Thoughts on new Star Trek movie (*spoilers!*)

I liked this movie a ot, while I wasn't so surebefore I saw it.

Now few things to answer some quetions and tell what I liked/disliked (it'd be simillar to what everyone said before but whatever).

What I liked

The casting obviously. I mean it's the lead actors that carry this film, and without the really great acting everyone will be much less enthusiastic.

I must confess, that I was pretty sure about Spock. I mean I learned that Zachary Quinto is getting the role shortly after watching first season of Heroes and i thought yeah, he is the man for the job, so he didn't suprise me, but i was not sure about other cast members. I really wasn't offended by chekov's accent, also 'wiktor wiktor' has nothing to do with ANY slavic accent whatsover, it just made me laugh.

I was suprised about Sulu. I mean I knew the actor only from American Pie, so wasn't quite sure about this, but he turned out quite well

The plot was OK, and the cancellation of previous series move was IMO really brilliant, and done in the way it offended as few people as it could (some trekkies probably decided to be offended no matter what...)

The coincidences. I think tey did everything for them not to look that stupid

We see Enterprise built in Iowa, so it's perfectly logical that the excursion from Academy goes there. Than on the Ice planet, its both Enterprise and Nero's ship goes roughly the same direction and dump Kirk and Spock prime on what is probably first encountered planet. The Irony of Scotty being there is, that it would be much less, well, 'coincidential', if Spock wasn't on the scene.

Now for the allusions to erlier Trek. I liked all wich I could notice, so i really don't know witch one LOAF was reffering to as being not so good. Also, some were really ineviteble. I mean they just had to mak Bones say I'm a Doctor not.. at least once. and there would be legion of Trekkies asking why if they show Kirk at the academy, they didn't show him beating the Kobayashi Maru test.

What I not so Liked.

first is the look of Engeneering. I didn't like the fact it looked like an old Brewery, but most of all I didn't like it beeing so ety. I mean in every oher Trek tit was full of people and here, it was Scotty alone. I can't really get it why

Than there is kid Kirk scene. Now I did some research and apparently there were more scenes filmed featuring kid Kirk, his brother and his alcoholic stepfather (owner of the corvette) now it's my guess that scene made more sense in that context, but they decided to cut it out and left car scene only because it made it to the trailer. BTW the 'Johnny kid' shown briefly in the scene was originally Sam Kirk name changed very late in post-production.

Also Nero wasn't that bad, but could have been better BTW don't you think that his motivation is really simmilar to that of Jazz? would be second WC simmilarity after the Prophercy-like arriving of Nero's ship.

and also the very Star Wars-like Monster chase scene. now it was O.K. but a bit unnesesary, espetialy bigger monster eats smaller monster thing.

finally camera work. I've seen worse so I can't really place it in "Hated" section, but still didn't like it

What I really Hated

Nokia product placement. that's all.
 
Dragon1 said:
...it still has those massive, Death Star-like bottomless pits.
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And that made it seem like Abrahms was a little anxious to show his self-professed love of SW in a shot...any shot...with the interior of that mining ship. That kind of screamed gratuitous to me, and, as you mentioned, a complete waste of space. When Kirk blasted the Romulan with his own pistol, my mind superimposed stormtrooper armor over him when he fell down said bottomless pit.

OSHA needs to exist in the 23rd Century AND in galaxies far, far away. :p
 
Mekt-Hakkikt said:
P.S.: It does not bother me at all but I'm curious: in the movie they talked about "Klingon Warbirds" - I thought that was a term reserved for Romulan warships while Klingons had "Birds of Prey".
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I caught that too. The closest I've ever heard to that referencing Klingon warships is War Dragons, but then again that was from a book (incidentally titled, "The Kobayashi Maru") so the name's not "official". Romulans are the ones with the fascination of naming most of their ship classes after birds, not Klingons...and even then, the Bird of Prey moniker was, I think, stolen from the original Romulan class ship of the same name in ST III and beyond. I have to wonder if they got tired of trying to think of a new name for the ship when resorting to looking backwards for that name. :D
 
I was kind of hoping to see someone get vaporized. In the old series, they had that great cheesy green vaporization effect for the phasers. Instead, the phaser fight on the mining ship just ended up looking like any generic science fiction gun battle.

I caught that too. The closest I've ever heard to that referencing Klingon warships is War Dragons, but then again that was from a book (incidentally titled, "The Kobayashi Maru") so the name's not "official". Romulans are the ones with the fascination of naming most of their ship classes after birds, not Klingons...and even then, the Bird of Prey moniker was, I think, stolen from the original Romulan class ship of the same name in ST III and beyond. I have to wonder if they got tired of trying to think of a new name for the ship when resorting to looking backwards for that name.
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I seem to remember an early plot point for Star Trek III was that Kruge stole a Romulan Bird of Prey. The Klingon Bird of Prey was originally planned to be a Romulan ship. Hence the look. The old Romulan Bird of Prey from the episode "Balance of Terror" had that very distinct bird painted on the bottom, just like the BoP in STIII.
 
No, you weren't the only one. That and working in the theme from TOS for the closing credits music was a nice touch, I thought.
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Agreed -- I really liked the score for this reason. I can't claim it's some fancy movie music thing, but it seemed to me that the music mirrored the story pretty darned well... with that amazing last track with the original series theme mixed with the lesser new movie's theme in exactly the same way that the movie lead up to 'fixing' the classic crew with a new spin.

What about Kirk's (James T.) brother? Unless I am wrong, it was his older brother Sam (Samuel) who died in the TOS episode with the flying fried egg creatures.. "Operation: Annihilate!" Perhaps its not explicitly said whether Sam is the older brother or not.. but I always thought he was..
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I don't think the movie precluded Sam Kirk's existence... we just didn't see him. He shows up in the novelization which probably means he was in an earlier cut of the movie.

Now for the allusions to erlier Trek. I liked all wich I could notice, so i really don't know witch one LOAF was reffering to as being not so good. Also, some were really ineviteble. I mean they just had to mak Bones say I'm a Doctor not.. at least once. and there would be legion of Trekkies asking why if they show Kirk at the academy, they didn't show him beating the Kobayashi Maru test.
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Looks like I forgot to finish that thought in my original post - sorry! I'm pretty sure the reference I was fuming over was 'Delta Vega'... the distant Lithium mining planet from the TOS planet was somehow now Vulcan-adjacent. It struck me as a reference-for-the-sake-of-referencing rather than anything clever.

first is the look of Engeneering. I didn't like the fact it looked like an old Brewery, but most of all I didn't like it beeing so ety. I mean in every oher Trek tit was full of people and here, it was Scotty alone. I can't really get it why
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I actually liked engineering -- it reminded me of the set used on TOS, before TMP developed that central glowing warp core concept. (I'm not sure the set we're calling a brewery was engineering proper, though... I think it was "water treatment".)

Nero's ship, like the Scimitar from the Star Trek Nemesis, were designed to look enormously scary. While I think the mining ship was leaps and bounds cooler than the Scimitar (which looked like a bat on methamphetamine), it still has those massive, Death Star-like bottomless pits.
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In defense of the new movie, they take a moment to make fun of exactly this. Scotty tells Kirk and Spock that if the ship is designed in any reasonable fashion then he's set to beam them into an empty cargo bay... before they appear on the bridge.

I seem to remember an early plot point for Star Trek III was that Kruge stole a Romulan Bird of Prey. The Klingon Bird of Prey was originally planned to be a Romulan ship. Hence the look. The old Romulan Bird of Prey from the episode "Balance of Terror" had that very distinct bird painted on the bottom, just like the BoP in STIII.
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I thought the initial plan was to have Romulans as the heavies in Star Trek III, which lead to 'bird of prey' being carried over after it was changed to Klingons.
 
I will say that I loved the movie. I was able to turn off my inner treknerd and watch the movie for what it was. The Enterprise looked kinda squirrely the first time I laid eyes on it but, i mean, its supposed to be the most technologically advanced ship in the galaxy when she launches. She is the sports car of star ships. Have any of you seen the U.S. Navy's new LCS? (Littoral Combat Ship). It looks like a damned Lamborghini compared to previous corvette sized ships, and it is. I think they were trying to convey the speed and ability of this ship and I think it was well done.

The real cool thing is I took one of my buds who hates star trek and ragged on my excitement and boyish glee of when trailers would come on in other movies we went to see. I had to buy his ticket to get him to go. After the movie he was like, "Dude, that was a freekin awesome movie." He even paid me for the ticket. Two days later he asked me if I wanted to go see it again. I am a huge fan of ST: The Motion Picture - ST: Undiscovered Country. Those movies got me into star trek to begin with. This movie really brought back the joy and 'what if' wonder of the original movies. JJ Abrams succeeded in my mind with this experiment and I think re-ignited the fire of star trek that has lately been more a candle than a bon fire. Hats off to you, the cast and crew of ST!
 
re: George Samuel Kirk
I stumbled across a ST wiki today that claimed that the kid that was hitchhiking when young kirk speeds past was originally supposed to be his older brother, and that JTK was supposed to shout "Hey, George" as he zoomed past but that at some point someone changed their minds and they dubbed in "Hey Johnny!" :rolleyes:
 
I can't really add anything extra over what has already been said. I thoroughly enjoyed the film from beginning to end. The effects were just fantastic as was the sound work (loved when it would suddenly be silent for select external space scenes.)

As a result, I will say that if you liked the movie and have the chance to see it in IMAX, do so - I watched the film over the weekend three times - once in IMAX -, and the viewing in IMAX is really worth it for this film. We've come a long way from Destiny in Space.

There's just something right about seeing the Enterprise kick ass. It's been a part of reality for so many people for so long. When the ship emerges from the gas of Saturn's moon, I about lost it - that scene was just spectacular. All in all, I didn't mind that this film was more action-centric. It pretty much was exactly what I thought it would be.

I thought that the new actors struck just the right balance of bringing their own artistic ability to each character while slipping in the occasional reference to the original actor - a difficult task to get right IMO.

The music was good but not great. The overall theme is pretty tight, but there were times I thought it was overdone or pushed too hard. The one example I can remember is the chorus section - great music, but I remember thinking it was trying too hard to make the scene dramatic. On the other hand, the blending of scores during the credits produced a superior track.

I'll wrap my views up by sharing one meaningless experience I had in the theater during my last viewing. I went with a friend from college, and during the scene when the Enterprise zooms in with all guns blazing to attack Nero's ship he yelled out "Take THAT al-Qa'ida!" I really couldn't stop laughing for a good minute - and neither could anyone else in the theater.
 
I just caught it yesterday, Tues. 12, and I have to say I liked it, despite all the lens flares and
changes to continuity
. There is the Trekkie part of my mind that rails at some of it but my rational side enjoyed it all.

I do have to say that the
shot of the Enterprise rising out of Titan's atmosphere, with Saturn's rings behind it
was perhaps one of the most beautiful shots ever in a sci fi film.

I like the new ship quite a bit, I think if the model makers on the original series had the money and technology they would gone with a much more elaborate design, but even more than that, I like how they have portrayed them. Since First Contact the Enterprise has been flying around space like, well if not a Rapier, at least a Broadsword. The dogfights in space, they would get into, I think compromised the scale of the ships a little. The new battles are much more the submarine\ship of the line type of battles we see at the end of Khan. Also the shots of the phaser banks, particularly on the Kelvin, were nicely detailed and conveyed a much better sense of the size of the ships.
 
The crucial Red Matter / Super Nova / Blackhole plot device / threat didn't really grip me because it didn't seem make a good 'sense' connection for me. How does a Supernova destroy Romulas? How does a black hole destroy it? Is it the Romulan sun? Do they have a binary system? Was there some other natural space disaster they could have used? Maybe another 'Praxis' where a mining planet could go boom? Strong solar flares killing children and Spock's going to calm their sun down with the Red Matter? (Maybe they should have thrown out 'Proto-matter'?), maybe it could have had something to do with the enviroment of Romulas becoming poisoned from the sun or an industrial accident with ship construction, and Spock's solution made it worse (climate change allegory, etc).

I felt Nero wasn't the strongest villian, either, and he could have been but kept falling short. And his actions and motivations seemed confusing. (Hey, how about just warn your past Romulans about the upcoming disaster, give them your ship, and totally re-write the technology balance for the next 30+ years?) Or... you can plot revenge on the one guy who tried to help you when no one else would (Spock). The logic wasn't there for me when I look back on it.

And the time travel / Romulan connection is something on the surface I was groaning about -, but it wasn't done too bad.

When they introduced Scotty (right when SpockPrime and Kirk close the door on that long hall way) I said "I hope they don't just run into Scotty here" and they did. Overall the 'rounding up' parts in the movie were on that fine line of glee/funny and groan "gee, I saw that coming"/"isn't that convienient?" So we knew it had to be a round-em-up movie, so I can't wait for the next film to not need all those planks falling into place, and they'll be free from any "nessesary" time travel / timeline demands (I think they could have BSG-ed it...I'd have been happy with that!)

Overall - I wonder "was this the best story to tell?" but I did enjoy the movie.
 
I don't think the movie precluded Sam Kirk's existence... we just didn't see him. He shows up in the novelization which probably means he was in an earlier cut of the movie.
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Since we see his father's fate at the opening of the movie, I assumed Samuel was the person who called Jim Kirk when he stole the hot rod? (Perhaps I missed something though - it was a LOT to take in and I might go back and see it this weekend again)
 
LeHah said:
Since we see his father's fate at the opening of the movie, I assumed Samuel was the person who called Jim Kirk when he stole the hot rod? (Perhaps I missed something though - it was a LOT to take in and I might go back and see it this weekend again)
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Hmm - I thought it was supposed to be his step father, but now you have me second guessing myself.
 
Since we see his father's fate at the opening of the movie, I assumed Samuel was the person who called Jim Kirk when he stole the hot rod? (Perhaps I missed something though - it was a LOT to take in and I might go back and see it this weekend again)
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Per the credits, this was his stepfather.
 
I found it somewhat unclear how a simple supernova would "threaten to detroy the galaxy"..

I'm guessing they meant that it would destabilize the Romulan Empire (assuming it was the star around which Romulus & Remus orbit) thus throwing the entire galaxy into a bitter war?
 
Capn Johnny said:
I found it somewhat unclear how a simple supernova would "threaten to detroy the galaxy"..

I'm guessing they meant that it would destabilize the Romulan Empire (assuming it was the star around which Romulus & Remus orbit) thus throwing the entire galaxy into a bitter war?
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It wasn't a simple supernova. There was something causing it to amplify as it expanded. I'm not sure that was entirely clear in the movie though I remember spock explaining some of it to kirk on the ice planet.
 
Max Gene said:
Yeah, all zero of them.
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Amanda dies and Vulcan is destroyed after we have seen both of them in other films. And according to Spock Kirk knew his father in the other timeline
that's just three.
I think the logic of using the Red Matter to counter the Supernova was to save the Romulan solar system from the expanding blast wave, by using a black hole to suck it back in before it wiped out the whole system, it wasn't a galaxy threatening event. Nero sort of was, in a tagline sort of way.
 
Shaggy said:
Amanda dies and Vulcan is destroyed after we have seen both of them in other films. And according to Spock Kirk knew his father in the other timeline
that's just three.
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How are these remotely continuity changes when it's pretty clear that this is a parallel universe - an alternate reality if you will?

I think the logic of using the Red Matter to counter the Supernova was to save the Romulan solar system from the expanding blast wave, by using a black hole to suck it back in before it wiped out the whole system, it wasn't a galaxy threatening event. Nero sort of was, in a tagline sort of way.
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In the prequel graphic novel it's fairly clear that the supernova will also eventually destroy vulcan (and possibly a lot more of the galaxy) if not stopped. It's essential to Nero's backstory and why he wants revenge.
 
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