"STAR TREK" movie comments/reviews (spoilers)

[Rico]

I know what you guys are saying but frankly, this is how things seem to go these days.  It was unlikely we were going to get another movie from the TNG crew/cast.  As far as DS9 or Voyager, doubtful too.  So we have this timeline of movies - for now.  Like I mentioned on last week's podcast, as far as a new TV series, it's hard to tell what they may do at this point.  Could go a lot of ways.

One thing that might be kind of cool in the future would be to see some type of combined cast movie.  Sort of like they did in Generations.  JJ has said he'd still love to have Shatner in another movie.  So. lots to consider.

[Feathers]

Yeah that works.

Don't misunderstand me, I'm not shedding tears for the old era particularly but as I grew up with it all I'll look back with a certain nostalgia. From what I saw last night though I can also look forward with some excitement.

[Rico]

The old era isn't gone, it's all still there.  Again, this is just a new take on things to enjoy.

[Jobydrone]

Okay well I've had a night to sleep on it now and I can focus my thoughts a little more to write my impressions of the new Star Trek movie.  Just writing those words is something I honestly wasn't sure I'd ever get to do again..."new Trek movie."  Now I feel almost 100% sure we'll see at least one if not several more follow ups to this movie.  I'll say right off again how much I loved it. I was so impressed how all of my expectations (and I had some serious expectations) were surpassed.  This group of actors and filmmakers were treading on as close to holy ground as you can get in Hollywood these days, and they really pulled it off. 

The beginning of the movie was so moving and generated real emotions.  I was a bit confused at first, trying to figure out what time period we were in, because the technology didn't give it away at all.  It wasn't until I realized that we were looking at George Kirk that it became clear.  I thought it was a brilliant decision to begin this new franchise with the birth of Kirk.  The writers and Abrams hit every note perfectly in this scene, and the actors really sold it.  Maybe it has something to do with being a father myself, and just having so recently witnessed the birth of my third child, but I felt genuine despair for the plight of George Kirk and really felt the heroic nature of his actions much more keenly because I know how desperate I would have been to find any other option or solution.

I loved the introduction of Spock as a child too.  Those Vulcan kids were so mean, I almost stood up and cheered when young Spock stood up for his parents and fought back.  These scenes, with the young actors showing us the formative years of Kirk and Spock, took so much pressure off of the new cast, because they were so effective setting up their characters.  They did a great job cementing in our minds the brashness and F-the-world attitude of Kirk and the conflicted duality in Spock.  One of the many changes I really didn't mind seeing was a more supportive relationship between Spock and Sarek.  For a cold stoic race like the Vulcan the scenes between Spock and his father were surprisingly heartfelt.  It feels good to give Spock somewhat of a break in that respect.

I really don't know about the whole Spock/Uhura pairing though.  During my screening, someone actually yelled at the screen during their scene on the transporter pad "What the *bleep* is this?"  I have to admit I felt like yelling too.  In fact, I remember during the big reveal of their relationship in the turbolift, when Uhura asks Spock, "Just tell me what you need," my exact thought was "Spock must be thinking he needs you to get your freaking hands off of his ears."  I can't help but think it is just a mistake to involve these two in this way.  Couldn't they continue to develop Uhura in a more interesting manner than simply to be a love interest of one of the big three?  In our timeline it took Spock almost a century to come to terms with and truly accept his human side as a part of him.  Are Abrams and crew going to just toss that basic character conflict right out the window for Spock now?  It seems that way, if he is going to let human females put their lips all over him in front of his captain and crewmates.  I think Spock's fruitless struggle to maintain his Vulcan way of life in spite of his human heritage is a fundamental element of his character and it only makes sense to resolve it in the manner in which the original timeline did, after a lifetime of study, meditation, and experience.

Leonard Nimoy did such a great job.  Even if he hadn't been so public saying how much he enjoyed working on this movie, you could see it so clearly in every iota of his performance.  He is in the movie for the perfect amount of time, too, and every line and scene he has is wonderful and sublime.  It's so great that old Spock finally gets a chance to say goodbye to his friend Kirk.  One of the hugest problems I had with Kirk's death in Generations, and I had many problems with the way that was done, was that his death seemed so empty and meaningless without Spock there to say his farewell.  It's a gaping hole in the story of those two characters and I felt we got a chance to see it happen, even if it was with Chris Pine playing the role.  He seems like such a nice man, Leonard Nimoy, and he is definitely near the top of my list of people I would love to share a meal with one day.   

I have to chime in for a sec regarding Ric's comments about this not being a reboot.  I think we are treading too close to the fine line of semantics here.  New cast, new history with canon tossed out the window, right down to the title itself, simply Star Trek, this has reboot written all over it.  I think there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it is done right and with respect to the source material.  They certainly did that.  There were tons of nods and funny little moments that are going to fly right over the heads of people that aren't fans of the series and movies.  Many of them were already mentioned here, but another one that immediately hit me was Kirk banging his forhead on the bulkhead of the transport ship, bringing me back to Scotty's big comedy moment in Final Frontier. 

My biggest concern about Star Trek was that the franchise was going to take the direction that it seems the Terminator: Salvation reboot is going.  Did everyone see the trailer for that movie, in big bold letters across the whole screen, "FORGET THE PAST."  What balls on them.  Sorry, McG, I loved the original Terminator movies (well only really 1 and 2)and I don't want to forget them.  Those three words totally turned me off to that movie, and I doubt I will even go see it now.  They could have done that here, with Trek as well, but they didn't.  They showed respect for what has gone before and given us tons of great material to look forward to as the series continues.  Well done!

[Feathers]

I meant to say. The new take on the phasers was a surprise and I did have a bit of trouble working out who was firing what colour pulse at who but I counter that with finally seeing a shuttle bay built to a sensible scale for the ship.

I've always had a problem with the size o the shuttles against the size of the bays (when viewed externally) and felt none of the series ever quite got it right. With this ship and the internal display with the shuttles stacked to the side, it seemed to male sense to me. Whether the internal schematics of the ship would support such a large bay, of course I don't know.

[Dangelus]

I'm of the opinion that it's 100% a reboot but they tried to play it down becuase they were worried. Like I said, no problem for me at all as I am open minded and I am looking forward to it but there are a few changes that make it fall into this category for me.

If you disregard the effects and technology there are still a few changes the plot doesn't cover.

* Romulans are known to be of Vulcan ancestry. (OK this one could be explained by the plot if 25 years ago Nero made it known he was Romulan and the Federation went looking for answers to the Romulan Empire.)

* Stardates are now actual dates! The pre TOS date was given as 2250 something and when Spock enquired to the computer of Old Spock's ship it says it was created in Stardate 2387 point something. This is a BIG change.

* Nokia still exists? So commercial business and money still exist in this Federation. I could handle this but Nokia?

These are just a few off the top of my head but there are a few others that poeple have mentioned already as well.

[Feathers]

Yeah, I was just thinking about the dates thing in the car (about 5 minutes ago). I'm not clued up on stardates but what I heard felt wrong - I'd missed the date from Spock's ship though.

I could actually live with different dates in the different timeline as I'm not wedded to the arrival of Nero being the one event that spawned this timeline. It accounts for a number of the differences, sure, but it doesn't have to be the cause of it. I think Enterprise used proper dates so if one timeline carried on in that manner and the TOS timeline didn't then fine.

This doesn't explain Spock's ship though.

[Rico]

Again guys...

- Nero goes back in time.
-- Kelvin gone - this timeline now altered. (Other timeline still in tact - continues.)
--- Everything changes - some to a big degree, some less.  So ship weapons, Stardates, the bridge, people, the Federation, all of it is different. 

That's the explanation for all of it.

[Feathers]

That's what I said - I just used more words :)

I think the way the whole altered timeline explanation works is actually a very, very elegant solution to the whole 'reboot' problem and it's been handled magnificently.

Even Spock's ship from the old timeline using 'new' stardates could be glossed over using some form of 'computer interface update'. Trek has got away with far worse in the past.

[Dangelus]

Again guys...

- Nero goes back in time.
-- Kelvin gone - this timeline now altered. (Other timeline still in tact - continues.)
--- Everything changes - some to a big degree, some less.  So ship weapons, Stardates, the bridge, people, the Federation, all of it is different. 

That's the explanation for all of it.

Still don't think the arrival of Nero is enough to make ALL of these changes happen and I think it was a mistake of the producers to keep insisting the plot and the divergent timeline would explain it all away. I don't think it does but at the same time I don't think it needs too. I can accept that things look and work differently. Besides, the Kelvin ALREADY looked more advanced than any TOS era ship (nevermind a ship that was in service 25 years before the launch of the Enterprise!) BEFORE Nero even got there.

That's what I said - I just used more words :)

I think the way the whole altered timeline explanation works is actually a very, very elegant solution to the whole 'reboot' problem and it's been handled magnificently.

Even Spock's ship from the old timeline using 'new' stardates could be glossed over using some form of 'computer interface update'. Trek has got away with far worse in the past.

In my opinion we are supposed to accept these changes (the technology, the weapons, the stardates) as if that's they way it always was, it makes the most sense. The only thing the timeline plot can explain away is they personal history changes of the characters etc and it works very well.

[Feathers]

As I said earlier, it depends on when the timelines diverged.

They could have diverged 100 years before and simply been running in parallel. Nero's arrival simply added some further, gross level, changes to those already existing differences.

[Rico]

Dan and Mike - you should listen and watch some of the interviews with the writers and JJ.  They confirm what I am saying.  They mention they tried very hard to not just erase everything from the last 40 years.  This is a new, parallel universe.  With some things the same and some different.

[Jen]

I know this thread has a spoiler alert on it...But I'm adding one to my post again. SPOILERS! Skip my post if you don't want to read about them.

Angela and I went to the theater in her hometown to watch the movie last night. First, the high schoolers running the joint forgot to start the projector on time. LOL! We had to go tell them it was ten after!

There were only 10 people in the theater with us (including our husbands)!!!! What in the heck!? I couldn't believe there were so few people.

We brought our OS tricorders and held them up like lighters at a rock concert with the lights and sound effects blaring when the film started. We didn't care if the six other people were annoyed. We had waited a long time for that movie. :D

I applauded when "STAR TREK" rolled across the screen. It was a lonely clap joined by no one. :(

Angela cried at the beginning of the film. We cheered when Sulu kicked butt...there were many scenes when we cheered aloud. Again, just us and our spouses seemed to enjoy it.

Over all we loved the movie. Let me make that VERY clear before your read my picky remarks.

Pros:
I loved the casting. I was doubtful of the actor playing Kirk until I actually saw him in the role. Excellent job...all of them...and it didn't even bother me that Kirk's eyes were blue instead of brown. :D

Wynona Ryder was great. I was very displeased with her casting in this movie when I first learned she would play Spock's mother. But for the short time she was on film...I believed she WAS Amanda and I grieved with Spock and Sarek when she died.

Uhura and Spock surprised me, but I bought it. But it made me wonder about what would happen with Saavik in the future.

I loved the scenes with Kirk and McCoy. EXCELLENT acting. I believed they were Kirk and Bones. Especially the scene where Jim has the reaction to the drug. Hi-Larious!
Angela and I laughed aloud at the end when Jim entered the bridge and said, "BONES!" That was DEAD ON KIRK!

I loved the scene where Scotty says, "I LOVE THIS SHIP!"

I totally caught that Pike in the wheel chair parallel. Very nice.





Just a few things bugged me...and some are picky fan observations and others are simply visceral reactions.

Scotty's  little "monkey alien pal" bothered me. He was cute but at the same time...out of place some how. It was funny when he tried to follow Scotty onto the transporter pad. But I was afraid they were about to enter Jar Jar territory for a while there.

The plot raised a few flags for me. Why would it be a surprise that a sun was going to go supernova? Isn't that something that our scientists can basically predict now? They know how old our sun is. I've seen documentaries that have said how long it will live until it burns out.  Wouldn't that be something Romulan scientists would know at LEAST hundreds of years in advance? Or I'm I confusing something?

Spock was going to save Romulus by forming a black hole? ...how was that going to work? I found myself wishing I had a rewind button so I could listen to him explain all of the details to young Spock, again.  

When Old Spock was too late to save Romulus...why would he activate the red matter in the sun after Romulus's destruction? The system was dead anyway. It seemed like a convenient plot device used only to move Old Spock into the past. But David, my non-geek husband, made a good point. His suggestion was that Spock was attempting to buy time to save the survivors other planets in the system...I took that to mean "Remus". I gave him some geek points for that and a kiss for the heck of it.

Where was T'Kuht? Vulcan's sister planet. I didn't see it in the movie when Vulcan was destroyed. http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/548862

The visceral reaction I had occurred during the destruction of Vulcan. Surprised? LOL.  I thought, "okay, the timeline will be corrected at some point in the movie and Vulcan will be saved." When I realized that wasn't going to happen I was very quiet for the rest of the movie. Not because I didn't like the film, but because I was upset... So JJ was successful at eliciting an emotional reaction from me. That is the mark of a good story...even if I think parts are flawed.

After thinking more about it, I decided that the events of this movie can still be corrected. I think that's the reason one planet was destroyed in the past (Vulcan) and one was destroyed in the future (Romulus). The story is set up so that Trek history can be corrected if it serves the story. Brilliant!

Here's how:
Old Spock told his younger self that he was too late to save Romulus. Now Spock has foreknowledge. Theoretically, if young Spock survives in the alternate timeline, he can save Romulus as an old man BEFORE it is destroyed again. Thus preventing the "ticked off miner dude" from exacting his revenge in the past on Vulcan. Yes the crazy tattoo Romulan died in the past, but his parents are still alive because, in the past, Romulus still exists. He can be born again and plague the future once more. Spock can show up on time save Romulus or he can warn Romulus about the Supernova early. They can use the technology developed in TNG to save try to save the sun of another planet. I forgot which episode that was, or what the end result was. I know...bad geek.

Anyway. I can say now I like the outcome of film because I have worked out the correction. :D  I prefer happy endings I guess.

[Rico]

There is no need to correct "the timeline."  There are just now two.  Also, many of your questions Jen about the supernova, the black hole, Romulus, etc. were explained in the prequel comic.  You shouldn't have to read it to know what's going on, but you might want to check it out.  One part of the movie I felt was a bit weak was explaining all this to the audience.

[Jen]

There is no need to correct "the timeline."  There are just now two.  Also, many of your questions Jen about the supernova, the black hole, Romulus, etc. were explained in the prequel comic.  You shouldn't have to read it to know what's going on, but you might want to check it out.  One part of the movie I felt was a bit weak was explaining all this to the audience.

There's no need...but it would make me feel better. :D  All I'm saying is that it is possible to do so if someone wanted to come in after JJ and do something different...the door has been left open. ;)