ClobberBlog | Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity

I can’t believe this. Why are people writing interesting blog posts in which I get mentioned on a weekend like this? Don’t you people know… well…

THIS just came out? You dishonor the name of nerds everywhere by attempting to blog about serious subjects on a weekend like this. Shame on you.

And before you say, “Jack, you mean you didn’t see it on opening night like a hardcore nerd?” Hey, I have a toddler, and I couldn’t get a babysitter for her until today. So there.

To what is perhaps my eternal nerd shame, I’m actually a “Star Trek virgin.” In spite of my love for comic books, Joss Whedon TV shows, Star Wars, platform games, MMORPGs, and awkwardly shy Mormon boys, I have never sat through a single episode of Star Trek in any of its incarnations or one of the old Star Trek movies. I know all of the popular lines and quips and I have a loose working knowledge of the original characters, but a Trekkie I am not nor have I ever pretended to be.

You know what was great about the new movie though? NONE of that mattered. I’m not going to spoil anything for you, but the writers, directors, cast and crew did a fantastic job putting together a movie which could be enjoyed by long-time fans and newcomers alike. It wasn’tMemento deep or anything, but it was an enjoyable light-hearted action-sci-fi romp.

(The next few paragraphs contain a discussion of an extremely minor scene in the movie. No major spoilers, but you’ve been warned.)

Of course, as I was watching the film I kept on thinking of the Bechdel-Wallace test for how a movie represents women and whether or not Star Trek would pass. According to Starfoxy, this test requires that a film:

The only major female character in the film was Uhura. The mothers of Spock and Kirk were important plot-wise but had relatively small parts and very few speaking lines, and none of these three women ever interact. At one point in the film, Kirk is about to get busy defiling Uhura’s green-skinned Orion roommate, Gaila, when they hear Uhura returning to the room unexpected, so Kirk hides under the bed. Gaila lays on the bed looking busty and voluptuous in her panties as Uhura enters and begins to remove her own clothing, chatting excitedly with Gaila about a Klingon communication she just intercepted. So I guess Star Trek technically passes.

But the conversation lasts all of 10 seconds before Uhura picks up on the fact that Kirk is in the room, and both women are in their underwear for the duration of the conversation, so I don’t think the film passes very well. Damn it, feminism, why do you make me notice stuff like this?

Oh well. I still liked the movie.

In other news, I’ve gone back to playing Neverwinter Nights, beta-testing a new server for some old friends of ours, which probably means a decrease in my blogging activities for a bit. Do you like my lawful evil Gothic butterfly monk girl? Yes, of course you like my lawful evil Gothic butterfly monk girl. You want one just like her.