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revdorothyl at 11:22am on 08/09/2009 under star trek
revdorothyl at 11:22am on 08/09/2009 under star trekThis blog review of the recent Star Trek movie was posted back in May, but I've only just seen it, thanks to a friend who forwarded the link and recommended a quick scroll to the bottom to check out the Star Wars (original trilogy only, please!) to Star Trek (2009 reboot) parallels, even if I didn't want to read the whole thing.
Since I'm a classic Trek fan from way back (that's the church I was raised in, kid, and there was a time in my childhood and youth when Kirk was effectively my father and Spock was my mother) and experienced Star Wars in my teen years as thrilling entertainment rather than an epiphany or 'coming-to-Jesus' moment, I don't actually agree with much of his earlier analysis, comparing the two franchises and likening SW to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, while dismissing ST:TOS and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis as lacking any real suspense or perilous evil. Furthermore, I'd put the final four seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine up against any epic movie or book series he cares to name, in terms of compelling continuing storylines that can't be read out of order, real evil and peril, real losses, and heroes who are tested to destruction so that others might live or find redemption.
But, as my friend had suggested, I did find this bit of the blogger's analysis of the movie fairly amusing:
Not really, IMO, but if -- as this blogger suggests -- Star Trek 2009 finally provides a common meeting ground for heretofore 'warring' camps of extreme SW and ST fans, allowing them to co-exist peacefully for at least 2 hours and have something civil to talk about afterward, then who am I to complain?
Since I'm a classic Trek fan from way back (that's the church I was raised in, kid, and there was a time in my childhood and youth when Kirk was effectively my father and Spock was my mother) and experienced Star Wars in my teen years as thrilling entertainment rather than an epiphany or 'coming-to-Jesus' moment, I don't actually agree with much of his earlier analysis, comparing the two franchises and likening SW to J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings books, while dismissing ST:TOS and The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis as lacking any real suspense or perilous evil. Furthermore, I'd put the final four seasons of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine up against any epic movie or book series he cares to name, in terms of compelling continuing storylines that can't be read out of order, real evil and peril, real losses, and heroes who are tested to destruction so that others might live or find redemption.
But, as my friend had suggested, I did find this bit of the blogger's analysis of the movie fairly amusing:
. . . The characters, the relationships, the technology: It’s pure Star Trek.
But the story?
Come on! Does any of this sound familiar?
A farm boy who likes to zoom around on a sort of landspeeder stops and gazes up wistfully at a starship.
That farm boy is encouraged by a veteran warrior, who tells him about how great his father was.
The bad guys blow up planets. We watch this happen in an excruciating scene, where a hero must cope with the death of his home and the people he loves. After the destruction of one world, we know that the climactic scenes will involve the attempted destruction of another.
The cocky hero is chasing the same girl as the more principled hero. And the audience is rather surprised by who she ends up with at the end.
The secondary hero must learn to break his code and “have faith.”
The climactic sequence involves a ship blasting itself free from the destructive power of an explosive calamity.
It all ends with an award ceremony.
This is Star Wars territory, folks.
As in The Empire Strikes Back, when the hero crash-lands on a remote planet, he steps out of the spacecraft and who is the first person he meets? Why, it just happens to be the wisest mentor he could hope to discover! It’s an ancient and legendary figure with funny ears who will guide him on the path to wisdom! Familiar, this is! Convenient, this is!...
Not really, IMO, but if -- as this blogger suggests -- Star Trek 2009 finally provides a common meeting ground for heretofore 'warring' camps of extreme SW and ST fans, allowing them to co-exist peacefully for at least 2 hours and have something civil to talk about afterward, then who am I to complain?