Between work and meetings, I’ll be AFK for most of today, but this is important enough to warrant its own quick entry until I can write something more in-depth later today: I went with Chris Hardwick and his girlfriend to see Star Trek last night.
Speaking both as a member of the Star Trek family, and as a fan of what we do, I can tell you that it is fucking incredible. As I said on Twitter: Star Trek has been reborn, and it is SPECTACULAR.
The story is such a perfect Star Trek story, the cast is pitch-perfect, the visuals are brilliant, and the sound design will blow your mind. I loved it so much, I wanted to watch it again RIGHT AWAY as soon as it ended, and I hope they do eleven movies with this cast and creative team. After seeing it, that satire from the Onion is even funnier than it already was.
Here’s a picture of me and Chris looking, um, excited after the movie. Well, Chris looks pleased, and I look … maybe excited isn’t the right word. Maybe “crazy as shit because OMG I just saw Star Trek and it blew me away” is more accurate. Anyway, it should tell you all you need to know (both about how much I liked it, and how much of a complete dork I am when I’m excited about things like Star Trek.)
OH MY GOSH.
My excitement level for this movie just skyrocketed…
awesome picture, by the way. I literally lol’d.
Tom can be Picard and Patrick can be Shinzon. No wait, this is a post BSG reboot world, so the choices wouldn’t be so predictable. Wesley would be “Starbucked” to Weslina. Her sweaters would be given a rubberized texture a la the new Star Trek or Spiderman movies.
If Zac Efron gets to play Wesley, I will go on a verbal killing spree. I think he has done enough damage with HSM.
I think we should make a clone of Wil now, so that, by the time they reboot TNG, we have another Wil ready for the job. And when that’s done, I want the clone.
… ok, that was creepy. …sorry…
postmodern!
Uggh, don’t I know it. When that movie first came out, every single kid in my room was into it, Show and Tell day was hell for me because someone always brought in either the movie or the soundtrack. I can hear that shit in my sleep!
ROFLMAO about the cloning Wil idea. I think one Wil is enough, Anne may disagree with that, though. Think about it, Original Wil is at a con somewhere, meanwhile Anne gets to keep clone Wil at home with her. Only clone Wil is evil, and since he’s been rocking the beard for a while, clone Wil has to be clean-shaven. Bloody hell, is this a clone discussion or a parallel universe discussion? I’m sleep deprived!
OMG, my head esplode just thinking about that! Yeah, now it’s definitely starting to sound kinda creepy. LMFAO!
Why can’t Wil play Picard?
Wow Wil. That picture is amazing! Made me laugh so hard. I’m going to see Star Trek this weekend, I’m now twice as excited as I was! (That in itself is a feat since I was already pretty darn excited!)
It’s my 43rd b-day (born the year Trek came out)… I’ve got a private screening at the local IMAX tomorrow morning before anyone else in the city sees it… Huge geeks/fans/and WilF*#@ingWheaton loving the movie… It made the cover of Newsweek!!! New collectibles(re:toys) in the stores!
GAAAAH!! 26 hours to go before the credits roll. *Agony*
Life is good.
I saw the movie yesterday here in Germany. I really enjoyed the movie, but I can’t shake the feeling that there was too little “Star Trek” in it.
By that I mean that while being entertaining with a lot of action, fun and F/X there was not as much intelligence and morality in it as I hoped for. “A lot of Popcorn”, as my friend put it.
It somehow lacked the certain elegance the older movies had (and the newer ones never got right). But I guess it has to be like that in order for ST to live on. And maybe I’m just getting old…
So, in the end, it felt like a guilty pleasure… Now, get off my lawn!
I have never watched it, but some cheerleading society used it to advertise itself outside my shop, and I wanted to stab pencils in my ear. I feel for you. Next show and tell, make it a requirement to not use HSM. And clarify that this includes any sequels or related products.
Oh, and you can have evil Parallel Universe Wil. I got dibs on Clone Wil. 😉
*waits for restraining order*
How would you rank it among the movies? Is it Wrath of Khan good? Undiscovered Country good? Voyage Home good? First Contact good?
I just got back from a Thursday night show.
That was awesome. I don’t believe it’s a reboot in its purest sense, but it can be a great starting point for new viewers and fans.
Seeing that big Enterprise maneuvering using actual thrusters was awesome. Did you see the shuttlebay and the amount of shuttles there are on the ship… and the ones from the beginning of the movie? Compare that with the interior shot of the shuttlebay in Journey to Babel, for one. That ship must be at least 2000 feet long.
Will watch again with my son on Monday perhaps.
Ah bless you, like a pair of kiddies! LMAO
I really want to see this, but I don’t want to admit it to my significant other as I think it may take me over the nerd threshold! I will have to go in secret, and in disguise!
Simon Pegg?? Oh my god I have GOT to see this now, I cannot picture him in that role at all!
I liked this movie as much as I liked Wrath of Kahn when I first saw it, and even more than I liked Star Trek IV when I saw it.
I’m going to see it this Sunday with my dad and sister – a father/daughter/sibling/trekkie bonding moment 😉
I am so insanely envious of everyone who has seen this already or who gets to see it any time soon. It seems that I have been waiting for this for a million years.
Alas, I have interviews and other press things that have to get done over the next many nights and I fear I am going to miss it completely in the theaters.
Blast!
CRAP! I also wanted to post this little tidbit from FARK if you have not seen it yet:
“Scientists think warp driven starships may be possible one day, at least until some acting ensign pulls out all the computer chips to play dominos with the engineer”
LOL
I thought you would enjoy that. I was going to forward it to you yesterday, but with you being sick (hopefully you are on the mend) and your million deadlines, didn’t want to overload your inbox.
No, I don’t think I’d be interested in evil parallel universe Wil. Thanks for the suggestions though!
Having seen it now, I’ve got to agree with you: It’s up there with Wrath of Khan as one of my favorites. My only objections stem from nerd rage over some geeky technical shit that no one gives a crap about. (“Single warp nacelles bad! You need them in pairs with at least 50% line of sight between them!” screams my inner Trek grognard, as he is dragged down by Sense of Fun and It’s Only a Movie and duct-taped to a chair and thrown in a closet.) But the storytelling and the characterization? Top notch.
On a side note, was it just me, or did Chris Pine channel a little WFS there at the very end?
My favorite line of the night came not from the movie, but from my sister who, upon seeing Kirk, [REDACTED] and [REDACTED] heading for an Away Mission, looked at me and whispered, “[REDACTED] is so gonna die, isn’t he?”
Poor [REDACTED]. He was doomed the moment he put on the red [REDACTED].
I know I’m about to lose any Star Trek geek-cred, but I have to be honest, OMG I CAN’T BELIEVE I MISSED THAT REFERENCE!!! I was so proud of myself when at the end [redacted] was sitting in a [redacted] just like in TOS! But man, was that an obvious fail on my part… *cry*
I loved it! Saw it at 7pm Thurs at an IMAX and boy, the Enterprise looked amazing. Strangely, I seemed to be the only one cheering at the screen. I don’t know if that means the audience was too polite, or they didn’t want to make any noise so they wouldn’t miss the dialog, or if they were offended at the non-canon moments.
I thought it was a fun romp and was happy to see all the characters have their moments. Karl Urban was a great McCoy. He’s a long time Trek fan and it’s great when actors get a chance to pay homage to something they love. And Simon Pegg as Scotty was a hoot.
I know Trek fans could point their fingers at the non-canon and the non-Trek audience could ignore it just because of the Trek label. But here’s hoping both parts of the public embraces the movie.
And, that photo? Er, you look rather manic and possessed. Let me cross the street here…
Saw it on IMAX last night. I mostly enjoyed the movie because of the actors. Chris Pine has such a fresh approach to Captain Kirk. The whole cast is so talented.
The space scenes were another matter. Although they had great FX, they were a little too tightly edited, and too much in close-up. Overall, the movie just didn’t have the right “feel” to it for me.
The sterile nature of much of Trek over the years lends gravitas and a more futuristic feel, IMHO. But I can see what they were trying to do, by making it more accessible. Maybe something in between sterility and realism would have satisfied this Trekker more.
Even after saying this, though, I think this is the first move that is going to push me to get a Blu-Ray player. And I will certainly always go to see Star Trek films.
I saw the movie last night. oh my god it was so good. I loved the cast! I thought I wouldn’t like Zachary Quinto as Spock but 5 minutes after seeing him on screen as Spock had me totally convinced he was Spock and not Syler. I really thought they did a great job casting all the main characters. I loved the tiny cameo of Dominic Keating the security officer from Enterprise (tv series).
And OH MAN! The new warp sound… you could probably hear the boom from the street outside my theater.
The woman sitting next to me in the theater became a fan of the original series when it aired, when she was 10 years old, which puts her in her 50’s. She loved it so much that at the midnight screening, it was the second time she’d seen it in one day.
The theater was PACKED. AT MIDNIGHT!!!!!
A girl who looked, oh, 19 at the most, said as it ended, “Now I want to go home and watch ALL of Star Trek over again!”
And so do I.
Hehe! We’re winning!!
“Wesley would be “Starbucked” to Weslina.”
You have a sick, SICK, mind.
Seek help, NOW!
Hahahaha no, of course, what a stupid idea.
Though, evil parallel WORF?
We’re talking! ;o)
U = COOL!
Hope life is great for you. NOT Jealous At ALL! (Okay just a lil’ bit…) anyway, enjoy!
What? Me cool? A 43 yr. old single Trekkie collectible fanatic? OK, getting to see Star Trek on IMAX with only about 40 people total on a Friday morning… probably will be the coolest freaking thing I’ve done in years. But actually meeting WilF*#@ingWheaton, THAT would be cool!
To: [email protected]
Because Patrick would slap him upside the head if he tried? 😉
Saw it last night and loved it! Non spoilerish commentary only I promise but I really loved how they slipped the tag lines for each character, or at least their beginnings, into the movie. I think it was a great setup for follow on movies with this cast, and best of all it was a great movie even for someone who had never seen Star Trek.
I saw the movie last night (Thursday) and loved it! We had a few smatterings of applause during the film (not much, we didn’t want to miss anything), plenty of big laughs at the funny bits, lots of the same murmerings as you had, and then a nice ovation at the end. I plan to see it at least once more, in IMAX next. More movies with this group would be, in a word, hawesome!
Wil, I love reading your blog and I love your sense of humor, but the reactions to this movie I’ve seen rolling in over the past 24 hours have really started to put Trekkies into some different camps.
I’m gonna see it Sunday. That’s the best time to meet up with my group of Trekkies. I haven’t liked one word, commercial, still photo, or spoiler I’ve seen about this film to date. A couple folks I know who’ve seen the movie already who are huge die-hard TOS fans weren’t raving over the film, and were really distracted by the giant plot inconsistencies.
So in one camp, there’s your die-hard traditionalist Trekkies. In another is the “I’m bored and want something new” Trekkies. And a third are the casual “Wow, I didn’t know Star Trek was so hip and sexy! Look at that IKEA-white bridge! How futuristic!” fan… which is the demographic the movie was really shooting for.
If I’m as unhappy with the movie as I think I’m gonna be, I’ll definitely be boycotting anything “Trek” that Abrams has a hand in in the future… “alternate time line or not”
Karen
(Curmudgeonly Traditionalist Trekkie, apparently)
Hahaha! I was so sleep deprived when I made the original comment that it probably equates to taking a Quaalude or something to that effect. I wouldn’t know by experience, though, since those were banned before I was old enough to even know what they were. LOL. Evil Parallel universe Wil…LMAO. That was such a ludicrous idea that I can’t believe I actually made that post to begin with.
OK, you can have evil Parallel universe Worf. I’ll take Michael Dorn’s clone. ;-).
DUDE! Every theater in my area is sold out! People ordered their tickets in advance. That’s just crazy. The information age and Star Trek fans are definitely a force to be reckoned with, considering the fact that I live in one of the top 5 biggest cities in America.
My best friend is totally going to flip shit when we get to the theater tonight. Her boyfriend suggested that we leave an hour early to get a good spot in line. I *so* hope that there are people dressed up as Klingons, Vulcans and Starfleet uniforms when we get to the theater tonight. I’m so bringing my digital camera and posting pictures on Flickr and twitpic.
Just got out of an IMAX showing. Words cannot express. Yes, I’m biased. Yes, it’s based on a cheezy TV scifi series. But… no adjective is descriptive enough, no hyperbole big enough, to describe the Star Trek movie. I can say it made my top five movies of all time, maybe the top 3. I can say it will be the movie to beat this summer, and for a long time to come in terms of sheer exciting fun. I can say you don’t need to have seen any Trek episode or movie before it to understand it and enjoy the ride (although it helps to get all the inside jokes and there are a ton!). But I will definitely say, just go see it. See it as soon as you can on the biggest screen and best sound you can find. Then see it again. The odd-numbered movie curse is definitely broken with this one. I can only hope for a sequel to come soon.
Just back from the opening night in Helsinki, and OMFG! I made that same face Wil made after the movie. Ok, so there are a few little cannon questions (aren’t there always?), but you can exercise that creative part of your brain to solve them. 😉
The actors were great, and the whole thing was just pure trek (with a decent budget). When that line was delivered, by _____ to ______, I about lost it. And Karl Urban has been possessed by the spirit of DeForest Kelly. Also not surprised by ____ and _____. It’s totally believable.
And we all knew Simon Pegg would be da man. Anyone not sure he’s one of us, needs to go watch Spaced.
The thing that I was let down by, and I think if anyone feels let down, it’s probably this, though they maybe can’t put their finger on it – the score. It doesn’t hold up to comparison against Goldsmith or Horner.
I think that could have been solved by Mr. Bear Frakking McCreary. He’s a fan of the TMP score, he would not have set drums to taiko.
But it’s not like the score was complete crap, it’s just not what it could have been, but thank goodness it doesn’t completely let down this awesome awesome movie.
Some trekkies will hate it. The same trekkies that hate everything other than the awful fanfiction in their own brains. You know the types I mean. Mean, jaded, snarky. Hating on what they claim to love. Some have already replied in this thread saying nonsensical things, reminding me why I generally avoid other trekkies unless we’re already friends… or married.
But for the majority of trekkies, this movie is a huge big pile of Win. And for those who hate us nerdy trekkies, this movie is a huge big pile of Win.
Tomorrow night, ST: II is on deck.
Speaking of scoring and songs, at least we didn’t get the total brain fart that was the Enterprise series opening title track. WTF was that about? Not sure of my SciFi timeline here, but did it come after Firefly? Were they trying to do a Firefly type opening song?
I mean Dennis McCaurthey (I think?) wrote them a nice decent little title song, completely believable and matching what we see on the screen, and those producers who wouldn’t know I-IV-V-I if it bit them frakked it up.
A bit OT, but I had my mind on scoring problems, and that one on Enterprise was huge.
I saw it yesterday, and I’d have to agree that this is the best Trek movie I have ever seen, ever. Like, my brain couldn’t even fully absorb the awesomeness of it. I’ll just have to watch it again, and again!
Saw it last night (in uniform). LOVED it. My only real canon complaint (visible from the very beginning of the movie) was the placement of the Enterprise assignment badge on all of the uniforms. Starfleet didn’t adopt that symbol as a fleetwide emblem until 2278.
There was tons of spontaneous applause throughout the movie & a standing O at the end. I know a LOT of rabid trekkies, and not one of them disliked the movie.
AWESOME!!!! That was better than I could have expected! I can’t even pick a favorite moment.
I agree. I hear speculations of even more movies to follow.
Either way, I’m so completely happy. I could have watched it forever, and Kirk’s shirt didn’t even rip =D
Wil, I deliberately waited until after I saw the movie — which I did in the last hour or so — to read and respond to this post. I 100% agree with you, this is a rebirth not a reboot. I am one year older than Star Trek itself, and nearly a life-long fan. I’ve enjoyed TOS, you and your compatriots from TNG, DS9, VOY and ENT, as well as the animated series, comic books, novels and so much more. With no disrespect to any of you at Trek who have gone before, this movie has, for me and I hope for many others, rekindled the joy of Star Trek. As you said, I hope we see much, much more from this combination of cast, crew, etc. At the end, all I can say to Abrams and the rest is, simply, “Thank you.”
Finally I wrote my somewhat nerdy review to the movie:
http://www.hishgraphics.com/blog/pivot/entry.php?id=698
To add to my musings in the review: I wonder if this USS Enterprise was still a Constitution-class starship. Was this timeline’s ship based on the design of the USS Constitution prototype or was it a first of its own line of designs?
I guess I have to wait til the sequel to find out.
i went to see it last night and was horrifically annoyed as my girlfriend and i had to leave 20 minutes before the end due to the draconian security guards at her student halls…cant wait to go again and see the ending! :L it was great all the way through, and the comedy moments were great, i remember mentioning to my friend just before the parachuting scene “THAT GUY’S WEARING RED! HE’S SCREWED!”
also, my friend who is even geekier than I, and I’m pretty damn geeky, felt uncomfortable in the toilets when two geekier than thou geeks had a standoff “what are you doing wearing that? you are aware this is original star trek, not voyager!”
we also saw a guy whom we thought was in costume as an alien but not, he was just f*** ugly!
also, as this is the first time i have commented, it’s been a delight discovering and reading your blog wil, on the back of which i bought just a geek and dancing barefoot, well done to you sir!
(although, i have to admit, whilst i wish you the very best in all future acting/writing/comedic prospects, you will always be gordie lachance to me! river, corey and jerry will always be chris, teddy and vern also! i recently berated a girl at work because she had never seen a)the star wars trilogy b) back to the future trilogy and c)stand by me…how one can go through childhood without these films i have no idea! tbf she’s only 17 but still!)
keep up the good work
I saw the movie last night and it was awesome. For serious Trek fans, like me, it’s even a better film. That Roger Ebert thinks it stinks is no reason to NOT see it. I think he needs another stroke or something to straighten his brain out. It’s a great movie and the casting is brilliant. I had my doubts when I heard Chris Pine was Captain Kirk but it turned out just fine and he was actually really good in the role.
Check out my extensive, well sleepy review of the movie on my blog. http://chronicinsomniashow.blogspot.com/
Michael