I should be asleep right now. I can't even begin to tell you how much I should be asleep right now, instead of typing up a pointless livejournal post that no one's going to read.
But. Here we go anyway:
My views on the Star Trek TOS characters vs the Star Trek Reboot characters, because I rewatched the movie recently and have been on an Original Series binge for a while now:
1. Kirk.
I didn't dislike the Reboot!Kirk. But that's probably only because I couldn't even see him as Kirk. I understand why - the loss of his father would have dramatically changed his upbringing and personality development, of course. But it's still extremely jarring to go from a somewhat-reckless-but-only-when-people's-lives-are-depending-on-it, intelligent, chess-playing, mostly-responsible Captain Kirk to a steals-cars-from-admittedly-probably-deserving-assholes-and-drives-them-off-cliffs, hits-on-every-single-girl-he-sees, gets-in-barfights-partly-for-the-heck-of-it, sleeps-around-at-the-Academy Captain Kirk. Seriously.
2. Spock.
I did mostly like what they did with Spock in the movie. It was awesome to watch him beat the crap out of the other vulcan kids for dissing his mom, and I can totally see the whole "Yeah, fuck you, going to Starfleet kthxBAI" thing transpiring with TOS!Spock, but I thought he remained a bit too emotional as he got older.
And then there was that business with Uhura, but I'll get to that when it's her turn.
3. Bones.
The accent was generally convincing, if a bit exaggerated at certain points. Karl Urban did pretty well, and I liked that Bones and Jim still ended up being best friends. But it sort of felt like the writers didn't really know what they were doing with him. They turned him into a walking catchphrase machine. This makes me sad. ):
But I did like the bit where he and Jim first meet Spock.
Jim: Who is that pointy-eared bastard?
Bones: I don't know... But I like him!
When I first saw the movie, I'd just finished watching the Original Series, so I laughed my head off at that exchange.
4. Chekov.
TOS!Chekov - adorable and hilarious.
Reboot!Chekov - adorable and hilarious and close to my age. ;D
5. Sulu
I love Sulu in the original series, and I love him here. I'm not sure he would have made the mistake of "leaving the parking break on," as Pike put it, but I guess they all would have died if he hadn't, so... good job?
6. Chapel
HEY. She exists! What the hell, movie? Mentioning her name once does not count! >:(
7. Scotty
... :3 LOL. I love Scotty in the original. I love him here. But I don't know if I can see them as the same Scotty or not. It's weird. *shrug*
Also, Spock Prime - way to cause a paradox by giving him his own formula before he discovered it. Srsly.
7. Uhura
Ahem.
WHAT THE FUCK, MOVIE. WHAT. THE FUCK.
She seemed like she was going to be an interesting character, really live up to her TOS counterpart, and then BAM she's a token love interest. FFFFFFffffff-
When I watched the Original Series, I was extremely impressed by how large a role they gave Nichelle Nichols (a role she played brilliantly, by the way), and I was really excited to see what a new movie could do with the character without the restrictions of the 60s to worry about.
Now the controversial part:
I think the character was treated with more respect in the 60s. I'm not crying racist and/or saying the writers of the new movie were actively trying to disrespect her, but seriously:
TOS:
Uhura is the Communications Officer aboard the Enterprise. She goes on missions and sometimes gets to kick some ass. (Mirror, Mirror, anybody?) She is a loyal member of Kirk's crew and eventually ends up with Scotty.
Reboot:
Uhura is a student of xenolinguistics who later becomes the Communications Officer aboard the Enterprise. She's multilingual and good at what she does. But the important thing is that She Is Spock's Love Interest. She intercepts a message that helps prove Kirk's point, and that's about all she does for the majority of the movie. Except, of course, be Spock's love interest. Why does Spock need a love interest? My theories:
a. The writers were afraid of Ho Yay. (Tch, like girlfriends have ever stopped the internet.)
b. They wanted someone to go comfort Spock in the turbolift after the destruction of Vulcan/death of Amanda. Why the hell they didn't just have Sarek go talk to him is beyond me. Wouldn't he have benefited more from a talk with his mutually grieving father than a make-out session with his girlfriend at that point?
Uhura started out so promising in this movie, with a cool little view into what TOS!Uhura might have been like at the Academy, and then she got Demoted to Love Interest. *sigh* Oh well. She's still cool; it's just a shame we didn't get to see more of that.
But. Here we go anyway:
My views on the Star Trek TOS characters vs the Star Trek Reboot characters, because I rewatched the movie recently and have been on an Original Series binge for a while now:
1. Kirk.
I didn't dislike the Reboot!Kirk. But that's probably only because I couldn't even see him as Kirk. I understand why - the loss of his father would have dramatically changed his upbringing and personality development, of course. But it's still extremely jarring to go from a somewhat-reckless-but-only-when-people's-lives-are-depending-on-it, intelligent, chess-playing, mostly-responsible Captain Kirk to a steals-cars-from-admittedly-probably-deserving-assholes-and-drives-them-off-cliffs, hits-on-every-single-girl-he-sees, gets-in-barfights-partly-for-the-heck-of-it, sleeps-around-at-the-Academy Captain Kirk. Seriously.
2. Spock.
I did mostly like what they did with Spock in the movie. It was awesome to watch him beat the crap out of the other vulcan kids for dissing his mom, and I can totally see the whole "Yeah, fuck you, going to Starfleet kthxBAI" thing transpiring with TOS!Spock, but I thought he remained a bit too emotional as he got older.
And then there was that business with Uhura, but I'll get to that when it's her turn.
3. Bones.
The accent was generally convincing, if a bit exaggerated at certain points. Karl Urban did pretty well, and I liked that Bones and Jim still ended up being best friends. But it sort of felt like the writers didn't really know what they were doing with him. They turned him into a walking catchphrase machine. This makes me sad. ):
But I did like the bit where he and Jim first meet Spock.
Jim: Who is that pointy-eared bastard?
Bones: I don't know... But I like him!
When I first saw the movie, I'd just finished watching the Original Series, so I laughed my head off at that exchange.
4. Chekov.
TOS!Chekov - adorable and hilarious.
Reboot!Chekov - adorable and hilarious and close to my age. ;D
5. Sulu
I love Sulu in the original series, and I love him here. I'm not sure he would have made the mistake of "leaving the parking break on," as Pike put it, but I guess they all would have died if he hadn't, so... good job?
6. Chapel
HEY. She exists! What the hell, movie? Mentioning her name once does not count! >:(
7. Scotty
... :3 LOL. I love Scotty in the original. I love him here. But I don't know if I can see them as the same Scotty or not. It's weird. *shrug*
Also, Spock Prime - way to cause a paradox by giving him his own formula before he discovered it. Srsly.
7. Uhura
Ahem.
WHAT THE FUCK, MOVIE. WHAT. THE FUCK.
She seemed like she was going to be an interesting character, really live up to her TOS counterpart, and then BAM she's a token love interest. FFFFFFffffff-
When I watched the Original Series, I was extremely impressed by how large a role they gave Nichelle Nichols (a role she played brilliantly, by the way), and I was really excited to see what a new movie could do with the character without the restrictions of the 60s to worry about.
Now the controversial part:
I think the character was treated with more respect in the 60s. I'm not crying racist and/or saying the writers of the new movie were actively trying to disrespect her, but seriously:
TOS:
Uhura is the Communications Officer aboard the Enterprise. She goes on missions and sometimes gets to kick some ass. (Mirror, Mirror, anybody?) She is a loyal member of Kirk's crew and eventually ends up with Scotty.
Reboot:
Uhura is a student of xenolinguistics who later becomes the Communications Officer aboard the Enterprise. She's multilingual and good at what she does. But the important thing is that She Is Spock's Love Interest. She intercepts a message that helps prove Kirk's point, and that's about all she does for the majority of the movie. Except, of course, be Spock's love interest. Why does Spock need a love interest? My theories:
a. The writers were afraid of Ho Yay. (Tch, like girlfriends have ever stopped the internet.)
b. They wanted someone to go comfort Spock in the turbolift after the destruction of Vulcan/death of Amanda. Why the hell they didn't just have Sarek go talk to him is beyond me. Wouldn't he have benefited more from a talk with his mutually grieving father than a make-out session with his girlfriend at that point?
Uhura started out so promising in this movie, with a cool little view into what TOS!Uhura might have been like at the Academy, and then she got Demoted to Love Interest. *sigh* Oh well. She's still cool; it's just a shame we didn't get to see more of that.