Thoughts on JJ Abrams' Star Trek

First, let me apologize for my lack of updates this week, my novel has been kicking my ass. But I've been kicking back these last few nights and have finally made enough headway to get on here and make some posts.

Second, let me put this out there. If you don't like it, stop reading this blog, because it'll probably be something you'll see a lot of.

I'm a huge Star Trek fan. I even have this lovely white ringer t-shirt that simply says "trekkie" across the chest (Thanks goes to my sister on that one).

That being said, it's time to dive into my opinions on the upcoming Star Trek film. The re-pre-sequel-imagining-boot is directed by JJ Abrams (Mission: Impossible III, TV's Lost, Alias & Fringe) and will be released in theaters May 9th, 2009.
There are really two main camps within the Trek community when it comes to JJ's upcoming film. One faction is eagerly anticipating it and think a fresh take on Star Trek is welcome and needed if the 41-year-old franchise is going to endure. The other is claiming that this film constitutes heresy, because recasting the original Star Trek crew and re-imagining all of the series aesthetics, not to mention bringing the characters together chronologically before the original series goes against the story canon established in the franchise.
I fall more in with the first group. I've recognized that I'm a hell of a lot younger than the majority of Trek fans and that that group isn't going to last forever. I also recognize that it is the older fans who more frequently beat on the bible-that-is-canon and whose lack of support due to supposed "canon violations" caused the most recent Trek series, Enterprise (which had become an excellent series by the time it was canceled in its fourth season).
Plus, canon junkies should be satisfied that the writers, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, are such huge fans that they even went the extra mile of trying not to negate the storylines of the Star Trek novels published by Pocket Books. They're even canonizing some of the stuff from the books, like that Kirk's mother's name is Winona.
But because of insatiable canon junkies, Star Trek needs an infusion of fresh blood. The reason the original series has endured these forty years were because of its characters and the daring story lines. This was the series that featured the first televised interracial kiss. This was the series that had a black woman and a Russian as regular characters during the heights of the Civil Rights movement and the Cold War. It dared to challenge hatred and champion humanity in trying times. Hell, it was even reported to be one of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s favorite television shows. And right now, with America on the cusp of trying to decide where its society will take itself and the world watching in baited breath as we try to deal with economic and social problems that ultimately affect the entire world, we need Star Trek almost as badly as we did in the late 1960's.
I don't have high hopes that this film will be a riveting allegory on today's social problems and vices. If it is, I'll be vastly impressed and incredibly thankful that JJ Abrams could stay so close to the spirit of Trek. I imagine this will at least be a fun film and will hopefully be on par with the better Trek movies (Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn is widely considered to be one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time, not just the best Trek movie).
My main hope for this film is that, with its big name stars (and hopefully excellent writing from Orci and Kurtzman), it will attract enough uninitiated film goers to the theaters that it can spark new life for Star Trek as a television series. I'm not looking for the cast of this movie to be in some kind of "New Adventures of Old Star Trek," since there's no way they could even get all these people to be regulars, not to mention that would negate canon and I'd prefer to see it preserved if possible, after watching hundreds of episodes from the different series. What I am looking for is something to carry the torch. If it were me, I'd create a new show, set in the 23rd century (Kirk's era), with the same design aesthetics as the film but with a new crew on a different ship. That way, it would be similar enough for new fans, who will hopefully be brought in by the movie, to feel comfortable with it. Plus it would open the possibility of guest roles by the actors from the film as their characters. Even better, the characters on this new ship can make references to the "current" adventures of Kirk and company here and there by mentioning events that happened in various Original Series episodes to create a more cohesive sense of canon for older fans. The best thing is, Bryan Fuller, one of the most underutilized writers to work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Voyager and Enterprise and also the creator of ABC's hit Pushing Daisies has been adamantly talking about wanting to create a new series very similar to this idea. I hope somebody at CBS-Paramount listens.

Now that I'm done talking about all that drivel, on to my reactions to some of the stills from the film that CBS-Paramount released last week.

First up, the most important of them - the crew on the bridge:

Okay, so this one I'm kind of ambivalent on. I don't really mind so much that they redesigned the bridge. In fact, they'd been warning us that they would. However, cast members and set visitors who happened to be big fans of the Original Series all kept saying how wonderful and true this set design is to the original. My immediate reaction was that this looks more like the bridge of the Apple iNterprise. But, on closer inspection, I saw that pretty much everything is where it's supposed to be, even the red railing, but most of it just has been covered in white, chrome and blue. Someone said it looked like someone barfed iPod on the bridge, and that's not completely inaccurate. However, that yeoman's station was not in the Original Series and is a blatant change in design. Here's hoping it sees the classic Exploding Console duty and is gone by the end of the movie.
The actors, on the other hand, look fantastic in this. I still have my doubts about Chris Pine (Bottle Shock) as Captain James Tiberius Kirk, but I admit, he definitely looks like he got into the character, just judging by the way he's sitting in that admittedly awesome-looking captain's chair. I have hope for him. Karl Urban (The Lord of the Rings, Doom) was another big question mark, especially as a fairly young New Zealander playing the grizzled Southerner: Doctor Leonard H. "Bones" McCoy. But in this image, it's like he's channelling DeForest Kelley, and I feel my doubts slipping away. I also took note that Kirk and Sulu - John Cho of Harold & Kumar fame - have shiners. Did they have a bar fight with some rowdy aliens? Or each other? I never had any doubts about Zachary Quinto (Heroes) as Spock, and he still looks great here.


Okay, so here we've got the entire Original Series crew, sans Spock. Again, Pine seems to have a bit of that Kirk groove to him, and Urban keeps looking better and better. I love Zoe Saldanya as Uhura - she's beautiful but still looks like she could make you feel like an elementary school kid with her smarts and charm. Uhura is supposed to be a strong female character, despite her relatively light duties in the Original Series, and I hope JJ's given her her due. Cho looks decent. I'm still pretty iffy on Anton Yelchin (Charlie Bartlett) as Pavel Chekov. For one, the kid is younger than me, which doesn't seem right in the slightest, and he looks nothing like Walter Koenig. They didn't even bother to straighten the curls out of his hair. Simon Pegg, on the other hand, looks like he's going to be fantastic. Standing there in the background, the look on his face just screams "Ach, no. I cannae do it, Cap'n. It'll cause too much harm to me wee baerns!" Other than his hairline being a little too high, I'm sure Pegg is going to be an excellent Montgomery "Scotty" Scott.

So this is our villain, Nero, played by Eric Bana (Munich, Troy). This dude appears to be some kind of Romulan renegade. It was with this picture that we got some story details (which everyone already knew anyone, but hadn't had confirmed). Nero is apparently from the 24th century, not long after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, which left the Romulan political structure in ruins. If Orci & Kurtzman were looking to the novels, the Romulan Empire is even split into two seperate states by this point. Apparently, Nero and his cronies have a plot to go back in time to kill Kirk, which causes 24th century Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy from the Original Series, to go back in time to stop them.
I gotta say, he looks pretty bad ass. And anybody who has seen Munich nows that Eric Bana's got some serious acting chops. Here's hoping this is aTrek villain on par with Ricardo Montalban's Kahn Noonien Singh or Christopher Plummer's General Chang.


WTF? No, seriously, what's going on? Spock is choking Kirk? Most illogical. Zachary Quinto has said that Spock is not as in control of his emotions at this point though, so I guess this is a glimpse. I'm glad they included the subtle green tint to his skin. And apparently, this is public, cause that looks like the bridge. It also looks like the top of McCoy's head there by Kirk's chin. He has witnesses, so maybe Kirk should file charges?

This is the USS Kelvin (an in-joke JJ Abrams puts in his movies, since his grandfather's name was Kelvin). Though not the Enterprise, it is a Starfleet ship and should give us an idea of what to expect from the full view of the Big E. It's very reminiscent of the Original Series, but it has sharper detail that reminds me of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I'm satisfied.

And that's it for my Star Trek ramblings. I felt those were the pictures really worth commenting on, so there you go.

I'll try to get you guys my weekly recommendations tomorrow.

Live Long and Prosper, for my fellow Trekkies.

This week's recommendations

So, in order to keep a decent amount of content available, I'm only recommending one thing maximum from each category.

Music You've Probably Never Heard Of:
Band Marino
Think of an indie-pop band. Now think of indie-pop band if they had banjo, mandolin, fiddle, accordion and other folk instruments thrown into the mix. Aside from an amusingly clever name, that's pretty much what you get with these Florida natives. I was introduced to their music because I reviewed their album The Sea & The Beast over at Independent Clauses. I later had the opportunity to meet them for an interview at the Conservatory in Oklahoma City and see them perform live. The album is well worth the cash and so is making the effort to see them live.
It took me a few spins of The Sea & The Beast to really understand just how infectious their music is. It's insanely catchy and original to boot, ranging in influences everywhere from indie and pop music to bluegrass and a even hint of Sergio Leone. I highly recommend the tracks "Chasing Rainbows" and "Como Se Dice Senorita - Act I: The Laymen's Lament," but the crown jewel is definitely the insanely catchy "Every Time I Make A Girl Cry I Know I've Done My Job."
Check them out.

Some Book I Just Read For Class But Really Enjoyed:
Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
Okay, so I read this one for my Category Fiction class and was a little apprehensive after reading the synopsis. It's a sci-fi novel targeted at a teen audience, about a girl in a future society where everyone is given an extensive surgery when they turn sixteen so that no one is judged by the way they look, and then they spend the rest of their teens partying uncontrollably before they grow up and lead happy lives. I don't want to give away too much, though the plot isn't all that complex. I was more impressed with the story world Westerfeld created and, as someone who really cannot stand the obsession with beauty and trivial matters some people have, the rebellion against a society where vanity is such a prominent social norm was very engaging. It's easy, fun teen-reading (though still suitable for adults) that has a nice philosophical backbone.

That'll be all for tonight, folks. My apologies that I don't have a movie to recommend this time. Maybe later? I still want to watch Chuck before I go to bed. Okay, there, a TV show to recommend - Chuck. It's awesome. I might tell you why later.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (PS3) - Review

I suppose this is a little late in coming, since Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, developed by LucasArts, came out in the middle of September. I, however, just completed the game today in my efforts to relax on this lovely three-day weekend I've had.
I suppose curiosity killed the cat when it comes to me shelling out the $8 it cost me for a five day rental (thank you, Blockbuster), but with this game being hailed as official canon and all, I just had to play through. So, wanting to witness the new Euphoria engine that LucasArts has been touting about for the last couple of years as well as find out what the hell Darth Vader was up to with some secret apprentice, I decided to devote my weekend in passionate gaming on my roommate's PS3.
The result turned out to be a mostly positive experience.
The game follows Darth Vader's secret apprentice, codenamed Starkiller, as he terrorizes the galaxy at Vader's bidding, taking down Jedi that survived Order 66 (the other nerds out there will know that that is the order given by Palpatine in Revenge of the Sith to exterminate the Jedi) and making sure no one, Imperial or otherwise, lives to say they saw him.
Storywise, the game is solid. Some of the advertising might have you believe that there are branching paths to take in the game, but it follows the same path until just before your final boss fight, where you decide whether to follow the Light Side of the Force or give in to the Dark Side. Though the plot was somewhat predicatable, especially the Light Side ending (which is the "official" ending that fits into Star Wars canon), it is still fun and there are a few good surprises in there. Rather than try to barrell through the game a second time before I had to take the game back to Blockbuster, I just found the Dark Side ending on Youtube. It was good, but it didn't have the same sense of resolution as the Light Side.
The use of actual actors for motion capture, likenesses and voice was a brilliant move on LucasArts' part, because it makes the characters feel much more natural and empathetic. Not to mention the fact that these characters now might be able to make the transition to live action via the forthcoming live action Star Wars TV series set in the same time frame. However, I think they should have made an effort to get James Earl Jones and Ian McDiarmid in to voice Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine, respectively. Though Matt Sloan's Vader is downright perfect sometimes, it often just doesn't sound quite right. Surprising, Sam Witwer (known to some genre fans as the short-lived Crashdown in Ron Moore's updated Battlestar Galactica), who portrays Starkiller, also portrayed the Emperor and did a good, but not great, impersonation.
Now, for the technical stuff.
Anybody who has ever played God of War or Devil May Cry will probably be pretty comfortable with The Force Unleashed. It's all about fast combat and beating the ever-loving shit out of stuff in very cool ways. Literally, you can pick up a Stormtrooper with the Force, swing him around a bit, zap him with some lightning, throw your lightsaber into his gut and then fling him into an abyss. Starkiller is nicely customizable with the games levelling system. Basically, with every level you gain, you get points in three different areas - Powers, Combos and Talents - that allow you to decide which Force Powers to upgrade, which awesome melee and force combos to learn (getting them all by the end of the game is not difficult) and what attributes you want, such as more life and less damage taken or faster recharge rates on your Force Powers. Also, you can customize Starkiller with different lightsaber crystals and costumes that you can find hidden throughout the game's levels. It's a fun system to work with, because you have to make strategic decisions about what to upgrade based on your playing style. I, for instance, tended to use combos of Lightning with melee attacks, so I bolstered my defenses so I could survive longer at close range and increased the potency of my lightning attacks. It's much more satisfying than having all of your abilities and attributes pre-determined, though it's not a system that hasn't been done before.
Also, much like God of War, there is a high degree of repetitiveness, because all you really do is barrell through constant streams of enemies until you hit a boss, most of which can be killed with similar tactics, and then have to go through some interactive cutscenes that at least look cool enough to make the monotonous fights a little better. I would live to have seen LucasArts come up with a few more animations than they did for the interactive kill sequences on some of the larger non-boss enemies. It was cool to see Starkiller finish off an AT-ST by jumping up between its legs and cutting it in half, but after the eighth or ninth time, it was just boring.
Some greater attention to some of the gameplay mechanics would have been nice too. The Force Grip was something I found especially flawed. The environments were full of objects that could potentially be picked up and thrown at unsuspecting enemies, or with enemies that could be picked up and thrown at other enemies, but it proved so difficult to control anything with the dual analog control I largely ignored it until the final section of the game when I had a bit more control over it. The targetting system was especially flawed, because it changes as you move, so you might have your eyes set on a Stormtrooper running from your left to right that you want to zap with lightning, but end up missing him completely because your target won't stay with him. This also plays a role in the times when you really need to use that grip ability and just came seem to grab the object.
There were points where these flawed gameplay mechanics made the game insanely difficult. There were also points where the game was just flatout difficult in general. In an effort to add to Starkiller's general badassery, the game is often filled with dozens of enemies at one time. Sure, when you clear out a hangar full of Stormtroopers, nasty assault droids and a couple AT-STs, it's pretty satisfying. But not when you have to start over ten or eleven times because it's so hard to stay alive. Battles against other Jedi characters were also frustrating, especially the second to last boss fight, because some Force attacks seem completely impossible to dodge.
One last technical thing, all the claims of technical acheivement LucasArts made with this game fell short. I saw occasional framerate drops, which sometimes left Starkiller vulnerable in a tight spot. Also, the "advanced physics engine" needs tweaking, especially its collision physics, because I often found Starkiller running with half his body through a wall, standing on things he shouldn't have been able to and looking like he was floating while running uphill. I never really did see this advanced enemy AI that had them reacting realistically to being thrown around, because there were so many enemies on screen most of the time that I couldn't take the time to notice.
In the end, I generally enjoyed my experience with The Force Unleashed. If LucasArts can deliver another compelling story and fix some of the gameplay issues, I'd happily play a sequel.

7.5/10

Recommendations

I think I'm gonna start making recommendations for various things now and then, just so this blog does something more constructive than telling you to not ride your bike home in the rain.

Though, it'd probably be more constructive for me to write the novel analysis for my Category Fiction class that I'm supposed to be working on. Oh well.

Music You've Probably Never Have Heard Of:
The Gaslight Anthem - Think of Springsteen fronting a punk band and you'd get the general idea. They're even from the same part of New Jersey as The Boss, so the vocalist, Brian Fallon, even has a similar accent.
The Vision of A Dying World - Folk rock from San Diego. I was lucky enough to receive and review these guys last three releases for Independent Clauses. I especially enjoy their latest full length, "...And the Grammar Lamb." They're pretty eclectic though, so they'd be an acquired taste for most people.
Drag The River - Alternative Country at its absolute best. Chad Price and Jon Snodgrass are incredibly talented songwriters and vocalists. This music basically sounds like indie rock that just happens to be country. It's fantastic.

Books That You Might Have Heard Of:
The Wheel of Darkness by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child - I just read this one not that long ago, and I admit, it took me a little while to get into, but I definitely enjoyed the mix of the supernatural with the techno-thriller genre. This is the latest in a series that follows the highly intellectual FBI Agent Aloysius Pendergast, so you might want to start from the beginning, Relic, but I had never read any of the other books and followed along well, aside from a few references.

Films That You Might Have Heard Of:
Yojimbo (Akira Kurosawa, 1961) - If you don't like subtitles, don't even bother. This classic of Japanese cinema is probably my favorite film by director Akira Kurosawa, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time. This film was later remade into Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars, which established Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name. Both a blessing and a curse, the film was carefully transferred to DVD on the Criterion collection, giving it an excellent transfer and special features, but giving it a walloping price tag of $35 or more new. Fortunately, you can generally rent it at Hastings for $2.99

I suppose that will be all for today.

Adios.

Some Words of Advice...

...If you ride your bicycle the two and a half or whatever miles to campus, pay attention to the weather forecast.

It could be raining on your way home. And that would just suck.

Introductions and Salutations

Greetings readers.

Yeah, sure. Like I really talk like that.

Hey folks!

Better.

Anyway, hi. I'm Nate. This is my blog. It's called "Smashing the Gnat" cause I managed to smash a gnat hovering in an annoying fashion in front of my face by clapping it out of mid-air while I tried to think of a name for the blog. For some reason I thought that sounded cool.

So let me give you the details - This is going to be my personal blog, where I'll post whatever it is I feel like posting. I'd say the vast majority of the time, it'll be stuff involving movies, TV shows, music, video games, my writing projects or whatever. Basically, it'll be whatever comes to mind.

So enjoy!