"STAR TREK" movie comments/reviews (spoilers)

[Rico]

Oh, and back to the movie - Obama talks Trek:

And the last movie you saw?
    Now, movies I've been doing OK [with] because it turns out we got this nice theater on the ground floor of my house ... So Star Trek, we saw this weekend, which I thought was good. Everybody was saying I was Spock, so I figured I should check it out and—[the president makes the Vulcan salute with his hand].

Very good.
    Yes, absolutely.

Did you watch that when you were growing up?
    I used to love Star Trek. You know, Star Trek was ahead of its time. There was a whole—the special effects weren't real good, but the storylines were always evocative, you know, there was a little commentary and a little pop philosophy for a 10-year-old to absorb.

A lot of U.N. stuff.
    Yes, exactly, right.

[Feathers]

I bet no one will ask Gordon Brown if he's seen it...or if they do they'll be more interested if he claimed it on expenses.

So the President knows the Vulcan salute. Is this a good thing? 

[Rico]

It's been known a long time that the President is a Trek fan, and also reads comics too.  I like it!

[cosmonaut]

I think Pike is sitting in the wheelchair because his brain (the part controlling motor functions) was damaged as they took that animal out. Or he simply was weak and couldn't walk around.

And about black holes, they need a certain amount of mass, only bigger stars become one. I think black holes with lesser mass just dissolve (at least the ones created by CERN). So the first one Spock created might still be a black hole, but I doubt Vulcan or Neros vessel have enough mass.
(I'm so nerdy.)

[cosmonaut]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole#Classification
"Micro – (also mini black holes) have masses much less than that of a star. (...) The theory of Hawking radiation predicts that such black holes will evaporate in bright flashes of gamma radiation."
What did I say? Nerdy.

[Feathers]

Interesting. I was assuming the entry holes would stay around but maybe not.

I think the holes out of which the ships came into the new universe probably weren't black holes but simply exit points of some sort so I didn't expect those to stay. The supernova black hole in the Prime universe is one I'd expect to stay simply from the sheer amount of mass it's swallowed.

[Bryancd]

I haven't read the book yet, but maybe some of this is cleared up in the novel (which I did just get from Ktrek - thanks Kevin!).

I just started reading the book last night!

[X]

I haven't read the book yet, but maybe some of this is cleared up in the novel (which I did just get from Ktrek - thanks Kevin!).

I just started reading the book last night!

I finished it in like three hours of reading. What do you think so far?

[Bryancd]

I read a night before bed, so only get two chapters before I fall asleep. I'm only at the attack on the Kelvin, but I like it so far!

[RickPeete]

Usually I am tempted to jump into discussions about specifications and the minutae of things 'Trek', but on this point, let me say simply:

"Maybe the new Enterprise IS as big as they say.  Perhaps Starfleet engineers figured out later that building ships that large was neither efficient nor necessary given the amount of resources (in both personnel, materials, and antimatter) they required.  They got smarter and put 'more into less space' -- just like we do today with our current technologies (e.g. old style tape recorders to today's iPods)."

RetCon Complete.

[RicSantiago]

I'd like to throw a question to everyone who is reading the book: If you were JJ Abrams and you had to pick just one scene to depict the period between Kirk's birth and his old-enough-to-join-the-academy age, why pick him thrashing his stepfather vintage car? Do you think it was really the best choice?

[Bryancd]

I'd like to throw a question to everyone who is reading the book: If you were JJ Abrams and you had to pick just one scene to depict the period between Kirk's birth and his old-enough-to-join-the-academy age, why pick him thrashing his stepfather vintage car? Do you think it was really the best choice?

In regards to the book, the only additional young Kirk scene occurs just before he steals the Corvette. He is washing it and we hear of an argument between his older brother Sam and his step-ftaher. Sam comes out and is tell's Jim he is leaving and walks off down the road. This prompts Jim to jump in the Corvette and take off. So from the book, there wasn't really any additional chioce for that element.
As to the film, I think the scene works ok for what JJ was trying to impart.

[RicSantiago]

As to the film, I think the scene works ok for what JJ was trying to impart.

When we saw the trailer, the telephonic conversation with the "uncle" wasnt there, so I did not get that the intention was to destroy the car. I thought Kirk didnt see the cliff before too late to brake. Maybe silly of me.

But for a person who didnt see the trailer, when seeing the film: was it clear enough that the "uncle" was the stepfather and that Kirk was doing that to destroy the car as an act of revolt against the car owner? Was it clear enough?

[Bryancd]

The subtext I got from seeing the whole scene in the theater was that his home life in Iowa was troubled and he was acting out directly against the person on the phone. I did get the impression it was a step-father and that he wasn't very caring for Kirk.

[moyer777]

I'm just reading the book now, and it is really great.  It's really too bad they couldn't have made the movie 5 hours.  :)