Star Trek: The Art Of The Film - Book Review

"Star Trek: The Art Of The Film" shows a realization of different perceptions of mixing retro with the practical modernism that infuses daily life. The idea of what the Enterprise would look like in a retro modern fit takes into account the IPhone culture that permeates us which director JJ Abrams says directly influenced some elements on the bridge. The introduction by Abrams identifies a self reflexive sense of humor instituting that the first time he thought he was truly in flux in terms of bringing "Star Trek" to the screen is when he was shooting a scene where his entire cast was bald. That truly brings things into a self reflexive point of view. Seeing the basis of the older ships starting with USS Kelvin (named for Abrams' uncle) and the emphasis on detail, especially with the airlock mechanism of the shuttlecraft, lays the basis for the paradox of the Romulan ship "Narada" which has the structure of a flurry of knives. The revelation of the designs that tells the story of Nero's basis of revenge as well as the death of his pregnant wife are reflected in the prison colony of Rura Tenthe which did not make it into the final film. The aspect of functionality as shown in the designs also gives an organic quality to the proceedings. The reflections of Starfleet within the Academy to the Kobayashi Maru to the orbiting Spacedock (which is an earlier reflection of the later behemouths) shows a consistency of perception. An actual conceptual drawing shows a similar presence of mind to the escape sequence in "Search For Spock" for a completely new and different era.The uniforms return to the basis of the show but with better full formulating comfort. The aliens have a Mos Eisley quality to them which comes to bear within another abandoned sequence which originally was supposed to be the foray for young Kirk meeting Spock Prime. The original setting was in a cantina type setting that looks remarkably similar (at least in the artist rendering) to a certain desert planet. It was later changed to the ice planet Delta Vega which bears a remarkable similarity to another forlorn planet. Vulcan by contrast was built as a planet torn apart by its tectonic plates before the eventual catastrophic destruction that engulfs it in the film. The use of one of the rock formations seen in the original "Star Trek" as a motivating background matte truly sells the balance between new and old.The actual design of the Enterprise was in taking the basic format but making everything practical. The use of top rails as bracing mechanisms makes sense but even the design of the communicators and phasers as reflections of our current iPhone culture truly makes it modern while still making it retro. The mass destruction cannon which eventually became a funnel perception of a satellite dish originally was conceived as an independent spider-like mechanism but eventually needed to be situated as a platform in order to motivate the space jump sequence. The integration of Nimoy as Spock Prime as well as his Jellyfish Ship shows the evolution of Nimoy's influence on the role and how important it was to the entire progression of this new volume. The poster artwork, some of which wasn't seen in the US, also is very diverse bringing to mind certain patriotic elements of "Starship Troopers". "Star Trek: The Art Of The Film" shows some great qualities of what it took to create the vision to the screen in an intrinisic, creative and practical point of view. Out of 5, I give it a 4.