In Star Trek, J.J. Abrams has sliced through a galaxy-sized pop-culture gordian knot not with the frenzied hacking of a desperate man but with the grace of a samurai. Ok, that’s probably overstating things, but it is nonetheless true that Abrams re-booting of the Star Trek franchise provides a solid foundation for future iterations.

I need not rehash the myriad complaints that Star Trek, in telling the story of the continuing adventures of humanity seeking new worlds and new civilizations, had become hide-bound, clunky, and entrenched. In a short documentary enclosed with the recent Star Trek: Alternate Realities collection, a writer from one of the recent series discussed the creative challenges caused by the insistence of the producers and the fans that each new story fit in with the Star Trek Universe. With over 700 tv episodes, ten films and numerous novels, the vast amount of continuity points tied the hands of anyone wanting to tell a new story.

So the new Star Trek does something that boldly tosses aside the received history while at the same time honoring and adhering to it. In a nifty judo move, Abrams takes one of Star Trek’s time honored plot devices—a plot device employed twice in the very first season of the original series—and uses it to create a whole new universe: time travel. Travelling through time and the effects of such travel on the “correct” time-line has been a constant theme throughout all Star Trek series. Abrams can use the notion that the timeline in the movie is not the same as the original series to explain away any inconsistencies major or minor. The bridge of the Enterprise doesn’t look like the original? Of course it doesn’t, this is the new timeline. Don’t remember Uhura and Spock getting it on? No worries, this is the new timeline. Can’t quite fathom what Leonard Nimoy is doing here? He’s the connection to all that you hold dear, and he’s visiting from the original timeline. Quite simple.

Long time fans need not worry, as with all Star Trek alternate realities, the corresponding characters retain key character qualities across iterations. Is Kirk going to bed every green-skinned female he can find? Sure. Is Scotty going to wail that he’s giving the Captain all he can? Yes. Is Bones going to be a doctor and not a nuclear physicist/philosopher/magician? You betcha.

The one oddity that Abrams brings to the mix is that quite often throughout the film, you could swear that you’re watching a much better Star Wars film than any that’s been produced since 1983. We’ve got a young speed-demon trapped in farm country pulled into intergalactic peril by an older man who knew and respected the youngster’s dead father. We’ve got jawa-like creatures rambling about making odd noises and fixing machinery, complete with very simlar music in the background. Why, there’s even a rousing award ceremony at the end complete with really tall curtains. This isn’t surprising. Abrams has said, “As a kid, Star Wars was much more my thing than “Star Trek” was.” But for a guy who talks about not being “distracted by the specter” of Star Wars, he certainly does a lot to make this film into a Star Wars in Star Trek clothing.

And perhaps that, in the end, is what makes Star Trek such a rollicking good time. By tapping in to the adventure and excitement that the original Star Wars brought to the screen, he is able to rescue the energy, humor, and, yes, serious themes that were present in the Star Trek series but have been buried under layers of super-serious navel-gazing. Abrams makes it easy to see what all the hub-bub is about.

• It didn’t suck.
• Even in the graphic novel a certain distracting piece of anatomy was implied but not shown. They really should have gone with that approach.
• Lesson: Even the smartest people in the world need to read their Shelley.
• There were maybe 10 women in the mostly full theater. Not surprising really.
• Out of the entire theater, I end up sitting next to the one guy who doesn’t know what the film was about….And who seems to want to talk to me about it.
• Hollywood really needs to figure out how to end movies. This one had about three. Could be more, but I stopped counting.
• The soundtrack rocks.
• I found it interesting how they didn’t show anything about the Comedian that wasn’t shown in the graphic novel, but I despised him more in the film.
• Matt Frewer/Max Headroom is still fun.
• Seemed like many of the leads were channelling other actors: Billy Crudup is Toby Macguire, Malin Akerman is Drew Barrymore, Patrcik Wilson is Judge Reinhold, Jeffrey Dean Morgan is Raul Julia.
• There actually were no car chases.
• There were explosions.
• I thought the filmmakers did a fairly good job of hewing close to the original material. I say this as a person who just read the GN for the first time about a week ago.

Ok it’s 3:30am. That’s all the processing I do right now.

Oh, and Ken may be right about this film.

I said that the film breaks no new ground. And that’s true. Playing on the tried and true plot setup of the city couple isolated in the country, we are ever mindful that “out here” no one can hear you scream. The conservatism of the horror genre shines through as the ominous first knock at the door by one of the Strangers comes exactly when the couple is beginning to engage in sexual activity. We are even treated to a classic trope (homage to Halloween) when Kristen locks herself in a closet hoping in vain to elude the attackers. There wasn’t a jump/shock moment that I didn’t anticipate even though they all succeeded in doing their duty. The film even begins with the old “inspired by actual events” banner, which I suppose is meant to emphasize our fear that “this could really happen!”; however, if Wikipedia is to be believed, there was no one event of this nature but rather the film was inspired by a series of disconnected actual events that Bertino has stitched together.

The difficulty in assessing a film such as this is that on the one hand, it IS very well made. Liv Tyler does a very good job of communicating various levels of fear without much dialogue; Speedman is solid as the would-be fiance who loves his girl and is under attack; and the technical aspects of the film do nothing to distract us from the ratcheted-up tension. On the other hand, the content of the film brings nothing fresh to the table. As a heart-thumping horror entertainment, it’s very successful. As anything more, it’s hard to know why it needs to be seen. It is, in some ways, the perfect kind of film to raise discussions about why it is that we find such topics entertaining.

Whatever the case, Bertino shows great promise with his first film. Perhaps this was the recreation of a masterwork that a developing artist needs to make in order to develop. If that’s so, then Bertino has done a very good job indeed, and I’ll look forward to his next work.

Todd’s 25 Favorite Art/Media Experiences of 2007 In Alphabetical Order

1. 28 Weeks Later, film by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, 2007

   One of the purest representations of nihilism I’ve seen in recent years. Apart from being a fun zombie flick, the film is unrelenting in punishing severely anyone who even dares to play even the smallest heroic role or act on any human feeling.

2. Amazing Grace, film by Michael Apted, 2006

   While not perhaps ground-breaking or even remarkable in its film-making aspects, the story itself is compelling, and the film doesn’t get in the way of it.

3. The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl, novel by Barry Lyga, 2006.

   Lyga paints a complex portrait of suburban America as seen by the kind of teen-age boy that many today would profile as a potential Columbine-like killer. That the boy has no violent intentions doesn’t seem to matter to those around him. What makes the story intriguing is that even the minor characters are complex, not fitting neatly into the stereotype boxes that they appear to be occupying.

4. Atonement, film by Joe Wright, 2007

   I generally despise frame stories and do think that the ending of this film could be lopped off with no negative effect to the narrative. However, when I think about what kind of love story I’d like to write, I’d like to think that I could do as a good a job of avoiding sugary-sweet sentimentality.

5. Bridge to Terabithia, film by Gabor Csupo, 2007

   While my 6-year-old nephew kept assuring me that it would “get better than this” throughout the film, I found myself not thinking it needed to. A rare display of showing restraint in the use of digital effects helped focus the film on the very real story of very real people rather than veering off into the tempting land of CG monsters and mindless action.

6. The Descent, film by Neil Marshall, 2005

   Perhaps the best horror film I’ve seen this century! While the general outline of the story is not terribly inventive, the execution of the tale is excellent. Marshall understands the concept of not showing too much, and does for spelunking what Spielberg did for ocean swimming. The DVD provides 2 or 3 different endings, which provides some interesting fodder for discussing changing film for different markets. (AKA, why American audiences make films stink).

7. Kôkaku kidôtai (Ghost in the Shell), film by Mamoru Oshii, 1995

   For about six-months–when I was 5–I was riding the cultural curve that brought Japanese animation to the US. Then I wiped out. I finally found my board and am tentatively paddling out into the surf again. Oshii’s 1995 anime classic is the best kind of sci-fi: a good story asking BIG questions set in an unfamiliar setting that gives people permission to explore issues. That, and the artwork and music rock.

8. Grizzly Man, film by Werner Herzog, 2005

   Like Into the Wild, Herzog takes a stark look at a somewhat unlikeable person to examine extreme aspects of the human psyche.

9. How’s Your News, film by Arthur Bradford, 1999.

   I haven’t felt this ambivalent about a documentary since Southern Comfort. I vascillated between wondering if these people were being exploited or at least endangered–psychologically if not physically–to being moved and fascinated as we watched the interactions between the developmentally challenged and, in some cases, the humanity challenged.

10. In Persuasion Nation, short stories by George Saunders, 2006.

    Perhaps not as strong a collection as Pastoralia, Saunders still brings the wonderfully fun satire. This time around, I was impressed with his consistency of voice and its verisimilitude to the kind of tone created by folks trying to sound sophisticated.

11. Live from Nowhere, Vol 2, music album by Over the Rhine, 2007.

    The group’s live interpretations of already good songs almost never fail to improve the material.

12. Life of Pi, novel by Yann Martel, 2001.

    A 21st century Robinson Crusoe tale. With a Tiger!

13. Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War, history by Nathaniel Philbrick, 2006.

    I was a bit shocked when the story departs the actual Mayflower less than a 1/3 into the book. My interest waned quickly when I saw I wasn’t going to get the sea story I desired, but Philbrick reeled me back in with a complex look at a period in our history that is so often simplified and romanticized.

14. Never Let Me Go, novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, 2005.

    Just what you might expect when the man who gave us The Remains of the Day turns his attention to the future.

15. Offside, film by Jafar Panahi, 2006 (Iran).

    How do young women pursue their passions in a highly repressive society? A good example of how an examination of an extreme situation can reveal truths about our own “enlightened” one.

16. Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families, edited by Andrew Carrol, 2006.

    This collection represents highlights from the hundreds of manuscripts generated by the Operation Homecoming project. While all war writing seems to fall into familiar tropes–glory of battle, horror of battle, tedium and stupidity of the military, inhumanity of the situation–each conflict also seems to give rise to unique stories rooted in the specificities of the environment. This collection runs the gamut.

17. Ratatouille, film by Brad Bird & Jan Pinkava, 2007.

    The Pixar formula continues to impress: compelling story + breathtaking art + humor = great film. What’s not to like about a rat guiding a noobie chef to greatness and melting the heart of a stone-cold reviewer? I especially appreciated that the ending allowed for a certain realism concerning the response of health inspectors.

18. The Queen, film by Stephen Frears, 2006.

    Excellent film all the way around. While obviously a study of why the Monarchy reacted the way it did to Diana’s death, I found in this explanation many parallels to the response of the evangelical world to contemporary times.

19. “Seven Deadly Sinners,” song by The Born Again Floozies, 2007.

    What’s not to like about a group whose rhythm section comprises two tap dancers and a tuba?

20. Sky Blue Sky, music album by Wilco, 2007.

    Two of my favorite records of the year feature formerly unhappy groups dealing with being happy. Some have criticized the “lightness” of this album, but I think Tweedy and company deal fantastically with the difficulty of not being blue.

21. Story of a Girl, novel and blog by Sara Zarr, 2007.

    Even if I didn’t know Sara, this would have been one of my favorite reads of the year. The story succeeds in being realistic and heartwrenching and hopeful all in one go. And, hey, I even liked the character.

22. Les Triplettes de Belleville, film by Sylvain Chomet, 2003.

    Been wanting to see this for a while. There’s barely a word of dialogue in the whole film, but Chomet draws us into a wholly realized hyper-stylized Paris and New York for a grand tale of a mother’s love and bicycling.

23. The Trumpet Child, music album by Over the Rhine, 2007.

    Like Wilco, OTR had to figure out what to do with being happy. They mostly succeed. Of course, a bad OTR day is still better than most good ones.

24. What Gets Into Us, short stories by Moira Crone, 2006.

    I read this initially to get an idea about who this person was who was going to be leading the fiction track at the Glen Workshop. Then I read “The Ice Garden.” Wow.

25. The Woman in White, novel by Wilkie Collins, 1860.

    As part of my Dorothy Sayers-a-thon, I read this classic novel that inspired Sayers to write a book about Collins. It’s got your pscyh asylum, your dilapidated castle, your evil baron, your sinister foreigner, your secret society. Heck, it’s got it all. And more.

• Word Play
• The Descent
• Nanny McPhee
• Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D
• The Prestige
• Casino Royale
• The Good Shepherd
• The Departed

Much of our NetFlix consumption has been TV shows, but I did discover some great older films this year through DVD. Here’s my favorites:

• Hidden Fortress
• Kon Tiki
• The Boston Strangler
• The Eyes of Tammy Faye
• My Neighbor Tortoro
• Jason and the Argonauts
• Sleuth
• The Gleaners and I
• The Tin Drum