Star Trek: The Wrath of… Anyone?

I wanted to start this blog off with a bang, and I can't think of a better topic to kick things of than Star Trek. It's movies, pop culture, mass-media, and television all rolled into one. It's a phenomenon that's been important to me for a lot of years, it's a cultural phenomenon umatched in its breadth, scope, and longevity, and its latest incarnation just happens to be one of the best films I've seen in a very long time.

The timing for this is perfect. I'm starting this new blog, it's my birthday, and it's been three months since the new Star Trek film was released. So, I think the stars are in alignment. Star Trek it shall be.

A warning here, though. I think the film's been out long enough for me to mention plot details, but if you haven't seen it, and you don't want to know anything, then for pity's sake, don't read the rest of this post. You'll just spoil it for yourself.

That's why they calls 'em spoilers.

Many millions of words have been written about the new Star Trek film, and if you've been paying attention, you know how absolutely bloody awesome it is. So you don't need me to stand over here, jumping up and with my pom-poms, cheering and hooting. That's redundancy at its best.

What I would like to do, however, is look at it from behind and ask what is perhaps a silly question:

Where are all the people who should have hated it?

Let's face it: Star Trek is beloved. There is no franchise on this planet that has the following that Trek does. There is no franchise that has the sheer amount of source material that Trek does. Not even Star Wars can match it in sheer volume and lifespan.

And fans, being fans, are, for the most part, both incredibly loyal and incredibly fussy. So when you start mucking around with their universe (yes, they consider it their universe), they're going to get angry.

And mucking around is exactly what director J.J. Abrams did. Now, don't get me wrong. It's exactly the kind of mucking Star Trek needed in order to get that proverial shot in the arm, but it's mucking nonetheless. And the really die-hard fans should have been outraged by it.

But I'm not seeing that.

I've been poking around the internet, doing Google searches, checking Trek websites, and I'm just not seeing the hostility. I was expecting it. I was bracing myself for it. A part of me was even hoping for it. But it hasn't materialized.

I guess I'm just thinking back to the days when I ran a Star Trek club. Yes, folks, I was that much of a fan. I even produced a newsletter. Now, that was a long time ago, and priorities have shifted in my life over that time, but I'm still a Trek fan.

Back then, there were times I felt like I was running a babysitting service. We held "meetings", but they'd often deteriorate into gripe sessions. They also tended to get out of hand, with only a rare participant showing any signs of those lamentably rare qualities known as "courtesy" and "consideration". They all just wanted to speak their bit and then come up with their next bit rather than listen to anyone else.

But before post-traumatic stress rears its ugly little head, let me just get to my point. Most fans I've met or have been made aware of can be really rabid in their vociferousness about what the "powers that be" should and should not do in the execution of new Trek stories. Which is why I'm surprised that I haven't been seeing gobs of drool all over the various websites I've visited.

In my own circle of friends and acquaintances, I've certainly come across a couple of folks who weren't all that impressed by the movie. But that evidence is neither statistically significant nor particularly compelling. It's actually kind of lackluster.

Come on, Trek fans! Where's that old vitriol I remember so well from bygone days? Where's that battle-readiness, that arsenal of insults just poised to be hurled in the general direction of the producers and their offspring and lineage?

Need I remind you what they did this time around?

• They killed Kirk's father less than two minutes after his birth and turned him into a brooding, rebellious brat.
• They killed Spock's mother.
• They gave the Enterprise fat nacelles.
• They changed the design of the Enterprise's interior.
• They put Spock in a romantic relationship with Uhura.
• They destroyed Vulcan.

It's a brand new universe, created by a time-travelling Romulan bent on revenge against a future Spock who apparently was unable to prevent Romulus from being destroyed. (That's two planets destroyed in one film, folks.)

And everyone loved it. Apparently.

I guess even the Trek purists recognize a well-made film when they see one. Leave it to J.J. Abrams to shut the naysayers up. Good on him.

It was, indeed, an incredible film. I loved it so much I saw it three times, and I can't wait for the DVD to come out.

My only gripe was with Eric Bana as Nero. I thought he was the weak link in the whole thing. His performance seemed to go from smouldering near-whispers to out-and-out hollering with very little in between. Some of his scenes were just a bit over the top. At one point, I was quite prepared for him to turn green and burst out of his future-Romulan outfit.

And lest we forget, Randy Pausch had a cameo in this film, within the first two minutes. If you blinked you would have missed him, but he was there. Randy was a force for good in this world, and his loss is a significant one. I'm so pleased that he got to be in a Star Trek movie.

Yes, my jaw dropped at all the changes J.J. Abrams and crew made to the Trek universe. I was gobsmacked. I could scarcely believe it.

But I thought it was fantastic. And so did a whole lot of other people.

Even the die-hards, evidently. Who'd-a thunk it?

I'll finish off by posting an interview with director J.J. Abrams, recorded around the time of the film's release. The interviewer is YouTube celebrity Blunty.

Live Long and Prosper!