Tons of New Kelvin Info! (Including crew pics)

[lawman]

What really strikes me as interesting about this ship is that (notwithstanding the single nacelle) it seems a much closer match for the design and engineering aesthetics of the TOS Enterprise. Unlike the new 1701, this is a clear precursor to what we saw in the original series and movies.

Kind of undermines the folks saying that those aesthetics wouldn't work in this movie. They're just not being used on the right ship. It's as if everything has been shifted by a couple of decades—this belongs in the 2250s, not the 2230s.

 

[Kaych]

Also seems to be just another attempt at some Star Wars-ification of this brand of Abrams Trek. .

How is adding aliens to SCIENCE FICTION, making it into Star Wars? Heck, the alien even looks like something from Star Trek! (*cough* Arex *cough*).

It's really silly to think that that the fleet of a federation of planets would be crewed by a single species, with a token alien on board. This was something that always annoyed me. Believe me, if the TV show producers had the budget, they would have added way more aliens to the mix.

Its funny that Star Trek is about humans co-existing in peace with other lifeforms, but some fans want it to be an all-human crew (except for one half Vulcan).

 

[Thomas Riker]

^
Agreed.

This alien is no doubt a homage to Arex. They are throwing us a fricking bone here, we should be happy!.

 

[M'Sharak]

Zooming in on the hanger area, it appears that the hanger deck extends almost the entire length of the nacelle.

If by "nacelle" you mean the secondary hull, then yes. The nacelle (noun: a separate streamlined enclosure on an aircraft that houses an engine) is below the saucer.

Though nacelles in Star Trek have generally contained only engines, the term as applied to aircraft may also refer to units containing passenger or cargo compartments (in the case of the twin-boom Lockheed P-38 Lightning, the cockpit is contained in a nacelle.) "Secondary hull" may, in this case, be more descriptive of its function as part of the whole, but it's still a nacelle.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/nacelle
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/nacelle

 

[Cyke101]

Its funny that Star Trek is about humans co-existing in peace with other lifeforms, but some fans want it to be an all-human crew (except for one half Vulcan).

We're all for exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations... but the instant you show a unique and creative alien, then you're bastardizing Star Trek and turning it into Star Wars

 

[Samurai8472]

We're all for exploring strange new worlds and seeking out new life and new civilizations... but the instant you show a unique and creative alien, then you're bastardizing Star Trek and turning it into Star Wars

I hope Alnschnoss will say "Its a TRAP!"

Alnschnoss the alien doesn't seem to be wearing the starfleet uniform either.

 

[cooleddie74]

At least now the Riverside, Iowa thing will be canonized and official, even if Kirk himself won't actually be BORN there.

 

[cooleddie74]

Zooming in on the hanger area, it appears that the hanger deck extends almost the entire length of the nacelle.

That seems a bit overkill for a ship of this size. Though it could all depend on what the original design intent - per the types of missions the Kelvin is designated for.

But then again, some starship designs throughout TREK history don't make much logical sense. Look at the Oberth class science vessels. Almost no visible way to get from the saucer section to the lower engineering section except travel through the warp nacelles, which might be unnecessarily dangerous or at the least time consuming and cumbersome.

 

[captainkirk]

If money were no object, I'm sure that Gene Roddenberry would have had a "alien-looking" aliens as part of the crew (more alien-looking than Spock).

Just look at TAS. Which makes me think that with the similarities between this alien and Arex, maybe this is a live action version of his species.

 

[cooleddie74]

^
Works for me! I was never that big a fan of Arex in TAS but until the first movie came along with all the funky, weird looking alien makeup and colorations, he was the most sophisticated looking alien in TREK lore and added a nice, otherworldly touch to the Enterprise it lacked on the live-action TV screen because of limited budgets.

 

[TIN_MAN]

Maybe someone can make a photoshop kitbash of the Kelvin in the configuration of a Constitution class vessel to give us a better idea of what most of us seem to think the Enterprise in this film should look like?

 

[cooleddie74]

The Kelvin looks smaller than a TOS Constitution-class ship, possibly similar in dimensions to Archer's NX-class Enterprise from almost a century earlier.

 

[Basil]

No, no, the Hollywood rules are that all brown skinned people are interchangable as are all Asians. That's why Korean Cho is playing Japanese Sulu.

It was never established that Sulu was Japanese. In fact, the TOS Writer's Bible suggests that Sulu had mixed southeast Asian ancestry, including the Philippines. Sulu isn't a (current) Japanese surname, but the Sulu Sea is in the southwestern Philippines. But for all we know, Sulu really is Korean, and now is the first time that he is being played by an actor with the same ethnicity.

Sulu isn't even remotely an ethnic Korean name, but if the argument is that he was born in Korea, rather than San Francisco, then we could just as easily redefine Scotty as actually being German or Chekhov being from Sweden. After all, Germans, Scots, Russians, and Swedes must be interchangeable because they all have pale skin and identical features.

 

[M'Sharak]

Maybe someone can make a photoshop kitbash of the Kelvin in the configuration of a Constitution class vessel to give us a better idea of what most of us seem to think the Enterprise in this film should look like?

I think ancient already did one like that back when we saw the first images of the Kelvin.

 

[SonicRanger]

No, no, the Hollywood rules are that all brown skinned people are interchangable as are all Asians. That's why Korean Cho is playing Japanese Sulu.

It was never established that Sulu was Japanese. In fact, the TOS Writer's Bible suggests that Sulu had mixed southeast Asian ancestry, including the Philippines. Sulu isn't a (current) Japanese surname, but the Sulu Sea is in the southwestern Philippines. But for all we know, Sulu really is Korean, and now is the first time that he is being played by an actor with the same ethnicity.

Sulu isn't even remotely an ethnic Korean name, but if the argument is that he was born in Korea, rather than San Francisco, then we could just as easily redefine Scotty as actually being German or Chekhov being from Sweden. After all, Germans, Scots, Russians, and Swedes must be interchangeable because they all have pale skin and identical features.

No -- I'm not trying to say that. You mistake (or exaggerate) my intent.

All we know about Hikaru Sulu's background is that he was born in San Francisco. He didn't even get the name "Hikaru" until TUC in 1991.

People assume that he is 100% Japanese, but that's been established nowhere, even contradicted by the TOS Writers' Bible. Should Hikaru Sulu be Japanese because George Takei is? Maybe. Maybe not.

My last sentence was a bit of joke. If "Sulu" is neither a Japanese nor a Korean name, that's no help is establishing he is ethnically either. So perhaps Sulu "really" is Korean, and George Takei was the actor who was miscast, not John Cho.

Barring any evidence to the contrary, I'll believe what the TOS Writers' Bible establishes: Sulu is of mixed SE Asian ancestry.

P.S. - Your "Scotty" argument is pretty weak since James Doohan is Canadian and of Irish ancestry.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

^Sulu can never be a Japanese name because there is no "lu" kana (syllabic script) in the language not even in katakana, which is the alphabet that takes foreign words and approximates then in kana. The closest is the "ru," where the r is pronounced as a combination of "r" and "l," almost a hybrid of the sounds. See:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ru_(kana)

Although as was pointed out there is a Sulu Sea in the Philippines, along with the Sulu archipelago. The coffee book, Where No One Has Gone Before states, iirc, that Hikaru Sulu was part-Filipino. Of course, I like the idea that Sulu was pan-Asian as part of the TOS Writer's Bible.

However, a lot of Trek media focuses on the Japanese heritage in terms of Sulu. There's nothing wrong with that since Sulu may be of a mixed background but identify more with his Japanese ancestry. This is understandable to me since I am mixed, but really identify with my Filipino heritage more than my Irish one.

 

[The Wormhole]

You know, I still don't like the Kelvin, and all of my prior complaints about it, its registry, and nacelle still stand. But, even I have to admit, that is one cool website and really well done.

And forgive me if this has already been covered, as I haven't read through the entire thread, but are the Badass Captain Robau and Commander Kirk wearing blue uniforms? No, I'm not crying canon violation over this, but it does seem odd. Gold was the command colour in Archer's era, and is the command colour in Kirk and Pike's era, so it seems odd between these two eras Starfleet temporarily switched to blue. We shall call this the Badass Era, because Richard Robau is badass!

 

[Basil]

It was never established that Sulu was Japanese. In fact, the TOS Writer's Bible suggests that Sulu had mixed southeast Asian ancestry, including the Philippines. Sulu isn't a (current) Japanese surname, but the Sulu Sea is in the southwestern Philippines. But for all we know, Sulu really is Korean, and now is the first time that he is being played by an actor with the same ethnicity.

Sulu isn't even remotely an ethnic Korean name, but if the argument is that he was born in Korea, rather than San Francisco, then we could just as easily redefine Scotty as actually being German or Chekhov being from Sweden. After all, Germans, Scots, Russians, and Swedes must be interchangeable because they all have pale skin and identical features.

No -- I'm not trying to say that. You mistake (or exaggerate) my intent.

All we know about Hikaru Sulu's background is that he was born in San Francisco. He didn't even get the name "Hikaru" until TUC in 1991.

People assume that he is 100% Japanese, but that's been established nowhere, even contradicted by the TOS Writers' Bible. Should Hikaru Sulu be Japanese because George Takei is? Maybe. Maybe not.

My last sentence was a bit of joke. If "Sulu" is neither a Japanese nor a Korean name, that's no help is establishing he is ethnically either. So perhaps Sulu "really" is Korean, and George Takei was the actor who was miscast, not John Cho.

Barring any evidence to the contrary, I'll believe what the TOS Writers' Bible establishes: Sulu is of mixed SE Asian ancestry.

P.S. - Your "Scotty" argument is pretty weak since James Doohan is Canadian and of Irish ancestry.

Just went by what you said about Sulu, the character, not George Takei, the actor. Didn't realize it was intended in jest, but the analogy to the characters of Scotty and Chekhov is apropos if anyone in fact would want to arbitrarily make Sulu a Korean character when his name suggests nothing of the sort.

American TV has often presented Asian characters as interchangeable in ethnicity and culture, to the degree that names are often gibberish and cultures are presented inaccurately. More respect has been paid to accuracy with regard to the European characters, to the degree that we would immediately say it doesn't make sense for Kirk to be an Italian.

 

[Kaych]

And forgive me if this has already been covered, as I haven't read through the entire thread, but are the Badass Captain Robau and Commander Kirk wearing blue uniforms? No, I'm not crying canon violation over this, but it does seem odd. Gold was the command colour in Archer's era, and is the command colour in Kirk and Pike's era, so it seems odd between these two eras Starfleet temporarily switched to blue. We shall call this the Badass Era, because Richard Robau is badass!

Hmmm, hard to tell. It seems Robau and Kirk are wearing blue, but Johnson is wearing a rusty gold. Usually navigators are considered command, so its hard to tell which uniform is for command. Could the blue be an officer's jacket or soemthing?

 

[SonicRanger]

... More respect has been paid to accuracy with regard to the European characters...

I mostly agree with you here. My point, though, is that we know Scotty is Scottish, Kirk is American, and Chekov is Russian. We don't know, other than Takei's ethnicity, if Sulu is Japanese, Filipino, Korean, or all three.