Star Trek Into My Pants
May. 17th, 2013 01:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
the_deep_magicBought my ticket in advance, got to the theater half an hour early... and maybe two dozen people showed up by the time the movie started. I know it's a Thursday night, but I hope that's not indicative of attendance in general. Anyway, on to...
~It should've been called Star Trek XII: Tribble Ex Machina. Ah, well, not really any less believable than Essence of Spock floating around in McCoy's head.
~I admit, I'm a little disappointed that they went with the Khan storyline (I maintained my denial until they found Popsicle Dude in the torpedo -- which, uh, not great planning there, Khan), though I understand wanting to use a villain from the series (Nero was a bit of a weak point of STXI) and Khan is the most cinematically compelling. And I did like the twist the writers put on it, fitting Khan into the new timeline and making him both a direct mental and physical threat as well as a little more sympathetic (and a little less chest-oily).
~To go along with that, I appreciated that they acknowledged the major repercussions that the destruction of Vulcan had for the entire universe: the Federation secretly wanting to step things up militarily, Scotty's transwarp equation being taken and used in ways he never intended. It's not just the characters that changed; it's the Federation, too. It may not be what Roddenberry intended, but "space exploration" doesn't play as well on the big screen as "blowing shit up."
~Adored that little exchange in the elevator between Kirk and Uhura: "What would that even look like?" I'm actually glad that they continued Spock and Uhura's relationship, even if they only really scratched the surface (and mostly to make That Scene have more emotional resonance, even!), because I didn't like the way they introduced it, and Kirk being totally accepting of it kind of helps smooth things over for me.
~Surprise!Spock Prime! So, uh, I guess the entire bridge crew knows about that. (Except for the new guy in the back who's all "Two guys named Spock? What are the odds?") Though I really wanted to hear him say, "Motherfucking Khan? You blow that son of a bitch out of the sky right the hell now and keep everybody away from the radiation chamber. Uh, live long and prosper. Spock out."
~Okay, Carol Marcus in her undies was completely unnecessary and, worse, not balanced out by Chris Pine in his skivvies. C'mon, we even got to see Spock shirtless in TOS! But the point is: female exploitation = bad.
~While Khan's whole head-crushing thing was creepy, all I could think of were the gorillas from Congo.
~Poor Anton. Did he have any scenes with the rest of the bridge crew?
~ALL THE RUNNING. Well, maybe no more than Kirk did in the last movie. Still, if I were Chris, I would've kicked my feet up, sipped a daiquiri, and watched them do take after take of Simon running through the airlock bay and Zach sprinting around San Francisco.
~So: That Scene. I was totally right about Kirk being on the other side of the glass, but I guess that didn't take a genius to figure out. I didn't do much more than sniffle, but if I hadn't known it was coming, I probably would've cried. Like Spock. OMG. Actual tears. And so early in their friendship, too. That means it doesn't have quite the same impact as it did in Wrath of Khan, but it was still a really lovely moment, and I think it showed Kirk understands that no matter what Spock says, he can't turn off his feelings.
~I really wanted a post-credit sequence that was either a) the Nibiru worshiping a crudely-made model of the Enterprise, or b) Spock "tripping" over the power cord to Khan's cryopod.
~Love that the credits just had a huge space devoted entirely to LEONARD NIMOY. No "cast" or "special appearance by." Just LEONARD NIMOY. That's all you need to know, bitch.
Questions:
~What was in that duffel bag Khan had in London? My best guess is the portable beaming thingy, but where did he get it? Not from the exploding fake-library, obviously. And why was he just toting it around?
~What do you think Spock did to Khan in that brief mindmeld during their fight? I just thought that was really interesting that he used it as an offensive technique. Is there precedent for that?
~Does Bones just have a drawerful of dead tribbles just in case, or what?
~Did anyone else think it was kind of funny that Uhura waited through, like, two minutes of ragepunching before telling Spock that they needed Khan alive? In my head it went more like Uhura told Spock it was the only way to save Kirk, but Spock was all "NOT NOW WOMAN CAN'T YOU SEE I'M NOT DONE EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISING HIS FACE?" and Uhura sighed and had to stun both of them to get them back to Med Bay. "Sweetie, you can beat up on him some more after we take his blood." "HOW MUCH BLOOD DO YOU NEED? BECAUSE I CAN GET IT FOR YOU. WITH MY FISTS."
~Were they trying to say that the "Space, the final frontier..." monologue is the captain's oath? Because that's a weird-ass oath.
~OH, and what was up with the dedication to 9-11 workers?
I'm sure I'll think of some more stuff later, especially when I see it a second time. ;o) I'm actually not one to watch movies -- even ones I really like -- over and over again in the theaters. I think I saw The Phantom Menace four times (possibly because I was hoping it would start to suck less). But I'm sure I'll see Into Darkness at least once more.
~It should've been called Star Trek XII: Tribble Ex Machina. Ah, well, not really any less believable than Essence of Spock floating around in McCoy's head.
~I admit, I'm a little disappointed that they went with the Khan storyline (I maintained my denial until they found Popsicle Dude in the torpedo -- which, uh, not great planning there, Khan), though I understand wanting to use a villain from the series (Nero was a bit of a weak point of STXI) and Khan is the most cinematically compelling. And I did like the twist the writers put on it, fitting Khan into the new timeline and making him both a direct mental and physical threat as well as a little more sympathetic (and a little less chest-oily).
~To go along with that, I appreciated that they acknowledged the major repercussions that the destruction of Vulcan had for the entire universe: the Federation secretly wanting to step things up militarily, Scotty's transwarp equation being taken and used in ways he never intended. It's not just the characters that changed; it's the Federation, too. It may not be what Roddenberry intended, but "space exploration" doesn't play as well on the big screen as "blowing shit up."
~Adored that little exchange in the elevator between Kirk and Uhura: "What would that even look like?" I'm actually glad that they continued Spock and Uhura's relationship, even if they only really scratched the surface (and mostly to make That Scene have more emotional resonance, even!), because I didn't like the way they introduced it, and Kirk being totally accepting of it kind of helps smooth things over for me.
~Surprise!Spock Prime! So, uh, I guess the entire bridge crew knows about that. (Except for the new guy in the back who's all "Two guys named Spock? What are the odds?") Though I really wanted to hear him say, "Motherfucking Khan? You blow that son of a bitch out of the sky right the hell now and keep everybody away from the radiation chamber. Uh, live long and prosper. Spock out."
~Okay, Carol Marcus in her undies was completely unnecessary and, worse, not balanced out by Chris Pine in his skivvies. C'mon, we even got to see Spock shirtless in TOS! But the point is: female exploitation = bad.
~While Khan's whole head-crushing thing was creepy, all I could think of were the gorillas from Congo.
~Poor Anton. Did he have any scenes with the rest of the bridge crew?
~ALL THE RUNNING. Well, maybe no more than Kirk did in the last movie. Still, if I were Chris, I would've kicked my feet up, sipped a daiquiri, and watched them do take after take of Simon running through the airlock bay and Zach sprinting around San Francisco.
~So: That Scene. I was totally right about Kirk being on the other side of the glass, but I guess that didn't take a genius to figure out. I didn't do much more than sniffle, but if I hadn't known it was coming, I probably would've cried. Like Spock. OMG. Actual tears. And so early in their friendship, too. That means it doesn't have quite the same impact as it did in Wrath of Khan, but it was still a really lovely moment, and I think it showed Kirk understands that no matter what Spock says, he can't turn off his feelings.
~I really wanted a post-credit sequence that was either a) the Nibiru worshiping a crudely-made model of the Enterprise, or b) Spock "tripping" over the power cord to Khan's cryopod.
~Love that the credits just had a huge space devoted entirely to LEONARD NIMOY. No "cast" or "special appearance by." Just LEONARD NIMOY. That's all you need to know, bitch.
Questions:
~What was in that duffel bag Khan had in London? My best guess is the portable beaming thingy, but where did he get it? Not from the exploding fake-library, obviously. And why was he just toting it around?
~What do you think Spock did to Khan in that brief mindmeld during their fight? I just thought that was really interesting that he used it as an offensive technique. Is there precedent for that?
~Does Bones just have a drawerful of dead tribbles just in case, or what?
~Did anyone else think it was kind of funny that Uhura waited through, like, two minutes of ragepunching before telling Spock that they needed Khan alive? In my head it went more like Uhura told Spock it was the only way to save Kirk, but Spock was all "NOT NOW WOMAN CAN'T YOU SEE I'M NOT DONE EMOTIONALLY COMPROMISING HIS FACE?" and Uhura sighed and had to stun both of them to get them back to Med Bay. "Sweetie, you can beat up on him some more after we take his blood." "HOW MUCH BLOOD DO YOU NEED? BECAUSE I CAN GET IT FOR YOU. WITH MY FISTS."
~Were they trying to say that the "Space, the final frontier..." monologue is the captain's oath? Because that's a weird-ass oath.
~OH, and what was up with the dedication to 9-11 workers?
I'm sure I'll think of some more stuff later, especially when I see it a second time. ;o) I'm actually not one to watch movies -- even ones I really like -- over and over again in the theaters. I think I saw The Phantom Menace four times (possibly because I was hoping it would start to suck less). But I'm sure I'll see Into Darkness at least once more.
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I love this fandom. It's exciting.
Date: 2013-05-17 11:50 am (UTC)Questions:
~What do you think Spock did to Khan in that brief mindmeld during their fight? I just thought that was really interesting that he used it as an offensive technique. Is there precedent for that?
I haven't seen a precedent yet in actual canon- but I kind of feel that JJ is secretly hiring legions of fangirls to scan fic and be like "oh, hey. that's a humdinger of an idea there."
~Does Bones just have a drawerful of dead tribbles just in case, or what?
I wondered that too. Like, was there a wee tribble storyline that they had to cut? 1- WHY CUT ANYTHING MY GOD. 2- TRIBBLES!!!
~Were they trying to say that the "Space, the final frontier..." monologue is the captain's oath? Because that's a weird-ass oath.
I wondered that too. I was like uh, what? Meanwhile I was spazzing out that Chris was saying it. It was kind of weird for me.
~OH, and what was up with the dedication to 9-11 workers?
I don't know. Here, we have a terrorist subplot, sorry please still see the movie?
Re: I love this fandom. It's exciting.
Date: 2013-05-19 05:13 am (UTC)I TASK YOU WITH WRITING THE "BONES AND A DRAWERFUL OF TRIBBLES" SUBPLOT. GO.
They just HAD to work a tribble in there somehow. I'm still holding my breath for the unicorn dogs.
Re: I love this fandom. It's exciting.
Date: 2013-05-19 01:19 pm (UTC)And while we're on the subject... that was one fucking mutant tribble.
Re: I love this fandom. It's exciting.
Date: 2013-05-19 05:21 pm (UTC)When I saw the dedication at the end I looked at my friend and said 'did you see that coming?" it can't just be the terrorism plot.... Well that is plot of every sci-movie ever. Including the reboot.
The Leonard Nimoy slate. Awesome.
I intentionally skipped the press so as to be totally suprised, but I felt like an idiot for not seeing the villian reveal. Afterwards my friend who like who is Khan....and I was like right....we're having a movie night when we get home.
Honestly, the reboot was the perfect movie. I could see the trajectory of every character, no loose ends. Solid work. This felt like JJ got excited and then had to cut a bunch of stuff. There was so many themes it didn't feel like there was a central storyline (character wise). Is death? Revenege? Second chances? Is about community and support? Is about warfare vs exploration?
Also....I am the only one who liked the 'death scene' better this time? I thought of it as a significant moment for spock in the continuing emotional journey in face of losing his planet, his mother and especially now that NuSpock has a girlfriend. To me the most significant question to spock was 'do you know why I saved you?'
What is the better movie plot: science or explosions. I think explosions, but this only works for Star Trek if the movie is somewhat allegorical (like the original series). This would have required central theme. In our current political climate making about how people respond to conflict and crisis and what we make a priority during crisis would have been great. I think it would have brought together what each crew member was going through (chekov stepping up, Zulu realizing he can be confident and be a leader, McCoy starting to realize he can handle medicine in space and on the cutting edge etc) and then there could have been 'room' for a political debate at the academy and whatever greater political bodies on earth about how to handle everything which would have made Admiral Marcus seem like less of a non-sequiter.
Lastly, Benedict was perfect! I wish the movie had slowed down a bit. To give Benedict more time to truly reveal himself as a sociopath.
Oops...this was long. My bad.
Re: I love this fandom. It's exciting.
Date: 2013-05-20 01:44 am (UTC)yes! that put it perfectly. I'd had the same impression but didn't know how to express it.
Re: I love this fandom. It's exciting.
Date: 2013-05-20 04:14 am (UTC)I don't know that the "death" scene was better, but I think it had a different significance here, for all the reasons you gave. I'm still not sure how I feel about Spock shouting "KHAAAAAAN!" but at least there was a quick jump cut so it didn't feel silly.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-17 03:14 pm (UTC)If Chekov was left out from the fun, Scotty got ALL OF IT. I loved all this scenes and was so thrilled he got featured so much! And his points about exploration vs. research were making me mentally fistpump!
As for questions, one of mine that I've been hashing over with my Dad was WHAT WAS KHAN'S ORIGINAL PLAN? Once he got to the Klingon planet, what did he think would happen? What if Starfleet had tried to just blow him up via the torpedos...because how would he have gotten his crew out of the pods before they were detonated? Did he have a special remote control device? Or what? What had he planned? Because it seemed to work out in his favor the way it went, but what if it had been only Marcus' ship? Would he have transported himself aboard and just waged a one man attack? His game plan wasn't clear to me. If "save my crew" and "get vengeance on Marcus" were his goals, I'm still not sure why he ever went to the Klingon planet.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 05:23 am (UTC)And as for Khan's plan... I can only assume he either really was trying to lay low and thought he'd have more time, or that Marcus would send a smaller ship -- too small to carry the torpedoes -- that he could easily commandeer. Because obviously Marcus knew what was in them, and I'm not sure what Khan was thinking in the first place, sticking his crew inside LIVE WEAPONS. He hasn't hidden them from anyone -- there is no possible way he transferred 72 cryopods from storage into torpedoes without EVERYONE noticing.
Perhaps a deleted scene will explain this better, as with Nero being imprisoned for so many years in STXI?
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 04:28 am (UTC)new headcanon.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 05:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 05:25 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-19 05:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-20 01:45 am (UTC)...there's a story in here somewhere.