Star Trek: Into Darkness

[corilannam]

WHERE MY NERDS AT??? I saw this movie last night and I need to talk some hardcore Trek here.



I liked this movie. I didn't love it with the pure, soul-deep love of the 2009 Star Trek. I have a feeling I would have loved it much more if I was less of a Trek nerd. I have a feeling I'm going to love it much more after repeat viewings.

I have a lot to squee about and a lot I wasn't crazy about, which ultimately means a lot more to say than I have time to type right now. So I'll just hit some highlights and then see what you all have to say.

I absolutely loved the beginning with that stunningly gorgeous planet and the volcano and Spock being a badass scientist and Uhura very calmly freaking the fuck out and Kirk totally handwaving the Prime Directive in order to save Spock's life. In return, I am willing to handwave the question of how they got the ship down there to begin with.

I also loved that they took the Enterprise away from Kirk for it. Unlike the Kirk we knew in TOS, this Kirk does not have the solid overachiever work history of his counterpart. He has very few laurels to rest on at this point--pretty much he has a few moments of crazy world-saving brilliance (limited shelf life), a good Academy record (I assume), and he has Christopher Pike. He can't afford to be so cavalier; that's a privilege that he still has to earn.

But we still have that pure Kirk brilliance. I love that he was the one who figured out Harrison (as we knew him at that point) had planned the whole thing to get to the Starfleet brass in that conference room and I love that he was the one who brought Harrison's ship down. (But teleporting from Earth to the Klingon homeworld? Seriously? And being able to warp to Kronos in mere minutes? The fuck? And at the end, if they were that close to Earth, how did--oh, never mind.)

I'm kind of devastated that they killed Pike. I mean, yes, it makes sense, mentor figure has to die, yadda yadda, but I loved this incarnation of Pike so much, both for his own personality and his relationship with Kirk. Having Spock confirm that he died in fear and pain and confusion just made it worse. Kirk openly weeping over his body with Spock helpless in the face of Kirk's grief almost broke me. And of course, I loved the way Kirk steadied himself on Spock's shoulder for a moment when he stood.

So yeah, let's just go ahead and talk about the slash. Actually, more than that, because for me, this was the pure OT3 (by which I mean Kirk/Spock/Uhura -- I'm afraid the classic triumvirate of Kirk/Spock/McCoy didn't work as well for me this time as it did last time) that I've been wanting since the last movie. I love that there's clearly that strong bond of trust and affection building between Kirk and Uhura now, right where it should be, and that made it even better as they both tried to sort out their relationship with their pointy-eared robot boyfriend. I mean, come on, they were sitting in a literal triangle! I giggled out loud at one point at Kirk's desperation not to be involved in that conversation and Uhura being like, "oh, no, you're in this with me, buddy, man up." Perfect.

And the development of the Kirk/Spock? Watching Spock learn what to do with these weird feelings? Watching them fumble their way into their relationship? Love it. I had some issues with the death scene, but Spock waiting at Kirk's bedside when he woke up? Calling him Jim for the first time? You could hear my squee from space, I swear to God. I had to bite down on my sweater to keep from disturbing people.

I mentioned having some issues with the death scene, but it's not the scene itself, which really was glorious and I'm sure I'll enjoy it much more after a couple more viewings. My problem is that I was 12 when I become a Trekkie and a Kirk/Spock baby slasher and I imprinted hard on The Wrath of Khan. Really hard. And although I appreciate all the stuff they crammed in there from Wrath, very little of it felt organic to me. Kirk's death had very little impact on me, partially because I was very distracted by comparisons to Wrath and partially because it was blindingly obvious that they were going to use the superblood to revive him.

(And about that--oh, never mind, I'm not going to bitch about that. I'm glad they kept Khan around in the end. Though I'm sorry, TRIBBLES CASUALLY ON THE ENTERPRISE WTF?)

I think part of my problem with recreating so much of Wrath is that Wrath occurred in a very, very different point in the timeline for the original characters. Kirk had a long and legendary career, a son, a relationship deep beyond words with Spock, glories and deep regrets. When Spock died in Wrath, the sacrifice was devastating because of everything that was between them, because Spock was making a very conscious and considered choice, and also because Spock stayed dead through the end of the movie. When Kirk died in Darkness, it was the loss of potential (both his life and the relationship), which held less gravitas and was further lessened by the rather easy deus ex machine already set up.

(Also, the whole point of Spock going into the reactor core in Wrath was that as a Vulcan, he could withstand the radiation long enough to get it done, as no human could. I guess radiation isn't as intense in the alternate timeline?)

When Spock did the "Khaaaaaaaaaaaan!" scream, I had to cover my face with embarrassment.

I really loved Khan himself. I already knew who he was going in (I stumbled upon that clip of him giving the Dreadnought coordinates to Kirk, and as soon as he said "72 reasons," that was it)(though it didn't stop me from squealing "holy shit!" out loud earlier when Khan asked Spock how many torpedoes there were on board)(not enough nerds in my theater, dammit).

Ever since Benedict Cumberbatch was cast, I've been hoping he was Khan, because I thought he's one of the few people who could really pull off a chilling, believable Khan. And he really, really did. I was mesmerized every second he was on screen. I loved his mind games with Kirk, I loved his cold vengeance, and I loved the ambiguity of his devotion to his people weighted against his ruthless killing.

So overall, A+ for the use of Khan, but I wish they had gone more Space Seed with it instead of trying to recreate Wrath of Khan so exactly. I really want them to bring him back and explore more of his cold genocidal side.

Other random thoughts:

* Not sure how I feel about Carol Marcus. She was kind of pointless, except as another callback to Wrath
* Wish Sulu had more to do. Thrilled that Uhura did have more to do. I guess they have to take turns?
* I just love Simon Pegg as Scotty. He's different, but I can't help but love seeing him in action.
* Loved seeing Cupcake again!
* Loved all the visually interesting people on the bridge

Argh, I have so much more I want to talk about! But I have to get some work done -- come talk to me in the meantime!

Comments

[jelazakazone]

Well, crap. Now I'm wishing I'd been there with you to see it, although you'd have hated seeing it with me pestering you with a million questions.

So, I was 11 when Wrath of Khan came out and that's when I saw it (over 30 years ago). I couldn't remember the original story at all and now I'm seeing I definitely missed things. A LOT OF THINGS. ACK. Reading over the wikipedia entry, I see they merged things from Wrath of Khan into the reboot too. Ugh, the remix is making my head spin.

Overall I really liked the movie. I actually did not like action!Khan. BC is too much Sherlock in my head and so I find it jarring when he's fighting, but the thinking/cold-blooded calculation part worked really well for me.

I was so happy to see Uhura throughout this one. She didn't disappear and I loved the questions Kirk was asking her about fighting with Spock. (For the record, my husband could be Spock's brother.) I totally see an OT3 there too, or at the very least, a triangle:D

Carol Marcus was very distracting. No clue what that was about. Set up for something in the next movie?

SIMON PEGG! And the guy who plays Checkov is still fucking adorable.

What is Cupcake?

I wish they had done more with the Klingons. That one guy whose face we actually saw looked fantastic.

Apparently I have many thoughts on this. Time for me to go work on podfic. :D

[corilannam]

Hee! Pestering is all right with me. I do love spouting off Trek trivia. *g* I do kind of wish I didn't have such strong memories and emotional reactions to the original; I think I would enjoyed certain parts of this version much more if they weren't jarring those memories.

Uhura was fantastic! I laughed out loud when Kirk was talking out his problems with Spock with her and she just casually threw Spock under the bus. It was so great to see her using her linguistic genius, though I wish they gone further with that with the Klingons instead of devolving straight into a fire fight. But I also loved that she took on an action role, too. I wanted to cheer while she was stunning the heck out of Khan at the end.

The Klingons looked amazing! Loved them in the armor and the forehead rings.

Cupcake is the security guy that Kirk got into a fight with in the last movie. We saw him again here--he was one of the two guys who went down to Kronos with them. He's apparently learned some manners in the interim!

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

I won't be able to see this for about 2 weeks but sounds great.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Hope you enjoy it when you get to see it!

[(Anonymous)]

*Lurker de-lurks*

I'll handwave where they parked the Enterprise at the start of the movie because it looked awesome when they moved her to rescue Spock.

I agree totally with your viewpoint on why it was right that they took the Enterprise away from Kirk.

It is hard not to be aware of the contrasting reactions of people to 1)Harrison's real identity and 2)the actor playing him.

Personally, I loved it because Benedict Cumberbatch is damn good at what he does. I can't imagine somebody else in his place now and the last time that happened was when we first saw the actor playing Nick Fury in the Marvel movies. I couldn't imagine that working as well as it did until I saw Samuel L Jackson playing the character on screen and was then fully convinced that it was wonderful casting.

Getting back to the movie, I thought the beaming to the Klingon homeworld thingy was sort of hand-waved by the later reference to the Transwarp equations from the previous film? A devious, incredibly intelligent bad guy given access to the existence of those equations could do something with them, y/n?

The Kirk/Spock stuff was off the charts compared to the first move.

There was not much of Sulu or Chekov but I loved them both. Scotty, McCoy and Uhura continue to be fabulous.

For some of the other stuff in the movie, I cringed. Kirk's brashness and his bedmates near the start of the movie, for example. Then I remind myself that he was on course to be a genius level delinquent in the previous movie and accept his personality is going to be different to the original incarnation of Kirk accordingly.

The pivotal scene between Kirk and Spock near the end of the movie was moving but I thought the Pike scene with Kirk and Spock kneeling at his side had much more visceral impact when seeing it up there on the screen.

I'd give it a solid 8/10 and I'm definitely going back for a second viewing.

I'll now return to lurking. *g*

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Welcome, delurking lurker! *g*

I agree, BC did an amazing job making Khan his own. I had been a little worried that he wouldn't have enough fire to go with the ice, but I was sold as soon as he started talking.

Getting back to the movie, I thought the beaming to the Klingon homeworld thingy was sort of hand-waved by the later reference to the Transwarp equations from the previous film? A devious, incredibly intelligent bad guy given access to the existence of those equations could do something with them, y/n?

Wellllll... I mean, I get that they were trying to explain that away, but I just didn't buy it. Transwarp beaming is pretty powerful, and Section 31 might have made it more so, but from Earth to the Klingon home planet is just too much of a stretch for me. If you can beam anywhere in the galaxy, why do they even need starships?

Then I remind myself that he was on course to be a genius level delinquent in the previous movie and accept his personality is going to be different to the original incarnation of Kirk accordingly.

Yes, I agree. I've never had a problem with Kirk's characterization, personally. Given how completely different his upbringing was, I totally buy this wilder, less mature Kirk.

And I totally agree that the scene by Pike's body had a much greater impact than the later stuff. I think that was just so true to these particular characters and where they are, instead of trying to cram them into the mold of their original counterparts.

[master-chatnoir.livejournal.com]

I agree with much of what you said. And I loved it for the most part, with a few reservations. But this is exactly me, too: "When Spock did the "Khaaaaaaaaaaaan!" scream, I had to cover my face with embarrassment." Right on.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

It just made no sense and was horrifically out of character. Not that I don't appreciate that losing Kirk could break Spock like that, but his vengeance chase of Khan was more than enough to show that.

I thought it was the worst of all the old movie references they were trying to cram in there. It's such an iconic Kirk moment, dependent on a huge amount of history and circumstance, and they should have left it alone.

OMG, your icon is AWESOME.

[beck-liz.livejournal.com]

his Kirk does not have the solid overachiever work history of his counterpart. He has very few laurels to rest on at this point

I've been thinking about this some today since I saw the movie. He also doesn't have the experience with how to get around certain rules or the experience to know he couldn't get away with not mentioning the Prime Directive breaking. Also, he hasn't had however many years to build a network of people to help him out at Starfleet Command when he does break the rules. The youngest captain in Starfleet history gig comes with few perks.

I'm kind of devastated that they killed Pike.

Yeah. I really loved him, but it seemed kind of obvious from the get-go that he wouldn't make it through the movie, unfortunately.

that conversation and Uhura being like, "oh, no, you're in this with me, buddy, man up."

Oh, god, I loved that. I loved how much Uhura got to do all over the place. And I am on the Kirk/Spock/Uhura train so hard right now - or at least the Uhura/Spock with Uhura & Kirk BFFs train, I'll take either.

When Spock did the "Khaaaaaaaaaaaan!" scream, I had to cover my face with embarrassment.

Right? Only Shatner could do that, seriously. I actually was mostly really affected for that scene, and then THAT threw me right the hell out. *sigh*

Not sure how I feel about Carol Marcus.

I think I liked what little there was of her, but she felt really underused. I did like her standing up to her dad, and that the scream which sounds so fake on its own in the trailer actually had a really good reason. Beyond that, though...

Loved seeing Cupcake again!

I hoped that was him, but I wasn't sure! Yay!

Loved all the visually interesting people on the bridge

Right? So cool.

[franzi1981.livejournal.com]

So, finally made it here into this entry!

Short version: you're basically reflecting my feelings; almost exactly! Though I think I loved this a teeny bit more than the 2009 film. But then I've already seen it twice *G*.

Longer version (even if incoherent):

I think Sulu had one of the best lines in the movie with "If you test me, you *will* fail." Woot! You really don't want to cross him *G*

The beginning was awesome! So awesome I'm also going to handwave the "how did they get the ship down" thing. Maybe the whole population was in that temple-thing at the time? I'm going to go with that, I think *G*.

And like you, I loved that Kirk learned that his actions are going to have consequences - and he can't just do things like on that planet (Niburu? Nibiru?) and expect to always get away with it.

Transwarp- didn't Scotty "Invent" that in 2009 film? So I guess that's what Khan got his hands on. But yeah, that journey to Kronos was awfully short *G*

It took me a bit to realise that he's Khan - it's not until they figured what's in those torpedoes that it clicked for me. But I admit - I squeed. I also love Benedict's acting. It seemed like he took care to pronounce every word over-clear, which, given how he's genetically enhanced and not a "real" human, made sense.

I love Scotty and his little friend (what's his name??).

Oh, and something random that intrigued me: In an interview with Zach Quinto he mentioned that there was a "gay storyline" in this film but then it fell victim to the cutting floor. I wonder what it was!!!

I think my favourite K/S scene is when Kirk tells Spock that he's no longer the captain and Spock gets transferred, etc. And Kirk says something like "I'll miss you" (??)... anyway, how Spock's mouth just opens... and closes again and Kirk's display of despair. Heh.

Other random bits:

The London Skyline! Woot!
The cable car in the San Francisco chase scene.
The way Alcatraz got crushed! Heh. Poor Alcatraz.

[teprometo.livejournal.com]

God, it is so nice to see someone having a positive reaction to this movie. I loved it because it is Trek, and I love Trek, and anything Trek will please me because it exists in the universe I call home. There's so much focus on the problematic aspects of it in fandom right now that I feel like the sheer joy of Trek has been smothered a bit. So I really love seeing someone else who had problems with it but basically was like, YES YAY STAR TREK! I mean, I'm not even really a fan of the casting choices for Kirk, Spock, and McCoy, but that's not going to ruin it for me. TREEKKKK!

[stagarden.livejournal.com]

I skipped this when you posted it because I hadn't seen the movie yet, and then I forgot about it. Just read it now and all I can say is: \0/

Hoping to squee some more about Star Trek with you.