I should say from the start that I’ve been a huge fan of all things space-related from the earliest days of my existence. Were I the type to follow boyhood dreams, I likely would have been the 49-yr-old commanding the current space shuttle rather than Scott Altman. That love of space encompasses the many attempts – both good and bad – to capture the fact and fiction of space travel by the entertainment folks.

I’m neither Trekker nor Trekkie, but definitely a lover of Star Trek. I can remember the moment back in high school when the local channel showed a grainy repeat of the last original Trek episode I needed to be able to say I’d seen them all (“For The World Is Hollow, And I Have Touched The Sky”, for those curious). I watched with glee The Next Generation, with tolerance Deep Space Nine, with patience Voyager and with groans Enterprise. I liked some movies (2, 3, 4, and the TNG series) and hated others (1, 6). Through it all, I was a loyal subject of the Federation and the universe Gene Roddenberry created for it.

So you might imagine my concern when it was announced that there would be a new Star Trek movie, one with an all new crew and produced by folks from outside the Trek circle. JJ Abrams, never afraid to do things his own way, decided he’d go back to the beginning, to explore the beginnings of the Kirk/Spock relationship … to “re-imagine” the Trek universe. We’ve seen some cases where reimagination has gone well, like Battlestar Galactica, but they’re pretty rare. It was nervous time.

Knowing that at some point I’d have to see the movie, I tried to stay open minded about it. I avoided the reviews, although with the full-court press of the media blitz it was hard to be oblivious. I’ll confess to having read a couple of the fanboy blogs where they argued with the whole continuity issue, but when my friend Anna and I plunked down our cash and settled into the seats at the AMC IMAX in Torrance, I didn’t really know what to expect.

Wow …

JJ, all I can say is that I’m sorry if I doubted you – you have not only energized the franchise, but have set it up for another good run (and signing the whole crew for a 3-pic deal? Brilliant …) Let’s be clear – this is not your dad’s … or my … Star Trek. Folks who live and die by continuity checks will doubtless have long sleepless nights over some of the things they’ll see (although, it’s hard to imagine why the aforementioned fanboys took umbrage with the idea of the Enterprise being fabricated in Iowa instead of San Francisco when there were other, meatier things to ponder … hello, destruction of Vulcan?), but I think things are best expressed by BSG’s Ron Moore:

‘It got too big for its own good,” says Ronald Moore, who used to write for Next Generation and Deep Space Nine before going on to reinvent Battlestar Galactica. ”We’d be sitting in the writers’ room pitching ideas, and you’d have to stop and check to make sure a plot point didn’t contradict something that happened in episode No. 25 of a different Trek show. It really started to constrict the creative process. At a certain point, Star Trek just choked on its own continuity.”

There’s no missing that this is Star Trek, and you’ll recognize the characters in an instant, but the plot twists of this first movie leave the door open to do things in a new way moving forward. That’s a good thing, too, because while there’s a lot packed into this flick, most of it is the typical stuff you’d expect to see in a TV pilot – character introductions, backstories and the like. Sure, there’s the whole “Nero’s traumatized and gonna make you pay, sucka” plotline, but it’s secondary to meeting the crew and understanding the dynamics between the players – dynamics that will drive the franchise forward for the next decade.

Pay the money, see the movie, and have a good time. If you’re smart, you’ll lay out the extra shekels for IMAX, which even made trailers for a movie about talking guinea pigs look awesome. Let me know when you want to go, ’cause I’ll see it again!

As an aside, after the movie we attended a watching party for the “American Idol” finale. Now, I’ve never seen more than 10 minutes of an AI episode, and had it not been for the company last night I’m sure I still wouldn’t have. That said, I can see what a powerhouse AI has become. It’s one thing to get big ratings, but to me it’s much more to get respect. And when you see the parade of musical royalty they trotted out on stage last night, it fairly screamed respect – KISS, Santana, Rod Stewart and Queen all performed with the contestants, who more than held their own. Pretty impressive. Just happy I missed the unfortunate Kara DioGuardi Bikini Incident – girl obviously really wants to keep her job. Note to KD – it would probably be easier to just sleep with Simon … that way you could at least keep a little dignity …