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Star Trek fans have a bad reputation of living up to the word fan, derived from “fanatic.”   So Star Trek films get a bad reputation as being something for the “crazies,” films that are outside the mainstream, though (thankfully for Paramamount) there are enough crazies to make feature length Star Trek films worth making.  I consider myself one of this lot, although “Trekker” or “Trekkie” is a more polite term.

Over the last two decades I’ve watched Star Trek blossom into such amazing acheivements as The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine, fade into Voyager and decay further into an ill conceived idea called “Enterprise.”  With “Star Trek: Nemesis” I was almost certain that it was all over for Star Trek – it seemed that all the creative juice had been sapped and the stories had become zombies of previous creative effort.

The folks at Paramount smelled death on a precious franchise. With only two options available, retire it forever or do a Galactica style reboot, the studio chose the easier option (after all, the last time Star Trek got cancelled a massive letter drive from die-hard fans resurrected the original series for a third and final season.

Because of the unique nature of Star Trek as a franchise it’s not really fair to give it only one review: the film is going to be something different to the action film loving movie-goer, which I consider myself,  than its’ going to be to the core of Star Trek fans, of which I’m also a member.  Thus I present you with my two reviews for Star Trek (2009):

WARNING: Contains Spoilers.

Star Trek (Everyone Besides Fans)

Rotten Tomatoes gives Star Trek 96%. That’s a fantastic rating, and it’s deserved.  Star Trek is everything you might want Summer Blockbuster to be: exciting, quick moving, interesting with good acting and a good story. If you want a fun movie to see this summer, this is it.  Star Trek has something for everybody, and the acting is excellent.

The techno-babble is at a minimum this time around, and plot devices are merely that: plot devices. No need to explain that the time distortion is a quantum fillament tear transiting subspace, etc. Probably the best Star Trek film for the masses ever made.  Seriously.

Star Trek (Fans)

Something feels wrong. It starts when the young James T. Kirk is driving in his car and you hear a very anachronistic sound: a Nokia phone ring.  The one that goes “do do do do do do do do do do do do doooooo.”   Kirk looks down at the digital display in the car, and sees a Nokia logo.  Later someone orders a Budweiser product at a bar.

The stickler would point out that after World War III (which happens in the Star Trek continuum) Nokia and Budweiser probably wouldn’t exist anymore, let alone currency of any kind (humans give it up in the future.) I don’t have a problem with a phone ring or a beer, I have a big problem with Nokia and Budweiser, and all the other horribly blatant advertisements starting out the movie. It put me in a bad frame of mind for the rest of the entire film. It does get better from there though.

The plot has a great number of issues in the form of plot holes, which I won’t go into. Simply put if you vested any feeling in what Star Trek was, you’re probably going to have some problems with this movie.

The Final Analysis

Star Trek 2009 isn’t old Star Trek, it’s new Star Trek. It’s a good movie, but it’s different. If you’re willing to let the past be the past you’ll like this movie even if you’re a Star Trek fan, everyone else should probable just like it from the start.  The “look” is also garish and jarring at times. I couldn’t count the number of Lens Flares, and the bridge of the Enterprise looks like an Apple Store, and the equipment like iTech.

In the final analysis however, it was either this or a tombstone.  Star Trek needs some fresh blood, and this is it.  I couldn’t help thinking that this isn’t the kind of Star Trek that Gene Roddenberry would like.  “But Super Awesome Blog Guy, Majel Barret Roddenberry liked it! She even did the computer voice!”

She also liked “Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda.” Shudder.

Also, the new Kirk (Chris Pine) is really hot, and you get to see him in his underwear. How could I complain that much? Go see Star Trek and enjoy the movie, and let’s hope the movies only get better from here!