Star Trek (2009)

I’ll start by stating, that if you have not already gone to “Star Trek”, then stop what you are doing right now and GO!

I am not a “Trekker” by any means – I can’t rattle off trivia about the show in my sleep. But I have watched more than my fair share of the original series, “Next Generation”, “Deep Space Nine”, “Voyager” and (my favorite) “Enterprise”. And I am a fan of the overall series and what Gene Roddenberry created.

That being said, I’m a huge J.J. Abrams from back in the days of “Felicity”. And the man is a frakkin’ genius. He didn’t create a prequel to the Star Trek series – he rewrote science fiction history with his re-boot of this classic series.

The movie explains how the two lead characters (Kirk and Spock) developed into the men that they are “today”. And it brought a whole new level of appreciation to the characters that Shatner and Nimoy played in the original series.

J.J. Abrams honored all the franchises by sprinkling the film with in-the-know references. The great scene at the beginning with the canyon running through Iowa was a direct reference to an episode of “Enterprise” that rivals our 9/11. Abrams and his crew (many of the folks also work with him on “Lost”) wrote a great story that was also deeply entertaining.

And the support cast was superb. I loved the performances from Simon Pegg (Scotty), Karl Urban (Bones), John Cho (Sulu) and Anton Yelchin (Checkov). I’m not going to give a more thorough review, because in this instance, seeing is really believing – and until you go you just won’t believe how great it really is.

However, I do have to end the review giving props to my brother who worked a camera crane on this pic and shot a number of scenes including the car chase scene, the winter planet scene and the entire parachute/fight scene on the drill (just see the movie and it will make more sense).

Below are trailers from the pic. Enjoy!

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Fall TV Preview - "Fringe"

With the Fall TV season underway after a painfully long writers strike, I thought I'd spend the next few entries reviewing some of the new shows of the season. The first on the list is "Fringe" which airs on FOX on Tuesday evenings. Ladies - I know what you are thinking - sci-fi, but give this one a chance.

This show is created by the genius J.J. Abrams who also brought us "Felicity", "Alias" and "Lost". And finally, a worthy successor to "The X Files."

Agent Olivia Dunham who has just lost a loved one to a very bizarre set of circumstances. From her grief comes the opportunity to investigate a series of incidents known only as "The Pattern". These incidents couldn't be more random and therefore, I'm not sure what "pattern" they fit - but I can't wait to find out. The story lines are very compelling - and you don't necessarily have to watch each week to pick up what is happening from week to week. I think this is a brillant move for those folks that couldn't (wouldn't) commit to "Lost" because of the level of involvement.

Rounding out the cast is bad boy Peter Bishop (played by "Dawson's Creek" Joshua Jackson - no longer baby-faced Pacey). Peter is extremely intelligent, but seems to get bored easily and therefore has had a few run-ins with law enforcement over the years. He's been brought in to babysit his father - Walter (Australian actor John Noble) who was recently in a mental institution. Walter's past is definitely suspect - he seems to know more about the incidents that make up "The Pattern" than anyone else - but after 17 years of being institutionalized, he has a bit of an issue when it comes to focusing.

And that is what gives this show its levity - Walter adds just the right amount of humor to the show to balance the phenomenon being investigated. This is nicely coupled with the rebuilding of his relationship with Peter. Father and son definitely do not see eye-to-eye, but they both need each other (even if Peter doesn't know it yet).

If you want to catch up, you can watch full episodes at FOX on Demand.

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