Thoughts on Star Trek

 

Clouds & diagonal sunlight looming over Orlando -
taken through the windshield by Grace using daughter's smart phone

 Thoughts on Star Trek

I saw Star Trek—Into Darkness last week, and it brought back a whole host of memories, from the hope that Gene Roddenberry is able to look down and see what has happened to his grand idea to the fun of seeing a young Chris Pine as "Prince Charming" in The Princess Diaries 2.

[Grace note: Whoever cast Ann Hathaway and Chris Pine in The Princess Diaries films must have had a true gift for spotting talent.]

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A long, long time ago, my husband, who never missed the important bits in the morning paper, packed up his wife and two sons—my daughter at 2 or 3 was considered too young—and drove us from our suburb in Branford (CT) to a college on the far side of New Haven. It was a miserable, rainy night and only about twenty people showed up to hear a man talk about his dream of creating a movie from a defunct television series. We could only hope our boys were old enough to remember, because we were believers, back before "Trekkie" became a household word.

We wanted to hear Gene Roddenberry because we admired not only his television series but his vision. Because he had put a black female and a Russian on the bridge of a starship when our country was still struggling with civil rights and trapped in the midst of the Cold War. We also laughed at the Tribbles, cried over the death of Jim Kirk's love in the 1920s, appreciated the Roman touch with the Romulans, went wide-eyed over Klingons, and were forever captured by the Enterprise family, its humanity, its courage, and its willingness to sacrifice for each other and for those left behind on earth. When we watched with our children, we knew they were learning valuable life lessons.

So we mourned Star Trek's demise. And drove through a rain storm to hear Gene Roddenberry speak. He must have been traveling the college circuit at the time, attempting to drum up interest in making a Star Trek feature film. Enough interest to convince investors that people would pay to see it. Enough people to make a profit.

The few of us at the college In New Haven that night couldn't have been much encouragement, but things must have gone better elsewhere, because in 1979 Star Trek - The Motion Picture made its debut. With the "villain" turning out to be our own Voyager explorer, refashioned by an alien race.

And, suddenly, Star Trek movies were off and running (my personal favorite, the one about the whales). They survived so well, they eventually ran right into the transformation from William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy to the capable hands of Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. (And, bless him, Leonard Nimoy as occasional Greek oracle.) Has the most recent film gone too action-movie? Perhaps, but they've done it so well, few would quibble. And they've managed to keep a lot of the heart.

So, you guessed it - unless your heart is weak—this movie tops all others for nail-biting situations!—don't miss Star Trek - Into Darkness. My daughter might not have had a chance to meet Gene Roddenberry—and, yes, we made sure the boys met him personally—, but here is her Facebook post after viewing Into Darkness:

"OMG STAR TREK MOVIE!!!!! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVE! LOVED IT!!!!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVED IT!!!! AWESOME! EVERYTHING ABOUT IT! SO GREAT!!! KIRK, SPOCK(S), BONES, SCOTTY, PLOT, 3D EFFECTS!! BAD GUY, TEARS, REFERENCES TO MUDD, TRIBBLES, OMG! SO GOOOOOOOOOD!! TREKIES------ WHO ARE THE TREKIES ON FB??????????????"

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Update to the Pantser/Plotter debate:

A few days ago I had just finished enjoying the Kindle version of Jo Beverley's The Demon's Mistress, when I found the following Author's Note - the quote begins at Sentence 2:

"Sometimes stories come to me with dramatic opening scenes, and this is one. I had no idea why this disheveled, gorgeous young man wanted to kill himself, and no idea why an elegant lady was determined to stop him, but I needed to know. In such situations, the only way to find out is to write on, and so I did."

Thank you, thank you, Jo Beverley, for confirming the validity of my oft-repeated statement: "I can hardly wait to get to the computer each morning to find out what is going to happen."  

Thanks for stopping by. 

Grace

Next Mosaic Moments: June 22 . . . or maybe a wee bit later
Likely topic: Blair's Historical Romances
Next writing series: editing examples