Star Trek

I was intrigued by the Cardassians. As well as the Bajorans. This series really explored that a lot.

I was a Trek fan from the days I could watch TOS (or Classic) every week on TV and even bought the blue prints to the Enterprise when they came out (the er, Technical Manual), But I have to say that Other than the smash up of Vulcan in JJ Abrams' movie, I really enjoyed seeing Trek back in the media and look forward to watching more reboots.

 

I have a copy of the Technical Manual from 1973? if memory serves sitting on my shelf right now. The timeline in the 'JJ Trek' films is interesting but I can easily leave that alone for other people to follow if they so choose. Offer me a novel set in that universe and I would likely read it though, you can't do awful pointless lens flare in literature.

 

Just as a random bit of flotsam drifting out of my mindhole....I wonder if Abrams will, for good or ill, have a go at the Mirror Universe anytime in the future.

 

In a fit of boredom, being sick for the weekend, I finally watched the second JJ Abrams Trek movie. That's two hours of my life I'll never get back. What a piece of shit. God, I miss real Trek....

 

damn. I heard from my son that the second JJ Abrams movie was spectacular. the best one he'd seen all summer. I haven't seen it yet, but have put the bluray on my Christmas list. So maybe I'll not go to the theatre and watch it at home.
with respect to the lense flare:

http://www.themarysue.com/jj-abrams-apologizes-for-star-trek-lens-flare/

TO BOLDLY GO

J.J. ABRAMS APOLOGIZES FOR LENS FLARE, TALKS ABOUT THE FUTURE OFTREK ON TV

by Rebecca Pahle | 2:45 pm, September 30th, 2013

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J.J. Abrams wants you to know that he’s sorry for lens flare. Yes, this is real.

Asked about his penchant for the shiny by CraveOnline, Abrams took the unusual step of straight up apologizing for the approximately 12 billion flares in Star Trek and Star Trek Into Darkness:

“I know I get a lot of grief for that. But I’ll tell you, there are times when I’m working on a shot, I think, ‘Oh this would be really cool… with a lens flare.’ But I know it’s too much, and I apologize. I’m so aware of it now. I was showing my wife an early cut of Star Trek Into Darkness and there was this one scene where she was literally like, ‘I just can’t see what’s going on. I don’t understand what that is.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, I went too nuts on this.’”​

He went on to say that he went so overboard on Star Trek Into Darkness that he had to get Industrial Light & Magic to remove some of the flare in post-production. “I think admitting you’re an addict,” he concluded, “is the first step towards recovery.”
I’d say this bodes well for Star Wars, wouldn’t you? Assuming he was even going to use lens flare in Episode VII. He’s mentioned in the past that he initially started using lens flare in Trekbecause of the franchise’s futuristic aesthetic, which is different from Star Wars‘ more gritty, worn-in look. I don’t hate the flare like a lot of people do, but after seeing it mentioned so much it became hard not to be distracted by it in a way that I wasn’t during my first Star Trek viewing.
For Star Trek fans, the joy of Abrams’ confession will be tempered by how he answered CraveOnline’s next question, which was about the possibility of a new Star Trek TV show. Said Abrams:

“What I’ve been told from the powers that be [at CBS] is that they’re not interested.”​

Well fine. Rain on my parade, then.
(CraveOnline via /Film)

 

Lens flare really doesn't matter as much when your script sucks, your concept arc sucks, and your direction has no flow.

After I wasted two hours on Abrams' crapshackle Trek joke, I went back and watched "First Contact." Now that was Trek. Beautifully done, tightly written, gorgeously acted, excellently shot.

 

I'm going to stick my neck out there, risk getting banished from the thread, and say *deep bracing breath* I enjoyed Into Darkness. I went into it knowing it's not Rodenberry's world, and not expecting any great sweeping epic. I now understand why so many people went all squishy over Cumberbatch; he's quite striking, and his voice is....interesting to listen to. I can forgive the almost cartoonish bridge design and the viewscreen being essentially a windshield in the saucer. I can overlook the warp core looking more like the CERN Supercollider, especially since it has been pointed out recently that, realistically, it may actually look more like that. I can choose to ignore the infamous lens flare. I'm still not sure how I feel about the romance between Spock and Uhura. I thought the juxtaposition of Kirk and Spock in the warp core scene may have been a bit contrived, but the captain sacrificing himself for his ship makes some sense. I believe Spock's little outburst at the culmination of that scene was a bit corny. For all that, I had fun with it. Having said that, I took issue with the first five minutes or so of the movie.
What in the hell was that scroll that Kirk stole from the temple, and why the hell did he steal it? Seriously, does anyone know?
And the big one is this: am I the only one wondering WHY IN THE BLUE HELL the Enterprise was underwater?!? Sure, watching her rise up out of the ocean was visually groovy, but am I wrong in believing that Constitution-class vessels were incapable of atmospheric flight or landing?

 

The Constitution class is shown having no problem with atmospheric flight in "Assignment: Earth" in ST:TOS.
as far as I know, that class was not designed for planetary landing unlike the later Intrepid class (Voyager is the best known out of these) and assembled and launched from spacedock normally.

I understand that this warp drive/engineering is very likely more realistic but this is one instance where I greatly prefer the older look and even the bright primary colours that dominate the look in TOS.

 

I stand corrected, and am grateful for the reminder. I officially retract my indignation.
And as I thought about it further, I realized that Kirk stole the scroll to get the natives out of the temple that was, moments later, demolished by a great, fiery rock falling out of the sky. Seems reasonable, since they were already dancing around the fringes of the Prime Directive anyway.

 

And now, a brief interlude. Only half-Trek, admittedly. Half....something completely different.

 

Stop that. It's very silly.

 

I would start an argument--or maybe just contradiction--but I'd run the risk of twisting it into a Python thread. And I'd rather avoid the Spanish Inquisition.

 

This one time, this moose ate all of our dilithium crystals and stranded us in Klingon space. No really! It was a big space moose...

 

....we got better....
--- merged: Oct 27, 2013 3:02 AM ---
Mynd you, moose bytes kan be pretty nasti.