Catching up

[gominokouhai]

Finally got around to watching STAR TREK BEYOND. The last few years have been somewhat disrupted, and I'm regretting that I didn't have the opportunity to watch this one on the big screen. Zooooom! Pow! Blam! Pewpewpewpew EEEEEOWWWWWdooj. (I hope that last one wasn't a spoiler for anyone who hasn't seen it yet.)

Spectacular, certainly, but what I'm really enjoying about the JJverse movies is the characterization. By this point in the Kelvin timeline, these people are very different to the prime universe counterparts that we know, but I love them anyway. INtO dArKNeSS was a trash film, but it was totally redeemed by performances and dialogue. I would quite happily watch hours and hours of a hypothetical Zac And Zoe Bicker At Each Other Show. Any issues with canonicity of the film's plot can be fixed quite handily, and anything that gives Z&Z more screen time together deserves to be massaged into canon, even if it takes a bit of a stretch. Especially if we get the added bonus of Alice Eve in her space underwear.

BEYOND is like that but more betterer, plus there are none of those tricky issues with continuity. I really like the way they tied in the history of the Federation as established in ENTERPRISE, and somehow managed to make it make sense. The conflict between lofty Federation values and the grittier, more brutal mindset of old pre-unification Earth was beautifully handled, dashed off economically in a handful of lines during an epic fistfight between two top-flight actors. You can tell that the writers of this instalment have a genuine love for the franchise.

And the tribute to Spock Prime and Leonard Nimoy was wonderful. Even if they had to use a still from STV to do it.

Plus, there were splosions.

I've been enjoying DISCOVERY as well. It has its flaws, as does any first season, but it's just so damn pretty. On those occasions when it feels a little too gritty to be Star Trek, I can just watch an episode of THE ORVILLE to detox. Between the two of them, they make one complete expression of where Star Trek should be in the 21st century.

Now if we can just find a way to transport Alara Kitan into the prime universe, I'll be a happy boy.

Comments

[miss_s_b]

I loved the Spock/McCoy stuff in Beyond. The way Spock desperately calls him "Leonard" to signal how serious he is... As you say, beautiful characterisation.

[gominokouhai]

<3 Karl Urban.

NuSpock got a couple of "Jim"s in there, too. It's nice to see the band coalesce.

[miss_s_b]

Yes :)

[norfolkian]

I actually liked the grittiness of Discovery. Although I haven't watched THAT much other Trek - a few movies and season one of ToS.

[gominokouhai]

The people whining about the grittiness of Discovery are probably the same people who adored the grittiness of DS9. It's good to see the Federation deconstructed, subtextually, and sometimes literally. This is also what I liked about Beyond---there are plenty of other franchises if we simply want cool ships and pretty splosions. The whole point of Star Trek is that we venture out to the final frontier and, there, we discover ourselves.

DS9 in particular has a lot of good stuff about how it's easy to be a saint in paradise.