Regular Screen Rant reader “790″ suggested I set up a discussion post for the Star Trek movie, where people can feel free to talk about all aspects of the film without having to worry about spoiling it for others. I had meant to set one of these up for Wolverine but just never got around to it.
Considering how popular I think Star Trek will be (moreso than Wolvie), I thought it might be a good idea to get this set up ASAP. 
So discuss the film below to your heart’s content!
Tags: star trek
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565 Comments
@Andrew
Yah, typically in movies time travel is done within the same timeline in a linear fashion. Back to the Future’s, Terminator (although this could be argued), and even Frequency, although that didn’t involve actual people traveling in time, time was altered through communications through time. This Star Trek is probably the first to apply theories that most people are not aware of, and probably still not aware of even after watching this movie.
And yes, I do kind of agree that this is part of the reason why I don’t like comics as well, but hopefully this is the ONLY time this happens with Star Trek so it won’t be as confusing as comics. I do kind of see how this was the only way to revitalize the series while using characters fans already know. Otherwise they would have had to start from scratch. A traditional prequel sticking to the already existing timeline and continuity would have been very limiting. Look at the disaster the Star Wars prequels were because they had to give people something new while somehow ending where the old series could begin. Although a lot of that could be attributed to poor writing. I don’t know, I wasn’t liking where Star Trek has been going thus far, this new spin on the series is definitely much more interesting in my opinion.
@Ken J,
I kinda get what you mean. Phantom Menace wasn’t all that great. The only part of Star Wars prequel that I liked was to see how Anakin becomes Darth Vader… Back to the subject at hand…
Why not make a movie that solely focuses on their days in the Academy and end it with them finally getting on board of the Enterprise? I know that there needed to be change, and in a major way. But, and in no way do I mean to be disrespectful here, couldn’t they come up with something more scientifically sound? They are after all writing for the audience of Star Trek. I mean, that’s why they get paid the big bucks. I’m not saying that I hated the movie, I liked it. But it just leaves this bad aftertaste when I think about what this means to the original continuity – it gnaws at the back of my head. And I want to follow the original Kirk, Spock and Enterprise crew – not them form an alternate universe. I guess that’s what gets me the most.
Peace out y’all
@Andrew
Yah, I understand, I was merely explaining how this whole timeline thing affects the old timeline (or doesn’t affect it), not completely defending it, although I liked it, but that’s just my opinion.
Remember the TNG episode with the hundreds of Enterprises? I think that may have been the writers, in part, poking fun at the idea of alternate realities.
I’ve got an unorthodox favorite TNG episode, Time Squared. I thought that was a great take on breaking a loop. Then there’s Cause & Effect and The Next Phase–TNG visited time travel a lot, and I could care less about the quantum mechanics or alternate realities–it made for great science fiction–emphasis on fiction.
Speaking of favorites, no one’s brought up the Mirror Universe, a fan fave at LEAST in its first manifestation. DS9 did some interesting building on that (A bit elaborate for me). I think somewhere along the line, maybe in Enterprise, the origin of the Mirror Universe was shown. So no, Ken, JJ Trek was not exactly the first and only time alternate reality has been incorporated.
MOVIES, thought listing other movies would hint at that. There are plenty of Stargate episodes that also talked about infinite universes… Not to mention probably countless Outer Limits episodes…
@Gary
Maybe Nichelle Nichols just had a thing for Leonard Nimoy?
Hell I wouldn’t blame her!
@Ken J
All good in the hood homie
@ All:
I want to address a couple of things about this movie that may not’ve been discussed before, observations I have tried to make, not as a 40+ year ST fan (which I most certainly AM), but as a non-Trekker fan of many, many movies thru’ the decades:
First of all, I was blown away by the Kobayashi Maru No-win Simulation.
The young cadet, James Tiberius Kirk, WAS JAG lawyer Danny Caffee in ‘A Few Good Men’ – chomping on his apple as he calmly, confidently ate Cadet Commander Spock’s LUNCH. He knew Spock and the other faculty would be watching his every move; he also knew, as someone else said on here, that they KNEW he was cheating, they just could not figure out how.
Congatulations, Jim, you just became the only person – of any species – to ever beat the No-win Scenario. Enjoy your new set of steak knives. You earned it.
There WAS EVEN A ‘Colonel Jessup moment’, when Kirk tooka advantage (perhaps unfairly) of Spock’s pain to drive him to the unforgivable – forcing a Vulcan to blow his cool – and it got him the Big Chair.
Say whatever you want, but if yu ask me, Abrams has been paying attention through the years.
Secondly, I didn’t read any comic book, I don’t need any prequel to see a really good, exciting movie for an hour and a half without feeling like I just got SODOMIZED out of my ten dollars (I don’t know where they still charge only $7.50, must be a timw warp, lol), all I know is, I’m gonna see the next one, and if JJ is clever enough to bring butts back into the seats, more power to him.
As for the rest, in the words of the best damn actor in any film I’ve seen in a long time, Karl Urban:
“Damn it, Jim!
“I’m a DOCTOR, not a movie critic!!!”
See ya in hell, sailor,
JOHN
@ Ken J
“uh oh, don’t say that about Jason Statham, I have a friend that would hunt you down if he finds out that you said that about him, lol.”
Hehehe. Apologize to him if he ever reads it. Mind you, I’m a big fan of action heroes who can’t act.
@ Vic
The Spock Uhura Relationship was mainly in the books, as were the Scotty and Uhura relationship, but there was an Episode about Terran Fruit or something where Uhura confesses feelings for Spock in TOS.
So…I came away from the film with mixed feelings. I’m still sorting out my overall thoughts, however, wanted to bring up a couple of things.
First, as noted, supernova don’t threaten the galaxy. Ever. Also, the shockwave moves at sub-light speeds, so it would be hard for any supernova to threaten any planet not in its own system in any timeframe less than a year or so. (being that only large stars go supernova, and most planetary systems aren’t going to be orbiting hospitable stars which are also in close proximity to other large stars–the gravitational interactions would probably make the planetary system unstable over the long run). Most planets are many lightyears from most stars, and the shockwave sure ain’t going to be going even that fast.
Second, why did Future Spock need enough red matter to do about 10 gazillion black holes? Clearly all you need is a drop. That’s all he uses when he stops the supernova. 1 drop. Why bring a crapload of extra highly dangerous and unstable material with you?
Third, assuming we buy red matter, why do you need to drill a hole first? Just drop a container of it on the surface of the planet, sit back and watch. Much easier that way, and you can send that container on its way from a nice safe distance.
Fourth, was it just me, or was there a serious discontinuity in the interrogation of Captain Pike? His chair seems to be sitting in pool of water (why?). But, at one point, they show a birds-eye view of him in his chair, and the water isn’t there. They cut back to a side view, and you can clearly hear the sloshing and whatnot. I’ve only seen the film one time, but that continuity break was quite jarring.
Go to you tube.
search for Uhura singing about Spock.
She sang to him while he was playing the harp in Charlie X .
she even got him to SMILE!
re: why blow up the ship if it’s falling apart and being sucked into a black hole- i don’t think they knew that a black hole would be created. it was their first experience w/ red matter. i think spock mentioned it to young kirk as he explained how he came from the future but perhaps in all the commotion, he forgot- OR didn’t realize how strong it would be. maybe he thought the enterprise could outrun it.
@ Mike W
Remeber Kirk told Sulu that if the Enterprise had the advantage to fire, and that is what Sulu did. Also since the black hole could transport things in time it was an extra precautiont o make sure Nero wouldn’t return (at least that is how I viewed it)
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And FYI multiple Spocks from different parts of the time continuim can exist in the same instance of time in that reality. But because nero altered time he created an alternate reality so the old Spock wont fade away until its his time to die. Futher more Old Spock was supposed to be in his 400s since Vulcans live extremely longer than humans.
re: kirk getting court martialed instead of a commendation for the kobayashi maru-
don’t think it was a court martial, but more like a hearing-besides- we don’t know what the final outcome of that hearing would’ve been for it was cut short.
perhaps kirk did such a good job defending himself (he was off to a good start) that he convinced his peers and superiors that he deserved a commendation as opposed to a punishment. who knows,perhaps spock himself would’ve ended up suggesting the commendation for kirk’s original thinking that stumped spock himself of all people.
re: chekov being 17 after spending 4 years in the academy.
saw the movie again this weekend. pike said ” so, you’re supposed to be that russsian whiz kid” (or something to that effect) giving me the impression that perhaps chekov’s age can be explained via some doogie howser scenario…..
re: sulu mucking up warp speed- pike also said a line indicating that sulu was a last minute replacement for someone who contracted some flu. that explains why sulu was unfamiliar w/ the controls.
re: spontaneous romance between uhura and spock in the elevator- don’t forget, when she wasn’t assigned to the enterprise- she complained to spock- he explained that he intentionally didn’t put her on the enterprise, because he didn’t want it to appear that he was committing favortism. between that comment and the way she acted toward him, it was definitly hinting to a romance.
@eyrieowl
Your first, second, and fourth points are definitely well founded, and I noticed those too, but am able to look past them, but the third point I think is addressed.
The red matter and the strength/size of the black hole it forms seems to have a direct correlation with the amount of energy put into the red matter. Meaning if you let it sit there, nothing happens, if you shoot a missile at it and blow it up, it’ll form a black hole, but a small one, if you send it into the core of a planet where it makes contact with the extreme temperatures of the planet’s core, it’ll absorb that energy and form a bigger black hole.
At least from watching it that’s how it appears to work since them blowing up the red matter in Spock’s ship didn’t form a huge black hole, I attributed that to the relatively small amount of energy from the ship’s missiles compared to the greater amount of energy found within a planet’s core.
@ Ken J
Technically there should have been a huge black hole created since all of the red matter got ignited that was on Spock’s ship since there was more of it aboard.
I remember seeing a preview that showed Nero in a Klingon prison. I just hope there is a special edition extended directors cut. That’s the one I want to buy when it comes out on DVD.
re: klingon prison, i’ve read here that someone else read that for 20 , of the 25 years, nero was on the klingon prison planet. im curious how that came about. Rua Pente is the name of the planet, i believe. in star trek 6 the klingon warden who gave the speech stating “no watchtower, etc, etc” (which i believe is similiar to the speech in “bridge on the river kwai”.) ANYWAYS, i believe the actor who played the role of the klingon warden, was the same actor who played the vulcan who accused spock of having a “disadvantage” for being human (when he got accepted to the vulcan science academy) in the latest film. i don’t know the actor’s name, but i believe he was also the crossbowsman in “hawk- the slayer”- the sequel of which is rumored to star the actor who played picards clone in star trek nemesis…
@ mark,
were klingons shown in that scene that you saw? if so, i’m curious what they looked like….
Yes, there was a brief scene showing him cuffed (hands were out of frame, but the position was correct). There was a voiceover about him being recently escaped from a Klingon prison or having been in a Klingon prison for 20 years. He was in a ragged burlap looking shirt and he was being pushed around by a Klingon (maybe two). The Klingon looked just like the movie and TNG era Klingon in the standard armor looking attire.
Actually, I am wrong. I did a Google search for “nero with klingon prison” and it looks like he is fighting off two guards who have masks on. The masks have a ridged forehead. Never call me to be an eyewitness in a trial lol.
The question of why Nero waited around for 25 years instead of returning to Romulus bothered me a bit, too. But after thinking about it, there are many plausible reasons.
1) He was caught somehow (during a refueling raid, or down on a planet somewhere on an expedition) and didn’t escape until just before Spock’s ship came through the black hole (as has already been mentioned above)
2) The second reason (and more plausible in my opinion) is that Nero didn’t return to Romulus because he didn’t want to take the chance of trying to convince the Romulans the truth of his story. Romulans are supposed to be a violent race, constantly scrambling for power. A Romulan – a mere mining ship captain, mind you – shows up with a ship that will destroy dozens of the finest Romulan battleships.
Such a ship would be perceived as an immediate threat to the Romulan empire. It would also be viewed immediately as a prize for the taking – every Romulan commander would be lusting after it.
Nero knew this. And maybe because he was Romulan, he would feel compelled to bow to the greater authority of the Romulan empire because he was, by his admission, a mere miner. And once his ship was taken away, he would not be able able to have his revenge.
Seriously, what are the chances that the Romulans would believe Nero’s story? Their desire to possess his ship and technology would override their logic, and besides, a 100+ years was far off in the future anyway.
So rather than take the chance of losing his ship to the Romulan military and thus lose his opportunity for revenge, Nero decided the safer course was to wait it out. From a psychological perspective, I think this is reasonable.
It’s like the only decent episode of “Enterprise,” the one that takes place in a mirror universe – after Archer recover the Constellation class starship that popped into the universe from the future, his admiral decides to claim the advanced ship for himself, causing Archer to kill him to maintain control of the ship. Nero realize the only way he would be able to convince Romulus to listen to him is if he took control by force, which would mean killing his fellow Romulus, and he wasn’t willing to take the chance. He was crazy and obsessed, but a patriot to his race….
found this on google:
“No. Klingons do not feature in the film, as Abrams reportedly believes them to be over-used and cliché. They do, in a way, figure into the backstory of the film’s villain, who is mentioned to have spent time in a Klingon prison. In the theatrical trailer, Nero is seen attempting to escape from two Klingon prison guards wearing helmets, but this scene was cut from the final film.”
(i bet that’s where he lost part of his ear…)
I never even noticed the lens flare.
I enjoyed the movie very much, but bear in mind I wasn’t much of a Star Trek enthusiast to begin with so I’m not sure that I would have much constructive criticism to give in the first place. But I thought it was a very fun flick, with plenty of good things going for it – an epic story, a terrific cast of actors, and some impressive cinematography.
The only thing that really bothered me was the shaky, rapid-shooting action directing. I loved how they did the Sulu and Kirk scene but besides that…
I’d give the movie 4/5 as well, and it deserves its own series of sequels. Even though I’ve heard that Abrams and company apparently hated the Star Trek franchise (any truth to that btw?), the movie’s still doing a good job of renewing interest in the original series.
@ eyrieowl, I liked your comments. Made me think.
I guess they didn’t really think the majority of the audience would be that well-educated to realize the fallacy of these plot points (I sure didn’t know much about the effects of a supernova)… Hollywood tends to dumb down their movies most of the time and they do get away with it a lot of times.
I think Andrew had a really good idea with the whole movie being set in Star Fleet academy. It would have given time for character development and had room for some nice action scenes.
No one seems to have mentioned this, but I doubt it was a coincidence that Kirk was eating an apple during the Kobayashi Maru scene, and he was eating an apple when he explained how he cheated on the test in Star Trek 2. I kinda thought that was a nice touch. However, in Star Trek 2 Spock says “As I recall you took the test yourself a number of times and your final solution was, shall we say unique” when referring to kirks attempts at the Kobayashi Maru test. Yet in this movie he only has 1 attempt at the test! You could argue alternative time line again but that just seems like a cop out for bad scripting to me.
Wait a minute! I thought Uhura was singing to Charley Evans, not Spock. “Charlie’s our new darling, new darling, new darling…”. Please don’t have me sing that.