The Official STAR TREK Grading & Discussion Thread [SPOILERS]

And jeez, I've been reading some of these other reviews, and I'm AMAZED at how many people don't seem to get the whole "alternate universe" thing that's going on. lol

Aren't we past the "canon has been destroyed" phase already?

 

Re: My Slightly Negative Review(Spoilers)

uh i dont think they are the same age at all..
kirk is in his late 20's... chekov is 17.
bones appears to be older then the rest of them as well as pegg.

really about how it was in the series..

really i enjoyed the older spock scene with kirk but in way the one with the older spock felt sorta off for some reason.



it might have helped if they sneaked in more of the pre film stuff that was covered by the comics.
nero's ship had been upgraded with the help of romulan scientists ect..

just a couple of lines would have helped.

 

Re: My Slightly Negative Review(Spoilers)

I wanted to vote excellent.

I really did.

I went into the theater praying that this was the Trek movie to blow all other Trek movies out of the water.

And now i've come out of the theater, and I simply can't vote excellent. As hard as I try, "excellent" simply does not do this movie justice. I loved it. Phenominal movie that was a blast to sit through. The cast did an awesome job. Pine was Kirk. Urban hit McCoy on the head. It was not hard to imagine any of those actors/ actresses takig over the roles of the characters that have been so well known for 43 years. I loved all of the small little references that they sprinkled in everywhere, and liked how they kept using all the throw-back background noises. I have never gone into a movie this excited and I have never come out this excited. Great movie that I am looking forward to seeing again in Imax this saturday!

Two minor gripes: Chekov, especially the thick accent, was almost painful. I wasn't too fond of what they were trying to do with him. Also, the engineering section was slightly disappointing. Sure, I can see that being the bowels of s ship, but I wanted to see a different engineerin section. Oh well. Minor gripes on a great movie.

 

I don't mind the whole lets start fresh attitude or what canon is, but I'm still quite mixed with them destroying Vulcan. It's like destroying a friend that you've known for a long time and like it or not it's never coming back. It's just unsettling.

Other than that, I loved the movie. I loved the humor, and the characters except for Nero were really good. I'll write more about it tomorrow maybe to allow things to sink in, but I find myself really intregued at the possibilities in this Trek universe and where they go from here. I just started a thread in the TNG forum, but being raised loving TNG, the first thing that popped into my mind walking out of the theater was "who could play Picard in this universe in about 20 years or so?"

 

I know man, but I felt the same way when I saw the big E go up in Star Trek III, I got over it. I'm sure we all will.

 

Exactly. It will just take some time and development. There are so many possibilities with this movie moving forward so we'll never know. Also, the Vulcan history will be restored somehow, and they did say they were finding a suitable planet. It will probably just be nuvulcan.

 

Disappointed (Spoilers)

With all the overwhelming positive reviews, I'll post a negative one.

To be honest, I actually like the movie. The battle scenes were amazing. Kirk trying to compromise Spock's emotions was a great scene. The sacrifice of Kirk's father was touching.

But anyway, I'll get straight the point about what I don't like. I'm dissapointed because of this whole alternate universe business. I don't consider myself a canonista. I don't care that the warp nacelles are different or that the Enterprise bridge looks more advanced than a Sovereign class starship. I even watched Star Trek: Enterprise and didn't have a problem with it.

But one of the great things I loved about Trek is that each episode and movie is connected to this big universe. Archer helps form an alliance that leads to Kirk's Federation. Kirk forges a peace with Klingons that lead to an alliance in Picard's time. That alliance helps fight the Dominion in Sisko's time. and so forth. Everything is all connected.

But this movie takes this alternate timeline that isn't connected. Kirk never served aboard the Farragut and ratted out his best friend Ben Finney. Spock will never go back to Vulcan for the ponn farr. And the Federation itself will never be the same with one of its founding members destroyed. Vulcan isnt some far off Federation colony. They contribute a lot of science and technology. Entire crews of Vulcan officers serve in Starfleet (USS Intrepid and USS Tekumbra). The Federation may not be the superpower we saw in TOS and in the 24th Century.

Having this alternate universe does free up the writers to do some pretty crazy stuff. Watching Spock's mother fall off a cliff on Vulcan, I could feel Spock's pain. And like I said, I did enjoy the movie and would recommend it to others.

But because this movie isnt connected the Trek universe that I know and love, I have to say its just another movie to me. I would still watch it for its own merits. But I wouldnt go out of my way to watch it or its sequels. If theres another big sci fi or action movie coming up at the same time theres the sequel to this Star Trek movie, meh, I wouldnt be tripping over myself to see the sequel just cuz of the Star Trek name. Not anymore.

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

If this movie were the first Star Trek material ever then I would probably love it. But the storyline contradicts so much previously established canon that for any real Trekkie it is only watchable a few times.

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

Whats with all these posts that start out "I'm no canon nazi, but..." then go on to post a wall of text that makes it seem very much like they are?

ETA:

You know what? If I never hear the word "canon" again, I'll die a happy man. In fact, if it shows up in one more post, I swear I'll put my fist through something.

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

I just don't think they should have made a Star Trek movie if it's going to contradict canon and common sense.

They should have created a new sci-fi universe. That would mean they wouldn't have baggage like nonsensical human-like aliens everywhere.

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

dude... alternate timeline... no need for canon. You see, the everyday person can't care about canon stuff, and these are the people that the movie was hoping to attract in. The Trek fanbase doesn't bring in enough mula for the big boys up at Paramount. Not that we don't matter, but just that there's only so much we can do.

Personally, i felt it was a good film. Doesn't matter if its canon or not. Take BSG for instance, NuBSG isn't really canon either. So this Trek is kind of a reboot in an alternate timeline. Accept that, move on, and enjoy or hate it for what it is.

 

I agree it's painful, but as a new backstory for Spock, I think it's absolutely brilliant. It's tragic and moving and really makes you empathize with him in a much stronger way.

In fact for both Kirk and Spock, I really liked the way Abrams made you care about these characters in a whole new way. Yeah I'll always love the originals, but to be honest they were always kind of enigmas to me on TOS. You only got a vague sense of who they were as people, and what drove and motivated them (besides just being good and loyal Starfleet Officers, of course).

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

I'm fine with the alternate timeline. It's the time paradoxes that I consider to contradict canon.

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

...and You Know What...you have every right to do so...

But...the folks above also have every right to express their feelings about it too...


...so, ya better pick something soft to punch right now...

Cause I too think that JJ & Company didn't have to go Waaaayyyy Out into left field with (here it comes) Established Trek Canon...

It's a great movie... but it's NOT what I'd (and apparently a few others) consider completely true to the Star Trek that I've loved all these years.


...and I'm sorry if you hand hurts right now...

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

How can you honestly say that it's not at all connected? The original spock is in it? I just got out of the theater, and I gotta say I loved it. I hope there is more. I want to see how the Vulcan people deal with the loss of their home, how Ambassador Spock deals with seeing things unfold differently then he remembers.

The characters felt like they were the real deal. I could see shatner-kirks stubborn attitude in the new pine-kirk. Nimoy-spocks trials with balance of his human side with his vulcan side in quinto-spock.

All in all, I think it was a success.

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

Speak for yourself. I liked the movie and already saw it twice tonight. I have no problem with the alternate universe conceit. It's been established so many times that they exist (e.g. TNG's "Parallels") that you can't fault them for embracing a device that Trek has used in the past.

 

I just chalked it up to Scotty's line from ST3: "The more they overtake the plumbing, the easier it is to stop up the drain." I'm sure it wasn't intended that way, but it made me smile to think it might have been.


Also, the FUNNIEST thing in the film to me was the continuous "ka-CHUNK" of McCoy's hypo. It was always so gentle and quiet in TOS, so this clumsy one was too damned funny.

--Ted

 

Re: Disappointed (Spoilers)

Nero's actions caused many, many time paradoxes. For example, how could the actions from First Contact take place?