Star Trek Beyond - Live Long and Prosper

[Hawki]

Give me a scene from the new movies that matches this, in every way it is amazing, as someone says it is the Galactic equivalent of reversing the car out of the drive way but the music, tension and the cause and purpose behind it all makes it fantastic and the bit were they switch to the exterior view of the spacedock and the music really kicks it up... amazing. Even the SFX still hold up pretty well, more or less. Oh and check out the view screen to the right of the Excelsiors Captian's shoulder, you know how Star Trek was often said to predict up coming tech... well clearly someone is charging their Ipod on that console Only downside to the scene is Chekov's outfit.... seriously wtf is going on there?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkJ3--2K7yo

I've always found that scene somewhat lacklustre. It's aspiring to be grandiose, and to some extent it succeeds, but a lot of it is less "look at Kirk and co., look how commited they are" and more "hah hah, look how silly Starfleet is."

I would say its theme was "our bad decisions today can have far reaching consequences in the future". Or some such thing...

It could be. Of course it could also be "save the whales! Oh God save the whales!" But maybe I'm just reaching into things so much.

Maybe identity crisis around trying to find oneself while living up to your fathers standards?

Could be. It's certainly brought up in the film.

You too? I consider Undiscovered Country to be one of my favorites. I might even go so far as to say that I like aspects of it more than Wrath of Khan.

Well, Undiscovered Country comes in at #5 for me. It's certainly more in keeping with the Star Trek "ideal" (key word on "ideal," I still find WoK to be just overall better written though - there's a few things that nag me in Undiscovered Country, namely:

-Shakespeare. Because of course a klingon is going to quote Shakespeare. It's the 23rd century, there's dozens of alien species with hundreds of cultures, the klingons aren't in a ready position to gain access to Shakespeare, but Chang quotes it because...quoting Shakespeare gives your fiction a veneer of intelligence? I mean, yes, I'm just as guilty as quoting stuff from Shakespeare and other sources in my own writings, but I'd like to think the circumstances are less contrived.

-The action is lacklustre. I mean, yes, it's not an action film, but the scuffle on Rura Penthe, the ship battle, it just feels...tired. The pace of action in WoK is at a similar rate, but it feels far more 'real' in a sense.

-Q'nos loses its moon, and generated a sub-space shockwave, whatever that means. I mean, enough about the ozone layer, what about the debris bombarding the klingons in itself? Are the klingons in such dire need of resources that they need to mine out their moon rather than exploiting the worlds of their empire? I know, Star Trek, soft sci-fi, but this is the very first plot point of the entire movie. Even Genesis seemed more beleivable.

-You may have guessed that I have gripes with Journey Home because of how much it bombards you over the head with the "save the whales theme," this coming from someone who found the themes of Avatar to be subtle. Well, Undiscovered Country suffers from a similar, if less drastic problem for me. It's an allusion to the fall of the Iron Curtain, and end of the Cold War. For the most part, it works. However, it has to flat out tell you as well, with Spock's "only Nixon can go to China" line. I think I'm at a disadvatange because I've seen that theme explored in other works with more subtlety, so while I think the theme is good, and well executed in the context of the story, I felt that the parallels were sometimes made too broad.

So, yeah. Good film, but has its flaws.

TBH I'm not sure we've had a truly good Star Trek movie since Star Trek The Motion Picture, but I didn't mind the previous Abrams outings. Of course, I'm not really a Trek purist nor do I hold the overall franchise in especially high regard, so I suppose that helps.

Y'know, it's funny how TMP is far more of a 'true' Star Trek movie, yet WoK is held as being superior. Anyway, I like TMP overall (though it comes at #9 for me), but at the end, execution trumps conception. TMP

And I guess that's how I view Star Trek. Yes, I can appreciate the Star Trek ideal. But both in the films and TV series, I've found it to be very hit and miss. There's plenty of sci-fi series I enjoy more, and would love to see films of and/or continuations/revivals of as well.

 

[Remus]

The villain's motivations were simple - survival of the fittest. So we're back to nature vs nurture. There's the nature of the wrecked planet at the center of the nebula vs the nurturing environment of the space station - a giant snowglobe in space housing millions, that uses teleporters like we used phone booths in the 80s. After years at war with aliens still jonesing for a second round with those pesky humans, The Federation was formed and we took the high road rather than expanding and crushing said enemies under our boot. Use of the weapon was meant to spark our ire and throw us back into war, much like pretty much every major attack in history - Pearl Harbor, 9/11, etc. The only problem with this plot was that there was no attempt to mask his actions as being the act of the Klingons, Romulans, Cardassians, or any other random alien race that disagrees with the Federation. This would have made things a little more intriguing but would have possibly increased the film's length as the attack would have to be carried through to see the resulting impact on interstellar politics.

BTW, anyone notice the similarities between the Franklin and the Enterprise from CBS's new show? People were complaining that the design was too basic, too brown, with no curves like the Enterprise in the movie trilogy. But here's the original design on the big screen for all to see.

 

[Hawki]

The villain's motivations were simple - survival of the fittest.

We sure? He gives those motivations, but they came off to me as a mask for him being pissed off at the Federation. As in, he was already pissed that peace was made with the xinti and romulans, and doubly pissed that no-one came to find the Franklin. Don't think it needs to tie in with recent Kelvinverse events for those motivations to ring true to him, even if the motives are quite basic.

BTW, anyone notice the similarities between the Franklin and the Enterprise from CBS's new show? People were complaining that the design was too basic, too brown, with no curves like the Enterprise in the movie trilogy. But here's the original design on the big screen for all to see.

Well, I certainly noticed how brown the Franklin was, but I assumed that was due to 100-plus years of being exposed to the elements. The Franklin was an NX-class, while the Discovery seems to be of a different class (different configuration). I wouldn't be surprised if the Discovery is a 'bridge' between the NX and Constitution classes, but IMO, I think it's more coincidence. From what I understand, Paramount has film rights, CBS has TV rights, and that limits crossover between the two settings.

 

[vallorn]

The is the first and so far only positive review I've seen of the movie so far from the perspective of a Trek movie. Now for a mindless popcorn movie that's an entirely different story.

Angry Joe seemed to like it.

This isn't a nationalist thing, but Simon Pegg is a fucking gift to entertainment. I really haven't seen anything bad involving him in any way. He is just a very positive influence for creativity.

Pegg is also a HUGE fan of star trek so having him on board does help with that too. Overall though, the Corneto Trilogy is 3 of my all time favorite movies and they are earned all around but Pegg just has a fantastic ability to act and a charisma that leaps out of the screen. So I've been really glad for him getting all the publicity from these movies since it means more people get to experience his acting. Here's hoping he does a Benedict Cumberpatch and leaps from a side role into being a main actor in some gigantic blockbuster movie. (Yes, I know Benedict Cumberpatch did things before he was Smaug like being Sherlock Holmes but he wasn't a household name.)

 

[gorfias]

Most positive things said of the film by one of my nerd friends was that this captured the character of these people better than the other 2. He thought it the best Star Trek film since Star Trek 5.

I liked it. I would have liked some exposition about Spock laughing though!

 

[Zenja]

I don't like that this movie had no character development. Especially following the first two that had character development galore. J.J Abrhams was pretty clever twice. With Star Trek, he rebooted the series while maintaining canon of the original series so that fans of the original could opt-in or opt-out and either way it didn't overwrite their previous canon but instead added to it. With the success of the first one and the fact it worked well as a reboot, it should seem clear that Wrath of Khan was going to be remade. It should also seem clear that no matter how they did it they were going to piss people off. I absolutely love that he killed Kirk this time and we get more character development out of it. Comparatively, Beyond is pretty dull specifically because it takes no chances and offers nothing watching the original series again didn't already.

"It's smarter and provides a little bit for you to ponder, delivers a couple of laughs, and gives the characters lots to do. It's not going to push any boundaries, and in many ways feels much like a big-screen, feature-length episode of the show."

I really don't see how this movie is smarter and what is there to ponder? I may have laughed a couple times, literally... as most of the best parts were in the previews. I disagree with most of the stuff here but I do agree that this is a 30 minute episode stretched out into a 90 minute slog. If fans wanted that... here ya go. A 90 minute movie that could easily be condensed to 30 minutes. Complete with a "vilain-of-the-week" feeling.

I do agree it works, and that my biggest complaint is that it offers nothing. This movie is just a bland addition to what Abrhams gave us. I was hoping to see some new character exposition considering we are now in an alternate timeline. (As Into Darkness offered.) But this movie was very monotone and dry on that front. Even introducing Jaylah, a charcter with potential stays 2 demensional in the story as a tribal scavenger archetype with a cliche invitation to Starfleet at the end. If I wanted to be mean I could even offer that I found many bits of dialogue cliche and even cringe worthy at times as it was old, old jokes being offered as witty. But I wouldn't hold that against the movie as you need to be able to laugh at that to enjoy the original series too. This movie does work, but I feel odd applauding a movie for merely being functional personally. It must truly be a barren summer for Blockbusters indeed if this one is a relief.

 

[Hawki]

He thought it the best Star Trek film since Star Trek 5.

Isn't that, like, most Star Trek movies? Or is he one of the few (myself included) who genuinely like Final Frontier?

 

[gorfias]

He thought it the best Star Trek film since Star Trek 5.

Isn't that, like, most Star Trek movies? Or is he one of the few (myself included) who genuinely like Final Frontier?

LOL, he tries to deny it but it is obviously one of his favorites He got to meet Shatner and it is the one thing he managed to squeeze into the conversation (talk of it: I don't recall what he actually said though).

Sad they didn't have enough money for an army of these:
Edit: My own favorites are 2, 3, 4 and 6. 1 was a fascinating disaster (Pajama Uniforms! Rehashed TV episode!)

 

[wizzy555]

Really didn't like it. Most silly of the three films.

1) Where did he get all the soldiers for the "bees"? Why would they fight for him?
2) Speaking as a physicist I don't think I could invent a more unsafe and inefficient design for a space station.
3) Why is a major metropolitan hub at the edge of known space?

 

[Ishigami]

Got to see it today on BluRay.
I got to say I was rather dismissive about it beforehand due to the chosen director. I was kind of wrong. I mostly enjoyed it.
There was some very silly stuff e.g. separating the saucer from an almost completely destroyed neck somehow fixed some systems, the space station design makes no sense at all not to mention that gravity bit at the end or how that guy got the manpower to build and man that swarm with only 3 people of his original crew left.
Anyway it got some decent bits as well. I liked the nod to Leonard Nimoys passing and the old crew in general (Sulu being gay (I know Takei was against this but I think they done it well), the crew photo and ofc 1701-A), that Spock and Kirk were searching for new raison d'etre in hindsight of their past experience and how they come to realize that the actually enjoy what they do and the theme of advancement thru cooperation vs. conflict. Those were rather Trekkie.
Yea shortly after having seen it I think it was okay.

Then again I also thought The Force Awakens was okay shortly after having seen it and today I think the only thing that it had going for it is not being the prequels? so?