Skepticism

To Boldly Go To Comment o’ the Week!

So I saw Star Trek last night and it was faaaabulous! I won’t give you a full review and will avoid spoilers by just telling you my likes and dislikes.

Likes: Sexy, sexy cast! My friend Tom wrote, “All I have to say is Spock is Sylar, Kirk is one of the Tremor Bros., Sulu is a fan of White Castle, and Scottie killed zombies with a cricket bat. This may be the best Star Trek film ever!!!!” He is correct.

Dislikes: That’s not the way sound in space and black holes work. Former TAM speaker, Cassini expert, and all-around amazing lady Carolyn Porco was credited as science adviser, but I’m guessing that when her advice ran counter to that of “Ted, Awesomeness Adviser” she lost out.

Anyway, if you like Trek or spaciness or sexy people or C-Beepio you should probably see it.

Speaking of funny comments . . .

This week’s Comment o’ the Week goes to (drumroll) LadyMitras, who delivered this line referencing Jenny McCarthy’s newest online venture:

LadyMitrisNo Gravatar // May 4, 2009 at 2:43 pm

I have to admit, I do like the title of her blog “Give it up before summer”. However, it would be better used as the title of another teenager coming of age sex romp movie.

Well played, LadyMitras! Your prize, as always, is the option to choose next Wednesday’s Afternoon Inquisition! Please use the contact form to send it in.

Happy Friday!

Rebecca Watson

Rebecca is a writer, speaker, YouTube personality, and unrepentant science nerd. In addition to founding and continuing to run Skepchick, she hosts Quiz-o-Tron, a monthly science-themed quiz show and podcast that pits comedians against nerds. There is an asteroid named in her honor. Twitter @rebeccawatson Mastodon mstdn.social/@rebeccawatson Instagram @actuallyrebeccawatson TikTok @actuallyrebeccawatson YouTube @rebeccawatson BlueSky @rebeccawatson.bsky.social

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30 Comments

  1. At a local GLBT social group, I host a weekly Manly Movie Night, and tonight is Star Trek. It looks like it could be a record crowd. Imagine “Skeptical Drinking”, but with more chiffon, and a movie afterwards…a manly movie. But, don’t worry, MMN does not discriminate against gender/orientation. The only requirement is that you enjoy seeing someone get their a$$ kicked, and some random destruction!

  2. I am such a nerd. I didn’t realize this was the COTW post. I couldn’t figure out how LadyMitris comment related to Star Trek. I’ll go put my vulcan ears away and hang up my official TOS Star Fleet Science/Medical blue uniform.

  3. All three of my daughters are dying to see Star Trek. If they were interested, Simon Pegg and/or John Cho could easily end up as my sons-in-law.

    I think this counts as Parenting Success!

  4. @Gabrielbrawley: Given the age trend in the Star Trek franchise, I wouldn’t be surprised to see a “teenager coming of age sex romp movie” featuring Kirk et al in a few years.

  5. @Steve: Eww, Kirk Cameron in a teen age sex romp movie, Gross. Well it would be better than Fireproof.

  6. I really enjoyed the new Star Trek, of course the true Star Trek Nerd came out when they estimated four minutes to Vulcan. “Wait a minute it’s four days to Vulcan!” Then my brain and I got in an arguement, “Just shut up and enjoy the movie!” “I am but I have some issues.” “Look it’s a great film.” “I know but..” “Hey look a tribble!” “What? Where? Oh cool! Wait why is it in a cage?” “Christ I give up.” “What? I didn’t even mention the fact that no one had actually ever seen a Romulan till the Corbomite Maneuver.” “Oh yeah, hey… Now you’ve got me doing it!”

  7. @teambanzai: Wasn’t it “Balance of Terror” where they first see Romulans? “Corbomite Maneuver” was the one with the kid from “Gentle Ben”, wasn’t it?

  8. Yep you’re right see what happens when you get into an argument with your brain?

  9. @teambanzai: At least you keep them in your brain – my wife has threatened to divorce me by death if I even mutter anything “Trekkie-nit-picker-like” when we’re watching the movie!

  10. I don’t have to give up sex if I go see this movie do I? I’ve always been more of a Firefly/Solaris space flick kind of person, and the Star Trek movies always made me cringe.

  11. I can’t even begin to tell you what a HUGE crush I have on Simon Pegg. I have dibs, just so everyone knows.

    *sharpens shuriken*

  12. @Merkuto: COTW! I almost snarfed my eggroll!

    Also, a belated congrats to LadyMitris. Try to fit a teen movie reference in the question, ok?

  13. I think it’s interesting you pointed out sound in space. It’s something I’m conflicted on. I know there isn’t sound in space. I think most people know this too.

    Basically, what I’m conflicted about is if it’s worth it to add in sound or not. I can’t think of a way in which you could remove it that wouldn’t jar the viewers out of the movie, and I know sound effects add a lot to a movie, but I also hate that sort of misinformation. My all time favorite solution is the one in Serenity, where the spaceship battle takes place in some sort of atmosphere, allowing sound to travel. But of course, not every battle can take place that way. How do you think this should be handled?

  14. I haven’t seen it yet, but to me “Sylar is Spock” has been a problem since I saw the preview. Sylar is evil!! All through the movie I’ll be sitting there thinking, “I know the real story behind the vulcan nerve pinch” and waiting for Spock to take someone’s head off.

    Obviously Sylar flew away from Earth at some point and disguised himself as a Vulcan… Actually all the humanoid races could be descended from heroes-style Homo – mutants with space travelling abilities. Makes as much sense as the TNG panspermia hand wave.

  15. @Bjornar: Time travel abilities too. They’d have to go back in time to have the cultures and traditions (not to mention populations) they have in the (Star Trek) present.

    OK, so, like, maybe Hiro tries to get rid of the bad guys by taking them, like, waaaay back in time and stranding them on habitable planets so they can’t do any more harm. And, like, Sylar’s stranded on 40 Eridani A II and names it Vulcan and, like, he’s Spock’s distant ancestor or something. And then…

    …What? Too geeky?

  16. Star Trek possibly this weekend…was there anything dumb in the movie to annoy die-hard Trekkers?

    (I really with ST would get off the time travel kick. Considering how many the Federation has been warned about the dangers (including the Guardian of Forever), there still seems to be a freakin’ superhighway to the past from their time.

  17. Not a Trekkie here, but I have seen all the Star Trek movies , many episodes of the original series and a few episodes of the offspring series. But I know no Star Trek trivia. Does hat makes me a pseudo-Trekkie? Yikes. Anyway, the only thing better than seeing a big, fun movie like this in the theater is to see it on a humungous IMAX screen as well, which I did. Yay me.

  18. I’m a bad person. I didn’t like it all that much. I just felt like I was watching actors pretending to be the crew of the Enterprise. They did a good job, but it wasn’t really them.

  19. @Mankoi: Apparently you’ve never watch Firefly, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Serenity or (from what I’ve heard) BattleStar Galactica. All of them very effectively present soundless space effectively with out the jarring “take you out of the show/movie” moment. (Well, I can’t really speak for BSG as I never really watch it but the other three I have seen.) It is possible to pull off and it can be done to great effect.

  20. @killyosaur42: Just noticed you mentioned serenity, but I could think of a variety of ways a battle could be handled in space, without sound external to the ship. appologies for not fully reading your post.

  21. Still haven’t seen it, but my sons saw it over the weekend. They haven’t ever been fans of Star Trek of any stripe but they loved it. They are so desperate for me to go see it with them that they both volunteered to pay for their own tickets.

  22. @Question Authority: “…was there anything dumb in the movie to annoy die-hard Trekkers?”

    If you insist: 1st Captain of the Enterprise was Robert April — ST:TAS Counter Clock Incident. not Chris Pike. Spock was older, and serving with Pike aboard the Enterprise 13 years before serving with Kirk.

    The Enterprise NCC 1701 was too advanced, the costumes were wrong. — Hey Really wanted the Miniskirts.

    Kirk was born in Riverside Iowa. Even without Nero changing history, Kirk would have been born in outer space in this version.

    Was Sulu the right age?
    Kirk: “How old are you?”
    Sulu: “22 Sir”
    Kirk: “I’d better handle it.”

  23. SPOILERS (?)
    @jsg: “If you insist: 1st Captain of the Enterprise was Robert April — ST:TAS Counter Clock Incident. not Chris Pike. Spock was older, and serving with Pike aboard the Enterprise 13 years before serving with Kirk.

    The Enterprise NCC 1701 was too advanced, the costumes were wrong. — Hey Really wanted the Miniskirts.

    Kirk was born in Riverside Iowa. Even without Nero changing history, Kirk would have been born in outer space in this version.”

    Okay, so I think all of these can be explained by the whole “altering reality” thing that happened in the beginning of the movie. Remember, 25 years before the Enterprise boldly went off to space, the Romulans came and killed Kirk’s dad. That started the altered timeline. Even though it’s a stretch, one could easily surmise that it might have affected who first captained the Enterprise. This might also have had effects on uniforms, technology, etc.

    Kirk’s birthplace might have been altered, too. Perhaps the stress is what sent his mom into labor. Maybe they wouldn’t have been investigating the black hole at all if the Romulans weren’t headed through (remember it took Spock 25 years to get through the black hole, despite it only feeling like seconds for him). If that black hole was acting strangely 25 years prior to the Romulans’ arrival, it would warrant some attention. If the black hole hadn’t been there, the Kelvin might not have been there and Kirk might have been born back on Earth.

    It’s all speculation, and most of it is a stretch, but I think it’s somewhat plausible. Nothing really annoyed me to the point where I couldn’t see justification or suspend reality to enjoy it.

    Though, I’m far from a hard core fan. It got the Wil Wheaton seal of overly-excited approval. ;)
    http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2009/05/if-all-reboots-were-done-this-well-we-geeks-would-never-worry-about-reboots.html

  24. It’s a little late, but here’s a piece of comedy I did about the Puijila darmini fossil and Star Trek.

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