“STAR TREK”

Posted By: Peter DavidPosted On:

Long story short–I thought it was great.

Fairly spoiler-free comments follow:

How many times are fans going to have to be proven wrong after they engage in massive bìŧçh fests over initial announced concepts, preliminary photographs, etc., before they realize that howling “It’s gonna suck!” months (if not years) before a film hits the screen is just a waste of energy?

Here we go again, as J.J. Abrams and company produce a film that deftly threads the needle of fealty to what’s gone before while breathing new life into what Paramount routinely refers to as “the franchise.” Concocting a time travel story that basically leaves ST:TOS alone in its own universe while rebooting it here, “Star Trek” creates a 24th century for the 21st century. Yes, granted, there are some bizarre visual disparities–why do all the upper sections of the Enterprise look like an Apple store while the engineering room looks like it belongs on the Red October–but ultimately that’s just Star Trek trivia. For the fans there are plenty of nudge nudge, wink wink references to bits of business from all aspects of the Trekverse (including the inclusion of Uhura’s first name as suggested by Nichelle and popularized in various Trek novels, making Pocket two for two after Hikaru Sulu), well-placed lines of dialogue that harken to earlier films (most notably ST2), and the evocation of beloved character moments (Sulu gets a sword in his hand for the first time since “The Naked Time.”) Plus, of course, the appearance of Leonard Nimoy as Spock (“Spock Prime” as he’s credited), which is being described as a cameo. Not to me. To me, a cameo is Stan Lee playing a hot dog vendor. Nimoy has about as much screen time as Judy Dench did in “Shakespeare in Love” and she won an Oscar.

For the casual movie goers, there is simply an energetic story featuring an excellent cast led by Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, and Karl Urban (who seems to be channeling De Kelly without even trying). Eric Bana’s Romulan villain Nero (sticking with the Roman theme, I see) is the most formidable opponent since Khaaaaaaaaan. Plus there’s a sequence where Kirk is being chased by an alien beast that I’m pretty sure is a first cousin of the Cloverfield monster. For the first time in a long time we have a Star Trek film that has the scope and vision to come across as a genuine movie rather than an overblown TV episode.

PAD

199 comments on ““STAR TREK””

  1. As far as leaving the bridge and computers being able to do stuff remotely–I’d imagine that a navigation console and a tranporter console are slightly different, and my one gripe with a lot of scenes in the later shows was the reconfigurable consoles. Good idea, but suppose someone’s doing something in the transporter room while someone ELSE on the bridge decides to beam something up? Transporter soup with a side of fries!

    Have to admit, though, I was kinda hoping to see Gary Mitchell, and I’m still not sure about the arrowhead being a fleetwide emblem. Always kinda liked the individual ones. And Archer’s poor dog!!

    1. Oh my gosh, YES, Gary Mitchell! Well, there’s always the next movie.

      Have I mentioned how great Zachary Quinto was? Most actors who try to play Vulcans just coming off looking like they can’t act. He was perfect down to his read of “Fascinating.”

      Seriously, I don’t think they could have done this any better.

    2. I didn’t realize Scotty was talking about *that* dog until I read your comment! Oh, boy!

      1. He wasn’t. THAT dog would have been over 100 years old by the time the movie took place. Captain Archer would have been over 130 . . . possible in Trek, but not likely. Running theory is it’s his son/grandson, and they have the same passion for beagles.

  2. PAD, I had the exact same thought as you with regards to the Enterprise being cadet heavy ala Khan.

    And I had the same thought with Kirk’s huge jump in promotion: Battlefield Commision. For all intents and purposes, he deserved it for, well, saving the world.

  3. I like the time-travel / alternate universe plot a lot. Every other series reboot ever (aside from in a few comic books) it basically angrily yells: “NEVER HAPPENED! EVERYTHING YOU KNOW IS WRONG!!! THIS IS THE FIRST TIME!!” So when Bond drinks the Martini, or Bale puts on the Batsuit, it’s only cool because it’s like “Oh, I remember when the other guy did this too.”
    In Star Trek, these guys lives have been torn apart by the time-traveling bad guy. But their destiny propels them back together. It’s fate, it’s supposed to happen. So Kirk sitting the Captain’s chair isn’t just a cool moment cause you’re seeing it again for the first time, it’s an actual plot-point. The TOS crew come together again, and not even the destruction of their timeline can stop them. They’re simply that awesome. I think it shows a hëll of a lot more respect for the audience that cared about the series for years. Everything that happened still happened (fictionally, but you know what I mean). Would anyone REALLY be happen if it was just one of those Batman Begins-eque hit-the-button resets?
    Oddly, I view this more as a sequel than a prequel. Everything that happened before in Trek led to this point. So the grand-narrative of Star Trek that began with the Cage through to Nemesis loops back on itself. It’s like a pretzel. With time-traveling Romulans. Technically, it’s a sequel, prequel, reboot, remake. It’s a seprebootmake!

    1. “be happen” “be happy” potato. Potatoe. Don’t worry, be happy. You know what I mean.

      Time travel reboot = awesome idea.

  4. Is anyone else mentally No-Prizing why the tech in the alternate timeline looks different? That’s the only thing I wish the movie had explained. Extremely minor thing. Hëll, it may be answered somewhere in a novel adaptation or whatever.

    In my mind, the Kelvin looked very much like a cross between the NX-01 and the NCC-1701 era ships, so I was fine with that (even the uniforms had a slightly Enterprise-era vibe). In my mind, the scans the Kelvin took of Nero’s ship (24th Century tech from the future) were Downloaded to the escaping shuttles, and then Starfleet reverse-engineered the tech to create the future-tastic slightly-different New Enterprise. Works for me. I’d love to see if the screenwriters had an explanation for this.

    1. [fanwank] When the Borg/Enterprise D went back in time in FIRST CONTACT, Cochrane’s exposure to 24th century tech influenced tech design thence. That’s why the Enterprise from ENTERPRISE looks more “modern” than the NCC-1701 and, consequently, why the ships from STAR TREK look higher tech than the original series.[/fanwank]

      1. Actually, one of the movie’s writers, Robert Orci, is posting on the Star Trek AICN talkback (which I think is pretty champ of him, and he’s been doing it for various Star Trek stories months) so I managed to pester him for an answer, which was basically what I thought:
        .
        “Certainly one would expect that the fleeing shuttles carrying survivors would also carry whatever telemetry was recorded by the Kelvin in its final moments ( like an airplanes BLACK BOX). Imagine the wealth of information that Starfleet was exposed to from scans of the Narada.”
        .
        http://www.aintitcool.com/talkback_display/41001#comment_2656114

  5. I get why some people have issues with the rebooting, Alison especially.

    I wonder if this is how Doctor Who and BattleStar Galactica fans felt when they heard about the reboots.

    The thing is the presence of Spock Prime says hey all the stuff you loved still happened it’s just now we’re going to look and see what happened if things were just a little bit different.

    Also as per Leonard nimoy on SNL tonight. If you’re a trekker and don’t like the new movie you’re a dìçkhëád.

    Before someone yells at me, yes that was a joke.

    1. Actually, Doctor Who wasn’t a reboot. The series simply continued the adventures of the lead character. Everything, from the existence of previous incarnations of the lead to the fact that the TARDIS looks different inside, has been acknowledged and worked into the ongoing continuity.
      .
      Even BSG incorporated the previous series into its continuity with the line about, “This story has been told before…and will be told again.”
      .
      PAD

      1. See, I just like to think of the entirety of old-BSG (including G1980) as Tom Zarek’s dream, the night before his execution.

    1. It doesn’t, but something tells me Trek fandom won’t crack up particularly if “Star Trek: Nemesis” becomes somewhat moot.
      .
      PAD

    2. I’d assume Remus and the Remans got blown to hëll like Romulus in the 24th Century when the star went nova. Nero was kind of avenging them too, but since Remans are just fodder to the Romulans, I’m sure he really didn’t care.

  7. Kirk was good.
    Sila…errr… Spock was good
    Uhura was hotter than ever.
    Sulu was a great character.
    Scotty was hilarious but a bit too comical at times.
    Chekov was plain awful.
    Eric Bana as the villain Nero was very good.
    The New Enterprise – Externally very good but uneven inside. A little too bright and high tech and then way too low tech in engineering.
    Nero’s ship was way too overly complicated in it’s design.
    While I look forward to future episodes I pray that they get better overall stories. There were too many examples of indulgent special effects or comedic turns that took what should be a tense situation and made it flat. The new Kirk/Spock interaction was very good.

    1. My favorite comedic moments was Bones repeatedly jabbing Kirk with various shots and Kirk yelling, “Stop that!”
      .
      PAD

      1. Mine was when

        [SPOILER]

        Kirk offers to assist the Romulans and Spock questions him on it.

        Kirk: I thought you’d appreciate the logic.

        Spock: No, not this time. Not really.

  8. I loved it (yes, despite a couple of bloopers that have been pointed out elsewhere–look, it’s a MOVIE and the only one available to see in between all the countless novels so enjoy it and eat your popcorn)

    The whole franchise needed a reboot and all the long time fans who are wringing their hands should just grow up and face the future

    Paramount finally read the credo (you know….”To boldly go…..” ) and they put REAL money into the budget and let the director make us all a first class butt kicking movie

    Looks like we’ll make it to the fiftieth anniversary after all.

  9. This movie was Very Good. My only complaint was not enough Scotty. Then again, Simon Pegg *was* something of a scene-stealer in nearly every frame. And now qualifies, I think, as the only actor that has had a major role in both Trek *and* Doctor Who. Though I wouldn’t mind at all being proven wrong about that. 🙂

    Wildcat

    1. Wikipedia lists Daphne Ashbrook, Alan Dale, Maurice Roëves, Christopher Neame, Olaf Pooley, John Franklyn-Robbins, Barrie Ingham Guy Siner, and Deep Roy (who was in the movie) as the credited actors who have done both (though I think Dale was technially in Torchwood. As well as an actor named Greg Palmer who was in both but was uncredited in Trek

      1. And the only one of those who’s had roles on par with Pegg’s was Daphne Ashbrook, guesting in DS9 and being the Doctor’s companion in the 1996 Fox tv movie.

  10. Okay, I saw it, and gave it an A- – decent acting, ditto storyline, and the special effects only occasionally overdid it. I do have a souple of quibbles, though:

    1. The shot where Kirk sees what I assume is Enterprise under construction in Iowa. Nothing against Iowa, but my question is – Why would you build a starship, which by definition does not enter an atmosphere, on a planetary surface? Especially when you’ve got orbital dockyards? Visually arresting, but bad planning!

    2. Zachary Quinto’s superhuman eyebrows and apparent inability to shave.

    3. Leonard Nimoy needs new dentures.

    4. The whole “lightning storm in space” thing. From the opening sequence it looked like Nero’s ship coming out of the wormhole – so where did the second one come from?

    5. And, oh yeah – “mining vessel” my ***! Why would a mining ship need killer torpedoes?

      1. I’m hoping Spock’s half-brother Sybok was on Vulcan when it got destroyed. If only so this reality doens’t have to suffer Star Trek V and that line. lol

        But this is an alternate timeline. Ultimate Star Trek for lack of better term. A divergent relaity branching off the original. So let’s have a think here. What DIDN’T HAPPEN to Ultimate Kirk? Hmmm…

        I got it. So since Ultimate Kirk didn’t enlist in Starfeelt until age 22 (Unlike Prime Kirk who enlisted at 17) that means he never had to deal with upper classman FInigan’s bûllšhìŧ.

        Never met Gary Mitchell who must be alive as well but not with God like power. Never met Carol Marcus cause he met her during his academy days. Meaning this Kirk doesn’t have a son named David Marcus. Never served on the USS Faragut and met that cloud monster.

        Never went to that planet with the tribal hill people ( the ones klingons gave guns to and some witchy woman used a plant to control kirk) Wait than he never met that Ben Finney guy and narc him out for fûçkìņg up and than Finney is probably still enlisted cause nobody caught his mistake. Thus giving Finney no reason to frame Kirk to get him court martialed.

        Wait since he went a differnt year that means he never got taught by that historian who made some planet a Nazi Planet! Did he meet Commadore Decker during his academy days..Kirk Prime that is…? My head. And also Ultimate Kirk beat out Kirk Prime in one way though. Kirk Prime was 31 when he became Captain of the Enterpirse in Star Trek Prime. Ultimate Kirk is 25! OH MY HEAD!

        And yes I guess Spock isn’t engaged to that chick for the Amok Time episdoe. And I guess no Savikk! She probably died! Oh Good lord. This is awesome. I wonder what else is diffrent in this new universe Spock Prime created?

        Since these are two diffrent timelines Star Trek Prime and whetever fans and paramount mike call the new canon…will there be crossovers? And PAD would you be interested in writing novels in the new reality? Heck I’d love to read about Spock Prime’s adventures in this new universe.

      2. The same reason Bert needed a rubber duckie… gotta have SOMETHING to play with in the bathtub!

        I remain,
        Sincerely,
        Eric L. Sofer
        The Silver Age Fogey
        x<]:o){

    2. 4. The second one came from Spock Prime’s arrival. Thought that was spelled out pretty clearly.

      5. After Romulus was destroyed, the mining ship armed itself to the teeth. With tech from its advanced time period. The younger Federation ships were simply outclassed.

      My nitpicks:

      1. Sorry, I LOVE the Beastie Boys, but I don’t buy that they will be the soundtrack of choice for joyriding 12-year-olds more than 200 years in the future…

      2. …any more than I buy that Nokia will still be around and still using a version of that same annoying signature ringtone. Had a problem with the product placement in general, though “Budweiser Classic” was kind of cute. But the Beastie Boys and Nokia coming one right on top of the other threatened to pull me out of the film.

      3. Admiral Tyler Perry? No. Just … no. Though admittedly, I barely recognized him since he wasn’t wearing a dress…

      Those nitpicks aside, I loved every second and am ready for J.J. Abrams to make another one right now.

    3. The lightning storm is easy; it’s an effect of the ship or the presence of the Red Matter, not the black hole.

  11. While I wasn’t running up and down the halls claiming how bad it was going to be, I didn’t have high hopes. From the previews and trailers I just didn’t like the look and feel I was getting. Then I remembered how 99 percent of the time previews and trailers are off the mark.

    Granted, I’m not the biggest Star Trek fan in the world as far as trivia goes and my main base of knowledge is with TNG but I thought the movie was everything you could ask for if Trek was to be rebooted. Funny, memorable, capable, entertaining. I hate Origin Stories but this one knocked it out of the park.

    If I had to find any gripes it would be only these two—one, I thought the “Cloverfield” scene was a bit jarring, if only because it reminded me a bit of the Fish Eat Fish Phantom Menance scene. And two, I thought Spock Prime was left well enough alone. The extra, “You’ll go on and have many adventures…” bit was a little much.

  12. That was tremendous fun. Chris Pine managed to nail Kirk without doing a Shatner imersonation. It’s the closest any of the movies have gotten to the original series, and it’s the Trek movie I’ve been waiting for since 1982.

  13. I didn’t like the movie that much. It didn’t really work for me. The characters seemed very hollow. I didn’t feel anything after watching it.

    I’m glad other people liked it though. That means more Star Trek. Hopefully the next one will be more thoughtful and interesting.

  14. I felt the film was a let-down. There were just too many things that didn’t make any sense that by the end I just didn’t really care much.

    Why does Nero need to drill to a planet’s core to use the “red matter” when it can create black holes in open space? Why was Vulcan visible from Delta Vega? How did Kirk manage to be chased into the exact cave that Spock was hiding in? Did Future-Spock say a supernova was threatening to destroy the galaxy? That makes no sense, as they’re not that big. Is Starfleet so hard up for officers they’ll give raw cadets the captaincy of their most powerful ships? I could go on for much longer the story was so full of holes.

    Some of the cast were great- Urban’s McCoy and Yelchin’s Chekhov were excellent, Pegg’s Scotty was fun but not very true to the real Mr Scott. Beyond that I wasn’t too impressed. In particular I felt Nero was a very weak villain who reminded me too much of Shinzon. Also, Kirk was not served well by the script. Where is the Kirk who could concoct something like the Corbomite device or talk a computer into self-destructing? We barely get to see Kirk do anything except get beaten up!

    The effects were very good, but that’s not enough to make a film good, and Giacchino’s score was disappointingly underwhelming and bland.

    Overall, I think the film is excellent during the Kelvin scenes right up to Kirk’s disciplinary hearing. After that it just stopped being believable, with too many coincidences, plot-holes and bad science which really let down a positive start. I wouldn’t mind seen a film based around the Kelvin and her crew…

  15. The second lightning storm that they detected was the arrival of Spock Prime.

    I agree with pretty much all you said Peter, but i thought Nero was a fairly flat character that was a weak cross between Khan and Shinzo(?). But since I didn’t see him as the point of this storyline, it doesn’t bother me. He was just a vehicle to change time and get the story going.

    As far as time travel goes; the way Star Trek set the rules, all the previous storylines have been erased. Every previous time traveling storyline (for example, DS9 crew in the near future earth or Star Trek: First Contact), when someone changes the past, the future is alterated. They’ve even gone so far to prove this point by having a scan showing that their universe has been altered. So, if we follow the traditional rules, the only series that still exists is “Enterprise”. (Of course, technically the temporal cold war in “Enterprise” changed things too.)

    However, I doubt all those novel lines that are produce every month have just stopped. So, I think we’re just going to get a new set of novel lines and 2 realities. No complaints there. (Hmm, that means eventually, crossover.)

    Hmm, is anyone going to rewrite “Amok Time” with this new reality?

    (Dang, does this mean more Borg?)

    1. Ohh I can even see how the crossover would work – someone from the Prime universe crosses into the Mirror universe which leads to the, um, “New” universe.

    2. Wow, I did not think about that. I figured the divergent began when Nero arrived, but because of Enterprise.. his arrival effects how things happend back in Captain Archer’s time (No Temporal Cold War). So there may not even be human looking Klingons because Archer may have done something different. Ship looks different? They decided that Archer’s Enterprise needed some specific updates… and those uniforms!

      Regardless, I’m not going to worry too much about continuity. They made an effort to please the older Star Trek fans and tie things together. If they didn’t like it.. there is a fine line of Star Trek novels still being produced.

  16. I live in Iowa so I’m just sorry to see the state is getting much flater in the next couple of centuries. I wonder what opened up our local version of the Grand Canyon. Maybe they went overboard on a gravel pit or two.
    I don’t live in Riverside, IA so I’m not aware if they’re pìššëd about not being identified as Kirk’s home.

  17. First, let me say I’ve getting a little tired of all the shots taken at long-time Trek fans by the media int he build-up to this film. Most of them a stereotypical mischaracterizations. The whole thing was a faux event.

    As for the movie: loved it. Found the timeline plot a little tired and boring, but hey they had to do something. I have to disagree with your assessment of Nero. He doesn’t come close to approaching some of Trek’s greatest villains. For me it will always be Khan. If that makes me one of those “rabid fans” JJ Abrams told to stay home, so be it.

    As for the rest of the cast, I have to say Abrams really picked well. Sure, Pine and Quinto were great (Quinto doesn’t quite match the gravitas of Nimoy’s Spock, but we can give him time). Simon Pegg was great and Karl Urban (another one of those rabid Trek fans) struck a lot of the right notes with his version of McCoy. It was almost like an homage. John Cho was also gret, but they could have left Anton Yelchin’s Checkov out of the movie and it wouldn’t have hurt anything. However, for me the real stand out was Zoe Saldana. She embodied the character of Uhura as well as Quinto and Pine did with their roles. Finally, Uhura steps out and into the spotlight in a Trek film.

    If Trek fans are staying away because they think this film doesn’t pay respect to the Original (and I seriously doubt that), they should buck up and get to the theater.

    1. First, let me say I’ve getting a little tired of all the shots taken at long-time Trek fans by the media int he build-up to this film.
      .
      Aye. As one example, MTVblog’s entry said that the film ‘pìššëd øff’ hardcore Trekkies. Erm, ok, whatever. I’ve boycotted the film, but I’m not pìššëd over it.
      .
      If anything, I’m more pìššëd at the fact that, having been a Trek fan all my life, I’m now expected to get out of the way of the Lowest Common Denominator who suddenly thinks Trek is cool because of this film. When – the irony – said folks have spent decades pìššìņg on Trek and anybody who enjoyed it.

      1. I get where you’re at, Craig, but in my opinion this film was much more respectful of the essence of Start Trek than most of the last few films have been. For someone who isn’t supposed to be a Star trek fan, Abrams sure made a movie that THIS fan loved.
        .
        That said, the script noticeably weakened a bit in the second half, though by then the acting and characters had their hooks in sufficiently. Why did Kirk act like Spock was the one deliberately responsible for the new timeline? Going back in time wasn’t a “cheat” or did i miss something? (I know there were deleted scenes–why hire Winona Ryder for a character who is older than Winona Ryder unless there had been a planned scene with her character as a younger woman?)

      2. Bill, I wasn’t referring to the people making the film, but to moviegoers themselves. In the end, general moviegoers aren’t going to care about the essence of Star Trek – to that end, this could’ve been a completely different movie in terms of name and cast as long as it was entertaining. But the fact that it’s called Star Trek has some them more than happy to rub that fact in the face of long-time Trek fans, as if only now is Trek ok because they’ve placed the LCD’s Stamp of Approval on it.

  18. At the risk of getting lynched, I think it could’ve been a better shooting script and movie with a different director. Yep, there I said it. The energy was good, but too much characterization was sacrificed for cool action sequences or funny moments that were just a few seconds too long. The one characterization they worked on is such a tired trope too… the one where the guy’s got something to prove because his father died, and of course, he’s just as good, if not better than his father. It was a tired plot in Top Gun and it’s way past its use by date now. The car chase sequence at the beginning was awful. Had I a desire to own the movie, I would copy it to my computer, and just take that scene out… and it wouldn’t change the tone of the movie one iota. Nero I felt was a little too shinzon… And Scotty was just, well, bad… And I love Simon Pegg, but it was pretty was the low point amongst the cast! Too much happened that was coincedence, so yeah, I think a better director might’ve been able to balance the character moments (Star Trek IV is the best example of letting each character shine)and worked on the plot holes. The movie looked pretty, but I just don’t see it standing up on closer inspection.

  19. Having just got back from the theater I now feel bad about my earlier criticism of Vulcans. I’m not one to kick a group when they’re down.
    .
    The movie, btw, rocked all kinds of cool. One scene with Chekov reduced my wife to tears of laughter, always fun to see.

  20. I particularly liked the part where Nero shouted “SPOOOOOOOOOOOCCCKKKK!” kinda like Kirk had shouted “KHAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN!”

    My initial reaction was “WHOO HOO!” I still had a great time, but upon further reflection, there are so many story problems it makes my head spin. But, Karl Urban’s direct channelling of De Kelley was a real treat, and I think he did the best with being true to his predecessor. I’m just sad that De didn’t live to see it. 🙁 Pegg was a bit too over the top for me to really see him as Scotty, but he was likable nonetheless.

    So? Are there going to be new books based upon the alternate timeline? Stargate rather ably covered the “alternate people objecting to having the timeline returned to ‘normal’ ” thing. I can’t imagine the alt. Starfleet/UFP being too thrilled with the idea of changing everything back even if it did return Vulcan.

  21. My best friend had two questions I couldn’t answer, both relating to Kirk’s family.

    1) What happened to Jim’s older brother Sam?

    B) What was a very pregnant Mrs. Kirk doing aboard a starship? Did things change that much in Starfleet that the families aboard rule came about 100-odd years earlier?

    And yeah, poor Porthos…

    J.

    1. Perhaps the same thing occurred to the Doctor on that ship that Bones used to get Kirk on the Enterprise later?
      Her patient was in need of her assistance but she was needed on the ship so the patient (Kirk’s wife) had to go to so she could be in her Docs supervision?
      I tried 😉

  22. I saw STAR TREK again and I noticed something: although the Starfleet computer was voiced by Majel, the Vulcan computer (onboard Spock Prime’s ship) was not. In fact, it sounded like Kirstie Alley.

    Can anyone confirm?

    1. I can confirm that Kirstie Alley sounds nothing like Majel Barrett. 😉

      IMDB does not list an actor for the Vulcan computer.

      1. I saw somewhere that it was supposed to be Susan Gibney since apparently Leah Brahms designed the ship. I’ll have to go back and see it again to confirm this. (SUUUUUURE I will….)

  23. A few points:
    .
    First, was it ever established in the film that the young Kirk grew up in Iowa? I don’t recall seeing anything to that effect. Sure, the Shatner Kirk was born in Iowa, but the Pine Kirk was born on a shuttlecraft, and was raised by his mother and step-father. It doesn’t necessarily follow that even if George and the unnamed Mrs. Kirk lived in Iowa that she’d remain there after her remarriage.
    .
    (By the way, I assume Kirk’s older brother, Sam, is still around somewhere, since changes to the timeline occurred after his birth.)
    .
    Second, the prize beagle in question wasn’t Porthos. I forget how much time was supposed to have separated the events of Enterprise and the original Star Trek, but I know that it was longer than a dog’s lifetime. The dog in question was whatever beagle (obviously Archer’s favorite breed) Archer owned at the time. Perhaps Athos or Aramis.
    .
    Rick

  24. My wife and I loved it, but we read the 4 issue prequel comic ‘Star Trek – Countdown’. It really adds a lot to the movie, explaining how Nero became what he is, his relationship with Spock, how the TNG cast were involved and it also ends right where the movie begins. My wife (who is not a Trek fan per se) loved te movie, but commented that the prequel comic added so much to her enjoyment of it. Read Countdown first, people! It has a lot of pleasant surprises for long time Trek fans!

  25. Possible Spoiler!!!

    With Spock Prime now in the past to help the Vulcans rebuild, he can do so much for the Federation….he knows the Borg are out there, he knows about the wormhole in the Bajor system and the fact the Dominion are out there…the Federation can jumop a huge quantum leap in science and technology and be totally prepared to stop everything the TNG/DS9 crews faced. The story potential is unlimited!

    1. Actually, all this means is that ALL the elements from the later series (Borg, Bajor, Ferengi, etc.) is now free fodder for the movies. The tech level stuff bores me, but the chance for more destabilizing politics (what do the Klingons do, since they’re actively hostile, with a visitor from the future? Or, what do they do when the Fed lose a major component?)

  26. I thought the movie was an excellent re-boot to the franchise. Solid story, great action, very cool effects, and a new intensity between the main characters; Kirk & Spock, Spock & Uhura (never saw this coming but friggin’ great), and Kirk & McCoy (enjoyed their first meeting). When the DVD comes out I would like to see the 4 issue Countdown story added as either a motion comic or DVD-ROM. I read it and it does give more depth to the overall story and fleshes out Nero’s & Spock backstory.

  27. Shame on you for not mentioning Simon Pegg, who just about stole the second half of the film as Scotty. And Bruce Greenwood gets props for making Capt. Pike a human being and not a block of wood (and that’s BEFORE the plasma accident!).

    I thought Nero was pretty one-note, myself. But as an original Trekkie, I liked it for the most part and would watch a second film.

    I have noticed a pretty vocal minority trashing this film, and it seems to me not to be made up of my generation of fans, who saw the first episode first run on TV. Rather, they seem to be later generation fans who jumped onto Star Trek with Next Generation, Voyager or Enterprise. They hate this film – – with a passion akin to Nero’s hatred of Spock. And I was worried that was going to be me!

    Now if we can just get J.J. Abrams to hold his camera still a little more . . .

  28. Mild SPOILER:

    What was the deal with Spock as a teen getting punched in the mouth and having red blood on his lip when talking with Sarek? They were pretty good about the Romulan blood being green with the whole swordfight on the drilling platform. That took me out of the moment, but otherwise a great film.

    End SPOILERS

    Overall, excellent job, and the ensemble made this work. It could have easily become a Kirk/Spock film only, and while they were prominent, it was definitely an ensemble film. Well done.

    ~Chris

    1. Interesting. When I saw it, I specifically noticed that his blood in that scene _was_ green. Someone going overboard doing color-correction, perhaps? It’s been known to happen before..

    2. Huh. I actually perceived that blood as dark green/brownish, or whatever color green blood gets when it scabs over. When I saw the film, I do remember noticing that it wasn’t “normal” red/maroon human blood colored. Go figure…

  29. Okay, I am desperately trying to figure out if I am the only one on this planet that saw Wil Wheaton in the opening scenes before that ship gets destroyed.. Please help me figure things out.. THanks

    1. Thought that myself, though its such a quick glimpse that it could have been someone similar looking.

  31. Did no one else feel this movie makes Spock a failure? He FAILS to save TWO races of people. And then glibly talks about the importance of friendship.
    I just can’t imagine watching my older self lose EVERYTHING, fail at the most important moment of his life (the end). And no revenge, no correction, nothing to redeem his character. He lost, and he walks away losing. That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    1. I think that’s a touch harsh. Spock Prime can’t REALLY be blamed for the demise of Romulus; he was not directly responsible for its destruction and it’s not as if he stopped en route for a drink and that’s why he arrived too late. Nero’s blaming him wasn’t really rational. And then he managed to (a) save Kirk from the ice creature (albeit under admittedly unlikely circumstances), (b) clue Kirk, who was best suited to take charge of the Enterprise, how to go about doing so, and (c) help lay track work for rebuilding the Kirk/Spock relationship.
      .
      The younger Spock was unable to save his homeworld, or his mother, but he was able to save his father and the core of his people’s culture. Plus he helped save the Earth so, y’know, go Earth.
      .
      If you’re judging the quality of a hero by his batting average, look at Indiana Jones in “Raiders.” He fails to get the first relic in the teaser, gets the Ark only to have it fall into the hands of the Nazis, fails to rescue Marian through direct action, fails to stop them from opening the Ark, and once he brings it back to the US, loses it again, this time to the government. If you take Indy out of “Raiders,” here’s what happens:
      .
      The Nazis go the Marian, get the headpiece from her through brute force, bring it to the dig, locate the Ark, bring it to the island, open it, and they all die. The end.
      .
      PAD

      2. I enjoyed the movie. It was good. I like the characters and characterization very much, butI think destroying Romulus and Vulcan was too much. I know they have to do more than in a TV episode, but still. Also, they took the destruction of Vulcan rather well. When earth faces destruction you know people will be on the first train to time traveling to prevent or reverse it (movies IV and VIII, maybe VII too), but when Vulcan is destroyed, well, we’ll soldier on, at least we are all friends.
        Bill Adama is the right guy if your civilzation is destroyed, but from Kirk I expect to prevent it.

        Despite that I liked the movie.

  32. Loved the movie, but am I the only one who got a giggle out of the “red matter”? JJ appears to have a fondness for giant red globes of world-destroying goo (Alias, anyone?)

  33. When earth faces destruction you know people will be on the first train to time traveling to prevent or reverse it (movies IV and VIII, maybe VII too), but when Vulcan is destroyed, well, we’ll soldier on, at least we are all friends.
    .
    Here’s the flaw in that logic: Kirk and company only knew about slingshotting themselves around the sun in ST IV to travel in time because they came up with the idea in “Tomorrow is Yesterday”–and only then out of necessity because of their accidental trip into the past (as a result of their falling into a “black star,” so there’s the precedent for what we saw in the current film.)
    .
    So how would they know that they’re capable of traveling back in time to save Vulcan when the events that give them that knowledge haven’t happened yet? (And the time travel in “First Contact” is simply a matter of them following a Borg ship through a newly create time anomaly.)
    .
    PAD

    1. So how would they know that they’re capable of traveling back in time to save Vulcan when the events that give them that knowledge haven’t happened yet?

      Spock Prime.
      .
      As somebody mentioned earlier, with him around, all sorts of stuff that shouldn’t be known about can be planned for (but not automatically dealt with, since this is a new and crummy time line we’re talking about). But then, all this would be too easy. 😉

      1. Perhaps Spock Prime simply isn’t a big fan of mucking with history. We don’t know his opinions on it; it was always Kirk who said, “Let’s do this.”
        .
        PAD

      2. I don’t know. Spock had no problem giving Scotty an equation he didn’t yet invent. I also don’t remember him object to the whole save the whales plan, although it was Kirk’s idea. Moreover, history was already altered in a more dramatic way than before.

      3. Since old Spock knows how to time travel, I would think he would go back to correct the timeline. Maybe I’m missing some subtly, but isn’t this a similar situation as Edith Keeler (do I need to pay Harlan royalties for mentioning the name?)? In “City on the Edge of Forever,” McCoy’s time traveling and saving Edith changed the present, so Kirk and Spock had to go back to fix it. It was Spock who pointed out that Edith had to die to correct time. In Harlan’s script, I think it was Spock who makes the decision when Kirk is unable to. So Spock wouldn’t use the slingshot effect or use the Guardian–not to save his home planet and millions of people, but to correct the time line and save millions of people? Hmm.

    2. I didn’t remember when they discovered time traveling. But Craig is right, Spock Prime could have told them how to do it. Also, there was a moment there when they created the 2nd black hole that I thought they would use it to go back in time and save Vulcan.

      In any case, the technical stuff doesn’t really matter. The writers made a creative decision. If they wanted to reverse it they could have come with an acceptable explanation. I think their decision was a something of an overkill, especially considering the lighthearted feel of the whole movie. A small scale event that would have affected Spock would have sufficed in my opinion. But it’s their choice.

      It didn’t ruin the movie for me. I think they succeeded in what they set out to do in so far of finding the right blend of humor action, sci-fi, characterization, newness and reference to the past. I don’t know why, but this blend seems to have alluded the Star Trek franchise for a while now, so I’m happy they found it again, which is certainly not easy. But where as the character interaction was the strong point of this movie, the plot could have been better, in my humble opinion.

      Also, I don’t care that much about the alterations in that changed timeline. I’m not versed so well in Star Trek continuity to be attached to one timeline over another. I just felt that the fate of Vulcan and Rumulus was an overkill. I also don’t think that such a cataclysmic event is in the optimistic spirit of Star Trek. But, I am not that much of a Trekkie, so I’m less certain about that.

      And Craig, this is an enjoyable movie.

    3. So how would they know that they’re capable of traveling back in time to save Vulcan when the events that give them that knowledge haven’t happened yet? (And the time travel in “First Contact” is simply a matter of them following a Borg ship through a newly create time anomaly.)

      Well, there was a fair amount of time travel in Star Trek: Enterprise, whose events still precede Star Trek. If I recall correctly, during the series, there was at least one conversation between Archer and T’Pol where Archer would claim to have travelled through time and T’Pol would assert that Vulcan scientists had concluded that time travel was impossible, a stance she at least would eventual soften when Archer’s claims of time-hopping became more credible to her.

      So we might posit that someone, somewhere might have worked out some of the mechanics of time travel between the time of Star Trek: Enterprise and this new Star Trek movie, even if it wasn’t such common knowledge that any ol’ starship captain would go slingshotting around suns. Might be fodder for future storytelling, I’d imagine…

      As a digression, I know that some Trek fans are a little upset at the thought that the new movie shunted the beloved stories told so far into a different reality. But I don’t think I’ve heard as much complaint at the idea that the only part of the “Prime” reality left basically untouched is the Star Trek: Enterprise prequel series, arguably the weakest of the lot. If something (aside from Spock Prime) could survive, it’s a shame it couldn’t be something better than ST:E 😉

  34. I finnaly saw it yesterday. I really enjoyed it. I have a few things that bothered me.

    #1) if Spock WOULD have saved Romulus from the supernova explosion, wouldn’t the planet still die as the people and life froze to death without light and heat from its star? The planet would still need to be saved. And it’s not like stars “suddenly” go supernova. That part just made me go WTF.

    #2) Spock was out of character. Forget the Uhura thing, the whole thing was out of character for him. So are we having a more human Spock in the next series of movies?

    Over all it was extremly enjoyable.

    Joe V.

    1. I’m not sure about this, but it seems to me the movie made aslight shift in the image of Vulcans. Before, they were described as emotionless of he surface, with wild emotions boiling underneath, as if they were holding back great annoyance. But in the movie the Vulcans are not completley emotionless as much as very controled. They fall in love, are angry, surprised etc. but their display of emotions is very subdued. So Spock can have a romantic relationship with Uhura, but the way he interacts with her is different than the way Kirk would. The Vucan children duslike Spock, and he dislikes them, but their taunting and his reaction do not involve yelling (?).

      1. Hm. Actually, I think this view of Vulcans make more sense, an gibes with the years of novels where they hashed this out on how a devotion of logic over emotion would make sense. (Though I do recall the taunting of Spock as a child is very canonical, as explained in, I think, Jounrey to Babel….)

      2. My theory here has very little basis to stand on. It’s just that the impression of Vulcans I got from ST: ENterprise, or from the early movies was of passive aggressive people that have to deal with idiots (Sarek fror example. On the other hand, in this movie Spock Prime, Sarek and even the younger Spock felt more calm. When Sarek explains why he married his human wife, he does not react emotionaly but he is not oblivious to emotion either. Similarly when Spock kisses Uhura, his reaction is much less emotional than a humans, but it is not as if the act of kissing or the emotions assossiated with it are unknown to him.

    2. The Romulan star didn’t go Supernova, it was a different star (in Countdown). It was kind of a Super-Supernova, picking up more steam as it went along it’s way. Nobody really believed it would wipe out Romulus until it was too late. (Holy Krypton-syndrome, Batman!)

  35. Oh the other thing the bothered me was in the ice planet, why did the big creature keep following Kirk after he had ensnared the Wolf like creature. That wolf like creature looke like it had more meat then Kirk did. I know, i’m kinda nip picking.
    Like I said the movie was very enjoyable and I liked it.

    Joe V.

    1. Oh the other thing the bothered me was in the ice planet, why did the big creature keep following Kirk after he had ensnared the Wolf like creature.
      .
      He wanted an autograph?
      .
      PAD

  37. I really enjoyed this movie. I wonder how different the crew of the Excalibur, from the New Frontier books, would be in the alternate reality. With the destruction of Vulcan, would Soleta and Selar still exist?

    1. Highly doubtfully – I’d rate the chances of both parents of any Vulcan born during/after the movie era, or any Vulcan who happened to be around during said period, as pretty much astronomically unlikely. About as unlikely as a Starfleet cadet getting marooned on an ice planet which just happens to contain an old friend from another timeline, and somebody who would have been an old friend in that other timeline.
      .
      Oh, wait…
      .
      One thing that kinda bugged me about that, the whole 10,000 Vulcans/endangered species bit. What, did they not colonize any planets not named Romulas? In all their centuries, if not millennia (Side note: My dictionary doesn’t list that as a word), of space travel, they didn’t set down one SINGLE colony? Well, I guess that explains all the empty rocks humans apparently planted a flag on when we showed up with warp drive… You just know that if Earth went kablooey, there’d be plenty of humans still running around. Maybe not the billions anymore, but certainly the tens-of-millions at the very least. Kinda boggles the mind that there were only 10,000 or so Vulcans either rescued or off-planet. (On the other hand, if this increases the likelihood of making Star Trek V officially never happen, I’m all for it…)
      .
      Other than this beef, my quibble about the Kelvin crew having the arrowhead logo, Chekov in his entirety, and Scotty in his actor (I still think Paul McGillion would’ve been better…) I was entirely pleased with this movie. Loved all the little nods to previous continuity. And the uniforms, those tunics were cool. And the phaser pulses rocked!

      1. It didn’t look like the Enterprise picked up the 10,000 Vulcans all on their lonesome. The only Vulcans I saw puttering around were the old folks that Spock rescued. Also, Enterprise would have been the only ship to rescue anybody before the planet imploded. Every other ship was destroyed (and you’d figure the Narada was picking off any escaping vessels too) I’m assuming a lot of that number was off-planet.

      2. Big as the Nerada is, they’d still have a problem getting ALL the ships which were undoubtedly launching. If nothing else, they were pretty much anchored to one spot, leaving the other entire hemisphere safe for bugging out. Seemed to me like the Council simply didn’t have any kinda modern communication in that temple and so were simply unaware of the “FLEE! FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!” order. I figure *those* ships, combined with anybody who was off-planet playing ambassador or diplomat or scientist could account for a number of 10,000 far more easily than them just having a small colony. Granted, Vulcans aren’t humans, but you’d think that even a SMALL colony somewhere would quickly grow beyond the size of a small city (for comparison, Montpelier, Vermont – the smallest capital, by population, in the US – had over 8,000 people living there in 2000).
        .
        I dunno, I just think that a few million surviving Vulcans (by species, if not by home planet) would be more believable – and it’s fairly clear that Syl… I mean, Spock was talking about Vulcans as a species in that log. And it would still be as tragic to lose the homeworld even if there were several billion kicking around the galaxy elsewhere without artificially deflating the numbers of survivors.

    2. There wouldn’t be an Excalibur, nor New Frontier series, in the new continuity.

      Nobody who’d had ancestors connected to Starfleet after the destruction of Vulcan would be likely to ever have been conceived. The same sperm would have to meet the same ovum, and that’s truly, um, astronomically unlikely in that situation (which is also the real reason that Wesley Crusher should not have been on the Enterprise in the “Yesterday’s Enterprise” continuity — not because of kids on warships, but because he should never have been conceived! The Crushers may well have had another son, and they may even have named him “Wesley” [for the same reasons they did in the original and restored timeline] but he wouldn’t’ve been the Wesley we knew. Genetically, a different person. Different appearance, almost certainly lacking the enormous Mozart-level Traveller-esque engineering talent that would’ve made him a crewman, etc.).

      Picard would be rather unlikely, even though his parents weren’t that closely connected to Starfleet. Enough time had passed that there would be effects even among the general populations of the Federation worlds, so his parents likely weren’t conceived. Ditto just about everyone else who ever set foot on the Enterprise-D (including Data and Lore, since no Dr. Noonian Soong) with the pretty much sole exceptions of Dr. “Bones” McCoy, Q, maybe Deanna Troi (effects on Betazed’s then-recent history may have been less), Lwaxana Troi, Surak, Guinan, Spock, and James Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, in rough order of appearance. No Riker, no Geordi LaForge, no Crushers, almost certainly no Worf (since the Klingon Empire’s history with the Federation would’ve been drastically altered), no Chief O’Brien, no Tasha Yar, Pulaski, etc. None of the secondary characters who became important to New Frontier, either, such as Elizabeth Shelby, Robin Lefler, and of course Soleta and Selar.

      No Next Generation. No Enterprise-D. And without the Enterprise-D and Picard, M’k’n’zy of Calhoun never becomes Mackenzie Calhoun, even if the rest of the history of the Thallonian Sector remained unaltered. So, pretty much no New Frontier at all. Thallon does hatch into the Great Bird of the Galaxy, but no ship has Si Kwan aboard so he dies on the planet, too (well, earlier, anyway). Kalinda may have survived but never escaped her mental and physical captivity, leaving the Thallonians effectively extinct. Some of the other non-human characters such as Zak Kebron, Burgoyne 172, etc. may exist, but would never serve aboard the Excalibur. Arex and M’ress never time-traveled and lived out their lives a century earlier, and never served aboard the original Enterprise, let alone the Excalibur nor Trident.

      The Cardassians still build what we know as Deep Space Nine, but it likely never becomes a Federation station. So that series is down the wormhole as well even discounting the 100% certain absence of Sisko the Emissary, not to mention Bashir, and the TNG imports O’Brien and Worf.

      Likewise, no Voyager (Janeway, Chakotay, Paris, Tuvok, and all other human and Vulcan characters, as well as B’Elanna, all never conceived — likely, their great grandparents never conceived! Neelix and Kes likely exist but never hear of the Federation), but that’s no great loss, as that series had already destroyed its own continuity in the first season with “Threshold.” The series should by all rights have ended (or at least ceased to be about a Federation ship lost in the Delta Quadrant) in that episode.

  39. I’ve been watching a lot of the remastered TOS episodes recently, and I don’t think Simon Pegg’s Scotty was really that much different than James Doohan’s. They may have had MORE comedic moments in a short span of time, but I don’t think he was any more over the top than Doohan was.

    I read a lot of questions on here that I’ve seen/heard the answers to, usually from either Robert Orci or J.J. Abrams, mostly at TrekMovie.com:

    [SPOILERS]

    1. The reason the Narada is so powerful and has weapons is that it’s based on Borg technology (see the Countdown comic, plotted but not written by Orci and Kurtzman)
    2. The reason the Enterprise was built in Riverside, Iowa was that Starfleet built a shipyard there in honor of George Kirk’s heroic sacrifice in saving the crew of the Kelvin.
    3. The guy yelling at young Kirk in the car was originally supposed to be his uncle, not his stepdad, and the kid on the side of the road was filmed as his brother Sam, but they cut his other scene so they changed his name to “Jimmy.”
    4. Spock Prime and Kirk were both marooned on Delta Vega with the intention that they survive, and therefore were both set down near the Starfleet outpost. So their meeting isn’t really as coincidental as it may have seemed.

    1. Yeah, that #3 both annoys and confuses me. What does changing the kid’s name do? Fans who DON’T know that “Sam” is Jim’s brother’s name won’t care what this kid’s name is, they’ll think “Random guy he’s shouting out to” regardless; fans who DO know that would be able to say ‘Hey! That’s his brother!’ and be all happy at another continuity shout-out (not to mention I believe he had some additional scenes which were actually filmed which now must be scrapped from the DVD deleted scenes because he’s no longer George Samuel Kirk, he’s now some random friend named Jimmy…)
      .
      Yeah, I think Simon Pegg did a decent job as Scotty; I simply think Paul McGillion would’ve done a BETTER job. Chekov, however, I kept hoping his console would blow up, or he’d get tossed across the room ’cause they STILL haven’t figured out seatbelts, or maybe just fall down a turbolift shaft… he just bugged me. Made me think of Wesley Crusher, wunderkind extraordinaire who’s the only one who can do anything… and the sad thing is, I kinda liked Wesley for the most part, and *still* was hoping Chekov would get a big owie.
      .
      Also, Starfleet has *got* to stop leaving entire sectors bare of starships other than half-crewed cadet training ships… maybe if they installed some seatbelts they’d have officers *g*

  40. Finally saw it. Ðámņ good flick. Not sure it’s the best, yet (admit it, TWOK is STILL hard to beat) but very, very good.

    Did have some bones to pick:
    1. P’mount over-indulged Abrams a little. Somewhat understandable given you’re asking one of your best TV genre directors to take over a storied cash-cow franchise that needs saving, but stuff like the save-Scotty-from-the-blender bit. . .
    2. They actually overdid the cliche Trek lines. While it was nice to see key characters sport some of their favorite quotes, I thought they tried too hard on this score. About four too many of those, I thought.
    3. Some will flame me, but I think. . .Nimoy just can’t cut it as Spock anymore. I was almost surprised they didn’t kill him off this time around.

    Still, all in all, a good flick that will likely land on my DVD shelf later this year.

  41. Being a lifetime fan of Star Trek, I must admit that the overexposure of many TV Star Trek series killing the franchise. The new movie has created a refreshing, new look to the franchise and has created a new generation of fans.

    Now for the criticism. Sorry I have to say these things:

    1. Spock/Uhura relationship: not convincing at all. I hope they don’t have a vulcan/human child named Tuvok;

    2. Delta Vega – first, Delta Vega is suppose to be a desert world, not a ice planet (no big deal.) However, Delta Vega is not part of the Vulcan star system; it is in another star system. As well, in order to see the destruction of Vulcan so close, Delta Vega would need to be a moon of Vulcan. If Vulcan was destroyed, they Delta Vega should have experienced severe gravity changes which should have devastated the planet/moon;

    3. Kirk/Old Spock encounter – highly unlikely that young Kirk would run into the same cave where old Spock is residing. When Spock scared off the ice monster, didn’t it seem similar as Obe Wan Kenobi saving Luke Skywalker from the Sandpeople;

    4. Nero arriving Twenty Years Too Early – do you mean to tell me that when Nero arrived in the past twenty years too early that he wasted that time simply waiting for Spock to arrive from the future. Not too convincing. What he should have done is to contact the military command of the Romulan Star Empire (or the Tal Shiar) and tell them that Romulus will be destroyed in 170 years. He should encourage them to start an offensive against the Federation and Klingons;

    Other than those beefs, the movie was very well scripted and the characters are convincing.

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