[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Star Trek, pretty awesome.

http://www.theonion.com/content/vide...star_trek_film

[bulldog]

I'm looking forward to the new Harry Potter movie.....

[kuze]

In America - a beatiful movie about Irish immigrants in America, through they eyes of a child. Liked it very much.

After Hours - Amazingly entangled and crazy story about coincidences, that aren't. A comedy with the sweet flair of the 80ies, loved it as well.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Brokeback Mountain finally bubbled up in the queue, and is was awesome.

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Not A Speck Of Cereal

Star Trek, pretty awesome.

I went to see Star Trek with two of my co-workers. They are NOT into sci fi or Star Trek or anything of the kind. They accompanied me since we've decided to share each others interests.
Before we went I had made them each a Star Trek introduction paper and they were thrilled. We all enjoyed the movie!

Soon I'll have to go watch football/soccer and later on do some scrapbooking.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Word. This is not your grandfather's Star Trek!

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Not A Speck Of Cereal

Word. This is not your grandfather's Star Trek!

No, a lot more action and violence.
I like Star Trek for the sci fi tech stuff, but it had those ingredients as well. What I liked best was to see the crew of TOS from the very beginning. How they met and how they bonded.

[Squinky]

Synecdoche, New York The movie itself didn't do much for me -- it was much too convoluted for my limited attention span -- but the song at the end credits had me in tears.

[Fantasysci5]

I love the original "Star Trek", not the sequels, although Enterprise was okay. Anyway, I would consider myself a fan, if not an obsessed trekkie, and I liked the new movie. The coupling they chose really pissed me off, because that would NEVER happen, but I liked seeing how the friendships were formed, at least for them.

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Fantasysci5

I love the original "Star Trek", not the sequels,

I'm a big fan of S.T Voyager! I own the entire series and watch it all the time. Next I'm getting the Deep Space Nine series since I haven't seen it at all.

[kuze]

Originally Posted by Squinky

Synecdoche, New York The movie itself didn't do much for me -- it was much too convoluted for my limited attention span -- but the song at the end credits had me in tears.

I wanted to see that, the trailer looked promising. Is it too artsy?

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Originally Posted by Jelena

No, a lot more action and violence.
I like Star Trek for the sci fi tech stuff, but it had those ingredients as well. What I liked best was to see the crew of TOS from the very beginning. How they met and how they bonded.

http://www.theonion.com/content/vide...star_trek_film

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Originally Posted by Jelena

I'm a big fan of S.T Voyager! I own the entire series and watch it all the time. Next I'm getting the Deep Space Nine series since I haven't seen it at all.

I loved Voyager (though not enough to own it (I do own TNG)). DS9 on the other hand started well but turned into a soap opera that was not worth finishing. Like Enterprise--the next ST series after that--it was ST gone bad.

I understand your appreciation of all things Roddenberry and I too am glad that he spawned this series, but really, the last couple of films were really the death knell of the old franchise and the new film is a wonderfully fresh rekindling that pays VERY respectful homage to the history of ST. Yes, while changing the cannon of the series, and I'm totally okay with that treatment--alternate realities has ALways been what ST is about.

Any ST fan that doesn't embrace the new film is morbidly staunch.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by kuze

I wanted to see that, the trailer looked promising. Is it too artsy?

If you think there is such a thing as "too artsy", then it's probably not for you.

Personally, I absolutely loved it. The first time I watched, I was just trying to keep track of everything. I enjoyed many little parts of it, but the bigger picture eluded me. But then when I saw the final shot of the movie, it all clicked into place and I thought I saw what the movie was about. So I watched it again, thinking I understood it, and suddenly I started noticing things in the background which I'd totally ignored the first time I was watching, which make the movie a lot more interesting.

It's basically trying to be about absolutely everything: life, death, love, art, family, relationships. And as such there were some parts of it that really spoke to me, and some parts that didn't. I suspect that if I saw it again ten years from now, when I'm in a different place in my life, I'd get something totally different out of the movie.

[MoriartyL]

I also love Star Trek: Voyager, and I would warn Jelena to keep her hopes down when watching DS9. It mostly stinks. It's a much more character-driven show than the other Star Treks, and each of those characters starts out mildly interesting and then gets less and less compelling as the show goes on. For example there was one character who was interesting because he was so not human, and the writers gave him a clichéd human love story and then magically turned him human. That's just one example; almost every character has similar progression. And their idea of character development is usually just having a character babble on and on and on about childhood stories whose psychological impact on the character is never seen in the present. There are 36 episodes of the show worth seeing (out of 176 total); I'll send you a PM with the list.

I saw the new movie twice. That ought to tell you what I think of it. There was no chance I wouldn't like it, since the guys behind it are the guys behind some of my favorite shows like Fringe and Lost. (I think the "Red Matter" was a reference to their show Alias, which prominently and repeatedly featured floating red spheres made of weird liquid.) I agree that I could have done without what they did with Uhura, but I can see why they did it: she's kind of a worthless character, as she was. Now that having black people on the bridge isn't a big deal anymore, she needs to have more of a reason to be there.

I think that's something which they did exceptionally well: at the end of the movie you want all the original characters to be in the next movie, and not just because they used to be there. They found a way to get each and every one of those characters to work and seem like an important element of the series, and since that wasn't the case in the original show that's impressive.

The only major problem I have with the movie is that it feels like a pilot episode, but it's not a TV show. In TV shows, having a story which only exists to set up the status quo is fine, because the next week (or a few months later) you're getting the next one. But when we're not going to see the next movie for years, it's kind of annoying. Both times I walked out of the theater, I felt like I'd like to see the second one right now. Which is good for their business, I guess, but it also means there's something missing from this one. There was no plot. The characterization was great enough that that didn't bother me while watching, but then you get to the end of the movie and nothing's happened.

[Lucien21]

Well I would say that DS9 is the best of the recent series. It's not without it's problems but I prefered it to the Next Generation and Voyager.

It is the only one that has a ongoing plot arc and doesn't use the magic reset button after every episode. It's less morally good with it sitting on the darker side of Trek.

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

MoriartyL, I pretty much agree with all you said and I'm simply adding comments:

Originally Posted by MoriartyL

I saw the new movie twice. [me too] weird liquid.) I agree that I could have done without what they did with Uhura, but I can see why they did it: she's kind of a worthless character, as she was. Now that having black people on the bridge isn't a big deal anymore, she needs to have more of a reason to be there.

And that's really the least of their changes of cannon. But to me, the real artistry here was their success at being so irreverent in some ways while also paying great homage to the past. Really, if you look deep enough, there is respect in much more than the dialog and character development.

I think that's something which they did exceptionally well: at the end of the movie you want all the original characters to be in the next movie, and not just because they used to be there. They found a way to get each and every one of those characters to work and seem like an important element of the series, and since that wasn't the case in the original show that's impressive.

Quite, and that sort of answers your next point:

The only major problem I have with the movie is that it feels like a pilot episode, but it's not a TV show.

But it is a reboot, one that was designed to draw in new audience, and yet also balance it for the large base of existing fans. That's not an easy task. Look at the Batman reboot, so well done, but see the Superman reboot totally fall on its face.

In TV shows, having a story which only exists to set up the status quo is fine, because the next week (or a few months later) you're getting the next one. But when we're not going to see the next movie for years, it's kind of annoying. Both times I walked out of the theater, I felt like I'd like to see the second one right now. Which is good for their business, I guess, but it also means there's something missing from this one. There was no plot.

You mean beyond all of the scenes that introduced the characters and the various situations that led them to be there and together? Yes, that is arguably not a plot basis for a major motion film in of itself, but I don't see how you can dismiss the whole framework (from the start to end) of Nemo and his part in bringing this all together (without mentioning spoilers). And the new ... thing that he brings to the Roddenberry universe. That is both a plot, and a teaser, which is probably why you left the theater wanting more--this was by design, me thinks.

The characterization was great enough that that didn't bother me while watching, but then you get to the end of the movie and nothing's happened.

Nothing's happened?! Okay, mild spoiler time (wrapped in spoiler tags of course, so you are forewarned):

Spoiler:

Vulcan, Romulous, Spock-prime??

[Not A Speck Of Cereal]

Originally Posted by Lucien21

Well I would say that DS9 is the best of the recent series. It's not without it's problems but I prefered it to the Next Generation and Voyager.

It is the only one that has a ongoing plot arc and doesn't use the magic reset button after every episode. It's less morally good with it sitting on the darker side of Trek.

I didn't finish DS9 due to it's ongoing soap-opera development of its characters, so tell me: did they every come full circle in respect to Sisko being the emissary? That would be the only arc that I would like to see resolved in that series. If it did, good for them.

I admit that TNG injected several arcs that they did not finish, so-called conspiracies in the Federation that they never resolved. Thank Bergman for that. Yet they still had the best individual EPs, judged on an EP by EP basis.

But Voyager was a total win in that area. It a was absolutely a wrap--the season ended up finishing the mission of returning home. In many ways, this was the only ST series that did that, including TOS (which fell well short of their so-called 5 year mission).

[Jelena]

Originally Posted by Not A Speck Of Cereal

But Voyager was a total win in that area. It a was absolutely a wrap--the season ended up finishing the mission of returning home.

I think that is the main reason I like the Voyager series so much: the ongoing mission to get back home parallel to all the events they bump into.

[MoriartyL]

Originally Posted by Not A Speck Of Cereal

Nothing's happened?! Okay, mild spoiler time (wrapped in spoiler tags of course, so you are forewarned):

Spoiler:

Vulcan, Romulous, Spock-prime??

Spoiler:

Nothing happened to Romulus, not in this timeline. That's just backstory for the characters. Vulcan I'll give you, that was a surprising plot point.

Anyway, I don't mean that literally nothing at all happened, I mean that very little happened spread out over the entire movie. Understand that this is not really a criticism, since as I said the lack of plot didn't bother me either time that I watched it. It's just an explanation for why I felt like I wanted more after seeing it.

Originally Posted by Not A Speck Of Cereal

I didn't finish DS9 due to it's ongoing soap-opera development of its characters, so tell me: did they every come full circle in respect to Sisko being the emissary? That would be the only arc that I would like to see resolved in that series. If it did, good for them.

Spoiler:

By the final season Sisko doesn't have any doubts that he's the Emissary anymore, and Sisko's storyline becomes a generic "good gods vs. evil gods" fight. The climax of that whole character arc is a fist-fight with now-insane Gul Dukat over an evil book. It's rather pathetic. Kai Opaka never shows up again, even though she said their paths would cross again.

I think it's ridiculous to praise DS9 for having an ongoing plot, because the ongoing plot is terrible. The Cardassian-Bajoran conflict never goes anywhere, instead being replaced by yet another conflict. That new enemy is promised (in the season 3 finale) to be really scary and capable of striking Earth, and then they resolve the whole threat in a two-parter later. At the end of the fifth season the writers set up a new, interesting status quo, then use a deus ex machina to undo it a few episodes later as if it never happened. A major war breaks out, and it's almost completely ignored for its duration. Then it finally builds up to what seems like it'll be a huge climax, and it's resolved in something like thirty seconds.

It's perfectly obvious that the writers had no clue where they were going at any step during the way. That is no way to write a long-form story. If you want plot, you watch Babylon 5. You don't watch DS9.