KCR: Star Trek (2009)

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Chris Pine as James. T. Kirk in Star Trek (2009)

Star Trek, the 2009 version featuring the JJ Abrams reboot, completely destroys the universe in favor of a huge time travel, plots that relies on so much coincidences that defies explanation, but ultimately produces a tale that seem to satisfy most fanboys, and features a lot of new faces in places of old names.

The setup: A hole in space... a ship emerges... and the life of James T. Kirk, yet to be born, is changed forever. Adrift without a father, Kirk was lost until Captain Pike saw his potential and recruited him for Starfleet Academy. When the giant ship reemerged in Federation space, and wiped out most of Starfleet, the young Kirk, along with Spock, McCoy, Scottie, Sulu, Chekov, and Uhura may be the only hope to save Earth...

The problem with this movie is the plot is forced instead of arising naturally out of what happens. Things just... happen, often for the dumbest reason available. The whole movie is so full of coincidences that it's utterly ridiculous. What's more, the plot doesn't make sense BECAUSE there's a ton of material you have to read from the prequel comics that most people do not "get".

SPOILER

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STOP

READING

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Nothing wrong with a little time travel. Lots of Star Trek plot is that way, and the intro is great. However, it also meant the next 15-30 minutes have little action except the contrived kind... like the young kirk throwing the Mustang into the valley. Then you get various funny scenes until you meet up with that big ship... why does it need to be that big, and why does it look the way it does? It makes no ****ing sense. It's supposed to be a MINING ship, so it should look UTILITARIAN. So why does it look like a porcupine in a wind tunnel, with all the barbs facing the wrong way? Why would Spock have so much red matter any way? How much of it does he plan to use? Why would the mining ship have to "drop" a drill which then shoots the cutting beam, instead of just shoot the cutting beam from orbit? Why would the drill have guards? How did Kirk end up on Delta Vega, just happen to land near Spock Prime, and it just happens to be the same planet Scottie is on? And so on and so forth. Too many ****ing coincidences. Oh, and how the heck did Kirk, a cadet who didn't even graduate, was given command of the best ship in Starfleet (heck, probably the ONLY ship in Starfleet), and rank of Captain?

Still, the special effects are great, and characters are not caricatures of the originals, but can stand on their own. A few twists like Uhura and Spock are interesting. And yes, Simon Pegg makes a pretty good Scottie. I like the movie, but I do wish it to better.

Single DVD, Double DVD, Triple Disc Blu-Ray / DVD,  Prequel Comic leading up to movie

KCR: Needs of the Many (Star Trek, tie-in, scifi)

Image via WikipediaThis "novel" is a tie-in for the new Star Trek Online MMORPG. It was written from the POV of Jake Sisko, by now a famous writer, who interviewed many of the "celebrities" of his time, about the latest threat to the Federation, a new shapeshifter threat called the Undine, that makes the Founders look like amateurs. Klingons have turned back into hostiles. The universe is a messy place. And who is this Undine? They are formerly known as Specie 8472 (yes, the fluidic space people from Star Trek: Voyager).

The problem with this war is nobody quite know who is the enemy, as they can look just like your neighbors and friends. So the Federation is sometimes reduced to suspecting anyone and everyone, and some of the deepest moral principles have been compromised, but how far?

The problem with the book is they are presented as a bunch of interviews with the various parties Jake have access to during his time... i.e. personalities from the various episodes of DS9 and VOY. While all the characters are in character, the problem is they turn into sort of... uh... sounding platform for that person's philosophy on dealing with the Undine threat, and some of that philosophy is just completely outrageous... at least to a normal guy like you and me. Or in other words, what's supposed to be scifi turned into a political and moral discussion.

If you can pick this up from a used bookstore it can serve as a good intro to STO, the MMORPG. However, as a standalone book it is quite lacking except for the "ensemble" effect (i.e. all the familiar characters are here).

Rating: Skip it (unless you're a Trekker)