The new Star Trek film does an excellent job of paying tribute to the existing canon while freeing itself from all previous content to explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no one has gone before. And nerd-dom has a new captain.

I grew up on Star Trek: the Next Generation, I love the original Star Trek, Deep Space 9 totally rocked, Voyager was more or less watchable, and Enterprise was kinda cool. Now that I’ve presented my nerdy street cred —

It’s not the 1960’s anymore. JJ Abrams has pulled Star Trek out of its idealistic shadow with an action-based, Trek-talk-limited, character drama. The vibe that once permeated every episode of every series has been surgically removed in the reboot — and I am grateful. Not to say there aren’t references for fans, because there are plenty of them. But the concept has changed. Star Trek was an era’s hope for the future — a dream. A dream that lived past its prime and lingered as a ghostly vestige of its former self. In the 1960’s the best we could hope for was a racially integrated crew and a peaceful cold war existence with the Klingons. Now, real life is less certain, and the film reflects that tension.   

Balancing character drama with action is JJ Abrams’ specialty. This movie will open up a whole new audience to the Star Trek pantheon. None of the old fans I’ve talked to have a single complaint. Let’s face it — after such opuses as Star Trek: The One with the Whales, the existing fan base will follow the franchise through anything. And random adventures is why Star Trek was always second to Star Wars when I was growing up. 

Then George Lucas brutally raped and murdered my childhood heroes with Episode One, Two, and Three, Star Wars Clone Wars (the movie), and Star Wars The Clone Wars (animated TV show on Cartoon Network).  Granted, the Yoda fights were cool. But that’s it.  The rest of it is utter crap. I own a lightsaber, but I can’t make it through an episode of the Clone Wars TV show without needing a shower. This left me and my kinsmen without a common group to geek out on — we were homeless for the first time.

The new Star Trek feels like home. It’s well done, easily accessible, and hopefully has a long run in front of it. I’m already trying to decide what color shirt I’m going to buy and if I need my phaser shipped overnight from Amazon.

Suck it, George Lucas. 

JJ Abrams, you’re the Captain now. The enterprise is yours.

Tweet  Print This Post

Tags: movies // Add Comment »