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Build Up To NuKirks Death Meant Nothing

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The great thing about TWoK was that we had a history with Khan from TOS and we have the friendship of Kirk and Spock that was solidified over 3 seasons and TMP. The death of Spock meant something and was shocking. Also Kirk mourning Spock seemed powerful because of their long friendship. In STID when NuKirk dies and NuSpock Screams Khaaaaaaan it seemed to lack any kind of emotional punch for the audience because there was only a 1 movie relationship with these characters and the scene also was so derivative of the TWoK that it had no emotional weight for the audience whatsoever. Discuss.


I agree but where the film really fails to the point of no return was not just the khan scream but kirk been revived after 5 minutes which immediately wipes away any real meaning to his death. killing a person and bringing them back in 5 minutes is bad writing to me.

why WOK works so well was that spock really died. the film ends with spock's death and kirk reflecting on everything and this is why WOK had depth as a film and STID barely has any depth.

why the writers felt they needed to put kirk dying and spock crying and screaming is beyond me. You are right this spock has not known kirk enough for him to react that way. Even Kirk in TOS acted more Vulcan about spock's death than new spock in star trek into darkness. the writers need to let new kirk and spock friendship develop on its own in a more organic and original way instead of them forcing their friendship down on us to the point they had to act out TOS kirk and spock.
 
The great thing about TWoK was that we had a history with Khan from TOS and we have the friendship of Kirk and Spock that was solidified over 3 seasons and TMP. The death of Spock meant something and was shocking. Also Kirk mourning Spock seemed powerful because of their long friendship. In STID when NuKirk dies and NuSpock Screams Khaaaaaaan it seemed to lack any kind of emotional punch for the audience because there was only a 1 movie relationship with these characters and the scene also was so derivative of the TWoK that it had no emotional weight for the audience whatsoever. Discuss.


I agree but where the film really fails to the point of no return was not just the khan scream but kirk been revived after 5 minutes which immediately wipes away any real meaning to his death. killing a person and bringing them back in 5 minutes is bad writing to me.

why WOK works so well was that spock really died. the film ends with spock's death and kirk reflecting on everything and this is why WOK had depth as a film and STID barely has any depth.

why the writers felt they needed to put kirk dying and spock crying and screaming is beyond me. You are right this spock has not known kirk enough for him to react that way. Even Kirk in TOS acted more Vulcan about spock's death than new spock in star trek into darkness. the writers need to let new kirk and spock friendship develop on its own in a more organic and original way instead of them forcing their friendship down on us to the point they had to act out TOS kirk and spock.

Kirk's willingness to die for his crew was the important part of the story arc and the growth of his character. Remember, he bragged to Pike early in the story about how he had never lost a crewman. Now, he had not only lost crewmen, he was having to sacrifice his life for the rest of his crew.

His coming back to life is no worse than us always knowing he'd live through the most dire consequences of every episode because, as they say, he had to be on next week. Unlike with Spock, it just happened in the same movie, not the next one. I don't think anyone at the time thought Spock's death in TWOK would be permanent. We had to wait a while in movie time to know that for sure, but in Trek time, Spock pretty much came back to life the moment his tube landed on the Genesis planet.

As far as Spock's emotions goes and his seeming inability to control them in nuTrek goes, remember what Sarek said and any Trek fan knows, "Emotions run deep within our race. In many ways more deeply than in humans. Logic offers us a serenity humans seldom experience." Offers, not guarantees. In many ways, logic is both a shield and façade for Vulcans. It can fail or break down. In ST09, Kirk finally got Spock to release all his pent up grief and stress and recognize how hurt he was. Even Spock Prime said he was emotionally compromised.

All the talk about how unbelievable it is because they didn't know each other long enough slays me. I'd really like to hear a convincing argument for why that matters. Those kinds of things (losing someone you realize is very important too soon) don't happen in real life?
 
Maybe instead of Spock crying at kirks death, then screaming khan and then going on a rampage, they could've toned him down at tad - more accepting/logical/unemotional at the death, a whisper through gritted teeth 'khan' (opposite to trying to out Shatner Shatner, thats what they going for with STID right - opposite?) then have him go after khan (with no "go get him" from uhura - that stuff belongs in a Michael Bay movie) in a more cool/determined/logical/robotic/terminatoresque way - delivering cold logical blows to khan instead of the screaming jumping fistflying spock
 
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Well, yes we've only seen Spock at that age in one episode and he's hardly in the same position ( as both a character and an officer) as the Spock in the recent films. "The Cage" was Pike's story. ST09 and STID are much more Spock's story. Spock was a secondary and even tertiary character in "The Cage".

Oh, we've seen a lot of emotion from TOS Spock. He's been sad, angry, violent and passionate. Most Spockcentric episodes are about emotions.


But most of the time Spocks emotions in the series were due to a outside force of influence. NuSPock just loses it all the time. Even in STID he got jealous and lovesick when Kirk was giving Caol Marcus attention. Real Spock would never have done that.
I think you just don't understand Spock well enough. You just know the basics.


I know more than the basics. I have been watching the series for 30 years. Facts are facts NuSpock only lost it over the death of his mom and his entire world when NuKirk provoked him. He lost it much easier and more violently when a guy he knew for one year died. Sorry but it was also inconsistent they way the writers have written NuSpock. NuSpock is written badly and is not nearly the pillar of strength that Prime Spock was and that's counting the Cage when Prime Spock was younger.
 
The great thing about TWoK was that we had a history with Khan from TOS and we have the friendship of Kirk and Spock that was solidified over 3 seasons and TMP. The death of Spock meant something and was shocking. Also Kirk mourning Spock seemed powerful because of their long friendship. In STID when NuKirk dies and NuSpock Screams Khaaaaaaan it seemed to lack any kind of emotional punch for the audience because there was only a 1 movie relationship with these characters and the scene also was so derivative of the TWoK that it had no emotional weight for the audience whatsoever. Discuss.


I agree but where the film really fails to the point of no return was not just the khan scream but kirk been revived after 5 minutes which immediately wipes away any real meaning to his death. killing a person and bringing them back in 5 minutes is bad writing to me.

why WOK works so well was that spock really died. the film ends with spock's death and kirk reflecting on everything and this is why WOK had depth as a film and STID barely has any depth.

why the writers felt they needed to put kirk dying and spock crying and screaming is beyond me. You are right this spock has not known kirk enough for him to react that way. Even Kirk in TOS acted more Vulcan about spock's death than new spock in star trek into darkness. the writers need to let new kirk and spock friendship develop on its own in a more organic and original way instead of them forcing their friendship down on us to the point they had to act out TOS kirk and spock.

Kirk's willingness to die for his crew was the important part of the story arc and the growth of his character. Remember, he bragged to Pike early in the story about how he had never lost a crewman. Now, he had not only lost crewmen, he was having to sacrifice his life for the rest of his crew.

His coming back to life is no worse than us always knowing he'd live through the most dire consequences of every episode because, as they say, he had to be on next week. Unlike with Spock, it just happened in the same movie, not the next one. I don't think anyone at the time thought Spock's death in TWOK would be permanent. We had to wait a while in movie time to know that for sure, but in Trek time, Spock pretty much came back to life the moment his tube landed on the Genesis planet.

As far as Spock's emotions goes and his seeming inability to control them in nuTrek goes, remember what Sarek said and any Trek fan knows, "Emotions run deep within our race. In many ways more deeply than in humans. Logic offers us a serenity humans seldom experience." Offers, not guarantees. In many ways, logic is both a shield and façade for Vulcans. It can fail or break down. In ST09, Kirk finally got Spock to release all his pent up grief and stress and recognize how hurt he was. Even Spock Prime said he was emotionally compromised.

All the talk about how unbelievable it is because they didn't know each other long enough slays me. I'd really like to hear a convincing argument for why that matters. Those kinds of things (losing someone you realize is very important too soon) don't happen in real life?

Happy for your honest reply but I am not criticising kirk and spock as individuals, I am criticising their friendship because the writers are trying to hard with it. its like the writers are saying...hey this new kirk and spock have an epic friendship like tos kirk and spock and we are going to prove by any means necessary even to the point that they will do the goodbye scene from another classic film we trek fans call the best of the trek film. Lets also have spock cry and scream khan ...you known because he also did that when 6 billion Vulcans died.:rolleyes:

History wont be kind to this film. in fact even now the film has faced more criticism than most trek film to the point that the WOK director has slammed the film.

I liked Kirk's journey, I also liked sock's personal joinery although not as much as the first film but then again STID was a Kirk film and trek 2009n was a Spock film.

what I didn't like was the over the top WOK references that the films has ended or been a poor comparison to WOK and also what I didn't like was that Kirk died and was brought back to life. it was not good writing, the khan scream as well was ridiculous , awkward and out of place especially when it was the admiral that was responsible for kirk's death not khan.

And lastly did I mention the other 72 bodies they could have drawn the magic blood from? why did spock have to beat up khan? I guess JJ wanted more action than necessary.

what of the couple in the beginning and their little girl that khan healed what happened to her and them? I will have loved of they played more part in the film.

See why I think the writing of the film is bad?
 
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But most of the time Spocks emotions in the series were due to a outside force of influence. NuSPock just loses it all the time. Even in STID he got jealous and lovesick when Kirk was giving Caol Marcus attention. Real Spock would never have done that.
I think you just don't understand Spock well enough. You just know the basics.


I know more than the basics. I have been watching the series for 30 years. Facts are facts NuSpock only lost it over the death of his mom and his entire world when NuKirk provoked him. He lost it much easier and more violently when a guy he knew for one year died. Sorry but it was also inconsistent they way the writers have written NuSpock. NuSpock is written badly and is not nearly the pillar of strength that Prime Spock was and that's counting the Cage when Prime Spock was younger.
30 years....amateur. :p I've been watching for nearly 50 years.

Spock is a complex character. There is more to him than logic and "no emotions". When he's the exposition dump character he's pretty boring. Being the "pillar of strength" isn't all that interesting either. ( and is an odd role for Spock in my opinion). Spock works best when he has to confront logic and emotion head on. As he does in most Spockcentric episodes. And usually it's logic that comes up wanting. Which is one of the points of Star Trek. Emotions ( aka humanity) is a good thing.

Spock has lost his mother and his planet. He's found a new home/family on the Enterprise. Now someone has destroyed part of that family. This Spock is still young and not as in control of his emotions. And unlike the Spock from the PR he is more open to emotion. PR Spock would take a longer path to accepting his human half. ( see TMP )
 
Maybe instead of Spock crying at kirks death, then screaming khan and then going on a rampage, they could've toned him down at tad - more accepting/logical/unemotional at the death, a whisper through gritted teeth 'khan' (opposite to trying to out Shatner Shatner, thats what they going for with STID right - opposite?) then have him go after khan (with no "go get him" from uhura - that stuff belongs in a Michael Bay movie) in a more cool/determined/logical/robotic/terminatoresque way - delivering cold logical blows to khan instead of the screaming jumping fistflying spock

Star Trek doesn't do subtle. Everything is over the top and in your face especially TOS.

I'd make the argument that Kirk should have been WAY toned down in TWOK but that just isn't what they do. It's theater and theater is way over the top.
 
Even in STID he got jealous and lovesick when Kirk was giving Caol Marcus attention.

Is it possible you read too much into that?

I think he was been sarcastic but yes spock acted very mean to carol but he did not seem to care about her when he discovered she was not actually his first office but a runaway.

I did like when he confronted her though about her been a fraud, Quinto's acting there shocked me, it was so good, I could see Nimoy talking to Alice eve.

I wish for me character interaction I the third film. do you know that not uhura and carol never spoke to each other at all? its was weird because I love it when girls talk to each other sometimes not about a guy.
 
I agree but where the film really fails to the point of no return was not just the khan scream but kirk been revived after 5 minutes which immediately wipes away any real meaning to his death. killing a person and bringing them back in 5 minutes is bad writing to me.

why WOK works so well was that spock really died. the film ends with spock's death and kirk reflecting on everything and this is why WOK had depth as a film and STID barely has any depth.

why the writers felt they needed to put kirk dying and spock crying and screaming is beyond me. You are right this spock has not known kirk enough for him to react that way. Even Kirk in TOS acted more Vulcan about spock's death than new spock in star trek into darkness. the writers need to let new kirk and spock friendship develop on its own in a more organic and original way instead of them forcing their friendship down on us to the point they had to act out TOS kirk and spock.

Kirk's willingness to die for his crew was the important part of the story arc and the growth of his character. Remember, he bragged to Pike early in the story about how he had never lost a crewman. Now, he had not only lost crewmen, he was having to sacrifice his life for the rest of his crew.

His coming back to life is no worse than us always knowing he'd live through the most dire consequences of every episode because, as they say, he had to be on next week. Unlike with Spock, it just happened in the same movie, not the next one. I don't think anyone at the time thought Spock's death in TWOK would be permanent. We had to wait a while in movie time to know that for sure, but in Trek time, Spock pretty much came back to life the moment his tube landed on the Genesis planet.

As far as Spock's emotions goes and his seeming inability to control them in nuTrek goes, remember what Sarek said and any Trek fan knows, "Emotions run deep within our race. In many ways more deeply than in humans. Logic offers us a serenity humans seldom experience." Offers, not guarantees. In many ways, logic is both a shield and façade for Vulcans. It can fail or break down. In ST09, Kirk finally got Spock to release all his pent up grief and stress and recognize how hurt he was. Even Spock Prime said he was emotionally compromised.

All the talk about how unbelievable it is because they didn't know each other long enough slays me. I'd really like to hear a convincing argument for why that matters. Those kinds of things (losing someone you realize is very important too soon) don't happen in real life?

Happy for your honest reply but I am not criticising kirk and spock as individuals, I am criticising their friendship because the writers are trying to hard with it. its like the writers are saying...hey this new kirk and spock have an epic friendship like tos kirk and spock and we are going to prove by any means necessary even to the point that they will do the goodbye scene from another classic film we trek fans call the best of the trek film. Lets also have spock cry and scream khan ...you known because he also did that when 6 billion Vulcans died.:rolleyes:

History wont be kind to this film. in fact even now the film has faced more criticism than most trek film to the point that the WOK director has slammed the film.

I liked Kirk's journey, I also liked sock's personal joinery although not as much as the first film but then again STID was a Kirk film and trek 2009n was a Spock film.

what I didn't like was the over the top WOK references that the films has ended or been a poor comparison to WOK and also what I didn't like was that Kirk died and was brought back to life. it was not good writing, the khan scream as well was ridiculous , awkward and out of place especially when it was the admiral that was responsible for kirk's death not khan.

And lastly did I mention the other 72 bodies they could have drawn the magic blood from? why did spock have to beat up khan? I guess JJ wanted more action than necessary.

what of the couple in the beginning and their little girl that khan healed what happened to her and them? I will have loved of they played more part in the film.

See why I think the writing of the film is bad?

To be honest, no, no I don't.

The movie establishes a couple of things that I think are important to keep in mind. First, both Kirk's and Spock's arcs that are carrying through from the 09 film in a very really and palatable way-Kirk dealing with his inexperience and Spock with managing his emotions after the loss of Vulcan.

Secondly, McCoy establishes that he does not know if he can thaw any of the other supermen or that their blood would work like Khan's does. If they thawed one of them, and they died, McCoy would be breaking his Hippocratic oath because he knowingly put them at risk with no clear way to save them. Khan would still be the answer then, since he probably was the one who told Marcus how to do it.

As for the little girl at the beginning, yeah, I would have preferred more and that certainly appeared to be the intent in some of the marketing materials. But, she really isn't crucial for the story, other than to establish the stakes. What would you do for your family? Well, time and again, we are shown the individuals are willing to kill for them (Khan, Marcus, Harewood). Kirk, in contrast, is willing to die for his family.

I agree that the WOK references are unnecessary, but WOK is held up as the pinnacle of Trek achievement, so I don't really fault the writers for attempting it. Personally, I think Kirk's sacrifice works well, fits his character arc very well, and provides a personal impact to the loss of life on the Enterprise.

Spock's arc, likewise, is still unfolding. I don't want Quinto to be word for word, action for action, like Nimoy-that's a disservice to both. Young Spock is dealing with emotional turmoil that Prime Spock never had to deal with. I would find it a more glaring omission on the part of the writers if Spock were not impacted by yet another death on his watch.

Also, perhaps more to the point, this Spock is taking a different path to his reconciling the different halves of himself that Prime Spock ever did. I think Nerys Myk deals with it more in his post below.

I think you just don't understand Spock well enough. You just know the basics.


I know more than the basics. I have been watching the series for 30 years. Facts are facts NuSpock only lost it over the death of his mom and his entire world when NuKirk provoked him. He lost it much easier and more violently when a guy he knew for one year died. Sorry but it was also inconsistent they way the writers have written NuSpock. NuSpock is written badly and is not nearly the pillar of strength that Prime Spock was and that's counting the Cage when Prime Spock was younger.
30 years....amateur. :p I've been watching for nearly 50 years.

Spock is a complex character. There is more to him than logic and "no emotions". When he's the exposition dump character he's pretty boring. Being the "pillar of strength" isn't all that interesting either. ( and is an odd role for Spock in my opinion). Spock works best when he has to confront logic and emotion head on. As he does in most Spockcentric episodes. And usually it's logic that comes up wanting. Which is one of the points of Star Trek. Emotions ( aka humanity) is a good thing.

Spock has lost his mother and his planet. He's found a new home/family on the Enterprise. Now someone has destroyed part of that family. This Spock is still young and not as in control of his emotions. And unlike the Spock from the PR he is more open to emotion. PR Spock would take a longer path to accepting his human half. ( see TMP )

Agreed. Sarek's speech about Spock being the child of two worlds is a moment of reconciliation that Prime Spock would not ever really have with his dad.

Maybe instead of Spock crying at kirks death, then screaming khan and then going on a rampage, they could've toned him down at tad - more accepting/logical/unemotional at the death, a whisper through gritted teeth 'khan' (opposite to trying to out Shatner Shatner, thats what they going for with STID right - opposite?) then have him go after khan (with no "go get him" from uhura - that stuff belongs in a Michael Bay movie) in a more cool/determined/logical/robotic/terminatoresque way - delivering cold logical blows to khan instead of the screaming jumping fistflying spock

Star Trek doesn't do subtle. Everything is over the top and in your face especially TOS.

I'd make the argument that Kirk should have been WAY toned down in TWOK but that just isn't what they do. It's theater and theater is way over the top.

And according to Nick Meyers, some of Shatner's takes were subdued ;)
 
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...I think you just don't understand Spock well enough. You just know the basics.
Most of this thread supports Spock and his Kirk-scream. This is something of a "turnabout" from previous discussions where there was much more derision mixed in although there was still support. I guess I come from the side of derision when I ask:

So why did people laugh out loud in the theater (I did - and I heard others) when Spock did the Khaaaannnn!! meme?

I think it's because we thought it was ridiculous in our disbelief of its sincere portrayal because it would have felt more at home in a spoof; like the pervasive joke that Shatner's version had become all across the internet. I couldn't believe the writers attempted it.
 
...I think you just don't understand Spock well enough. You just know the basics.
Most of this thread supports Spock and his Kirk-scream. This is something of a "turnabout" from previous discussions where there was much more derision mixed in although there was still support. I guess I come from the side of derision when I ask:

So why did people laugh out loud in the theater (I did - and I heard others) when Spock did the Khaaaannnn!! meme?

I think it's because we thought it was ridiculous in our disbelief of its sincere portrayal because it would have felt more at home in a spoof; like the pervasive joke that Shatner's version had become all across the internet. I couldn't believe the writers attempted it.
That's a nice story. Anecdotal, but nice. It's like the story I tell about laughing at Spock's death scene in TWOK. Yeah, I laughed and so did some others. Doesn't mean that others didn't find it moving and heart wrenching. People are different. :shrug:
 
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See, it wasn't until I went on the Internet before and after watching ID, that I heard about people laughing at that scene. I can see why people do, but I can think of other moments people laughed at that should have been tragic.

I don't think they should have attempted it, but I'm not surprised by it at all.
 
I think it's because we thought it was ridiculous in our disbelief of its sincere portrayal because it would have felt more at home in a spoof; like the pervasive joke that Shatner's version had become all across the internet. I couldn't believe the writers attempted it.

Unless you actually interviewed all those people in the theater who laughed, you really don't know why they did. My wife and I chuckled at the scene as well when we saw the movie in the theater, but it wasn't because we thought the scene was stupid or that Spock was acting out of character. It was because we knew the scene was a tribute to Shatner in TWOK. Period. People can over-analyze the scene to fucking death all they want, but that's all it was. And it was humorous, because it was meant to be. But it certainly wasn't all that big a deal.
 
...I think you just don't understand Spock well enough. You just know the basics.
Most of this thread supports Spock and his Kirk-scream. This is something of a "turnabout" from previous discussions where there was much more derision mixed in although there was still support. I guess I come from the side of derision when I ask:

So why did people laugh out loud in the theater (I did - and I heard others) when Spock did the Khaaaannnn!! meme?

I think it's because we thought it was ridiculous in our disbelief of its sincere portrayal because it would have felt more at home in a spoof; like the pervasive joke that Shatner's version had become all across the internet. I couldn't believe the writers attempted it.

the scream may have been done for comic relief.
 
Yes I am. Losing a lifelong friend would hurt more than someone you just met. In STID only a year has gone by maybe less. I just don't buy that NuSpock would have such a emotional outburst like he did after only knowing NuKirk such a short time.

Right, which was, for example, the fatal flaw at the heart of ``City on the Edge of Forever'': we're supposed to believe that Prime Kirk has any serious emotional link to this woman he's known for all of days? C'mon. These are grown-ups.
 
I don't think the scream was meant for comedy. I think it was meant as both a sign of Spock's deep felt grief and anger at another person's death. Again, this Spock has been surrounded by death since we have met him. Personally, I have had the moments where the is one more emotional event that pushes me over and want to scream in frustration.

That fact that it made people laugh speaks to the differences of an audience reaction, not to writers' intent.

Though, to be fair, Trek has its fair share of melodramatic moments.
 
The great thing about TWoK was that we had a history with Khan from TOS and we have the friendship of Kirk and Spock that was solidified over 3 seasons and TMP. The death of Spock meant something and was shocking. Also Kirk mourning Spock seemed powerful because of their long friendship. In STID when NuKirk dies and NuSpock Screams Khaaaaaaan it seemed to lack any kind of emotional punch for the audience because there was only a 1 movie relationship with these characters and the scene also was so derivative of the TWoK that it had no emotional weight for the audience whatsoever. Discuss.

When I was in the cinema, people were laughing out loud when Spock screamed Khaaaaaaan. Having a ridiculous scene right after Kirk died, definitely lessened the emotional punch of his death for the audience.
 
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