Get Ready to Rock Out With Your Spock Out

I have to admit it. For a while, I was a hater.

I'm one of those old school (TNG old school, but hey, I've only been on the scene since the early '80s) kinda Star Trek fan, so when I heard the early rumors about the new movie, I'm man enough to admit that I had little faith in it. But what you need to understand is that the show, in all of it's incarnations through the years, has been my constant. It has fueled my imagination and my ambition. Hell, because of Trek, I met two of the coolest people on the planet.

But when I heard J.J. Abrams was doing the latest revival of the franchise, I thought 'Whoa, Lost is awesome, but c'mon...this is Star Trek. Granted, some of the most recent stuff wasn't anything like it used to be, but Ron Moore (of TNG, DS9 and recent BSG fame) should be put in charge of it, if anyone (no offense, Rick Berman, but things are a little off track these days). I thought the worst came when I heard about the (rumored) changes to the Trekkie universe. Kirk and Spock & Co. in the Academy at the same time. The Enterprise built on Earth. At Area 51, no less. Kirk not reporgramming the Kobiyashi Maru, but seducing another cadet into doing it. The list went on.

Blasphemy.

Then I heard about the cast. 'Who?! Sylar as Spock?! Doom Marine as Bones?! Harold (minus Kumar) as Sulu?! Scotty of the Dead?! And who the hell are those people in the familiar roles of Uhura and Checkov?! Man, that pretty boy, O.C.-looking kid better not be Kirk!

Now, however, I am singing a very different tune. After the multitude of previews I have sought out (thank you Apple Trailers) and the reviews, comments and interviews I've read since the initial, sometimes erroneous, rumors got filtered to the truth (in the movie the Enterprise is built on Earth, though this is just part of a novel being made cannonical, there is no Area 51 in the movie, according to Abrams, Kurtzman and Orci).

One can understand, I hope, my initial detraction of this addition (nay, ressurection) of the franchise. My worry, as I'm sure fellow Trekkies would agree, was that the Great Bird of the Galaxy's "wagon train to the stars" was being preempted a Fast and Furious with aliens. Thankfully, this seems not to be the case, and I am excited to see the result of the hard work put in by the new cast and crew.

Now that you've got this power J.J., push for Ron Moore to become the head of Trek. The man is amazing enough to handle that and Caprica, I'm sure of it. Mr. Berman, see the above apology, then explain to me how you wasted the opportunity Enterprise could have been. I'm suprised you didn't have Dean Stockwell appear on the show, then have Dr. Beckett take over Captain Archer's body to save Trip in the finale.

Sorry, I had to get that out of my system.

-Xander

Sidebar: Trekkie vs. Trekker

Get a life. Really, I mean that. Trekkie was here first, it sounds better, and above all THERE'S NO DIFFERENCE!!! News outlets: do not address this issue, simply refer to us as Trekkies or fans. The people that get upset and differentiate the terms are the same as the kid that stopped talking to Kim in high school because she called Star Trek a saga (it's a series, but it's not that serious).

Trek=good. Starfleet Jedi=loser.