J. J. Abrams has an obsession with big red balls.
I’m not sure what Freud would say to this, but Abrams seems to have an odd preoccupation with large gelatinous red balls. One figured prominently in the mythology on Alias and its sister figures into the plot of the new Star Trek. Will one show up on Lost or Fringe? Was there one on Felicity I didn’t know about?
I’ll admit it. I enjoy Star Trek – in almost all of its incarnations. I thought the original series was neat and different when I was a kid. I was in a fan club for Star Trek: The Next Generation and even suffered through Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise yet I wouldn’t call myself a Trekker (yes, the correct term is Trekker, not Trekkie). So when Paramount decided to revive – yet again – the Star Trek franchise with a prequel to the world of Star Trek I was intrigued. When they hired J.J. Abrams to direct it, I was excited. When they cast Chris Pine (son of Robert Pine – Sgt. Getraer on CHiPs) as Captain Kirk, I wondered. When they cast Zachary Quinto, Sylar on Heroes, I thought, “Okay, he’s got the build, but will I be waiting for him to split open Troi’s head to get her empathic ability?” When they added Simon Pegg on as Scotty and John Cho as Sulu I was ready to buy my ticket and boldly go where everyone was waiting to go.
After seeing the movie, let’s just say Abrams cast the right actors in most of the roles and revived the franchise yet again with a mix of fresh new blood and enough colloquialisms from the original characters to retain the nuances of the past.
The movie starts with enough backstory on the long-loved sci-fi characters to get even those unfamiliar with the billion dollar franchise on board. We see Kirk as a rebellious young child and Spock rebelling against the “purists” who torment him for being a Mudblood. (I’m pushing for a mash-up between Harry Potter et al and the gang from Star Trek – "The Half Blood Romulan Prince" or "The Dilithium Chamber of Secrets." What do you think?)
![Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1 [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41W1M2S%2B4-L._SL120_.jpg)
Article comments
1 - Kyle
This is like the 5th time I've read about how people keep believing Uhura is only eye candy. I'm beginning to believe that her stripping off her uniform actually blinded the rest of you from her role in the movie. Look, Zoe is gorgeous, you're not going to get around that and its going to get marketed that way. But they didn't stop there. The entire plot practically revolved around her ability to decode and translate a klingon transmission. Without that they would have rushed straight into Nero with no shields or anything. Also she replaced a male member on the bridge. Uh... look people who sit on the bridge are the best at what they do. Period. Even on modern day naval ships thats the way the cookie crumbles. We also see her as a huge emotional support to Spock in a time when normally he would have no one to find comfort in because of the loss of his mother and planet. You're also dealing with a new and very independent Uhura who is no longer the girl the Kirk can get, but has now become the girl that Kirk CAN'T get. Yes all of this happened early on the movie, but as you stated, this movie revolves around Kirk and Spock, but to say that Uhura was only eye candy is absurd.