Star Trek & Angels and Demons


I hadn’t seen a movie in theaters in ages, but I actually saw two today! Two different groups of friends wanted to go at different times. Hooray. The first one was Star Trek, so now all my geeky friends can finally stop bugging me to see it. I really liked it, but keep in mind I’ve never seen a second of old Star Trek episodes or movies before seeing this one. The extent of my knowledge was basically:

-Spock is supposed to be logical
-Klingons are angry and have their own language that uber-geeks learn
-The phrase “beam me up Scotty”
-The silly hand salute thing that’s hard to do
-Trekkies like to go around screaming “KHHAAAANNN” for reasons I do not understand

Now that I’ve offended every Trekkie out there… *ahem* I’m sure someone who’s expecting something in particular has their gripes with the film. I know I’m uber nitpicky when it comes to Harry Potter. But, as a Star Trek n00b, I thoroughly enjoyed the movie from an entertainment point of view. Though I have to admit, I was oddly unnerved by how sexy Zachary Quinto’s Spock was. Not quite sure I’m supposed to be having those feelings about Spock, but yum. Oh, and who else thought every time Spock got annoyed he was going to start slicing peoples heads open and stealing their powers?

Noooo, not teh kitteh! Why do you need nine lives when you can never die?!?!

I also saw Angels and Demons, which I thought was pretty good. Definitely better than the DaVinci Code, but that’s not saying much. Now, I know people like to harp on Dan Brown, but I genuinely enjoy his novels. He’s no Shakespeare, but his plots are entertaining page turners so you can stfu if you think I’m dumb for liking them. Anyway, like I said the movie was pretty good – probably helped that I read the book years ago, so I didn’t remember it well enough to be super critical. Tried not to cringe too much at all the antimatter stupidity and told myself to suspend disbelief for a bit. I really liked the idea that God sent an atheist intellectual professor (Langdon) to save all of Catholicism – how ironic.

The one thing that bugged me was that it seemed to have a big “Science and religion are compatible, and when you think they’re not, that’s when you have problems!” message. It’s not that I just disagree with this – but the very premise of the movie seemed to disagree with it. I mean, it was anti-science Catholics versus pro-science Catholics (the Illuminati), not versus atheistic scientists. Heck, the two irreligious characters are the only ones not murdering and blowing things up – they’re actually saving the day. Maybe people will get that message out of the movie instead of the one the film trying to jam down their throat.

Comments

  1. says

    “Though I have to admit, I was oddly unnerved by how sexy Zachary Quinto’s Spock was. Not quite sure I’m supposed to be having those feelings about Spock, but yum.

    I think it’s OK. In fact, it may be traditional. Isaac Asimov wrote that in his experience, Spock was the reason the original Star Trek had female fans — they liked the challenge of winning the supposedly unwinnable.

    "Now that I've offended every Trekkie out there…"

    For balance, you should go around asking Star Wars fans, “Which one is C-Beepio?”

  2. says

    “Though I have to admit, I was oddly unnerved by how sexy Zachary Quinto’s Spock was. Not quite sure I’m supposed to be having those feelings about Spock, but yum.“I think it’s OK. In fact, it may be traditional. Isaac Asimov wrote that in his experience, Spock was the reason the original Star Trek had female fans — they liked the challenge of winning the supposedly unwinnable.”Now that I’ve offended every Trekkie out there…”For balance, you should go around asking Star Wars fans, “Which one is C-Beepio?”

  3. says

    I personally can't wait for Paramount to say: oh look we made enough money off of this movie to justify it's existence. Lets appease the fans by giving them Star Trek XII and a new awesome series.

    Now as for Angels & Demons, I hated it. People keep telling me thrilling and kept them on the edge of their seat, but for me any attempt at any of that was destroyed by all the terrible music. Also no one but Tom Hank's character did anything meaningful.

  4. says

    I personally can’t wait for Paramount to say: oh look we made enough money off of this movie to justify it’s existence. Lets appease the fans by giving them Star Trek XII and a new awesome series.Now as for Angels & Demons, I hated it. People keep telling me thrilling and kept them on the edge of their seat, but for me any attempt at any of that was destroyed by all the terrible music. Also no one but Tom Hank’s character did anything meaningful.

  5. says

    Zachary Quinto as Spock was so hot…whew. *fans self* I didn’t think he was before. Maybe it was all the logic.

    And I, too, anticipate new Kirk/Spock slashfic. It’s out there.

  6. says

    Zachary Quinto as Spock was so hot…whew. *fans self* I didn’t think he was before. Maybe it was all the logic.And I, too, anticipate new Kirk/Spock slashfic. It’s out there.

  7. Introbulus says

    I’m not sure about that whole Spock thing…I mean, I’m more than willing to admit when a guy is sexy, and I just don’t feel that for the movie Spock in the newest Star Trek film…geeze, they really should’ve given it some sort of subtitle…calling it “the Newest Star Trek Film” is kind of clunky. Anyway, being a total nerd, I can explain a few things here. -Spock is supposed to be logicalAs is his entire race. It’s a Vulcan thing. So is the silly hand gesture, for that matter. -Klingons are angry and have their own language that uber-geeks learnYes. And they are all about honor and war. Also, there aren’t any real “Klingons” until the second series, “The Next Generation” (The one with Picard, Riker, Data, and The Borg). -The phrase “beam me up Scotty”Originated from the original series, and was the phrase spoken when they needed to be teleported out from somewhere, because the control guy’s name was Scotty. Except that’s just what people remember, as the actual like “Beam me up, Scotty!” Was never, ever uttered onscreen. -The silly hand salute thing that’s hard to doLike I said, it’s a Vulcan salute. And when you do it, say “Live long and prosper”! Every Trekkie will think you know what you’re talking about, even if you screw up the actual salute. -Trekkies like to go around screaming “KHHAAAANNN” for reasons I do not understandSecond Movie (I think…Hey, I’m a Jack of all Nerds, not a master of any nerddom), Captain Kirk had an evil twin named Kahn. He did stuff that really made Kirk mad. One particular thing made him shout “KAAAAHHN!” in a particular case of over-the-top acting. William Shatner, the original Kirk, was well-known for overacting, but that one line was…well…just watch this.

Leave a Reply