From Newsgroup: alt.tv.star-trek.tos   
   From Address: santolina@juno.com   
   Subject: Re: Star Trek: Am I the Only One?   
      
      
   On Dec 8, 6:03apm, t...@loft.tnolan.com (Ted Nolan ) wrote:   
   > > In article <753fb19a-33c6-4faa-8e5c-c57469bfb...@g1g2000pra.   
   ooglegroups.com>,   
   > > Santolina chamaecyparissus a wrote:   
   >   
   > > >Just watched the DVD of the new Trek film and I must say there are a   
   > > >couple of things I'm disappointed in. aFirst, the film, but only a   
   > > >little. aWhen I first read about the premise and the individuals who   
   > > >would be responsible for making it I set my sights rather low. aThis   
   > > >outing, I thought, will likely be heavy on pyrotechnics and light on   
   > > >everything else. aBut then the reviews started pouring in, and they   
   > > >were almost uniformly positive. aWe were assured that fans of the   
   > > >various incarnations of Star Trek, as well as the public at large,   
   > > >would be thoroughly entertained. aFair enough, I set my sights a   
   > > >little higher and was determined to like it. aTurns out my first   
   > > >instincts were closer to the mark.   
   >   
   > > >Second, I'm disappointed either in myself or popular culture in   
   > > >general, but I'm not sure which. aAfter all, consider the   
   > > >"story" (I'll avoid the temptation to compose a long essay on how   
   > > >threadbare it was and just leave the word in scare quotes).  Decimated   
   > > >by the loss of his family, a mad scientist named Soran skips across   
   > > >space and time looking for some sort of emotional resolution to his   
   > > >devastating loss. aThe answer lies in his destruction of an entire   
   > > >planet full of innocent people, but he doesn't care.........oops.   
   > > >Sorry, I forgot to note the "spoilers" there. aI just gave away the   
   > > >entire plot of the new Star Trek movie. aShoot. aAnd since there are   
   > > >no subplots or subtexts of any interest I've basically just summarized   
   > > >the whole darn thing. aOh well.   
   >   
   > > I liked the movie. aI'm not sure its better than TWOK which still   
   > > had the TV continuity and long established characterizations to   
   > > draw on, but it's a good start. aAnd there were plenty of subplots.   
   > > In fact, the main "stop the bad guy" plot was almost secondary to   
   > > the subplots. aYou could actually say the 'A' plot was "Kirk comes   
   > > of age"   
   Ugh.  Such as it was, it was one of the worst parts of the movie.  So,   
   Jim Kirk's father dies heroically and poor little Jim has to grow up   
   with a wicked stepfather.  Jim turns into a bad boy.  Fine.  Later on   
   Spock tells him that in an alternate timeline he has the good dad, and   
   Jim turns out.......the same?  Huh?  One might argue this in a class   
   about sociobiology, but in a drama it's retarded.  I'm sorry, but we   
   learn nothing new or interesting about Kirk.  Shatner's Kirk is a bad   
   boy too, Pine's is just a little more in your face.  And easily   
   persuadable it seems, since it took Capt. Pike about 45 seconds to   
   convince him to give up a life of boozing, whoring, and fighting in   
   favor of Star Fleet.  From there he lies, tricks, and stumbles his way   
   into a position of authority, helped along by another heavy dose of   
   plot theft; seems that there's a crisis on Vulcan and all Capt. Pike   
   has at his disposal are a bunch of attractive 20 year olds.  Jesus,   
   whatever.   
   > > with 'B' character plots of who is   
   > > "Spock/Uhuru/Bones/Sulu/Scotty/Checkov" this time   
   Bones, Sulu, Scotty, and Chekov are given nothing remotely interesting   
   to do except speak with funny accents.  Uhura tempts me to call the   
   whole movie misogynistic, since she is basically given nothing to do   
   except swoon over Spock.  The only interesting, slightly fleshed-out   
   character in the whole thing is, go figure, Spock.   
   Speaking of Spock, they manage to bollocks up even his character.  So   
   Kirk needs to be in command, but according to future Spock the only   
   way to do this is to trick young Spock.  So Kirk taunts young Spock   
   for 45 seconds and this Vulcan who has devoted his life to suppressing   
   emotion goes ballistic. That's frighteningly improbable, but not even   
   the worst of it.  You see, after losing his temper Spock suddenly   
   remembers a horseshit Star Fleet regulation which says that if you   
   have a bad day you have to relinquish command.  So naturally he   
   immediately turns to the suspended cadet stowaway who has spent more   
   time in honky-tonks than the Kobayashi Maru simulator and says, "here,   
   take over."  All makes perfect sense.   
   Vulcan, please.  This is insulting to the intelligence of the   
   teenagers at whom the movie was aimed, much less us grownups.   
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