"Star Trek" - A Review

While I've never thought of myself as a Trekkie or even a Trekker, I will admit to being a fan of Star Trek.

When the show first went on the air in the late '60s, I remember having to ask my parents for permission to stay up late and watch it. After three years the show was canceled, and I figured that was the last I'd see of it.

However, it found new life in syndication, and viewers could enjoy those original episodes over and over again. Eventually, a series of movies followed (with various degrees of success - you can see the ratings of those movies by my pal Jim Ross right here in his Hot Topics blog, and my own rankings are in the comments section).

That led to a series of TV shows, including Star Trek: The Next Generation, which eventually was spun off into more feature films.

Now the original crew of the Enterprise is back in a new Star Trek movie that brings the concept back to the original series. The crew, pictured above, includes (from left) Chekov, Kirk, Scotty, Bones, Sulu and Uhura.

I went to see the movie hoping for the best, and I'm glad to say that I really enjoyed it. The good news is, you don't need to be a fan of the original, or know much of anything about Star Trek to enjoy this film. Since it tells the story about how the crew members first met, you get all the information you need as the story rolls along.

The story sets up a menace from the future - a monstrous ship that's out for revenge on the Federation of Planets. The story moves along briskly, all the cast members have memorable on-screen moments, and they capture the original characters without being outright imitations of the original actors.

The film sets up something of a clean slate for future films, and judging by the success of this one, there should be many more in the years ahead.

(And yes, I know this post didn't really have anything to do with theatre - but it's so nice to have a good Star Trek film to write about, I couldn't help myself!)