What's Old, What's New in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek
"Lost" Director Works with Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Leonard Nimoy
May 16, 2009
How do you refresh a 40-year-old franchise that has seen numerous incarnations? Travel back in time and change history.
The new Star Trek takes place in an alternate reality. It's a daring move on the part of director J.J. Abrams (Mission Impossible III, Lost) and writers Robert Orci (Transformers) and Alex Kurtzman (Transformers), allowing themselves a wider margin for deviation from the original.
How did we get there? A renegade Romulan, Nero, played by Eric Bana (Troy, Hulk) has ripped a hole in space seeking revenge after his home planet was destroyed.
Spock Tried to Save the Day
Ambassador Spock (Leonard Nimoy) had tried to save Romulus and failed, and Nero blames him (Roll your eyes: even though Romulus would have been destroyed anyway by a supernova.)
In the course of the supernova, a blackhole is formed and Nero's mining ship, a menacing multi-pronged monstrosity worthy of the Borg, goes through it. So does Spock's ship. Only the two ships turn up on the other side 25 years apart. ??Nero bides his time, waiting 25 years for the man whom he blames for his planet's destruction. (Why? Who knows, but it conveniently gives the young Kirk time to grow into a man.)
On this side of the blackhole, it's 130 years in the past. Nero's presence in the past changes history. He captures Old Spock, step one in his plan for revenge. Old Spock points out to him that since history is being changed, his planet may never be destroyed. But Nero's not going to let logic spoil a super revenge plot. He's going to force Spock to watch his home planet of Vulcan implode, just as Romulus did.
Confused? It doesn't matter, because you'll be dazzled by the special effects, the verisimilitude of the new characters we've loved so long, and their familiar witty repartée.
Chris Pine (The Princess Diaries 2) steps into the big shoes as Captain James T. Kirk, and to his credit, he doesn't overtly try to mimic William Shatner. There is a close enough resemblance and moments when you almost believe you glimpsed Shatner.
Zachary Quinto (Heroes) as New Spock does a courageous job of acting, but he simply doesn't have Nimoy's deep, resonant voice. In the hands of Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead), Scotty is ridiculous comic relief.
Actor Karl Urban Delivers Most Memorable Moment in Star Trek
In short, the best thing is Karl Urban (Lord of the Rings) as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy. His performance is the only authentic Trek moment in the movie, a moment when you will remember what you loved about the original series.
Overall, too much happens, too conveniently. After spending most of his life as a delinquent, Kirk all but slides into the captain's chair (say what?). Uhura (Zoe Saldana) gets her job because the communications officer aboard the Enterprise can't understand Romulan! Scotty gets to be engineer even though in this alternate reality he doesn't actually figure out the formula he is famous for-Old Spock gives it to him.
Possibly the biggest oversight of the film is that there are no beauty shots of the U.S.S. Enterprise, Shatner-Kirk's true love. In earlier films, the Enterprise is unveiled in all her glory in slow camera pans accompanied by a swelling orchestral soundtrack. This time, what we see of the old girl is the bridge, seemingly modeled after an Apple Store, and a strange, orange engine room that recalls the final scene of The Terminator.
It's not hard to predict that this new crew is going to grow on us and eventually be as beloved as the original crew, despite this uneven start. There is plenty for Trek fans to applaud and plenty to draw in new viewers. But Star Trek also reminds us of what has become tiresome about the franchise, including cold-blooded enemies who dwell in the dark bowels of their sinister ships.
