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If Quentin Tarantino is really going to be dabbling in the Star Trek universe it might be high time you catch yourself up on the Kelvin timeline. It’s too early to tell if he’ll be using the characters in this universe, but it’s likely given they’ve created three films in this universe. Those three films are getting a Titan Books art of the movie treatment, which might be a good place to start to allow your imagination to run wild with a Tarantino Star Trek story.
It’s also holiday season after all, so if you know someone who is you might want to pick up Titan Books new art of the movie book out this week. The three films may not be the most perfect trilogy (they don’t really even tell an arc amongst themselves) but there’s no denying the new look and feel the movies brought to Star Trek made the series more approachable to a larger audience. Now the impressive art that made these movies so grand in scale and realistic looking is contained in one book!
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
A complete and in-depth look at the art of the newest Star Trek trilogy. Covering the creation of Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond, this lavish art book contains never-before-seen concept art and designs, as well as interviews with the key creatives who helped bring these exciting movies to life on the big screen.
Why does this matter?
Costume design, ship design, alien planets, and a healthy dose of quotes from the actors of the series all combine to make this book exceptional. On top of that, can you think of a series of movies that’s more deserving of an “art of the film” book?
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
The images of the ships are impressive.
The quality of this book is very high and it feels expensive. Everything from fully painted environments to the details of a weapon is covered in this book. It has a good overview feel for the Kelvin timeline and how the designers attempted to stay true to Star Trek but also updates it for a modern era of filmmaking. Clearly, the improvements in CGI, as well as the expectations of audiences, required the designers to up their game and it shows here. If you’re a fan of these films or movies, in general, you’re going to find interesting anecdotes as far as why they went certain ways with designing ships or costumes. There’s inspirations from other films in the art here and it’s interesting to get into the brain space of the creators.
This book is also filled with interesting quotes from the actors. Eric Bana discusses the freedom playing Nero gave him for instance, as the makeup made him not recognize himself in the mirror. This helped him further fall into the character. To be honest, there aren’t a lot of quotes from the actors, but it’s nice to see actors like Benedict Cumberbatch chime in with some insight.
The wide size of the book helps accentuate the sweeping vistas created for the three films too. The environments are a highlight of this book with many of them spanning across two pages. If you’re a science fiction fan you’re going to love these pages as they show how inventive and strange the universe can be.
The environment images are gorgeous.
It can’t be perfect can it?
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If you were expecting equal attention to each film you may be sorely surprised. The first film gets about 100 pages, the second 50 pages, and the third film only about 40 pages. I’m not entirely sure why the page count for each film wasn’t more equal, but it makes the second and third film coverage seem less thorough and important.
The title of this book made me think there would be an overall approach to what makes the Kelvin timeline visually different. That isn’t the case. Instead, we basically get a closer look at each film and not much in regards to why or how the Kelvin timeline as a whole attempted to separate itself from the original shows. It’s not surprising since each film had different artists involved, but it’s something you might expect given the title.
Is It Good?
Star Trek has never been this action packed or relevant. With a new show on CBS, news of a new R-rated direction from Quentin Tarantino, and the glossy big-budget films it’s more pertinent than ever. This book will allow you to appreciate it all that much more.
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