"Star
Trek" (2009) on Blu-ray
reviewed by Fred Dixon
It now has been six months since I saw Star
Trek in the theaters. I purchased the blu-ray disc this week (at the urging of my 14 year
old daughter I might add). I thought I would discuss this movie again, perhaps with some
new insights.
My enduring reaction is about the story. It still is
contrived. They needed everyone in their seats on the Enterprise at the conclusion and
then reverse engineered the story. It is almost like they listed all the elements they
needed at the beginning and then forced them into the story – we need to work Leonard
Nimoy in, it must include Starfleet Academy, the birth of Kirk (they had the birth of
Spock, too but deleted it), Kirk assuming command of the Enterprise, etc, etc. The blu-ray
extra disc did shed some light on the proceedings.
- They said that William Shatner was not included because he
died in Star Trek: Generations and because they thought it would be contrived if
they concocted a storyline to force him in. This is rather curious because the story as it
stands is a completed contrivance. "One more wouldn’t hurt" as the saying
goes. I would also conjecture that Shatner would have wanted some major screen time. Nimoy
already had significant time on screen, it would have been difficult to do both.
- The engineering deck of the U.S.S. Kelvin was shot in
an old power plant. Likewise, the engineering section of the Enterprise was
filmed in a Budweiser brewery (ah, this explains the promotional consideration in the Iowa
bar). The Starfleet shuttle bay was shot in an old blimp hangar. This actually worked as
opposed to the engineering sections. Neither looked like 23rd Century technology. Some
mention was made of the budget, but it seems that if they had an engineering set in the
‘60s, they could have done the same in 2007.
- I still couldn’t figure out what Nero and the Narada
did for 25 years waiting for Spock to arrive. (How did they know when and where he would
appear?) The deleted scenes indicted that Nero and crew were captured by the Klingons and
were incarcerated on Rura Penthe for that time. Several scenes were shot with Klingons,
but were deleted. Perhaps they thought that a 24th century ship could not be defeated by
23rd century Klingon warships.
- The virtual ship tour of the Narada on the
extra disc explained some things. The Narada was a mining ship, but was refitted
for war at a place called the Vault after Romulus was destroyed by the supernova. It
employed Borg technology adapted by the Romulan engineers. They loaded it up with weaponry
because of the destruction of some of the Romulan fleet. I just think it is poor
storytelling to leave gaps in the plot.
- The quarry in Iowa (not known for its quarries) was
actually a digital insert from Vermont (known for its granite quarries). Bakersfield, CA
filled in for Iowa. Still wondering how a 1963 Corvette made it into the 23rd Century and
was still running. It also had The Beastie Boys playing. I think I can say with certainty
their music won’t survive much past this decade, much less make it to the mid 2200s.
- The virtual tours of the Enterprise and the Narada
on the extras disc was cool. It addition to move 360° around the ships, you could also
fire the weapons. Cool!
I still give this movie a C+, but at least it
was entertaining. Oh, my 14 year old daughter has watched Star Trek half a dozen
times. Gee, it must rank right up there with Twilight and New Moon. High
praise indeed.
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