Old News

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Finally got around to seeing Star Trek: Into Darkness. Don't laugh. Sometimes things get in the way.

-I realize they're a dead horse at this point, but dammit I never get tired of redshirt jokes. Especially the one where (I think?) the nameless guys who had to take their red shirts off survived their away mission.

-I WANTED MORE KLINGONS.

-Dear Karl Urban: are you actually DeForest Kelley?

-I love that the soundtrack is still a raving fanboy. OMG EVERYBODY THIS IS A STAR TREK MOVIE AND I AM THE SOUNDTRACK! I AM SO EXCITED FOR THIS I MIGHT JUST DIE

-Khan is still a lame villain. There, I said it.

Comments

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Everything I read by Scalzi just makes me unbearably happy. He has the best damn metahumor ever.

Speaking of the speeded-up timeline, one of the movie's writers (I think it was Orci or Kurtzmann) had a pretty cool analysis of the other reversal in the sacrifice scene. In essence he said that the impact in Wrath of Khan because you were seeing two guys saying goodbye after years of deep friendship; in Into Darkness the impact came from Spock realizing that Kirk was his friend, and his revelation came too late. I thought that was a great way to sum it up.

(I also liked their comment on Leonard Nimoy. "Isn't he retired?" "Yeah. He's the hardest-working retired guy we know.)

I like your Romulan/Vulcan idea! Maybe Spock can make peace in this universe. Though honestly, I would be happy with more Klingons. Klingons are fun. They use silly swords and wear rivets and studs and eat live worms and fly Birds of Prey and bleed strawberry jam! And they're always angry. What's not to love?

[cjtremlett.livejournal.com]

I'd be happy with Klingons if they do a different story! Don't retread the same ground that we've seen before in previous movies or TV shows. There's plenty of things they can do with Klingons that would be really different and exciting, but I worry that if they do them, it's going to wind up as a montage of previous Klingon stories.

Part of the thing of the sacrifice originally was tied to the Kobayashi Maru - Kirk cheated and never really faced the no-win situation until the point where he couldn't save Spock. (Not that he hadn't lost people before, but he'd always gotten out of situations one way or another and this time he couldn't.) In this version, he accepts that it's no-win for him but not his ship, not his friends. I suspect original Kirk would have preferred to have been the one to die rather than lose Spock. This one was in the position to make that choice.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there's always the possibility that they will just start retreading. But the Klingons are such a gold mine of interesting storylines that I really hope they don't do that (although I totally hope there is a Klingons vs. Tribbles joke in there somewhere.)

Your summation of Kirk's choices seems pretty spot-on. Maybe the original timeline echoes back to him, because one of the things that was so interesting about the original is how Spock just quietly strolls off to do his job, and Kirk doesn't even realize he's gone till it's too late. I know he has no way to know how it went the other time, but there was a definite "Not THIS time, assholes!" sense when he made his choice.

And I just want to add that I forgot to say earlier--Sulu taking charge was exciting. I was half-expecting a teacup and saucer to make an appearance near The Chair ...

[cjtremlett.livejournal.com]

Oh, there has to be a Klingons vs. Tribbles joke! One thing this reboot is good for is those small in-jokes!

I wonder how much this Kirk thinks about the other time-line Kirk. He knows that his father lived to see him become a starship captain in the other time-line. He knows Kirk & Spock were very close in that time-line. He wasn't there when Spock asked Spock-Prime about Khan, and I suspect he tends to not dwell on the alternative, but I wonder how much he thinks about it.

And I loved how John Cho pulled that bit with Sulu off. He said it was the first time he'd taken the command chair and the hesitation showed, and then boom, he turns on the confidence and threat when it's needed. It works, awesomely!