Space Cowboys

So – am I supposed to call myself a Trekkie or a Trekker now?

I’m not entirely sure what the difference is – all I know is there is one – and that I so am one now thanks to J.J. Abrams’s phenomenal reboot of Star Trek.

Abrams (a veteran writer-director of some of TV’s most satisfying and addictive, like Felicity, Alias, Lost, and Fringe, as well as the man behind who oversaw Mission: Impossible III) has assembled a fine group of up-and-comers to step into the well-worn shoes of the franchise’s original cast.

There’s Chris Pine as James T. Kirk – notice I didn’t refer to his as “Capt. Kirk” – and Zachary Quinto (TV’s Heroes) as Mr. Spock.

They are joined by Zoë Saldana as communications officer Uhura, John Cho as pilot Sulu, Karl Urban as Bones, the U.S.S. Enterprise’s medic, and Anton Yelchin as Chekhov and Simon Pegg as Scotty.

And then there’s the characters’ story, and more importantly for fans, old and new, the history of Star Trek, which Abrams and screenwriters/frequent collaborators Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman have managed to preserve by setting their movie – Minor Spoiler Alert! – in an alternate universe.

Which is a pretty clever to honor the old and usher in the new, no matter what William Shatner has to say about it. You know he wasn’t asked to be in this movie, right? No? Well...get on the Google and catch up. (But know that someone else was asked to make a cameo….)

But I digress.

In this storyline, Kirk is a delinquent, thrill-seeking Iowa farm boy, and Spock is a boy torn between his logic-based Vulcan ways and the emotions of his humanity. When the two meet at Starfleet, Kirk and Spock’s unlikely but powerful partnership is the only thing capable of leading their crew through unimaginable danger (courtesy of Eric Bana’s Nero, a villain who can open black holes and obliterate entire planets).

Yes, together, they can boldly go where no one has gone before (after all, that is their destiny). And I’ll follow right behind.

I never thought I’d ever pay to watch a Star Trek movie, but I’m hooked and cannot wait to see a follow-up.

My Rating ****

Photo: Paramount Pictures.