I honestly thought I’d be the easiest fan to please. How wrong I was. I feel like my universe (ie. Gene Roddenberry’s universe) has been ripped apart, torn to shreds, and crapped upon. It’s been over 3 weeks since I’ve seen Star Trek, and I’m still mad.
[MAJOR SPOILERS and long rant ahead. You have been warned.]
I’m not one of those Trekkies that care about the technical details being off. I don’t care about the size of the Enterprise (although apparently, it’s huge compared to the original one). I don’t care about the size of the warp nacelles, how far apart they are, or what colour they are. I don’t care what colour Kirk’s eyes are.
I DO care about my Star Trek universe, the one I grew up on. It was an optimistic vision of the future that I could look forward to in every episode of every show (except maybe Enterprise, I missed that series). This movie basically says to me: “Your universe sucked. We’re throwing it out the window and making our own cooler, flashier one. Oh, and by flashier, I mean lens flares. LOTS OF THEM.” Okay, I don’t actually care about all the lens flares, but there really was a ridiculous amount of them.
The whole concept of “your universe sucked” was reiterated in their whole “This isn’t your father’s Star Trek” campaign. Excuse me, mister, but “my father’s Star Trek” was nothing short of awesome. It was a show ahead of its time. It foresaw a future in which all humans (and even some aliens!), regardless of race and gender, were united and equal.
I didn’t think I’d care about the movie being non-canon, but it was EXPLICITLY non-canon. They exploited a loophole to create a non-canon universe and still claim it’s canon. NO, IT’S NOT. It’s another timeline/universe/reality/notstartrek. As a friend put it, “they cheated”. If they had made a movie about the Mirror Universe, it would not be the Star Trek universe (and the movie would be titled something like Mirror Star Trek, instead of claiming to be something it’s not). Yes, the Mirror Universe is part of Star Trek canon, but it’s still another universe.
There is really just one thing that bothers me with this new universe. Fine, kill Kirk’s father. Fine, kill Spock’s mother. Kill off all the parents! The Spock/Uhura thing was REALLY WEIRD, but whatever, not the end of the world.
You know what WAS the end of the world (literally)? Vulcan.
So much for “Live long and prosper”! I couldn’t believe they let that happen. And NO ONE CARED. To me, Vulcan is such an important part of the Star Trek universe. Who initiated first contact with humans when they reached warp capability? The Vulcans. Who founded the Federation with the humans (along with some other races, but they’re not as interesting)? The Vulcans. Where does the VULCAN nerve pinch come from? Where does the VULCAN hand salute come from? Live long and prosper?!!
“It’s a necessary evil for Star Trek to survive.” Don’t give me that crap. Is it really necessary to sacrifice Vulcan? Does it make the movie better? Was anything accomplished with its destruction? For all I know, Saavik and Tuvok died on that planet. They didn’t even show any real impact of the destruction. I didn’t agree with the argument for the ending of the movie Watchmen, but at least the destruction that occurred there led to something.
I just can’t believe they would wipe out this essential part of Star Trek. And no one in the movie cared or did anything about it! Oh yay, they got 5 old guys to preserve their culture. Who cares about the 6 billion lives lost, right? Oh, and they saved Earth from destruction, so who cares about Vulcan? Only humans are important, right?!!!
Star Trek is all about equality; it is not the Star Trek way to only care about humans. I’m reminded of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home or Star Trek: First Contact, where Kirk and Picard travelled back in time in order to save Earth. Was anything of the sort done for Vulcan? In Voyager, Janeway stranded her crew in the Delta Quadrant in order to save the Ocampans, an alien race she just met.
Well, I guess none of that matters, since this is a different universe. At the end of the movie, when Nero’s ship gets sucked into the singularity, I was really hoping that the Enterprise would also get sucked in and somehow save Vulcan. Or, if anything, young Spock should’ve sacrificed himself to save his people. You know, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one. But of course, this is a different universe, so this Spock is not as cool as Leonard Nimoy.
I have no beef with the actors. They did what the script asked of them. Chris Pine was admirable as Kirk. A friend asked me how he compared to William Shatner. My response: He was really good, but he’s no Shatner! Simon Pegg’s Scotty was fun to watch (maybe it was just me, but his accent sounded more British than Scottish). Karl Urban’s McCoy was just awesome. He WAS Bones. Nero wasn’t as interesting a villain as I would have liked. He was basically a (not that great) copy of Khan, if you ask me.
I did enjoy most of the movie, especially the Trekkie moments, but Vulcan really ruined it for me. I’m surprised that the movie is doing so well, among Trekkies and non-Trekkies alike. It’s been out for 3 weeks, and it’s still rated 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. If I were to rate it generally as a movie, I’d say it was okay, not quite “sumthin’ special”. As a Star Trek movie? Well, you know how I feel.
It sucks that no one else seems to care about Vulcan (in the movie and in real life). I feel like I’m alone in my state of mourning.