Star Trek (XI): This universe should be left unvisited

Sat, 09 May 2009 08:53:00 -0500

"You will always be a child of two worlds, and fully capable of deciding your own destiny. The question you face is: which path will you choose?"

Those words were spoken by Sarek in the new Star Trek movie released on 8 May 2009, simply titled Star Trek. For sake of clarity, I will mostly use Star Trek XI.

The words that he said are true, not only for the alternate Spock but for Star Trek itself, and its fans. For the record, I will state two things:

1. I have not seen the movie. This is not a real film review. Rather, it is my impression of it to date made public on this blog.
2. I am a Trekkie/Trekker (Roddenberry prefers Trekkie), so I have a different point of view than a person coming in with no knowledge of the franchise, or someone that has no regard for logic or canon.

Firstly, I must say that the Star Trek action movies, including Wrath of Khan, First Contact, and now Star Trek XI, don't feel... for lack of a better term, Trekky. Action and battle is not what Star Trek is about. Star Trek is about exploring new worlds, new civilizations, exploring the edges of physics, and exploring the human condition. It is also, first and foremost, optimistic about the future, future technology, and future achievement. This movie is for the most part devoid of this, or at the very least, it did not matter to the creators of it. Its body may be Star Trek, but its spirit is alien to the body. That spirit is JJ Abrams and his writers, Orci and Kurtzman. [More]

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Star Trek (XI): This universe should be left unvisited