Star Trek

I didn't get to see any 'Star Trek' until I was in middle school. It was one of those shows I read about as a kid but was only on at two in the morning and I wasn't allowed to stay up that late. In my pre-VCR days, that mean I didn't see it. Sometime in middle school, one of the local channels started running it during more normal hours and I liked it. I was in.

At the time, there was no need to identify the series as anything but 'Star Trek' as there was only the one series. This was 1985-1986. I saw the original series, watched 'The Voyage Home' in the theatre, and started buying books.

The interest faded soon into 'The Next Generation'. Things felt repetitive and plastic. The passion in the show was gone. Even when people were mad at each other and yelling, it felt muted. It might have been a stylistic choice but it didn't work for me. By in large, I stopped watching the different series as they came about, only really enjoying a fan fiction series my buddies wrote.

I think a lot of this displeasure on my part was due to the honcho at the time. Much like the Michael Eisner years turned me away from Disney, Rick Berman helped turn me away from Star Trek. Berman didn't interview well. I was getting Starlog on occasion at the time and an interview with Rick Berman turned me into a hater of his style. There may have been pressures on him that I don't understand but Berman became synonymous with running the franchise into the ground to me.

Today I saw the new 'Star Trek' film. I wanted to enjoy it. Luckily I did.

It felt like a movie, not an extended tv episode.

The characters felt true to themselves, with the new actors reflecting the originals without mocking them. Quinto plays Spock and does the thoughtful eyes like Nimoy used to on the show. Loved it.

The ship's design, inside and out, looks like an updated version of the original. It's retro and not at the same time.

Most importantly, the passion is there. The characters live. They struggle. Space feels new, fresh, dangerous. It doesn't feel like things are handed to them. Survival doesn't feel guaranteed.

There's the annoying shaky cam at use, especially in the fight scenes, but that's really the only thing I can say against the movie. 'Star Trek' feels fresh again. Hopefully it'll stay that way for awhile.