After the gratuitously unnecessary (and now increasingly disputed) redesign of the Enterprise (it looks too predatory – too sleek and angular, unshockingly more like a warship rather than an explorer, though a lot of fans are now claiming this is not the official redesign) the latest indication that the producers are continuing Enterprise‘s trend of paying absolutely zero attention to the show’s existing continuity has come in the form of Winona Ryder, cast as a younger version of Spock’s Vulcan mother.
What an otherwise lovely idea.
Unfortunately however, Spock didn’t have a Vulcan mother. He was half human, on his mother’s side. Like the Eighth Doctor, apparently.
Nobs in space.
I realise that a blog post about Star Trek can send most readers away in embarrassed droves, like knocking on the wrong door and finding yourself in an Incontinence Anonymous meeting. It’s just I really used to love this show as a kid. The cringingly reflex idea of a Starfleet Academy ‘first adventure’ plot was something that Gene Roddenberry was dribbling onto his laminated jotter in his final years, and duly politely ignored then. Ignoring the fact that the original crew never met at the academy, as an idea it’s still weaker than Red Dwarf 8.
I was trying though. I even thought Zachary Quinto as Spock was a good move. I smiled in polite optimism at the curious idea of Simon Pegg as Scotty. And I really wanted to believe that this movie wouldn’t just be a blockbuster reinflation of a very tired cash cow. Maybe I’m just doing what all fanboys do and getting in a big trainspotter tizz about very little. I’m sure I’ll probably resist watching it right up until the last moment. I just think if a show like Doctor Who can be resurrected into a multimillion international commodity through good writing (Fear Her aside) whilst avoiding rewriting or just plain ignoring entire chunks of its mythology, I don’t see why something as huge as Star Trek can’t do the same.
Then again, I still refuse to watch Sylvia.
Yes, I know. There is a war on, it’s a nice day outside, get a job etc…
I feel your pain, actually. Now, it’s a nice day, go outside.
So, after having watched it (several times), what do you think? I really like the opportunity for a new time line.
It was a bit too sexy for me on the whole, but have to concede still pretty good. I thought the new time line thingy was neat – I spent most of the first half of the film shaking my head at the things that were happening and getting geekangry, until the revelation that anything could now happen at which point I went “Oh. Oh that’s actual quite clever. Damn you.”