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We Pass Judgment On Abrams' Trek
J.J. Abrams and the cast of Star Trek unspooled about 20 minutes of footage from the upcoming reboot movie, and SCI FI Wire watched with a critical eye on Nov. 19 at the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood. The verdict: mixed, but generally good. More on this in a bit.
I won't go into great detail describing the footage, which was previously screened in New York and London and posted Web-wide last week. (ComingSoon.net has a particularly detailed description of the footage.) I will, however, recap some of the key points and offer up impressions of the new movie from the point of view of a longtime, if casual, fan of the franchise.
Abrams was on hand, an enthusiastic cheerleader for the film, as he has been on other occasions, but this time he was joined by most of the key cast, including John Cho (Sulu), Ben Cross (Sarek), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Chris Pine (Kirk), Bruce Greenwood (Pike) and Chris Hemsworth (George Kirk, Jim's dad). As befits the early screening of footage from a high-profile sci-fi movie in Hollywood, there were a number of other genre luminaries in attendance, including Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige and Rob Burnett, director of Free Enterprise.
But to the footage. Abrams screened four scenes. (Major spoilers ahead!)
Footage In the first, we meet the young James T. Kirk (Pine) as he flirts with Uhura (Zoe Saldana) in a bar, gets into a bar fight with Starfleet cadets and is rescued by Capt. Christopher Pike (Greenwood). The scene is a pivotal one in which we learn a couple of things:
--Kirk's father was the captain of a starship "for 12 minutes," during which he saved 800 people, including young Kirk and his mother, and presumably died.
--Pike tells Kirk, "Your dad didn't believe in no-win situations," a clear allusion to Kirk's own statement in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
--Kirk has been fighting what Pike sees as his destiny, to be a starship captain, though Pike tells him he has his father's "leap before you look" mentality--something that Starfleet has been missing.
--Kirk is persuaded by Pike's inspirational speech--that he is meant for something greater than being the only "genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest"--and boards a shuttle for Starfleet Academy at the very shipyard where the Enterprise is being assembled, in an Iowa cornfield.
Our verdict The scene has a lot of heart, but it may trouble die-hard Trek fans for a couple of reasons. This small glimpse of Abrams' future Earth bears little resemblance to Gene Roddenberry's conflict-free paradise. The barfight--though it recalls one in which Jean-Luc Picard nearly died in Star Trek: The Next Generation--is brutal, and the Starfleet cadets seem like thugs who fight dirty. The concept of alcoholism, similarly, is alien to the Trek universe (Scotty's occasional indulgence in a wee dram notwithstanding), and there is a suggestion in Kirk's behavior that he's proceeding down the dissolute path of his abusive uncle. (And wasn't the Enterprise assembled in space?)
The good news is that the scene is full of energy and life and gives realism to Kirk's Iowa world, which seems not that different from our own. Greenwood's Pike has the proper gravitas and dignity to be a Starfleet captain, and Pine's impulsive, headstrong Kirk feels just right.
Footage Cadet Kirk is smuggled aboard the Enterprise by his doctor friend, Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), who has injected him with something to simulate disease symptoms. It's an end run around a Starfleet regulation so that Kirk--who was banned from the ship for getting into too much trouble--can be aboard as the Enterprise, on her maiden voyage, takes part in a rescue mission to Vulcan. We see much of the ship and the young crew and get a sense of the new dynamics among them. Ultimately, the rescue mission sparks something in Kirk's memory, and he rushes to the bridge to inform Capt. Pike that they are entering a trap set by the Romulans.
Our verdict The scene showcases Abrams' new approach to Star Trek's main setting, the Enterprise. Much has been written about the ways in which the crew and Enterprise differ from those of previous TV and film incarnations, so I won't go over them. But I will say that Abrams takes seriously the idea that the Enterprise is vast, and we see many scenes filled with people in spaces that are very industrial (below decks, as it were) and immense. The bridge, by contrast, is sleek, white and filled with electronic screens, and the peppy crew look the part in their red, blue and gold tunics.
There are some differences with classic Trek. Abrams' choice is to direct with an emphasis on energy and movement, and the camera seems never to stop moving. There's a lot of running and yelling and overlapping dialogue, which adds urgency but may be jarring to die-hard Trek fans used to previous Trek films' more deliberate pace. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
The other issue is the humor. The original Trek had a gentle, dry sense of humor, exemplified in Spock's arid delivery and McCoy's country-doctor aphorisms. The humor in this scene, by contrast, is very broad and almost slapstick, particularly concerning Kirk's various symptoms (hands that balloon like mittens, a tongue that swells and lolls in his mouth) and in Urban's delivery of McCoy's lines, which exaggerate DeForest Kelly's cadences. Similarly, Anton Yelchin--an actual Russian by birth--delivers Chekov's lines in a stagy Russki patois that milks his mispronunciation of such words as "Victor" ("Wiktor"). Whether the rest of Trek's humor is as broad remains to be seen.
Footage Kirk has met up on an ice planet with Spock--not the one played by Zachary Quinto, but the older Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, from the future. The two find Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg), where he has been laboring in obscurity, to help them get back to the Enterprise by way of "trans-warp" beaming.
Our verdict Seeing Nimoy's Spock is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. He seems particularly frail, though his voice remains as distinctive as ever. Pegg's Scotty nails the accent, but again, we have an issue with broad humor. Of the Enterprise, he says, "I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles."
The scene in which Scotty natters on about his situation to a diminutive alien also seems far more Star Wars than Star Trek. In fact, there are several touches in Abram's Trek universe that seem more Star Wars-ish than Trek, such as the presence of grotesque aliens in that Iowa bar, a la the cantina in Mos Eisley. But the scene finds its heart when old Spock bids farewell to young Kirk: He flashes that Vulcan salute and says, "Live long and prosper." He also says he learned cheating from an old friend, another allusion to Wrath of Khan and Kirk's admission that he cheated on the Kobayashi Maru simulation.
Footage The final scene is an action sequence in which Kirk, Sulu and a "redshirt"--he's actually wearing a red suit--"space jump" out of a shuttle to try to land on a high-orbit drilling platform constructed by the Romulans above the Vulcan surface. The thrilling sequence includes high-velocity descents, sword fighting (Cho's Sulu knows "fencing," naturally) and a last-minute rescue.
Our verdict The scene showcases Abrams' action directing chops, first seen in Mission: Impossible III. It's top-notch all around, with terrific visual effects--the spiky Romulan drilling platform looks very science-fictiony--suspenseful action and great stunts. When Cho pulls out his retractable sword, however, we again enter Star Wars territory: There's a mano-a-mano duel that wouldn't have been out of place in Episode I. Still, it's nice to see Sulu rescue Kirk and be given such prominent action. Kirk, of course, returns the favor in dramatic style. (Continuity check: The first-season original series episode "Balance of Terror" asserts that Romulans have never been seen, yet in this scene Kirk and Sulu plainly battle Romulans.)
Conclusion There is much to like in Abrams' new take on Star Trek. But we'll have to see the entire film to judge whether it successfully reboots the franchise. In particular, the franchise's heart and soul--the interactions among the key characters--are only hinted at in the preliminary footage. Stay tuned.
Just by reading that, I would say you will have to look at Trek in a whole new light. I'm very curious about Spock going into the past. Maybe realizing that he is the reason the crew is together for so long.
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J.J. Abrams and the cast of Star Trek unspooled about 20 minutes of footage from the upcoming reboot movie, and SCI FI Wire watched with a critical eye on Nov. 19 at the Paramount Studios lot in Hollywood. The verdict: mixed, but generally good. More on this in a bit.
I won't go into great detail describing the footage, which was previously screened in New York and London and posted Web-wide last week. (ComingSoon.net has a particularly detailed description of the footage.) I will, however, recap some of the key points and offer up impressions of the new movie from the point of view of a longtime, if casual, fan of the franchise.
Abrams was on hand, an enthusiastic cheerleader for the film, as he has been on other occasions, but this time he was joined by most of the key cast, including John Cho (Sulu), Ben Cross (Sarek), Zachary Quinto (Spock), Chris Pine (Kirk), Bruce Greenwood (Pike) and Chris Hemsworth (George Kirk, Jim's dad). As befits the early screening of footage from a high-profile sci-fi movie in Hollywood, there were a number of other genre luminaries in attendance, including Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige and Rob Burnett, director of Free Enterprise.
But to the footage. Abrams screened four scenes. (Major spoilers ahead!)
Footage In the first, we meet the young James T. Kirk (Pine) as he flirts with Uhura (Zoe Saldana) in a bar, gets into a bar fight with Starfleet cadets and is rescued by Capt. Christopher Pike (Greenwood). The scene is a pivotal one in which we learn a couple of things:
--Kirk's father was the captain of a starship "for 12 minutes," during which he saved 800 people, including young Kirk and his mother, and presumably died.
--Pike tells Kirk, "Your dad didn't believe in no-win situations," a clear allusion to Kirk's own statement in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
--Kirk has been fighting what Pike sees as his destiny, to be a starship captain, though Pike tells him he has his father's "leap before you look" mentality--something that Starfleet has been missing.
--Kirk is persuaded by Pike's inspirational speech--that he is meant for something greater than being the only "genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest"--and boards a shuttle for Starfleet Academy at the very shipyard where the Enterprise is being assembled, in an Iowa cornfield.
Our verdict The scene has a lot of heart, but it may trouble die-hard Trek fans for a couple of reasons. This small glimpse of Abrams' future Earth bears little resemblance to Gene Roddenberry's conflict-free paradise. The barfight--though it recalls one in which Jean-Luc Picard nearly died in Star Trek: The Next Generation--is brutal, and the Starfleet cadets seem like thugs who fight dirty. The concept of alcoholism, similarly, is alien to the Trek universe (Scotty's occasional indulgence in a wee dram notwithstanding), and there is a suggestion in Kirk's behavior that he's proceeding down the dissolute path of his abusive uncle. (And wasn't the Enterprise assembled in space?)
The good news is that the scene is full of energy and life and gives realism to Kirk's Iowa world, which seems not that different from our own. Greenwood's Pike has the proper gravitas and dignity to be a Starfleet captain, and Pine's impulsive, headstrong Kirk feels just right.
Footage Cadet Kirk is smuggled aboard the Enterprise by his doctor friend, Leonard "Bones" McCoy (Karl Urban), who has injected him with something to simulate disease symptoms. It's an end run around a Starfleet regulation so that Kirk--who was banned from the ship for getting into too much trouble--can be aboard as the Enterprise, on her maiden voyage, takes part in a rescue mission to Vulcan. We see much of the ship and the young crew and get a sense of the new dynamics among them. Ultimately, the rescue mission sparks something in Kirk's memory, and he rushes to the bridge to inform Capt. Pike that they are entering a trap set by the Romulans.
Our verdict The scene showcases Abrams' new approach to Star Trek's main setting, the Enterprise. Much has been written about the ways in which the crew and Enterprise differ from those of previous TV and film incarnations, so I won't go over them. But I will say that Abrams takes seriously the idea that the Enterprise is vast, and we see many scenes filled with people in spaces that are very industrial (below decks, as it were) and immense. The bridge, by contrast, is sleek, white and filled with electronic screens, and the peppy crew look the part in their red, blue and gold tunics.
There are some differences with classic Trek. Abrams' choice is to direct with an emphasis on energy and movement, and the camera seems never to stop moving. There's a lot of running and yelling and overlapping dialogue, which adds urgency but may be jarring to die-hard Trek fans used to previous Trek films' more deliberate pace. This is not necessarily a bad thing.
The other issue is the humor. The original Trek had a gentle, dry sense of humor, exemplified in Spock's arid delivery and McCoy's country-doctor aphorisms. The humor in this scene, by contrast, is very broad and almost slapstick, particularly concerning Kirk's various symptoms (hands that balloon like mittens, a tongue that swells and lolls in his mouth) and in Urban's delivery of McCoy's lines, which exaggerate DeForest Kelly's cadences. Similarly, Anton Yelchin--an actual Russian by birth--delivers Chekov's lines in a stagy Russki patois that milks his mispronunciation of such words as "Victor" ("Wiktor"). Whether the rest of Trek's humor is as broad remains to be seen.
Footage Kirk has met up on an ice planet with Spock--not the one played by Zachary Quinto, but the older Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy, from the future. The two find Montgomery Scott (Simon Pegg), where he has been laboring in obscurity, to help them get back to the Enterprise by way of "trans-warp" beaming.
Our verdict Seeing Nimoy's Spock is heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time. He seems particularly frail, though his voice remains as distinctive as ever. Pegg's Scotty nails the accent, but again, we have an issue with broad humor. Of the Enterprise, he says, "I'd like to get my hands on her ample nacelles."
The scene in which Scotty natters on about his situation to a diminutive alien also seems far more Star Wars than Star Trek. In fact, there are several touches in Abram's Trek universe that seem more Star Wars-ish than Trek, such as the presence of grotesque aliens in that Iowa bar, a la the cantina in Mos Eisley. But the scene finds its heart when old Spock bids farewell to young Kirk: He flashes that Vulcan salute and says, "Live long and prosper." He also says he learned cheating from an old friend, another allusion to Wrath of Khan and Kirk's admission that he cheated on the Kobayashi Maru simulation.
Footage The final scene is an action sequence in which Kirk, Sulu and a "redshirt"--he's actually wearing a red suit--"space jump" out of a shuttle to try to land on a high-orbit drilling platform constructed by the Romulans above the Vulcan surface. The thrilling sequence includes high-velocity descents, sword fighting (Cho's Sulu knows "fencing," naturally) and a last-minute rescue.
Our verdict The scene showcases Abrams' action directing chops, first seen in Mission: Impossible III. It's top-notch all around, with terrific visual effects--the spiky Romulan drilling platform looks very science-fictiony--suspenseful action and great stunts. When Cho pulls out his retractable sword, however, we again enter Star Wars territory: There's a mano-a-mano duel that wouldn't have been out of place in Episode I. Still, it's nice to see Sulu rescue Kirk and be given such prominent action. Kirk, of course, returns the favor in dramatic style. (Continuity check: The first-season original series episode "Balance of Terror" asserts that Romulans have never been seen, yet in this scene Kirk and Sulu plainly battle Romulans.)
Conclusion There is much to like in Abrams' new take on Star Trek. But we'll have to see the entire film to judge whether it successfully reboots the franchise. In particular, the franchise's heart and soul--the interactions among the key characters--are only hinted at in the preliminary footage. Stay tuned.
Just by reading that, I would say you will have to look at Trek in a whole new light. I'm very curious about Spock going into the past. Maybe realizing that he is the reason the crew is together for so long.
