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Star Trek: The Movie, Review

2009-05-08 · Hank · watch on YouTube · Pop culture · advice recommendation

Hank reviews the new Star Trek film: as a lifelong Star Trek fan he finds it fun and a marvelous extension of the franchise despite some awkward plot devices, then criticises its time travel and coincidences in a spoiler section.

What is said

00:00:00 — Star Trek opening-narration parody for Nerdfighteria; Hank introduces his two-part review of the new Star Trek film

  • ★ Hank notes the new film, called Star Trek or Star Trek 11, continues a long-lived franchise; there have been eleven films. (playful) — 00:00:00

00:00:49 — The franchise: Shatner, Nimoy, Roddenberry; the original series free on YouTube; Katherine's taped Next Generation VHS

  • ★★ Hank says the original Star Trek series can be watched free on YouTube, though it is 'kind of hilariously bad'. (playful) — 00:00:49 · YouTube
  • ★★ Hank shows a VHS tape Katherine recorded off television with Next Generation episodes and a documentary, evidence of the household's nerd streak. — 00:00:49 · Katherine Green

00:01:18 — Non-spoiler review: Star Trek as a formative influence; the film didn't suck; praise for cast and character relationships; less cerebral than he likes

  • ★★ Hank calls Star Trek one of his primary formative influences, alongside his parents and Jean-Luc Picard, and notes he wrote a song about it. (playful) — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Hank went in excited but nervous, since there have been plenty of bad Star Trek movies; the new film did not suck. — 00:01:18
  • ★★★ Hank judges the film an enjoyable, marvelous extension of the franchise with a good story and great character relationships, despite some awkwardly wedged plot details. — 00:01:18
  • ★★ Hank praises the cast: Simon Pegg is brilliant, the young Russian prodigy is hilarious, and a character (likely Uhura) is upgraded from glorified secretary to xenolinguist. — 00:01:18
  • ★★ Hank loved Bones and the Bones-Kirk friendship, and thinks the Kirk-Spock relationship built on opposing views was very well done. (hedged) — 00:02:03
  • ★ Hank tells Heroes fans they need not fear seeing Sylar in Spock; he moved past it immediately. (playful) — 00:02:03
  • ★★★ Overall Hank found the film very fun and well done, a little less cerebral than he likes Star Trek to be, and hopes it begins a new franchise. (hedged) — 00:02:03

00:02:38 — Spoiler section: time travel and coincidences, Uhura romance, destruction of Vulcan, the doomed crewman; asks Nerdfighteria for reviews; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says time travel in movies generally annoys him as a kind of cheating, admitting the irony for a lover of the Evil Baby Orphanage. (hedged) — 00:02:38 · Evil Baby Orphanage
  • ★★ Hank finds the plot's coincidences unconvincing: Spock's hole in the universe lands exactly at Kirk's father, and Kirk runs into the marooned Spock on an entire planet. — 00:02:38
  • ★★ Hank liked the small romance with the green girl and the Uhura romance. — 00:03:08
  • ★★ Hank is a bit annoyed the film destroys all of Vulcan, which spoils the universe for him, though he understands the bigger stakes make it more interesting. — 00:03:08
  • ★★ Hank asks Nerdfighteria for their opinions of the film in comments or longer reviews on nerdfighters.com, some of which will be featured over the weekend. — 00:03:08 · Nerdfighteria, nerdfighters.com

Humor (significant)

  • Hank recasts the Star Trek opening narration as the voyages of the ship Nerdfighteria on YouTube, then stops at the split infinitive. — 00:00:00 > «to go boldly. We do not split infinitives here.»
  • Hank lists the primary influences that formed him. — 00:01:18 > «like mom, dad, Jean-Luc Picard.»
  • Hank says time travel in movies is cheating. — 00:02:38 > «This coming from a lover of the evil baby orphanage»
  • Hank recalls spotting the random crewman with the bombs in the drill jump scene. — 00:03:08 > «Yep, random crewman. He's gonna die.»

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