It was good. A four out of five stars on the 'WERKZ Meter. I liked it. But I did not love it.

I like the new Spock. Great that he is a little less rigid than the original Nimoy character. But it does not work that he is not the ideological and philosophical foil to Kirk that he was supposed to be originally. If neither of them shows moderation in the face of decisions that could be emotionally charged, then where is the presentation of the two points of view? If Kirk does not mind letting Klingons die, will the new Spock be any different? I guess how this new dynamic plays out over the course of the franchise reboot remains to be seen.

The original Kirk was neat in some ways, limited in others. While this new one may be more likeable, his character is not as believable. While the Kirk of the show eventually grew into a maverick with little regard for regulation, he was not that loose in his first five year mission. I can believe that [the original progression] more so than a rogue who graduates from a training program and succeeds immediately to command.

When he and Spock's interactions are considered together, it is not that believable that a Commander (O-5) in any military force, real or fictional, would cede command to an O-1.

As a former military member, I'll leave out some of my minor irritations with things like rank and titles that are not really of any weight to anyone other than...well...me.

And I think that sums up my view of the movie in general. Most of the characters are just as likeable as the original cast and crew (with the exception of Checkov), but they fall outside the realm of believability. They are much more like the X-Men in character trait than any concocted military organization.

I give the movie a by as far as dorking with the original storyline. I am not one of those that say that if they change the original storyline at all that I will immediately deem the movie of zero value. So JJ Abrams gets a by because at least he explains why the timeline is different. Most movies just change stuff arbitrarily and say that it is just different for no reason; because the producer/director said so or something like that.

But after the explanation, there is this feeling that everything is a contrived macguffin to get the new cast in the right seat. That being whatever billet and role their original counterpart played. So my first question is was this even necessary? If you are going to dork with the timeline, who says then that everyone has to be in the same seat? Why couldn't Uhura have wound up as the helmsman? And Checkov could have been the science officer? At any rate, after the reason is given as to why the timeline is different, the whole thing seems contrived. So the action and cinematography is good, and the actors did a good job, but the script and story did not have the best elements.

While those things bother me, the new relationship between Spock and Uhura does not bother me, as I am sure it does some other hardcore Trek fans.

Best actor award for the movie goes to Keith Urban, who was DeForrest Kelley incarnate. I hope that they will build on the core story of the original that centered on the incredibly tight bond between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy.

Things I do not want to see as the franchise moves forward:

• another Enterprise destroyed every other movie
• the relationship between Spock and Uhura getting annoying because it is played up too much
• characters that have been killed off coming back to life
• ejecting the warp core every movie; I mean, jeez, as often as starships have to eject it, you would think they would just start stocking a spare.

So, the franchise reboot gets a solid B, and I do look forward to the others. With no 5 year mission, I am not sure how the franchise will develop. If the movies are not too long in development and production, the cast is young enough that they should be able to Harry Potter-it for quite a few movies before they are looking like STVI-era Shatner/Nimoy/Kelley.

Oh yeah, here's a head spinner...let's not forget that everyone's timeline is now rent...including stories from the Next Generation, DS9 and forward. What might that mean for the franchise? Guess we'll have to see.

- Vr/Z.