Live Long and Prosper, or, I Finally Saw Star Trek

I'm normally pretty up on these things, but my boyfriend and I are so poor that we had to wait until we could use the free passes he had in order to go. And for the first two weeks of its release, ST had those damn "No Passes" notes next to its name on Moviefone.com. (P.S, I'm evidently going to have to be even more selective about what I see in the theater, as tickets are now a nice, round $10 a pop).

Now I have never been a Star Trek fan. I don't know anything about what goes on in the ST world, aside from a few key characters and the actors who played them. Oh, and "KHAAAAAAAAAN!!"

This new film just looked too awesome to resist though, and I was pretty much right. I was taken in immediately with the backstory of George Kirk and I liked the cameo by that chick who plays Dr. Cameron on House.

Now, I thought James T. Kirk was totally bad ass (and it didn't hurt that he was nice to look at, either). My boyfriend thought he was a little too renegade for his own good, as in "Who just goes looking for fights like that?" and whatnot. I was fine with this. It could have been a problem if his character wasn't developed at all, but I felt like we got to know him and what he was all about.

The time travel stuff confused me a bit, but I tried not to think about it too hard and I don't think I really lost anything by not understanding precisely what was happening.

Spock was fantastic. Zachary Quinto nailed it, and even brought a little sexiness to the role. I appreciated the fact that the most emotional story line in the film revolved around a guy struggling with having no emotions (or trying NOT to have emotions?).

There were a few times when I felt like crazy shenanigans were thrown in just for the sake of crazy shenanigans: The red monster thing on the Hoth-like planet, and Scotty getting stuck in the water tube. I realize that these things technically furthered the plot but I started getting frustrated. Oh, similarly, the fact that after they finally got rid of the Romulans, they were then being sucked into the black hole. Unnecessary. I had a moment of fearing a Return of the King-esque never ending ending.

I think the film was cast perfectly, especially Simon Pegg. Every time he opened his mouth I laughed and I particularly loved his relationship with that creature he was stuck with on "Hoth".

In other pop culture news, I mostly have questions: Why did they turn 10 Things I Hate About You into a TV show? And why do they want to remake the original Buffy The Vampire Slayer, without the TV show cast or Joss Whedon? Now, I was never a fan of the series, to be honest. But I loved the original film. You already made a TV show that had very little to do with said film, and now you want to ruin the movie too. Thanks Hollywood.