Trekkies and non-trekkies flock to ‘Star Trek’

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Chandy Clemens
May 19, 2009
Filed under a&e featured, Movie Reviews

Trekkies around the world should be drowning in ecstasy, along with every man, woman, or child who can appreciate a cinematic marvel when they see one. An unprecedented amount of skill went into “Star Trek,” re-inventing the famed TV show with a modern edge, but also staying faithful to the original 1966 concept of intergalactic space-fighters.

I am not typically a “Star Trek” fan, but after witnessing director J.J. Abraham’s version, I’m re-thinking my status as one and whether or not going to a Star Trek convention, where William Shatner is revered as the second coming of Christ, sounds like a seriously good idea.

“Star Trek” serves as a prequel of sorts, introducing the unlikely alliance between Spock and Captain Kirk and showing the early adventures aboard the gargantuan spaceship, The Enterprise.

Chris Pine inherits the role of James T. Kirk (the role previously made popular by Shatner himself), a fiery, pedal-to-the-metal sort of guy whose father, an honored space captain, died in order to save 800 passengers from certain death aboard a Starfleet ship, including newborn James and his mother.

James fearless persona, but undeniably quick smarts make him a candidate for Starfleet, the universe’s equivalent of the United States Air Force.

While Kirk grew up in a normal society with normal human values on Earth, Spock (Zachary Quinto), with ears like an elf but otherwise appearing to be human, flourished in his own Vulcan society where emotion was strictly forbidden.

Kirk and Spock start off as idea-based conflicting rivals, but soon develop a friendship as they, along with the rest of the Starfleet’s Enterprise crew, must battle an intergalactic foe, Nero (an unrecognizable Eric Bana).

Nero, in his quest to destroy every known planet under operations with Starfleet, wishes to destroy Spock, the supposed cause of the destruction of Nero’s own home planet, Romulus.

A marriage of galvanic creativity and a juiced-up, witty screenplay, thanks to “Star Trek” writers Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman, give re-birth to the franchise. After stepping out of the theater, all I could think of was “Wow.”

Wow for spot-on performances by Pine and Quinto, re-igniting the roles of Kirk and Spock for a new generation to appreciate. Wow for the direction by J.J. Abrahams, a pioneering demi-god who created television’s most innovative show, “Lost.” And wow for the visuals, cardiac-arrest inducing, awe-inspiring, transcendant in every sense, by no means unrealistic, and supernova cool. “Star Trek” will leave you breathless and in need of a resuscitator.