Star Trek Film

[hawkida]

I watched the new Star Trek movie over the last couple of days (such things are the incentive for the treadmill use). Skip the rest of this post to avoid spoilers.

Was it just me or was Kirk just a jumped up, self obsessed, little moron? And did they have to hammer home the entire Vulcans-can-have-emotions-too schtick? I confess I'm not particularly au fait with the original stuff, but if this was anything to go by I wonder why anybody ever watched it. Was it true to the spirit of the original, or simply a load of tosh to keep the Trek cash-cow going into the next generation by giving the youth a grunting pretty boy to obsess over if they can tear themselves away from the vampire movies?

Comments

[seawasp]

It was reasonably close in spirit to the original, though this was Very Young Kirk. The older Kirk in the original is five years farther down the road at least, and more likely 10. I could easily see the original Kirk being like that: impulsive, cocksure, etc.(though, because the original didn't lose his father, probably less of an Angry Young Man).

Young men at that age ARE morons. No matter how smart and talented they are. I speak from clear knowledge of experience here, being someone who in terms of intellect was known to be extremely smart, and still did lots of stupid, stupid things at that age. This was an accurate portrayal; he got better over the course of the movie, I think, as he should, but he's still a man of about 20-24 years old. No wisdom, if he lives, he'll get some.

I'd have preferred a bit less emotion from Spock to begin with; on the other hand, this permitted the formation of the bond which drove the entire original series (the Kirk-Spock-McCoy triumvirate).

[stevegreen.livejournal.com]

Not according to the original series. In "Shore Leave", Kirk sketches himself as an Academy nerd, who had a brief affair with a (slightly older?) woman before he was forced to choose between their relationship and Starfleet.

Off the top of my head, there are references to his working his way up the ranks in "Obsession" and "Dagger of the Mind".

He's much, much too young to be left in command of the Enterprise.

[seawasp]

The youth is irrelevant. We're dealing with space opera and thematic necessity, not with accurate military portrayals (how many times did Kirk violate the supposedly desperately important Prime Directive? Fraternize with people he simply wouldn't have had direct contact with in a realistic setting?)

Nothing in the prior episodes applies, though, because this is a different Kirk. The same BASIC characters, the same BASIC setting, but NONE of the continuity applies. Old Spock is the last lingering trace of what Used To Be, and there's no saying that anything he recalls from his prior years actually exists any more. The branch point is AT LEAST as far back as Kirk's birth, and may be farther back.

[watervole.livejournal.com]

He's a very smart, self-obsessive. I felt he worked. In many ways, he's git, but he's also a git who thinks fast on his feet.

I wasn't happy with them doing the Vulcans have emotions thing so early on, but I could sort of see why they did it.

In the original series, it came out gradually, but in the present case, the fans already know it, so get it done and move on...

[seawasp]

I felt it was necessary in order to establish the main dynamic of the series; in the series we were presented with the three main characters as an accomplished fact, but there needed to be clear emotional interaction to connect Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in the movie.

[ajshepherd.livejournal.com]

Haven't seen it, but I suspect the answer is B...!

[squeakyg.livejournal.com]

I felt much the same way when I watched the film. Trouble is, the forum on which I chose to share my opinions (the SFX forums), was filled with people who ADORED the film. They thought I was trolling because I didn't like it! I suppose I wrote in an over-the-top way on purpose. The bit you might agree with:

"This is the most badly-behaved and unprofessional Starfleet crew I have ever seen ... Some goofy things have happened in Starfleet over the centuries, but I really can't believe a young third-year cadet can become captain of the fleet's flagship purely by being a magnificent bastard. I appreciate a few moments where Chris Pine truly gave brief flashes of a young Bill Shatner, but I spent most of the film thinking "What a prick.""

[minbarigirl.livejournal.com]

saw it yesterday... not v impressed. never liked the old series anyway and the kids prefer picard as well!

the old 'lets have an alternate universe so we can play around with stuff' is a bit old really.