Trek Geekery: Images Of New Star Trek Movie Details
Nov 17, 2008 by Vic HoltremanAn analysis of where the new Star Trek movie differs from the original series.
First off, we want to let you know that the official Star Trek movie site has been updated to one of those fancy Flash websites. You can view both the trailers, get images, wallpapers and just geek out over the new Trek look of the site. Head over to StarTrekMovie.com to check it all out.
But… that’s not what this post is all about. If nothing else, Star Trek fans are known for their rabid attention to detail when it comes all things tech and history of the Trek universe. I won’t be addressing history, but I’ve pulled out some hi-res screen grabs from the trailer that will be of interest to Trekkies of all ages.
I’ve collected below images of ships, interiors and visual effects (enhanced and sharpened for better detail) that are near and dear to the hearts of any true Trekkie (I’m reveling in this, being a huge Trek geek myself, so don’t go getting all offended). I’m sure there will be debate (argument) over what’s below. 
Included are:
- The venerable USS Enterprise NCC-1701 under construction (yes on Earth, not in orbit as we all know is where it was really constructed).
- What looks to be either the new standard shuttlecraft for the Enterprise, or a larger transport version.
- A brand new transporter effect for the first time in 20 years (all transporter effects in the movies and TV series starting with Star Trek: The Next Generation have been variations on the same basic look).
- A brand new “Warp speed” (aka “jumping into subspace”) effect. Personally I never liked the little starburst effect that’s been used since ST:TNG.
- A look at a couple of shuttlecraft that are similar in look to the familiar design from the original series.
- A look at the shiny-bright new corriders of the Enterprise (this, I’m not too jazzed about – very “2001: A Space Odyssey“).
- A shot of the forward bridge, from the point of view of the Captain’s chair (coming out of Warp).
- A couple of detailed shots of the USS Kelvin, including a rear view that shows the shuttlebay door and clarifies that the seconday hull is above the saucer section and the propulsion unit is below (a hat tip to early starship concept designs from the original series).
- Finally, a more iconic view of the new Enterprise.
Click on all of the images below to see hi-res versions of the images. Under each I give a description and an analysis by a Star Trek fan whose been a Trekkie since the early 1970s (that would be me) and whose favorite series of all is TOS (The Original Series).
Here’s a pretty cool shot of the Enterprise under construction. Doesn’t make sense that they would construct something so massive on the ground, but no dobut there is some sort of plot-related reason for it (beyond the dramatic pause of a young Kirk taking it in).
As a hardcore classic Star Trek fan, does this bother me? No.
From the registration number on the side of the shuttlecraft it’s clear it belongs to the Enterprise (NCC-1701), but is this the new “standard” shuttlecraft or does the Enterprise have a variety of models (a la ST:TNG)?
Does it bother me? A twinge perhaps, but not enough to freak me out.
Here’s the new transporter effect – kind of crazy looking and hard to really get a feel for in a static image, but I’m happy to see a new take on the effect.
Does it bother me? Nope.
This was long overdue – I never liked the “rubber band stretch to a pinpoint of light” version of going to Warp speed. This looks more like distortion of space.
Does it bother me? No, quite the opposite, I like it.
It looks like these are old-style shuttlecraft. I get the feeling that these belong to the USS Kelvin, and that ship is more akin to the original NCC-1701 and that the new Enterprise is more like the NCC-1701A.
Does it bother me? A bit – I’d like to see a bit more basic version of the original Enterprise, and despite the odd design the Kelvin reminds me a lot of the “flavor” of the original Enterprise.
Here’s the a look at the new corridors of the Enterprise. They’ve gone with a stark white look that truly reminds me of the ship from 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Does it bother me? Well, frankly, yes. Enough for me to feel “Trekkie outrage?” No, not that much. Look at what they did with the Batman reboot and that worked out pretty well.
Although we have the white “iBridge” look, overall the stations are similar (albeit a lot more spacious) to the layout we’ve known on all iterations of the Enterprise.
Does it bother me? Once I get past the “white bridge” look, no. Although I still don’t understand why they couldn’t at least have matched the color scheme of the original bridge or come close to it.
The USS Kelvin. I’m not familiar enough with the history of starship registries to know if this was from canon, but I have to say that I like the nod to the original designs here.
Does it bother me? Nope, as a matter of fact I really like it.
Another look at the USS Kelvin. Check out the shuttlebay entrance in the top portion of the ship and the impulse engines.
Does it bother me? No, again, this is one of my more favorite details and seems very much a tribute to the orginal.
Here we have a front-on view of the new Enterprise. Suddenly it looks a hell of a lot more like it belongs in the Star Trek universe than it did in the previous image.
Does it bother me? This remains to be seen. I’m still pulling at the reins when it comes to the new ship, but I’m thinking that it probably looks great on screen. This is where they’ve taken the greatest liberties, but in the end if it all gels it will have been worth it I think.
So what do you think? Anathema to established Trek lore or logical updates to bring the franchise into the 21st century?
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I’ll have to tell my girlfriend to remind me to wear my sunglasses when I see the movie. Whew! Those corridors are bright! I would hate to be the crewmen (and women) who have to keep them all polished. Talk about a thankless job.
I served on a US Navy ship in San Diego, and although our corridors were clean and buffed…they were never like the ones seen in the trailer.
they overdid it with the corridors, it doesn’t feel real and or classic in terms of the trek universe.
The ship looks alright but it looks like its from the TNG era now.
daviedave_47 said,”remind me to wear my sunglasses when I see the movie.”
Gotta agree with you there and it definitely would be a thankless job. Maybe in the future, they just somehow paint over everything every day?? Instead of scrubbing bubbles they have scrubbing bugs.
On that shuttle Vic, is that 1701 with a federation symbol behind it or an “A?”
It’s not an “A,” I noticed that as well.
Vic
I see this as an origin story.
Things can change in future installments .
I think The symbol on the the shuttle is the starfleet insignia.
I think Nimoy is in the trailer
Its the scene where young Spock comes out of the cave he is in the background.
I wish somebody could blow up the images of the other Vulcans coming out of the cave.
Vic, your a saint!
I can’t think of a film I’ve anticipated more!
Thanks
I say, more logical updates to make the Star Trek universe more self-consistent. Despite all the geekery around the franchise, of all series, I’ve found Star Trek to be the most illogical and inconsistent among the big sci-fi franchises in how it applies it own rules of physics.
I recall a quote by Ronald D. Moore (one of the main writers for DS9 and the creator of the new Battlestar Galactica) who noted rather astutely that given the power of a hand phaser, battles between ground forces within visible sight of each other would be impossible.
When you have weapons that deliver more destructive power than 2000 lb. bunker-busting bombs of today, it seems incredibly silly that Star Trek would have “pitched” phaser battles with forces hiding behind corners and rocks just meters away from each other. Any “real” person with such a weapon would set it on maximum, and the first shot would literally vaporize all opponents within range in an instant. At the very least, you could superheat the air in an area to the point where everyone in an area (hiding behind rocks or no) would be burned alive.
Yet one of the most reliable action pieces in the post-TOS series were pitched phaser battles that pretended to be long drawn out affairs where the outcome was in doubt.
Basically, this was just a symptom of what really ailed Trek. The technobabble became the driving force for nearly all the stories. All the drama and character development orbited around the technobabble or technoconundrum of the week. But when you keep on developing new technobabble and technowizardry to top last season, you get to the point where only a complete suspension of logic allows that universe to remain self-consistent. Because when everything gets too powerful (phasers), too easy (replicators), or too convenient (the plot resolution to nearly every episode), the only way that universe becomes believable is to break the law of self-consistency continuously.
Going back to the beginning, in the early days when the tech was limited is a good thing. That was the promise of Enterprise, but like all the series before it, Enterprise couldn’t resist the siren call of Ultimate Tech, e.g. the pseudo-drama of the Temporal Cold Wars where Archer and primitive friends were fighting beings who wielded a gazillion more times power than any other Trek enemy.
So here’s hoping that the new Trek movie more logically defines the limits and potential of Star Trek tech, and we get back to a futuristic, but still believable, universe.
Here’s what I see:
Money shot of the Enterprise being built, I think you pegged it Vic.
The adoption of the triangle emblem for all of Starfleet (ala TNG). And if thats a standard Shuttle, the Enterprises shuttle bay must be huge (or very cramped).
Very cool transporter effect, although it might make someone dizzy for a second.
Love the new jump to warp. That distortion field must make it impossible to sneak up on another ship!
Agreed; old style shuttles, that look like they’re trying to escape (no escape pods, very TOS).
The future’s so bright, I gotta where shades! And where’s the GNDN conduits!?
The console on the left is now the console on the right. Or is that the right on the left? Are they the same?
That distortion field is like a signal flare! HEY! We’re over HERE!!
A definite nod to the original starship designs. Especially the look of the secondary hull. What we might be seeing is the progression ship designs played out in TOS and TNG, only a generation, or two, earlier.
Not the same Enterprise, but she has really grown on me.
Just noticed this, but in the picture of the Kelvin from the rear (where you see the shuttle bay doors), it looks like the Kelvin is “upside down!”
Which means the warp nacelle is actually glowing blue in the back, like rocket or ion thrusters might look like. The standard impulse thrusters glow red like before, but the blue glow is definitely new.
That explains the turbine-like look of the warp nacelle from the front. Notice in the sneak preview trailer, in one of the scene of the Enterprise under construction, you can clearly see something like turbine blades slow rotating inside the nacelle.
This leads me to think that the new warp nacelles serve a dual purpose. They both generate warp fields for FTL travel but in sub-light mode, the nacelles are ionic thrusters. The nacelles are – more explicitly than in any previous starship design – Bussard collectors that magnetically suck up hydrogen gas in space for conventional ionic thrust propulsion….which explains the much more bulky designs of the nacelles on both Enterprise and Kelvin!
Thanks for going the extra mile, Vic! I know this took some time and effort, and that’s why I’m a Screen Rant Junkie!
Keep up the great work, my fellow carbon unit!
)
@ vitaboy;
Check out “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, the original version not the remastered. The Enterprise’s warp nacelles have open vents on the rear ends, no glow, but still possible thrust vents.
Hey Vic,
I totally agree on that iBridge thing.
Found this site on IMDb and I am grateful
looks good and is bookmarked
cheers
My hope is that everyone out there can move past absolute TOS and take this “New” movie for what it is worth… A reimagined version of the original “Idea”. A crew, ship and legend that all kinds of people from every part of the world fell in love with. Gene Roddenberry would be proud!
This movie is going to be fabulous indeed.
TRIVIA: Do you know?
OTHER THEN LEONARD NIMOY, WHO IS THE ONLY OTHER ACTOR TO BE IN BOTH STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE AND THE NEW STAR TREK.
The answer is backwardS below.
nahoodsirhc
@vitaboy
“The technobabble became the driving force for nearly all the stories. All the drama and character development orbited around the technobabble or technoconundrum of the week.”
Blame ST:TNG for that big time. Sure, TOS had a bit of it, but TNG ramped the technobabble factor up to an art form.
@nowhereman
Thanks, my brutha.
@Sebastian
Thank you as well and welcome! Always happy to have a new “regular” on the site!
Vic
First, @Steven, it’s JAMES, not Chris…
As for the iBridge, yeah, it’a a bit funky but not without precedent in the Trek universe. Remember that the USS Excelsior in TSFS had a pretty bright bridge, too. Not quite as bright as the new Enterprise, but not the 60′s psychedelic color, either. Check it out.
http://img117.imageshack.us/my.php?image=excelsiorbridgetsfsac6.jpg
Thanks for taking the time to do all this, Vic. It’s what make SR one of my favorite sites.
@ Andy S;
No, Steven was right. James Doohan can’t be in the new Star Trek; he is dead.
Chris Doohan is James Doohan’s (Scotty’s) son and he had an uncredited appearance in TMP with his father. He also lobbied to be cast as the new Scotty in the new Star Trek, but Paramount went with Simon Pegg instead. However, they did decide to give Chris another appearance on this Star Trek movie. I’m not sure of his role, though.
Also, Vic, this is the ONLY site I use for my real un-sugarcoated movie news. You are the best at what you do. Keep it up.
@Lee
Hey, thanks bud – much appreciated. I just wish we had the resources to cover more movie news than we do.
Vic
@Lee…
Ah, I misread the post. I was thinking that both appeared in both TOS and TNG. My bad!!
In terms of art direction where it counts, the bridge, the corridors and the Enterprise do not feel like the future and do not feel like TOS.
The trailer seems to provide evidence that Orci, Kurtzman and JJ work with a bunch of stereotypes in their projects. I see 2001, Alien, Starship Troopers and Top Gun (Motorcycle at sunset with Take My Breath Away playing). Now, granted TOS was out before any of those but the Trek of late did not suffer from that feeling.
Wow. I am so missing the feeling of the TNG world. The pace really helped define what I though of as ‘Star Trek’ .
I thought Nimoy was playing Sarek? I thought Sarel really looked like Leonard Nimoy in the trailer?
Nimoy is playing future Spock.
Vic
New corridors – Too “iBridge”-ey
New Transporter effect (judged from still image, as my stupid dialup won’t play the Flash) – Looks too much like The Tasmanian Devil from the Warner Bros. cartoons; I half-expect Bugs Bunny to step into frame and go, “Nyehhh, where ya beamin’ off to, Doc?”
Great pics, Vic. As excited as I am for this film, I wish Paramount had given Trek this much love (and $) for the past movies.
@Shut up Stella
Well, Paramount trusted Berman, Braga and crew despite the continuing decline of the franchise. Look at their reaction to Star Trek: Nemesis’ pathetic box office: It was the fans’ fault for not showing up.
It couldn’t possibly be that they made a movie that sucked, now could it?
Vic
This looks like it is going to be epic and certainly looks to me as if JJ Abrams and crew have done the impossible in making not only the Trekkers and Trekkies excited but also the people who wouldn’t normally go see the Trek brand..Great WORK!!