To boldly celebrate Mother's Day

Gentle readers, you know you've raised your kid right when her gift to you on Mother's Day is to take you to see the new Star Trek movie. And having your daughter not only enjoy the movie as much as you do, but get it, well, readers, that's a special treat.

The movie, by the way, is Awesome. That's Awesome, with a capital 'A'. The casting decision to have relative unkowns step into our beloved characters was a wise move. Karl Urban, last seen as Eomer in Lord of the Rings, turns in an especially juicy performance as Bones. The rest of the supporting cast was exemplar as well. But by far the biggest revelation was Chris Pine as Kirk. I did not think anyone would be able to credibly pull off the character as William Shatner put so much of his stamp on Kirk, but Pine does a remarkable job. His Kirk is cocky, self assured, and acts just the way you'd expect a young James Tiberius Kirk to act. In fact, that's the beauty of the new Trek: we know the characters so well and they act and react the ways we expect they would.

This is Star Trek on overdrive, so forget the snobby reviews from the purists who take issue with the time travel device used; yes, yes, yes, the same person from two different times cannot exist on the same point in time, every geek knows that. Forget it. Let it go. You must unlearn what you have learned, young Skywalker. Besides the fact that I am completely biased towards anything J.J. Abrams sets his mind to, (witness disturbing obsession here) other than that one infraction of science fiction rules, the story works, and works well. J.J. Abrams has brought back Star Trek with a new timeline that enables us to go forward with new adventures, even though they take place in the past. Confused yet? Just trust me on this. Because it's worth it.

The new re-imagining of Star Trek is truly "boldly going" where no one has gone before. There is lots more action than we are used to seeing, with none of the mincing nods to the superiority of "diplomacy" and "negotiation"; in fact all of that annoying "we've-evolved-so-much-in-the-23rd-century" snobbery is missing from this movie and let me tell you how refreshing it is not having the idea of the superiority of socialism jammed down our throats at every turn.

The story moves fast and gives nod to every endearing quirk of the original series, including the Kobyashi Maru, "Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor!" and "She can't take much more, Captain!". The special effects are nothing short of incredible. In short, I did not want the movie to end.

I know a lot of the purist geeks out there may pride themselves on picking this movie apart, though truthfully it's getting some pretty good reviews, which is pretty remarkable in and of itself since Abrams is basically treading on hallowed science fiction ground here.

Go see Star Trek with an open mind and joy in your heart because the original crew of the Starship Enterprise is back and they are here to kick ass. It's a helluva ride.

Cross posted at PAWatercooler