Confession: I've never watched an episode of "Star Trek." Another confession: I've never watched so much as two minutes of any episode of "Star Trek."
At no time in my life did I feel I was doing myself a disservice by avoiding this show like the plague. In my obviously limited perception and exposure to the show, "Star Trek" was a boring, emotionless, geeky show about a guy with pointy ears on a spacecraft with creatures with monstrous faces. Not really my cup of tea. Not until it came time to review a movie based on the show did I ever think, "It might have been nice to know the difference between Vulcan and Klingon."
Obviously, this is not the review Trekkies will flock to for guidance on this, the 11th motion picture based on the "Star Trek" franchise.
Of course, Trekkies don't need to see a review of this movie. They already saw it three times. Before dinner on Friday.
Fortunately for myself and the rest of the human population not going to sleep in officially licensed Klingon pajamas or using pointy-eared toothbrushes (you know they're out there), this version of "Star Trek" was made as much for the general population as it was for the diehards, maybe more so.
Much of this mainstream appeal of the 2009 "Star Trek" is due to director J.J. Abrams, whose work on insanely popular TV fare like "Lost," "Alias," and "Felicity" helps take some of the "geek" factor out of the story.
It doesn't take much to realize this isn't your father's "Star Trek." There's Beastie Boys music blaring in a car chase scene, a bar fight in an Iowa nightclub and enough action to satisfy audiences used to watching $100 million superhero flicks.
Us "Trek" amateurs are easily able to pick up the story, as we see the early lives of both Spock (Zachary Quinto) and James T. Kirk (Chris Pine) as they undertake the mission of leading the USS Enterprise through time and space. Eric Bana stars as the Romulan Nero, a formidable foe set out to torture Spock by making him watch the destruction of Spock's home planet, Vulcan, just as Nero had to watch Romulus be destroyed.
Through a time travel element spanning 154 years, we get to see Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock in "Star Trek: The Original Series") as he advises Kirk he must get the younger Spock to show emotion, a no-no for Vulcans (this explains a lot of the reason for my emotionless beef with the TV series).
Ultimately, what it all adds up to is a remarkably watchable space action film that is far above the quality possessed by any of the final three films in the "Star Wars" saga.
The movie features a good dose of just about anything we go to the movies for, especially in the warmer months: a good survival story, intense action and galactic battle scenes, humor (geeky as it may be "“ example, "Are you out of your Vulcan mind?" Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy asks Spock) and even a Winona Ryder appearance (playing Amanda Grayson, Spock's mother).
There's even a good share of classic "Star Trek" dialogue "“ "Damn it man, I'm a doctor, not a physicist" "“ that even a "Trek" novice can pick up on.
Trekkie or not, "Star Trek" is a lot of fun. Especially for a supposedly boring, emotionless, geeky television show.
Joel Sensenig is news editor of the Review Times. He is physically unable to make the Vulcan salute, lacking the fine motor skills required by the hand gesture.