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My husband works at Skywalker Sound, and has been dying to get the family up there to see the Ranch and his workplace. What better opportunity than last night, when they were screening Star Trek for ILM/Skywalker employees and their families?
So, in a borrowed car filled with young people (my daughters, Sarcasm Girl's boyfriend, and a kid from Avocado's school who needed a lift up; his father is a co-worker of the Spouse) we drove up to Marin. First: I'm not a Natural Beauty Nut, which is to say, I love cities more than I love mountains and trees; but boy-howdy is that gorgeous country. You reach the road by driving a long, car-sick-making winding road, then come into a valley dotted with vineyards and longhorn cattle, although in different areas. There's lots of wildlife (turkeys, raccoons, rabbits) and beautifully done buildings that look far smaller than they really are. The Tech building, where we were, is a combination of ranch-Mission style and 30s art deco; the theatre (which must seat 400 people) is like the most comfortable 30s movie palace you've ever been in. We got to see the scoring stage (huge, huge room with variable sound baffles and dampeners, but with the kind of acoustics that made me want to start singing. Loudly) and some of the mixing rooms--Spouse likes to show us this stuff because it's what he loves. So we had a picnic dinner I'd brought, and then went in to see the movie.
Understand, I fell on Star Trek when I was eleven with a sense that this was at least one of my literatures. I believe in space exploration, and the goofy theme-heavy optimism of the show appealed to my sense that with goodwill problems could be solved. (I still feel that way, but have a little less faith in the goodwill part than I used to.) So I went hoping and meaning to be pleased, if I possibly could. And I was.
I feel like I grinned for two hours. It has a killer opening, with the damn scariest looking spacecraft I've ever seen. And all the actors manage to deliver iconic lines without making them sound like "here's the line you were waiting for, fans." With the introduction of each well-loved character I was braced for an imitation of the original, but what we got was a reinterpretation of each of them, with a little depth for most. I will give no spoilers--go see it yourself--but I give particular props to Zachary Quinto (imagine having to take on the most iconic of roles--in a movie where the actor who created the damned role plays a significant part), Simon Pegg (whose Scotty is adorable) and Karl Urban (McCoy is disgruntled, phobic, and acerbic). And Leonard Nimoy seems warmer in Spock's old age, without seeming less Vulcan.
I was eleven years old for two hours or so, and it was great.
So, in a borrowed car filled with young people (my daughters, Sarcasm Girl's boyfriend, and a kid from Avocado's school who needed a lift up; his father is a co-worker of the Spouse) we drove up to Marin. First: I'm not a Natural Beauty Nut, which is to say, I love cities more than I love mountains and trees; but boy-howdy is that gorgeous country. You reach the road by driving a long, car-sick-making winding road, then come into a valley dotted with vineyards and longhorn cattle, although in different areas. There's lots of wildlife (turkeys, raccoons, rabbits) and beautifully done buildings that look far smaller than they really are. The Tech building, where we were, is a combination of ranch-Mission style and 30s art deco; the theatre (which must seat 400 people) is like the most comfortable 30s movie palace you've ever been in. We got to see the scoring stage (huge, huge room with variable sound baffles and dampeners, but with the kind of acoustics that made me want to start singing. Loudly) and some of the mixing rooms--Spouse likes to show us this stuff because it's what he loves. So we had a picnic dinner I'd brought, and then went in to see the movie.
Understand, I fell on Star Trek when I was eleven with a sense that this was at least one of my literatures. I believe in space exploration, and the goofy theme-heavy optimism of the show appealed to my sense that with goodwill problems could be solved. (I still feel that way, but have a little less faith in the goodwill part than I used to.) So I went hoping and meaning to be pleased, if I possibly could. And I was.
I feel like I grinned for two hours. It has a killer opening, with the damn scariest looking spacecraft I've ever seen. And all the actors manage to deliver iconic lines without making them sound like "here's the line you were waiting for, fans." With the introduction of each well-loved character I was braced for an imitation of the original, but what we got was a reinterpretation of each of them, with a little depth for most. I will give no spoilers--go see it yourself--but I give particular props to Zachary Quinto (imagine having to take on the most iconic of roles--in a movie where the actor who created the damned role plays a significant part), Simon Pegg (whose Scotty is adorable) and Karl Urban (McCoy is disgruntled, phobic, and acerbic). And Leonard Nimoy seems warmer in Spock's old age, without seeming less Vulcan.
I was eleven years old for two hours or so, and it was great.
