I'll second the love for Earth: Final Conflict (wish we could get the whole thing via Netflix). Space: Above and Beyond is another one that died too soon and is still under-appreciated.

Abrams' Trek flick had many good traits, but nothing can make up for its several glaring stupidities done apparently for the sake of visuals. Starships built on the ground, industrial breweries inside starships, a drill that dangles from orbit on an artsy-fartsy chain...ack! 

I would argue they did stay true.

They just broke the eggs and made a new omelet out of it, but it still has the same ingredients.

Considering they had to reinvent true icons that are known and loved beyond the trekkies and sci-fi community, they had a tough road to go. To stay 'true' to the original, they would have had to cast impersonators and then inject stories into the established timeline. Can you imagine the debates and arguments over 'when this could have happened' and 'Yeoman Brand wasn't in THAT season' etc. They have room for errors, as it were now.

I also find it interesting that we are not going to watch in anticipation as Kirk and Spock bond. There is an added pressure here. They HAVE to bond. They've been told that they are meant to be the best of friends. For me, it will be more interesting watching them try to figure out how that could even be possible considering the differences in personalities.

The back story on the characters was great. Something we never had before. Chekov is the teenage wunderkind. Sulu obviously uptight and on edge yearning for guidance and acceptance. Bones- the whole divorce thing, being older, wiser- you can't help but like the guy. Scottie - not just a genius but you get to see where his arrogance comes from.

My only issues were with Spock, arguably the most recognized icon of all of them and the sci-fi world. No one will ever be able to fill Leonard Nimoy shoes. He defined what it is to be Vulcan. In all the years I have watched Trek, I have not been able to keep from comparing every Vulcan interpretation to his and only two have come close - Suzie Plakson on STNG and, though I hate to admit it, Kirstie Alley in Wrath of Khan. For me, this new guy has got to pull it together. He definitely needs to be more restrained. However, I think they have left him an out by having him witness his mothers demise. And the whole BS storyline with Uhura has got to go away. In her case, I feel like the writers copped out on even trying to give her a back story.

What I will be looking for is deeper exploration into who these characters are, especially the lesser characters. They have the opportunity to do what the series didn't really try to do until the end and then in the movies. What I will really be keeping an eye on is Kirk maturing (as Captain, he can't be hitting on the crew), Spock's struggle with who he is, what he thinks he is, and what he thinks he should become, and the inner relationships of the the rest of the supporting characters and what happens that unites them so strongly. (The crew is 800 to 1000, so what is it that draws this particular group together. It's a 'military' operation, they would be working in rotating shifts 24/7 with different officers, etc. So what binds this group as a whole and to one another?)

I actually got addicted to the UK "Being Human" while having first seen two episodes of the US one and going, "Bleh".

George takei was in Star Wars?

Also, among the vampire-killers, he forgot to mention:

I'm with ya there, i thought she was great.

I too thought Zachary Quinto played the role a little too uptight, especially in the begining. the death of spocks mother though seemed to open up a new avenue for him to take the character, and add on Kirks prodding and the love story with uhura, i though by the end we had a new spock that was well into being developed into a great new character.

Cause as you say, no-one is going to out Spock Nimoy, so why try, he had enough Nimoy to drive the character, but now has the freedom to take the character elsewhere. I like the idea of a more emotional spock.

He played a Neimoidian General, Lok Durd in the Clone Wars Tv series.

These 'good parts' of that execrable film are really at the core of my disgust. The appalling details like a transparent water pipe large enough to easily contain an adult human would be less offensive if they weren't juxtaposed with excellent casting and good character dialog, complete with canon bones thrown to the hardcore horde. It's like serving a very nice soup with a dollop of shit as garnish. 

I for one don't take nits (even horribly obvious ones) quite that seriously, which is strange coming from a nitpicker. They certainly detracted from the movie, as did the scantily-clad females, tiny political disagreements, and canon errors, but said nits can easily be retconned and/or explained later on- and they aren't show-killing, especially when it's a movie meant not to be taken 100% seriously. As I said, too early to call.

"These 'good parts' of that execrable film are really at the core of my disgust. The appalling details like a transparent water pipe large enough to easily contain an adult human would be less offensive if they weren't juxtaposed with excellent casting and good character dialog, complete with canon bones thrown to the hardcore horde. It's like serving a very nice soup with a dollop of shit as garnish."--GW Swicord

Man, am I with you. I hated the way they shit on everything Trek was. Yeah, yeah...I get it; it's a whole new timeline, but there were things, details, which the timeline wouldn't have altered. And why the hell would Pike put Kirk--a hot-headed, snot-nosed punk fresh out of the Academy--in charge of the ship?
And I always had the impression Kirk was 5-10 years older than Sulu, Uhura, etc. And Chekov didn't even appear until the second season of TOS; I mean, okay; he may be taken to have been a no-name crew member in the first--otherwise Khan wouldn't have known him--but he was nowhere near the Navigator's station.

Nah...forget it. All I can do is hope they go back at some point and fix things. But I know they won't. Re-boot in the ass.

I took the see thru water pipe scenes as a sort of nod to the campiness of the 60's original show. It didn't need to be in the movie, but i can live with it when viewed as i see it.

Speaking of casting, Karl Urban as Bones = casting masterpiece! Loved his efforts. Anton Yelchin was another great choice.

I have to laugh at ourselves here, in the OP Vid, George is talking peace, and here we are, tearing apart the latest ST installment, and though we are not at each others throats, we all know so many threads like this end up there.

Sorry George, we're too busy fighting over ST still to bother with the Twihards just yet!

Trek should have ended with the original series.

Everything after was 'jumping the shark'...

That points towards a path back to Peace. The whole 'franchise' thing is a pox on the arts in general, and especially on film and television artists who have appetites for big production budgets.

I've enjoyed a fair number of post-TOS Trek things, especially if you include the animated episodes voiced by the TOS cast. But I'd trade all that for having had a chance to see more variety in the genre.

How is it that no one got a serious screen project going from a Larry Niven title, or better yet some real John Varley and not just that awful Millennium thing? I won't even ask how it is that there's nothing in screenland from Heinlein other than a horrible, horrible treatment of Starship Troopers...

Trek for me began with re-runs of TOS, about the time i saw Khan on the big screen, i guess i was 5 or so. So when TNG came on the scene it was epic for me, so, i for one needed the franchise to go beyond TOS.

Only good thing about Starship Troopers, was Paul Verhoeven. Without him, it would have been even worse....if that is possible.

 Kill Twilight with cool, thats what!

transparent aluminum

Star Trek IV

**Picks up mouse....."Hello computer"**

Well we all know Star Trek is a claptrap of pseudo science while Star Wars is a homogenized and elegant flow of completely rational and step-by-step logical scientific projection.

I'm pretty sure Starship Troopers was worse because of Paul Verhoeven--that and the lack of power armor.