[Stef*]

Yes!

Thanks for putting this in words.

[Digginonrand]

Originally Posted by martok2112

One man looked up at the sky, and saw......$$$$!!!!

(just kidding.)

Very well written, sir! Bravo!

Amen . . I hope they make a good showing at the box office so ST can live on in another film.

Great post, SSP.

[Summer Storm Pictures]

Originally Posted by martok2112

One man looked up at the sky, and saw......$$$$!!!!

Very funny--but also very true. Paramount has an obligation to shareholders to utilize and exploit any and all of their revenue generating properties to their fullest. Regardless of whatever particular vision any of us are attached to, the box office will determine Star Trek's future. It's not just ''show'' or just ''business'' but ''show business.'' Certainly Paramount is ''shooting the Moon'' with this new movie, but hopefully we will see in May that a balance between ''show'' and ''business'' strikes lightning and we are entertained and they make money so that we have more.

[Summer Storm Pictures]

I had the privilege of going to see the new movie for the second time last night. Just like last weekend, it was sold out--as was the first evening showing.

This time I came with my dad. He is not of the ''first generation'' of Star Trek fans, but his sons were. He was a father during the run of the original show while my brother and I were growing up ''living it.'' He was skeptical from the point of view that he thought Star Trek had pretty much ''seen its day'' and had become ''irrelevant.'' His first words as we left after the show were ''it looks like it finally has credibility to continue.'' While he still thinks Soldiers of Pawns is ''his favorite'' (he is my dad after all), he liked the movie. He was and I am still profoundly amazed at how these actors immersed themselves in those iconic roles, with all their generations of ''baggage.'' They inhabited our ''band of brothers'' and threw caution to the wind--giving them everything fans have come to expect to ''something new'' for everyone else. It is nice to see Leonard Nimoy on the big screen reprising ''his'' Spock and holding his own.

Without a doubt, the sacrifice of George Kirk for his shipmates and family in the opening Kelvin sequence is an emotional ambush. It sneaks up on you on the first viewing and is probably the second most powerful sequence in the entirety of the Star Trek franchise. In The Wrath of Khan the entire finale, the emotional rollercoaster from Kirk watching Spock die to the dawn funeral to Kirk and his son reconciling to the end--including the Spock voice-over of the famous Star Trek ''mission statement''--that still ranks up there tops. Upon a second viewing of the new movie I was amazed at the large presence of a young female audience--early teen to high school-age. I noticed in one group of who had earlier come in as ''giggly teens'' that as the Kelvin soared toward the Narada and George said ''I love you so much'' to his wife, tears were streaming down every single one of their faces as filmlight flickered off their faces. What was even more interesting is that in another older high school crowd consisting of girls and their boyfriends--that the same thing was happening and it was the guys for once that didn't ''get it.'' Their girlfriends were bawling their eyes out, hands to face, eyes pooled with tears--and the guys were baffled. How funny is that? A Star Trek ''chick flick.''

What a wonderful ''book-end'', a wonderful homage and a wonderful way to pay our respects to those we've lost of the original cast and for those still with us.

[martok2112]

I always liked it when we would drive through snowfall in the family vehicle, (especially at night) and I would pretend we were warping through space.

[CDH-313]

Have to agree with the observation that George Kirk's sacrifice in the opening sequence evokes a powerful emotional reaction. I, too, thought it was one of the great moments.

[MonsieurHood]

Thank you SSP for the very eloquent and enlightening post that started this thread.

[Damage75]

Thank you SSP for echoing many of my own thoughts....very nicely written.

The intro Kelvin scene, as I have said in other threads, is amazing. And I agree, TWOK's scene is #1 (I start it from the McCoy's line to the bridge "Jim ,you better get down here", and Kirk looks at the empty science officer chair...), but the Kelvin HAS to be #2, hands down.

And Martok...did the same thing as a kid during the night rides in the snow up to Michigan in the winter...thanks for bringing back that memory!

[FranCat]

Originally Posted by Summer Storm Pictures

As a ''first generation'' Star Trek fan, I found myself looking at the newest trailer realizing that this new adventure was only two short months away. In my mind's eye, I saw all the familiar faces I grew up with when I thought of the intrepid heroes like Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, Scotty, Sulu and Chekov. And then I saw all these new faces and realized that ''the times, they are a-changin'''...

And I was okay with that.

Star Trek is a journey defined by the very two words describing it. It is not a destination. It belongs to the ages and continues to explore the human adventure. It belongs to the ''star child'' inside all of us who long ago watched excitedly and with wonder as Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon on a mid-summer's day in late July, 1969--and who were that much more excited to watch the next Star Trek episode of the original series, not knowing perhaps that we had just seen last one ever to be made only a month prior to that (June 3rd, 1969).

Part of the magic of Star Trek is that it ''never dies.'' The voyage never ends and it belongs not just to one person, or generation, or color, or culture, or religion or nation, but rather lives forever in the imaginations of all who have been inspired by it--all of us, young and young at heart--all of us who inhabit this small blue island of air--all of us who turn our eyes to the night skies and ask, ''are we alone?''

Look how far we've come in all those years. Look at the big picture and realize the history ''first generation'' Star Trek fans have been privileged to live through. Star Trek is a part of that journey. We are a part of that journey. Humanity is that journey.

Even in the midst of a nation beset in turmoil, one man, a veteran of a world war and of ''the greatest generation'', looked up at that same night sky full of glimmering hope and possibility and asked, ''are we alone?''

The original Star Trek series inspired us ''first generation'' fans and gave us hope. Even as the ''magic flickering box'' on which our eyes, wide with wonder, watched intrepid heroes of all colors voyage to the stars, so too did eyes full of tears also watch cannons spray water hatefully on those of color. Just three short decades later, only a couple months ago, we watched once again, but this time as ''cannons of honor'' fired, and in unison, a twenty-one gun salute as a someone of color swore to protect, serve and defend the very people that once discriminated against his forebears.

At its core, this is the essence of Star Trek. This is the kind of hope and optimism that keeps us looking to the future, knowing that no matter what, no matter what happens and how profoundly it challenges us, we will survive...because we are curious.

Star Trek will continue to inspire ''new generations'' just as it comforts the ''first generation.'' Just as the epic stories of Shakespeare are continually reinterpreted hundreds of years after they were created by those living in different times, with different sensibilities, hopes and dreams, so too will this lens called Star Trek be gazed through by generations to come as humanity reaches for the stars.

Relish the journey. Relish the passing of the torch. Gather around the campfire and listen to new storytellers.

Find your inner ''star child.'' Remember what it was like to look up into the falling snow on a cold winter night as you pretended that you were warping through space faster than the speed of light, and that those falling snowflakes were passing stars around which distant worlds revolved offering wondrous possibilities of exploration and new life to be contacted.

I could not have said this any better...even though I was born a year AFTER TOS went off the air in first-runs, I watched it as re-runs as a young child, and Mom told me I asked her to show me how to read her books because I knew "some of them are about Star Trek, and I want to read them by myself, Mommy" She taught me to read at three years old, so I could know the Universe of Star Trek. In fact, one of the reasons I love Star Trek is because it was shared between my Mother and me, all of my life, till she died. Some of the best advice she ever gave me came out of Star Trek novels... she used Star Trek to show me what the world could and should be, compared to how it is, teaching me that I should try to make it better, every chance I got.
Thank you, SSP, for such a well written post that exactly explains why I feel and how I feel about Star Trek.

[mego_mcCoy]

well said, you read my mind when i think of star trek. lets hope this new film continues that leagcy for a new generation.