the more i think about it...

[acroyear]

the less i actually find i like about the new star trek film.

1a) rogue romulan: it's been done, and far too many times.
1b) rogue supervillain with the goal of killing only one person using a weapon that can destroy a planet: it's been done, and far too many times.
2a) chekov as "under-appreciated genius" goes against the original character. they only reason they gave him that role was because Scotty wasn't around yet.
2b) scotty as "just the comic relief with spurts of genius" goes against the original character. it does get him closer to the movies, but the scotty in the movies progressed to get to that point, from the more serious genius character with spurts of humor that he was in the series. In the series, his humor surprised and shocked us, revealing a depth to him, a depth fully embraced by the films. In this film, it actually makes him more shallow to have all this humor first - the only reason we're supposed to respect him at all is 'cause "Real Spock" says he's Scotty. [oh, and note how little Chekov has to do once Scotty is actually in action, assuming the role he's supposed to - it'll make Chekov now a weaker character in the rebooted franchise than he was in this first film]
2c) Uhuru as an "black-American urbanite" goes against the original charcter. you, under no circumstances in the film, ever get the idea that she was African first. [and nevermind the Spock romance crap]

oh, and maybe it was just our theater, but damn it was LOUD. first time in my life i'd needed earplugs to watch a movie.

on the other hand, they got McCoy right. I can live with that. :)

but really, it is highly unlikely i'll be driven to actually see the next one in a theater. cute characters, but it hasn't really proven itself to be "star trek" to me (who has been watching the original since I was 5). i'll probably buy the DVDs when they come out, of course, but probably never again in a theater.

Comments

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

LOL, I have to laugh. You are usually very open about your opinions on a wide variety of issues (generally very thought-invoking, whether or not I agree). Yet you put your opinions about a Star Trek movie behind a cut?!?

Regarding loud theaters -- I'm finding that more and more, I'm wanting to stuff popcorn in my ears -- either they are generally getting louder, or I'm just becoming more sensative. And I wish those kids would stay offa my lawn! Dagnabbit. Seriously, though, I wonder if the kids running the projector have just completely ruined their hearing with all of todays electronic gizmos.

Which reminds me of something else (as long as I'm going off on random tangents anyway), I recently read a book in which characters basicaaly had internal i-phones, wired straight to the brain. Imagine how loud you could make something, if it by-passed the ear itself and was plugged directly into the aural nerve.

[acroyear70.livejournal.com]

re: behind a cut

There's a HUGE difference between politics and fandom. [though actually, i did it just for the joke].

as for the "implant"...hmm. generally, we haven't really been able to determine the actual stress limit for most of our nerves, aside from touch, because the sensor system itself (ear drum, retina, olfactory cavity, actual taste buds) usually gets overloaded and burn out first [a fact we share with most of our inventions, mind you].

the other thing about such an implant would be that the aural nerve alone wouldn't do it. "feeling" it is important (if it wasn't, we wouldn't bother with the ".1"), so would such a think also make you feel like you're vibrating?

[javasaurus.livejournal.com]

The book didn't go too much into the details of such "hearing" -- it focused more on having a constant chatter of messages that you could choose to "read" and respond to mentally, but very much like most people currently use facebook, IM, and e-mail. Video files and audio files were just part of the mix. Maybe this is a new trope in current sci-fi, this idea of internet in the brain. A book I read some time ago (not sure I could remember the title now) had a character going through a shopping center, and the store-fronts would target his "wetware" with low-range broadcasts, and he would have mental pop-ups of ads. All the things that we hate about the internet, forced into our heads, as we become more and more a slave to our need for connectivity.

[wilhelmina-d.livejournal.com]

I still remember reading about that years ago. The book was Cat Scratch Fever by Tara K Harper. Ever since I read that I've wanted something in my head that let me access books and music and such. Once Google came into my life I wanted it even more - there are so many times that I'm not by a computer that I could use instant information.

And with regards to the original post, all those are perfectly valid issues and yet I still enjoyed it greatly. :)

[xpioti.livejournal.com]

Maybe that's why smartphones are so popular. (I've been wondering why anybody would want to be easily accessed by their boss at all times.) I can't wrap my brain around wanting to be that available! :)

I really need to watch original Star Trek; I was really introduced into the phenomenon by TNG.