So. Like trey causey I finally got around to seeing Star Trek: Beyond. Unlike Trey, it was my first Trek movie since Where In The World Is Spock’s Brain and my first Abrams production since… Fringe, maybe?
Thoughts:
I look forward to Patrick Stuart updating his musings on starship fetishism in the series. Really, there was quite a lot of Enterprise-caressing, and then space city caressing, and then evil insect ship caressing (not recommended).
…is this The Island of Dr. Moreau or Return to the Forbidden Planet again?
……particle renderers and flocking have become much, much cheaper over the past 15 years.
……..boom cameras are, apparently, as addictive as crack. My wife would not be able to watch this movie because of motion sickness.
I know I haven’t been keeping up, so I don’t expect to understand the relationship between this crew and TOS or other crews (please don’t explain it to me unless it’s really funny). Even with that said, there were large chunks of this film that made no narrative sense to me – and I’m not going to get into the usual geek arguments about like wouldn’t the existence of transporters totally invalidate this whole thing.
Belatedly, though, it made me realize that narrative sense of the kind I expect might be terribly old fashioned – honestly the film didn’t try to present any kind of coherent legal case for the shit that happened. Instead I think it strove for a kind of musical or symphonic sense – introduce a theme, harmonize, counter with an antagonistic theme, repeat theme to remind us this was always here under the other thing, crescendo, cymbals, repeat. So the tilted deck early in the film is reprised in the grand nearly-finale and it makes sense musically. We don’t worry about Crusoe’s amazing house or why Vader isn’t living in it because it’s been justified thematically, visually and impressionistically. It’s post-critical. I guess I should be too.
Tattered Remains of Tartary 
I think you just did a post critical.
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I saw it at a drive-in in a partially dysfunctional car and with fidgety children/nephew. So it was tough to pay attention. But since you mention it, “Spock’s Brain” never left my mind the whole time I was trying to watch it. Think this is going to be my last Star Trek for a while. Especially now that Anton’s gone.
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Idris Elba must be getting tired of wearing enormous symbolic costumes. I think he had a harder time with his leather helmet here than he did with a full bison makeover in Zootopia.
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Richard G did you not see the first reboot movie? That might sorta explain a few things or not maybe
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Richard G Vader not leaving in the home of his rejected past can be explained psychologically, I think. Though I think you are right in thinking it was done because their narrative needed it.
Patrick Stuart Weird-heads don’t speak because they are there to learn from their Mundane-headed betters.
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The Weirdheads can found their own Federation if they don’t like it!
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only if they want to be demonized. Unity is Strength!
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oh fuck it’s mining technology suggests a war-on-nature subtext, right?
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Hercules and Antaeus! I hadn’t thought of that. That’s probably why he’s black, in the end.
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….so BTW those amusingly small aliens at the beginning were right to be suspicious and refuse the “gift” Kirk brought them, since known nearby lunatic Krull was looking for it and would shortly have locusted their planet to get it.
I want to know more about them. I expect Kirk’s condescending attitude to them will bite him in the ass.
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