J.J. Abrams took it upon himself to bring the original Star Trek crew back to the big screen. Not being to familiar with the original franchise I was curious if this movie would pull me in and introduce the characters to me in a way that would be satisfactory to a non-Trekkie.
From the get-go there are a few clichés, but one can forgive this as the story is well put together and you’re taken on a fun ride. It servers up a good story, with humour and intrigue. Abrams manages to introduce us to the main players in a good way, but I couldn’t help feeling it wasn’t enough. We follow Kirk (Chris Pine) and Spock (Zachary Quinto) from childhood, and the rest of the crew are introduces as the story progresses. Personally I wanted to know a little more about the characters, but there simply wasn’t enough time to do this and keep the story moving.
I know there are some of my views on the show that’ll be unpopular, at least judging by some of the things I’ve read about some of the characters in other reviews, but we’ll see. Feel free to enlighten me.
The show does more very slowly throughout the season, the opening stories are interesting, which is to be expected from a show with this many characters. What bothered me though is that after everyone’s introduced the show still moves slowly, still trying to get us to know the characters as the story slowly evolves, and the truth is not all the stories are all that interesting, which is a pity with regards to the fact that I really liked some of the characters that seemed stuck in the slower stories.
I’ve gathered that I’m one of the very few who actually liked the cop character; Matt Parkman. Out of all the characters, he’s maybe the one who feels the most real to me. I adore Hiro though, he’s the embodiment of geekyness, and just wonderful.
Other than that I like the Petrelli brothers, but that is probably based more on the actors than the actual characters. Peter is a bit too depressing at times, but I like how one can never be sure about Nathan’s motives.
I also like Claire, she's a good character, will be interesting to see where they take her story.
I did however not care much for Niki, I thought her storyline was pretty boring, and none of the developments in the story made me care any more for her or her familiy… maybe Micah, but that’s it.
Now… Sylar… what can I say, I was really disappointed. After all the stuff I’d read on my flist I had expected a kick-ass villain, and what I get is a whiny momma’s boy. I’m sorry, the character doesn’t do anything for me.
I will probably continue watching this show, but I’m not as hyped about it as most people seem to be. I enjoy the powers and everything, but it is kind of a soap opera disguised as a super-hero show. Which can be cool, I just think they need to pick up the pace a little bit.
