This weekend had two things going on that for a geek like me were exciting- Star Trek Into Darkness opened and the Doctor Who Season Finale aired.
I have held off posting my thoughts about Star Trek Into Darkness until now not because I didn’t want to talk about it, but because I was actually pretty conflicted about how I felt about the film. I wanted to check out other reviews (spoiler filled or not) and really try to wrap my head around what was going on. Let’s start off with something simple and not spoilerish at all- I had the chance to see the film Wednesday at a local theatre in 3-D thanks to Comic Carnival North (My local comic shop) and Dan who handed me two passes one for Sue and one for me with the advice “show up early.” In some cities “Show up early” means “Camp out days ahead of time” in Indiana it usually means “arrive before the closing credits role.” Sue and I went out for a quick bite and arrived about an hour before the film was scheduled to start- the line had already formed, but it wasn’t too bad. We got to our seats and then sat. The theatre’s air conditioning was either off or broken so it started to get really hot. I would comment on the PR person trying to convince us to go to their website, who kept calling us “Star Trekkies,” but it was almost too sad to mention. SO 9:00 rolls around and… nothing. A little after nine and nothing, A little after, a little after nine and the lights start to dim, you could feel the tension in the theatre grow the theme music starts and… nothing. A blank screen. They try again- same result. We see the taskbar of the digital projector and they try again… this time a picture! except since this was the 3-D version it was all messed up. Stop again, reset try one more time… I have frankly forgotten how many times they reset, but then the movie started and everyone quieted down. Now for the spoilers.
I’m not going to go into too much detail on hyper analyze what was going on… I’m actually writing this more for me to try to figure out what the purpose of the film was (besides making money) and how it fit or doesn’t fit in the Star Trek universe. I’m going to post this as almost a wish list.
I wish John Harrison was just John Harrison – I was hoping that this new reimagined universe would have new villains not repurposed ones. While it worked well in the overall story, and made sense they way it was explained, I was hoping that this would be something different.
As a friend said- I wish they would quit messing around with the Klingons… I can understand how the new timeline shifted the balance, but I don’t see how the destruction of Vulcan or Nero’s little time travel escapades changed Klingon physiology and how they look. That said I don’t have anything against the new style of Klingon, I’m just wondering how necessary it was. Then again someone could say the same thing about the Klingons from the series and those who appeared in the first film.
If this had been the third film in the series I guess I wouldn’t be that nitpicky about it, but since it is basically a remake of Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan (without the Space Seed setting it up) I’m concerned that the next film will be a remake of Search for Spock and so on and so forth… Will Sybok come into the series at some point?
While I did enjoy the role flip in the engine room scene at the end, I was waiting for Kirk to say ‘The needs of the many…”
Why did Spock contact Spock? Was it really necessary? or was it just to get the “Star Trekkies” excited?
As many have said – this was the film that needed to be made to get a certain monkey off the back of the writers- since everyone would be asking about if Khan would come back every time they make a film- he has, and now it’s done, time to move on. There have been rumors about a possible TV series, but those are just that- rumors.
I do plan on seeing it again? If only to rewatch the Simon Pegg scenes. Was it a horrible film- no not at all, I just was expecting more. As for 3-D I want to repeat that I have yet to see a film that has used 3-D in a way that makes it work for me. Save your money… Although I am considering seeing it in IMAX to see if there really is a big difference. I remember seeing Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom in a regular theatre and then on a massive screen, it did make a difference. Then again as someone commented that they are waiting for a holodeck version- so am I.
The point I keep stumbling over is that I really, really like Ultimate Spider-Man (this will make sense, just be patience). When Marvel comics had Bendis rework Spider-Man for a new audience, he did so masterfully. You started back at the beginning, old villains came back in new and sometimes more powerful roles. They really did a great job (including the clone saga). Even to the point of killing Peter Parker and then bringing in a new Spider-Man. So since I liked what happened there, why am I so mixed up in my feeling towards Into Darkness? It’s the same thing just a different universe!
I am looking forward to seeing Darth Vader come back in Star Wars 7 after the Death Star falls into a wormhole and…
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Now to this Season of Doctor Who- where time is not linear, but kind of a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.
So the Doctor is transfixed with Clara who died in the Dalek Asylum, and Victorian London and is now in present day… Why is she so important? Why is she so special? Moffat has continued leaving breadcrumbs through every episode that will ultimately get picked up by the audience. An example of this was the first series with Matt Smith we end up seeing that the doctor at the end had come back at various times (talking with Amy on the ship filled with weeping angels comes to mind) The audience doesn’t notice, until the final episode. This time, thanks to the 50th anniversary of Doctor Who, he is now going to drop the impossible girl everywhere, and it makes sense (in some sort of timey-wimey way). When the season finale started with all those clips from the various incarnations I was blown away. I feel like I need to go back and check out the graveyard and see who is actually buried there. Now for some spoilers or things that I am thinking about…
So The Great Intelligence, Clara, and the Doctor are now going to zoom around in the Doctor’s time line… I did like Clara telling the first incarnation not to take “that TARDIS, take this one the navigation’s a bit off but…” So are we going to find Clara is the reason for so many things that have happened?
In the realm of Science Fiction is this possible? The rules can be made up and messed around, but there has to be an explanation- the question is will Matt Smith and Clara be interacting with all the incarnations of the Doctor or will it just be Clara (I’m assuming it will be both). So many stories have so many different twists to what is possible in time travel, “All You Zombies…” by Robert Heinlein is just one example of some weird stuff in time travel as is “By His Bootstraps” also by Heinlein.
The biggest question I have is if John Hurt is an incarnation of the Doctor (before he was called the Doctor) doesn’t that make Matt Smith the twelfth and final incarnation? or is there some Timelord rule about this? The Master has come back many times past his 12 regenerations- but then again the Master is a little loopy now.
As for which was better Star Trek Into Darkness or The Name of the Doctor… until I get another chance to see Star Trek… The Doctor is ahead.