Director: J.J. Abrams
Production Company: Paramount Pictures
Cast: Eric Bana, John Cho, Ben Cross, Bruce Greenwood, Leonard Nimoy, Simon Pegg, Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Winona Ryder, Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin
Rating: PG-13 for sci-fi action , violence and brief sexual content.
By Gregg Tubbs
UMC.org—In one sweeping move, the venerable Star Trek franchise has boldly gone where it has never gone before—back to square one. Star Trek, the new feature length prequel to the original series, tackles the daunting task of honoring the traditions and characters of the past while launching them on an exciting new course for the future. The film succeeds fabulously with some keen casting, youthful bravado, and a little time-shifting sleight of hand. Best of all, the story retains much of what made Star Trek special and enduring in the first place: the optimistic view of the future, the intriguing interplay of emotion versus logic, and the stirring camaraderie of colorful characters.
Helmed by ace TV director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias), Star Trek is an imaginative origin story that traces the path of the core characters from the original series to show how they end up serving together aboard the starship Enterprise. As expected, the story focuses on the two main characters, James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Mr. Spock (Zachary Quinto), and it is their stories that go back the farthest. In fact, Kirk is introduced at birth in a nifty bit of revisionist history that shows his own father as a brash young first officer on a starship under attack. As the elder Kirk takes over command during an ambush, his pregnant wife evacuates in a tiny shuttlecraft. Staying aboard to fight and give his wife and son a chance to survive, Kirk’s father’s bravery and courage offers a foreshadowing of the heroics that await the son.
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Helmed by ace TV director J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias), Star Trek is an imaginative origin story that traces the path of the core characters from the original series to show how they end up serving together aboard the starship Enterprise. Copyright © 2009 Paramount Pictures.
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We first meet Spock, half-human and half-Vulcan, as a youth struggling to suppress his emotional side and achieve the perfect rule of logic that guides the Vulcan people. Spock turns down a coveted position in the Vulcan ministry of science to go to Starfleet Academy after a minister expresses surprise that Spock has managed to transcend his human failings and achieve so much.
A feisty and rebellious Iowa farm boy, the young Kirk has a penchant for getting into trouble and goading Starfleet cadets into bar fights. After witnessing one such bar fight, Captain Pike challenges Kirk to live up to his father’s legacy by joining Starfleet.
Fate seems to draw Spock and Kirk together as the two meet at Starfleet Academy. When the cocky Kirk arrives determined to complete his officer training in record time, Spock is already an established academy commander and instructor. Different as night and day, the two With the fleet’s armada engaged elsewhere, Spock, Captain Pike (Bruce Greenwood) and a group of raw recruits—including Kirk, who was suspended and not supposed to be on the mission—set out aboard the brand new U.S.S. Enterprise in response to a distress call.
The beauty of this film is how it embraces the familiar and expected and makes them feel fresh. As it streams along, the film introduces younger versions of old characters: Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy (Karl Urban), Lt. Uhurah (Zoe Saldana), Scotty (Simon Pegg), Checkov (Anton Yelchin) and others. With each entrance of a new character, there is a delicately balanced flood of familiarity and rush of newness. None mimics the cast of old, but somehow alludes to how each will grow into those familiar characters.
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The film focuses on its two deeply conflicted lead characters, Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto). Copyright © 2009 Paramount Pictures.
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At times, the main plotline involving a vengeful Romulan (Eric Bana) who time travels to the past to destroy the future seems merely serviceable. But
Star Trek has always been more about character than story, and fans old and new will delight in how this storyline sets this endearing group of character off on their journey together. As always, the differences and unique skills of each character become assets rather than barriers.
The Star Trek franchise has traditionally been about ideas as well as characters, and their mission “to explore new worlds” always forced them to explore ethical and personal dilemmas, differing cultures and alien standards of morality. Thankfully, this has also been retained. The film focuses on its two deeply conflicted lead characters. Kirk rebels against his heroic father’s legacy. A brilliant but insolent under-achiever, Kirk struggles against taking on his father’s mantle and the responsibility that comes with someone of his natural abilities. Does he fear failure or simply desire to be his own man?
Spock also has his own “parent issues.” Growing up as a scorned “half-breed,” he must choose between emotion and logic. Throughout the course of the film, it is clear his emotions are not yet in check. Quinto’s Spock often smolders with a labored sense of restraint, in contrast to Leonard Nimoy’s cold logic in the original.
The film is also a reminder of Star Trek’s optimistic, almost utopian vision of the future. In contrast to dire, dystopian sci-fi classics from Star Wars to Terminator, Star Trek envisions a world where races and worlds coexist in relative harmony, and where the members of Starfleet are explorers as much as soldiers. Such a vision that lifts the spirit and predicts that our better nature will “live long and prosper.”
Study Questions
- Spock’s father, Sarek tells his son “logic can bring a serenity that humans never experience.” Do you agree? Could you ever give up your emotions for the promise of serenity? How can emotions also be positive? Is there an equal danger of relying on one to the exclusion of the other?
- What does the film have to say about vengeance? How does the character of the Romulan Nero illustrate the immorality of revenge?
- What moral lines does Nero cross for revenge? In the end, do Spock and Kirk cross any of those lines?
- Why do you think Kirk grew up to be so reckless and rebellious? What might he be rebelling against?
- What do we learn about Kirk as he faces the “no-win scenario” at Starfleet Academy? Does he simply want to pass the test? Or does his cheating tell us something about him?
- If you were Spock, would you choose the way of your mother or the way of your father? What traits have you chosen to emulate from your parents?
- Jesus was both fully human and fully divine. Did he ever seem conflicted like Spock? If so, whose path did he chose? (See Matthew 26:36-42.)
- How does Sarek reveal that he is not entirely without emotion? What impact does this have on Spock?
- Do you think Kirk had a responsibility to become something more than a rebellious troublemaker? Why or why not?
- What does the film have to say about diversity? Do you believe its vision of the future could come true? How is it compatible with the vision of the realization of God’s kingdom?
Resources
Official Star Trek site
Theatrical Trailer
