Sure, Terminator Salvation is out, but I’m still Trekkin’…
Alright folks, I’m back to wrap up my Star Trek thoughts before delving into the apocalyptic visions of the Terminator series. This thing gets somewhat spoiler-ish, so you’ve been warned. Enjoy.
Reasons Why Star Trek Rocked the Known Universe, Part II: The Wrath of Khan
5. Casting Magic (continued) – As for the cast, I think that most of them are pretty much spot on. In my wildest dreams I couldn’t imagine someone being able to really bring Dr. Leonard McCoy back to the big screen in a better performance than the one that Karl Urban gives in this movie. While some may write off his Bones as little more than an impression, I think there’s a lot more to it than that. I think critic Drew McWeeney (who until recently was AICN’s Moriarty) put it best in his review when he said “it’s basically like someone stuck DeForest Kelley in a time machine and we got the 40 year old version playing scenes opposite this all-new cast.“
The guy is an absolute wonder, and his introductory scene where he counts down all the ways that he and Pine’s Kirk could die while on their way to the Enterprise is a bonafide showstopper of a scene. With Urban’s distillation of this character, it’s easy to see why we’ve always loved Bones in the first place. The character is all passion, and might just be the most human of all the characters in the entire cast. Of the triumvirate of Spock, Kirk, and McCoy, Bones was often the easiest one to identify with because he always went with his heart, and it was Kirk’s job to decide between whether it was with McCoy’s feelings or Spock’s logic that must lead them to victory. With Urban, we can see Bones is going to be in good hands for the immediate future.
Good things seem to be in store for us where the rest of the cast is concerned as well. The Star Trek universe’ penchant for funny accents is on display big time here, with Anton Yelch’s Chekov and Simon Pegg’s Scotty showing up to give us some big laughs. Sure, Yelchin is overdoing it as much as possible and Simon Pegg is really just playing Simon Pegg with a Scottish accent, but who really cares? Both of them get absolutely awesome moments in the film, each time having to do with transporter wizardry, and I hope they get even more signature moments as the movies go on. Both in the films and in various episodes, each were given command of the Enterprise at times or given key roles in developing stories, and I can only hope in these new adventures that the same care is given to these characters.
Now I can see where there could perhaps be a bit more grumbling coming from the fans of Hikaru Sulu, but I think film makers had to walk a fine line here. While Sulu is a beloved member of this Enterprise crew, his mannerisms and nature have always been firmly ingrained in the way that George Takei always portrayed him onscreen, but that performance has also kind of been open to parody in recent years (If you’ve ever heard the “Sulu Dance” you know what I mean). Just straight up though, I don’t think I’d want to hear a Sulu “impression” from another actor, so I’m glad that John Cho’s performance here is just his own interpretation.
Admittedly, he’s not really given a lot, but I like that Abrams picked up on Sulu’s fencing skills, most notably presented in the original episode “Naked Time” where Sulu is crazy and shirtless and challenging everyone to duels. Letting Sulu fight the Romulans on the huge space drill is actually one of the signature action set pieces from the film, and I’m glad it’s orchestrated as well as it is. Seeing Sulu on the bridge is a must for this series, but I’m hoping he’s given a little more to do next time.
Now for the most controversial new member of the cast we get Zoe Saldaña as Uhura. Now, this should pretty much be a slam dunk for this picture, as much like Sulu, Uhura is a constant with this group, but often had little to do. Now don’t get me wrong, I love Nichele Nichols, and I think she was a wonderful step for African Americans breaking through barriers in the 1960’s, but really there’s only so much a communications officer can do on a show. Other than Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and occasionally Scotty, Enterprise crew member’s personal lives were not often delved into. Sure, she got some juicy scenes, my favorites being her faux seduction of Sulu in “Mirror, Mirror”, and she was even given the first inter-racial kiss on TV, even though it was under the influence of alien captors, but often, especially in the original films, (other than the fan dance in Star Trek V) she was little more than a figure in the background.
Flash forward to this new Uhura and we get a character who actually gets to be an integral part of several scenes. Her rebuking of Chris Pine’s Kirk in the bar scene is nicely playful and she seems to have confidence when performing Uhura’s usual tasks, and frankly, she looks good in the retro Starfleet Uniforms, but none of those factors are what makes her controversial. I think it’s funny that when the trailers for the new film came out and it was implied that Uhura slept with Kirk in the movie, I think most people were ok with it because we know Kirk is nonstop skirt chaser, and we’ve seen them kiss before on the TV, but in the movie it’s not Kirk that wins Uhura’s affections, its Spock.
Now, again many are up in arms about this, but researching this fuller I found this article from Empire Magazine that states that this was actually an idea that on the original show, but TV execs baulked at the idea of an interracial (or interspecies) relationship on this show, even if it was trying to pioneer values and ideas. So here is perhaps Gene Roddenberry’s original vision for this couple on screen, but still some are upset. If we could get hints of a relationship between Scotty and Uhura in Star Trek V, why not Spock and Uhura in this new movie; especially when they may actually be some of the best scenes in the movie for either of them?
6. A Tale of Two Spocks – You’ll remember last week I left off talking about how I thought that Chris Pine was going to turn out to be just fine as Captain Kirk. Well when it comes down to it, Pine may have had the easier road to follow of the two leads in this new film. Sure, Pine has the weight of filling the shoes of William Shatner, and they’re incredibly huge shoes to fill, but at least Shatner isn’t in the same movie with him. Zachary Quinto on the other hand has to deal with the pressure of not only filling the role of the iconic Leonard Nimoy, but he also has to come face to face with the same icon. This is one of the highest forms of geek joy I’ve experienced in a movie in some time, to be able to see not one, but two different versions of Spock onscreen at the same time.
As with all the crew, I’ve grown up watching Spock on the big and small screen. Being too young to really grasp it, I can’t imagine what it must have been like for Trek fans to watch their beloved Vulcan die at the end of Wrath of Khan. It may actually be the single most important moment in all of Star Trek, and perhaps not only for the dramatic weight that it carried with it, but the fact that it was able to propel the series for two more movies just on this one death alone. If Spock hadn’t died at the end of Star Trek II, there may have been no other movies, no spinoff TV series and no reboot. Now with all the weight and responsibility of that character on both their shoulders, Leonard Nimoy and Zachary Quinto give us an awesome Spock duo in this movie.
What’s really great though, isn’t that they’re just playing mirror images of the same character at different ends of the temporal spectrum, but instead we’re getting to see what Spock was and will become. Quinto’s Spock is a man that is having to deal with the suppression of his emotions, and in the process may actually show more emotion than the rest of the cast. The way he cocks his eyebrow is classic Spock, but his turn at the Vulcan is a man that we’ve rarely seen, save for glimpses of giant emotions flooding out of the character in episodes such as “Amok Time”, “The Naked Time” and of course in Star Trek III when we see Spock growing to manhood at an exponential rate.
Making Jim and Spock adversaries in this initial film is a bold choice for Abrams and his crew, as it tears down the biggest foundational relationship of the entire series, and yet as he builds it back up, we see them earn that friendship that will go on to define them.
We’ve always heard and seen them as the best of friends, but seeing that friendship built from the ground up makes it just a little more worthwhile, and just as Abrams wanted to show Star Trek from a time when anyone could come onboard and enjoy it, we also see this relationship and where it will eventually go. Then there’s Leonard Nimoy.
You always hear about how there was a time when Nimoy didn’t want to play this character anymore and how he almost refused to be in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but after seeing Spock’s death and resurrection onscreen, I think that maybe no actor from the original series has come to terms with being identified with this one character more than Leonard Nimoy has, and why not? He seems to be having the time of his life here and in the mainstream media promoting this film! I’ve never seen him so many places before, and I love that he’s really more than just a cameo in this movie. His Spock is a benevolent man who knows the weight of his actions and how the choices these men make now will affect them for the rest of their lives, and yet he’s as jovial as I’ve ever seen him onscreen. For a Vulcan, he almost seems giddy, like a big kid getting to have the same fun of the men half his age.
Just on a personal note too, getting to hear Nimoy give “The Final Frontier” line at the end of the movie, maybe for the final time, ends this movie in a really perfect way, as again we see and hear the old and new come together one last time.
7. Green chicks – Why are Orion Slave Girls so hot and exotic? Don’t know, but I’m happy to see one in this movie.
8. In Space, No One Can Hear You Scream – I love that the space scenes in this movie were silent for the first time in the series. It’s a motif carried over from Firefly and Battlerstar Galactica, and it totally works for this new, modern Trek.
9.Bookends – In so many ways, I really think this movie is a wonderful bookend to Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I think that since its premiere and success, the Star Trek series has tried desperately to repeat what made Khan such a memorable milestone to the series, but hasn’t come close enough until now. Entries like Star Trek: First Contact and Nemesis have tried to repeat many of the same formulas, such as repeat villains from the series, familiar set pieces and character deaths, but Abrams’ film gets it right for several reasons.
First off, I think just as Wrath of Khan’s major themes were about vengeance and about dealing with the consequences of growing old, this new Trek revisits vengeance, but is primarily about growing up and taking control of your life while you still have your youth. Kirk must finally put away his childhood and finally fulfill his potential. It’s not Jim, but Spock that must learn to deal with great loss in his life and show what he’s made of in the face of adversity. Even the movie’s villain is after revenge because of the loss of his family due to an intergalactic explosion, only his weapon of vengeance isn’t a device that will create planets from nothing, but one that will make a planet vanish into nothing.
I even kind of like that to really know Nero’s motivation you had to read the Countdown comic book tie in before the movie. Really, if you think about it, what could be more Star Trek? Just as with some of the series’ best entries, Wrath of Khan and First Contact, you can watch this film on its own and enjoy it, but if you’ve ever seen “Space Seed” from the Original Series or “The Best Of Both Worlds” from Star Trek: The Next Generation, your enjoyment of those movies increases ten-fold.
There’s never been a universe that is like the Star Trek universe. Like the great comic book mythologies of Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man, Trek is a universe and a legacy that is not just the result of one man’s vision, but the vision of many contributors over the last four decades. Sure Gene Roddenberry’s work left the foundation, but creators such as Nicholas Meyer, Harve Bennett, Robert Wise, Leonard Nimoy, William Shatner, Jonathan Frakes, Brannon Braga, Ronald D. Moore, Rick Berman and many, many others have all put their stamp on Star Trek over the years throughout the different films and TV series to create this wonderful geek paradise. J.J Abrams is just the latest to do the same thing, and just like Spock, he’s risen this series from the grave, and I can only hope that his contributions will become greater and greater as time goes by.
