Star Trek - Star Trek XI Part 5 - The Future Begins - Page 13

***Chris*** · 11-21-2009, 01:05 PM

Quinto's Spock is definitely a bit different than Nimoy's, but I thought he played the character convincingly.

lancer1993 · 11-21-2009, 01:44 PM

I thought he played a great younger Spock, maybe he was meant to be like that in his younger years?

LittleMilkJug · 11-22-2009, 04:51 AM

I'm waiting to see the film in English before I can judge if the actors were good or not (can't wait to hear Karl Urban), you really do lose a lot in translation.

***Chris*** · 11-22-2009, 07:50 AM

An actor's voice and phrasing can be a big part of the character. I can imagine that would be difficult to bring to a dubbed version.

sum1 · 11-22-2009, 04:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lancer1993 (View Post)

I thought he played a great younger Spock, maybe he was meant to be like that in his younger years?

We already saw Spock in his younger years and he wasn't a bit like that.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris (View Post)

Quinto's Spock is definitely a bit different than Nimoy's, but I thought he played the character convincingly.

Different from Nimoy's by definition means unconvincing, because Nimoy's Spock defines the nature of Spock. And Quinto's Spock was way different from Nimoy.

***Chris*** · 11-23-2009, 05:42 PM

sum - which character do you feel best captured the essence of the original?

sum1 · 11-25-2009, 10:37 AM

Probably McCoy, even thugh Karl Urban is twice the size of Deforest Kelley. But he still wasn't McCoy, because he can't duplicate the exact acting/personality signature that Kelley projected and which defines McCoy. But he got it better than most of them and did a good job giving his character personality. The idea of Pegg's comedy character being Scotty is a joke. I've found Pegg likable elsewhere, but here he bordered on the annoying. Scotty, my ass. In general the characters weren't even written to match the original ones. For example, the old Scotty wouldn't have put in sexual references when discussing ships, like Pegg's version did. Spock would never have had Kirk ejected off the ship onto a dangerous planet, nor would he have flown off the handle and gone homicidal in response to a few insults. This Spock was barely controlled the whole time. That's not Spock. And I get that a Kirk who'd grown up without a father might be a bit more undisciplined, but they certainly flogged that idea. It worked for the story, but it does make the character less recognizable. Not that the character really could be recognizable with somebody other than Shatner playing the role. I liked Pine's performance well enough despite that. Bana put in one of the best performances in the film, despite the character being a total cliche villain. Of course, the best work came from Nimoy, who was great as Spock. As it stands, Tuvok was far more reminiscent of Spock than Quinto's Spock was. That blank gaze Quinto gave Spock gives a very different message than Nimoy's eyes. There was no Spock in Quinto's performance, not even a reasonable Nimoy-imitation. I liked Yelchin as Chekhov. That's another one that was closer to the original. He got the good-natured innocence right. Uhura was pretty different from the original, but she had more personality than the original was ever allowed. John Cho was totally un-Sulu-like. Not a hint of Sulu's personality and he doesn't look remotely Japanese. I think I sense a certain all-Asians-look-the-same attitude in his casting. Bruce Greenwood was good as Pike (good as a character, not as duplicating the Pike we knew, who was nothing like that) , but he's way too old for the part. We've all seen The Menagerie and we know Pike was no middle-aged guy. Way to play loose with established canon. Ben Cross is a good actor (see him as Barnanbas in the 90s remake of Dark Shadows) , but he was so thoroughly not Sarek. Very different from Lenard's version and so very English, which Sarek never was. Jennifer Morrison, playing Kirk's mother, turned in a performance that, like her work on House, was annoying and unimpressive. Kirk's father wasn't impressive either. He came off like just this big block of beef, just some quarterback in a Starfleet uniform.

I think they should have made it clearer onscreen that the original Trek timeline continues as normal alongside this new alternate reality, because it wasn't made clear enough and I've come across people getting the wrong notion and getting all bothered that the old Trek universe is gone. Though as it is, we'll probably never see the old Trek universe again, unless original Spock tells us something about it in flashbacks.

Another thing about Quinto's Spock. Nimoy's Spock was always intensely likable, despite being this distant I-have-no-emotions guy. Quinto's Spock wasn't very likable. Even when he stopped being Kirk's antagonist he wasn't a character you naturally warmed to.

I liked the new look for the Romulans. I hope they stick with that, because the old Romulan look was way too cheesy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lancer1993 (View Post)

I thought he played a great younger Spock, maybe he was meant to be like that in his younger years?

I don't think he played a great anything, let alone a Spock. Nimoy's Spock was never the slightest bit like that, so it's impossible that he could have been like that any stage. It wasn't the sort of difference that comes from being at a different stage in your life. It was the sort of difference that comes with being an entirely different person. And when Nimoy acted Spock in TOS he was only a few years older than Quinto, so we have seen Nimoy's Spock at an age close to the age of Qunito's Spock. Nimoy defined Spock by not only his acting but also by influencing the writing of the character. His Spock is unique and can't be duplicated by another actor. Nobody else cast as Spock could really be Spock. But they could have gotten somebody closer in flavor to Nimoy. Or somebody with more talent than Quinto. I've seen Quinto do reasonable work (such as on Heroes) but he just doesn't have the sort of talent Nimoy has. Adrien Brody was considered for the part. He doesn't look much like Nimoy, but I suspect he could have caught the essence of the character better and he's a superior actor to Quinto. I bet it came down to picking Quinto because a whole lot of fangirls think he's sexy and he has a big fanbase due to his Heroes role. Casting for the sake of perceived sex-appeal. This new Trek is supposed to be fast and sexy, after all. And the character of Spock suffers for it. Adrien Brody would have made a much better Spock.

LittleMilkJug · 11-25-2009, 02:24 PM

Got the DVD yesterday and loved it in English. Karl Urban was so good, but my favorite character (on multiple viewings) was Capt Pike. I'm glad that the new characters weren't exactly like their counterparts in the original series, it was refreshing.

There could have been a bit more to the 'extra's' but what was there wasn't bad

lancer1993 · 11-25-2009, 04:01 PM

LOL I got the BluRay but have only been able to see the digital copy on my computer as I don't have a BR player yet... so no extras.

***Chris*** · 11-25-2009, 04:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sum1 (View Post)

Probably McCoy, even thugh Karl Urban is twice the size of Deforest Kelley. But he still wasn't McCoy, because he can't duplicate the exact acting/personality signature that Kelley projected and which defines McCoy. But he got it better than most of them and did a good job giving his character personality.

Interesting. That was the one I found hardest to accept. Agree with you that Cho's Sulu was off, but that didn't bother me as much as Urban's McCoy.

Devon - glad you enjoyed it overall. Sorry to hear that you were disappointed in the extras.

Craig - guess you've still got something to anticipate then.

sum1 · 11-25-2009, 04:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleMilkJug (View Post)

Got the DVD yesterday and loved it in English. Karl Urban was so good, but my favorite character (on multiple viewings) was Capt Pike. I'm glad that the new characters weren't exactly like their counterparts in the original series, it was refreshing.

There could have been a bit more to the 'extra's' but what was there wasn't bad

Did you get the one disc version or the two-disc? Because the two-disc has far more extras than the one-disc.

**crazy_diamond** · 11-26-2009, 04:17 AM

are the extras good?

LittleMilkJug · 11-26-2009, 06:03 AM

I got the two disc. I guess after the LOTR special editions with hours of extras everything else just seems so little

But I loved the deleted scenes and the gag reel of course.

**crazy_diamond** · 11-26-2009, 12:10 PM

cool...

***Chris*** · 11-26-2009, 01:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LittleMilkJug (View Post)

But I loved the deleted scenes and the gag reel of course.

Good to hear. I'm looking forward to seeing them.