—- #89,

yup! But didn’t you like this one? Expect more of the same.—-

I did enjoy this one. But, the next one, it seems, will have even MORE pressure to perform to an even WIDER audience….

And, it won’t have the thrill of exposition pushing it along. We’ll all be familiar with the characters and where they’ve come from, and we’ll be looking to go deeper with them. And, the frenetic pace of this film I don’t think will work as well in the next film—Abrams et al won’t have the excuse, the next time around, of having to cram so much exposition into the film. If they have the story, with all of its premises and would-be compelling details, whiz by at ADD-proof speed in the next one, it’ll call attention to the pacing of the film. (Not that it didn’t call attention to it this time, but, they had the justification of having to cram in so much exposition and get on with the story.)

And, the whole shaky, hand-held camera style, which has the added benefit (not by accident) of preventing us from getting too good a look at the sets, lest we see the “seams,” I suspect, will also be more annoying next time, if they use it as much as they did this time.

‘Polis’ is ancient Greek and means ‘city’ or ‘city-state’.

Duncan Jones. Director of “Moon” (aka Zowie Bowie, son of David Bowie).

His film has received rave reviews and great buzz.. He is a self-professed fan of good sci-fi (Blade Runner, Silent Running, Alien, and 2001 are among his favorites). He produced this film independently on a measley $5M budget, but got actors like Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey to agree to it. It was actually written by Jones with Rockwell in mind for the lead. Good artistic genes and good instincts, and he would be relatively cheap. My only qualm is that he may be on the cerebral side of sci-fi, rather than the action/adventure side. The new Trek needs both sides.

Anyway, just throwing this out for comment. An unknown but talented director might be good for the “new” Trek. His film opens in limited release on June 12th. Check it out.

http://www.sonyclassics.com/moon/
http://www.sonyclassics.com/moon/moon_presskit.pdf

I never read anything like that into the film!

Nero is an archetypal bad guy. Bad guys do mean things to people. Really, Nero’s behaviour was little different from a moustache-twirling villain tying a damsel in distress to a rail track as the 8am mail train is due to come past!

Frankly, I’m sick to the back teeth of people bleating on about Bush. It’s been done to death and is boring as hell! I’m sure JJ wanted as little to do with overt statement-making as possible.

I want Star Trek to be fun, like the original show was, not an instruction manual on which way to vote. That was a TNG thing and TNG had very little to do with the original Star Trek!

I think that’s a huge stretch!

The use of torture by a villain in film is almost as old as film itself. The Bush Administration didn’t invent the concept.

You read far too much into that, IMO.

The scene makes no more statement than TWOK did when Khan used similar creatures (for similar reason) on Terrell and Chekov.

“There is little difference between politics and “human condition.” Politics is from the Latin root ‘polis,’ meaning ‘people.’ Thus politics is about the interaction of people–ie, the human condition.”

According to Merriam-Webster’s—
Politics— a: the art or science of government; b: the art or science concerned with guiding or influencing governmental policy; c: the art or science concerned with winning and holding control over a government

The human condition refers to the distinctively human features of man’s existence. As mortal entities, there are a series of biologically determined events that are common to most human lives, and some that are inevitable for all. The ongoing way in which humans react to or cope with these events is the human condition.—-Wikipedia

There is a huge difference.

Examples of the exploration of the “human condition” include questions about the meaning of life, the inevitability of death, procreation, suffering, etc., and ultimately how human beings deal with these issues.

Of course, in very broad terms, the need for “politics” is a manifestation of certain universal needs, which may be construed as *part* of the human condition. But to suggest that there is little difference is just way off…

And my point is about “addressing” issues, not taking a side. The new movie does take a side by showing a genocidal maniac torturing Pike, the way the Bush administration authorized the CIA, Israelis and Eastern European nations to do on our behalf.

257 – I totally agree with your Cage/WNMHGB analysis, but those episodes had special meaning to the kids who created the Summer of Love and the Days of Rage. They were completely read in the context of Vietnam, the Cold War and a youth culture that was set to explode 2 years later.

Ken Olin might be an interesting choice: his episodes of Alias were more Abrams than Abrams himself!