Star Trek (Blu-ray)

 

A prequel focusing on a young James T. Kirk and Mr. Spock, chronicling their first meeting at Starfleet Academy and their first spac e mission.|I had to be dragged into the room and threatened with being tied to the chair when we watched this movie. I’ve hated Star Trek since I was a child – it was one of my father’s obsessions and I was put off by his need to watch it over and over again, ad infinitum (especially when he decided to tell me what was about to happen several seconds before it did happen). I thank goodness for the invention of the media player and the personal dvd player, which means that I don’t have to inflict my obsessions on my family.

I was relieved to see that they had chosen new actors to play the roles. James T Kirk (Chris Pine – The Princess Diaries 2) is, er, shall we say self-assured and brash. After trying to pick up Uhura (Zoe Saldana) in a bar he is talked into joining star fleet academy (again) by Captain Christopher Pike (Bruce Greenwood). On the transporter he meets a recently divorced, jaded and overly anxious Dr Leonard McCoy aka Bones (Karl Urban – The Truth About Demons, Out Of The Blue).||Three years later Bones is a changed man, much more relaxed, but, unfortunately, his friend Kirk isn’t. Spock (Zachary Quinto – 24 Season 3) is at the academy too, but in a more senior position than Kirk.

After Starfleet intercepts a distress call and the fleet set off to help. Kirk, having been “grounded” is smuggled aboard the Enterprise by McCoy. On board the Enterprise we meet Sulu (John Cho) and teenage genius Pavel Chekov (Anton Yelchin – Terminator Salvation). Later in the film we meet Scotty (Simon Pegg).||Eric Bana (Black Hawk Down, Troy) is Nero, a Romulan who is out for revenge on those he believes allowed his planet and, therefore, his family to be destroyed.||Guest appearances include Winona Ryder as Spock’s mother, Ben Cross as Spock’s father, and Leonard Nimoy as the older Spock.|