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Star Trek: A Bitter Fan's Perspective (non-spoilery)
I grew up on Star Trek: The Next Generation.
These are childhood memories I have: Drawing a picture of Captain Picard which my parents put on the refrigerator, practicing the Vulcan salute, trading quotes with my family members like they were as integral a part of conversation as things like "hi, how was your day?"
The Next Generation ended, and that was sad but it was sort of okay, because there was Deep Space Nine, which was glorious. But then there was Voyager, and somewhere along the line, the Star Trek universe became disappointing.
There were the Next Generation movies, of course, but they ended up becoming disappointing, too. I think it's telling that when my favorite character died, I didn't think "Oh, God, Data," I thought "So Brent Spiner finally got out."
By the time Enterprise aired, my mindset was basically "They're still trying to milk this franchise?" Which is exactly what I thought when I learned that they were making a new movie. A prequel, no less, with new actors for the original characters.
I thought, why won't you people just let it stay dead?
Lately, I've been having more fun with nitpicking scifi movies than just watching them. I will happily tell anyone who will listen that The Remake With Keanu Reeves was not The Day The Earth Stood Still, and that Keanu Reeves' acting abilities were wasted on it (yeah, you heard me). And while I liked the Watchmen movie, I'm pretty much incapable of saying that without adding something I liked better about the comic (minor characters, the use of bloody imagery, Veidt's characterization, the pacing of the ending...).
I thought the new Star Trek movie would be fun to complain about.
I laughed about the casting. I decided to hate the director based on what I've heard about his TV shows, though I haven't seen any of them. I started watching the original Star Trek series, which I'd only seen a few episodes of. Not just because I've been meaning to get around to it, but so I'd know exactly what the movie was doing wrong.
But over the last few days, I've been hearing that it's good. That was annoying, because I thought my only hope of even remotely liking it would be to go in with low expectations. But then Wil Wheaton liked it. And then![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
darlas_mom liked it. And I guess I wasn't as entrenched in my bitterness as I'd thought, because I went in thinking it'd be good.
It was perfect.
There wasn't a single moment I wasn't thrilled to be in that theater. (I'm agoraphobic, my eyes are very sensitive to light and I have chronic earaches that sometimes get worse with too much noise- I do not go to theaters lightly.) The plot turned everything I thought they flat-out couldn't do well into something that made it better. It was heartwrenching, it was funny, it was surprising, it was familiar, it was thrilling, and even with my high expectations, it was something I didn't think it could be:
It was a good beginning. I want more.
These are childhood memories I have: Drawing a picture of Captain Picard which my parents put on the refrigerator, practicing the Vulcan salute, trading quotes with my family members like they were as integral a part of conversation as things like "hi, how was your day?"
The Next Generation ended, and that was sad but it was sort of okay, because there was Deep Space Nine, which was glorious. But then there was Voyager, and somewhere along the line, the Star Trek universe became disappointing.
There were the Next Generation movies, of course, but they ended up becoming disappointing, too. I think it's telling that when my favorite character died, I didn't think "Oh, God, Data," I thought "So Brent Spiner finally got out."
By the time Enterprise aired, my mindset was basically "They're still trying to milk this franchise?" Which is exactly what I thought when I learned that they were making a new movie. A prequel, no less, with new actors for the original characters.
I thought, why won't you people just let it stay dead?
Lately, I've been having more fun with nitpicking scifi movies than just watching them. I will happily tell anyone who will listen that The Remake With Keanu Reeves was not The Day The Earth Stood Still, and that Keanu Reeves' acting abilities were wasted on it (yeah, you heard me). And while I liked the Watchmen movie, I'm pretty much incapable of saying that without adding something I liked better about the comic (minor characters, the use of bloody imagery, Veidt's characterization, the pacing of the ending...).
I thought the new Star Trek movie would be fun to complain about.
I laughed about the casting. I decided to hate the director based on what I've heard about his TV shows, though I haven't seen any of them. I started watching the original Star Trek series, which I'd only seen a few episodes of. Not just because I've been meaning to get around to it, but so I'd know exactly what the movie was doing wrong.
But over the last few days, I've been hearing that it's good. That was annoying, because I thought my only hope of even remotely liking it would be to go in with low expectations. But then Wil Wheaton liked it. And then
darlas_mom liked it. And I guess I wasn't as entrenched in my bitterness as I'd thought, because I went in thinking it'd be good.It was perfect.
There wasn't a single moment I wasn't thrilled to be in that theater. (I'm agoraphobic, my eyes are very sensitive to light and I have chronic earaches that sometimes get worse with too much noise- I do not go to theaters lightly.) The plot turned everything I thought they flat-out couldn't do well into something that made it better. It was heartwrenching, it was funny, it was surprising, it was familiar, it was thrilling, and even with my high expectations, it was something I didn't think it could be:
It was a good beginning. I want more.
