Where is Ambassador Spock?

[starlady]

I have seen Star Trek: 2009. I did not expect this icon to be so appropriate.

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Some of my impressions are shallow. Others run deep. Some are simply squee incarnate.

1. Dear Spock(/Zachary Quinto): MARRY ME.
2. Spock/Uhura FTW! (And it wasn't just the stereotypical "one quick kiss in the face of danger" either.)
3. I didn't know moving at warp speed could give one whiplash, but I feel like this movie gave me whiplash. Hello breakneck pacing! Even in the scenes in which no actual action took place, everyone spoke their lines insanely quickly (particularly Spock before the Vulcan High Council and Kirk before the Academy Board).
4. Haven't I seen this movie before? Elements Abrams & crew nicked from Star Wars include, but are not limited to: a) genocidal destruction of a main character's planet; b) main character romping about on frozen ice waste with killer snow creatures; c) our ship won't go! d) general style of action scenes.
5. I think the bad acting prize goes, not to the actress playing Uhura, but to the guy playing McCoy. There's a fine line between gruff bluff simple Southern medical gentleman and racist reactionary Southern man, and the actor playing Bones in this incarnation definitely flirts, through overacting, with crossing that line.
6. Similarly, the dude playing Sulu is so not Japanese. I know Takei said he was fine with the casting, and the dude playing Sulu does a great job (Sulu saving Kirk FTW!), but seriously, there were no Japanese actors!? I'm nitpicking. I should be exulting that the captain of the Kelvin was an Asian dude.
7. Despite the cast generally nailing the high camp that is classic Trek (despite #5 above, McCoy's actor does not stick out too badly imo), I am not sure I feel that I have actually seen a Star Trek movie. Particularly since the movie not only ran roughshod over the entirety of canon from 1965 to 2009 and then doubled back and ran over it a few more times, but also due to its aforementioned frenetic pacing. This is not the Star Trek that I grew up watching (and I came to Star Trek through the movies, and then the novels. The show I've seen the most of, and love best, is actually Deep Space Nine)--the Star Trek thing to do would have been to go back in time and set everything to rights!
8. Waterboarding is still torture, even when it involves Centauri slugs. That said, though, I'm glad the actor who played PIke finally got a role in which he could kick some butt and be tough. Also, way to redeem Pike, movie!
9. Given the fact that every fiber of my being rebels at the thought of accepting this movie as canon (aside from the inter-character relationships; those I'll take) I'm not sure whether to be delighted or filled with dread at the reference to Admiral Archer's beagle, which definitely sounds like a tie-in with Enterprise to me.
10. I loved this movie, in a deeply schizoid way, and I could watch movies with this cast incarnating our classic heroes until I was as old as Leonard Nimoy. That said, though, how is this movie (and its sequel) really going to re-invigorate the franchise? Yes, Star Trek is cool again, but where does Trek go from here that isn't a retread of things done before? When are we finally going to move post-Voyager, and how? And what sort of captain will sit in the chair? (We're due for a black woman or an Asian of some kind, by my calculation, if the suits keep playing minority bingo. Not that I mind minority bingo; Star Trek's playing the game with such relish is a big part of what makes it Trek.)
11. Many, many, many nitpicky little things I will not mention here, running from building starships on Earth to the idea of a supernova near Romulus destroying the galaxy (huh!? what!?) to the exceptionally tacky product placements (I'm looking at you, cell phone and beer companies) to Kirk referring to Spock "resigning commission" when clearly he "relinquished command." Bad screenwriters! No commendations for you!