sovay | Do they still have sandwiches there?

Man. You adapt one gesture from the Kohanim and the next thing you know, six billion of your people are dead and the rest in galactic diaspora. But why did you have to pick on us?

. . . by which you may understand that I just got back from Star Trek (2009) and I have an extraordinarily bad heachache, so this is not going to be a review. On the whole, my reaction is positive. Simon Pegg as Scotty: awesome. John Cho as Sulu: very awesome. Anton Yelchin as Chekov: adorable. It is quite likely I prefer Chris Pine to William Shatner. I do not prefer Zachary Quinto to Leonard Nimoy, but I did not expect to. And I really do not prefer Karl Urban to DeForest Kelley, which is unfortunate—McCoy is traditionally my favorite of the three principals, as problematic as he is, but there were places in this film he actively annoyed me. I would have liked more for Zoe Saldaña to do, because xenolinguistics: awesome. I have a wholly unwarranted fondness for Bruce Greenwood based on I'm Not There and having seen Chariots of Fire last summer, I am pleased to find Ben Cross still working; I can't explain anything to do with Spock's mother, at all. Any further discussion should probably go in the comments, if there's anyone left who hasn't talked the movie out weeks ago. It did make me want to rewatch the original series.

I wish the Omni theater at the Museum of Science still had Leonard Nimoy's voice.

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I preferred Shatner, also. Pine just didn't feel like Kirk- he felt like a teenager trying to pretend to be Kirk, and turning up the "I can buck authority" dial a bit too high- that always seemed to be a second choice for the original character- an easy second, but he had an understanding of authority that Pine seemed to lack. This guy, I just couldn't see becoming a leader in that same way. I thought most of the other characters were much more plausible. Some of them took a while for me to buy, but eventually I did (but not Amanda- that one mystified me, the woman in the movie seemed nothing like the original character, any of the times she shows up. Sarek was a hard sell, too).

This guy, I just couldn't see becoming a leader in that same way.

I was surprised he got a ship out of a field promotion. I could have seen him proving his competence in this crisis and then, I don't know, working his way up the chain of command from an ensign or second lieutenant or whatever a battlefield commission gets you in Starfleet. Jumping from suspension for cheating to captaincy made me blink a little.

Some of them took a while for me to buy, but eventually I did

Truly, I think I had the most trouble with Spock. Even putting aside the physical differences or the greater emphasis on his emotions, it didn't help that the timbre of Quinto's voice is much lighter than Nimoy's; he had the right precision of speaking, but not the resonance. My issues with McCoy are mostly script-based.

(but not Amanda- that one mystified me, the woman in the movie seemed nothing like the original character, any of the times she shows up. Sarek was a hard sell, too).

As I said, I can explain nothing about Spock's mother—not why she was played by Winona Ryder, not why she died; it's a mystery. With Sarek, I missed Mark Lenard, but I had the advantage of already liking the actor who replaced him; the characterization didn't trouble me.

I thought killing Amanda was pretty clearly a device for hitting Spock in the emotional noggin. Also a convenient way to drill into the fans' heads that this is an alternate timeline, and that their obsession with continuity ought to be politely thrown down the incinerator chute.

I thought killing Amanda was pretty clearly a device for hitting Spock in the emotional noggin.

Losing an entire planet won't do it?

Also a convenient way to drill into the fans' heads that this is an alternate timeline, and that their obsession with continuity ought to be politely thrown down the incinerator chute.

I would like to have seen the allohistory demonstrated in a slightly less familiar way, I suppose.

Losing an entire planet won't do it?

It might for most, but Vulcans are (inconsistently) good at swallowing this stuff. Something had to hit close to home for him to beat the space chlamydia out of Kirk, in public no less.

Of course, if we follow precedent from The Immunity Sydrome then we might ask why Spock wasn't incapacitated with psychic whosits when all the Vulcans died.

Your dork looks really big in that statement. :D

Did you get to see lemurs? And the Israel Day parade? I am sorry we missed each other.

Do they still have sandwiches there?

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