Star Trek into Darkness

I saw the latest Star Trek film, got thrilled by the same characters all over again, came out feeling smug.

When you go to see a Star Trek movie you don't go for the cinematic quality. You go to a family reunion -the good sort. There you laugh at the expected behaviour of every single character in your beloved saga. You chuckle and go tsk tsk at Kirk's bed hopping. You forgive Spock his lack of sensitivity, because deep inside you know you'd like to be as aloof as him sometimes. 

Star Trek has always been about escaping into a better world and, above all, away from this one. Why such a big Buddhist as I sometimes like calling myself likes the stuff is one of my many contradictions. I guess I'm not that committed to the here and now, after all, and the there and then continues to allure me.

Anyway, I enjoyed the film. I particularly liked Spock, McCoy and Chekov. Zachary Quinto is one hell of an actor, although I'd rather have my Spocks a bit less round-faced. The by now traditional Leonard Nimoy cameo was more disturbing than anything on this occasion. And uncanny and probably intended was the resemblance of the actors playing James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) and Bones McCoy (Karl Urban) to their 60's originals, William Shatner and DeForest Kelly. 

I heard somewhere, and I agree, that this film could be regarded as a modest beginning for greater things to come. Let's hope so. Given that society seems to boldly go (sorry, couldn't help myself) in the direction of more freedom once again, the saga might be still in time to capture and lead the spirit of the times, just like TOS did back in the 60's.

A reflection

From Return to Diversity: A Political History of Eastern Europe, by Rotschild and Wingfield:

By the winter of 1967/68, most of the Czechoslovak reforms had come to a turning point where they would have to be either pressed more vigorously if their salutary potential was to be achieved or rolled back to halt the disarray that they were generating.

When reading history I sometimes feel frustrated when this or that great man or woman could not have seen that there was only so much they could do, at least for the time being; that they had lacked the vision to put on the brakes a little so as not to jeopardize the implementation of their agenda. However, it seems that once again the internal pace of history sets this inertia in motion which is impossible to resist –even if those riding the wave had wished it.