Star Trek X

[c9]

I finally saw Nemesis tonight. For a trekkie who really likes the movies, I had oddly never bothered to see this one. Never really called out to me, I guess. Plus maybe I was cranky that Wil Wheaton was cut from it. *shrug*

Anyway, I finally downloaded it and watched it. What a piece of garbage! Hardly worth my time. Certainly would feel more abused if I were home and not lonely in a Winnipeg hotel, that's for sure.

I'd reel off the problems with it, but that's maybe taking this "it's my blog and I can talk about whatever I want" thing a bit too far.

So, I guess it comes down to VI, II-III-IV, V, I, and then VIII, VII, IX, X.

I need a paid account so I can have a Star Trek icon for these things.

Comments

[thespos]

I need a paid account so I can have a Star Trek icon for these things.

Well, Christmas is coming. :-)

Anyway, I finally downloaded it and watched it. What a piece of garbage! Hardly worth my time.

I was on a date when I saw this movie - and I was just furious at it. It sucked so bad, and it just didn't have to. It was as if the entire canon had been ignored. Grrr.

My favorite has been and always will be IV. Maybe because I was 16, and it reminds me of being that age. Maybe because it was more or less mindless fun.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

THANK YOU!!!!

Argh. The whole Nemesis/Enterprise thing really, really pisses me off. Some of my favorite books (which I know aren't canonical) are the ones written by Diane Duane about the Romulans.

And the book Federation, too, was good.

[thespos]

I know!

Spock's World and The Romulan Way are two of my favorites!

And God knows, ch'Rihan and ch'Havran would have been far more interesting to explore.

It's official. I am a major geek. The fact that I can remember Romulan language without looking it up.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

See, what's funny is that I considered responding... in the same language.

And that I have both of those books. Did you ever read My Enemy, My Ally, which was the first book in her Rihannsu series?

[thespos]

Yes - but I remember The Romulan Way most vividly. I loved the tapestry Duane wove, without violating canon - she is amazing.

I even tried to do a paper on it for a class! :-) Professor wasn't going for it, tho.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

::chuckle:: I always thought the Romulan language she invented was much more plausible/fun sounding than the TNG Romulans. I have trouble imagining a cross between Welsh and Latin.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yes, Federation was very good. I liked, but didn't love, Diane Duane's books. I really fell for Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens' work -- even the Shatner ones, a bit. Prime Directive specifically.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

::nods:: I need to get like $50 and go to a cheap, used paperback bookstore. At one time I had close to 50 of the paperback books... many, many hours were spent in the sci-fi section of the Rawls Public Library in Smithfield. :-)

Prime Directive was one of my favorites, btw.

[c9.livejournal.com]

I had about 40 novels in my younger days. When I moved out of my parents' place I took the important ones (I thought), but most times I return I look at the pile again and take another one or two. I keep telling my parents it's OK to toss them, but for some reason they don't.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

If you want to get rid of them, I could buy them off you. :-)

I really want to re-build my collection, I had almost all of them from the late '70s and '80s.

[c9.livejournal.com]

A tiny part of me says I should keep them still. :-P But I'll look at them again next time I'm at my parents'. Maybe they'll find their way into a box for you.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

Hell, if nothing else, just list 'em, to refresh my memory.

I really wish I hadn't gotten rid of mine... I think I need to look up the bookshop in Virginia Beach where I bought most of 'em. They used to give 1:2 store credit for returns, which was great.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Christmas is coming, and the goose is indeed getting fat. I should get to the gym. ;-) We need to spend our money on debt and school though, and truly I could just swap my icons around. I'll probably survive the procedure.

IV is great fun, but it's... not Star Trek. I didn't include my other ordering above, where I don't consider II-III-IV as a package deal. IV is my second-favourite. But it doesn't showcase for me what makes Star Trek important to me. It's like they took Star Trek and removed the philosophy and the (long pause while searching for words) meaning. I'm not explaining this well, but I know you get my drift.

I'm not religious, so my spiritual happiness comes from seeing humanity at its best. Star Trek, at its best, taps into that. It also means I like all those sappy movies that bartok rails against, like Dead Poets' Society. But whatever, I say to him.

[thespos]

But in reality, other than the first film - I don't know if any of the films really approached the philosophy or spirit of the series, as you correctly say, showcasing humanity at its best.

They were all melodrama.

II: Kirk vs. Khan
III: Kirk vs. Kruge
IV: Kirk vs. 1986
V: Kirk vs. Sybok (complete with a Please Jim, not in front of the Klingons.)
VI: Kirk vs. Chang
VII: Picard/Kirk vs. Soran
VIII: Picard vs. Borg
IX: Picard vs. Ruafo
X: Picard vs. Picard

I may be oversimplifying, but there was little to no exploration in any of these films. The crew is constantly reacting to a threat - just like any other war movie.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Oh for sure, the structure is very simplistic. We got much better exploration out of mid-series TNG, hands down. Better than even the very best moments in film. The movies were just bigger and shinier. :)

But even given that smaller reach, IV is just lopsided. BTW, "Kirk vs. 1986": *nice*.

[thespos]

Well, it was either Kirk vs. 1986 or Kirk vs. Big Black Garbage Can with Sardines.

:-P

And yes, I agree... IV was lopsided. But even the actors were tired of the heaviness of the films to that point, which is a lot of why that film was done the way it was.

But like I said, I have sentimental memories of sitting in our family's movie theatre, seeing it for free, and just being 16 and having fun.

But this discussion put me in a nice mood. Thank you. :-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

No problem, that's what I'm here for.

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

It was actually 1987, but I'm not one to nitpick. :-D

Dan's a Star Wars geek, I've memorized most of the lines in the original 6 movies, which I got the box VHS set of right after VI came out (I was 11, I think.)

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

Wow, you're a cynical bastard. :-P

c9's point, probably, was that those conflicts were a vehicle for the expression of that ideal. Star Trek at it's best is an agnostic's or Deist's wet dream come true. :-)

[thespos]

But was the ideal expressed? I just feel like there was a great lack of originality in the final analysis.

Yes, I am cynical, but I take my Trek very seriously. :-P

[bartok.livejournal.com]

so you infer humanity is only at its best when it's being sappy? I have no issues with the plot or themes of something like Poets', just its construction. Same with American Beauty. Shameless manipulation irks me.

And a like total so What-EVAAAR to you! Dude!

[c9.livejournal.com]

Oh I know, I didn't mean to imply otherwise. Part of me feels good when I'm manipulated to see a better tomorrow, etc etc. But yeah, manipulation can be bad too. :)

(hand)

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

I wish they'd start a series following the USS Titan w/ Will Riker.. there was a scene cut from Nemesis where Crusher was posted to the Titan. However, he was in the movie, albeit briefly.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Yeah, he used to have lines and everything. Not that I care that much about that character, but Wil was so excited about bringing his ST life full circle that it sucked when that was taken away from him.

I think that any new series would have to suck though, because it wouldn't be the same team or the same goals. "You can never go home again..."

[lifein2x3.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's a shame, really. I was thinking about it, and there's still so much territory they could cover... there are soooo many opportunities for social commentary these days, it's ridiculous.

Damn the establishment.

[c9.livejournal.com]

Hey there! You're on so many others' lists, including the husband, so I pop in every once in a while to read. Figured out that you should be on my friends list.

[leapfish.livejournal.com]

Everyone who made Star Trek-related comments is now no longer on my Christmas card list - I have had enough of you damn Trekkies.

[c9.livejournal.com]

I thought this might happen.

[simplisticton.livejournal.com]

"Star Wars is adolescent nonsense; Close Encounters is obscurantist drivel; Star Trek can turn your brains to puree of bat guano; and the greatest science fiction series of all time is Doctor Who! And I'll take you all on, one-by-one or all in a bunch to back it up!"

-- Harlan Ellison

(I just have to throw this quote in in any discussion of Star Trek or Star Wars. It's the SF geek equivalent of throwing a stink bomb into a room and running. :-)

[c9.livejournal.com]

*gasp* An opinion from Harlan Ellison! I must die!

[x-23.livejournal.com]

I saw it in the theatres 3 years ago and haven't seen it since. The only part of the movie I liked was the battle sequence. It was pretty cool.

[lifeofprad.livejournal.com]

lol, good star trek discussion.

it was bad, but i still had to watch it.
a pity, the Romulans were always my favourite... a real nemesis for the Federation.