From a die-hard Trekkieby Anonymous

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November 09, 2009: I thoroughly enjoyed this altered universe into which these characters were cast. I have seen every episode of every series and all the movies and I will add this one to my collection. These actors do an excellent job of recreating the original charzcters while giving a bit of themselves. The special effects are tremendous. As long as you realize this is not Mom's Star Trek - I think you will do fine.

This review was written about the DVD Wide Screen edition.

ST: THIS Generation... This Ain't Your Father's 'Star Trek'!by MikeInIowa

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November 05, 2009: Best case scenario: You have heard of the old Star Trek, you're a little bit intrigued, but you have never seen any of its many incarnations.

Worst case scenario: You are an avid Trekker from way back in the Sixties.

I provide this preface because, depending on which of these categories the viewer aligns, the latest film is either really flipping cool or really flipping annoying.

Visually speaking, 'Star Trek' is further advanced than ANY of its predecessors -- televison series, movies, Next Generation, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise. This film wins --VISUALLY-- hands down. Well, after all, we have come a long way from the cardboard sets of the 1964 pilot ("The Cage" -- for the benefit of trivia-minded Trekkies out there -- of which, I am proudly one.)

However...

That is the only area where the film 'Star Trek' surpasses those that spawned this offspring. Star Trek the television series, ST:TNG, ST:DS9, ST:V, ST:E, and the motion pictures all worked (or did not work, as was the case in some of the offerings) because Star Trek is a science fiction that is story- and character-driven inspite of the special effects; not because of them. This is the very reason why we tolerated cardboard sets and paper mache' rocks because the plots and characters were rich enough to suspend disbelief. Despite being an imaginative space fantasy, Star Trek's appeal was a sense of familiarity with its cast. We knew the crews' names, ranks, backgrounds, hometowns, strengths, quirks, likes, dislikes, and sometimes about their families and friends. The captain and crew of the 1966 version USS Enterprise were, and are, like members of our extended family. The original characters were so well-defined, in fact, they were the inspiration for an animated series, four other television series, ten films and literally hundreds of novels and comicbooks.

I must confess that, if not for the title bearing the franchise name, I would scarcely recognize the new 'Star Trek.' The crews' names are the same as they were 40 years ago, and they read like a Star Fleet Hall of Fame roster: Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov. Yet we hardly know them at all. And it is not that they are now played by fresh, young actors; it's because a terrible thing has happened: The Romulans (remember them) have attacked Earth's history, and the crew lives in the present but theirs is now an alternate reality (uh, yeah,to be sure). Earth and the United Federation of Planets are in jeopary, and only the rakish (though slightly altered) James T. Kirk and cohorts can save day.

And so back to the preface idea: If you are new to the Star Trek universe: Welcome aboard; you'll enjoy the show. If you are a middle-aged Trekker like me: Prepare for a transporter malfunction and the molecules of all known Star Trek matter being scattered from here to Antares. And it is this alternate-reality plot that is the most difficult gate for my mind to hurdle. Everything that I thought I understood about the storyline is now scrabbled up and pasted back together like...well...a tribble in a transporter beam. HOWEVER, I can look beyond the mess, and see a pretty fair film. Enjoy the movie; just don't think about the old days of the Twenty-third Century.

I Also Recommend: Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan, Star Trek: Original Motion Picture Collection, Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 1, Star Trek: the Original Series - Best of, Star Trek: Alternate Realities.