This week sees in the release of one of this summer’s most
highly anticipated blockbusters. That’s right, Star Trek: Into Darkness is coming.
If you’ve been watching trailers of exploding spaceships and Benedict
Cumberbatch looking menacing and have
been wondering what the fuss is all about, wonder no more and borrow the first
Star Trek film right here from the Information Store!
You might want to read ahead first though…
Directed by J.J. Abrams, Star
Trek is a visual masterpiece with an exciting story and relatable
characters. The source material is vast, so it was always going to be a decent
effort at re-launching it back into the moviesphere. The television series has been dominating
screens for decades and William Shatner has always been Captain Kirk in our
hearts, but Star Trek offers
something new, young, fresh and exciting to a franchise that has spawned eleven
films, a vast fan base of ‘Trekkies’ and been the subject of many a sci-fi
related argument for years.
Chris Pine plays our heroic James T Kirk in this reimagining
and while adopting mannerisms of Shatner he stills brings some fresh, cheese
free imperturbability, revitalising dusty old Kirk into a good-looking and
charming hero with a few bad boy tendencies. His story begins as he is being
born while his father simultaneously crashes into a mysterious time-travelling
vessel searching the galaxy for Spock, we spring forwards in time to see him
getting into trouble with the law and causing fights in bars. Following one
such dispute, Kirk is forbidden aboard the USS Enterprise as it takes the other
cadets on a mission to help a suffering planet Vulcan. However, with some quick
thinking from a fellow cadet, Kirk becomes sick and manages to wangle his way
onto the ship with his ‘Doctor’. He is hurtled into an intergalactic warzone
full of time travel, menacing over lords and Spock’s extended family.
Eric Bana plays the villainous Nero, a Romulan who is
searching the galaxy for Spock and destroying anyone and anything that gets in
his way including Spocks home planet. Similar in manner to a Pirate, the
Romulan style is slightly unconventional, one of the many things that J.J
Abrams adapted to bring the series up to date.
Bana is the perfect hero , he is menacing, wilful and full of vengeance
which culminates in a classic battle between goodies and baddies the old
fashioned way.
The next film sees home grown talent Benedict Cumberbatch
playing the villain, Khan, who attacks the Starfleet from the inside and brings
Kirk’s world crashing down around him. So far it has received incredible reviews
and is set to smash the box office this weekend as Iron Man 3 did a few weeks
ago. It’s a summer of big blockbusters and with Man of Steel still to be released, I think our wallets are going to
be taking a bit of a hit!
Further reading in
the Information Store:
You can find STAR
TREK in the DVD
ZONE shelved at 791.43S
Fans, Bloggers &
Gamers: Exploring Participatory Culture by Henry Jenkins is available as an e-book. Ask at the issue desk if
you need any help accessing this!
Science Fiction
Cinema: Between Fantasy and Reality by Christine Cornea – BOOK ZONE – Shelved at 791.436 COR
Write Your Own
Science Fiction Stories by Tish
Farrell – BOOK ZONE –
Shelved at 808.02 FER