Flashback Friday: Star Trek (Abrams, 2009)

No one expected the Star Trek franchise to go anywhere. CBS aired the series as yet another sci-fi program, but even after years of cancellation, fans clung on to it like nothing before. Gene Roddenberry created a grand vision of what an optimistic future would look like, with humanity at the peak of it's technological and moral standards. But after a clunky fifth television series, and the critical and commercial failure of the tenth motion picture, Star Trek seemed doomed. However, when Paramount expressed interest in rebooting the film series, J.J. Abrams joined the team to direct the new movie. His creation was unlike any reboot ever done, taking the term, and the franchise itself, to a whole new level. The success of this movie led to a sequel, Star Trek Into Darkness, which was just released in cinemas everywhere. To get viewers ready for the adventure, today on Flashback Friday we're reviewing 2009's Star Trek. 

The cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation reunited for a fourth and final film adventure called Star Trek: Nemesis. The movie's director, Stuart Baird, was unfamiliar with the franchise and was thus unprepared to adequately make the film. After this cinematic disaster, and the lack of approval for the TV show Star Trek: Enterprise, Paramount decided it was time for a reboot of the Star Trek series. 

They hired J.J. Abrams, a well-known sci-fi director who created the shows Lost and Alias, as well as the film Mission: Impossible 3. He sought to make a modernized version of Star Trek, with a younger, more popular cast to appeal to a wider audience. Abrams wanted this new film to appeal to all viewers, and all generations, regardless of whether or not they were already fans of the franchise. Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman wrote the script, which toned down the amount of Star Trek lore in favor of a more accessible science fiction adventure. 

Star Trek tells the origin story of the crew of the original U.S.S. Enterprise, especially that of Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock. Viewers learn that Kirk was born in a shuttle that narrowly escapes it's ship's destruction, a ship that was attacked by time-traveling Romulans. Spock was bullied for his "handicap" of having a Vulcan father and human mother. Eventually, the two cross paths at Starfleet Academy, where they are rushed into action to face the Romulan threat. 

Casting-wise, Star Trek remains pure gold. Chris Pine plays Captain Kirk with the same rebelliousness and spirit of William Shatner. Zachary Quinto looks and acts like Leonard Nimoy (who also appeared in the film), yet with an added sense of vulnerability. Zoe Saldana, Simon Pegg, Anton Yelchin, and John Cho are excellent as Uhura, Scotty, Chekov, and Sulu, respectively. Eric Bana plays probably the best villain Star Trek has seen in a while, and echoes the glory days of evil, the likes of which includes Khan, General Chang, and the Borg Queen. However, whoever casted Karl Urban as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy remains a genius; Urban nails every line, and steals every scene he is in, from his first appearance up until the film's final moments. 

J.J. Abrams and the screenwriters took the idea of a "reboot" and brought it one step further. Most reboots just take the same characters and retell the story in a different way, ignoring all the series history that came before it. Star Trek, on the other hand, keeps over forty years of franchise history alive but away. Because the plot involves time travel, Spock postulates that the future will never be the same, and that nothing can be predicted. He states that this Star Trek exists in an alternate universe, so everything still happened in the five series and ten movies that came before it, just in another timeline. This intelligent plot device keeps fans happy and makes way for an exciting future of the series. 

Michael Giacchino provides a majestic musical soundtrack, hinting at the original series' theme without blatantly copying it. Much like Giacchino's score, Star Trek alludes to some of the franchise's most iconic moments. Fans were impressed by the way the movie includes references to Captain Archer, Kirk's childhood, Uhura's mysterious first name, and the Kobayashi Maru. 

Star Trek is the film fans have been waiting for: a well made origin story that is both entertaining and fulfilling. It became the first Star Trek film to win an Oscar, for Best Makeup. The critical and commercial success of the movie led to a sequel Star Trek Into Darkness, in theaters everywhere today. The Star Trek franchise's future looks promising, and audiences around the world are excited to jump into warp once again to watch the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise. 

"Space. The final frontier. These are the voyages of the U.S.S. Enterprise, her continuing mission, to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no one has gone before."