To Boldly Go...Backwards
I can't remember wanting to love a movie as much as I wanted to love the new Star Trek.
I grew up watching the original series in re-runs, entranced by the hard-charging, womanizing captain of the Enterprise, his coolly logical (but underneath the exterior, tormented and passionate!) first officer, and its egalitarian vision of the future.
I watched every episode. I went to all the movies. I devoured every paperback that detailed the further adventures of the Enterprise's crew. When I was thirteen, I even -- oh, this is painful -- convinced my parents to take me to a Star Trek convention in downtown Hartford. (My parents were not the most socially adroit people, but even they somehow realized that this was a severely nerdy undertaking. They dropped me off at the corner).
When the ads for the new film started running, I should have been suspicious. "Not your father's Star Trek?" What was wrong with my father's Star Trek? I liked my father's Star Trek! But still, there I was, on opening day, with a bucket of popcorn, surrounded by what looked like the entire staff of several area comic-book stores.
There was much to love about the movie. Kirk was hot, and Spock was cool, and their relationship felt just right, at once edgy and familiar. Unlike the earlier outings, where a shaken camera connoted a collision, danger, and/or black holes and time warps, the special effects were, indeed, special.
I'm not so much of a nerd that I couldn't handle the way the film chucked continuity and ignored some of the original show's rules of the road (although, note to J.J. Abrams: if a Vulcan is bonded and his spouse suddenly dies, he either dies, too, or ends up in mortal agony, and should not be depicted just calmly hanging out on a transporter pad. Okay, fine, maybe I am that much of a nerd).
I was even okay with the way the plot recycled Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (in "Khan," the villain deploys a Doomsday weapon because he believes Kirk was responsible for the death of his wife. In "Trek," the villain deploys a Doomsday weapon because he believes Spock was responsible for the death of his wife....and let me just add that, in the all-important categories of "pecs," and "scenery chewing," Eric Bana is no Ricardo Montalban.)
Honestly, I didn't have a problem until about midway through the film...at which point I realized that every single lady on screen was either a mother, a ho, or an intergalactic hood ornament.
We begin with mama Kirk. As the film opens, she screams and grunts her way through labor, pops out young James T., bids her doomed husband a weepy farewell, and is never seen or heard from again. How does she feel when her reckless son runs off to join Starfleet? We don't know. The movie doesn't ask.
Next up: the luscious Andorian Kirk beds at Starfleet Academy. She's green. That's about it...except somewhere, Eddie Murphy is smiling (I'd link to his bit about the dubious hygiene of green-faced girls, but it's filthy. Filthy!)
Even though Romulan war ships were, in the original series, frequently commanded by women, there's nary a chick aboard rogue Romulan Nero's vessel. This, perhaps, explains why he and his crew are in such a bad mood.
The film throws the ladies a few bones in the form of a couple of female members of the Vulcan High Council. There's a woefully underutilized Winona Ryder as Spock's human mother, and a tossed-off reference to Leonard McCoy's ex (the bitch took everything, don'tcha know, leaving him with just his...well, never mind).
Finally, there's Uhura...and what Abrams and company do with the Enterprise's communications officer will not be warming the cockles of any feminist hearts.
We first meet her at a bar, all ponytail, miniskirt, and long legs. Kirk hits on her. She brushes him off. He persists, prompting Uhura's fellow cadets to mop the floor with him (couldn't she have kicked his ass herself? Probably. So why didn't the movie let her?)
We are told, rather than shown, that Uhura is an extraordinarily capable linguist. We are told, rather than shown, that she's intercepted an important transmission, the plot device that jump-starts the film's action...as soon as Kirk tells Captain Pike about it. But Uhura's primary function isn't professional. Her job, in this brave new universe, is to look cute in a red dress, and to humanize (and by "humanize" I mean "mack on") her coolly logical, eminently reasonable mate.
In other words, she's Michelle Obama in outer space.
I'm willing to be patient here. I understand that, to attract an audience glutted on testosterone-heavy summer flicks, you need a certain amount of the old ultraviolence to get butts in seats, and that the lofty, utopian ideals of the original have to make way for a few brute shoot 'em ups. I understand the value of simply showing audiences an (allegedly) strong black woman, even if most of what she does is stand around looking worried; the same way I know that Michelle Obama has to tread carefully as she makes the role of First Lady her own. And hey, maybe organic gardening and pairing J. Crew twin sets with kicky belts and cute pins aren't bad places to start. Baby steps.
In spite of my disappointment, I've still got high hopes for the new Trek franchise. In a few years, my daughters will be old enough to watch TV and movies the way I watched them: for entertainment, yes, but for inspiration, too, for a vision, or a series of competing and overlapping visions, of how their future could look.
Plus, if the guy who gave us Sydney Bristow and Kate Austin can't serve up any kick-ass, take-charge ladies, then who can? It's only logical.
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HAHAHAHA! I love reading all the comments from the trekkies! I wasn't ever into it enough to be a 'trekkie', but I loved the show growing up, and watched some of the 2nd generation. Can't wait to take my boys, (8 & 10 yrs. old) to see this. Then I think we'll get DVD's of the old ones, they'll have to see those!
Thanks for your thoughts, Jennifer, I am a big fan of your books! Maybe they need your writing input!?
Overall, it was entertaining. But my major gripe? THEY BLEW UP VULCAN. That's just wrong. Vulcan is an essential, integral part of Star Trek lore and mythology, a founding member of the Federation, the world that guided a nearly-destroyed humanity up from darkness. And only 10,000 Vulcans left? Didn't Vulcan have major off-world colonies? Although I appreciate a possible nod toward the destructions of ancient Israel or the exile of the Tibetans, the death of the entire planet Vulcan is galling. Just wrong, dude.
I agree it disturbed me! Along with the Uhura's relationship with Spock. But overall it was a good film.
Bothered me too. My husband and son seemed ok with the "alternate reality" twist as an explanation. But when claiming to have created a pure and true prequel, how can the producers justifiy such a momentous reconfiguration of the original Star Trek universe? How could they justify to Gene Roddenbury their decision to destroy the original planet Vulcan which was the setting for so many pivotal Trek developments and most of the living Vulvans whose existence is integral to the Federation and who quite thickly populated Star Trek in all forms, television, movie and books?
Unless that is their version of an unresolved cliffhanger they will address in a sequel to the prequel?
um.... you do realise this is all fiction right?
They never got a female captain until Voyager, which occurs many years later in the Trek universe (although the Enterprise C captain was a woman - died in battle unfortunately). There were always waaaaay more men than women on all of the shows. While the men were all reasonably good looking, the women were all stunners (seven of nine, T'Pol, Kira, Dax, Deanna Troi, etc.). The only ones that were middle-aged were Janeway and Dr. Crusher (super foxy at her age). You could say it's sexism, or you could say it's designed to appeal to the demographic of the show (insert quip about virgin nerds about here).
What made you think that humanity had overcome gender bias in the 22nd century or later? For what it's worth, I seem to remember Uhura delivering a blow to Kirk even if she didn't beat the crap out of him all on her own (not exactly her character on TOS).
See, that's the problem: "Appeal to demographic." It's putting the cart before the horse, the bunny in the hat, the fait accompli. Maybe if movie producers got the hint that females watch movies and appreciate well written characters with, uh, character, they wouldn't continue to treat women as window dressing, the requisite p of a. With notable exceptions, Lara Croft, I'm talkin' to you, action adventure films still cast women as helpless damsels in distress.
Actually, STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME featured the first female starship captain, specifically of the USS Saratoga. And the original pilot "The Cage," the XO was a woman (who wore pants, no less!).
CORRECTION: Uhura DOES, in fact, slug Kirk during the bar fight. The blow actually sends him back into the fray where Starfleet cadets pummel him.
This latest version of Star Trek sucked folks, if you don't realize it now, it'll come to you later.
You poor thing.
It was clearly designed for mass appeal, giving up the best part of ST along the way. Story was recycled, bad guy was un-scary and poorly developed, relationship between Uhura and Spock was silly, pure nostalgia for the short attention span crowd. It sells though, and at the same time makes the trekkers feel acknowledged as they haven't before.
thank you for telling me what to think, I'm too dumb to decide what I like for myself.
I guess somebody has to.
Sorry - all that came to me later was regret that I was too cheap to see it in I-MAX. I'll fix that this weekend.
Yes! The IMAX version is amazing. The details that you can't see on a small screen are beautiful. It's well worth the money.
Star Trek, which I loved, was probably among the most sexist shows on TV. Ever. And the reason I say this, is because they said terrible things about women with the authority of future science. I was smart enough to get past this and became obsessed with the show in its original form. I saw it as a product of its time. Science Fiction stories from the 60s were terribly sexist and so was regular TV.
I think the movie went a long way towards making up for this. They could have done more, but Uhura's role in the movie is so large, it's mythical. This has the potential to be tremendous and iconic. (see my comments in the other article on trek). The story had a lot to do to get the old characters back. There wasn't time to fit in new people and I'm not sure they can do anything with Nurse Chapel or Janice Rand that would be interesting. Neither role was any good.
Only Uhura had stature on the show, and when I watch it, I watch her a lot. In spite of the ridiculous attitudes, Uhura was strong and brave. I loved her then. I love her now.
She rocks
I'm excited for the next movie, but scared they'll do something stupid and formulaic. :(
Kudos, great post!! Lt. Uhura's role on the show grew exponential and I'm looking forward to the next movies to see what the writers have in store for this character. I was surprised by the relationship between she and Spock, but they clicked, and it worked.
I couldn't have (and didn't) said it better myself. Great post.
The original pilot "The Cage" featured a female XO who wore pants. The network didn't go for it and made Roddenberry redo the whole thing from the ground up because they thought the viewership wouldn't accept a pants-wearing female XO. It sucks, but the show was a reflection of the era in which it was produced.
In her biography, Nichelle Nichols says that she pitched a fit about those stupid things they used to make her say. "Ooh, Captain! I'm frightened!" Apparently, there was an episode where Uhura was supposed to be in command while the usual suspects were part of an away team (talk about unrealistic!), but the network brass wouldn't go for it. A shame, really.
I think Rand ended up being in a leadership role on Sulu's "Excelsior." Not really sure what happened to Chapel, except that I vaguely remember her as a doctor in the first movie - only saw it once, since it was painfully bad.
Lisa, 4 stars! Rand was a blond 'this is for the guys in the audience' role and Chapel was a sop to Majel Barrett for them removing her character of Number One.
"Next up: the luscious Andorian Kirk beds at Starfleet Academy. She's green. "
Andorians are blue. Orion Girls are green.
I am suuuuuch a nerd.
Also from the nerd drawer:
In TNG, Sarek was shown as having remarried after Amanda's death (different circumstances). He certainly didn't pine away from some mystical bond.
I am a huge Trek fan - have been since I was 9 years old and TNG came on the air. I actually really liked the movie, and I was so worried before-hand that I would hate it. I was worried about the continuity destruction. But, as this is Mirror Universe Trek, I can totally accept it and am going to see it again this weekend with a friend who hasn't gone yet. The lack of females didn't bother me, as females in the original series were mostly supporting roles and eye candy. You have to go to the other TV series for strong female roles. (Kira Nerys, B'Elanna Torres, etc) Hopefully as this new series progresses they will include some stronger female parts or expand Uhura's role.
By the way, the others who have commented about the Andorian thing are absolutely correct. The chick was an Orion. Of course, there were never any Orions in Starfleet....
I haven't seen the movie yet, and I'm disappointed with all you say, and yet as I read this piece I realized I didn't have great hopes for strong female role models. Sad but true, original Trek was always a story about its core male relationships, and the movie is promoted as more of the same.
All of us who appreciate the show talk about how inclusive its vision, how forward-thinking its creator. And yet, how much did Uhura really get to do besides open hailing frequencies? Roddenberry may have tried to put a woman on the bridge in his original pilot, but the series as it aired never really empowered its female characters. Its final episode, its closing statement, was the story of a woman moved to body-snatching and murderously jealous rage because she couldn't be a captain -- because she was a woman.
Incidentally, I suspect the green girl is an Orion. Andorians are blue.
"Even though Romulan war ships were, in the original series, frequently commanded by women, there's nary a chick aboard rogue Romulan Nero's vessel."
It wasn't a war ship. It was a mining vessel.
Nerd. :)
You say 'nerd' like it's a bad thing. . .
Yet another reason to distrust the Romulans...transporting miners across space lines.
Rektruax is exactly right. It was a mining vessel, and Nero was not war-like until he thought Spock allowed their home planet to get destroyed. You can argue there was poor logic on Nero's end, since neither the Federation nor Spock caused that supernova. They just tried/failed to stop the result from destroying their home planet. Kinda like 'Nero: hey my child is drowning. Spock: I'll rescue her! Darn. She drowned before I could save her. Nero: Spock you bleep!! bleep! I'm gonna kill your family and your friends now!'
Oh, and good one FinallyFreeOfGeorgeIII! Pretty dang funny!
You win an internet.
Space and time lines no less.
And I thought I was the only one! I'm not a big star Trek watcher, this was actually my first foray in to watching a Star Trek anything, but from what I have heard from the many fans I count as friends, Star Trek was the first to push through so many boundaries - that was part of it's appeal.
I was thoroughly disappointed in the useless scripting for women - I cannot believe that the only woman in the Bridge didn't ever DO anything. I can't believe the mother of Kirk gave birth then disappeared - where was she when the car went over the cliff? "Off-Planet" from a disembodied voice of... the step-father? Wynona Ryder never did anything but plead ineffectively for humanity in her half-human son, then fell off a cliff. And the green woman - don't even get me started.
I was hoping for inspiration, and while I really did enjoy the effects and the experience of my first Star Trek, I was left thinking it was no better than any other big budget action movie.
Kirk's mom is also a Starfleet officer in this "new" continuity (which I slightly deride as the "Ultimate" Star Trek Universe after the spin-off ULTIMATE Marvel Universe in which you have the same personnel from the Mainstream Marvel Universe but younger, angrier, and hornier).
I've been a Trek nerd since the early 70s. Seen every episode of every series and every feature film. Have many of the Trek encyclopedias and tech manuals.
Thought the the new Trek was so-so. Not bad, not great. Glad it was successful, though.
Andorians are blue. I'm guessing the green woman Kirk romances is Orion.
Loved your article. You are so right about the ladies.
I'm sure they were just trying to get the original crew established in this one, and didn't have room for kick-ass moms or crew members. But, I do hope they remedy that in the next installment.
Exactly. They had to show the background of two major characters and introduce at least seven others (the five co-stars, Pike, and Nero). They barely had time for a plot. This movie was only intended as an orientation to this universe, and it had to try to bridge the gap between 1967 and today. They'll get to social issues and further character development later.
It was clever. It was hopeful. It made people happy. That's Trek.
Except women aren't "social issues". They're over one half of the human race.
For all the progress humanity has made since the 1960s, this article really shows that the dehumanization and objectification of women hasn't budged an inch.
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