AirLockAlpha.com

I'm jealous of our friend Patrick Lee over at SciFi Wire who had a chance to see some select footage from the new "Star Trek" movie (but never fear, I still know the identity of the final Cylon, and last time I checked with him, he doesn't).

He had a great review and some strong comments about the scenes that J.J. Abrams showed him, which you can find by clicking here (beware of spoilers). And while I agree with a lot of what he said, I thought I would use the platform of SciFriday to disagree on one issue: I think it's great that Star Trek is warping toward more realistic human interactions and getting away from Gene Roddenberry's mythical human interactions.

It's not that I want all of Roddenberry's ideals to be cast aside, but you have to admit, the better Star Treks out there were the ones like "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" where people tend to disagree and even battle each other, and not just because they were under some alien control, but because that's what people do.

"This small glimpse of Abrams' future Earth bears little resemblance to Gene Roddenberry's conflict-free paradise," Lee said. "The bar fight -- though it recalls one in which Jean-Luc Picard nearly died in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation' -- is brutal, and the Starfleet cadets seem like things who dirty fight. The concept of alcoholism, similarly, is alien to the Trek universe (Scotty's occasional indulgence in a wee dram notwithstanding), and there is a suggestion in Kirk's behavior that he's proceeding down the dissolute path of his abusive uncle."

But what's wrong with that? Kirk has always been known as a space cowboy, and while we might want to think about cowboys as being the ones that populated television and movies in the 1950s and 1960s, modern audiences now don't look for who's wearing a white hat and who's wearing a black hat. Audiences are far more sophisticated, and don't feel that their heroes have to be flawless.

One aspect that always seemed to be ignored in Star Trek was that not only were they explorers, but they also were part of the military. They had ranks, they had weapons, they enforced peace, and they defended the Federation. Sounds like a military to me.

When the Borg attacked in TNG's "Best of Both Worlds," we didn't see Starfleet role out its hidden military unit. No, instead, we saw Starfleet officers and Starfleet ships on the front lines. When the Dominion threatened freedom in DS9, once again, it was Starfleet officers who defended the Federation, not some distant military.

And while I have never been in the military myself, I have a hard time believing that those who serve in such capacities would sit on nice, clean ships playing three-dimensional chess, and only divulging in the occasional Romulan ale.

I haven't seen the scenes that Patrick is talking about, but I have to say, I like it already. One of the things I adore about the new "Battlestar Galactica" is its realism. When I watch the show, I feel like I'm seeing what would really happen if humans were put through the kind of stresses that the Colonials suffered. I like to see that even our heroes are far from perfect, and that the villains aren't villains just for villainy sake (I have bet that I could use "villain" three times in six words), and that you can almost empathize with them, even if you don't agree with their methods or their end goal.

This is the kind of Star Trek I have been calling out for a long time. When Erik Jendresen was putting together his version of "Star Trek XI," he also wanted characters who weren't two-dimensional, and seemed more like the humans we interact with every day.

So thank you, J.J., Roberto, Alex, and everyone else who is putting this movie together. I was a bit skeptical on if recasting the major roles would work ... but after seeing the new trailer, and hearing some of the feedback from the screenings, I have to say, May can't get here soon enough.

SyFy Radio

You can listen to SyFy Radio live every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT at www.SyFyRadio.com. You also can hear archived versions of past shows at the same place, or by visiting the iTunes store and typing in "SyFy" in the search window.

SyBits

Send your letters to mhinman@airlockalpha.com, and maybe you'll hear them on SyFy Radio, complete with my arcane responses.

Do you like to chat about the SciFriday columns you see here? Then join our message board discussions by clicking here.

Don't forget to listen to me host SyFy Radio, every Wednesday at 10 p.m. ET (and available to download for free at your leisure after the fact) by visiting www.blogtalkradio.com/syfyradio. You also can subscribe to us for free at the iTunes Store. Simply log in to iTunes, type in "syfy" in the search engine, and ou'll be connected directly to the show's archive.

If you're not yet a member of our free breaking news/headlines mailing list, then it's not too late to sign up. Simply send a blank e-mail to syfyportal-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and enjoy the latest in science-fiction and fantasy entertainment straight to your e-mail box with breaking news and headlines. I promise you you won't regret it!

Rabid Doll is now online! Visit it at www.RabidDoll.com. We also have a mailing list going for that, which you can join by simply sending a blank e-mail to rabiddoll-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.

Have a great week, and don't be a stranger!

Michael Hinman, a cult leader twice awarded "Best Kool-Aid Drinker," is the founder and site coordinator for Airlock Alpha, writing out of Tampa, Fla. He can be reached at mhinman@airlockalpha.com