I Have No Comment On The Matter
So the second Challengers movie outing was a 10PM Thursday showing the J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. Now I am a Trekkie/Trekker and have seen every movie, every episode (classic, tng, ds9, voyager, and enterprise) and even read a few books (the Peter David 'Imzadi' books are quite good) so when I say I liked it lots you know where I'm coming from.
It's a very action oriented Star Trek. Combat is quick and flashy. Even the ship-to-ship combat is fast. The story, as you'd expect, focuses on Kirk and Spock solving a threat to the galaxy but it's a Star Trek relaunch so character interaction is the main focus. The story is fun but nothing to make you think. There's time travel and old Leonard Nimoy Spocks and it really doesn't make that much sense plotwise but there's a sense of that you're along on a fun ride so enjoy it. Hmm, sounds a bit like how I describe Michael Bay movies.
There are many inside references: some almost anyone who has even a peripheral knowledge will get and a few just for Trekkies (nothing hella obscure though a repeat viewing may be in order to doublecheck.) The actors all do a good job of channeling their characters with Karl Urban brilliantly capturing the crotchety "Bones" McCoy. There's a wonderful slapstick sequence between him an Kirk just as they get on the Enterprise which is the funniest thing in the movie. Well, either that or when Spock replies to Kirk's inquiry about Uhura's name.
One last thing. Kirk ends up in the arctic tundra being chased by a creature which I initially thought was Cloverfield but wasn't. In the short afterdiscussion friends thought it may have been an early design for Cloverfield or a modified Cloverfield. The head is clearly different but if you've got the computer model for a good monster why not use it?
TV Ugly
So my roommate and I were watching Fringe and I asked if he thought Olivia Dunham was TV Ugly. Unfortunately he didn't understand the reference.
There was a Simpson's episode (Pygmoelian) where a tv producer wanted someone ugly for her soap opera and the director tracked down Moe. When she saw him she was shocked. The director said, "Well, you said you wanted 'gritty', in other words, 'ugly.'"
The producer replied "I wanted Mary Anne from Gilligan's Island ugly, not Cornelius from Planet of the Apes ugly. TV-ugly, not ugly-ugly."
So is Anna Torv (Dunham) TV ugly? I mean she's clearly good looking but they downplay her beauty by going for a no-make-up look. She's never going to look like Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker from Chuck - though Yvonne does have British teeth) but Sarah Walker is clearly meant to be gorgeous and Olivia Dunham (I think) is meant to be average.
BTW when Moe heard the producer's tirade on ugly he said, "I've been called ugly, pug-ugly, fugly, pug-fugly ... but never no ugly-ugly" He then went and got plastic surgery, became beautiful and the star of that producer's soap, and then had an accident which somehow reverted him back to ugly-ugly Moe.
So the second Challengers movie outing was a 10PM Thursday showing the J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. Now I am a Trekkie/Trekker and have seen every movie, every episode (classic, tng, ds9, voyager, and enterprise) and even read a few books (the Peter David 'Imzadi' books are quite good) so when I say I liked it lots you know where I'm coming from.
It's a very action oriented Star Trek. Combat is quick and flashy. Even the ship-to-ship combat is fast. The story, as you'd expect, focuses on Kirk and Spock solving a threat to the galaxy but it's a Star Trek relaunch so character interaction is the main focus. The story is fun but nothing to make you think. There's time travel and old Leonard Nimoy Spocks and it really doesn't make that much sense plotwise but there's a sense of that you're along on a fun ride so enjoy it. Hmm, sounds a bit like how I describe Michael Bay movies.
There are many inside references: some almost anyone who has even a peripheral knowledge will get and a few just for Trekkies (nothing hella obscure though a repeat viewing may be in order to doublecheck.) The actors all do a good job of channeling their characters with Karl Urban brilliantly capturing the crotchety "Bones" McCoy. There's a wonderful slapstick sequence between him an Kirk just as they get on the Enterprise which is the funniest thing in the movie. Well, either that or when Spock replies to Kirk's inquiry about Uhura's name.
One last thing. Kirk ends up in the arctic tundra being chased by a creature which I initially thought was Cloverfield but wasn't. In the short afterdiscussion friends thought it may have been an early design for Cloverfield or a modified Cloverfield. The head is clearly different but if you've got the computer model for a good monster why not use it?
TV Ugly
So my roommate and I were watching Fringe and I asked if he thought Olivia Dunham was TV Ugly. Unfortunately he didn't understand the reference.
There was a Simpson's episode (Pygmoelian) where a tv producer wanted someone ugly for her soap opera and the director tracked down Moe. When she saw him she was shocked. The director said, "Well, you said you wanted 'gritty', in other words, 'ugly.'"
The producer replied "I wanted Mary Anne from Gilligan's Island ugly, not Cornelius from Planet of the Apes ugly. TV-ugly, not ugly-ugly."
So is Anna Torv (Dunham) TV ugly? I mean she's clearly good looking but they downplay her beauty by going for a no-make-up look. She's never going to look like Yvonne Strahovski (Sarah Walker from Chuck - though Yvonne does have British teeth) but Sarah Walker is clearly meant to be gorgeous and Olivia Dunham (I think) is meant to be average.
BTW when Moe heard the producer's tirade on ugly he said, "I've been called ugly, pug-ugly, fugly, pug-fugly ... but never no ugly-ugly" He then went and got plastic surgery, became beautiful and the star of that producer's soap, and then had an accident which somehow reverted him back to ugly-ugly Moe.