The new Star Trek movie (Star Trek XI)

[Kehlan]

Youre quite right Kaz.  I've just been to see the film again, in the Czech republic.  Seeing it a second time, even with Czech subtitles, I found I was more aware of the holes in the plot but still got carried away and enjoyed it.  We're also going to see it with a group of friends next weekend, although back in england this time, am looking forward to a third viewing.

[Kaz Son of Maktan]

Wow, Czech subtitles! Cool. How was your third viewing? You know, I felt this during my first viewing and even more so with my recent third, but ST XI is like Top Gun in space.

[Kesvirit]

One of my operatives left this analysis of the new movie in my in-box. Apparently it has been making the rounds. (Operatives can be very useful. I highly recommend investing in a few if you have the means. Be warned that loyalty costs, and is worth every DarSeq*.)

Caveat: The Onion is a generator of satire. Those who do not appreciate this approach to reporting should either prepare for viewing by donning their combat-grade garment liners -- specifically, those that do not bunch -- or avoid the link altogether.

macgeek800 also offers this review, and she who fufils the duties of the Lady of the House here at the Consulate composed a similar report. If filthy lucre doth make the universe go 'round, then dissent is a close second. }}>: )

-=- Kesvirit


*unit of currency

[Kaz Son of Maktan]

Just saw the "analysis" and loved it! I love the Onion!

[Kehlan]

I can't see it, think it might not be playable outside the USA, I just get a blank screen

[Kesvirit]

Kehlan, your inability to see the vid may be a matter of browser plug-ins. A missing or misbehaving Flash or Java plug-in can cause all kinds of trouble.

Do you have the current version of Flash installed in whatever browser you are using?  I just installed some sort of proxy-thing, and when I go to The Onion site to watch the vid using my usual browser (Firefox 3.0.11), I get a big blank square that says “Get Flash” in small print in the upper right corner of the empty space where the video should be. I think this is because I had to disable Flash and Java to install the proxy. (And no, I have no idea what I’m doing, and yes, it’s causing problems.)

But when I tried it with my back-up browser, the just-upgraded, out-of-the-box Safari 4.0 that I haven’t bothered customizing, everything worked fine. The vid loaded and played.  My suggestion is to try to watch it in another browser -- one which you haven’t mucked about with, whose default factory settings are more or less in place  }}: /  -- and see what happens. Here’s hoping someone who actually knows what they are doing can offer more specifics and upgrade my trouble shooting from suggestions to actual advice.

[KlingonAndorianOrion]

It had some good and bad parts.

Good:
The Orion Woman (Gailla I think) because Orions need more representation, and I'd like to see them go to having always had red hair the same way Klingons went to having always had head ridges.
Destroying Vulcan because it shakes things up (more on that later)

Bad:
Replacing McCoy wth Uhura in the top tier of main characters
Romulans as villains (Evil Space Elves FTL)
Being TOS
Even at warp speed how can Spock reasonably outrun something travelling at the speed of light to get in its way with a technology he invents only after the thing has come into existence?
Why would a powerful civilization like the Romulans need Fed help with something like this anyways?  Their ships are powered through artifical black holes.  Why not use one of those to suck up the emissions from the supernova?

I'm no fan of TOS, and I really like continuity.  Continuity is what gives things meaning beyond that they have on their own.  You can't buy it.  You can only invent it, and that takes time.  By going alternate universe and back in time to the TOS we lose all the continuity we had built up over the years because its unlikely we'll see it again in the near future (outside of books anyways;  given the nuTrek book delays it seems like Paramount's marketting geniiuses have figured out nuTrek fans aren'tgoing to buy books and old fans won't buy nuTrek books).  More below as my my computer is having trouble

[KlingonAndorianOrion]

However, nuTrek runs into even more trouble in that like most alternate universes it does not exploit the freedom it supposedly gains from getting rid of continuity.  Trek has been severly limited by the fact that in TOS the only big civilizations we see are the Feds, Klingons, and Romulans.  Yeah they had the Tholians and Orions in there too.  However, the Tholians have done pretty much nothing since then, and while the Orions are slavers and pirates they're not really into kicking butt and taking names on anything more than a shipwide basis.  TNG comes in and introduces some new civilizations.  Ferengi become jokes instead of the new Klingons.  Cardassians go on to do well for themselves in DS9.  Borg are monsters, but because they were so awesome when they showed up they can't become a regular enemy without losing their cool (see VGR).  DS9 makes the Cardassians respectable, shows the Breen, and adds the Dominion but subtracts them by the end of the series.  Point being because the Klingons, Feds, and Romulans were so powerful in TOS everyone else is strangled out since there isn't enough space for more powerful civilizations to live in.

NuTrek could have changed that, but it doesn't seem to have done so.  At least they destroyed Vulcan which promises to change the status quo somewhat.  However, it seems that like most alternate universes (Ultimate Marvel I'm looking at you) mostly we'll see the same things happening in a similar manner instead of something radically different replacing them thus the alternate universe more or less reestablishes the same continuity which supposedly made new stories impossible to tell which was the justification for its existence in the first place.  I near the next one is going to be a remake of TWOK.  How original.

Also as a new student of Klingon it would have been nice to see the dialogue expanded some.  Ultimately the fact that I can't even remember how the movie ended even though I only first saw it a month or two ago seems to indicate that even though the action bits were fairly good I didn't really like the movie that much.  I'm not joking.  I have no idea what happened after the spire was destroyed.  I can't remember ever forgetting the ending of a movie that quickly.