JJ Abrams is getting a lot of shit for the way he lit and shot his Star Trek movie, particularly the scenes in the interior of the Enterprise, in which virtually every close-up is marred by lens flares. It was only a matter of time before some intrepid YouTube user asked and answered the question, “What if the original Star Trek TV series looked like that?” See above.
In speaking of Star Trek, JJ Abrams’ origin story prequel designed to sex up the venerable brand and relaunch it as again-viable film franchise, I can’t speak for the fans, and I probably shouldn’t risk inciting their wrath by regurgitating the plot. Suffice it to say, all the familiar characters are rendered here as 20-something and absurdly attractive; they all end up on the Enterprise, from which they fight a Romulan who blows up a planet; there’s some time travel mumbo-jumbo that complicates things just enough to allow for a cameo from Leonard Nimoy; and the sexual tension between Young Kirk (Chris Pine) and Young Spock (Zachary Quinto) is the stuff that viral video makers in the “1 + 1 = GAY = LOL” mold dream of.
Fans and critic-fans will be predisposed to liking this film more than I, because they have more invested. Though I have a working familiarity with both the original TV series and The Next Generation, I didn’t walk into the film with opinions as to how something like the Kobayashi Maru test should have been handled, and I didn’t walk out anymore convinced that it matters one way or another. I can only offer the perspective of a viewer who walked in not really giving a shit about Star Trek, and from that perspective, Abrams has done a sufficient job. After all, the reason Star Trek exists is to support the theory that more Star Trek films should exist, and in painlessly demonstrating how the motley, almost incredibly diverse crew of the Enterprise fits together, in convincing that it wouldn’t be unpleasant to watch these seven space soldiers take on further missions, and in setting up a soapy workplace love triangle that will mandate sequels to resolve, Star Trek does that job. I walked out still not giving much of a shit about Star Trek, but at least I didn’t resent the expenditure of time, and though the central mythology of the series still fails to get a rise out of me, the pretty faces assigned to mobilize that myth offer their own rewards.
I am all for holidays, especially those having to do with movies. But they should have some sort of meaning, whether they honor an anniversary or birthday (real or fictional person’s), inception date (remember when people celebrated HAL’s birthday on January 12, 1997?) or similarly significant event. They shouldn’t just exist to exist. Star Wars Day, which is apparently today (interestingly, mere days before Star Trekhits theaters), is nothing more than a joke turned into a pseudo-holiday, for which the only purpose is to be able to say that it’s Star Wars Day. You don’t get a free comic book out of it, you don’t get off from work to hold a Jedi-based mass and you certainly don’t get to wear your Star Wars costumes around town without getting beat up. Especially not if your only reasoning for being in droid-garb is the silly pun “May the 4th be with you.”
Don’t get me wrong, I love puns, I love Star Wars(some of the movies, at least) and I do appreciate the joke from which the thing originates. But actually trying to turn the date into an officially recognized holiday — for members of the Jedi church, of course — is just plain silly. Geeks, feel free to watch a marathon of Star Wars movies today if you wish, but please stop with the “Happy Star Wars Day” greetings already. Bah humbug!
Check out some of the bloggers who annoyed me with this nonsense today, after the jump:
The latest film-centric trend on YouTube is apparently making fun of the new Star Trek trailer. And it goes way beyond the Smallvilleand 90210recuts I showcased last week. TrekMovie.com is collecting all the parodies, which also include a reverse recut featuring scenes from Smallville, another recut acknowleding the parallels to the Star Warsprequels, a weak clip using music from Top Gun and a hilarious recut employing the opening theme and credits style from The A-Team. Unfortunately, there’s still no Muppet Babiesversion, but I’m going to keep on checking back with my fingers crossed.
The best video included, though, is not quite a recut in the same class as the others. This one instead composites young Kirk footage into a scene from the original Star Trek TV show. It would be great even if William Shatner hadn’t already been publicly complaining about the film, but it’s even better knowing that Shatner likely had this exact reaction today. If he’s a good sport, he’ll even film a recreation of this clever YouTube clip.
We’ve had a bit of trouble getting this episode to go through the iTunes feed, so we hope this re-post will fix the problem. The original post, with episode description and embedded player, is here.
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I am all for holidays, especially those having to do with movies. But they should have some sort of meaning, whether they honor an anniversary or birthday (real or fictional person’s), inception date (remember when people celebrated HAL’s birthday on January 12, 1997?) or similarly significant event. They shouldn’t just exist to exist. 
