Star Trek: What a Strange Thing for Me to Be Writing About

I saw the new Star Trek movie today. Doug really wanted to catch it in the theater, and although I wasn't sure I'd enjoy it, I didn't think I was going to hate it, either. I have to admit, I was pleasantly surprised.

Action films are not generally my style, and science fiction even less so. I did not watch Star Trek on television, nor did I watch any of the previous movies. Nonetheless, the storyline was intriguing and well-paced. There could have been an overload of scientific jargon, but that which was there was relevant and accessible to the audience. While I am quite sure there were allusions to the original series (as well as the rest of the franchise) that I missed, there was nothing that would cause a brand new viewer, in not catching a reference, to be lost in the story at hand.

As with most good movies, the development of the characters was important in drawing in viewers who did not already have a connection to the crew. I especially loved the cavalier attitude of Kirk and the sassiness of Uhura. I wanted to know more about these people; I wanted to see more of them and their history. In movies, like in good books, the hallmark of good writing is that you miss them when the experience is over--when the movie ends, or when you finish the book. How fortunate for those of us who are just now meeting these characters that there ARE so many other opportunities to reconnect with these characters in other vehicles.

One of the elements that often turns me away from a film is excessive violence. A movie like this by it's nature will have violence, but I felt that the action/fighting sequences fully forwarded the plot; I didn't find those scenes to be gratuitous at all, which can be a temptation for directors pandering to audiences who really just want to see things blown up and people bleeding. The action was believable, suspenseful, and drew us even more fully into the crisis these characters survived together.

When Doug left the theater, he was excited and quite literally already trying to figure out when he could go see it again. When I left the theater, I was ready to join him for his second journey on the U.S.S. Enterprise.