Canon? We don't need no steenkin' canon

[scarfman]

I've seen Star Trek three times in as many days, the last time with scarfmom for Mother's Day. I got most of this down the morning before that.

I cry every time for George Kirk on the Kelvin as I did for Jack Ryan when he was first sworn in as President.

In this political climate, interesting that Abrams should choose as the first face we see of Starfleet captaincy a Middle Easterner. Yay Star Trek!

I tried to remain spoiler free, and only mostly succeeded. I.e., I'd already read of the kiss in the elevator, and seen online a heavily edited version of Kirk's first meeting with McCoy, and I'd read the Kobayashi Maru was coming into it. But the destruction of Vulcan and the death of Amanda Grayson took me totally by surprise. For awhile I wondered whether, time travel being involved in the plot, that was going to get unhappened; but I doubted it, and I was right.

Speaking of McCoy and the Kobayashi Maru, I loved seeing him at the helm in Kirk's test, because it shows that medical personnel are crosstrained and that forty years' bitching about the CMO - a department head, mind you - loitering on the bridge can go suck eggs.

theferrett who saw it on a press pass well ahead of opening said that the element of old Star Trek that Abrams latched onto for the hook to hang new Star Trek on is "brute force competence". That is probably the best choice for converting it into 21st century action-adventure, but one of the things I like best about the movie is when Spock says to Pike, "The cadet's logic is valid, sir": even with the animosity between Kirk and Spock up till that point, Spock recognizes brute force competence when he sees it. It's measure of how badly he's affected without realizing by his mother's and planet's death that he fails to recognize Kirk's worth when Kirk's arguing for diverting course to Earth. And it's back working again when Kirk accedes to Spock's plan for Spock to board the Romulan ship.

The destruction of Vulcan casts a lot of doubts on the future history of the Federation in the new, alternate timeline - that is, to the existence of the events and characters of the sequel serieses. Now that the original series has been reenvisioned once, I doubt that Picard, Sisko or Janeway will ever be revisited anyway, except in time travel episodes of reenvisions of the original series. But - though I of all people missed it the first time I watched the film - there is an allusion to Star Trek: Enterprise in the film, in Scott's dialog when he's describing how he got exiled to Delta Vega. "Archer"? "Beagle"? I don't know how I missed it. And before you say anything, who's to say what the future holds in the way of advances in canine gerontology?

Speaking of Delta Vega, isn't that where they were going to drop Gary Mitchell?

Speaking of Scott, his is the only really different personality in the new timeline. Scott was always very formal; never called Kirk "Jim" but once. Now he out-Renners McCoy.

"I have been, and always shall be, your friend," gets me every time too.

Phasers have recoil now.

People complain that Kirk ought to have gone through a few of the years of service Pike spoke of at the beginning of the film, or at least to have graduated the academy, before getting promoted to captain. I always say, "Yeah, but you knew it was going to happen."

(Most of the fanfiction I've seen has postulated that Kirk and those of his staff who were still cadets have been required to test out of the classes they still had left.)

I'd've made more liberal use of the original theme. The four-note motif at the very beginning of the film, the Enterprise fanfare when Kirk and McCoy see the ship from space.

The only thing I actively dislike about the new Star Trek is that it'll be two or more years between each installment (I read that the cast signed for three movies). But then, that's exactly what I believe fanfiction is for. And it's already all over my flist! Life is good. Now I have to revise the timelines graphic at Hero of Three Faces.