This is simply the best SF movie ever made

Rating: 10/10 (15 May 2009)

Watching _Star Trek_ this weekend was an amazing experience. It is not only extremely well written, acted and had amazing effects, but it tugged at emotional chords so long forgotten, I did not realize they were there.
I was 13 and an avid SF fan in the Fall of 1966 when I first saw the television version of "Star Trek" -- and as anyone connected with SF will tell you, 13 is the golden age of Science Fiction. "Star Trek" was actually good, its universe was well thought out and it attracted not just good TV writers, but good SF writers. When "Star Trek" looked like it might be canceled after the second season, I joined in the letter writing campaign to NBC to get it renewed for a third season. And when the third season was such a disappointment, I gathered up my feelings, put them in a box and buried them.
Watching _Star Trek_ 2009, that box of feelings burst out that box. This was not merely "Star Trek" revisited, or a new and improved "Star Trek", but "Star Trek" perfected. It was "Star Trek" with all the lightning captured in the bottle. I was proud, I was happy, I feel shivers and goosebumps multiple times, I was in awe of what was on the screen. Seeing Kirk, Spock, Uhura, Scotty, Chekov, Sulu et al. in such heroic circumstances being more heroic than ever before was amazing. And the Enterprise, itself, coming out of warp drive with phasers blazing and photon torpedoes shooting to save the day was an emotional catharsis. I had to deliberately calm myself on several occasions.
_Star Trek_ is a good movie even disregarding the emotional strings it plucked for me. If anyone actually came to this movie cold (born in a box and never let out 'til now?) they would come away from it with the sense they had seen great entertainment. The story, the characters, the visual and emotional impact of the movie all came together here.
Now for a few minor nits that could have been picked by paying attention to science adviser on the movie. Eta Carinae is the perfect candidate for a supernova, it could have been mentioned by name. A planet in another solar system may have had its surface sterilized and its atmosphere blown away, but it is doubtful it would disintegrate completely. The sequence and timing of a supernova and its effects could have been mapped out a bit better. A class M planet so near Vulcan so as to see it as a fairly large disk in the sky would make it and Vulcan a double planet. But overall the movie paid more attention to science here than I am used to (kudos for that, as well). Also, the Bones character was heard in situations a ship's doctor would not normally he heard -- apparently just to let him say some of his more annoying catch phrases from the original TV series.
On Memorial Day weekend in 1977, _Star Wars_ was released. It made previous all science fiction films look pale and sickly in comparison. This Mother's Day weekend 2009 history repeats itself with the movie _Star Trek_. This _Star Trek_ movie stands head and shoulders above all SF movies before it. It is simply the best SF movie ever made.