Seeing J.J. Abram’s Star Trek felt like being in an alternate universe.  I stopped at a party on my way to the theatre, where I heard a a gorgeous redheaded soriety type talk about how much she loves how excited she was to see the film.  Something has changed in this universe.

The new Trekis not a prequel, so much as an excuse to reboot the franchise.  The events of the first few minutes of the movie serve to create an alternate universe, allowing Abrams to tell whatever story he wants, without messing up the timeline.  Which is good from a marketing standpoint.  Abrams, admittedly more of a Star Wars guy, has taken the 60s sci-fi to the level of full blown space opera.  He’s traded cheezy monsters and heady social commentary for CGI alien officers and an Enterprise that feels like the Apple store. 

 The purist in me is disappointed.  Instead of learning the backstory of our favorite characters, we’re seeing different stories of similar characters.  But looking around the theater, I saw college guys taking pretty girls to see Star Trek.  It made me wish I had dusted off the old Ferengi costume from my Deep Space Nine phase.  It makes me a little jealous of Kirk, Spock and Bones getting to start over.  I try to live a life without regrets, but who wouldn’t want to reboot their franchise from time to time?

Live Long and Prosper.