This past Sunday afternoon, I watched the new J.J. Abrams Star Trek movie. From the hype leading up to its release, I understand this was intended to be “Star Trek for the rest of us”, meaning that it was intended to be a version of the Star Trek story that would be accessible to those who aren’t Star Trek fans. It’s also intended to “reset” the original Star Trek universe by placing it in an alternate reality. Thus, what we should expect from it is a universe that’s similar to what we’re familiar with, but different in some ways. I think it’s fair to say that the movie succeeds on both fronts. Its box office success seems to indicate that a lot of people were intrigued by it, and the story is definitely different from the universe of “Star Trek: The Original Series” (as it’s referred to today).
Looking at this installment of Star Trek as a movie, it delivers a lot of excitement and action, backed by a lot of interesting visual effects, and punctuated by moments of humor. If you’re a science-fiction fan who looks for a great story, lots of character development, and an interesting message, you’ll be disappointed. In order to pack as much action as possible into the movie, the writers took a lot of liberties with the story and characters. In fact, apart from the use of phrases like Federation, Romulan, Vulcan, warp drive, etc., and the setting in space, this could have been any big-budget action film. It could have been “Die Hard in space” with very few changes. It bears little resemblance to the Star Trek movies of the past.
For example, in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, we learn that Captain Kirk is the only Starfleet Cadet ever to beat the Kobayashi Maru “no-win scenario” test. We’re told that Kirk “changed the conditions of the test” so that it was possible to rescue the crew of the Kobayashi Maru. In the end, he received a “commendation for original thinking”. Based on this description, we can infer a few things. First, Kirk’s modifications were probably very subtle. Had Kirk made very blatant, obvious changes like having the Klingon ships crash into each other and become disabled, his tampering would be easily detected and would hardly be seen as clever or original thinking. Second, Kirk would not have wanted to get caught, so while his modifications made it “possible” to rescue the Kobayashi Maru crew, it shouldn’t have made it “easy” to do so.
In the J.J. Abrams Star Trek universe, Kirk has apparently lost quite a few IQ points. Not only do his modifications make it “possible” to save the crew, they practically make it impossible not to. And, far from trying to conceal his tampering with the test, the “new” Kirk loudly munches an apple during the test, practically ignoring everything that happens around him until the lights go out and his “cheat code” takes effect. Then, he suggests they check the Klingon shields, which just so happen to be down at the moment and allow for a devastating attack. He then half-heartedly makes the attack and rescue orders to the crew. It’s an amazingly cocky, stupid, unoriginal, and inelegant way to “beat” the “no-win” scenario. It’s no wonder that this Starfleet doesn’t award him a commendation for original thinking but instead puts him on trial. More than anything else, it shows that “new Kirk” is first and foremost a stupid, cocky, overly-confident ass. He doesn’t deserve the respect of his peers or his superiors.
But there’s more wrong with this movie than that single scene. I also found myself wondering what the heck was wrong with the new Spock. Leonard Nimoy’s Spock was logical, tormented by (and ashamed of) his feelings, and very much a “by the book” guy most of the time. The new Spock openly falls in love, becomes enraged, and lets his feelings control him. In a sense, everything that made Nimoy’s Spock an interesting, compelling character was tossed out the window for an awkward love scene in a turbolift and a make-out session on the transporter pad with a character the original Spock never showed an interest in. Why did the writers feel the need to shoehorn a love scene into this film? Is that supposed to make it appeal to women? Are women so easily entertained that a couple of quick romantic scenes in an action film are supposed to appease them? I think not. The women I know are smarter and more sophisticated than that. I’m married to one of them.
But Spock’s love life wasn’t the only bit of nonsense surrounding that character. When placed in charge of the ship, Spock and Kirk are at odds over what to do about Nero. Spock wants to follow orders and reconnect with the fleet. Kirk thinks this is suicide and wants to go on the attack. Kirk attempts and fails at a mutiny. Rather than place him in the brig, Spock orders him tossed off the ship. Excuse me, but even in an “alternate” Starfleet, aren’t there rules about locking up prisoners first so they can stand trial? Maybe if Kirk escaped from the brig you might toss him off the ship if you think he’s a threat to the safety of the crew, but only then. And marooning him on a planet so dangerous that the escape pod recommends staying put seems just short of sentencing him to death. I know Spock was supposed to be distraught because of the destruction of his home world, but that’s no excuse for him to virtually kill a fellow crew member.
Nero’s motivations and actions are questionable as well. Romulus is destroyed (in the future) by a supernova. That’s not the Federation’s fault. Spock even attempts to save Romulus, even though they’re enemies of the Federation, but fails. Instead of focusing on taking that supernova out of commission centuries before it can do harm, Nero decides to blame Spock and go on a rampage against the Federation. He waits decades to catch Spock and his ship full of “red matter” (whatever that is… wouldn’t the more-real “dark matter” have made more sense?). When he has Spock and the red matter under his control, his plan is later reported to be to have Spock watch helplessly as Vulcan is destroyed. How does Nero achieve this? By releasing Spock on a nearby planet with a Federation outpost! Not just any planet, but one so dangerous that it’s not safe to travel around outdoors. What if Spock is so busy fighting for his life that he doesn’t even see Vulcan destroyed? So much for Nero’s “clever” revenge. What if Spock makes his way to that outpost and manages to stop Nero (since, after all, Spock apparently knows how to transport across vast distances with a “common” transporter now)? Wouldn’t it have made far more sense for Nero to have kept Spock aboard his ship, chained up next to a viewport, under heavily armed guard to prevent his escape, to ensure that he has nothing else to do but watch as his world is destroyed? Dropping Spock on the planet was nothing more than a device for the writers to explain how Kirk would rejoin the Enterprise crew when doing so should have been impossible.
How that little miracle was accomplished was nothing short of ridiculous as well. We’re led to believe that Scotty has known for years how to beam someone across vast distances in space onto targets moving at warp speed. If that’s the case, why go back to the Enterprise where you might just be tossed out again or slapped into irons? Why not beam to Spock’s ship in Nero’s hold, and use its weapons to destroy Nero’s ship from the inside? Why go back to the Enterprise, waste time getting Spock to show his emotions, and then play catch-up to Nero? For that matter, if we can beam across the universe, why is it we need starships at all now? Why not just beam from planet to planet? It’s like the writers wrote themselves into a corner and pulled this magical tech out of nowhere to save themselves. It’s poor writing if you ask me.
We have to wonder about just how Nero figured out how to carry out his plan., too By his own admission, he was a mining ship captain, not a scientist. So exactly how did he know how to work with “red matter”, how to get the right amount to implode a planet without getting his ship sucked into it, etc.? The story just doesn’t seem that well thought out.
I’m aware this little rant has likely painted me in the role of “typical fanboy”. So be it. The problem with many recent science fiction shows and movies, this film included, is that Hollywood executives want to make science fiction appeal to a wider audience so they can make more money from it. To do this, they think it’s necessary to shun career science fiction writers in favor of people who have no interest or experience in the genre. Being unaware of what makes for good science fiction, they cram their shows full of action, one-liners, and special effects… While this may sell, it’s not science fiction, and it’s not Star Trek as far as I’m concerned.
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