Now, I'll be honest. Expectations were pretty low as I went into Star Trek Beyond. I did not like Star Trek Into Darkness, as I have blogged and podcasted extensively about. The trailers, with their dirt bike races and Beastie Boys soundtrack, left me cold. But still, after all this, Star Trek remains my first fandom, so I knew I had to make it out opening weekend.
And much like Ghostbusters, I am pleasantly surprised at how much I FREAKIN' LOVED IT!
Seriously. This is the most fun I've had with a Star Trek film ever since, well, the first film in this reboot series. There is no gigantic callback to a better Star Trek film that pulls you out of the action...this is free to be its own thing. However, there are also lots of Star Trek Easter Eggs, like sprinkles on your sundae, that just make everything sweeter. (A lot of them, shockingly, have to do with Star Trek: Enterprise. I'm re-watching that one on Netflix right now, so maybe it was just top of mind.)
The starship Enterprise is halfway through its 5 year mission of deep space exploration, and a certain malaise is starting to envelop the crew. Kirk and Spock are starting to entertain other offers. While make a stop at Yorktown -- Starfleet's most remote starbase -- to re-stock and for some shore leave, a distress call is received from a nearby unexplored nebula. Since the Enterprise is the most advanced ship there, our heroes go off to investigate. But, it turns out to be a trap, and soon, the Enterprise is destroyed, and our heroes are stuck on an unknown planet, littered with alien technology, and at the mercy of a warlord named Krall. With the help of Jaylah, an escapee from Krall's wrath, Kirk, Spock, Bones, and all the rest valiantly try to stop Krall. Just who is Krall and why does he have such a beef with the Federation? One of the many mysteries out here, in the final frontier.
This is an episode of the original series writ large. Krall's true identity and motivations are straight out of many classic original series episodes. And Idris Elba plays him as a classic villain. Sophia Boutilla as Jaylah is a fun new addition to our crew. The whole thing is just fun.
While stranded on the planet, Spock and Bones get paired off, and we're treated to some classic Spock and Bones dialogue. And Leonard Nimoy's death is worked into the show quite poetically.
If I have one problem, it's got to be the fight scenes. They're so dark that it's tough to follow the action.
I give it 3.5 Nibs! Full review over on the website.
I've got another blog entry in me geeking out about all the trailers that came out of San Diego Comic Con, and I was going to save this for that. But since I'm talking Star Trek, this seems like a good place to do it.
We have a title and name of the ship for the new Star Trek series. Get ready for...Star Trek: Discovery.
A week or so ago, they did announce how we're getting it in Canada. I think we're the only country in the world where it's going to be on broadcast television. They'll be showing it on Space, with episodes eventually making their way to Crave TV, and Netflix too, if I read the news release correctly.
To unveil the title, they also put together this announcement teaser that was shown at San Diego. And this is a deep cut Star Trek reference here.
That ship, my friends, is the McQuarrie Enterprise.
Ralph McQuarrie, of course, is the legendary artist that designed the Star Wars universe. The ships, the droids, Darth Vader's armor...all McQuarrie. Now, back in the 1970s, McQuarrie was commissioned by Paramount to redesign the Enterprise from of their many failed Star Trek reboots. And that's what McQuarrie came up with!
I know, a lot of people are complaining about the quality of CGI in that clip. The creators have already said that they just threw that together in 3 weeks to have something to show at San Diego, and that the finished TV series will look much better.
And already there's rampant fan speculation. Because the ship's registry number is NCC-1031, many are wondering if this'll focus on Section 31, Starfleet's shadowy Black Ops group that was first introduced on Deep Space Nine.
We'll know when the series premieres! Star Trek: Discovery starts filming this fall, for a January 2017 premiere.
No comments:
Post a Comment