Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Why was young Kirk listening to 'Sabotage' in Star Trek?



This buzz falls in to the category of I don't care if it's true, because it's just too cool!

In the beginning of the Star Trek film, young James T. Kirk has stolen his stepdad's car, and is racing across a field in Iowa, blasting some 'old school' tunes. I didn't catch the song at the time, but it was the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage". Why would that be meaningful, you ask?

Because William Shatner famously cannot pronounce the word 'sabotage'. He says it like sabotaage with the "a" sound like in the word 'at'. Must be a Canadian thing. There is a hilarious audio clip of someone trying to correct him in an voiceover session:


I'm going to choose to think that J. J. Abrams purposefully chose that song to give a little nod to Shatner.

Others wonder if sending a 60's car over a cliff might have other meanings. From /Film:
Abrams chose a 1960s Corvette. Some reports even say it’s a 1966 Corvette, the same year that Gene Roddenberry’s television series began to air.

Could it be that the corvette represents something more than just a fast car? I believe that by throwing the 1960’s era car off a cliff, Abrams was making a statement - “this is not your father’s Star Trek movie” - we’re throwing all that stuff away, off a cliff no less. This is the new Star Trek.” It’s worth noting that my theory originally appeared on the site in November 2008 with the same exact wording, “not your father’s Star Trek movie”, before that line was made the focus of the film’s television campaign.


Hat tip: Cinematical

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