Star Trek

Growing up there were two kinds of science fiction fans: Star Wars fans and Star Trek fans.

I'm not sure why the two always seem to be at odds. It's possible to like both, in fact I know people that do. But there has always been a comparison between the two which is a bit unfair. Both have completely different mythologies and styles. The fact that they are in outer space is about the only thing in common between these two franchises.

Personally, I've always preferred Star Wars. I grew up on those movies, playing with the toys and collecting anything I could get my hands on. I never watched any of the various Star Trek television shows. I think I liked maybe half of the movies that have come out. The characters always seemed to be cartoonish to me and no real depth to them. I think that is probably because they have been parodied and lampooned so many times it's hard to separate that from the original source.

Star Wars was always more focused on the spiritual mythology involved with the force and more importantly the journey of the characters of Luke and his father. George Lucas has said what a heavy influence the work of Joseph Campbell has had on his writing for the saga. Lucas borrows heavily from the Hero's Journey that Campbell plotted out that is engraved in just about all of mythology and fables. The structure of the large story that Star Wars tells has always been more appealing to me from a literary perspective. None of that was ever apparent in the Star Trek series for me.

Star Trek was first and foremost a television show. It was designed to be episodic. There was a series of adventures that would be solved each week, and really in each movie, but no real ongoing journey or emotional arc for the characters to grow and advance in. They stayed the same and served the various stories laid out each week. Each character had their own unique traits that made them likable and memorable, but there was never really anything at stake individually for them.

The movies I prefer the most in the series are The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, and The Voyage Home. These three movies are the closest the series came to a so-called trilogy. It was a continuing story that showed true evolution of the characters, especially the relationship between Spock and Kirk. There was a sense of mythology being created that followed Campbell's hero structure with the sacrifice and death of Spock and his eventual resurrection. The formula for the Hero's Journey is something that has worked throughout human history and has always made for good storytelling.

After the failure of the Star Wars reboot I was a bit hesitant when a re-imagining of Star Trek was announced. Like I've said, I was never a big fan to begin with but I had hopes for a good movie, especially when J.J. Abrams was attached. I wasn't so sure about the casting but I decided to reserve judgement and have faith that Abrams could deliver a good movie since I've liked pretty much everything else he has been involved with.

This past Saturday I got to see an advance screening of Star Trek and I am happy to say that the movie was fantastic and it blew me away.

For the first time we get to see some back story of how the characters got involved in the Federation and eventually teamed together aboard the Enterprise. The danger in starting over with a franchise like this is that there are decades of history that has been told for these characters and this universe in general. All of the die hard fans know the back story even though it was never shown in any of the films before. If the filmmakers make any slight changes it could throw the entire universe into upheaval for the fans and ruin any time lines that have already been set and told. Essentially that is what this story is all about.

The movie opens with a Romulan ship coming through a time warp and attacking a Star Fleet ship looking for Ambassador Spock. Nobody on the ship has heard of Spock since at this time he is just a child and many years away from joining the Federation. The Romulan ship attacks and destroys the Federation ship, but not before a heroic George Kirk can safely evacuate hundreds on board, including his wife and newborn son James, and then sacrificing his own life to save the others. This act changes history right away, thus creating a new alternate reality time line for our future characters of the Enterprise. Nothing will be how it once was because history has been changed. This plot device allows the filmmakers to have free reign of the universe and tell any story they want to now. What has happened previously in the different television shows and movies can still happen because what we are seeing and what we will probably see in future sequels will be happening along an alternate time line. I've been reading that this has been upsetting some of the faithful fans but I think it's pretty genius on their part and it works just fine.

The real success of this movie lies with the cast. Everyone has some pretty large shoes to fill in playing several iconic characters. First and foremost is Chris Pine who plays Captain Kirk. The heart and soul of the character is present but Pine finds a way to make Kirk his own. He seems a bit more brash and cocky than the version played by William Shatner. He's not better or worse, just different yet still appealing and charismatic which is essential to making this film work. He plays the character with a certain level of cool and self assurance and he brings another level of confidence in his leadership. I felt that Pine was great in the roll and filled the void left by Shatner just fine.

Zachary Quinto gets the honor of wearing the pointy ears and playing the key role of Spock. He definitely has the look but I feared I would only see him as Sylar, his character from Heroes. I don't feel he owned the character quite like Leonard Nimoy did previously and he didn't do anything to make the character his own. If anything it felt more like an impersonation, which actually turns out just fine because of the presence of another certain actor in the film which I don't think is any big secret but I still don't want to give it away. Quinto was believable enough as the character to make it work.

The rest of the crew just had small moments and nothing to really make them shine. Karl Urban, who plays Leonard "Bones" McCoy comes the closest to offering an impersonation like Quinto has done, but it really didn't bother me. He was funny and believable in his limited role. Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty, had some memorable moments and made the character more his own, similar to Pine's performance. The rest of the crew had little to do other than helping to set up their stories and characters for any future sequels which will hopefully have them more involved. They were all fine in their limited screen time.

If there was anything I would have liked to have seen done different in this movie is for it to be longer and maybe some more action. The pacing is really quick and fluid. There is a lot of setting up and story telling which was really engaging and entertaining. There are plenty of well shot and choreographed action scenes but I think there could have been more. But I'm just being nit picky on this area.

The movie was really fast paced and exciting and I think it has done a good job of setting up the characters and universe for future installments. The producers have an opportunity to take this franchise in a whole new direction and create a new mythology for a new generation while giving the old fans more of what they want which is more adventures of the Enterprise. For a big Summer blockbuster movie Star Trek has lots of laughs, good characters and acting, and plenty of explosions and stunts to keep you entertained. Of all of the movies that have come before this one in the series this is probably my favorite. I hope they can keep the talent together and tell us some exciting stories in the future, because for once in the long storied history of this franchise I would consider myself a fan.

Star Trek opens on Friday, May 8. This could be one of the more successful films this summer. I don't think you will be disappointed.