Star Trekkin', across the Universe

[sweaver]

Yes, the ugly=evil thing gets overdone. Remember, the westerns had their shorthand, white hat=good, black hat=bad. It's a symptom of lazy storytelling.

The original Star Trek series did very well at first presenting diversity, and caring about characters from all backgrounds. By the third season, it was all WASP types in the guest roles. Lazy storytelling.

I do like it much better when the villain is hard to tell from the good guy just by looking, only by actions. That's a good movie. Or TV show.

Still planning to see this flick tomorrow night. The critics have been lukewarm to it.

[KCBOOMER]

Originally posted by pathogan
I really enjoy all of the series' save for Voyager...

Voyager was pretty lame until D of Cup joined the crew.

[Ytown Tribe fan]

Originally posted by KCBOOMER
Voyager was pretty lame until D of Cup joined the crew.

You mean "Mayberry of Piniella"?

[sweaver]

Originally posted by Max Power
I know this is silly, but, it bugged me that Janeway is now Picard's boss. Just didn't seem right.

I did get to see the movie last week. I enjoyed it, but was certainly not a great movie.

I think the problem lies, as many reviewers have said, with the pacing. Not with the plodding special-effects shots, which was the problem in the first movie, but the slowness of the scenes themselves. The first movie is much better in the "special edition" or "director's cut," where Paramount's order to "see the effects on the screen" cancelled out any momentum the movie could build up, and caused the cutting of those little character bits that help to make the movie more interesting.

In this flick, apparently about 45-50 minutes was cut to bring it in at just under 2 hours. I think the video/DVD release that will restore those scenes will make the movie better, and in this day of 3-hour epics (from LOTR to Harry Potter and more) it might have worked in theaters, but a quicker pace to the scenes could have brought the movie with those scenes in at 2 hr. 15 to 2 hr. 30 min., and been a better and fuller flick.

I enjoyed it. I've enjoyed all of them. But it could have been better.

[Max Power]

Originally posted by Max Power
Sidebar: If they're not going to show DS9 on TV in reruns (they don't by me) they could at least sell the mothers on DVD.

Bite my tongue. They are due out in 2/03.

[satchel]

I finally saw Star Trek: Nemesis last night. It was actually not half bad. I think it was better than "Insurrection" which was so singularly unmemorable that although I saw it in its first run, I remember next to nothing about it. I liked it better than "Generations" mostly because old Kirk turns my stomach. I'd have to see "First Contact" again to do the side by side comparison and decide if it's better than "Nemesis". I say all of this because I was fully expecting "Nemesis" to be fun, but awful. It was better than that.

The title character was intriguingly creepy and fey, and the homoerotic undercurrents that flowed around his interactions with Picard were surprisingly refreshing and daring for the Star Trek franchise. Perhaps because of that, I frequently found myself thinking of him as a kind of evil Michael Stipe - short, bald, sickly.

I wish the writers would try a little harder to find something interesting for the female characters to do in these movies. Troi wasn't as awful as I had feared - she did conquer her disgust and fear and volunteer to use the badguy's mindraping tricks against him, and she did pilot the ship at a key point in the climactic battle. This was much better than "First Contact" in which all she did was get drunk and get hit on. It always irked me that when they wanted a woman to kick ass in "First Contact" they brought in a new character, rather than drawing on the underutilized Crusher and Troi, both of whom have command and battle experience and can kick ass and take names when necessary. (see esp. the 6th season episode "Face of the Enemy" for an inkling of what Troi is capable of.)

I was sure the movie would end on Betazed and Majel Barrett Roddenberry would put in an appearance as Lwaxana. I wonder if this was originally planned but cut for time.