Star Trek! OMG!

I have been a Trekkie since I was little. My mom and I would watch old episodes of TOS at night, singing along with the opening and closing credits at the top of our lungs. That said, I wasn't sold on the cast in general, because I am wedded to my old ideals of what TOS should be, but HOLY CRAP! They were all so fantastically perfect in their roles!

Pines, Urban, Pegg, Saldana, Quinto...even the guys who played Chekov and Sulu. Pines really gave Kirk that asshole quality that we all loved in the TOS while also showing himself to be a brilliant captain and loyal friend. Urban WAS Bones through and through. When he screamed out "Dammit Spock I'm a doctor, not a physicist, the entire audience erupted in cheers and applause! Pegg was just enough funny and quirky to make Scottie less miserable than he sometimes seemed in TOS and much more of addition to the crew for his brilliance and ingenuity. Saldana made Uhura an actual part of the crew. She was not just a fixture at the communicator! She was sassy and sexy and much more accomplished than I recall them exploring in the TOS, where she was more of a Firefly-style companion with a real job. And Zachary Quinto...sigh...I knew he would be perfect because he looked the part 100%, but the acting! He was brilliant as Spock, showing the whole range of Vulcan/Human emotions while also managing to evolve from a bullied snot-nose know it all, to the Spock we all grew to love! Sulu was invigorated with badass-ness too. That sword fight really gave him some street cred, and Chekov was a wide-eyed genius, which doesn't really come across that well in TOS, though I have to admit, I rarely paid much attention to him.

**WARNING** SPOILERS TO FOLLOW!!!

Things I loved:

Character Development
From the first scene of Kirk driving his step-dad's stolen car to Spock getting tormented at school and beating the crap out of his bully, we are invested in these characters, and that bond only grows stronger as the movie progresses. All of their flaws are put out there up front so the audience has a chance to see how far they have come in maturity by the end of the film! We finally get a chance to see how difficult it really is for Spock to control his human side, and why Kirk is such a man-whore! They even worked Captain Pike back into the story! God, the person who wrote this script did some serious homework...even down to Sulu's combat experience being in fencing! Every character was essential and meaningful to the story.


Technology
They made a very real concerted effort to up the ante on the scientific knowledge quotient. They referenced all the past technology while making it feel relevant for today. Now all those people who complain about the BS science in the Original Series (TOS) can't complain about Star Trek being lame. This movie was better than any other sci-fi films I have seen in recent years.

Plot Twist
Alternate universe? Really? Brilliant! I was confused for a large part of the movie, trying to figure out how Vulcan could be destroyed, when Uhura and Spock hooked up, why Scottie was marooned in the middle of nowhere, and then it clicked...Duh, Nero went through a black hole and they are living a paralell life 130 years or so in the future. Now we can have different story trajectories while still maintaining the integrity of the story! Genius!

Spock and Uhura
I never remembered the two of them being so cozy, but others have pointed out some consistent flirting that I have to agree was in TOS. The chemistry between Quinto and Saldana was electric, and it was nice to see that side of them both which could not be shown in 1960s America. I also loved how Kirk did NOT get the girl this time. Plus, this may allow Spock to lose himself to his human side a bit more in the sequels. And boy do I hope there will be sequels!

I can't recommend this move enough. Even friends who knew nothing about Star Trek are raving. I will be seeing this again Tuesday if anyone wants to join in my obsession!

A bazillion thumbs up!


Until next time...