Star Trek: Of Gods and Men

A significant part of the Star Trek phenomenon is "fan fiction." The movie Star Trek of Gods and Men, jumps the fan fic phenomenon up a few notches from the more common zines or home movies. In addition to high quality sets and effects, the movie includes various people who have worked on the multiple Trek series, most notably Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) and Walter Koenig (Chekov) both from classic Trek.

Seeing this movie I was again inspired to wonder again why the recent theatre release movie didn't opt for a Star Trek movie with original Star Trek actors, instead of the 'tribute band' movie they went for.

During the production of the original series, Nichelle Nichols almost left Star Trek as it seemed that every time a scene needed to be cut from a script, to keep the episode from going over time, that it was a scene of Uhura that was cut. I expect that she was quite happy to be a part of Of Gods and Men, which features Uhura quite prominently.

Tim Russ similarly seemed happy to appear next to Nichols and Koenig, revising his role as Tuvok, from Star Trek Voyager. Tim Russ directed Of Gods and Men as well.

Numerous other actors from the various Trek series appear in this movies, some as brief cameos, and some with more substantial parts.

The original Trek series lacked the detailed episodic constancy and multi-episode story arcs of later series such as Babylon 5 and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Of Gods and Men by contrast used the events of the earlier Trek episodes as back ground material, and tied a number of things together from the series. Fans of the minutiae of the Trek series will thus likely get extra enjoyment out of the movie.

When you get right down to it, Star Trek is about characters. Not CGI. This production offers downright primitive FX, but the characterizations are riveting. Walter Koenig gives a devastating performance -- his best ever -- that actually made me irate when I considered how his immense talent was squandered for so long in corporate Trek. Likewise with Garrett Wang. In Voyager, his Harry Kim was, like many corporate Star Trek characters, bland and generally uninteresting. (That's why alternate time line/universe Trek stories are always superior.) Nichelle Nichols' performance here outshines anything she's done in any of the TOS feature films. Alan Ruck as Harriman oscillates between menacing and hysterical. And JG Hertzler as Koval sets a new standard for menacing Klingons. Chase Masterson (call me!) as the Orion slave girl continues to be the hottest flame in the Star Trek universe. It was great to see Lawrence Montaigne reprise the role of the Vulcan Stonn, and Gary Graham rounds out a truly professional acting ensemble. I'd rather watch cheap productions like this one -- with twisty plots and interesting, passionate characters -- over the slick, simplistic, corporate dreck. Let's see if the upcoming Star Trek prequel -- with its $150 MILLION budget -- can deliver this kind of intense, emotionally engaging adventure. I doubt it.

**UPDATE** OK. I enjoyed Star Trek (2009). It was slick, fast, and fun...and it had two great Spock performances. But I also found the story strained (lacking a coherent plot-line) and derivative (in a bad way). It echoed (strangely) the abysmal Star Trek: Nemesis with its monstrous death-ship and Romulan bad-a$$ baldy. (Maybe in the next film the young Kirk and Spock will go back in time and save some whales.) So, I'd give the big budget flick a 7.9 on its flash and on the strength of Zachary Quinto's performance, but the movie as a whole doesn't hold up well under multiple viewings. I still enjoyed Of Gods and Men more.

Nichols (no relation) carried the lead well. She reminded me how much I wished that they had done more with her character back in the day, but the politics of the time wouldn't allow.

Possible Spoilage Follows

A tad heavy on the "geek stuff", but as they said, it was dedicated to the fans. (I wonder if the whole idea started with two geeks arguing about who would win in a fight between Gary Mitchell and Charlie X.) Still, when it comes to geeky nit-picking I should be the last to throw stones.

I thought Uhura and Mitchell never met, but I guess you could fudge it (as with Chekhov and Khan,) and say that they were aboard the Enterprise but had yet to be promoted to bridge crew. Still, I shouldn't have to work that hard.

And that thing about the Guardian failing to insulate our heroes from the time line change, had they been able to follow Charlie through the gateway they still would have been powerless to stop him and we would have no story. Did the Guardian know this and let them be transposed, but protect their memories?

The FX were amateurish, decent models but they didn't move right and the rendering was poor, Still the climactic battle was a guilty pleasure for anybody who played "Star Fleet Battles" way back when.

Koenig was great as always, but the rest were uneven, the two exceptions being the deliciously unreformed Klingon XO and the Green Chick. At least we got some eye candy, both Harriman and Mitchell both had great taste in helmsmen too(maybe thats where the FX budget went.)

With all it's flaws It still mops the floor with many "official" episodes and almost all the odd numbered movies. It will have to hold me over 'till the new movie comes out. I am a little disappointed that Abrams isn't geeky enough to have a before-the-transformation "good guy" Gary Mitchell riding along with Kirk, but hopefully Uhura will finally get her due. She was the reason I knew that I was straight at the age of 5.

Peace and long life

I had expected something really bad, with cardboard sets and ridiculous dialogue. You know, like the original Star Trek. The production values were very low, with inferior computer graphics, bad montage, actors that looked like they were volunteers, but the dialogue was not that bad, the story was OK and the people working were clearly enjoying themselves.

So, in fact, this was exactly what I didn't expect: a good movie! I can easily overlook low budget constraints when the story is nice enough and the actors are making the effort.

Bottom line: this is more related to Star Trek the original series than with other Star Trek movies or incarnations and therefore must be seen as a continuation of TOS and not something to rival Next Generation. The plot was not brilliant, but it did the job and was consistent with what one would expect from a Star Trek movie. Overall I was pleasantly surprised and I enjoyed watching it.

Seeing the trailer, it's obvious that the direction is lacking but other elements could be entertaining. Even as the film is ongoing the special effects isn't up to mainstream features but still enjoyable if you consider that most people couldn't do any better. The acting was good but the bad direction had a toll on it. I thought it deserved 7 by then.

What drew the line is the story: It's bad at best and confusing most of the time. One shouldn't have to connect the dots through any other thing than than the current story. If there's references to anther story, there should be a hint or flashback to it. But most importantly, the story should be a journey for the viewer either in emotions or knowledge (albeit some is only useful in fandom). In this production, it seem various short stories were put together ; some relating to the film progress while others are filling time and would need reference to be more than the most basic of entertainment.

Overall the non-cohesive story blew it. I thought the film deserved 5, maybe 4, but I felt sympathy toward their attempt at the great Star Trek franchise.