Fandom is a strange thing.  On one hand, legion of dedicated and passionate fans can help keep their beloved thing fresh and interesting, and help remind us why we fell in love in the first place.  But on the other, fandom is often a stifling, domineering plague that threatens to strangle the vitality and joy of the very thing it claims to hold dear. Such is the case of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, which over its forty-plus years of pop-culture exploration has lost much of its original gift of wonder and excitement, replaced with an aggressive and exclusive hierarchical rigor that threatened to strangle whatever joy remained in the original mission tank.

With the simply named Star Trek, the venerable franchise finally enters that small collective of archetypical filmed series that include fellow space saga Star Wars, James Bond, Dr. Who, and others. On this point let’s be clear; this is not a reboot, nor is it a prequel.  Recasting the original Enterprise crew with younger faces has given the franchise a much-needed front-end alignment, acknowledging the existence of previous installments but not beholden to them.  The necessary inclusion of Spock Prime (Leonard Nimoy, in what will surely be his final salute as the iconic Vulcan) to sanction the transition from one cast to the next reminds us not to be so selfish with these characters and allow them to grow beyond the original players.

After years of mismanagement, the theatrical franchise has been handed over to the capable J.J. Abrams, whose own ensemble creations of Lost and Alias make him the ideal savior of Trek.  Joining him on the mission are screenwriters Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who work similar magic here as they did in bringing The Transformers back to the public consciousness.  By offering an inspired (some might say cheating) storyline that violently veers Star Trek canon into strange new worlds they’re able to rebuild the franchise in whatever fashion they like, freeing the cast from simply filming implied history and claiming this alternate reality for themselves.  This is storytelling on a grand scale and makes for absolutely great entertainment.

This is prime myth-making in action, and much of the joy comes from watching the pieces of this intergalactic space opera come together, forming the larger picture we may already know, but still reveling in the process.  There’s a real sense of wonder and mystery here, as the franchise has once again found its footing and is determined to entertain.  This is adventure on the grandest of scale, with characters at once familiar yet new, free to reshape their destinies as they see fit and hoping we'll tag along for the ride.  As Spock might say, eyebrow raised, this is fascinating.

To detail the story would only diminish the process of watching events unfold, but suffice to say there is much time-traveling chicanery and drastic reordering of classic circumstances to be had. A hulking mining ship from the future, manned by Romulan Nero (Eric Bana) and wielding planet-destroying capabilities, has disrupted the timeline of the original Star Trek universe, altering the course of the universe and forever setting its key players into unknown places.  Shades of past Trek films (particularly Wrath of Khan) mix with the original Transformers animated film (shades of Unicron + Leonard Nimoy) are mixed liberally with modern effects and a stunning soundtrack by longtime Abrams collaborator Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles) to form something irresistibly new, yet still very much Star Trek.

J.J. was wise to recast the Enterprise with (relatively) unfamiliar faces, the most striking exceptions being Zachary Quinto (Young Spock), John Cho (Sulu), and Simon Pegg (Scotty).  The new cast works so well and so effectively, I can only imagine the recasting horror of replacing one – or more – in the event of breakout stardom.  The new faces would be wise to honor these roles and hold onto them for as long as possible.

I may be the odd man out here, but I felt Chris Pine’s James T. Kirk not only the film’s singular achievement (given the lineage), but also the most effective.  Like Frank Langella’s turn as President Nixon in last year’s Frost/Nixon, Pine doesn’t so much look like William Shatner, but captures the spirit of the character.  He’s machismo personified, humanity unrestrained in the final frontier of space and never one to question his own intuition.  In many ways this character is the most important (and certainly the most celebrated) in all of Trek, and Pine effectively captures much of Shatner’s mugging and mannerisms, key traits for any death-defying Federation captain and oversexed alien Casanova.

Equally important was the casting of Spock, and while Quinto had long been the favorite for the role (he looks uncannily like Leonard Nimoy), he proves himself more than capable.  Although he lacks the deep, mechanical voice of Nimoy, his restrained performance emits such goodwill towards the most famous logician in science-fiction he gets a pass.  In this, new Spock is a perfect counterpart to new Kirk and for the sake of future Star Trek is good news indeed.

Completing the triumvirate is Karl Urban’s amazing transformation into Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, the first of many bits of inspired casting.  Urban more than anyone captures DeForest Kelley’s haggard facial grimacing and pessimism, and serves admirably as the vital go-between for Kirk and Spock.  McCoy was always the most quotable from the original crew (“Damn it!”), and this new Bones doesn’t waste any time ripping off a few good lines/insults.  It will be exciting to watch this trio’s on-screen relationship grow and mature in the future.

The truth is, the original television series was never one to let the secondary cast members breathe much, though the theatrical films helped correct this.  That niggle shouldn’t be much of a problem in this iteration, as each of the iconic crew’s roles have been upgraded substantially, particularly in the case of Uhuru (Zoe Saldana), who despite her sexy boots and mini-skirt is more forceful than ever.  But thank goodness she’s able to capture Nichelle Nichols warmth and kindness, defining elements to the character she helped create.  John Cho makes for a good Sulu, a role that never truly came into its own until the theatrical films, although giving the one Asian character requisite martial art (fencing) skills is a bit groan-inducing.

If we were following Star Trek canon, than by all rights our favorite warbling Russian Chekov shouldn’t be here, but thankfully, this Trek dances to its own tune.  Anton Yelchin is surprisingly sweet as the 17-year old cadet, mangling English and despite looking nothing whatsoever like Walter Koenig, is fun to watch.  I wish I could say more about Simon Pegg’s hilarious take on engineer-supreme Scotty, but he appears so late in the film fans will have to make do with him stealing every scene afterward.  Pegg is the ultimate film geek playing one of the most famous roles in that universe, and he probably feels every bit as excited as he looks.

The rest of the cast is equally superb, particularly Bruce Greenwood as Captain Pike, who brings a necessary level of heft and gravitas to one of the most underrated characters in all of Trek lore.  Winona Ryder is fine in her brief – but emotionally devastating – role as Spock’s mother, while Ben Cross assumes the role of father Sarek with dignity and poise.  But it’s Eric Bana as the villainous Nero, completely transformed under layers of Romulan make-up and loving every minute of it.  No doubt inspired by Heath Ledger’s psychotic portrayal of the Joker, Bana is terrifying as the most effective singular Trek baddie since Khan and his work here is fascinating to watch.  Also, make sure to listen for the final performance of Majel Barrett, wife of Roddenberry, in her final performance as the voice of the Enterprise.

This new Star Trek is spectacular entertainment, easily one of the year’s best cinematic experiences and a joy to watch unfold.  There was a time when even the thought of recasting Shatner, Nimoy, and the rest was unthinkable, but J.J. Abrams and his crew have succeeded beyond measure and by doing so have reignited our interest for the Enterprise once more.  Of course, there are probably those who would label such a thing heresy, but if I might paraphrase a familiar quip, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.  Star Trek has finally come back to the masses, and frankly this is where it belongs.

Gene Roddenberry’s original vision returns to thrill us all over again, and here's hoping the voyage is long and very prosperous.