Last night, Lauren and I went to see the new Star Trek movie. This post discusses the movie, including specific plot details – there are MANY SPOILERS HERE. If you haven’t yet seen the movie and are planning to, then I’d advise not reading this post. You have been duly warned.
Once again, this post CONTAINS SPOILERS for the plot of the 2009 Star Trek movie.
The tagline of the eleventh Trek movie is The Future Begins, and upon watching it you realise that this works on more than one level. This movie is not simply a prequel, nor a reimagining. In the interests of getting right to the heart of what is potentially the most contentious aspect of the movie for Star Trek fans, I’ll just come right out and say it:
This movie establishes an alternate timeline.
Allow me to explain, via a brief plot summary. At some point (presumably after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis but not too long afterwards since Spock is still alive), a particular star unexpectedly goes supernova. The resulting shockwave poses a danger to parts of the galaxy, and the Federation devises a plan to neutralise the shockwave. Ambassador Spock (played, as always, by Leonard Nimoy – and interestingly credited as “Spock Prime”) will fly the fastest vessel ever created by the Vulcan Science Academy near to the shockwave, and will fire a cannister containing a drop of “Red Matter”. This exceptionally powerful substance will create a localised black hole, consuming the shockwave.
Whilst this plan is in motion but not yet complete, the shockwave utterly destroys the planet Romulus. Nero, the commanding officer of a Romulan mining ship, witnesses this destruction and is driven almost mad with grief (his wife and family, as well as most of his species, having been destroyed). He vows revenge against the Federation and pursues Spock’s ship, but both ships are drawn into the black hole created by the Red Matter, and are pushed backwards in time. It is of course at this point that the Trek timeline we all know branches into an alternate set of events. We learn all these things via an establishing mind-meld between Spock (from the future) and Kirk (present day).
Nero’s ship arrives 25 years earlier than Spock’s ship, and must thus wait 25 years to ambush him. In the meantime, Nero decides to begin his revenge by attacking the USS Kelvin – whose bridge crew includes a certain junior officer by the name of George Kirk. George’s pregnant wife is on board, and goes into labour as Nero’s ship attacks. The Kelvin’s captain goes aboard Nero’s vessel as ordered by Nero and is killed, leaving Kirk in command. He evacuates the Kelvin, leaving only himself on board to pilot it on a collision course to allow the Kelvin’s shuttles and escape pods to leave safely. He is successful in this mission, though it costs him his own life – and in the closing moments of his life he does hear (over the comm channel) his son being born, deciding with his wife to name him Jim (after her father) rather than Tiberius (after his).
Twenty five years later, James Kirk is a rebel with a troubled family life, and during the course of a bar brawl with Starfleet cadets he encounters Captain Christopher Pike of the newly-comissioned USS Enterprise. Pike knew of the Kelvin incident (it was the subject of Pike’s dissertation at Starfleet Academy), and encourages Kirk to enlist. Kirk of course does so, and a series of events occur which cause him to meet the familiar crew members we all know.
Nero captures Spock from the future, and leaves him on an icy planet from where he can see the planet Vulcan large in the sky. Nero uses his ship’s mining drill and a drop of the Red Matter from Spock’s ship to create a black hole at the center of Vulcan, destroying the planet (and Spock’s human mother).
Kirk and crew of course manage to defeat Nero and save Earth (Nero’s next target, naturally), but the planet Vulcan remains destroyed. This is not undone via time travel or other means by the end of the movie. At the conclusion of Star Trek, and at the time of Jim Kirk receiving his captaincy of the USS Enterprise, the planet Vulcan has been obliterated. The Vulcan race, once more than 6 billion strong, has been reduced to around 10,000 people. This obviously places into question many subsequent events we’ve seen in previous Trek series and movies.
A new timeline has been established, thus “the future begins”. The Federation is in place in its same basic form, but Vulcan is now gone and five starships were lost (not including the Kelvin years earlier) in the fight against Nero. It’s thus unclear whether this timeline will lead to the same events seen in The Next Generation and so forth. Interestingly, both Spocks remain alive and well at the conclusion of the movie; the younger and the older one. Sarek likewise remains alive.
Now, arguably, the Federation of course has a very simple way to restore the original timeline: given that both young and old Spocks, and young Kirk, all know about the eventual supernova which leads to all of these events, they can take steps to ensure that Spock’s mission with the Red Matter succeeds sooner, before the destruction of Romulus. The new timeline would then potentially cease to exist. With Star Trek, there is always a way out.
So, the shocking plot aside, how does it stand up as a Trek movie? As might be clear, I’m a dedicated Trekkie – of the “seen everything, and has a worryingly encyclopaedic knowledge of it all” vintage – and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I’m not the best person to judge whether it’s accessible to non-Trek fans, but my impression is that they’ve struck a good balance. It’s a good movie in its own right, and certainly a very good sci-fi movie. The full Star Trek universe is entirely in place, but there isn’t any real burden of familiarity for the audience.
That’s not to say that there isn’t a lot of fan love going on; the movie is riddled with references that Trek fans will enjoy. Here are a few:
- Nero interrogates Captain Pike using the dreaded Ceti eels, like Khan did before (after) him.
- Kirk is very much the ladies’ man, and is seen in bed with a suitably-green Orion female (who is a Starfleet cadet).
- There’s a particularly gratuitous redshirt death you can’t help but see coming.
- Upon formally receiving his captaincy of the Enterprise at the end of the movie, Kirk’s command is of course “take us out”.
- The CO of the Enterprise during most of the movie is Christopher Pike.
- The aforementioned scene where George Kirk and his wife decide on their son’s now-famous name.
- We see Kirk nonchalantly passing the Kobayashi Maru simulator test after reprogramming it.
- Sulu informs Kirk that his combat training is in fencing, and proceeds to demonstrate on an unfortunate Romulan.
- When Kirk first meets him, Scotty has been consigned to an icy Starfleet outpost for arguing with a superior about transwarp transporter theory, and for having made a failed attempt at long-range transport using Admiral Archer’s beagle.
- When attempting to escape from the gravity well of a black hole, Kirk tells the beleaguered Scotty that he needs more power; Scotty’s response, naturally, is a frazzled “I’m givin’ it all she’s got, Captain!”
- The computer on the Enterprise has trouble recognising Chekov’s voice-commands since he pronounces all Vs as Ws – including “Wulcan” and the inevitable “wessels”.
- W. Morgan Sheppard is in it (he’s a Vulcan this time).
- Scotty eventually propels the Enterprise to safety by ejecting and detonating the warp core.
- Spock (Leonard Nimoy) does the iconic “These are the voyages” voiceover at the end.
- There are some noticeably Shatner-esque Kirk moments, including his eternal Voyage Home-era “Spock!”
- Scotty is once again involved in giving a not-yet-discovered equation to an earlier time period, though this time he is the recipient.
- The end credits are a huge tribute (visually and musically) to the original series (including all the themes you’d expect).
- Karl Urban’s portrayal of Dr. McCoy is an enormous, non-stop tribute to DeForest Kelley. All the classics are in there: “Good God, man!”, “My God, Jim!”, “Green-blooded” (“hobgoblin” in this case, as always regarding Spock), “I’m a doctor, not a” (“physicist”), and the assertion early in the movie when being introduced to Kirk that “my ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce; left me with nothing but my bones“. If you’re a McCoy fan, you’ll be in a state of permanent glee. (And yes, he does get to say that someone is dead – the previous chief medical officer of the Enterprise).
There are also a number of interesting new twists and interpretations of the Star Trek universe, of course.
- The Enterprise itself has a new look. Overall it mostly resembles the Motion Picture refit (complete with the slightly iridescent patchwork hull and distinctive lettering), though the nacelles have a much beefier, go-faster look. Internally, the ship is a combination of movie-era high-tech and the original series’ industrial feel.
- Main Engineering is absolutely enormous, dwarfing even that of the Enterprise-E. It’s like a vast factory.
- Similarly, the shuttlebay is home to a whole series of shuttles this time around.
- The viewscreen on the bridge, whilst having computer-generated overlays, actually does look straight out into space (which is worrying when it starts to crack).
- The transporter effect, whilst using a similar sound to the original series, is visually different: it uses white trails which horizontally orbit the person.
- The transporter pad, bizarrely, does not have a flat floor – each position has a slight dome you have to stand on. Strikes me as a bit unsafe.
- McCoy has a phobia of flying (in a shuttle) as well as of using the transporter.
- The warp effect is excellent; they really have emphasised the idea that it’s bending space around the ship. When at warp, there’s an updated version of the stretched-space visuals we’ve come to expect, but the actual initial jump to warp is brilliant. None of your stretch-out-the-ship-then-flash-of-light stuff; these warp jumps are like a huge gun going off. I’m very fond of it.
- The phasers have a very nice mechanical effect for distinguishing between stun and kill settings: the front part of the barrel actually flips around 180 degrees, showing a blue emitter for stun and a red emitter for kill.
- Chekov is a 17-year-old maths genius (with an extremely thick accent).
- Spock and Uhura seem to be beginning some kind of romantic relationship.
There are also a few sentimental touches of note:
- Randy Pausch, celebrated professor of Computing Science at Carnegie Mellon, is a bridge officer on the USS Kelvin (and has a line of dialogue). Pausch passed away last July due to complications from pancreatic cancer.
- Jimmy’s Doohan’s son Christopher is one of Scotty’s staff in the transporter room (this will be Christopher’s second Star Trek movie; he was also in The Motion Picture). Interestingly, Christopher’s twin brother really is called Montgomery (Scotty’s first name).
- Majel Barrett-Roddenberry can be heard in her final Trek role, once again as the voice of the computer. Majel passed away in December.
This movie is very much action instead of intrigue; far more Wrath of Khan than The Undiscovered Country (two of the strongest Star Trek movies in my opinion). There are a couple of weaker points (the motivation for the Nero character is never really sufficiently explained), and some questionable logic (the sheer scale of the Romulan mining vessel seems questionable, as does the quantity of Red Matter being carried by Spock given the potency of a single drop), but overall the plot does hold up.
The characterisations of the much-beloved crew of the Enterprise are for the most part wonderful, managing to update the characters slightly but without breaking away from the established personas we all care so much about. Every one of these on-screen people can readily and believably grow into the characters we saw on the original series and afterwards, yet they don’t feel dated or wrapped in layers of inpenetrable canon for the casual viewer. That’s the primary achievement of the film.
So, to the big questions: does it buck the odd-means-bad trend, and where does it lie overall in terms of Trek movie rankings? The answer to the first question is a very easy “yes”. Regarding rankings, there’s obviously a lot of personal and subjective opinion here. My favourite movies of the original six are most definitely Wrath of Khan (because it’s a genuinely great sci-fi movie and space opera independently of the franchise), and The Undiscovered Country (because it actually has an intelligent plot which has echoes of much of The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine). My favourite movie of the Next Generation series is easily First Contact, for similar reasons as Khan.
For me, Star Trek (the new movie) sits alongside the aforementioned three to form the top four Trek movies. It’s very difficult to order those four relative to each other, because each succeeds for slightly different reasons, but if you’re one of the majority who would place Khan in the top spot, then I think that Star Trek certainly has a legitimate claim at the second or third position.
The story itself is a vintage Trek space chase adventure, which is understandably a little front-heavy for reasons of establishing the backstory, and the two-plus hours definitely fly by. I honestly had low expectations, but I’ve been very pleasantly surprised.
Even taking into the account the significant factor of the alternate timeline, I really don’t have any complaints. Star Trek succeeds in refreshing the motion picture arm of the franchise and providing entertainment for Trekkies and normal people alike.
Before he died, Gene Roddenberry said he hoped that some day someone would come along and do Star Trek over again, bigger and better than before. I honestly think he’d be pleased.
Great review, I concur with every statement! I *think* I’ll watch the movie a second time in the cinema – a first for me!
Let’s see if we find some “weak spots” in the story:
Spock tries to rescue Romulus. He’s a bit late. The red matter intended to be used to safe Romulus now creates a singularity. Nero’s ship is sucked into that singularity, shortly therafter Spock’s ship has the same fate.
Nero’s ship travels back in time. The timetravel creates a “storm in space” – after appearing he destroys the ship of Kirk’s father.
Nero then decides to wait 25yrs in place. He seems to have very long lasting supplies on board. Also, Starfleet doesn’t seem to care so much about the loss of the ship, because nothing is done to investigate.
Anyway, Nero waits decades in place, captures Spock (who entered the singularity a couple of seconds later, but emerges from it decades after Nero – don’t even ask why Nero knows that waiting 25 years will yield a result).
Once he has Spock captured, he brings him to Vulcan, beams him down to one of the moons so he can “watch” Vulcan die. Please note that the destruction of the planet doesn’t have any effect on the other moons and or planets in the Vulcan system.
For some reason Starfleet has lots of ships orbiting earth, but all are undermanned – so star fleet cadets are used to help.
Bones brings Kirk (who is suspended at this point in time) as his patient. For some reason, the time-jump-distortion (“storm in space”) now also appears in the vulcan system. Which makes no sense, since Nero travelled there using warp, and didn’t create a singularity. But since his ship wasn’t detected by any race so far anyway, I think that’s nothing to worry about.
Anyway, Kirk is the only one realzing that this happened before, runs to the bridge to tell Cpt. Pike about it. A couple of strange scenes later, Pike makes Spock commanding captain and Kirk first officer. Figure this, a nobody from the acadamy, who just got suspended, never served on a ship before and is not even supposed to be on this ship is made first officer.
Cool action szene follows, Vulcan gets destroyed, Spock’s mother dies, Spocks sends Kirk into “exile” – to the same place Nero sent Spock. And since planets are really, really small, Kirk gets chased into Spock by some CGI monsters.
This all happens while the Enterprise is on the way to meet with the fleet (of couse, using warp speed), this gets important in a moment.
Spock tells Kirk the background story, then they decide to leave the cozy icecave. For some reason Spock knows that there is a starfleet outpost just a short walk away (don’t ask why he knows that, or why he decided to sit in a cave instead of going to the outpost in the firstplace).
There they meet Scotty and some sort of Mickey-Mouse-ish-Comic-Relief-Alien. Spock tells Scotty how to beam onto a ship travelling with warp speed and beams then Scotty and Kirk onto the Enterprise.
Which is know several star systems away. If your reaction to this is WTF? you are obviously still using your brain.
Kirk drives Spock mad, so he steps down and the ship doesn’t have a captain.
Since none of the actual officers of the Enterprise takes action Kirk sits down on the chair in the middle.
Ok, now that suspended cadet, who never served on a ship before, who was sent off the ship be its last commanding officer, returned without permission, started a fight with the acting captain now decides to make himself captain – and nobody wonders, is worried or even questions this.
They are now on the way to confront Nero and trying to make sure that Earth survives. Which kinda works, Nero’s ship is destroyed by the same red matter that sent him back in time.
Kirk watches, offers to safe him, Nero refuses. Instead of just watching Nero getting destroyed by the singularity Kirk decides to fire all weapons (which have proven ineffective around a dozen times so far).
Ok, why does he do that? Offering help, then firing – even if that fire has no measurable effect anyway? Two reasons a) it allows to get some nice phaser shooting scenes for the trailer and b) this ensures the enterprise stays long enough in place to be pulled right into the singularity aswell.
This allows Scotty (who is now for some reason in charge of engineering, despite the fact that nobody on board the enterprise knows him at all) to come up with a clever plan to safe the day.
Cut, Kirk gets a medal and is officially made Captain, while Pike is now a) in a wheelchair and b)Admiral.
Spock is now giving the typical “Star Trek intro speech” and the Courage theme is played for the very first time the entire movie. In fact, that last scene is the only scene that feels like trek.
And these are just plot holes. They also manage to break canon in the couple of scenes before the time travel changes the time line – which is not easy, so kudos for them.
So, the story sucks a lot.
The actors were pretty nice. Bones, Kirk, Checkov were really great, the other actors not far behind.
The new Enterprise looks great.
So, with some luck the next film could be actually good. And since the next film has an even number, this might actually happen.
Spellcaster: I think the movie absolutely succeeds in its aim of rebooting the Star Trek movie franchise. It’s not meant as hard sci-fi; it’s a mass-market motion picture. It’s emotionally satisfying, and the points you mentioned don’t intrude on the story and the themes it’s trying to convey.
Every Trek movie has such inconsistencies, plot holes and other problems; there was no golden age of perfect scripts which has somehow been left by the wayside. The goal is to entertain and give a refreshed look at a familiar and beloved universe. I feel kind of bad for you if you don’t think it managed to do that.
I don’t mind plot holes. But this movie has almost no szene that makes any sense. “Doom: The Movie” made more sense.
So far, even the worst ST movies made “some sense.” They had plot holes, broke canon, etc. But there is a difference between having some issues and making totally no sense.
They tried to bring the complete core crew (2nd season TOS) on the ship at the same time – fresh from the academy (at least all of them but Scotty).
And this makes no sense and causes most of the problems.
Problems occur when they destroy the ST feel and follow this up with total nonsense. Scotty’s Mickey Mouse friend destroys the atmosphere, and then they beam on a ship in warp, from lightyears away. They don’t know where that ship is, they don’t have sensors able to track that ship, they don’t have transporters with that range, Scotty didn’t even realize that a) most of the fleet was destroyed within sight b) a whole planet exploded directly next to him and c) is obviously not a miracle worker, but quite an idiot.
With that technology (beaming into different star systems onto fast moving objects w/o needing any sensors) they basically make the whole “starship” idea pretty obsolete.
And there are almost no scenes (maybe but the bar brawl scene and the green girl from orion scene) without these flaws.
And this is not a soft vs. hard scifi thing. It just makes no sense. Spock: “I need to be relieved from duty”, Kirk: “Ok, I am taking command”, Spock: “Oh, I think I am fit again, let me help you”
Soft vs Hard Sci-fi problems would be the fact that Kirk and Sulu don’t get smashed on the transporter due to momentum after being beamed aboard after they fell of that drill platform.
I am not even asking why they need that drill in the first place, if they could just drop that red matter onto the normal planet.
Even the fact that the destruction of vulcan doesn’t seem to affect any other stellar bodies nearby is something I could dismiss. That’s the tech aspect you can argue away using the soft vs, hard scifi debate.
The fact that nobody cares about that gigantic ship that just destroyed a federation star ship for 25yrs has nothing to do with hard vs. soft scifi.
The fact that a federation ship is deep into romulan space at this time is something one can overlook.
The fact that at the time of the beginning of the movie nobody in the federation should know how romulans look like is something I can dismiss.
The fact that “Admiral Archer’s” beagle must have been over 100yrs old at the time Scotty beamed him around is something one can overlook (ST: ENT starts around year 2151, TOS around 2260).
The fact that the enterprise was built on earth is something I can ignore (even if this is both against canon and against common sense – but we can explain this away using the hard vs soft thing again).
What I liked in the movie:
- Actors
- Enterprise and general starship design
- Starting fresh
What I didn’t like
- Music (but the end credits)
- Story
Let’s hope that they will now take the chance and really start fresh. I also hope that a lot of people watch the movie so ST XII gets a chance :)
Regarding the new timeline, the foreknowledge that young Spock and Kirk have of the supernova in the future will, at most, only allow them to act sooner and prevent the destruction of Romulus and/or the creation of yet another timeline, if the same method for stopping the nova is avoided. However, this would nave absolutely no effect upon the past events of their timeline, i.e. Vulcan would still be toast, ships would still have been destroyed, etc.
Doc Brown’s diagram in Back to the Future II comes to mind, though that series has a whole other set of inconsistencies. Once the new timeline has been created by the introduction of elements that were not in existence at that point in the previous timeline, the only hope they have is to “fix” their own timeline so that it mirrors the original as closely as possible. In this case, this would mean sending someone back in time to kill Nero when he emerges from the singularity, and perhaps even doing the same to Spock.
Having said that, to the inhabitants of this timeline, all of this is brand new and not in some way different than “what should have happened”. In fact, the old timeline still exists somewhere and things *are* happening there “as they should” regardless of the existence of this new timeline branch/dimension. I think it’s a bold choice by Abrams to have changed the Trek universe in such significant ways and not to just hit the reset button at the end of the story. Of course, doing so also avoids subjecting the next movie to canon nitpickers. All Abrams needs to do is point at the branch in the timeline and smile.
Cheers, David (from iPod so please excuse typos–big fingers, etc)
Matt: I take it you haven’t read the companion comic to this movie, Star Trek: Countdown?
The 4 parts (overseen by Abrams, Orci and Kurtzman) deal with the events in the “Prime” universe that cause Nero to seek his revenge, including the destruction of Romulus, and details more of what happened prior to the film. For example, Spock Prime’s ship, the Jellyfish, was not a Vulcan ship at all. It was an experimental Federation ship built by LaForge.
It’s a bit cringey at time with its fan service (pretty much every TNG character gets a look in) but is worth reading.
I’ll have to watch The Undiscovered Country again, since I remember hating it. I’m personally a big fan of IV, “clear aliminium” and “colorful idioms” and all. Also, I think First Contact is definitely the best TNG movie, but I also really liked Generations. Most Trek films I’ve only seen once or twice (Nemesis I sort of wish I hadn’t seen, to be honest), so maybe sitting down and watching them all again is warranted.
In all, though, I heartily agree with your assessment of the new film. I’m definitely looking forward to see how they follow this one up (if at all, but I’m confident it will happen).
Another thought just occurred to me. This “new” “old” Trekverse got a heavy infusion of future technology with the ships that came from the future…will this mean accelerated tech development in the next films? What would Kirk, et. al. be able to do with better engines, weapons, etc.? It was a neat way of leaping ahead (both in form and function) without falling into the disparity exemplified by the ill-fated “Enterprise”.
David, did I miss something in the movie or were not both “future ships” destroyed? Spock Prime’s by colliding with the Romulan and the Romulan by being crushed into another singularity. Oh well, small changes effect large results. Remember “A Piece of the Action”?
Go boldly forward Star Trek script writers where no movie has gone before. If we can balance originality of story development with the glitz of special effects…then we will truly have something !
*blush* I haven’t actually seen the film yet, so please excuse the mistake (I live in a third-world country…where it will be available on DVD next week). I’m assuming then that Scotty never got to take a look at the new tech.
I mostly agree with spellcaster. My take: the acting was superb. The story line, not bad but too many holes and implausible scenarios. But as far as the re-boot? Completely unnecessary and a very disappointing slap in the face to long-time fans.
This is NOT a story of how the crew met. This is NOT the Star Trek universe long-time fans have come to love. It is a alternate time-line. I’m disappointed that JJ Abrams did not use his creativeness into keeping with canon. With only a few minor changes to the plot and he could have accomplished it. Here’s how:
1) Ditch the Romulans. Use another race as the villains instead with the same basic plot line.
2) Vulcan isn’t destroyed, but some other Federation planet (one not even previously mentioned) and the rest are threatened as per the plot. Or if Vulcan barely escapes destruction, Spock’s mother is initially presumed dead, but at the end of the film we find she survived.
3) The graduation from the Academy is changed a bit, with some back-story told in flashbacks. Keep the Kobayashi Maru scene, but Kirk acts more professional in it. For example, no apple-eating. i.e. …
a) Enterprise is already in service.
b) Kirk is initially assigned to the Farragut, serves under Capt. Garrovick and is then transferred to the Enterprise. No need to film this; just mention it in passing.
c) ”Number One” is briefly Pike’s first officer until she promoted and given command of her own ship or is part of the plot saving Earth/Vulcan and dies. Whatever. Just keep true to Roddenberry’s initial creation. Spock is already the science officer. This could be all done during Kirk’s arrival to Enterprise as an officer. Gary Mitchell could be there as well. Perhaps the ship is left without a first officer briefly and Pike has to rely on young officers (not cadets), like Kirk.
d) Bones replaces Boyce in the film. (and let’s easily assume that Dr. Piper in Where No Man Has Gone Before was a temporary fill-in for McCoy while he was granted leave for some family emergency).
e) Chekov is NOT given the con. Sulu outranks him. So does Uhura. Perhaps Scotty is already the engineer. Or Mitchell is onboard. Whoever doesn’t matter.
There. Just a few minor attention to detail and the movie would have kept true to Gene Roddenberry’s vision.
So then, why was it NOT done?
Simple. Because Paramount wanted a re-boot, is hoping (1) either a new film franchise or (2) a new series where they can ditch everything of the past 45 years.
Was it a good movie? Sure. Do I like the actors? Yes. Was it good science fiction? Yes.
Was it Star Trek as we know it? Absolutely NOT.
Can this be corrected for the second film which is sure to come? Of course. Quiet easily for the most part.
Vulcan (with Spock’s mother) suddenly reappears intact through a temporary anomaly, all as a result because Romulus isn’t destroyed in the future as a Star Fleet science mission (perhaps led by the future Spock) destroys the troublesome supernova in this new time-frame (no need to film all this, just mention it in the film to establish the fact). Nemo therefore will never goes back in time. But the Enterprise crew retain their memories of what happened because they got caught up in the anomaly. The medal ceremony at the end of the film never happens. Pike is the only Star Fleet ranking officer away of what really happened, along with the Enterprise crew. He and Kirk still get promoted, etc and the journey can still go on, but in keeping true to canon. ST writers have used this trick before to explain time-paradoxes.
I think that wiping the slate clean by altering the timeline was absolutely necessary. Star Trek has been around for a long time, in a lot of incarnations and in a lot of different time periods. Most everything that could be done with it has been done. And Star Trek, more than any other fictional world, has SO many fans who nitpick that it’s become impossible. Kirk cant pick his nose without five thousand blogs appearing talking about how it couldnt possibly have happened because of the stardate or the size of the ship or because such and such happened in episode 15 of DS9 season 2 or some such nonsense. Example…it’s a given that this group will make more movies. So, if the timeline was left the same, what would happen in 10 years when this crew starts looking obviously older than the crew in the original series? They’d be overlapping in the timeline. And, again assuming that this crew goes onto make movies for another 20 years…do we really expect them to have to take into account every single event that happened previously in a show/movie? It’s just too much…too much to realistically keep track of. Just wipe the slate clean and make it one hell of a ride and let us have fun with it. I’m so tired of the nitpicking over the stardates and adherence to 30 year old plots. I want to enjoy Star Trek, not dedicate my life to picking it apart. This is going to allow that to happen. I feel so great about it. And this does NOT un-do the importance of everything that has previously happened with the Star Trek universe. Everything we’ve seen…tos, tng, ds9, voyager, enterprise…all those plots and characters and events did actually happen (fictionally…leading up to the exact chain of events that allowed for the destruction of Romulus and Spock’s involvement, etc. Nothing’s been un-done…it’s all still there. What I’m trying to say is that the old timeline was necessary for the new timeline to occur, so everything still fits. All that being said…yeah, it’s pushing any kind of reality that a brand new, freshly-suspended cadet could end up being the captain of his own ship. But…whatever,dude…it’s Jim Kirk. In the end, I dont care of a band of winged, green space clowns pull him out of their butts and fly down to the bridge of the enterprise and deposit him into the captain’s chair..I just want him there. I want them all there where they belong so that years and years of adventures can happen all over again, and let’s leave the baggage behind and enjoy it.
Minor detail: the supernova (which threatened the entire galaxy? Really?) happened in 2387, which is eight years after Nemesis.
aleutian1, you can go ahead and knock us long-time fans as mere ”nitpickers” all you want. But as you said, there are ”so many of us.” Just remember, without us, your ”clean slate” probably won’t go anywhere because we won’t go see another movie, buy DVDs or watch a re-booted series.
JJ Abrams and Paramount are lazy, plain and simple. They could have had the ”Best of Both Worlds” but instead decided to toss long-time fans overboard. I’m not talking about the ship on the ground, bigger bridge, etc. That stuff is nitpicking.
What I’m talking about is the destruction of Vulcan, the death of Spock’s mother and disregarding Roddenberry’s pilot ”The Cage” as if the 40+ years of 5 TV series and 10 movies never happened.
You want to make a new show? Go ahead. But call it something else. Don’t rip-off someone else’s idea and use the name they created to sell your story.
A recent quote by JJ Abrams in the Los Angeles Times says all long-time fans need to know about his intentions when he said this about the original cast:
”I didn’t get it. I always felt it skipped over the reason I needed to care about the characters and always felt kind of phony.”
- ”On a Risky Voyage”, Los Angeles Times, May 4, 2009
Our beloved Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Chapel, Rand, et al, ”phonies”?
What a slap in the face to Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan, Nichols, Takei, Koenig, Barrett Roddenberry, Whitney, et al, to Gene Roddenberry and his vision of where humankind could go and achieve, and to all the fans who DID GET IT!
@Long time Trekker: You can barely even comprehend what “slap in the face” means. Star Trek has had a long and successful franchise that everyone can recognize instantly, whereas its Canadian counterpart might as well have been buried in the sands of time. Loyal Questarians like myself, who watched Galaxy Quest from its very first episode, cheered at first when we heard that Dreamworks had revived our poor lost program, which examined mankind in lights never seen before or since, and got cancelled before its first series had even completed. Our enthusiasm turned to horror when it came out that the film was being made as a comedy, a parody of itself and of our beloved show, and the very ideals of humanity that we looked up to and that many of us still live our lives by. It was as if the entire world had gone completely round the twist.
You know nothing of this. You understand nothing.
The new Star Trek film is quite loyal to the childish mores of the late 1960s, which Gene Roddenberry took up and ran with for the remainder of his life. The differences between the film and all of your series are infinitesimal in the eyes of those who know the true ways of quality science fiction. You are nothing more than a heathen in that regard, and will go on to be a sinner as far as I am concerned if you continue in your ways of willful ignorance.
I have nothing more to say here, save to implore you: By Grabthar’s hammer, listen to the music, not the song.