What the Heck?

Rating: 5/10 (15 May 2009)

OK first of I want to say before any thing els the cast performance was remarkable, I still can not get over Quinto and Pine and their similarity to Shattner and Nimoy. Bravo to them and the others who despite their lack of physical appearance captured their characters beautifully and best of all McCoy!
Nero must have been the best bad guy if not a bit underplayed I have seen on a Star Trek Movie. I mean you know your in trouble when you in the middle of a fire fight and you hail the bad guy. "This is Captain Christopher Pike of the Enterprise!" And the enemy responds cool as can be. "Hey Chris, I'm Nero, how are ya doing?"
The Uniforms were very well done, giving the very future look yet still nearly Identical to the Original.
The Special effects... I hate to say were alright but not up to par with what I expect from Star Trek.
HOWEVER! (Now comes the fun part.)
I have been a hard core Trekker all my life, I could walk the decks of all Enterprises in the series without getting lost if placed on them and understand the Engineering and Science babble as more then just "Ummm OK they said something bad will happen." So believe me when I say this breaks my heart!
First problem... TIME TRAVEL! AGAIN? My god there are over 2,000 races in the Star Trek Universe why can't we tell a Trek Story without Time Travel?
Second Problem... J.J. Abrams has successfully done what Berman tried and failed miserably to do, rewrite Star Trek! OK I get the Idea of capturing the next generation of fans, thats great. But in my day Gene Roddenberry came up with a great way of doing that "Without" rewriting it It was to Bring in a new cast and crew! You know TNG? Did it for a great reason as well, Star Trek is about looking forward not back! Stop the Prequels and put the money into a new series that picks up where Voyager left off... Or from further in the future then Voyager! But please honor the Heart of Star Trek, "Boldly go where no one as gone before." NOT "Boldly go where we've already been and here's my take on it!" ((Glances around manically)) Ummm OK sorry.
Third Problem... State of the art Bridge, awesome! Sickbay, Awesome! They even made the hull look good (Though I did like the old design better) Why the HELL did the Engine room look like something from an old WWII submarine! I mean the whole room was nothing but pipes with Steam release valves all over the place! Why???? I mean there was no Engine it was all steam pipes? What does the Warp drive work off Steam?? Come on!
So all and all would I see the next one? Yea I guess I would if only in hopes of improvement. But this was the first Trek movie I've ever seen and not walked out of the theater with chills down my spine and a burning desire to see again. That does hurt to say.
DO I recommend it? Well lets put it this way, I your a true trekker like me you'll see it no matter what I say, if your not then most of what I said won't matter to you anyway and it would still be a good movie for the next Gen. Unfortunately I am of the old school so it will never be my Star Trek. :-(