Author Topic: The New Star Trek (Read 21521 times)

Listener · **Reply #25 on:** May 06, 2009, 12:15:47 PM

I got the Star Trek soundtrack yesterday. It's by Michael Giacchino, who scores pretty much everything JJ Abrahms does, and also did The Incredibles.

If you've never heard a Star Trek soundtrack before, or watched the show, you'll like it a lot more. I still liked it -- I appreciate a great soundtrack (I *HEART* Stardust's) -- but I think Giacchino should've included more of the original ST theme (the part that goes under the opening monologue) than just at the very end and a little tease when Kirk & McCoy first see the Enterprise. Giacchino's new ST theme (six notes) is pretty good, though it always feels like it's going to lead into another few notes -- there's no really good way to hold it in a self-contained fashion.

The music doesn't sound like the typical Alias/Fringe/Lost style that Giacchino uses most often, except in a couple of areas. That's what I worried about most.

***SPOILER***

At the end of the film, when they do the monologue ("Space... the final frontier..."), Giacchino tries unsuccessfully to mix the old ST monologue/theme music with his new theme. It seems like he's just playing two songs at the same time, and it's distracting. Plus, the build he does to the Classic Trek remix that leads off the End Credits seems incongruous.

*** END SPOILER ***

Overall, a pretty good soundtrack. I give it four out of five

.

Portrait in Flesh · **Reply #26 on:** May 06, 2009, 01:36:32 PM

My God, it's full of stars...and Onion.

DKT · **Reply #27 on:** May 06, 2009, 05:13:30 PM

Giacchino also scores LOST and manages to bring a really great yet understated conflict between redepmtion and a sense of impending doom.

MacArthurBug · **Reply #28 on:** May 06, 2009, 07:45:48 PM

Quote from: Portrait in Flesh on May 06, 2009, 01:36:32 PM

My God, it's full of stars...and Onion.

Yeeaah! I love it when onion covers stuff..

Poppydragon · **Reply #29 on:** May 07, 2009, 09:50:41 PM

Just got back from it and loved it

) Nice to see all the nods to other versions too.

Heradel · **Reply #30 on:** May 07, 2009, 10:26:43 PM

Let's keep this thread spoiler-free for a week or so to give people time to see it.

Discuss the movie with spoilers here: Star Trek Movie (Spoiler Thread)

Talia · **Reply #31 on:** May 08, 2009, 05:38:18 AM

I will just say here.. great great great! I LOVED this. It had its weak spots but overall the AWESOME outweighed it all! *happy geek sigh*

I was concerned about how young the cast looked but I should not have been. they were amazing.

Boggled Coriander · **Reply #32 on:** May 09, 2009, 04:38:29 PM

I just saw it. My first 2 spoiler-free thoughts:

- It's really cool how they got DeForest Kelley's ghost to actually manifest itself through Karl Urban.

- That was officially the second-silliest science I have ever seen in Star Trek. (After the Voyager episode "Threshold".) Yes, I am aware of the seriousness of that statement.

Talia · **Reply #33 on:** May 09, 2009, 06:39:42 PM

who needs science when you have the PURE AWESOME of the visuals?

and I agree. Karl Urban's McCoy was phenomenal.

bolddeceiver · **Reply #34 on:** May 09, 2009, 10:26:20 PM

Well, I'll be the first to go out on a limb and say, I thought it was awful, and not even fun awful. I went in fully ready to really like this movie, and pretty much knew I didn't in the first ten minutes.

It was downhill from there.

(For just a few of my problems with the movie, see the spoiler thread.)

Talia · **Reply #35 on:** May 16, 2009, 04:25:50 AM

Oh MAN

Someone who just worked at nasa says the International Space Station just uploaded star trek and the astronauts plan to watch it "tonight" (whatever that is in space time).

Watching Star Trek in space

my head is exploding in geek glee at the concept.

Windup · **Reply #36 on:** May 16, 2009, 04:34:10 AM

Saw it. Loved it. Yes, some action sequences were overlong. There were plot holes you could drive a truck through. Didn't care...

Heradel · **Reply #37 on:** May 16, 2009, 08:34:47 AM

Quote from: Talia on May 16, 2009, 04:25:50 AM

Oh MAN

Someone who just worked at nasa says the International Space Station just uploaded star trek and the astronauts plan to watch it "tonight" (whatever that is in space time).

Watching Star Trek in space

my head is exploding in geek glee at the concept.

Link to article about the ISS astronauts watching it here: http://carpetbagger.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/15/real-live-astronauts-are-watching-star-trek-in-outer-space-right-now/

stePH · **Reply #38 on:** October 17, 2009, 12:53:46 AM

(Haven't seen it yet but since I've just found this out ...)

Wait a goddamn minute ... John Cho as Hikaru Sulu?

John Cho is Korean. Hikaru Sulu is Japanese. Those are two different ethnicities. What the fuck was casting thinking? I know, probably something like "whatever; those slanty-eyed yellow people all look enough alike."

lowky · **Reply #39 on:** October 17, 2009, 03:08:10 AM

Quote from: stePH on October 17, 2009, 12:53:46 AM

(Haven't seen it yet but since I've just found this out ...)

Wait a goddamn minute ... John Cho as Hikaru Sulu?

John Cho is Korean. Hikaru Sulu is Japanese. Those are two different ethnicities. What the fuck was casting thinking? I know, probably something like "whatever; those slanty-eyed yellow people all look enough alike."

I want to know why his character on Flashforward has a russian first name, but still maintains a korean last name. He's got to be confused.

deflective · **Reply #40 on:** October 17, 2009, 04:11:47 AM

cliffsnotes for those who haven't seen it

stePH · **Reply #41 on:** October 17, 2009, 04:55:57 AM

Quote from: lowky on October 17, 2009, 03:08:10 AM

I want to know why his character on Flashforward has a russian first name, but still maintains a korean last name. He's got to be confused.

I was thinking of "Dimitri" as a Greek name, probably because his counterpart in the novel (who saw nothing in the flashforward because he would be murdered) is Theodosios Procopides, a physicist of Greek extraction and Lloyd Simcoe's partner in the LHC experiment. But yeah, it's kind of odd.

Still, at least his character is Korean. The casting decision wasn't made by somebody who thought "fuck it, Asian is Asian."

Oh, on a similar note, my wife watches Grey's Anatomy in which Korean actor Sandra Oh plays Chinese Dr. Yang.

... but the REAL problem is that "Sulu" is not a Japanese name.

Talia · **Reply #42 on:** October 17, 2009, 05:21:19 AM

er... thought you were kidding at first, so deleted my first post.. but...

I guarantee you at least 99% of viewers would have no idea nor care that Cho is korean rather than Japanese.

Furthermore, unless its documented explicitly somewhere, no one knows what the hell Sulu's technical ethnicity actually is.

(I suspect this is the strongest point of my arguement. I mean, how much can you explain and/or defend the ethnicity of a fictional TV character).

just sayin'. Finding a specifically Japanese actor who could carry the role may well have been extremely difficult if not impossible.

Anyway, if you were just joking around, do forgive me for blathering on so.

I just couldn't let it rest, as it seems to me no real cinematic crime has been committed here :p

deflective · **Reply #43 on:** October 17, 2009, 05:30:48 AM

Hikaru Sulu

check it out, the origin of the name Sulu and decision to use John Cho is more interesting than i expected.

Talia · **Reply #44 on:** October 17, 2009, 05:35:59 AM

Whoa, thanks for that. For some reason it'd never occured to me to wiki the name of a fictional character.

Enlightening!

Furthermore, nice genes, Cho - he sure as hell doesn't look 36+.

stePH · **Reply #45 on:** October 17, 2009, 03:02:37 PM

Quote from: Talia on October 17, 2009, 05:21:19 AM

Anyway, if you were just joking around, do forgive me for blathering on so. I just couldn't let it rest, as it seems to me no real cinematic crime has been committed here :p

No, I was quite serious. I really thought the reasoning behind the casting was "nobody can tell a nip from a gook anyway." But having read the bio of Hikaru Sulu, I see that any capable Asian actor could probably fill the role, so Cho's all right with me.

... so long as he doesn't set course for White Castle at warp seven

Talia · **Reply #46 on:** October 17, 2009, 04:43:05 PM

Quote from: stePH on October 17, 2009, 03:02:37 PM

Quote from: Talia on October 17, 2009, 05:21:19 AM
Anyway, if you were just joking around, do forgive me for blathering on so. I just couldn't let it rest, as it seems to me no real cinematic crime has been committed here :p
No, I was quite serious. I really thought the reasoning behind the casting was "nobody can tell a nip from a gook anyway." But having read the bio of Hikaru Sulu, I see that any capable Asian actor could probably fill the role, so Cho's all right with me.

... so long as he doesn't set course for White Castle at warp seven

I would watch the hell out of a Star Trek/Harold & Kumar mashup.

Neil Patrick Harris as Q!

stePH · **Reply #47 on:** October 17, 2009, 08:30:08 PM

Quote from: Talia on October 17, 2009, 04:43:05 PM

Quote from: stePH on October 17, 2009, 03:02:37 PM
... so long as he doesn't set course for White Castle at warp seven

I would watch the hell out of a Star Trek/Harold & Kumar mashup.

Neil Patrick Harris as Q!

Okay, I gotta admit, that has a high potential for awesome.

Heradel · **Reply #48 on:** October 17, 2009, 08:44:22 PM

Quote from: stePH on October 17, 2009, 08:30:08 PM

Quote from: Talia on October 17, 2009, 04:43:05 PM
Quote from: stePH on October 17, 2009, 03:02:37 PM
... so long as he doesn't set course for White Castle at warp seven

I would watch the hell out of a Star Trek/Harold & Kumar mashup.

Neil Patrick Harris as Q!

Okay, I gotta admit, that has a high potential for awesome.

He'd be much better as Q.