Maybe starfleet is a meritocracy where the fastest way up is by doing something awesome.
Also, Kirk boasted to Pike that he would graduate in 3 years instead of 4. Did everyone on that shuttle graduate in 3?
Everybody else on the shuttle was already a student (they were wearing uniforms) except Bones, and he was already an MD. There’s probably some kind of fast-track program for experienced recruits (he says, waving his hands).
Yeah, I’m with you and as surprised as you are.
I guess I would have expected a more xenophobic Federation at that point in time especially given the Kelvin disaster in this timeline.
Also, McCoy told the guard at the shuttle on the way up “explain to Pike why he’s taking off without one of his senior medical staff”
Anyone else notice the nurse in the beginning looks like the same species as the alien in the music video Aerials by System?
But Spock is younger than Nero. We can’t know how much, but Nero seems older than Spock even when he was back in his time period (married, runs a large mining operation), and then he jumps back in time to 25 years before the events of the movie, which is probably before Spock was even born, or close to it. And while Spock is still alive 130 years later, he’s very old. I think it’s pretty unlikely that Nero would be around that long.
On top of that, I agree with what forgeforsaken said about the whole alternate timeline thing. There’s no guarantee that Nero’s wife will even be born in this timeline, or that she’ll fall in love with him again (especially since he’d be a very old man by then). For all practical purposes, his old life is gone. So I totally get his vendetta.
Not completely clear. Pike commented on making officer in four years and having his own ship in eight. Reasonable to go with graduating from the academy meaning making officer, but I don’t know how closely Starfleet Academy is supposed to mirror Annapolis. Assuming so, perhaps the other recruits been in for a year already? They were already in uniform, etc, but kirk and bones weren’t. That of course raises the “why were they in Iowa, not back at the academy,” question.
Meh. Prolly just a plot hole. :P
Yes. Spock thought it was a prank and double-checked with Pike that he was serious.
In the original time, Spock was first officer on a star ship for several years (decades?) and THEN a century later he’s still alive and kicking it as a Starfleet ambassador and Vulcan science guru. So, while Spock is pushing two centuries, I don’t see how having a wife, kids, and mining operation would put Nero anything past middle age.
But again, it isn’t even the same universe. They probably butterfly-effected Nero’s wife out of existence just by coming back in time and destroying the Kelvin.
Spock wasn’t an officer for decades. The film flips back and forth between scenes of Spock and Kirk growing up, with the implication that these events are happening at roughly the same time. At most, he’s a year or two older than Kirk, and decades younger than Nero.
And Nero doesn’t have to be middle aged. Even if we’re optimistic and say that he’s as young as 25 when the star went nova, he’d be 50 when the movie events went down, and pushing 180 when he caught up to his own time again. Vulcans and Romulans are long-lived, but that’s pushing it even for them.
Spock was mentioned at Kirk’s hearing as a distinguished graduate who had been “in charge of programming the Kobayashi Maru scenario” for the past 4 years.
But Kirk didn’t join the academy until he was in his twenties, because he was busy being a deadbeat. Spock graduating four years earlier doesn’t mean that he’s four years older. I think the movie pretty clearly implied that they are around the same age.
I don’t know. Spock was also Uhura’s instructor. If he was teaching at the Academy he could be at least 10 years older than Kirk.
Kirk was the captain of a starship after being out of the Academy for one day!
pcbonn
195
So, why is Kirk the only one wearing a black shirt? I don’t remember that from the other movies, but I’m sure I missed something over the years.
Lum
196
It’s the undershirt (where the “collar” comes from in the uniforms in the new movie). Kirk only wears that until the very end because he’s a stowaway and doesn’t have his own uniform.
that is what I call a good week!
Pogo
198
I definitely agree with you. I thought it was great how Spock making “implications” in Kirk’s mind was a way to make the same implications in the audience’s mind, and then those implications were blown out of the water in a scene that you didn’t expect to happen at all (Spock meeting Spock). Brilliant.
I came in this thread just to see what guys who watched Star Trek thought of the movie, since I’m a guy who never watched Star Trek and absolutely loved the movie. Not a single wasted minute in the whole film, and at the end I had no recollection of 2 hours and 7 minutes going by… I was glued to the screen the whole time. No extraneous plot points or loopholes that had to be rationalized away by wasted screen time… or at least nothing I noticed since the movie kept me engaged 100%. I may be missing some things but it would be irrelevant to complain about them.
Because semi-nerds love black. You gotta bow to the marketing gods.
garin
200
Even if Nero decided to try to find his wife, his younger self will also probably exist in this timeline. Would he try to take her from himself?
