Linda and I saw the new Star Trek movie over the weekend. As a Mother's Day gift, I'll admit that it ranks right up there with Homer giving Marge a bowling ball for her birthday, but in my defense, Linda did seem to enjoy the movie to the point where she's now wishing that there was a weekly Star Trek series with these characters and actors.
Overall, I really enjoyed the movie. I never was as big a fan of the original series as I was of Next Generation, and I don't think Linda's been as big a fan of any TV show as she was of Next Generation, but we liked it. As an aside, Lia has inherited Linda's Star Trek miniatures, and every night before she goes to bed, she's got to kiss and hug "Card", (Jean-Luc Picard) "Twoy", (Deanna Troi) and "Keeno". (The Klingon)
Let's first talk about the casting. I thought it was pretty well done. The least impressively cast role was probably that of Kirk. The guy (Chris something?) did just fine. Nothing too impressive though. I'd have liked to see at least one tidbit of the Shatner erratic pausing voice mannerism, but it was fine. I'm a fan of Zachary Quinto, although I stopped watching Heroes after season two. He looks amazingly similar to a young Leonard Nimoy, and he pulls off the role of Spock quite well.
The guy who played Leonard McCoy was simply awesome. My favorite character in the whole movie. He's irrevrant, emotional, and just generally pissed off about stuff. When he was talking, I was generally smiling.
The late-movie intro of Simon Pegg as Scotty was pretty good, and the trans-warp talk was a good bit of geekery that I'm sure those who follow Star Trek tech ate up like candy. I do really enjoy Simon Pegg - loved Sean of the Dead, and Hot Fuzz has grown on me. He makes a pretty good Scotty, although he might be better with a bit more hair.
The guy who played Chekov did the voice brilliantly. Minor character, so not much else to say there.
The Sulu was also pretty good. I got a chuckle when they revealed that his advanced combat training was fencing, thinking back to the famous episode with a topless George Takei toting around a foil. When he actually used the sword, they did go a bit over-the-top with the aerial sword attacks. Too much west side story.
I really enjoyed the tidbits that were included for fans of the original series, although I'm sure I must have missed some of them. And they really worked in quite a lot of comedy and did it well.
The last thing I want to talk about is a bit of a spoiler, so I'll preface it with this spoiler warning.
Although I know that some have complained about the time travel/alternate timeline plot, I thought it was a stroke of genius. It creates an entirely new setting with an unknown future, and leaves us with the same characters, albeit different actors.