Was blowing up Romulus a good idea?

[Bry_Sinclair]

Why would the Romulans need Federation (or specifically Spock's) help? In Generations they were said to be experimenting with trilithium, which can break down all nuclear fusion in a star. They have the tools and a fleet of ships to carry out such a mission, so why ask for the help from one of their long-standing enemies?

 

[C.E. Evans]

Because it's Spock who's dropping mysterious red stuff in the Romulan system, in close correlation with a stellar kaboom? It's not as if the Romulan government would be a likely suspect for blowing up their own star or anything...

Romulus was destroyed before Spock could put his plan into action, though. The Romulan government apparently did nothing to save their own people. At least Spock tried to do something, even if time wasn't on his side.

Why would the Romulans need Federation (or specifically Spock's) help? In Generations they were said to be experimenting with trilithium, which can break down all nuclear fusion in a star. They have the tools and a fleet of ships to carry out such a mission, so why ask for the help from one of their long-standing enemies?

Well said.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

At least Spock tried to do something, even if time wasn't on his side.

They say time is the fire in which we burn.

 

[wayoung]

They say time is the fire in which we burn.

I believe Romulan version of that quote is "a supernova is the fire in which we all burn."

 

[TheGoodStuff]

It's just one of the reasons I can't stand JJ-Trek.

"Hey lets destroy Vulcan and Romulus"

Just for cheap shock value and drama. To me, it betrays a kind-of...lack of care for the Trek universe. Just destroy two of the most important Trek worlds, on a whim, killing billions [and all the potential stories & characters along with it] all for nothing. If you were making a new Trek film and told me you wanted to destroy Romulus and Vulcan and make them endangered species I'd have told you to get the hell out of my office.

Bleh. Even Star Trek Online manages to weave a more interesting aftermath story than anything JJ manages in my opinion.

 

[Dukhat]

It's just one of the reasons I can't stand JJ-Trek.

"Hey lets destroy Vulcan and Romulus"

Just for cheap shock value and drama.

Er, it wasn't for "cheap shock value." Drama, yes, because the destruction of those planets was an integral part of the story and nuSpock's character development. Or have you not seen the rest of the Abrams Trek films since ST09?

 

[TheGoodStuff]

Er, it wasn't for "cheap shock value." Drama, yes, because the destruction of those planets was an integral part of the story and nuSpock's character development. Or have you not seen the rest of the Abrams Trek films since ST09?

Doing something so dramatic for a bit of plot and character development to me is just silly and done for shock value.

 

[Kemaiku]

Yes, yes it was. Never liked those morons anyway.

 

[Timo]

Romulus was destroyed before Spock could put his plan into action, though.

Ah, but Nero couldn't know that...

The Romulan government apparently did nothing to save their own people. At least Spock tried to do something, even if time wasn't on his side.

Apart from the counterfactual comic, we have little idea of the events, other than Spock stating he promised the Romulans he'd take care of it. Odd for the Romulans to outsource something like that, and unlikely for the Romulans he would have spoken with to have included either Nero or somebody willing to forward the news to Nero... So Nero probably didn't know about any impending doom.

A mysterious group known as "us" then fitted their fastest ship for an apparent mission of rescuing Romulus, but that ship did not reach the location (whatever that was) in time (we never learn whether that was "before the supernova blows" or "before the supernova destroys Romulus"). Spock nevertheless thought he still had time (even if "little") to achieve something, supposedly the planned absorption of the exploding star into a black hole.

Did Spock ever intend to save Romulus, despite his promise? He declares the planet's loss "unthinkable", but it doesn't seem to have affected his schedule or actions as such. And what he planned to do would have doomed Romulus anyway - feeding your homestar to a black hole won't make the rest of your life all that sunny.

For all we know, Nero was 100% right about Spock being eeeeevil (or coldly logical in face of immutable facts, pick your preferred wording), and learned this from Spock's candid confession at the ruins of Romulus.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[wayoung]

I have to wonder how absorbing their sun would save Romulus. Even if Spock had succeeded it's kinda hard to survive on a planet with no star.

 

[Paradise City]

Er, it wasn't for "cheap shock value." Drama, yes, because the destruction of those planets was an integral part of the story and nuSpock's character development. Or have you not seen the rest of the Abrams Trek films since ST09?

Blowing up planets left and right by an under-baked villain was for the thrill of an FX blitz let's be honest and to service what goal exactly? To give Nimoy his square-peg-in-a-round-hole ill-fitting cameo and for NuSpock to ape Shatner's performance in TWOK? Messy stuff. Frankly if they ever do anything post-Nemesis, I hope they quietly forget the whole Romulus got blown-up thing.

 

[DonIago]

I have to wonder how absorbing their sun would save Romulus. Even if Spock had succeeded it's kinda hard to survive on a planet with no star.

Spock was planning to absorb the Hobus star, which explicitly is not Romulus's sun.

How a non-local sun going nova is a threat to other star systems is left as an exercise for the reader. But then, everything about this situation suggests it was not a natural occurrence.

 

[DonIago]

Blowing up planets left and right by an under-baked villain was for the thrill of an FX blitz let's be honest and to service what goal exactly? To give Nimoy his square-peg-in-a-round-hole ill-fitting cameo and for NuSpock to ape Shatner's performance in TWOK? Messy stuff. Frankly if they ever do anything post-Nemesis, I hope they quietly forget the whole Romulus got blown-up thing.

Yes, it surely would be much more satisfying if things in the new films progressed in a manner as close to those in the Prime timeline as possible.

 

[T'Nara]

It's just one of the reasons I can't stand JJ-Trek.

"Hey lets destroy Vulcan and Romulus"

Just for cheap shock value and drama.

Doing something so dramatic for a bit of plot and character development to me is just silly and done for shock value.

I beg to differ, the destructions were not only for A BIT of plot and character development. It serves as an important background for Spock's character development.
This video provided an interesting analysis better than I would:

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As for:

Just destroy two of the most important Trek worlds, on a whim, killing billions [and all the potential stories & characters along with it] all for nothing.

On the other hand the destruction also opens up more potential stories and characters from the surviving people. There is New Vulcan with its surviving people, and presumably there are some surviving Romulans as well in the prime timeline. What great opportunities for stories!

 

[TheGoodStuff]

I beg to differ, the destructions were not only for A BIT of plot and character development. It serves as an important background for Spock's character development.

This part alone, for me, just sums up the lazy writing etc. If you have to blow up two planets as an excuse for some 'important' character development, that is a ridiculous trade-off. It has a long-lasting impact on the entire franchise, it undermines all the potential Romulan/Federation stories explored in TNG & DS9 etc. It just feels like cheap shock value: "WE BLEW UP VULCAN!!" with no real grounding for doing so. There are a million other things you can use as a vehicle for character development without going to such extremes.

I actually find it lazy from a creative stand-point. It's just an easy 'drama-inducer' without any real creativity.

 

[Seven of Five]

Well technically the destruction of Vulcan is in the alternate timeline.

I thought Star Trek was a wonderful film, planet destruction and all. If Discovery or any other future production visited that time period again, even if just briefly, I would hope that Romulus's destruction would bring an interesting story or two at least.

 

[Paradise City]

This part alone, for me, just sums up the lazy writing etc. If you have to blow up two planets as an excuse for some 'important' character development, that is a ridiculous trade-off. It has a long-lasting impact on the entire franchise, it undermines all the potential Romulan/Federation stories explored in TNG & DS9 etc. It just feels like cheap shock value: "WE BLEW UP VULCAN!!" with no real grounding for doing so. There are a million other things you can use as a vehicle for character development without going to such extremes.

I actually find it lazy from a creative stand-point. It's just an easy 'drama-inducer' without any real creativity.

I suspect so. They wanted to ensure there was a sequence of films, so they included tidal wave FX to bank in the kids and tried to shove in Nimoy to rope in the traditionalists.

Then they thought about nuSpock and character development. And it worked for them, commercially as it broke box office but I don't think it bodes well for creating a genuinely good piece of cinema as it were.

 

[T'Nara]

This part alone, for me, just sums up the lazy writing etc. If you have to blow up two planets as an excuse for some 'important' character development, that is a ridiculous trade-off.

It certainly not just for supporting a character development, but an important pivot point of the story.

It has a long-lasting impact on the entire franchise, it undermines all the potential Romulan/Federation stories explored in TNG & DS9 etc.

Well, at that point maybe the conclusion of the whole Romulan-Vulcan unification can already be imagined - there will be closer tie, permanent alluance, but never a unification. And then it is time to introduce a new enemy or new angle on things.

Certainly the way the two remnants of people, the Romulans in the prime timeline and the Vulcans in the alternate, survive and continue their line could provide new interesting story lines?

 

[C.E. Evans]

Ah, but Nero couldn't know that...

He would, if he was even remotely rational. Romulus was destroyed before Spock got there. Anyone actually thinking logically would have realized that, but that was precisely the point in regards to Nero wanting vengeance.

Apart from the counterfactual comic, we have little idea of the events, other than Spock stating he promised the Romulans he'd take care of it. Odd for the Romulans to outsource something like that, and unlikely for the Romulans he would have spoken with to have included either Nero or somebody willing to forward the news to Nero... So Nero probably didn't know about any impending doom.

Not even taking into account the comic, what invalidates that idea is that Nero knew that Spock was involved in a plan to save Romulus period, so he knew about the impending doom, and indeed ultimately blamed Spock for it as the only one left he could blame.

 

[Arpy]

I did find it cheap. Killing billions of people is no fucking joke, and it's unecessarily grotesque just to introduce a villain or start off a new timeline. JJ's a Star Wars fan, but it's different when you're telling a fairy tale set a long time ago in a galaxy far far away vs. four hundred years from now, down the block. I was taken out of the narrative by his The Force Awakens too when they blow up four planets and the entire New Republic central government and they just role with it. Ok?????