I watched Star Trek the reboot at the Alamo Village on May 7th at 7:00pm in 4K digital projection (which is astounding by the way… probably going to go there for ALL movies from now on… the clarity is incredible). Being a closet Trekkie my entire life (well, while I was younger, I was an out-and-out Trekkie, but age mellowed me), I was so skeptical when I heard they were going to do a reboot of the franchise. But, unlike many avid fans, I understood. Each attempt to add to the Star Trek mythology with another set of characters and another ship got increasingly tired until Berman and company did the stupidest thing ever… they decided to do a prequel series with Scott Bakula (he of the constant comedic overtone) and a hot vulcan chick. I tried to watch Enterprise – I’m a Star Trek fan… it was so incredibly awful I can’t even describe its awfulness. At that point, I thought we’d seen the end of my beloved Star Trek.

So, the reboot was the only thing possible… but Berman and company had so destroyed the franchise, I couldn’t trust that they’d do anything good with a reboot… and then I discovered Berman and company were going to have nothing to do with the reboot and it was going to be a Bad Robot creation with Mr. Abrams himself at the helm… hope began to spring up as I’m a fan of some of Abrams work (though all his series seem to spin hopelessly out of control… the original premise of each has been compelling – plus Fringe seems to be holding together so far). But I was still highly skeptical… who could play these characters and give them justice? Then Quinto was cast as Spock and suddenly, I began to be convinced somebody was actually thinking. Quinto is a fabulous actor and his resemblance to Nimoy was obvious.

The first teaser trailer was nothing more than the construction of the ship with a Nimoy voiceover of “Space, the final frontier.” Four words were the only thing spoken and I was moved (geek) and got teary-eyed (super-geek) and became convinced Abrams was going to pull this off. Every trailer after that cemented my conviction that the new movie was going to be a solid first attempt. (I had to remain somewhat skeptical as I’d been disappointed by trailers multiple times in my life… as have we all.)

Now that I’ve seen it, I can say with conviction that it was better than I dared to hope. So good, in fact, now I’m concerned they’ll never be able to follow it up, but that’s a different article. Right now, I want to tell you what I liked:

Scott Urban as Leonard McCoy: What a beautiful tribute to this character… the writing was an obvious tribute, but the fact that Urban pulled it off with such aplomb was a very pleasant surprise. He had the rancor of DeForrest Kelley without trying to mimic the actor himself. With many fabulous fan moments, he was so great to watch. He was the biggest surprise of the movie for me.

Simon Pegg as Montgomery Scott: I loved Jimmy Doohan. I loved him as Scotty and believed, sincerely, that nobody could play Scotty better than Doohan… well, fellow Trekkies might put a contract out on me for this, but Pegg’s Scotty is better than Doohan’s Scotty. How is that possible? Doohan is Scotty… regardless, Montgomery Scott is a character – a Scottish engineering genius prone to exaggerate and predict doom and gloom with a comedic wit… Pegg’s comedic timing is impeccable without making it a mockery. I love the new Scottie… I hope we get more of this.

Zachary Quinto as Mr. Spock: Amazing performance… he plays a slightly more emotional Spock, but the conflict adds to his character and deepens some great moments in the film. I can’t imagine anyone else taking the baton from Nimoy… incredibly well done.

Chris Pine as James Tiberius Kirk: With all of Shatner’s faults… his iconic portrayal of Kirk defined this legendary character and audiences throughout history love Kirk. As badly acted as some of Shatner’s movie portrayals were, you still love this character. Abrams did a genius thing here… in the 60s, Kirk would have been viewed as a rebellious rogue who flaunted regulations in order to get the job done… today, that portrayal would look safe in comparison to our modern sensibilities. He and the writers wrote the new Kirk to appear to a modern audience as a rebellious rogue who flaunts regulations… believably. Pine was superb. He’s young, but you saw (clearly I think) the command presence as soon as he says his first order into the conn.

I can’t wait to see it again!