So I saw Star Trek Friday. It’s bloody amazing. It is quite possibly one of the best relaunches of a series ever, certainly one of the best if not the best sci-fi movie in recent memory. The movie stays unwaveringly true to the source material without actually feeling obligated to follow it to the letter. Which is what any adaptation should do. Every character was brought to life in amazing ways, every actor breathing new life into classic characters without actually changing who they are fundamentally. Chris Pine is a great Kirk. He’s brings all of Kirk’s high-seas captain sass and boldness, his unending confidence and unwillingness to accept defeat without bringing the cheese Shatner (God love him) is known for. Quinto is a dead ringer for Spock, as I’m sure we who saw the trailers were quite assured of. It was Karl Urban’s performance as McCoy that impressed me the most. I swear to God it was like they resurrected DeForest Kelly and put him back on the big screen. It was an amazing performance. The rest of the cast was also great, even if we didn’t get a great deal of screen time. Chekov, Sulu, Uhura, and Scotty were all great. I was somewhat disappointed that despite Sulu claiming to be trained in fencing he has a crazy sci-fi katana and mad flippy kung-fu moves. That was a mild disappointment. But otherwise, the cast was spot on and I can’t wait to see more of them.
There were dozens of little nods to the original series and the films but none of it seemed forced. It was beautifully natural. Redshirts died (first of course), Bones was a doctor not a physicist, Scotty gave her all she’s got, Kirk banged the green chick. It was everything that made Star Trek awesome, new and updated, and shiny, and amazing.
I did want to kick JJ Abrams in the teeth and give his cameramen steady cams, and tell them to cut back on the lens flare a bit. Though I have that complaint with really anything action-oriented that holywood puts out these days. So, the film is well worth price of admission. I hope to see it a second time on the big screen.
In other news, I’m going to be at Animazement down in Raleigh next weekend. I should have some sweet new prints in time, and with a little luck a really sweet unveiling (more on this mystery later). Regardless, I hope to see more than a few of you there! I’ll be doing sketchcards, so do stop by and say hello.
Also, we’ve got a new wallpaper available:
And I’m hoping to be able to close the pre-orders for the Bubblegum Death T-shirt by the end of the month, so make sure to get yours reserved. Remember, without pre-orders we have a hard time bringing you cool new stuff like these shirts.
Do you realize what power you have, Garth? Just mentioning a movie or even some reference to a recent event makes anyone reading instantly want to know about it! I mean, now I really want to see the Star Trek movie. I wanted to go before, but now…I have to see it. You’re mad with power, I say!