Prequels: The Final Frontier - Star Trek a Meritorious Enterprise

It may not be particularly warm outside, but it finally seems to be looking like spring—what with final exam week and Hollywood’s summer blockbuster movies already trickling into multiplexes.

The new “Star Trek” movie burst into theatres last week with the hopes of reviving and revising the long-lived cultural phenomenon that began with a low-budget TV series in the 1960s and redefined science fiction for the last third of the 20th century. Even though it ran only three years and it’s now 40 years since the last episode was broadcast, the original TV characters have become icons loved by many, ridiculed by others, and an inspiration for several television spin-off series and over ten theatrical feature films.

This latest “Star Trek” film, like the “Batman Begins” film a few years back, is a prequel that explores the origins of the original characters with a slick, modern approach that hopes to “reboot” the franchise for today’s younger audiences.

Like the 1979 film “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” which was only a decade after the original series ended and used the original actors, this film spends a lot of time introducing all the characters and bringing them together so the audience can get used to them again.

Unlike the first Star Trek feature, however, this one packs in action sequences one after another with little time for the oohing and aahing that the 1979 film tended to belabor. The purpose of this movie seems to be to introducing the Star Trek mythology to those who never saw the original series, and to give a fresh twist the producers hope will appeal to long-time fans.

The cast of the new “Star Trek” does an admirable job of creating young and energetic versions of James T. Kirk, Spock, Dr. McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov, and should soon make names for themselves in these and other roles. Most fans of the original series should be pleased with the characterizations, not to mention the fact that Leonard Nimoy returns as an older version of his original Spock character (thanks to a convenient time-travel aspect in the plot).

The plot of this first episode, in what Paramount doubtlessly expects will be another lucrative theatrical series, focuses on a reasonably effective blend of character establishment and spectacular action sequences. It does a good job of recapturing the flavor of the few action-oriented episodes of the original series. While it does raise some interesting character issues, it makes no attempt to present a morality play, sociopolitical allegory, or philosophic exercise the way most episodes of the original TV series did.

The story does take a few liberties and makes a few changes in certain elements of the Star Trek universe established by various episodes of the original series. It remains to be seen whether future scripts will resolve these, ignore them, or simply use the old “alternative universe” argument to justify them.

As a sci-fi action film, this new “Star Trek” delivers everything audiences would expect: likeable heroes, hateable villains, romance, comedy, tons of action, and state-of-the-art digital special effects. As a slightly re-imagined variation on a familiar, much-beloved formula and mythology, it does a good job touching most bases, but takes a few risks that may need further explanation for die-hard fans. The inevitable sequel will determine if the new series is aimed only at new fans or hopes to retain the original fan base.