I Boldly Went

At 7:30 a.m. today, I was sitting in an IMAX theater in Irvine, hyped about the new Star Trek movie. Yes, that's 7:30 a.m. It lived up to the hype, and I'm not even a Trekkie.

I credit my geek cache of sci-fi knowledge to my older brother. Seven years my senior, I was loathe to fight him for the remote while growing up.

Since I adored him then, and still do now, I allowed my mind to be opened to the likes of Gatchaman before school, Voltron after school, the original Roddenberry series while eating dinner on TV trays, and as an extra-added bonus, healthy doses of Kung Fu Theater on Channel 9 on the weekends. Bruce Lee rules. Don't even ask about Star Wars. I don't know how many times we watched it on the now-defunct ON-TV.

But I digress. The movie, no pun intended, was quite stellar. The casting was spot-on, and the new actors kept the spirit of the old characters without making them into caricatures.

There was one line from Bones I was holding my breath for that did not come to fruition: "He's dead, Jim." But I did clap when I saw the Vulcan Nerve Pinch and Uhura actually said something more than "Captain, we're getting a transmission." I don't mean to slight the performance of Nichelle Nichols in the series, it's just that they could have done so much more with such a ground-breaking character for that era.

One more thing. Forget Obama. Spock will get my vote in 2012. The new Spock is hot. Pointed ears and all. Better than that lothario J.T. Kirk.

Vulcans like "change," too.
Spock in 2012.