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Star Trek Into Darkness
So, I saw it. And I have thoughts!
First off, kind of disappointed that the scenes from the trailer with Kirk and McCoy running through the red grass and Spock in a volcano are actually pretty much irrelevant to the rest of the film. And seriously, why would you hide a starship underwater? What possible reasoning could there be for that? It's a space ship. I mean, props to Scotty for pointing that out, but I don't see why they tried it in the first place. You have shuttles, you have beaming, stay in orbit like a normal ship!
Loved the scenes of 23rd century London. (I haven't seen most of the later Trek shows, do they ever show Future!Britain? From what I can tell they seem mostly focused on America.) And good to know the Eye will still be there in 250 years. :) And Mickey! Didn't expect to see him! (If you're scratching your head at that last remark, the black guy with the sick daughter is Noel Clarke who played Mickey Smith on Doctor Who.) Although why does Starfleet have an outpost in London?
Kirk and Spock still not really friends. I'm sure they were closer than this after a year in TOS, but then in that timeline they didn't start out hating each other, so it kind of makes sense.
Finally Starfleet catches on to the idea that giving a 25-year-old cadet command of the flagship might not have been the most brilliant plan in the world, not that it lasts. (And I kind of call bullshit on Kirk's claim that he's never lost a crewmember. Unless their missions were all really mundane diplomatic stuff he'd have to have the best luck in the universe for that to happen.) Although I did laugh at Kirk's response to "What have you learned?" being "Never trust a Vulcan."
Kind of mean to show Pike mostly recovered only to kill him off. Still, at least he died quickly, better than the living death he was reduced to in TOS.
Scotty standing up for his principles enough to resign over them - way to go! And he was right, too.
Chekov becoming Chief Engineer! Good for him, but was there really no one else more qualified? He's not even in the Engineering section! But I did enjoy his face when Kirk tells him to put on a red shirt. XD
Loved the jokes about Sulu being captain. And Uhura! Badass-edly staring down Klingons and asking for their help and then kicking ass when they said no! You go girl! And she and Kirk are friends now, like all the fanfics prophesied!
S/U still together, I see, but I figured they would be. I have to wonder if the argument between them (and the kiss-and-make-up scene later) was thrown in as a sort of 'take that' to the people who wanted them to break up. Personally I could have done without the public kiss, but the rest of it didn't really bother me. If I want to see Kirk and Spock be all happy and married I have TOS, so the S/U fans can have this one. I just hope it doesn't reignite the ship wars.
Also, Klingons with ridges. An eternal question answered, albeit one that brings up questions of its own.
Giant NO!!! on "John Harrison" being Khan. I'd heard the rumours but I still hoped it wasn't true. :/ I suppose it's slightly better to white-wash the villain than one of the heroes, but given Khan's whole shtick is about being smarter and stronger and better than everyone else it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I suppose if they'd cast someone non-white it would have been harder to keep his identity a secret, but really, did no one think how it would look? I know Ricardo Montalban wasn't quite the right ethnicity for the part either, but at least he wasn't white!
Still, Cumberbatch did a good job and if it wasn't for the above I wouldn't have any problems with his casting. He made an excellent villain.
Liked Carol Marcus, too bad her dad's an asshole. Although I do wonder why she's suddenly English.
I'm glad they mentioned Vulcan's destruction and New Vulcan. I half expected them to just gloss over it, and it still feels like they did a little, but at least it shows that Spock isn't totally unaffected by the whole thing.
On that note, Spock Prime! I'd heard a rumour about Nimoy being in the film, but I didn't think it'd actually happen. I really liked the "Mr Spock" "Mr Spock" scene (guess they're not keeping his identity a secret) although I kind of LOLed at the "I said I wouldn't tell you about the future. But, since you asked..." bit. I wonder if he mentioned the whole dying thing. Also, presumably at some point Kirk found out that Spock Prime's implications about the universe ending if the two of them met were a big lie.
Smart thinking with the torpedoes there Spock, too bad it wasn't enough. I have to wonder how they got all the people out of the torpedoes in time, though.
Also, seatbelts! Actual seatbelts! Why couldn't anyone in the Prime timeline think of that?
Little uncomfortable with how much they cribbed from Wrath of Khan in the climax. Although, wow, that warp core is way more complex than the one Spock went into. Good thing all it needed was some percussive maintenance.
Kirk looked a lot better in his death scene than Spock did in his, but I suppose it's because his fix didn't require him to put his face and body actually into the radiation stream. His scene with Spock was touching, but I still think Wrath of Khan did it better. (Although I do wonder if it will at least put paid to that stupid idea that Vulcans can't cry.) And Spock's "KHAN!!!" kind of made me cringe. It was a little ridiculous in the original, but at least then Kirk was saying it to Khan.
Loved Spock's Roaring Rampage of Revenge though. Especially when Uhura beams down to help him. Harrison's remark about family wasn't far off the mark.
Bit of a Disney Death there, with the blood. I may have missed it, but I don't remember Khan having magical lifesaving blood in the original. (Or superhuman healing for that matter. He was stronger and more resilient, but he wasn't invincible.) And this isn't really a Star Trek only problem, but how would injecting a dead person with something help? There's no heartbeat to move it around the body, wouldn't it just stay where it was? (This is a problem I also have with Heroes, and anything involving vampires.)
Kind of wondering what they're going to do with the 72 people they now have on ice. Hopefully not dump them off on some uninhabited planet. ;)
Also, how much of Starfleet have they lost now? They can't have fully recovered from all the cadets they lost in the last film, and now they've lost most of their senior officers as well. Will there be anyone left by the time they reach Picard's era?
Still, despite all my quibbles, I did enjoy it. Not quite as much as the first film, but close. I just hope we don't have to wait four years for the next one.
First off, kind of disappointed that the scenes from the trailer with Kirk and McCoy running through the red grass and Spock in a volcano are actually pretty much irrelevant to the rest of the film. And seriously, why would you hide a starship underwater? What possible reasoning could there be for that? It's a space ship. I mean, props to Scotty for pointing that out, but I don't see why they tried it in the first place. You have shuttles, you have beaming, stay in orbit like a normal ship!
Loved the scenes of 23rd century London. (I haven't seen most of the later Trek shows, do they ever show Future!Britain? From what I can tell they seem mostly focused on America.) And good to know the Eye will still be there in 250 years. :) And Mickey! Didn't expect to see him! (If you're scratching your head at that last remark, the black guy with the sick daughter is Noel Clarke who played Mickey Smith on Doctor Who.) Although why does Starfleet have an outpost in London?
Kirk and Spock still not really friends. I'm sure they were closer than this after a year in TOS, but then in that timeline they didn't start out hating each other, so it kind of makes sense.
Finally Starfleet catches on to the idea that giving a 25-year-old cadet command of the flagship might not have been the most brilliant plan in the world, not that it lasts. (And I kind of call bullshit on Kirk's claim that he's never lost a crewmember. Unless their missions were all really mundane diplomatic stuff he'd have to have the best luck in the universe for that to happen.) Although I did laugh at Kirk's response to "What have you learned?" being "Never trust a Vulcan."
Kind of mean to show Pike mostly recovered only to kill him off. Still, at least he died quickly, better than the living death he was reduced to in TOS.
Scotty standing up for his principles enough to resign over them - way to go! And he was right, too.
Chekov becoming Chief Engineer! Good for him, but was there really no one else more qualified? He's not even in the Engineering section! But I did enjoy his face when Kirk tells him to put on a red shirt. XD
Loved the jokes about Sulu being captain. And Uhura! Badass-edly staring down Klingons and asking for their help and then kicking ass when they said no! You go girl! And she and Kirk are friends now, like all the fanfics prophesied!
S/U still together, I see, but I figured they would be. I have to wonder if the argument between them (and the kiss-and-make-up scene later) was thrown in as a sort of 'take that' to the people who wanted them to break up. Personally I could have done without the public kiss, but the rest of it didn't really bother me. If I want to see Kirk and Spock be all happy and married I have TOS, so the S/U fans can have this one. I just hope it doesn't reignite the ship wars.
Also, Klingons with ridges. An eternal question answered, albeit one that brings up questions of its own.
Giant NO!!! on "John Harrison" being Khan. I'd heard the rumours but I still hoped it wasn't true. :/ I suppose it's slightly better to white-wash the villain than one of the heroes, but given Khan's whole shtick is about being smarter and stronger and better than everyone else it just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I suppose if they'd cast someone non-white it would have been harder to keep his identity a secret, but really, did no one think how it would look? I know Ricardo Montalban wasn't quite the right ethnicity for the part either, but at least he wasn't white!
Still, Cumberbatch did a good job and if it wasn't for the above I wouldn't have any problems with his casting. He made an excellent villain.
Liked Carol Marcus, too bad her dad's an asshole. Although I do wonder why she's suddenly English.
I'm glad they mentioned Vulcan's destruction and New Vulcan. I half expected them to just gloss over it, and it still feels like they did a little, but at least it shows that Spock isn't totally unaffected by the whole thing.
On that note, Spock Prime! I'd heard a rumour about Nimoy being in the film, but I didn't think it'd actually happen. I really liked the "Mr Spock" "Mr Spock" scene (guess they're not keeping his identity a secret) although I kind of LOLed at the "I said I wouldn't tell you about the future. But, since you asked..." bit. I wonder if he mentioned the whole dying thing. Also, presumably at some point Kirk found out that Spock Prime's implications about the universe ending if the two of them met were a big lie.
Smart thinking with the torpedoes there Spock, too bad it wasn't enough. I have to wonder how they got all the people out of the torpedoes in time, though.
Also, seatbelts! Actual seatbelts! Why couldn't anyone in the Prime timeline think of that?
Little uncomfortable with how much they cribbed from Wrath of Khan in the climax. Although, wow, that warp core is way more complex than the one Spock went into. Good thing all it needed was some percussive maintenance.
Kirk looked a lot better in his death scene than Spock did in his, but I suppose it's because his fix didn't require him to put his face and body actually into the radiation stream. His scene with Spock was touching, but I still think Wrath of Khan did it better. (Although I do wonder if it will at least put paid to that stupid idea that Vulcans can't cry.) And Spock's "KHAN!!!" kind of made me cringe. It was a little ridiculous in the original, but at least then Kirk was saying it to Khan.
Loved Spock's Roaring Rampage of Revenge though. Especially when Uhura beams down to help him. Harrison's remark about family wasn't far off the mark.
Bit of a Disney Death there, with the blood. I may have missed it, but I don't remember Khan having magical lifesaving blood in the original. (Or superhuman healing for that matter. He was stronger and more resilient, but he wasn't invincible.) And this isn't really a Star Trek only problem, but how would injecting a dead person with something help? There's no heartbeat to move it around the body, wouldn't it just stay where it was? (This is a problem I also have with Heroes, and anything involving vampires.)
Kind of wondering what they're going to do with the 72 people they now have on ice. Hopefully not dump them off on some uninhabited planet. ;)
Also, how much of Starfleet have they lost now? They can't have fully recovered from all the cadets they lost in the last film, and now they've lost most of their senior officers as well. Will there be anyone left by the time they reach Picard's era?
Still, despite all my quibbles, I did enjoy it. Not quite as much as the first film, but close. I just hope we don't have to wait four years for the next one.