I went back and watched Star Trek(2009) again tonight. I agree... convenient. In theory, Star Trek is about a group of space explorers who deal with anything from ethics and moral issues to intergalactic civil war. The biggest part of Star Trek's appeal is the characters we relate to, look up to, and just generally admire as people who develop and grow throughout their journeys. The way I see it, prequel Kirk is not the Admiral Kirk we've came to know. He's still a far cry from that man. Prequel Kirk is different because his experiences and his life has been very different. He grew up without a dad, he's had to be more self-reliant. As a result, he is probably a little too arrogant, cocky, and overconfident for his own good. That doesn't matter. He is still at heart the same character. He doesn't do things for glory because he genuinely doesn't even know if he's going to go home alive or if he's going to share his father's fate. He still doesn't believe in the no-win scenario, and that's probably why he's more than willing to share in a plan that has a million to one shot at working but it does because hey... he's Kirk. He is a complex yet understandable character we as the audience relate to regardless of our age.
Spock is the Captain's moral compass. Kirk may want to get certain things done, but Spock is clearly in denial to do anything because he prefers to defer to other logical choices given his background but you know that he has also let his emotions get the better of him. We knew in the original series that he was so desperate to hide them. What would it take to make Spock strike a fellow crew member? Extreme emotional distress. It's not out of character given the events in TOS episodes such as This side of paradise and The Naked Time. Spock weeps openly, he even assaults his Captain. Arguably, he does that with murderous intent.
I think I've said this before, but I will say it again. If I had just lost my planet, planet Earth... people would be wise to put me on suicide watch. Not only would I have lost so many billions of beautiful, potential friends, family, but my culture in large part has been lost for good. I don't care how good one's Vulcan training is, Spock's outbursts are completely understandable. As for Kirk, I found it refreshing that he was ready to forgive and work together with Spock. That to me is also a true sign that he is our Kirk. It also showed a hint of maturity.
Now I come to the part that everybody talks about: Why didn't they shoot the drill? I'm going to explain this in as simple a way as I can, so please try and read carefully. Remember how there were something like 6-7 ships(Including the Enterprise) that warped out of space dock to aid Vulcan? By the time they left, the Narada had already started drilling into the planet surface. Everyone got that? Okay, so what happens? The Enterprise is behind, so they warp in and they find a massive debris field of about 5-6 ships. What do you think those ships tried to do? Well, if I were them, my first instinct would be to shoot the drill. But what happened to them? Well, as you can see, the Narada is still intact, the drill is still functioning... What do you think Captain Pike is thinking? You know what? I got a good idea! We just saw how those guys tried to aid Vulcan by shooting the drill, so I got a brilliant damn strategy... SHOOT THE DRILL! I mean if we die, at least it'll be for nothing! I mean it's not like suicide is against Federation law or anything!
I'm not concerned with the science of how the red matter works, how whether or not ejecting and detonating the warp core into a black hole to escape would work or not. My thought is we might find that one day, warping space may not be possible. Teleporting from one place to another may never be possible either. It's possible all this scientifically inaccurate stuff in the Star Trek movies may look to people as no more ridiculous than the notion of Warp 9 or Beaming up hundreds of tons of water containing two humpback whales.
What I found to be so great is the chemistry between the characters, the comradery between Kirk, Spock, Mccoy, Uhura, Sulu, Chekhov and Scotty works magnificently. They all have their wonderful dramatic purposes in the film. I just have a hard time understanding how anybody can straight up hate these new films. I can understand if you don't like them that much or you think they're overrated... but hate? The movies are so fast paced, so fun and exciting and the characters are so heroic that I just can't understand that assessment. It truly boggles my mind.
Topic: What was the last movie you watched? (Read 1581898 times)
