a collection of regrets

I’d also like to point out that the idea that he has to be dark-skinned in order to be ethnically Indian - which they never fucking brought into this movie - is also racist. You don’t have to be black to be African, and being black doesn’t mean that you are African. Expecting a character named Khan to be dark-skinned is no less racist than expecting a character named Ashley to be white. Judging a character’s race or ethnicity based on their colour or name is inherently racist. This is also an alternate reality. Ricardo Maltoban’s Khan still exists, and new-Khan’s backstory is different. They do have something in common: eloquent speech, and frankly I think that’s why Cumberbatch was cast as Khan. Listen to their voices, how compelling and smooth they are. Star Trek takes place in a time after religion, so why are we insisting that it takes place in a time where race-by-colour is still recognized? Suzanne Collins stated that her Hunger Games takes place at a point in time where race is no longer recognized. Why can’t Star Trek be the same?

As far as a lack of women on the Enterprise? Yeah, okay, that bothers me too. But that is not of JJ Abrams’ doing. He did not write the fucking screenplay, nor did he create the original Star Trek crew. Other Star Treks are guilty of the same lack of gender diversity, or am I think only one who watched Enterprise, which only had Hoshi and T’Pol - neither of which, mind you, was quick to break away from some female stereotypes. If you want to bitch at someone, bitch at the person who did the casting and wrote the script. The faults of the movie do not lay solely on Benedict Cumberbatch or JJ Abrams. Some of the fault has to go to Gene Roddenberry, Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, Damon Lindelof, April Webster, and Alyssa Weisberg.

Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate what total badasses Nyota Uhura and Carol Marcus are? Uhura could probably command the ship if she wanted to, but she doesn’t fucking want to. She has a passion for languages, so that’s what she did. When she takes control and goes out to speak to the Klingons, neither Spock nor Kirk interferes until they see that she’s in danger because they know she’ll kick their asses if they do. And Carol Marcus? She saved Bones’ life and refused to be taken away from a dangerous situation because she knew she could handle it (and clearly this person didn’t see the movie because it was a torpedo, not a bomb, and Bones doesn’t hit on her while she’s diffusing it but while they’re still safely off-loading the thing and Kirk tells him to knock it off). Carol blows him off and she isn’t prudish about her body. She doesn’t give a fuck about who’s running the Enterprise, she boarded the ship to figure out what her father was up to and when her father doesn’t treat her with respect, she motherfucking slaps him. But it’s a complicated relationship - he’s her father and she loves him, even if he is an asshole. Saying that her relationship to her father is her most important role in the movie is sexist of you; she’s a motherfucking science officer and a really good one, too. Her most important role in the movie is her understanding of the torpedoes. She and Uhura are both strong and independent women. Yeah, the scenes of women in their underwear is fanservice, but so was Taylor Lautner being shirtless 90% of the time during the Twilight movies. JJ Abrams didn’t create fanservice. 

Oh, and I’ve seen this movie twice. Horny teenage boys? No, the people in the theaters were college-aged or older men and women. My friends and I are 20 and we were the youngest people in the theater at midnight, and every single person there with us - save one of our friends - is a classic Trek fan. So not appealing to original Star Trek fans? Speak for your fucking self, thanks.