Previous: Proud Mama In a great contrast, this segment makes a sharp cut from the warm light of Winona Horowitz's all-too brief close up appearance with a flash to a slanted, rotating and zooming medium shot in sterile cold blue lighting of a large amphitheater. The closely intimate, loving family interaction supported by soft cellos is juxtaposed with ludicrously high benches occupied by 3 stern-looking ministers and harsh silence. The bench is set against a backdrop of severe, angular architecture with the roof beams giving an appearance of cross-hatched cuts of a scalpel across cadaverous sky beyond. The voice of the male head minister echoes through the high-tech judgment cavern: "You have surpassed the expectations of your instructors. Your final record is flawless with one exception; I see that you have applied to Starfleet as well." It seems reasonable to question the characterization of an application to Starfleet as a "flaw". Without attempting to gath
The first 15 seconds of beautiful effects of the USS Kelvin in space, include some nice communication chatter that includes “gravitational” readings going crazy and “it” looks like a lightning storm. First, lightning storms do not cause gravitational anything so crazy readings are not what “looks” like a lightning storm, at all. Later we do have some gravitational anomalies, so that plot element could mediate this criticism, but that leads to our next issue: why Kelvin is reporting on “the looks” of some “it” which is “out of visual range”? At least they got 15 seconds into the film before this screw-up, but in JJ Abram’s defense: the effects are spectacular and “gritty”, which was the goal. We next zoom onto the Kelvin bridge, which is so bright the Captain turns aft while ordering the viewscreens polarized. Apparently, Starfleet standards aren’t very demanding. It seems Academy graduates can reach bridge officer rank on no less than a starship, while never having learned not to blin
Previous: Vulcan Racism As Spock finishes his interview with the council, we cut to a car driving down a lonely Iowa cornfield with the last flames of dusk dying on the horizon. Without stopping (or slowing) at the crossroads, the car pulls up to a what we discover is a futuristic roadhouse bar. The driver appears to be the Uhura, and we follow her swishing red turtleneck mini dress through the club as she approaches the bar and orders a Clavian Fire Tea, 3 Budweiser® Classics (another shameful product placement), 2 Cardassian Sunrises, and what sounds like a "Slushle Mix" at the bartender's suggestion. Now we see there are women everywhere, but at least they're just functioning as scenery, and ordering drinks. At GirlBar in Hollywood one might see 5 to 1 ratios like this…but in Iowa? OK, it's the future in an alternate universe. The bartender goes to work on her order. "That's a lot of drinks for one woman" comes from our tipsy future hero James T.
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