A Trekkers Criticism of Trek

(Minor Spoilers)

I enjoyed Trek. In fact, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It was exciting, visually arresting, and just a well done action movie.

However, herein lies the problem. This isn’t a Star Wars movie, it’s Star Trek. It’s not enough to have a 2 straight hours of fight scenes and space battles.

What made Trek so great, what sets it apart from most of it’s Sci-Fi counterparts, is that Trek carried a message. It questioned our beliefs, prejudices, and modes of thinking. It never was so heavy handed where the message was a detriment to the story, but by god it had a message.

Trek made us think and question, something that this new irritation seems to have lost.

Another issue that I take with this film is it’s demagoguery of Kirk.

He doesn’t earn anything. He is simply a god among men whose destiny goes far beyond that of us mere mortals. Captain Pike just knew that Kirk was superior, hell he made him his second in command after Kirk had been on the ship for about 3mins. He never earned his way to the top nor proved himself to be superior to his counterparts. He simply was, Captain Pike knew it and was able to thrust him into his position of power that he was born to obtain.

This film is very in many ways a formulaic retelling of the hero’s journey. Sure, Kirk was a beer swelling frat boy man whore, but good old Captain   that Kirk was born to be something great. Kirk had a destiny to fulfill and it doesn’t matter what he did, what he didn’t do, or how much his character is a major douche. He was born to lead and we the common men and women must stand aside because he is the heir apparent.

I hate to say it, but this hero’s journey and is a very common story. In fact, it’s most famous incarnation is, yep you guessed it, fucking star wars. Someone really needs to tell JJ. Abrams to get all his Wars out of my fucking Trek.

Gentle readers, in the end when all this buzz is over, the people who will keep Trek alive and provide it with more than a couple of sequels are the fanatics and I. The hard-core fan base keeps a franchise alive when the MTV, American Idol crowed has long since moved on into the newest craze. If you want us around, you can’t change the very essence of what Star Trek was and should be. If you do, even the most loyal Trekker will find a object of their affection.

The movie entertained me, yes, but I just feel like Star Trek IV was a lot like Chinese food. Sure, it was good going in but by god I’m hungry for something with a little more substance 15 minutes later.