Monday, February 02, 2009

Star Trek 2009: My Thoughts So Far *SPOILERS*

It seems a lot about this movie is being revealed before the release on May 8th, and based on what I've seen and heard, I'm getting an interesting picture in my mind's eye as to what we will see.

Canon

It appears that this movie is essentially a reboot, but not in the strictest sense.

It seems to me that the Nero's interference in the past, that leads to the destruction of the Kelvin and Kirk's father George, also leads to other changes in the timeline, including an awareness of the Romulans years before, which may change other details, like when/where the Enterprise is built, and many of the event of James Kirk's upbringing.

Since this is an alternate universe spawned by the Narada, the existing Canon is not violated.

However, things WILL be obviously very different in many ways.

To my mind, it is up to the fans to decide whether this movie is a Canon alternate timeline, or whether to regard this as a reboot, and this will be debated for a long time after it's release.

Design

It appears that everything looks very different to the TOS style, and this movie is visually going to change things up.

However, the basics have not really changed. The uniforms have the same basic color scheme as the Original Series, Communicators look like they function exactly the same, as do Phasers and Tricorders, and with some differences, the characters are essentially the same ones we've known from the Original Series.

Everything seems to have a vaguely Apple iStore/Art Deco/50s Chrome feel to it, which makes things appear to have an essentially unified design base.

The Enterprise herself also looks very different, but is still instantly recognizable as the Enterprise.

The Bridge also is far more elaborate than the 60s set from the Original Series, and a lot larger.

Externally, we get a ship with mayn features taken from the TMP Refit Enterprise, some resembling the Original Series version, and again fitting the iStore/Art Deco/50s sensibility.

This is fitting for the point of view of rebooting the franchise for an audience who need to be taken out of the Trek-Is-Geeky mindset.

Conclusion

It appears to me that the movie will be quite the adventure, much faster paced that we are used to, and potentially more accessible to the non-Trek mainstream audience.

One does not need any familiarity with the original Star Trek to understand this film.

So far, I very much like what I've seen and heard, and look forward to opening night on May 8th 2009.

2 comments:

Roman J. Martel said...

I too am very interested in seeing where this goes. I'm open to a change, but I love my Trek movies to have fun with ideas and use action to carry the story. If I want mostly action, I'll go with Star Wars. I'm a casual fan (enjoy the movies and grew up with TOS and caught some episodes of TNG), so a change in look doesn't bother me, but a change in what makes Trek, Trek will bother me more.

One Buck Films said...

What makes Trek Trek comes from those characters. If they get the character interplay right, I'll be happy.