Let's see...
So the timeline is changed, thus we have divergences from the original.
Of course, First Contact also changed the timeline by having Borg crash on Earth... who inexplicably showed up on Enterprise and apparently originate the Borg invasion of the Alpha Quadrant in The Next Generation. But it all went poof thanx to the Temporal Cold War, Daniels, and the man who invented the Federation, Captain Archer.
This film is a reboot. If anyone used a design from a mid-60s TV show for their new sci-fi summer blockbuster they should be fired. Come on! The Big E was a great design, but there's no way that old rust bucket should have any place in a film in 2009. Any thoughts otherwise are purely nostalgia or else you're a loony.
Regarding the clips... it's what I expected. The film is about how Kirk and Spock meet. More or less. It's typically character centered with a minimum of plot. The characters will interact and grow, as one would expect from youthful characters in a Hollywood film, facing some outside danger provided by a villain.
The time travel part is just a way to get the characters together, with Kirk holding the most important information forcing him to be who we follow through the plot.
There's a scene where the characters nearly face death from a great fall down a giant shaft... oh wait, it's not a shaft, but it is like the rather overused Star Wars bottomless shafts of danger seen in so many sci-fi flicks. Nemesis's ability to have a giant bottomless shaft for Riker to send a reman baddie down to his death, somewhere under Deck 29, still makes me giggle.
Having said that, we could still have a terrific film. The time travel and villain stuff might be snappy and fun. Khan was fun! And we might get some meat in the story more than youthful coming of age Hollywood shtick.
I'm always wondering... what's this story about? That can make a story more than just what I'd expect from Hollywoodland.
Seems to me with all these elements we have something that sort of resembles Star Wars superficially. Heck, there's all these Daddy figures around Kirk just like Luke. Han Solos personality (and Kirks ladies man thing) seem to be happening here.
I've always liked Trek best when it was about something, instead of just the characters. Having said that, the time travel shenanigance might be as entertaining as "The Naked Time" with it's interesting way of delving into the characters. Ya just never know.
I've been watching LOST. It's a much better show the more I watch it. I've become rather a fan of JJ Abrams. I'm still excited to see just how he deals with this Star Trek thing. Timelines, canon, who cares? It's all water in the timestream.
