Interesting. Let's see if I can make the same distinctions with Star Trek: The Motion Picture. 1. "The Narada is wery similar to the death Star in terms of destructive ability." So is V'ger. 2. "Important peACEFULL PLANET blownup...check" Not a planet, but the reaction to the destruction of Epsilon Nine was analogous to this. 3. "Old mentor figure living in exile...check" You mean like how Spock exiled himself to Vulcan to undertake Kohlinar? 4. "Cantina scene, j J wanted one but decided not to go trough with it..Check" I've never heard of this rumor before, so I'm not giving it any credence until some source is named. 5. "Final battle onboard the Death Star/Narada...Check" You mean like how Kirk, Spock, Decker and Ilia entered V'Ger and got it to stop it's attack on Earth? 6. "Hero without purpose on Iowa/Tatooine...Check" You mean like how Spock didn't know what his purpose was until his experience with V'Ger allowed him to find it? I don't think Robert Wise had Star Wars in mind when he made his film, and yet at its core it has the same elements you named, which I'm sure I could find with a ton of other movies too.
What J.J. meant there was that it would be like the Mos Eisley cantina scene in the sense that it would be filled with aliens, not that it was going to going to be a direct copy from Star Wars nor even necessarily set in a cantina. In the end, it was still closer to Star Wars than Abrams wanted to go with it and the scene was discarded. See here: http://makeupmag.com/news/newsID/426/
What the OP is talking about is the Hero's Journey, inspired by Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, and most mainstream Hollywood films follow its outline rather slavishly. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RstI-8z1qaM This video is not exactly correct in all the details, but it is close enough. . . also look up Chris Vogler's The Writer's Journey which is practically a bible in Hollywood, and distills Campbell down to something manageable. . . ~FS
I can't remember any indication that Pike and Kirk saw each other even once from the time Pike advocated Kirk join Starfleet, and Kirk rushing onto the Enterprise's bridge years later. Pike as a second father?
Yep. There's also a barely visible Millenium Falcon among the fleet that attacks the Borg in First Contact.
Huh. The picture looks kind of photoshopped, but I will take your word for it, as I am too lazy to pause the film to look for it myself.
Here's Memory Alpha's page on the matter: http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Popular_culture_references_in_Star_Trek#Star_Wars.
Thank you. I said I believe it, but I won't try to pause the dvd at the right moment to see it for myself. But thanks a lot for sharing the link. It is interesting to know how much detail and effort is put into these things.
Heard that rumor a number of times, but the best screenshot that I've ever seen of it is nothing more than a vaguely saucer shaped grey blob.
I'm not sure we can extrapolate any trends, like "J.J. imitates Star Wars," on the basis of just one film. By that reasoning, we could have assumed after TMP that every Trek movie was going to be a loose remake of an old TV episode, since TMP bore a strong resemblance to "The Changeling." Abrams also produced ALIAS, LOST, and FELICITY, but I doubt we'll see any evil smoke monsters, duplicitous Russian moms, or curly-haired college coeds in the next movie! (Although, to be fair, the great big ball of Red Matter was imported from ALIAS . . . .)