RIPs etc.

Iain Banks
Jean Stapleton
Esther Williams

Saw the new Star Trek yesterday. Here's the problem with prequels -- you know who lives. No suspense there, so epic battles between people (say, Kirk and Kahn) are just time wasters. The sets were so busy with air things zipping around and people bustling that it was hard to focus. Everything was really really big and metallic and protruding bits were everywhere (nothing phallic about that, nosiree) . And I kept identifying plot points from various books and thinking that the writers just kept dragging stuff in (like the Admiral with his dreadnaught from one of the Lieutenant Piper books).

I think more should have been made of the developing relationships that we will come to know and love. OTOH I ain't buying Spock and Uhura as lovers. They were friends who cared a great deal about each other but that's all. All I get out of Chekov is that he's some kind of comic relief, and not good at it either. Scotty (Simon Pegg) really does provide some comic relief and is very good at it, and he doesn't lose his character in the process.

As to the Mary Sue Tribble -- puhleez.

As to Cumberbatch -- meh.

As to the female characters: annoying all around. Both speaking parts (Uhura and Carol Marcus) are quite small (Uhura) or very female (Marcus). Neither gets to fight (okay, Marcus gets to slap her father, whoopee); they get to lie on the deck and look stunned/panicked. Boring.

And who played the lead Klingon on Kronus who faces Uhura? Looked really familiar. Of course, he was only there for about two minutes before Khan blew him away. I'll see if I can find out.