Star Trek (SPOILERS)

[Miles]

Wow! I loved it. I'm not a major trekkie, but I'm a big fan of Star Trek (original and Next Generation and I'm starting to get into Enterprise) and I think this was one of the better movies. Where to start?

First of all, it was action-packed a la JJ Abrams from the beginning. No gratuitous violence and nothing over the top, with lots of respect shown to the original series. Great phase battle on the Romulan ship with Spock and Kirk. The plot was great, one of the best in my opinion. The character development between Spock and Kirk was awesome and I thought it was super cool that Kirk was exiled by young Spock where he was rescued by Spock (of older age). The scene was reminiscent of Obi Wan Kenobe saving Luke in Episode IV even down to the guidance Kirk gained from his new mentor.

Casting was really strong with Scotty, Uhura, and Bones. Simon Pegg (Shaun of the Dead) was brilliant as Scotty and Uhura's character was confident, beautiful and kinda sassy; very belieable. Karl Urban might've had the best performance in the movie as Bones. His portrayal was spot on and he had me in stitches. I wasn't that impressed with Sulu but he wasn't bad either, while Chekov had his bright spots.

Kirk. I loved him but if I had to pick something wrong (and it's a stretch) with his portrayal, I would say I was a bit let down with some of the facial gestures. Some of the humor and personality was there, but it lacked something that just seemed so natural to William Shatner. This is a stretch though because I walked away thinking: "Yeah that is definitely what a 20-something J.T. would be like." Kinda cool to see some back story on Spock's struggle with being half-human and Vulcan. I was pleased with both performances.

And Time Travel? YES, YES, YES! I loved every bit of it. Especially because it allows us to "reset" the brand and continue making movies without disrupting a story line with which we are all familiar. I, for one, and looking forward to the next movie!

I'm not sure how I feel about Uhura and Spock, though it did make for a good comedic moment and also gave Kirk a chance to (try and) deliver that playful, puzzled look that Shatner used to shoot Nimoy. If someone can provide me evidence of this in some previous book, movie, etc. then I'll happily accept it.

I was down with Spock to talking to Spock.
I was down with the Red Shirt eating shit big time. It's almost like he cursed all future Red Shirts to die ridiculous deaths.
I was down with Randy Pausch being in the movie too. Really cool.

I give it and

[windsor]

I didn't like McCoy - I thought he was trying too hard to act like the original....I didn't hate him but he was my least favorite.

Spock on the other hand was incredible. I watch Heroes (yeah - still hanging on) and was concerned that I would see Sylar in Star Fleet. Not so at all. He was amazing. Both Spocks just rocked

I loved Uhura....a much stronger character than in the original series. Uhura and Spock? Awesome

The time travel alter the past was excellent...and frees them to now deviate in other movies from the Original Series time line. Brilliant.

Tons of insider refrences for the hard core Trekker...young Spocks bloody lip had green blood - the guy who died space jumping was wearing the RED suit, Spock wrote the Kobayashi Maru (sp?) which is why he never took the test, Bones' I'm a Doctor not a Physcisist, Scotty "I am given ya all she's got" just great stuff..

Favorite line was old Spock at the end Live long and prosper seeming self serving when saying it to yourself


Loved it. Just Loved it!!

[BlueDevilJay]

I'm not a huge fan of ST or anything, but yall true fans need to go to TheOnion.com and watch the little clip about Star Trek disappoints fans. Probably one of the funniest video clips I've ever seen from their 'news' department.

[windsor]

I'm not a huge fan of ST or anything, but yall true fans need to go to TheOnion.com and watch the little clip about Star Trek disappoints fans. Probably one of the funniest video clips I've ever seen from their 'news' department.

I've seen it - and you are right - it is hysterically funny
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/t ... _trek_film

[knights68]

I am gonna catch the movie tomorrow afternoon with my brother. We both are ST fans and have already read the reviews (and spoilers) but we're still going to see it. Such fun it's gonna be!!!

[knights68]

Caught the new Star Trek movie this afternoon.
AWESOME! Good effects, good action and nice in some subtle and not so subtle hat tips to the original series. Did anyone catch the backdrop of Vulcan and that famous peak? lol

I shall spare folks of the spoilers, just to convey I really enjoyed the movie and look forward to the next.
Last words.... kinda cool that after the movie, the audience erupted in applause. That was kind of cool too!

[knights68]

PS, I meant to ask....

The enemy in the movie, or rather their ship. Was anyone else reminded of the Vorlons ship on Babylon 5? And the little guy that was with Scotty, a cross between an Ewok and a Mahgog (Andromeda)??

[Miles]

I'm interested in other people's thoughts on Bones. I know windsor wasn't a fan but I think he was probably the best-cast actor in the movie. I thought his portrayal was spot-on rather than over the top. My favorites, in order:
1. Bones
2. Scotty
3. Uhura
4. Spock
5. Kirk
6. Chekov
7. Sulu

[CameronBornAndBred]

Saw it today and it was awesome, except I missed the last 4 minutes or so, right as Spock and Spock had their meeting. We saw it in a shitty theater, instead of going to the digital one. (Stepson's girlfriend lives closer to the shitty one, so we took her and her mom). As they started talking, the damn movie locked up, and we watched the frame melt on screen. I'm more than pissed off about missing that, they "fixed" it buy cutting the fugged up part out, then reloading the scene. We watched from a distance, but I didn't pay attention, I plan on going back and seeing it again at a digital showing, and didn't want to spoil it. The pissant manager that was on duty didn't even apologize to any of us, and refused to give us our money back. He was reluctant to give me his name, his bosses name, and numbers, but he finally gave to a few of us who will be making some calls tomorrow. He said "I can't give you money back for the last 5 minutes of a movie." Fug you buddy, you can too. Now he's lost more in the long run because not only are we telling everyone we know to avoid that theater, we told everyone outside who hadn't bought tix yet (they all left), and the ones who had bought them started demanding their cash back too, they didn't want to watch it knowing the ending was screwed. Tomorrow I will be talking to his boss, the film distributor and anyone else I can get on the phone. He picked the wrong person and the wrong economy not to demonstrate decent customer service with.

As far as the movie went, up to that point it was great and loads of fun. Tons of laughs and excitement, and I agree with the time travel thing. They now have full license to do anything they want in "their" future, what we saw growing up will not happen to these characters. A couple things that stood out to me...

1. Bones...I liked his casting, I just wanted believeable characters, not perfect replication. He said that he liked Spock shortly after meeting him. They did have one contentious conversation, but the old McCoy certainly never said he liked Spock. He respected him, but was usually arguing with him.

2. Wife caught the red shirt kicking the bucket before I did, thought it was hilarious.

3. I loved seeing Captain Pike. Since I didn't see the very end, I don't know what transpired as far as Kirk retaining the captain's chair. I'll avoid that spoiler until I see it, but I enjoyed Pike having so much screen time.

4. Uhura was ok, but not my favorite. I'm not too big on her and Spock's love interest, but hey, it's a whole new story.

5. The effects were great, but I hated all the constant lens flare. For me, that took away from the scenes a bit.

6. Nero drilled his Earth hole in San Francisco bay. How did he expect to get the red matter through all the water that would have kept filling it up?

7. Once again Majel Barrett provided the voice of the computer. Nice touch by Adams. It's the last time we will hear her in on the Enterprise.

8. Deep Roy was Scotty's little crab eyed buddy. I was suspecting it, even under all that makeup.

[DukeUsul]

We went this afternoon. I have mixed feelings about it. I definitely enjoyed it. It was better than all of the odd numbered films and Nemesis. Not sure I liked it better than the other even ones. The casting was great. Given the history and the known quantity of the characters, I think Abrams and company did as good as could possibly be expected. Pegg as Scotty and Urban as McCoy were the best. Pine as Kirk wasn't exactly channeling Shatner, but given how the alternate timeline made his whole upbringing completely different, it makes great sense for him to be much more of a bad boy than the Jim Kirk we all knew.

I had some issues with the story. Not a huge fan of the contrived red matter. I realize the movie needs a MacGuffin, but Star Trek usually at least to try explain these with something approaching fake science that makes sense. Usually it involves tachyons or some such - which at least are hypothetical particles that travel faster than light. I missed the Star Trek technobabble that explained what the heck red matter was. I realize the non Trekkers who watched it probably liked it the way it was.

Also, how do you jump out of a ship in orbit and start plummeting to the earth (Vulcan I mean). There needs to be some kind of de-orbit maneuver to get you to fall from orbit. Didn't see one.

Why would Spock drop Kirk off on random icy planet? Even if Spock were as upset as he was, I still just can't believe he'd maroon a federation citizen and starfleet cadet on some random perilous planet. Not believable.

And somehow Spock is randomly at the exact same place? And that planet is so close to Vulcan that you can see it hanging in the sky larger than our moon? That all bothered me.

Anyway, just some nits that made it not perfect for me. All in all, it was very enjoyable. I'm still not sure how I feel about them having more movies with this alternate timeline. I like the old one.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Why would Spock drop Kirk off on random icy planet? Even if Spock were as upset as he was, I still just can't believe he'd maroon a federation citizen and starfleet cadet on some random perilous planet. Not believable.

And somehow Spock is randomly at the exact same place? And that planet is so close to Vulcan that you can see it hanging in the sky larger than our moon? That all bothered me.

I'm with you on the space jump to the planet, I was asking myself the same thing. But in a universe with inertial dampeners, it's plausible as the rest of it.
As far as both Kirk and Spock being on the same planet, that was easily a buyable idea for me. Nero put Spock there so he could watch Vulcan be destroyed. He could see it with the naked eye. Kirk pissed Spock off right after Vulcan was destroyed, so it would have been the nearest planet with a Federation outpost. He did land only 14 Kilometers away from it.

[captmojo]

Aye. Your captain has yet to watch it and has no right to review. however, Son of did see it Friday evening and highly recommends it. I trust his judgments and his designated driving skills. What a guy!

Oh yeah. I just had to see my moniker on 7 threads in a row at the top.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Saw it today and it was awesome, except I missed the last 4 minutes or so, right as Spock and Spock had their meeting. We saw it in a shitty theater, instead of going to the digital one. (Stepson's girlfriend lives closer to the shitty one, so we took her and her mom). As they started talking, the damn movie locked up, and we watched the frame melt on screen. I'm more than pissed off about missing that, they "fixed" it buy cutting the fugged up part out, then reloading the scene. We watched from a distance, but I didn't pay attention, I plan on going back and seeing it again at a digital showing, and didn't want to spoil it. The pissant manager that was on duty didn't even apologize to any of us, and refused to give us our money back.

Pissant manager's boss was awesome and called me today to restore my faith in humanity. Before he said anything, he apologized. That was very key to me. He also refunded our tickets, in cash. (Stepson is down that way and picking up the money on his way home). He also apologized for pissant and said he would be talking to him, but that this was his first time in a "crisis". (I didn't care about that, first time or not, he did wrong).
Hopefully in the next couple weeks we will go again, see it in a digital showing, and watch the whole thing. Anyways, kudos to the owner of the shitty theater, he was honorable.

[captmojo]

Saw it today and it was awesome, except I missed the last 4 minutes or so, right as Spock and Spock had their meeting. We saw it in a shitty theater, instead of going to the digital one. (Stepson's girlfriend lives closer to the shitty one, so we took her and her mom). As they started talking, the damn movie locked up, and we watched the frame melt on screen. I'm more than pissed off about missing that, they "fixed" it buy cutting the fugged up part out, then reloading the scene. We watched from a distance, but I didn't pay attention, I plan on going back and seeing it again at a digital showing, and didn't want to spoil it. The pissant manager that was on duty didn't even apologize to any of us, and refused to give us our money back.

Pissant manager's boss was awesome and called me today to restore my faith in humanity. Before he said anything, he apologized. That was very key to me. He also refunded our tickets, in cash. (Stepson is down that way and picking up the money on his way home). He also apologized for pissant and said he would be talking to him, but that this was his first time in a "crisis". (I didn't care about that, first time or not, he did wrong).
Hopefully in the next couple weeks we will go again, see it in a digital showing, and watch the whole thing. Anyways, kudos to the owner of the shitty theater, he was honorable.

Send'em to ........THE CORNFIELD!

[CameronBornAndBred]

Saw it today and it was awesome, except I missed the last 4 minutes or so, right as Spock and Spock had their meeting. We saw it in a shitty theater, instead of going to the digital one. (Stepson's girlfriend lives closer to the shitty one, so we took her and her mom). As they started talking, the damn movie locked up, and we watched the frame melt on screen. I'm more than pissed off about missing that, they "fixed" it buy cutting the fugged up part out, then reloading the scene. We watched from a distance, but I didn't pay attention, I plan on going back and seeing it again at a digital showing, and didn't want to spoil it. The pissant manager that was on duty didn't even apologize to any of us, and refused to give us our money back.

Pissant manager's boss was awesome and called me today to restore my faith in humanity. Before he said anything, he apologized. That was very key to me. He also refunded our tickets, in cash. (Stepson is down that way and picking up the money on his way home). He also apologized for pissant and said he would be talking to him, but that this was his first time in a "crisis". (I didn't care about that, first time or not, he did wrong).
Hopefully in the next couple weeks we will go again, see it in a digital showing, and watch the whole thing. Anyways, kudos to the owner of the shitty theater, he was honorable.

Send'em to ........THE CORNFIELD!

[TillyGalore]

Just got back from the movie with Knights68, as you know it was his second viewing. I know more about ST than someone who doesn't watch, but have never been a HUGE fan. I am now!!! I loved this movie. Kirk was HHHHHOOOOOOOTTTTTTT!!!!!!!! I loved his take charge attitude, at the same time the way he handled Spock for his own good and the good of the mission was great! Winona Ryder as Spock's mother was a bit of a shocker. Wonder if she lifted anything from the set.

I did enjoy McCoy's character. He was acerbic enough to make me laugh. I didn't think he tried to imitate the original, nor do I think anyone should ever imitate the original. Simon Pegg was freakin' awesome. Spock and Uhura shocked me, though after thinking about it, this Uhura with Spock makes a lot more sense than the original Uhura. Then again, please see previous sentance.

Knights68 is going to further indoctrinate me in a few weeks, when we have some time, with the ST movies, minus the first one - I saw it and hated it - and some episodes of the original.

Knights wanted me to ask if anyone saw the "easter eggs" in the movie. He read there was a tribble in the movie and mention of Nurse Chapel as well as a few other things but didn't see them.

Oh, the two animals that come after Kirk on the icy plant near Vulcan reminded me of a lemur and cricket on steroids, respectively. When the steroid cricket yelled at Kirk, all I could think was hope he used his Scope that morning.

Looking forward to seeing this movie again and other ST shows and movies.

CB&B, thank you for the update from the theater owner. So glad he was nice to you and refunded your money.

[CameronBornAndBred]

Knights wanted me to ask if anyone saw the "easter eggs" in the movie. He read there was a tribble in the movie and mention of Nurse Chapel as well as a few other things but didn't see them.

I was looking hard for easter eggs. My favorite reference was Scotty talking about transporting Admiral Archer's prized beagle. That would be Porthos and Captain Archer from Enterprise. (or one of Archer's later dogs)

[knights68]

Most easter eggs.... nods, and what have you that have been spotted....


After Spock confiscates the Jellyfish (His future self's ship) aboard the Narada and takes it for a spin, if you look up on the top of the frame when it's flying you can see a Vulcan ship from First Contact parked on one of the raised platforms of the Narada.

The big ball of red matter was an Alias reference -- the "Circumference" -- a Rambaldi technology used to create zombies and cliffhangers.

Perry's character was named Admiral Barrett, which might be a nod to Majel Barret Roddenberry.

when McCoy smuggles a drugged Kirk onto the Enterprise, the transport shuttle they fly in is called "Gillian", a nod to ST IV: The Voyage Home, since the biologist in charge of the whales was named Gillian

at the end of the film with the final hero shot of the crew on the bridge at their stations, Pine was sitting in an awkward crosslegged position that I think I've seen Shatner do in one of the movies.

The red shirt cadet died during the space jump...following the rule that red shirts are the first to die just to show how perilous the situation is.

The Sulu fencing reference goes back to The Naked Time when he gets all un-shirted and fences in the halls.

During the scene on the ice planet, Tim Russ has a very brief cameo as Tuvok (Voyager) when Spock describes the "greatest minds" or somesuch of Vulcan. I am a huge geek.

when future-spock tells scotty "that's because you haven't invented it yet." which i thought was a CLEAR shout out to voyage home where scotty rationalizes with bones that it's ok to give the 20th century engineer the formula for transparent aluminum because he might have invented it.

"I have been and always shall be your friend."


Did anyone else see Vasquez Rocks ("Vasquez Rocks, CA") from the Arena Episode (where Kirk fights the Gorn) in many views/shots of Vulcan? It was in the foreground as the camera tilted up.

Bones ask a off-screen Nurse Chapel for help.

The beam hitting San Francisco Bay was very "Voyage Home"esque

The Vulcan children in their learning pits, answering one question after another, recreated Spock's scene from the beginning of ST IV. What was Kiri-Kin-Tha's first law of metaphysics? "Nothing unreal exists."

Greg Grunberg—Abrams' longtime friend, who has had some kind of cameo in almost all of Abrams' projects—voices Kirk's (uncle? stepdad?), yelling from the dashboard cell phone in the '60 Corvette in an early scene.

the writing on Kirk's evac kit features the letters and numbers "NCC-1701-D": a nod to the registry number of the Enterprise from Star Trek: The Next Generation?

James Kirk (Chris Pine) grabs a flagon of Saurian brandy to smash over the head of a Starfleet cadet in the Iowa bar-fight scene. The brandy bottle is associated with mirror-universe a transporter-accident-created evil Kirk from the TOS episode "The Enemy Within."


James Cawley, of New Voyages (Star Trek: Of Gods and Men) fame, was in several bridge shots.

first time you see Scottys tribble cage, there is only one. by the end of the scene there are two.

Spock strands Kirk on planet Delta Vega, the same planet he suggested stranding Gary Mitchel on in the second pilot episode "Where no man has gone before"

The skydiving from space was a nod to Star Trek V, believe it or not. In a deleted scene, Kirk does the same thing.

Was the fact that Kirk was eating the apple during the Kobayashi Maru a nod to the fact that he was eating an apple in the Genesis Cave during Wrath of Khan while explaining that he cheated the test?

It was clear that someone on the writing team had read some Star Trek novels from the '70s and '80s. The fact that McCoy wad divorced and Kirk's dad's name was George came from an old novel. Those are Easter Eggs for the hard core fans.

The Enterprise rising up out of the clouds on Titan seemed like a visual shout-out to a similar scene in Wrath of Khan.

The number 47 was another easter egg, which was counted to appear several times in the film. This is a big deal for the writers, as they were inspired by Star Trek TNG to include this number in Alias, Lost, Fringe, etc. Now they're writing for Star Trek and got to include it. Kirk rode his motorcycle into "Section 47" of that shipyard. There were 47 Klingon ships destroyed by the Romulans. Not sure what the third and fourth was.

Probably not someone most would recognize right away, but Scotty's assistant in the transporter room is James Doohan's son, Chris.

at least one of the name plates of on of the Admirals in the Star Flleet scene was named after one of the directors in the original series...James Komack.

Nero's yelling out "SPOOOOCKK!! SPOOCCKK!!!" when he hears their captured ship has been stolen made me IMMEDIATELY think of Wrath of Khan. Anyone else get that?

In Wrath of Kahn, Kirk said he was allergic Retinax. Although never mentioned by name did Bones give Kirk Retinax while in sick bay? Think that was why his hands got so swollen?

surprised no one picked up on Spock's line "I am Spock" - referencing the title of his second (reconciliatory) memoir that followed his first book "I am not Spock."

the "Centaurian Slug" was so obviously based on the "Ceti Eel" without having to deal with continuity (ha) about Ceti Alpha VI not being discovered yet....it was so obvious that I think it was clearly an "homage"

Young rebellious and car swiper James Tiberius Kirk... does the kid look familiar? He is Jimmy Bennett, the kid used as a copy for the lonely boy in the CGI film... Polar Express.
The cop that "pulls over" young-Kirk is voiced by Michael Dorn (i.e. Worf).

The spiffy uniform Pike's wearing (at the end) is an Admiral's uniform from The Motion Picture, same as the one Kirk was wearing.

There's a quick mention of the USS Farragut when Uhura talks Spock into assigning her to the Enterprise. The Farragut was the ship Kirk served on for several years, prior to his Enterprise command.

What about Spock's comment about roaming the halls crying after his mother dies as a reference to the episode Naked Time in which Spock breaks down and cries and admits he never told his mother he loved her.

A brief eery tribute to the theme and ship sound effects during the widescreen establishing shot after Kirk meets McCoy not to mention at the end where you hear the classic bridge sound effects.

Most of Spock's childhood/conversation with his father comes straight from "Yesteryear"

Uhura's first name, Nyota has been uttered for the first time in all of Trek. It has been adopted into canon yet the source was Roddenberry and Nichelle Nichols who came up with the name when developing a backstory. Nyota means "star" in Swahili.

McCoy's seeming fear of flying seems to be a reference to his TOS fear of transporters and is at least related to his disdain for technology.

Look at the klingon ships (K'tinga class battlecruisers (D-7 refit/upgrade)) during the reprogrammed kobiashi maru they are ST:TMP style ships!


I have seen this movie twice now, all I caught was the Kobiashi Maru incidents (The apple, the Klingon ships), The sound of the tribble by Scotty, the red shirt curse of course, the Gillian shuttlecraft, Vasqez Rock, and with regards to the KM Scenario, I was waiting for the line, "The virtue of having never been tried" to come out (of which I would have busted a gut) but it never did. Instead, he "cheated".

[CameronBornAndBred]

Thanks Kinght, that was great. I'll be seeing again sometime soon, since we still haven't seen the last 4 minutes or so. (got cut off right when Spock and Spock were beginning their conversation). Now since I'm familiar with the story, I can have fun looking for the eggs.
(I also did catch the bridge sound effects, thought it was great)

[OZZIE4DUKE]

It's supposed to rain tomorrow. All day. No golf. I think I'll try to see Star Trek tomorrow afternoon. Yeah, me and 12,000 other people. Maybe not.

K-68, thanks for all the Easter Eggs!