I have to ask, though, if BC is so good why not make him his own villain?

Khan was originally his own man, in this he struck me as a weenie and not really clever.  Physically tough, sure, but not so smart.  I'm sorry, I don't believe a villain to be smart just because people in the move tell me he is.  

BC was a pawn, not a Khan.

I don't try inventing backstories to try to resolve plot discrepancies, I try to avoid plot discrepancies in the first place.  I also take stories as they're presented.  If a story has holes, it's not my job to fill them, it's the writer's job.  I'm not there to do the work the writer was too lazy or incompetent or careless to do.

Which brings up the point, why Khan at all?  If they named him anything else it would have improved the film, otherwise it's a silly sop to sentimentalism.

Khan was a true villain originally, in this he's just a tough tool.  They made him sympathetic.

Your bias betrays you.

This is going to sound mean, but...

I'm sorry, but this explanation reads like a Jay Carney press conference explaining why Benghazi was really perpetrated by the rogue IRS, who were suffering under the Sequester.

I'm stealing this line.

Yup, Spock doing the "KHAAAANNN" thing was gratuitous and hammy.

You got 1 thing wrong, Khanberpatch does NOT have Montalban's chest:

THAT is the chest of Khan.

BTW, cheers back at you!  Always glad to meet another local.  Still trying to actually meet EJ Hill as he's a local too.

I've known too many petty tyrants, you have to have something to use against them, short of selling your house and moving.  

Take homeowners' associations: pure unadulterated evil.

I became president of mine just to make sure it never did a damn thing after (5 years later my neighbors ask, what association?).

My wife is a lawyer and has had to represent friends who have been victimized by HOAs.  The HOA deed restrictions are a sort of "land slavery", and unless forbidden by the state are pretty well impossible to contest.  

Also, the people who run the HOAs or local governments tend to be those most interested in minding others' business (and landscaping).  Unless caught in a major scandal these become lifetime sinecures as local reporting is basically useless. 

Hard to fight the power unless you can bring in bigger guns.

Where do I begin?  Didn't hate it, but...

For crying out loud, if you're going to do a fance "reboot" at least show some originalism!  Egad but it was silly.

I could nitpick the time and space contractions, but what annoyed me most was this:

Why does Hollywood always have an admiral or general gone rogue and trying to start a war as the "real" villian?  This is such unbelievable BS, not to mention done absolutely to death.

Ugh.

Insulting.

Thunderdome?

The real mistake here is in Congress delegating away its powers.  It is on Congress to set and enforce limits.  The failure to do so is the heart of our troubles.

I say again to look at the link in #8 on New Rome Ohio.

It actually took a collaboration at the STATE level to bust that little kingdom.  First they had to ban mayors' courts for communities with fewer than 100 people, then get ODOT to re-examine the speed limit imposed, etc.

Multiply that myopic cronyism by about half of the townships in the USA (collaborating with the unions) and you have an idea of the scope of the problem.

I know Fred doesn't want me to say this, but as in Ohio it will take a top-down action to break the power of those fiefdoms, with state & federal regs to keep the petty mayors from trying to take it back.

You've got to do as Ohio and change the rulebook on how these guys work.

I know that.  You know that.  

But there are few tyrannies more staunchly defended than petty small-mid sized bureaucracies.

See Here for one near me.

I actually work pretty closely with the fire and rescue equipment industry, am 3rd generation in it and have lots of relations in it too.  Fire departments are embodiments of cronyism and emotional blackmail.  They're also less necessary than supposed as catastrophic house fire are less frequent due to improved building codes and advances in materials (old neighborhoods excepted).

However, disentangling them from public funding is very tricky for a couple of reasons:

1.  Marcus Livinius Crassus:  he started a fire brigade in Rome which had a certain mercenary rep.

2.  Fire companies will be regulated like medical insurance companies - with all that entails.  See Obamacare.

3.  WATER RIGHTS.  This is the biggie.  Neighboring fire departments are well known to deliberately use different fittings from their neighbors.  Yes, even public fire departments can be territorial jerks, making hydrants incompatible with each others' trucks, and these are supposedly public servants.  

Would private companies engage in the same behavior?

Not to say that the case shouldn't be made, but these are some of the starter arguments.

My father used to run a manufacturing business (auto industry).  They got targetted by a vindictive OSHA inspector who was collaborating with a disgruntled employee.  Inspector would show up unannounced (which was not allowed at the time) demanding to see some are of the shop where a "violation" had been reported.  Never found the alleged violation, but dang if he didn't spot something else while there.

Fines well into the 5 figures over safety glasses (a worker was alleged to have taken his off to rub his eyes) and mandating a safety harness for a guy on a 6 ft stepladder (mandated harness would not have caught him unless he had fallen at least 10 ft).  Took OSHA to court demanding to know who kept filing false reports.  The judge even sided with my father and ordered OSHA to give names and open records, OSHA never complied.  Took a call to congressman to get the heat off, but then the congressman of course wanted some grease in the form of PR and "contributions to his campaign."

Nasty business all around.

80s?  I thought she was waaaayyy older than that!  Seemed to figure a lot in Grimm's tales...

Yup, throw everything at the wall and hope some of it sticks.  California and the rest are determined to shaft us all.  Not just on guns, talk to some folks in the auto and trucking industries.  CA is responsible for much harm there too.