Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Star Trek by the Minute

When I sit down to write a big, beefy Exfanding post, it's not uncommon for me to do a little research on my topic, even if I'm extremely familiar with it. It's also not uncommon for me to get completely sidetracked while looking things up.

After all, these are my favorite fandoms we're talking about--I can only stay focused on my post as long as the research isn't significantly more interesting. Such was the case when I tried looking up the number of minutes in a typical Star Trek episode, and stumbled upon a blog reviewing the 2009 Star Trek film, one minute at a time.

"Star Trek by the Minute," it's called, and there actually are 117 posts in the series.

Not only is this kind of review a tremendous undertaking, but it involves the kind of nit-picking that will either bring to light everything good and bad about a film, or drive you batty. Or both.

Anyone who's been around this blog a while knows that I had plenty of misgivings about Star Trek 2009, but I didn't apply the fine-tooth comb the way this blogger did. Any movie is bound to have mistakes, and any sequel is bound to have inconsistencies, but the number and type of mistakes and inconsistencies--and outright problems--is staggering. Take everything you read with a grain of salt, of course, but the writer makes a well-articulated, largely unforgiving, and frequently humorous case that the movie is, among other things, illogical, scientifically inaccurate to the extreme, promoting a religious agenda, flat-out sexist, and overall unfaithful to the House that Roddenberry Built.

I stand by what I said before: Star Trek 2009 is fun, but it ain't Star Trek. I don't agree with everything the writer says, and some things feel like they've been blown way out of proportion, but the details he points out and the arguments he raises make it clear that, if nothing else, fans who were bothered or enraged by this movie aren't completely out of their Vulcan minds. I can't imagine any film in the series holding up very well under such intense scrutiny, but if there's any movie that needed to be put under the microscope, it's the one that drew in scores of new fans while forcing out scores of old ones, leaving both sides to look at each other funny.

There's a lot to read, so it might be worthwhile to start out by jumping to the parts of the film you're most curious/annoyed about. In any case, whether you find this massive review to be startlingly truthful, tedious and inflammatory, or just an interesting read, it's bound to spark some thought and emotion.


BurntSynapse said...

Are you going to read them all? Always amazed that anyone really does this...

Flashman85 said...

That's the plan! I'm 27 minutes in, as it were, and not only are the posts closely examining something of particular interest to me, but they're more entertaining and reaction-sparking than most of what I read elsewhere on the Internet anymore.

A Philosophical Nerd said...

What have you done to me, Nathaniel? I am now going to have to go read this entire blog and possibly bookmark it. I loved the new movie, but I man never be able to watch it the same again! :D

Nah, just kidding. But I'll definitely read it and see what he has to say. I've actually made several cases on Star Trek forums that the new movie isn't as bad as other die-hard fans seem to think (spoken as a die-hard fan, myself). It will be an interesting read.

Flashman85 said...

APN: Ha! You're exactly the kind of fan I wish I could be going into this--do tell me how it turns out, and try not to get upset!