Today, I went to see Star Trek XI (2009) with a semi-complete open mind. I have to say that I both anticipated it and dreaded the renewal of the series with a new cast. Indeed seeing Nimoy as Mr. Spock trilled me to no end. I must caution that Spock is perhaps my favorite character ever in the franchise.
This movie is a complete reboot of Star Trek and in no means will violate star trek continuity as it occurs in a divergent parallel time-stream, caused by the event of the Romulan time traveling. So it does not affect any of the series canon, but can serve to develop a new canon that both similar and different than the original. Some canon were kept and some changed in this universe which makes it both similar and different, such as Kirk cheating the Kobayashi Maru test. But absent is the disharmony between Mr. Spock and his father Sarek. Mr. Spock love interest is Lt. Uhura instead of Nurse Chapel.
The movie is a complete joy ride, adapted for modern audiences. Making it an exciting and fun movie to watch. What it does lack is a lot of the heavier socio-topical issues that underpinned the Star Trek mythos. It brings back the trill of seeing the Enterprise again on the big screen, and while this is a different ship, I must admit that it indeed captures the flavor and love of the original. I cannot say if this ship can contain all the compartments found in the original, but it has a hanger, one that I thought it might have skipped from the initial first glimpses of the skip that were leaked. So, this ship seems worthy to follow the namesake of the original.
I am not going to blog any spoilers here, so if you wish to go see it, please do. It worth the price of admission. And so far is a worthy successor to the star trek franchise. What would be needed now is some more thought provoking story-lines. Which I hope will be in future sequels to this series.