New Star Trek

[MrBern]

SPOCK will ALWAYS be Leonard Nimoy & Leonard Nimoy will ALWAYS be SPOCK. Agree the same with William Shatner! Solid Citizen

Reminds me of that line in RagingBull after LaMotta fights the handsome young boxer: He used to be good lookin', not anymore!

Nice to see the torch passed so successfully.

 

[MrBern]

I think Pine captured this apsect of Shatner

as opposed to this aspect

 

[Senator Jack]

Saw it today. Stupid romance. (Won't give it away) Overall, it looked great but acting rather weak, I thought. Cool design on the phasers and the nod to the original costumes more than welcome.

Um, were the Romulons supposed to be in a 90s thrash band?

Regards,

Jack

 

[Senator Jack]

And where the hell was Yeoman Rand? Not crazy about Sulu portrayed by a Korean either. I find the choice racist, like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

 

[jake431]

Racist? Did they, uh, prevent Japanese actors from auditioning?

 

[Senator Jack]

Korean, Chinese, Japanese, what's the difference, eh?

 

[jake431]

So was it racist they had a Canadian play Scottie in the original series and an Englishman in the new movie?

If the definition of racist is: "discriminatory on the basis of race" - there is nothing racist about allowing a Korean-American to play a character previously played by a Japanese-American, unless Japanese-Americans were purposely excluded from the casting.

I just think you're using the word incorrectly.

-Jake

 

[Senator Jack]

Well, without getting into the whole 'please don't patronize me by giving me definitions because we all have a dictionary' speech, I suppose I could drop the charge down to 'politically incorrect.'

I went into the picture knowing nothing about any of the actors. As soon as Sulu appeared I thought, that guy's not Japanese, he's Korean. Looked him up when I got home to find out I was right. I kind of got the feeling the casting director thought, who's to tell? Would have been okay to have a dark-skinned caucasian to play Uhura? I'm not sure.

And you can't make comparisons of current mores with the society of another time. It doesn't work. Besides, we're talking about accents with the two Mr. Scotts and not racial features.

Regards,

Jack

 

[jake431]

There are many Scots who would disagree with your assertion that it's simply accent.

Many Americans likely think "Asian American" and leave it at that, whereas many people from countries in Asia, or people who are Asian Americans can very obviously see the difference between peoples ancestry based on their appearance. It's not that different than how in Africa, people aren't simply "black", they are clearly visibily different based on where they are from (and in fact view African Americans the same way) but in America, to people outside their culture view it all as "African American". It's an interesting look at how people perceive differently. And, I can see your point - Cho is obviously not of Japanese heritage.

In any event, I merely questioned the use of the term racist, and will quite happily accept the downgrading to politically incorrect, which it may be. I'm not sure what the casting director was thinking. I will however, post this inteview with John Cho, below.

"From New American Media, on how he feels about “playing a Japanese character, being a Korean American?”

I don’t feel like it has any particular bearing on this role because he is Japanese American. I wouldn’t take a part that is Japanese from Japan, or a recent Japanese immigrant, because I don’t think there is a way that I could do that accent really effectively and convincingly.

As far as the surname goes and cultural background, I think it’s irrelevant. I think it’s more, “Can you be convincing as an actor?” Sometimes you’re better off casting someone who is really from that culture because the role calls for an accent that’s going to be convincing. But I talked to George (Takei, the actor who first played Sulu) about it, and he said that (Gene) Roddenberry’s original intent was that everybody on the bridge of the Enterprise was supposed to represent the entire world. He said that Sulu was supposed to represent the continent of Asia. They didn’t have a specific cultural origin for him before the show was cast. Then George was cast and they needed to come up with a name. Gene was looking at a map and saw the name Sulu Sea and it bordered multiple Asian countries, and he thought that this was kind of a Pan-Asian name. When they came up with a first name, George is Japanese American, so they give him the name Hikaru. But the intent was not really to create a Japanese-specific character, the intent was to create a Pan-Asian character."

 

[Feraud]

There is no way the guy who played Spock is even one quarter Vulcan...
Hollywood...

 

[Senator Jack]

i did notice Spock didn't have that racial copper tinge he used to have.

 

[Feraud]

I did not get to see the film yet but was told it makes for a great IMAX viewing. Hope to see it soon.

 

[John in Covina]

As soon as Sulu appeared I thought, that guy's not Japanese, he's Korean. Looked him up when I got home to find out I was right. I kind of got the feeling the casting director thought, who's to tell? Regards, Jack

*******

I thought about this and realized that in some areas of the US Japanese and Koreans as well as other Asians have immigrated to a Caucasian person could recognize the ehtnic background of an Asian decent person. But much of the US probably could not and that is not an insult to the Japanese or Koreans or anyone, it's a matter of having the background or knowledge of these ethnicities.

Also in a way, there is the idea that if you are not this type of a person such as drug addict, alcoholic, etc you can't understand what they have gone thru type of bias.

So a Korean American can't understand what is like to be Japanese American. This then begs the question are all white people are the same?


I simply don't think that French Americans can portray or understand Scandinavian Americans - Swedes, Danes and Norwegians have enough of an understanding of the others cultures to get by in a pinch but I am understandably uncomfortable with it.

And why is it that the English get to portray Ancient Romans in the movies?!

 

[MrBern]

stereotypes & humans

And where the hell was Yeoman Rand? Not crazy about Sulu portrayed by a Korean either. I find the choice racist, like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Rascist? You cant compare a Korean playing Japanese to Mickey Rooney all made up with buck teeth & lisping in an accent.

Mr Sulu was generically Asian as the Sulu Sea touched many shores.
Later in the movies he was intended to be depicted as American from SanFrancisco born of mixed ancestry, but most of those scenes hit the cutting room floor.

 

[MrBern]

I did not get to see the film yet but was told it makes for a great IMAX viewing. Hope to see it soon.

Jess & I saw it on an Imax screen this afternoon. Just dont sit off to the sides.
And BTW, jsut make sure you are paying for a viewing on a true Imax screen. Seems that some theaters ae charging the Imax price, but its not really that huge Imax screen:
http://azizisbored.tumblr.com/post/106587114/reblog-the-****-out-of-this-warning-amc-theaters-are

and
http://www.lfexaminer.com/20081016.htm

 

[MrBern]

And where the hell was Yeoman Rand? Not crazy about Sulu portrayed by a Korean either. I find the choice racist, like Mickey Rooney in Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Incidentally, Zoe Saldana who played Uhura is of Dominican & Puerto Rican heritage. Do you think her accent was closer to Jersey Latina or Swahili?

 

[MrBern]

And where the hell was Yeoman Rand?

thats a good question.
And for that matter, there were other characters from the first episodes that were not depicted. Pike's female Number One & his Yeoman Colt.
Theres also the original Navigator Gary Mitchell who was Kirk's pal in the Academy. And in "ShoreLeave", Kirk daydreamed about his Academy girlfriend as well as upperclassman Finnegan who delighted in taunting him.
Its a brave new reboot.

I only wish they had shown a little 3D chess, that would've been an even better way to show Kirk & Spock's competition.

 

[Senator Jack]

Riley should have been thrown in there as well. When the sequel comes, I somehow suspect Harry Mudd's going to show up.

 

[MrBern]

a big chrome phaser?

Cool design on the phasers and the nod to the original costumes more than welcome.

Costumes werent bad at all. But the props...meh. I think theres a reason they were out of focus in most scenes. Did you catch that the phaser's nozzle swivels out as settings change? Probably not, as it was blurred in that scene as well. I suspect this was specifically out of focus so its crappy design wouldnt be so evident. And that horrible utility belt carrying the gear...it hopped all over the place as Spock ran thru that Vulcan cave. Bleh.
And the small palm-size tricorders? Whatever, its still a good movie.

Oh, Id like to get a better look at the Romulan pistol, that had a nice form like the old klingon disruptors.

 

[MrBern]

Riley should have been thrown in there as well. When the sequel comes, I somehow suspect Harry Mudd's going to show up.

Does the new ship have a Bowling Alley?