Star Trek's Reboot

This post contains SPOILERS for J.J. Abram's 2009 Star Trek film.

I probably would have enjoyed J.J. Abrams' reinvention of Star Trek more, if early critical raves had not set such high expectations. So much had been made of the film's accessibility to people outside the Star Trek fan-cult -- and its creators' disdain for the techno-babble tropes of the original -- that I was expecting the sort of character-driven science fiction I had come to love in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series. And for the first third of the movie, that promise was fulfilled. The scenes of Kirk and Spock's (revised) childhood and entry into Starfleet were flashy, dramatic, and fun, and defined the men they would become for this new generation of audiences. Longtime fans even got to see how Kirk beat the unbeatable "Kobayashi Maru" training simulation, and the resulting debate hinted at how a cowboy like Kirk could last in Starfleet, depicted as a by-the-book military operation. The scenes built up the characters with solid storytelling while simultaneously giving old fans some moments of glee -- a difficult and rewarding balance to strike.

Unfortunately, as the conflict with the movie's one-note villain took focus, and more classic characters made their debuts, the special effects and winking references to Old Trek catch-phrases began to dominate. As a Trek fan, I got several chuckles, but I could see my wife (a Trek newcomer) losing interest. I stifled a few yawns myself. The numerous space battles were boilerplate, and one plot-unrelated scene involving an alien monster chase seemed lifted out of Star Wars: Episode I. As the conflict progression increasingly relied on time-travel, "red matter" technology, trans-warp beaming, and a ridiculously long drill bit, the characterization began competing with techno-babble and special effects. For all that Abrams denied courting fans of the original Star Trek, much of the film's second half seemed exclusively directed at us. As much as I love Leonard Nimoy and seeing him as "Old Spock," the emotional resonance of his scenes was probably lost on Trek neophytes, and may have even seemed a cheap device to fiat the depth of the Kirk/Spock friendship.

There was a lot to like about the cast of this movie. Chris Pine as Kirk had exactly the necessary swaggar, moxie, and grace-under-fire, and Zachary Quinto was Spock, for all I feared I would see only Sylar. The elegantly pretty Zoe Saldana as Uhura was nice surprise, creating a strong, passionate, willful foil for Kirk -- and love interest and emotional anchor for Spock. Karl Urban had Dr. "Bones" McCoy's diction and curmudgeonly manner down perfectly, and Simon Pegg's comic take on Scotty was a joy. Personally, I had a hard time not seeing "Harold" in John Cho's Sulu, and Anton Yelchin's Chekov seemed only to be played for in-joke laughs ("nuclear wessels," anybody?) Eric Bana played disgruntled Romulan miner Nero with appropriate menace, but he wasn't given much of a role with which to work. The crew of this Enterprise has some good chemistry, and if this movie is seen as the foundation for a renewed franchise, that was the most important thing to get right.

Time travel is a well-worn device in both the Star Trek mythos and in Abrams' other property, Lost. And it turned out to be a servicable way to reboot Star Trek, simultaneously honoring the original stories while clearing a path to venture into new territory. The time-traveling Romulan enemy changes history in the very first scene, and unlike most "alternate timeline" stories, this one doesn't get erased by the end of the movie. This new Star Trek reality, one in which Kirk has never known his father other than by reputation, Spock is romantically involved with Uhura, the Vulcans are an endangered species, and the Spock from the original timeline is still hanging around -- this is the new Trek history and canon.

Will future installments take the Enterprise in new directions? (It appears that a plot concerning the Vulcans' search for a new homeland after their planet's destruction is in the works.) Or will it fall back on the old stand-bys? I was mostly entertained by the new Star Trek. But I didn't see much evidence of it going where no one has gone before.