I went to see Star Trek yesterday evening with my friends; John, James and Susan. I’d like to put some reference in here for you. John is a fan of Batman and Star Wars, so tends towards preferring Science Fantasy or Comic Fantasy. James is a huge Star Trek fan, it is pretty much the base of his Science Fiction fandom and I would like me grew up with TNG. Susan I guess to a lesser degree, but I guess prefers Science Fiction. I prefer good Science Fiction, but Fantasy of any type can go down well.
Now I’d like to state what I hope Star Trek is at its best, which is good science fiction that makes you think, but that is palatable enough for the general public, Inclusive Science Fiction if you will. A lot of this inclusion comes from believability based on continuity and science that works by stretching, but never breaking the rules.
In many ways this is what recent remakes like BSG and the Batman movies have succeeded in. Taking out the unreal-ism and treating your audience with respect. If you think how old BSG was, it felt a lot more like Star Wars than Star Trek.
Out of the four of us I believe John enjoyed the new Star Trek the most and James the least. Now taken as vacuous entertainment ST is pretty good, the effects are shiny and the explosions loud. However once my brain came out of sleep, I really didn’t need it to watch ST, stink set in. It is bad science fiction, with plot holes larger than the black holes in the film. Most notable is the extreme variability of speed in the film. I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t seen it, so please look away now. So an experimental 24th Century Vulcan high-speed ship can not get to Romulus in time and a Federation ship is too far away to call for help whilst under attack. However a 23rd century ship can get to Vulcan in about 10 minutes flat and get soo far away from Earth a huge black hole can cause no harm to the planet or system. That’s just the blindingly obvious. I won’t go in to the rest of the insane plot holes as, unlike this film, I won’t insult your intelligence.
Star Trek before this was suffering from many problems:
- A complete lack of strange new worlds and civilisations.
- Time Travel fixes/breaks everything, please bare in mind Time Travel was initially invented for a semi-comedic Star Trek film. It was not designed to be used all the time.
- Space Invaders level film plots. Nemesis and this film share so much in common it is scary.
- Being embarrassed to be Star Trek.
- Feeling like they are on the Final Frontier and not just 10 minutes from the safety of earth.
- Screwing up the canon for no good reason. Canon changes are welcome for the good of the series, not just because we can.
What we are left with if analogized as Batman; is a Batman with super powers, no interest detective work and half his family are still alive, but oh he still wears the right suit. It is the skin of a Star Trek on Star Wars as directed by Michael Bay. Frankly it is sad that Hollywood won’t fund new franchises as JJ Abrams obviously wanted to make The Fast and The Furious in space, which is what this is, what it isn’t is Star Trek.
Driving into work on a slippery Tuesday and the car in front of the car in front slams on the brakes to get into a side road. Unfortunately Audi A6s brake faster than Pumas even with ABS. I didn’t damage his car, bar a scratch. My bumper has been pushed in and the bar behind bent until it touches the radiator heatsink. For the record this is the first time I have ever phoned an insurer for anything other than a quote. I have been driving 6 years. 
