Spoilers STAR TREK BEYOND

[shapeshifter]

So the question of the saucer shaped building with spinning vanes was answered...,

Spoiler

they were part of the Yorktown station air circulation system.

Hey, I was wrong by only 100%

No, I think he was hunting all the time for the artifact the Enterprise-crew found and wanted to hand over to that alien race at the beginning of the movie. He was biding his time and searching for his ultimate weapon to punish the Federation.

Correct. Krall forces Kalara to

Spoiler

lure the Enterprise to the planet because he *somehow* knew they had it in their possession.

Not a big deal to me but I am curious, was how he knew that ever revealed?

 

[John Clark]

Maybe they can show less previews? My goodness, after like the 5th or 6th trailer, I'm like get on with the damn movie already. This is already after the previews starting a few minutes late, and then having to sit through another damn Coke commercial after the previews. Sorry, needed to rant on how much time is spent on this stuff, lol.

For the moment, our local theatre shows three trailers, a turn off your phone advert, a "the emergency exits may be in front or behind you, step away from the giant robot" ad and a couple of ads for local restaurants. The whole thing usually takes about 15 minutes or so. I'm ok with the trailers and I guess the ads make it slight cheaper but they do go on

 

[Romulan_spy]

And what forbade to just detonate them with proximity sensors? Or command control? Or simply set time for detonation?

In space, there is nothing to slow down an expanding shock wave. The energy from a photon torp should spread out at the speed of light. So if we wanted to be realistic, a single photon torpedo detonated with proximity sensors should have knocked out half the swarm at least.

 

[Adam]

- The "bioweapon" subplot just make no sence. All those troubles - just for a weapon with the destructive power of small-scale nuclear charge? And how could Kraal be sure that by attacking the "Enterprise" he would be able to obtain the weapon? What if the ship would be destroyed during attack? He wasn't even able to found the weapon inside his own prison camp, how could he possibly hoped to found the small metal plate in thousand tons of starship debries?

He obviously was already searching for the artifact. This wasn't explained, but he somehow got wind of the fact that the Enterprise had found what he was looking for. Thinking of it... he must have tapped into that "Memory Alpha"/Federation information network-thing we see when Spock catalogues the artifact. That's how he learned where that thing was.
The attack on the Enterprise was surgical: first he destroyed her main deflector field, then he cut of her wings, and finally her legs. He knew how sturdy Earth ships are. His own ship survived that crash after all.

 

[BillJ]

...to imagine space combat that wouldn't need hand-to-hand combat distances and zero relative velocities.

So most of Trek's space combat before the Abrams films existed? His (and Lin's) stuff is the most dynamic space shots we've gotten in the history of the franchise.

I do wonder how some folks end up being fans of Star Trek? Most of the complaints are about stuff that has been part of the franchise since day one.

 

[Adam]

In space, there is nothing to slow down an expanding shock wave. The energy from a photon torp should spread out at the speed of light. So if we wanted to be realistic, a single photon torpedo detonated with proximity sensors should have knocked out half the swarm at least.

Perhaps. Had the torpedoes found a target.

 

[Dilandu]

In space, there is nothing to slow down an expanding shock wave. The energy from a photon torp should spread out at the speed of light. So if we wanted to be realistic, a single photon torpedo detonated with proximity sensors should have knocked out half the swarm at least.

Probably the whole. We have, as I recall, about 1 kg of antimatter in torpedo, which made around 47,5-48 megatons of TNT equivalent, if annihilated. The proton/antiproton annihilation would have more in X-ray and neutrons than average thermonuclear weapon, so I (quite roughly) could assume that the lethal neutron radius would be more than 30 km.

 

[Vyse]

For the moment, our local theatre shows three trailers, a turn off your phone advert, a "the emergency exits may be in front or behind you, step away from the giant robot" ad and a couple of ads for local restaurants. The whole thing usually takes about 15 minutes or so. I'm ok with the trailers and I guess the ads make it slight cheaper but they do go on

If it was only 15 minutes for me, I'd be fine with that. It's more like 25 minutes (at least) at the megaplex I went to (there was booing after the 5th preview). There is a local theater by me that gets movies after they are out of the big theaters. They only show one preview, which is nice!

 

[Dilandu]

So most of Trek's space combat before the Abrams films existed? His (and Lin's) stuff is the most dynamic space shots we've gotten in the history of the franchise.

Well, in TOS the dynamic was exellent. Without any stupid "close, until we could see the lights in their portholes!" things) And ENT, actually, showed quite a good representation of warpship battle on faster-than-light speed.

 

[Dilandu]

Perhaps. Had the torpedoes found a target.

For what reason they need to found the target? They are antimatter weapon with megaton-scale output.

 

[Vyse]

I still cringe at that stupid "battle" in Generations between the Enterprise D and the decades old Klingon ship. Don't try remodulating the shields, don't fire at will at an obsolete ship. Noooo, we need to tech tech a solution.

 

[Dilandu]

I still cringe at that stupid "battle" in Generations between the Enterprise D and the decades old Klingon ship. Don't try remodulating the shields, don't fire at will at an obsolete ship. Noooo, we need to tech tech a solution.

Yeah... this was definitedly not the best of examples.

 

[BillJ]

Well, in TOS the dynamic was exellent. Without any stupid "close, until we could see the lights in their portholes!" things)

I think that had more to do with limitations of VFX technology at the time. Getting two massive ships in frame firing at one another would probably have been a nightmare.

The Wrath of Khan says hi...

 

[Adam]

For what reason they need to found the target? They are antimatter weapon with megaton-scale output.

See: TWOK, TSFS, TUC

Without modification photon torpedoes are always portrayed as impact weapons.

 

[Dilandu]

I think that had more to do with limitations of VFX technology at the time. Getting two massive ships in frame firing at one another would probably have been a nightmare.

Yes, but eventually it worked perfectly. The situation where both sides saw each other only on screens, actually, quite helped to grasp the real size and emptiness of space. And we have no problems with assuming that TOS ships moved on faster-than-light speed comparable to each other)

 

[Tiberius Jim]

Not a big deal to me but I am curious, was how he knew that ever revealed?

He obviously was already searching for the artifact. This wasn't explained, but he somehow got wind of the fact that the Enterprise had found what he was looking for. Thinking of it... he must have tapped into that "Memory Alpha"/Federation information network-thing we see when Spock catalogues the artifact. That's how he learned where that thing was.
The attack on the Enterprise was surgical: first he destroyed her main deflector field, then he cut of her wings, and finally her legs. He knew how sturdy Earth ships are. His own ship survived that crash after all.

Remember, Krall was tapped into Starfleet communications and records. If you notice during Kirk's captain's log when Spock is putting the artifact into the vault and uploading info to the Starfleet archive, the camera zooms into the screen and it flickers for a second. That was Krall intercepting the upload just as he did Kirk's log. He knew A. the Enterprise had the artifact and B. she was docked at Yorktown.

 

[Dilandu]

Remember, Krall was tapped into Starfleet communications and records. If you notice during Kirk's captain's log when Spock is putting the artifact into the vault and uploading info to the Starfleet archive, the camera zooms into the screen and it flickers for a second. That was Krall intercepting the upload just as he did Kirk's log. He knew A. the Enterprise had the artifact and B. she was docked at Yorktown.

But what was his chances that he would be able to find it? He attacked "Enterprise" with such indiscriminate weapon as ramming drones. He could easily inflict such damage, that the ship would just disintegrate. Or, the crew may decide to activate self-destruct system. And after that, his chances to find the artefact would be null.

And again, such troubles only for a marginally powerfull bioweapon? Couldn't he just jury-rig a neutron bomb, or produce a few thousand tons of VX?

 

[Adam]

Am I alone in thinking what we've seen with that alien technology was the Kelvin-timeline's version of the Borg?
Technology that incorporates the aspects of the victims into the individual who uses it. A swarm, with a hive-mind.

 

[Tiberius Jim]

The bioweapon seemed much more than "marginally powerful" IMO. Kill millions in a single attack with no collateral damage to the base itself. Remember, Spock speculates that Krall wants to wipe out the people on Yorktown and use the station for himself. He can't do that if he blows it up.

 

[BillJ]

And again, such troubles only for a marginally powerfull bioweapon? Couldn't he just jury-rig a neutron bomb, or produce a few thousand tons of VX?

It is a sci-fi movie, most villains aren't that smart. Khan could've taken the Genesis device and made himself a King somewhere. But his need for revenge overshadowed rational thought.