Does it have to be faithful? Heck, yeah! If you didn’t invent it in the first place, then you better be careful about the kind of license you take with it.

I’m still excited about it, though. I don’t know what that says about me…

1) The intro to the trailer is pretty exciting, probably the best quality about the whole thing. Like people have said, we see a young boy driving an old-fashioned corvette convertable along a dusty yet scenic road. The horizon is filled with unfamilar-looking futuristic architecture. Rest assured, it looks epic and unique, not like other CGI effects before it. So far so good.

2) On the downside, the emerging of Chris Pine as Kirk is painfully underwhelming, Pine doesn’t really look anything like Kirk, nor does he sound like Kirk. However, judging from the footage, Pine seems to have the character down. It should be an interesting performance, just don’t expect a Shatner revival or even a mild channeling, which fans would like to have seen (much like an idealized young Anakin, unfortunately, those movies didn’t really do that too well).

3) The effects of the spaceships and battles & planets are frankly, not what I was expecting. I don’t necessarily mean that in a positive way. Many people have been saying that Abrams Trek would resemble a more gritty feel, ships would be metallic-like, brooding and menacing. The fire and explosions would be classic Trek universe, we would feel like part of this epic world. Unfortunately, at first glance, this is a completely re-imaged atmosphere. The effects look at lot like the one’s in Speed Racer, Transformers and Star Wars Episode I. Dare I say they look ‘fake’, but that seems to be the case. It is all very cotton-candy like, all bright and colorful. Perhaps this isn’t such a bad thing, but I didn’t recognize any technology that would feel ‘at home’ so to speak in terms of Rodenberry’s Trek. This is clearly Abrams’ and company’s creation. This is slightly disappointing.

4) On the plus side, the story looks to be pretty interesting. A lot of hints at setting up dualities and complex themes between Spock’s quest to be more human and Kirk’s rebellious nature. Also, there seems to be something momumental happening, something like a giant war, the birth of the Federation or the invasion of a planet, thus forcing Spock’s parents to give him up and join the Federation. Kirk also seems to have been thrusted into the mess, the whole movie judging from the trailer has this feel of being a kind of coming-of-age or loss-of-innocence story, which is fantastic news. This should flesh out the characters and provide much humor and action.

5) On the negative, judging from this brief trailer, the new actors are a huge disappointment; particularly Chekov, Uhura, Bones and mostly Spock. I found Zachary Quinto to be underwhelming. Not only did he sound sort of whiney and high-pitched like an actor from the CW on channel 7 but contrary to popular hype, he doesn’t really look like Leonard Nimoy. Karl Urban does not sound anything like Dr. McCoy, heck, he doesn’t even seem to be trying to emulate him; he just sounds like Karl Urban. This was a dissapointment. On the plus, Simon Pegg seems to be immersing himself into the role of Scotty. Expect a perfect portrayal with lost of comic relief. PLEASE NOTE: This is only judging from the small clips, we can’t know how good they’ll really be until we see them.

6) Lastly, the costumes and make-up seemed underwhelming in the trailer as well. It frankly looked like the shows you see on WB, like Smallville or Supernatural. Uninspired acting set up against some chessy blue-screen. After the trailer was over and Eric Bana delivered that corny one-liner, the audience seemed to be braindead and gave no reactions, not even little grins or chatters.

7) My final thoughts on the trailer is that the story seems epic and grand, the special effects somewhat mediocre, some of the performances off, though Kirk and Scotty seem fine. While the scenery is great, the effects and ships themselves look fake. This looks to be a complete re-imagining of Star Trek rather than a Prequel or re-incarnation. I was hoping for the latter, rather than the former, but I’ll just have to wait and see. Some of you may see this trailer and totally dig the new-look and feel, that’s all well and good but like I said before, its WAY too early to make any judgements. Just hope for the best and look forward to what perhaps will be the best film of next summer.

I share your pain

Clear that JJ is taking too many liberties

I want to love this film and I intend to go and see it and be wrong in my worries.

If JJ screws it up then I stick with my past movies and episodes and as protest never watch anything by JJ Abrams again.

http://zeroroom.libsyn.com/

It’s a mp3 podcast and the review is a positive one. Beware, it is not spoiler free.

That would be cool!

Peace. Live long and prosper.
The Vulcanista }:- |