Star Trek Beyond!

[browngirl]

To start with: if anyone repeats that old canard about Uhura being "reduced to Spock's girlfriend," they did not see the movie I saw, in which she kicked ass, took names, and figured out the Big Reveal using her "exceptional aural sensitivity".

I think it was the best, certainly the most Star Trekesque of the Reboot movies. It was shiny yet gritty, and optimistic, and [fictional] physics bent to the power of hope. *laugh*

Some things I really loved: the way the cinematography emphasized that there's no "up" or "down" in space; the lovely design of the Yorktown deep space station; the cool alien designs of various crew members; the weaponization of The Power of Rock; Jaylah from start to finish. (And I also liked the rainbow of the crew, both in human and non-human skin tones, though I still want to see an Andorian.) Also, if they had to break the Enterprise it was a fairly well done way to do so.

A couple demographic notes: The bad guy both participates in and subverts an annoying SF trope (casting POC as exclusively aliens and not humans). There were several women ... who didn't ever get to talk to each other. But/and Uhura and Sulu got a fair amount to do -- all the crew did. I think Pegg's script did well by them.

I am easy to please and on a subsequent viewing I'll probably find things I didn't love as much, but honestly, I'm just relieved that I'd be willing to watch it again. I feel like at the least we got apologized to for Into Ridiculousness.

(Also, the dedications brought tears to my eyes. As I knew they would.)

Comments

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

Uhura is a BADASS in STB! She's an excellent Starfleet officer, which of course is what she should be, given that she's the communications officer for the fleet's flagship.

Speaking of Uhura, Nichelle Nichols -- the original Uhura -- just released a single of "Fly Me to the Moon," to celebrate the 47th anniversary of NASA's landing on the moon. I bought it from iTunes, and you know, she doesn't have the voice at 83 that she had at 34 (when she sang during "Charlie X" and "Conscience of the King,") but she sounds great for an old lady ... and still very sexy.

I loved the Treknobabble in STB; I thought it made a lot more sense than usual. (Phrasing this vaguely so as not to be too spoilery for any of your readers who haven't seen the movie.) I can see where the Enterprise would have trouble fighting off the kind of ships that attacked them in the beginning of the movie, and I can see where that sort of ship would be vulnerable in exactly the way that they were, and I can see where the Enterprise guys could use that in just the way that they did. So I thought the techy stuff hung together a lot better than it sometimes does.

I had trouble with the visuals -- did you? You can see more of what I mean at my post about STB.

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to share my Starfleet icon with you if you want it. :-)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[chienne-folle.livejournal.com]

My own personal icon would be Science/Medical blue; I made the one on my previous comment to go with the Starfleet career I made for The Sims 3, since more people recognize the command icon than recognize Science/Medical.

Your engineering icon looks lovely! Now you've got me wanting to go make a Sciences one for myself. :-)

Edited to add: Done. :-)

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

Yay, letting Uhura be dynamic!

It was still pretty Kirk-centric. A flaw, to me.

Did you notice that no one slept for two days, yet still fresh as a daisy even when clawed up?

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

They have a Neatener Setting on their tricorders. :)

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

*LAUGH* I wasn't thinking of clothing, but of sanity an durability! :D

[annonynous.livejournal.com]

If it were in a crossover universe, they could have used a Deryni fatigue banishing spell. (:-/

Ann O.

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

:)

[clevermanka.livejournal.com]

I'm just relieved that I'd be willing to watch it again. I feel like at the least we got apologized to for Into Ridiculousness.

OH THANK DOG. I hope to see it this week and that motivates me more than I had been.

[lavendertook.livejournal.com]

I went and saw it Friday evening. Yeah, it did feel like an old Trek episode in a good way with women treated as people It was fluffy with good values. Glad to hear the science might be less fluffy than I thought it was. Yes, Uhura and Jaylah got to do good stuff. As in the other films, I think Urban's McCoy steals the show with his excellent direct homage, instead of the adaptations everyone else is doing (and I have no complaints with adaptations). I enjoyed the competition between Kirk and Jaylah for the captains seat. And I just loved the graphics of the space station and the way gravity was handled to make the spurs face every which way. I liked how Sulu's family was depicted, though they shouldn't have cut the greeting kiss, and I'm sad it is against Takei's wishes, though I don't get on board with his reservations as presented in the media, but they may be more complicated than was presented. I was a little confused by how the bad guys came together--why they were following Krall, but not too worried about it, because fluff. They had pretty ear ruffles, and that makes everything better. :-P

[thistlerose.livejournal.com]

My only quibble about Uhura in "Beyond" is that she wasn't the one to figure out how to confuse the bees. Come on! They even mention COMMUNICATION in the discussion. And TOS!Nyota is musical! She should have been the one to figure it out. It would have been a great way to get her to interact with Jaylah.

But other than that I really liked her in this. I loved everyone in this (though, once again, Scotty stole my heart).

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

YES WAY!

[seanchaidh.livejournal.com]

I feel that Star Trek into Badness didn't actually happen.

[blcwriter.livejournal.com]

I haven't seen it yet but I am glad you liked it so much, it makes me hopeful. (Also, hello, and *hugs*)

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

*huggles you a lot* Hi. :)