Uncanny Valley

Rating: Null/10 (23 May 2009)

In CGI circles, when they talk of artificial beings and reality, there is a phenomenon called the "uncanny valley."
The idea is simple. The closer you get to reality, say in a fake human, the more we are willing to believe it, until you get close. Then the graph of believability plummets until you have a human that is perfectly human. Almost real but not quite is the thing we least accept. Filmmakers know that if you fall into this uncanny valley, people will run away. "Polar Express" is often cited as an example, because if the people had been less people-like — perhaps as munchkins — we would have readily accepted it. Gollum seems real because he is not a person.
The whole Star Trek franchise is based on staying away from this valley. It was cheesy by accident at first, but then by design. The effects were obvious, the acting of a particular style. Staying away from all the normal production values make it resonate more clearly; we are fairly adept at filling in the gaps in things like this.
The one thing that they migrated to as the thing we were to accept as truly real and accepted as real was the spaceship. As the films evolved, this became more and more of the distraction. It was on the real side of that valley, allowing us to pull everything else on the other side over in our imaginations.
But here, this new guy gets the formula all mixed up. This is not Star Trek, but an ordinary action movie with Star Trek allusions — and the same ship.
Sure, the thing is expertly delivered, and the time travel tricks are interesting enough to keep us engaged. But the actual story is too close to being real. It tries too hard to matter, instead of being a Trek Fable. So it falls into this uncanny valley, this black hole of near reality.
Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.