21 Jun 2009

Pimp My Wheelchair



So last Monday I had the day off work to recover from an excessive Sunday afternoon and evening of drinking. Part of the recovery programme was a daytime visit to the cinema. A time where the cinema as a whole is more serene than its normal atmos of an infestation of gremlins.

My choice was Star Trek. I aint a trekkie. I do not really enjoy the original series that much. But I appreciate its campness, enjoy the movies and from time to time will admit the chemistry between the main characters to a be joyful.

The new reimaging of the franchise was pretty good. Kirk is a flawed hero-goofball, Spock is logical, Bones moans, Scottie auch's & recalibrates and a guy in red gets killed. While the time vortex stylee plot was a 'lil unoriginal and the appearance of Leonard Nimoy was annoyingly self knowing, it was a solid 7/10.

But I need to address something. As far as I can see one of Star Trek's strongest points is its relatively complex environment. Warp speed, phasers, klingons, romulans, teleportation, different languages, vulcan culture, 23rd century medicine, time travel, androids, flying cars etc etc. you get the point. A whole new universe which has its roots in a contemporary vision of what may be.

Its strange then that at the end when Kirk and co are getting medals and praise from the Federation that the captain that they save enters stage left. Sitting in and being pushed along in, a wheelchair.

Bizarrely someone took the effort to pimp that ride by giving it bigger wheel trims but given the technology available why does the wheelchair still exist. Why is being pushed? Why does he not have a joystick. Even wheelchairs in 1997 had user control!!! Why did he not float in on some hoverboard thing? Why not mechanical leg joints? Why was he not walking because of some tool Bones attached to his spine?

I aint being smart or smug by pointing out continuity errors or something like that. People who do that are baaaad ok.

Its just feels like someone went to bed early.

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