Star Trek

I have never been a Trek fan, having been scarred forever by The Wrath of Khan (and the bugs that crawled in their ears) in my own youth.  So the TV shows and various spinoffs never held any appeal.  However, Husband suggested it was time to try the new movie franchise.   Thankfully the first two were on TV in the leadup to the new movie coming out.

So in one week, we watched Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond.   Mostly produced and directed by J.J. Abrams, (and in my basic understanding) with the same characters as the original movie series, they are pretty good.  I won’t compare them any previous Trek offering (because I can’t!), but from the perspective of someone who is essentially new to the franchise, I liked them.   It’s a great cast with Chris Pine (Kirk), Zachary Quinto (Spock – and the original Leonard Nemoy as another Spock), John Cho (Sulu) and Simon Pegg (Scotty) as main characters, with many other recognisable faces along the way (obviously a cameo in a Star Trek movie is highly valued).

If you like Star Wars and The Avenger movies (as you know I do!), these will appeal as well.  The visual effects in Beyond were excellent.  The space station Yorktown is marvellous; a 3-D setting impossible in existence, but fantastic to look at.   As a side note it’s interesting that in ‘updating’ the series, Sulu now has a husband and daughter, so the only family portrayed in the movie is one with same-sex parents.

As I watch more movies like these, again and again I see clearly illustrated that light is good and dark is evil.  The good side are always in well-lit, clean and organised settings, while the evil people generally operate in dark, oppressive environments.  Yet another hint that the truth lives in all of us, and perhaps another touchstone with our popular culture that we can talk to for “God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5) and that even a movie can illustrate that everyone wants to be in the light.