8mm Forum: Anton Yelchin is Dead

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Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on June 20, 2016, 01:03 PM:

Anton Yelchin, who is Chekhov in the new Star Trek features is dead at age 27. Apparently he parked his car on a hill in his driveway and when he got out it rolled downhill with him and crushed him against a fence.

What a terrible thing for somebody so young and with such potential to be lost this way.

I may not be very good at being a traditionalist, but I've always liked his take on Chekhov even better than Walter Koenig's. I've known a lot of Russian people over the years (I've been there four times.) and as much as I treasure the original Chekhov, I always thought it was a little too much a caricature and no real Russian would be fooled! ("NUCLEARRRR WWWESSELS!!!")

Posted by Joe Taffis (Member # 4) on June 20, 2016, 02:49 PM:

Yeah, I was sorry to see that on the news yesterday...I never saw the new Star Trek movies, but I really liked him in the Fright Night remake and Burying The Ex. A real shame...

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on June 20, 2016, 03:03 PM:

If you are going to see any of them, see the first (2009) one, it does a good job honoring the original series, and succeeds in taking it further.

-the second one? Well, they did a re-spin of Spock's death at the end of "Wrath of Khan" that to me reeked of cheesy knockoff.

The casting of these movies is great: Kirk, Spock and McCoy are obviously who they are trying to be. Chris Pine does Shatner, without overdoing Shatner. (Can't be easy...)

Chekhov comes across differently: he is very much the under-aged Russian genius barely out of the Academy. He isn't the original ("KEPTIN!!! I don't undertstaaaaannnd!!!!"), but he feels genuine.

The third feature is complete and awaiting release this Summer. It looks like they're fixin' to wreck the ship: that should be interesting come the fourth one!

Star Trek Beyond

Posted by Thomas Murin, Jr. (Member # 1745) on June 20, 2016, 04:28 PM:

Anton Yelchin's death is a tragedy compounded by his young age and that he was his parents only child.

Steve, Walter Koenig's parents were both Russian and Walter has stated he based Checkov's accent on his father's.

You are also being WAY too hard on his acting which is nothing like what you describe.

Also, Chris Pine is not "doing Shatner". Pine has said he just took the character traits of James Kirk and did his own thing.

The same goes for every cast member of the "new" Trek movies. No one is imitating the previous actors. They don't need to.

This long time Trek fan found Into Darkness to be very entertaining, especially in 3D!

If there is a fourth Trek movie, rest assured the Enterprise will soar again. You know, the ship HAS been destroyed before!

Posted by Steve Klare (Member # 12) on June 20, 2016, 06:29 PM:

Thomas,

I never said Walter Koenig's Chekhov was terrible, I said I preferred Anton Yelchin's. It's just if I ran into somebody in Novosibirsk, Moscow or Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk that sounded like that I'd say "He sounds like Walter Koenig!" and start to wonder why.

As far as Chris Pine's Kirk, there are little hints of William Shatner in there, motions of the head, inflections of his speech, just enough: nowhere near parody. Personally, I like it as he's done it. If he said he wasn't trying to do Shatner, that's fine. (Hanna-Barbera also said Yogi Bear wasn't named after Yogi Berra.)

If I saw the new McCoy in a suit and tie instead of a Starfleet uniform, I'd still say "That guy looks and sounds just like McCoy!" The resemblance is that close.

-ditto for the new Spock: even without the bowl haircut and pointy ears!

For these three characters the resemblance is a lot closer than for the rest of the cast. We basically needed to be told this was Scotty, for example. (For sentimental reasons James Doohan is more my favorite here, but I like Simon Pegg in the role.)

What's funny is how much it cuts both ways, my son's introduction to Star Trek was the new series. One day I was watching the Original Series and Shatner and Nimoy were on screen. He looked at it and said "They look like Kirk and Spock!"

Once again: I'm not saying I didn't like "Into Darkness" at all, I just preferred the first one. That death scene didn't sit well with me at all. I would have preferred they not cut it so close to Wrath of Khan.

I'm basically in agreement with the "even movie" theory on the first six, although I don't hate any of them!

-all opinion, of course! You can disagree completely and I will be fine with that. It's not even a matter of right and wrong: just preference.

An old girlfriend of mine basically labeled me a heretic for liking Star Trek, the Next Generation. Fortunately I got to the girl I eventually married while she still didn't have Star Trek...doctrines!

Posted by William Olson (Member # 2083) on June 20, 2016, 07:40 PM:

So shocking and so sad. Nobody deserves to die in such a horrible way. It makes you think about how fleeting life can be.

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