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No Trekkie, But The New Star Trek Kinda Rocks

By JESSICA SPIEGELMAN

May 7, 2009 at 6:45 pm

You can stun me with your phaser anytime.
We're not given to obvious displays of geekery (that one time we said "Frak" doesn't count), so when we went to see the new Star Trek movie, we were nervous. Would everyone in the audience be wearing Federation uniforms? Would they be speaking Klingon? Sure, mad scientist director J.J. Abrams, the mastermind behind sci-fi lovechildren Lost and Fringe (and Felicity!), promised us that this film would rejuvenate the Trek franchise. But still, visions of Star Trek conventions haunted our dreams.

Turns out, this new Trek is — dare we say it — really frakking cool. Chris Pine (who just so happens to be oh-so fun to look at) stars as a young James Kirk, a womanizing party boy with an addiction to adrenaline and a serious problem with authority. He joins Star Fleet (which is...um...like the army?) and eventually makes his way onto the Enterprise, a starship whose sleek redesign from the TV series' '60s look was clearly engineered by Apple. There's a plot buried somewhere underneath the exhilarating battle scenes — something about time travel and Romulans — but really the thrill of Star Trek comes from the easy way it handles its intense action, and from the budding friendship between Kirk and Spock (Zachary Quinto, aka that creepy guy from Heroes). Quinto plays Spock to perfection, achieving the perfect balance between the Vulcan's logical exterior and the simmering emotions beneath. Kirk and Spock's chemistry is irresistible, and so is this film. Trekkie or no trekkie, Star Trek is absolutely mesmerizing.

If the movie has you begging for more, check out the Franklin Institute's Star Trek: the Exhibition, which opens next weekend. The exhibition looks like it's going to be trek-tastic, with actual sets from the five TV series and 10 movies. Embrace your inner nerd — after all, geek is the new chic.

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