*** Official STAR TREK (2009) Discussion Thread (1 Viewer)

[Lou Sytsma]

I await your review of the novelization Nelson. Have heard some..... interesting opinions of it.

 

[paul_austin]

looks like alternate art for ST:TMP, I've never seen this particular piece either...very nive. I love Peaks work, I'd go to this in a heartbeat if I lived nearby.

 

[Nelson Au]

Lou, I'll be sure to come back and comment on the novelization! I may put the other book I'm reading on hold and jump on it. What I'll be interested to see is if Foster had incorporated the back story of Nero as it was in Countdown.

By the way Lou, I did buy the Countdown comic and read it. It was really well done! About the novel, I'll have to decide if the hardbound signed version is worth collecting!

And I got the soundtrack at the same time. I've listen to that a few times and it's pretty good. But it's definitely a departure from the past. It does feel in some ways more like Star Wars, but without a really strong and stirring theme. The theme he chose to go with is so sedate. Nothing wrong with it.

 

[Nelson Au]

re: Bob Peak.

Thanks for that heads up! I'm a fan. I have a secret fantasy to go into illustration work. I am impressed with his abilities and skills with different media, from chalk to paint. Those other illustrations he did for other films are great to see. And I had not seen the other examples from the commercial advertising world.

That new Star Trek illustration is a surprise, I had not seen it either! I live in Northern Cal, it might be worth a trip to go down to L.A. to see the exhibit.

 

[Carlo_M]

Bob Peak aka The Guy Whose Work the Studios Should Use to make Blu-Ray and DVD covers

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I just got the audiobook of the novelization, which is unabridged and read by Zachary Quinto... not sure when I'm gonna get a chance to listen to it, but I'll throw in my two cents here once I do.

 

[Brian Borst]

Corrected that. You forgot John Alvin and Drew Struzan, among others , of course not for Star Trek related films, but anyway.

 

[Sam Favate]

At least four of the 15 or so movie posters in my home theater are from Peak. There's no one producing work like his anymore. Sadly, he died in 1992. I also like Drew Struzan, but I read recently that he was retiring.

Here's a great web site for movie posters, and it is searchable by artist/designer, or title, or year, etc.
IMP Awards - All the Latest Movie Posters

If anyone finds out what that Peak TMP image is (captured below), please post it here.

 

[Claire Panke]

Dive right into that audiobook - Quinto does a wonderful job reading the novelization - it's actually better read aloud, especially when done by someone as talented as Quinto.

You have a treat awaiting you.

 

[Dave Ringkor]

I loved the movie for what it was. I was thoroughly entertained and pleased with the plot, direction, acting, effects, and music. I do consider myself quite educated in Star Trek, having seen every episode of every TV show and every movie multiple times. I grew up on this stuff.

I am a bit uncomfortable with the new movie though, and I've been trying to figure out why. And I think I have it.

Originally, and for many years thereafter, Star Trek was about ideas and characters. Rodenberry used Star Trek to tell moral stories. But at some point, Trek started being less about "what's out there" and more about itself. Its plots became self-referential. And that's fine, because we've come to care about this universe and these characters.

But the new movie is not about the universe or the characters we've come to know. It's about "a" universe and characters that fit within the rules established by "the" universe we've come to know.

We've seen glimpses of this before. We have been shown mirror universes, alternate timelines and such. There have been incursions into "our" universe and our brief forays into "other" universes. But at the end of the day, all of Star Trek has hitherto established a single timeline that is home.

The new movie is about how the characters we've come to know and love originally came together. Or is it? Kirk is not Kirk. This new Kirk is a Kirk who was raised by an apparently dickish stepdad. But that is peanuts compared to Spock. The new Spock knows that an alternate version of himself is indirectly responsible for the destruction of Romulus, as well as his entire home world, and the murder of his mother. Emotions or no, that makes for a different character altogether.

The characters we're familiar with are people who saved planets. They've saved earth... how many times? Now, our new heroes are responsible for planets' destruction?!

So it's not exactly a reboot a la Batman or James Bond. It's a new take on our existing world within the rules established for that world. But the new world and new characters are not the ones we've seen all these years.

Fascinating.

What is Abrams planning? The wild card is older Spock. He knows what happens in the "other" universe (ours for over 40 years now). And the characters in this new universe know that. Will events in this new universe mirror those of ours? Or will it go off on some strange new tangent?

(Hey, wasn't the "mirror universe" as seen in DS9 and Enterprise a result of Spock's actions too?)

Of course, all these questions aren't about morals or external ideas. They're all about Star Trek internals. Maybe this new movie is just what was needed to get Star Trek to be about morals and ideas again rather than about itself.

But I miss the universe in which I grew up...

 

[SilverWook]

Enterprise actually showed the moment the Mirror Universe took a sinister left turn from the one we know and love.

One could argue what we saw on DS9 was the result of Kirk's meddling.

 

[Ockeghem]

At least five (or was it six? ) episodes from that series were, I believe. 'Kira' even says as much in (I think) Crossover. Her dialogue and specific mention of Kirk were two of the more intriguing aspects of those 'crossover' episodes, IMO.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Herb Solow pipes in with his thoughts on Abrams Trek.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Lou! It's great to get the insight from one of the original makers of Star Trek. And outside of Roddenberry, Solow was the other.

Though it's interesting to hear his memory of the origin of Sulu's name, as I heard another version from Roddenberry.

Looks like he's pretty much on board for the new movie. I would agree with his assessment of Young Spock.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

No problem Nelson.

I disagree with his assessment of Quinto's portrayal. I thought Quinto did a great job. It is interesting to watch Nimoy's early episodes playing Spock as he was obviously still trying to find the character.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

BTW, Chris Pine's next flick is a Tony Scott project- Unstoppable with Denzel Washington.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Of interest, Nick Meyer recounts his directorial chores on Trek 2 & 6.

The book is due for release on Aug 20th.

 

[Andy Sheets]

"He was originally to be a rather plodding Russian astronaut with no sense of humor," Solow said. "But this young Chekov was much more lively and a bit of a caricature."

A plodding, humorless Russian is less of a caricature than Anton Yelchin's characterization? Huh...

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Great article on the SFX for the movie.

Size of the Enterprise confirmed too. 2,357 ft! Narada - 5 miles!

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks for the article Lou! There some great books at that site on digital painting, something I've been looking into!

That was a great article, and interesting to read how they didn't get a break on the CGI work even though the released date was moved.

Pardon my rant again, I still have a problem with the new Enterprise size. But if they say it's that big, then I can accept it. Being in the design field myself as I said, it just does not add up! Of course, I design real things in real life. The Enterprise is not real, in 1965 or 2009. But there has been so much documented information about the size of the ship in the past, and visual clues that say the new Enterprise just can't be over 2000 feet long! The windows being the biggest clues when compared to Shatner/Kirk's Enterprise. However, when Kirk first sees it being built in the Riverside shipyards, it does look pretty darn big.

That 2,357 feet is a tad longer then Picard's Enterprise which is 2,107.9.

Another interesting thing, the 1701-E Enterprise from Nemesis is 685 meters, or 2247 feet.