SPOILER thread for Star Trek with SPOILERS IN IT

[Rywill]

Thumbs up overall, but not as good as the critics are saying.

Good stuff:

• Having the plot be that a new timeline is created. That’s a smart way to reboot a classic sci-fi property, and allows them to do some really cool stuff.

• Like blowing up Vulcan. Bold choice, really awesome.

• The cast was great. They excelled with the casting.

• Good use of shout-outs to stuff from the TV series without overdoing it.

• Good pacing, good action, good effects.

• Lots of funny dialog and stuff, as someone else said this sort of humor has been missing from Star Trek, particularly the movies.

Bad stuff:

• The plot setup makes no logical/scientific sense. We’re going to save your planet by turning your system’s star into a black hole, what? And ships that fall into black holes travel backwards in time a random amount? Since when? But supernovae don’t I guess? At the end of the movie, didn’t Kirk just send Nero even farther back in time and ruin the entire universe?

• Lots of other plot stuff made no sense either. Why is that mining ship carrying a fleet-destroying array of weapons? I mean, I get that those are future weapons which is why it’s so badass, but why is it so heavily armed to begin with? Same with Spock’s gyroscope ship. All the sudden at the end of the movie Sylar-Spock starts shooting stuff with it. And don’t give me that “space is dangerous, all ships are armed” BS. The waters off Somalia are dangerous, but you don’t see cargo haulers sporting ship-to-ship missiles or point-defense guns or anything like that.

• I didn’t like the Spock-Uhura romance. There’s nothing about that in the original series, and although they gain a lot of license, particularly with Spock, by changing the timeline (and I love that: I am psyched to see what they do with a new Spock who doesn’t reject his human heritage, and think they explained that change well), the Spock-Uhura thing doesn’t make sense because it all happens before the significant timeline change. And it’s not just that it’s “not canon,” but it really makes little sense for Spock’s character up to that point. He’s embraced logic, he wants to show everyone that he’s as good as any Vulcan, but not only does he fall for and romance a human, he’s banging one of his students? And on top of that he’s keeping it secret?

But hey, whatever. The overall impression for me was that it’s a movie that makes no sense at all when you think about it, but it’s a fun ride with a great cast, so there you go.

[Shieldwolf]

Wasn’t there always some kind of weird undercurrent of desire from Uhura towards Spock that was never reciprocated in the original series? Like it only came out in alternate reality episodes and such?

Maybe I’m just projecting.

yes there were, but it was always nurse chapel that wanted Spock. I can just see the sequel.

Kirk with a wtf look as he catches Chapel kissing Spock outside of his room.

Kirk: Spock! First Uhura and now the new hot nurse recruit. I didn’t think Vulcans were such womanizers.

Spock: My planet is dead. My people are gone. I must procreate as much as possible if I’m to rebuild the Vulcan empire. By the way you should warn the crew that the time of Pon farr is close at hand.

Kirk: What’s that?

Spock: Well in the original timeline I would just get really pissed and wanted to kill because I wasn’t getting sex, but since we are in an alternate reality, I can have pity sex anytime and with a lot of women. We can engage in moments of flawed logic where I accidentally schedule two different dates at the same time and you’ll have to cover for me.

Kirk: I’m the captain of this ship and I will not settle for sloppy seconds.

Kirk runs off.

Spock: Captain, where are you going?

Kirk: To see if McCoy can make my ears pointy.

Spock: (to himself) A logical choice.

Enough bad script writing.
Really good cast. I was even happy with Chekov.
Chris Pine is like a young Ben Browder.
I really did like the movie. Great way to make any choices they want and free themselves from Trek Lore.
I would have liked more Nero.
Less lens flare
Less Kirk falling off the edge of everything (is that an inside Trek joke? I thought it was the torn shirt)

Finally, how cool would it be if at the end of this series of movies we find out this reality is the one from OST where Spock has a goatee and the Federation is evil.

[Ben_Sones]

Yeah, I agree with pretty much all of what Ry said. Nonetheless, I liked it a lot in spite of the various plot holes. I think it helps that in spite of all of the action and sci-fi stuff, the films is primarily a character drama. In a sense, the story’s central conflict isn’t the one between Nero and the Federation, but rather the one between Spock and Kirk. And while they had some stumbles in the Nero setup/storyline, they really nailed all the stuff with the main characters, and I think that’s why the movie worked for me.

[Ben_Sones]

This is less about Kirk’s habits than simple naval tradition. There is always someone in command, the ship just doesn’t float around while the captain and first officer go to bang alien babes.

There was someone in command. Kirk hands off the bridge to someone before they leave (was it Sulu?).

[Karen]

As a hardware engineer, I thought engineering was spot on.
The only thing missing was old pizza boxes, empty mountain dew bottles, crusted over coffee mugs and schematics with coffee stains.

[Mr_PeaCH]

I haven’t seen my primary nits explained (and if it was covered then I apologize).

Mostly this; how do they explain a much more species-diverse Federation at the time this Kirk is a young man just joining up? I mean, that bar might as well have been the Mos Eisley cantina. We saw an officer on board the Kelvin with a squid-head, there were assorted and undefinable species in the Iowa bar, Kirk is already banging green chicks, etc. Original ST (television series) was sort of responsible for bringing many new species into the Federation fold and the ST:NG, Voyager, DS9 all built on that; but none of those have happened yet. What gives? (I never got caught up with the Enterprise series so maybe they laid it out there. /shrug)

Overall though, simply awesome. Loved all the winks and homages; they are playing it off just right for their audience today and I can’t wait to see where they go with it next.

[Dean]

How does Nero’s ship travel time through a black hole in one moment, and get crushed by it two hours later?

Why even bother firing on something that is being sucked into a black hole? It’s like spitting on a nuclear explosion.

That was the point of firing on it. Now the debris of Nero’s ship gets sent back in time, instead of Nero’s ship.

And Kirk’s offer to pull them out was pretty empty, as it turned out they couldn’t get out themselves.

Also, I believe they did a warp core jettison. The cores then exploded, rocketing them out of the black hole, but they should have been without warp afterwards, since… uh, their warp cores were back in the black hole.

[Jakub]

Then why was the Enterprise falling apart when it got close to the black hole?

[CSL]

Then why was the Enterprise falling apart when it got close to the black hole?

It was actively attempting to get out of the black hole’s gravity well - that is going to cause a wee bit of damage.

[bago]

Why is that mining ship carrying a fleet-destroying array of weapons? I mean, I get that those are future weapons which is why it’s so badass, but why is it so heavily armed to begin with

Why is an M-16 so much more badass than the rifles from the civil war?

[Jakub]

I dunno, I guess it’s too much of a stretch for me to buy it. Great action flick, but too many little points that nag at me. Sort of like TDK.

[bago]

Alternately: Why would a vessel working in accreation disks be interested in an impressive array of point defense weaponry and planet cracking techology?

[Jakub]

Why is an M-16 so much more badass than the rifles from the civil war?

Do you walk around with an M-16?

Why is a mining ship armed to the teeth? I could understand a variety of lasers/phasers/whatever, that could be used for mining, but torpedoes?

And who makes a mining ship with all kinds of spikes and protrusions on it? Expensive. I imagine a mining ship to be a simple design, with maximum cargo space, and cheap construction. It has to be economically viable. Slapping weapons and needless pointy things on it just makes it more expensive.

[Menzo]

And who makes a mining ship with all kinds of spikes and protrusions on it? Expensive. I imagine a mining ship to be a simple design, with maximum cargo space, and cheap construction. It has to be economically viable. Slapping weapons and needless pointy things on it just makes it more expensive.

You should write a sternly worded note straight to JJ Abrams asking, nay DEMANDING, that he consult you on his next sci-fi project. Obviously he’s leaving a lot of money on the table by creating fake mining ships that are unrealistic in their depiction.

Spoiler alert - it looks like that because it’s badass. He didn’t ask an engineer to create a mining ship - he told his art department to make a ship look awesome so the space battles look awesome. If you can’t even get past that, then you probably should not watch summer blockbusters.

[Jakub]

You should write a sternly worded note straight to JJ Abrams asking, nay DEMANDING, that he consult you on his next sci-fi project. Obviously he’s leaving a lot of money on the table by creating fake mining ships that are unrealistic in their depiction.

Relax Adam, we’re discussing a movie. I’m just stating why I didn’t dig it as much as the reviews. Don’t take it so personally.

[Equisilus]

How did young Spock know there was a black hole device that COULD be stolen, and that it WAS stolen before, and how he could get it? This was all before old Spock was revealed.

Wasn’t this all grabbed from the mind-meld with the Romulan that Kirk stunned during the battle just after they were transported onto the mining ship?

[Jakub]

Wasn’t this all grabbed from the mind-meld with the Romulan that Kirk stunned during the battle just after they were transported onto the mining ship?

Nope, this was before, when they were planning the attack on the mining ship.

[Major_Malphunktion]

As a hardware engineer, I thought engineering was spot on.
The only thing missing was old pizza boxes, empty mountain dew bottles, crusted over coffee mugs and schematics with coffee stains.

Heh…seriously!But it was the maiden voyage, it will look like that next time.

[Demon_G_Sides]

Do you walk around with an M-16?

Why is a mining ship armed to the teeth? I could understand a variety of lasers/phasers/whatever, that could be used for mining, but torpedoes?

And who makes a mining ship with all kinds of spikes and protrusions on it? Expensive. I imagine a mining ship to be a simple design, with maximum cargo space, and cheap construction. It has to be economically viable. Slapping weapons and needless pointy things on it just makes it more expensive.

Romulans.

Plus, he’s a future Miner. maybe all those bombs are meant to blast asteroid chunks to bits so that they can scoop up the pieces easier.

[ahoythematey]

Do you walk around with an M-16?

Why is a mining ship armed to the teeth? I could understand a variety of lasers/phasers/whatever, that could be used for mining, but torpedoes?

And who makes a mining ship with all kinds of spikes and protrusions on it? Expensive. I imagine a mining ship to be a simple design, with maximum cargo space, and cheap construction. It has to be economically viable. Slapping weapons and needless pointy things on it just makes it more expensive.

Besides the whole “Romulans” thing, I would imagine a ship of that size needing some kind of weapons system just to defend itself from pirates and the like while in outer space.