Star Trek Reboot

[bluflamingo]

I don't know if anyone reading this is a Star Trek Reboot fan, but I'm guessing someone is, so... would anyone have time to give a quick read through to a 1500 word Kirk/McCoy fic for torachan's transfic mini-fest, preferaby by the end of the month?

New fandom is making me nervous, especially with, you know, *decades* of history that I don't know at all (what is it with me and coming in at the end of something? Like SG1 wasn't bad enough!).

That said, I love the film so much, despite my lack of Trek knowledge - seriously, I don't think I've ever seen a single episode of any of the TV series. Do I have to hand in my sci-fi fan badge now? But I love that they're all *smart* - I mean, them being the Enterprise crew at the end is still implausible, but less so. And Uhura is awesome (I love Zoe Saldana, ever since I saw Center Stage), and so is Captain Pike (I'm not the only one who's really, really strongly reminded of Gibbs from NCIS whenever he's on screen, right?).

And Spock: I intend to assist in the effort to reestablish communication with Starfleet. However, if crew morale is better served by my roaming the halls weeping, I will gladly defer to your medical expertise.

I love that line, it makes me grin every time he says it.

Comments

[torachan]

Oh yay! I am not into Star Trek, but it's exciting to know there's fic already being written for the fest!

[bluflamingo]

It was well-timed - I'm just at that point in a new fandom where I'm ready to write something but didn't have any ideas, and one of the prompt for the fest grabbed me, so thank you :)

[scrollgirl]

My TOS knowledge is pretty shaky compared to TNG and DS9, but my overall Trek knowledge is probably better than yours ;) so if you want me to take a gander, I can do that.

[scrollgirl]

Also, over on your LJ someone commented: I heard that a lot of die-hard fans consider the reboot to be badly executed and in some cases even blasphemy

Just wanted to say, this is very, very true. Most of the die-hard TOS fans I know had difficulty with the movie, for a variety of reasons. Even the ones who enjoyed it overall still had quibbles about specific plot choices and characterisations--which I can totally understand. I mean, they blew up Vulcan! Vulcan. I'm a DS9 fan primarily and I'm far more attached to Bajor and Cardassia, but even I know you don't go blowing up Vulcan.

Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

I don't have a problem with them blowing up Vulcan. (I mean, I would have preferred if they hadn't, but I think it's dramatically effective.) I do have a problem with the massive, massive plot holes in the reboot movie. I enjoyed parts of it--I loved Spock/Uhura, and the casting was fabulous--but oh, the plot holes.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

but oh, the plot holes

Sure, but we're Atlantis fans, shouldn't we be innured to it? :)

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Yeah, but at least it wasn't completely unreasonable to make Sheppard military commander. But making a cadet who has never served aboard a starship the captain of the new flagship? I can't do it. Especially when it would have been so easy to put up a little note saying "three years later."

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

Yeah... I mean, that's why I like that they're clearly all supposed to be brilliant, so it's less out of left field, plus there's the whole thing with pretty much everyone else in their class presumably having been blown to pieces but still. I do take your point.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Yeah, but presumably not every ship in Starfleet was close enough to be sent to Vulcan. The universe is, after all, fairly large. So somewhere, there are experienced officers who could have been put in charge. Hell, Spock could have been put in charge. At least he had actual experience. I understand why they didn't do that, but I think it could have been dealt with in better ways than immediately promoting Kirk to captain.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

I understand why they didn't do that, but I think it could have been dealt with in better ways than immediately promoting Kirk to captain

True, but it had to end that way - it's a nice circle round to how things are *meant* to be, and it's not the same if it's three years later or whatever. Plus, what are the chances of getting them all together again three years later?

I mean, you're definitely right, it makes no sense, but I love it as an ending regardless.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[scrollgirl]

Hmm. I think it'll depend on how they follow up in the next movie. If this had been a TV show instead, I might have been better with Vulcan being destroyed. Like, I can ignore plot-holes for the most part (though I still think it's ridiculous for Kirk to be made captain so soon) but I feel like destroying Vulcan was overkill unless you really deal with it. Amanda was enough, I think, for dramatic purposes, but an entire planet? Nearly wiping out one of the four founding races? If you don't show the consequences, I'm just going to be really appalled. (But that's why I like fanfic re Vulcan's reconstruction, as well as post-DS9 Cardassia fic.)

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Oh, absolutely. If they don't continue to address it, I'll be very disappointed. But in the end, that's not what I object to about the movie--it's the plot holes. And the fact that many of them could have been dealt with with minor effort, without substantially altering the plot. (Did they ever explain why they had to use cadets for all the starships? How could they have so many ships near Earth, and no experienced people to crew them? 'Cause it wasn't just Enterprise being crewed by cadets--it was all the ships.)

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

Did they ever explain why they had to use cadets for all the starships?

The Admiral says that the rest of the fleet is deployed in the Laurentian system, and the only people they have are the cadets. Which...okay, now that's bothering me more than the ending, because if they're an intergalactic peace keeping armada, surely they have a lot of ships, how cam they *all* be in one place?

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

I could have understand if there hadn't been any ships nearby. What I don't understand is how they can have all those ships (and they do!) but no crew. Where did the crews all go? Even if they all had shore leave (which seems unlikely), surely they didn't all leave Earth.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

Can I just say, I was a lot happier when I wasn't thinking about this stuff?!

Maybe they meant to send the cadets since it was supposed to be a non-crisis, and they seem like they've nearly graduated, plus they had some crew who were more experienced (or at least I assume so, since people like Sulu and Chekov are called by military ranks from the start, instead of Cadet like Uhura and Kirk), so they figured they could send them first of all while they recalled everyone else? Since it didn't seem to take them long to get to Vulcan but a recall of everyone else would have taken longer, since I assume they can't beam everyone from around Earth.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Can I just say, I was a lot happier when I wasn't thinking about this stuff?!

Sorry, I'll be quiet now. ;)

This stuff kept occurring to me while I was watching, which I think kept me from enjoying the movie as much as I otherwise would have. Because it did have some great aspects, like how smart and competent everyone was, and the casting, and so on.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

Sorry, I'll be quiet now. ;)

That's okay :)

Though it sort of bothers me that I can actually come up with a possible explanation on the spot, and that you noticed the gaping plot holes, but that apparently no-one on the entire crew noticed or thought to toss in a better explanation than we got.

Because it did have some great aspects, like how smart and competent everyone was

So much. Especially Kirk - it's nice to have a military leader who they acknowledge is smart, rather than trying to put across as sort of dim compared to the scientists.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

I get the feeling that plot consistency wasn't really their primary concern. But yeah, one of the things I found most frustrating is that a lot of these issues seem terribly obvious and could have been dealt with by a couple of lines of dialogue, and it seems so lazy not to deal with them.

I like Kirk being smart, but truthfully, the whole rebellious leader thing irritates me. Purely a personal objection--I realize lots of people love that--but it's not my thing. Which is probably why Spock was my favourite character when I watched TOS as a kid.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

I like Kirk being smart, but truthfully, the whole rebellious leader thing irritates me

Yeah, in real life I'd probably hate him.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Also possibly why Picard is my favourite captain. (Though if you're not familiar with the rest of Star Trek, that probably doesn't mean anything to you.)

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

Picard is...Next Generation? And I think the guy who played him acts at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, though I wouldn't bet anything of importance on that.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Yes, and probably yes. Patrick Stewart is very much a Shakespearian actor, so it makes sense that he'd act at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Oh, but I don't see any reason they couldn't have beamed everyone from anywhere on Earth. They've never indicated any sort of limitations that way. And now I will stop.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

It didn't seem like a serious enough crisis to bother? Like, you wouldn't recall an entire ship's crew because a couple of drunk students tried to get aboard, but you would if someone bombed the ship? And they thought Vulcan was closer to drunken students than a bomb and by the time they realised it wasn't, it was over anyway.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[skieswideopen]

Maybe, yeah, but it still seems like they would have had at least half experienced crew, and half new cadets serving as back-up. I don't know--maybe we're intended to think that's what they did do. But again, it's something that could (and IMO should) have been explained fairly easily, and wasn't.

Re: Not a die-hard fan, really, but I've seen most of TOS and read a lot of the novels

[bluflamingo]

I don't know--maybe we're intended to think that's what they did do

I think so - that's why we have Sulu and Chekov, and Spock who's obviously supposed to be there. Plus the lieutenant who Uhura replaces. But yeah, it could have stood to be made a little clearer.

[bluflamingo]

I mean, they blew up Vulcan! Vulcan

This is like me and Serenity - I wasn't all that affected by them killing Book and Wash the first time I saw it, because I'd never seen Firefly. Then I watched the series, and bawled my eyes out when they died watching Serenity once I knew who they were.

Which is a long way of saying - I think I'm happier in my ignorance!

[scrollgirl]

Which is a long way of saying - I think I'm happier in my ignorance!

Ahaha! That's a good point. I pretty much bawled over Wash too.

[bluflamingo]

I think pretty much *everyone's* overall Trek knowledge is better than mine, to be honest. But thank you, and I'll take you up on it. Do I have your email address?

[scrollgirl]

scroll_of_aberjian AT yahoo.ca

Please note that it's dot CA, not dot COM! People sometimes mix that up.

[bluflamingo]

Sent, thank you!