human emotions, but we seldom saw it; not that Zachary Quinto’s Spock is an emotional wreck, but while Spock’s usual stoicism is still intact, we finally get to see the struggle behind it. The angst is a thing of beauty, and Quinto crafts it expertly, a dam of emotional restraint that seems solid at first but has hairline fractures when you look a little closer. Quinto, like, Pine (but somehow in a different way), gets an incredible amount of nuance across with his eyes (and eyebrows). I already greatly enjoyed Quinto on Heroes; my respect for him has multiplied exponentially with this role!

Of course, it was a thrill to see the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, back to reprise his role. It was like the old series passing the torch on to the new. And it was heartwarming to see how much he cares for Jim even after all these years. (SPOILER) The fact that his character ends up stuck in that timeline (at least for now) is a little depressing, but then again his best friends were dead and/or missing anyways.

And let’s not forget the Enterprise a character in her own right. I loved her design – modern sci-fi, yet retro, letting her look more realistic (by today’s standards) yet retaining the style that makes comfortably familiar. The same goes with the uniforms, retro but in a classy way, a nice balance of old and new – just like the film as a whole.

I have only a few complaints, really, and for science fiction, that’s actually something of a miracle.

This review gets considerably more spoilery from here on out.

One is their getting caught in the black hole. Seriously, guys, if you hadn’t been standing around shooting at a ship that was going to be destroyed anyway, you wouldn’t have gotten caught in the gravity well! And I’m not so sure about the science there, either. If they can travel faster than the speed of light, shouldn’t getting away have been a piece of cake? Shouldn’t the explosion of the warp coils gotten immediately sucked into the black hole rather than giving them the boost they needed to get out? Ah well, since my science mojo here isn’t too strong, I guess there’s enough doubt that I can just overlook it. But they’re still incredibly stupid for staying like they did!

The Vulcan children picking on Spock didn’t make much sense – they were exhibiting the very behavior they were accusing him for exhibiting, being emotional and hostile! I guess they hadn’t quite mastered logic themselves yet, although they do hypocrisy pretty well ….

The villain wasn’t all that great. A man hell-bent on revenge for the loss of his world – in particular his wife and daughter – to a natural disaster?? All because someone failed to help, not because that someone intended to destroy that world? I dunno, I just don’t find characters with such a lack of logic all that compelling, much less scary. The Borg this guy is not, even if the things he intended to do were pretty horrific. But then again, since it’s the character development of Spock, Kirk, and crew that mattered, and they were all so well done, I should be grateful the villain’s presence didn’t detract from them. So yeah, forget I said anything. The guy’s tattoos were pretty cool!

Oh, and while I’m very glad there were more aliens without simply different foreheads than usual, there still could have been more such. The alien chick with the big eyes just looked like one of those games where you squash and stretch your own features – it was an obvious computer-generated effect, one that was not done very well. And if there were any Andorians around, I missed them ….

Now for some more fave scenes/aspects:

Uhura’s telling Spock, in no uncertain terms, that she’s assigned to Enterprise, and him agreeing to it.

Spock’s sarcasm and how he put the council members in their place, turning their insult about his heritage back on them.

Paul McGillion’s little walk-on role.

McCoy’s method for getting Kirk onto the Enterprise, and the unforseen side effects. Not just for the humor, but that McCoy cared so much about his friend’s happiness that he was willing to risk getting into trouble for him.

Sulu telling Kirk that his combat expertise was in fencing, and the subsequent look on Kirk’s face.

Spock’s shocked and lost look when his mother started to fall, and when she didn’t rematerialise.

Uhura’s comforting Spock in the turbolift – that was a really beautiful scene, not just because Uhura went for him rather than Kirk, but because of the small peek at Spock’s vulnerability; it was beautiful watching him just barely holding his precious mask of control on.

Spock Prime’s obvious love (whether you want to call it slashy or not) for Jim, the fondness in his eyes as he looked on his old friend as a young man once more.

Kirk stumbling away from the Vulcan mind meld with tears in his eyes, stating that there were emotions in the man after all.

Scotty’s little alien friend was a cute little touch. (But then, he reminded me of an Ewok, and I love the Ewoks even if most people don’t seem to ….)

Spock going back to the transporter, staring at the place where his mother should have rematerialised. Nice and subtle bit of mourning.

Kirk’s shock when he witnesses Uhura and Spock having a touching goodbye on the transporter platform.

Scotty being all proud over having transported three people in motion from two different places. I also liked that transporting actually took skill rather than just pressing a button, and the added element of danger because of it.

Spock asking Jim what he’s doing offering help to the enemy, with Kirk explaining he thought Spock would want him to show compassion, and Spock replying, “Not this time!” Seriously, I nearly bust a gut with that scene!

Spock Prime telling the younger Spock that he lied to Kirk, making the man think that some sort of cataclysm would occur if the younger Spock knew the elder one was there, when all he really wanted was an excuse for the man to have a chance come to know a friendship with the younger Spock like the one Spock Prime had had with his own Jim. Funny yet poignant.

I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff. In the end, what I loved best was the development of the relationship between Kirk and Spock, especially how it added more depth and nuance to that bond. For me, that friendship was the best part of the original series, and I’m thrilled that it took center stage here. I have to heartily thank Pine and Quinto (and the rest of the cast and crew) for making me fall in love with the series all over again – and harder than ever!

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Wolfen Moondaughter is on the editorial board for the comics industry webzine Sequential Tart, for which she has written since late 2001. She’s an artist, too, having done spot illustrations for Dragonlance, among other things. In her spare time, she’s a rabid fanficcer/fanartist. See more of her work at her site, Wolfen’s Webworld.

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