Welcome to Star Trekking, a collection of random intersections in the final frontier.
I did not expect Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis to secretly be a new Star Trek film.
Surprise!
I saw the movie in a theater last summer, and haven’t watched it at home on my TV, so I’m not sure how the Trek elements play out on that smaller scale. But on the big screen, they were PROMINENT. To me, at least.
I mean come on - this is is almost the very first shot in the film.
And this shot is not incidental. Just look at how it is specifically described in the script.
EXT. INTERNATIONAL HOTEL - DUSK
The ambulance races past the International Hotel.
The CAMERA WHIP PANS TO its towering sign: "THE STAR TREK EXPERIENCE: BOLDLY GOING WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE."
The sign SPINS ON ITS AXIS as we JOURNEY BACK TO the International of the 1970s. The sign now heralding: "ELVIS!"
As I looked at the film just now to capture the above photo, I saw that the Enterprise effectively starts shooting off into space, spinning away as the camera swirls. I caught a snippet of the nacelles warping us away.
It’s as if director/co-screenwriter Baz Luhrmann1 is deliberately taking us on a trip back in time by slingshotting around the sun. He's using the conceit, most familiar from Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, of spinning us back in time. To my mind, this film is an echo of “Tomorrow is Yesterday.” And “Assignment: Earth.”
For just like those other jaunts back to earth’s past, in Elvis our gallant crew works to shape history, to offer their guiding hands in key moments. For Elvis Presley that pivotal moment is his 1968 Comeback Special on NBC. Of course, that was also when the original Star Trek was running on NBC. So it feels natural that, as depicted in the film, the hallway behind the NBC studio control room contains photos of Kirk, Spock, and Uhura. And in the movie, as Elvis fights with his manager to include a more political song in his set, our heroes look on from the background, guiding Elvis to make the right decision as they silently stare past Colonel Tom Parker (and various management flacks).
As I mentioned, I saw the movie when it came out last summer and haven’t revisited it since (except to zip through to take those photos). But I loved it. Knowing the work of Baz Luhrmann, I understood the film to be a fantasia on the life of Elvis Presley rather than a biopic. And for me it worked like gangbusters. Add in those Star Trek elements and you’ve got a film for the ages - for me at least.
Of course, I might be slightly impartial…
MEANWHILE…
Before you zip around the sun for your own time travel adventure, don’t miss this recap of last week’s episode.
TrekTalks2, hosted by TrekGeeks, happens Saturday.
“You'll be able to watch live on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, & Twitch! Pre-Show with the SyFy Sistas starts at 9:45am PT.”
More info at trektalks.net.
As a sneak peak, you can hear our friend Aaron Bossig chat with John Billingsley about TrekTalks2 and general Trektivism on the new episode of Hungry Trilobyte.
You can also check out John’s talk with the SyfySistas.
Wow!
Is it February yet?
Thank you for reading.
Thankyouverymuch.
Star Trekking is written and edited by Neil Shurley, except where noted.
Star Trekking logo art by James H. Dargie.
Amazon Affiliate links included to help offset some of the costs of assimilation.
The complete writing credits are thus:
Screenplay by BAZ LUHRMANN & SAM BROMELL and BAZ LUHRMANN & CRAIG PEARCE and JEREMY DONER
Story by BAZ LUHRMANN and JEREMY DONER
I love that you made meaningful connections out of the Trek images in the film! I haven't watched the whole thing yet, but I sure noticed that STAR TREK: THE EXPERIENCE stuff at the start.
Oh, and my take (maybe minority opinion) on the fabled home video (and foreign release, right?) "prologue" to ST IV? Completely superfluous, since all the plot points it hits are covered in ST IV itself - through Kirk's log entries there, the scene with Amanda, the footage shown in the trial. I don't understand why Paramount decided any prologue was necessary for any market. So there :)