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By Don Kaye
Special to MSN Movies
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I grew up a card-carrying Trekkie. In fact, the earliest memory of my life is
watching "Star
Trek" -- it was an episode called "The Lights
of Zetar." But it was the second one I ever saw, called "The
Corbomite Maneuver," that made me a Trekkie for good. The mind-blowing
enormity of the alien vessel, the fearlessness of Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock in
the face of what seemed to be certain destruction, and the episode's ultimately
humane and benevolent message really got the hooks in me. From that moment on, I
would watch every single segment of the original series over and over again,
while the other kids were outside playing football. And I stuck with it well
into adulthood, through all the movies, "The Next
Generation," etc.
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But I lost interest in "Trek" sometime around 2003 -- after patiently
watching 10 movies and most of four spin-off series (I quit "Voyager" in the
fifth season and only got through half the first season of "Enterprise"), it
seemed as if the franchise's creative engines had run out of dilithium crystals
for good. With "Star Trek: Nemesis" tanking at the box office and the abrupt
cancellation of "Enterprise," it appeared as if the rest of the dwindling
hard-core audience thought so, too.
But now, six years later, "Lost,"
"Fringe" and "Cloverfield" guru J.J. Abrams has resurrected the brand, reset the
warp drive, and rebooted the mythology back to its roots with a
never-before-seen origin story for the classic Enterprise crew. There have been
plenty of reasons for die-hard Trekkies to be alarmed: the "hip, young" cast,
the rumors of continuity disruption, the script by two guys best known for
writing (if that's what you'd call it) "Transformers." Would "Trek" be more "Casino Royale" or "Lost in Space"?
I'd call it a draw. The new "Star Trek" is exciting, fun, incredible to look
at (more than any other entry in the series) and respectful of the canon even as
it turns it upside down. But there is something lacking -- something, aside from
all the new faces, that makes it a step removed from the "real" nature of
"Trek." In trying to figure that out, I began to re-examine everything I loved
and loathed about the original show, if only because true Trekkies have earned
the right to be merciless with the object of their affection. (Story Continues On Next Page...) |
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