The Official STAR TREK Grading & Discussion Thread [SPOILERS]

[xan82]

So... with Vulcan now destroyed, who will stop the "supernovava" in the future?

 

[new_mercury]

Did anyone else stay in the cinema untill the tos theme finished on the end credits? i sure did and so did a number of other people!

I did. My wife and mother left and waited for me outside once the credits started but I had to wait until the tos theme finished with the excellent CG shots. awesome.

 

[Brent]

So... with Vulcan now destroyed, who will stop the "supernovava" in the future?

I guess the Federation will eventually stop it

But would it really affect anyone? I mean, its in the Beta quadrant and all, who would it really affect?

 

[Colmino]

No way am I going to peruse this whole thread. I'm just glad I've found a place where I can voice my five nitpicks with this otherwise very good movie.

1: The dialogue after Kirk's bar room brawl. Abrams used a highly disorienting earthquake camera technique (a-la the Bourne movies). Not subtle. Just about gave me a headache. Mercifully, I did not see this approach repeated with such severity.

2: Kirk's countless moments when he is inebriated, incapacitated, etc. Seriously, next time you watch the movie, count them. The problem with this is that the movie is pretty much always trying to use the scenario to comedic effect. Just how funny can it be for the star to be in a near perpetual daze?

3: Nero. "Hello. I'm Nero." I don't know what's worse: That this line of dialogue was uttered by the movie's villain (who is meant to be taken seriously, or so I gathered), or that the audience laughed at it. I mean.. this throwaway badguy destroyed Vulcan. Something like that demands - DEMANDS - more gravitas, with regard to the perpetrator, than this movie gave it. It really hurt that Nero felt and looked like a disgruntled college dropout.

4: The entire escape-the-black-hole sequence at the end did not feel justified, specifically because the only reason there was a close call to begin with was because Kirk decided to volley a few rounds at Nero's already doomed ship. This was a sloppy moment in the screenplay.

5: Was it ever explained why nobody on Vulcan or Earth possessed any means of attacking the drill? (While Spock was able to shoot it down quickly and easily with a small ambassador's ship.) For that matter, I think I also missed the exact reasoning behind drilling at all; it seems to me that a singularity would be adequately devestating to a planet, regardless of its point of initiation.

 

[M'Sharak]

Holy shit.

 

[DarKush]

I really enjoyed it, though my movie going experience was the worst ever. The screen went out four times and there was this black dust blocking portions of the screen. I'm glad they compensated me with a free pass.

For years I had feared the idea of rebooting or reimagining the TOS characters because I thought it would just turn Trek into an action-adventure series without the heart or the social conscience of TOS and many of its predecessors. It's too early to tell if Abrams' Trek will just be a popcorn series, but I'm somewhat mollified by the idea that its an alternate universe. I've always been curious to see how TOS would be rendered today so we're getting that. I'm not sure if its Trek as I consider Trek, but at least the franchise survives in some fashion.

I really think this is the first Trek film that felt epic to me. It felt like a movie. I also loved the new grittier, organic look of the ships. The transporter effects, the phaser effects, and the uniforms were all cool too. I really liked the Kelvin uniforms. The new cast felt like relatable characters for the most part, something I can't say for VOY and ENT, and the cast overall was pretty likable.

I'm glad that Uhura finally got a canon first name. I had been spoiled about the Spock relationship so it didn't throw me off too much. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, though it does add a new dimension to the character that I enjoy. I also liked her interaction with Kirk. Saldana can't fill out a miniskirt like Nichelle Nichols, but I think her Uhura got to more of a part of the crew than I had expected.

Not sure about Chekov being a genius though. I don't know what made him a transporter whiz or why he had to run all the way to the transporter room when there appeared a transporter control on the bridge. He's got the accent though, though it appears he was having trouble with his dialogue.

Quinto was great as Spock. The emotions boiled just beneath the surface more with his Spock, but I think that was fine. I had wished that Cross's Sarek had been a little more cold towards his son though like Lenard's portrayal. I guess in the altered universe, Sarek is more accepting of Spock.

Kirk was pretty good too. I think he captured Kirk's cockiness and brashness pretty well. He also handled the comedic scenes pretty well too. I just loved the bit about the farm animals, it felt like he was channeling William Shatner.

Scotty didn't annoy me as much as he did in the trailers. Same with McCoy. Sulu was all right too and I liked the sword fighting scene.

Destroying Romulus in the future and Vulcan in the past was pretty gutsy. I liked the unpredictability of the new Trek.

I didn't catch a lot of references to the other shows, except for Admiral Archer. Also, the Ceti Alpha eels, a couple quotes from the Trek films. Could someone enlighten me about the references I missed?

That being said, the movie wasn't perfect:

-Nero. Outside of his opening attack on Robau, which I thought was bad ass, Bana played him too blandly. There wasn't enough edge to him. I wanted the man to be seething with rage, hatred, and pain.

-I don't remember Nero announcing himself as a Romulan to the Kelvin crew so how would they know, and how would Pike know? No one seemed to be shocked at Nero's appearance when he confronted the Enterprise, and young Spock made mention of the shared heritage between Vulcans and Romulans. I'm guessing that "Balance of Terror" has been thrown out the window or occurred with another ship perhaps and at an earlier date? Or maybe it never happened at all in the altered timeline. I don't know, but I didn't like that change.

-What happened to the Ceti eel? And why was Pike in a wheelchair at the end? I was half expecting Pike to do a Captain Terrell, but alas.

-As others mentioned, I didn't like that Nero was sitting around for 25 years waiting for Spock. He could've found a wife and had another child in that time period. He could've given that technology to the Romulans. He could've perhaps destroyed the star that destroyed Romulus or alerted Romulan scientists to the danger the Hobus star presented.
Heck, he could've conquered Romulus himself.

-Why did he leave Spock on that planet? How long had Spock been there? And why hadn't he contacted that station with Scotty on it before?

-Spock marooning Kirk felt drastic, petty, and really out of character.

-Kirk mentioning Klingon warbirds, but I guess ENT's "Broken Bow" flubbed that one first.

-Uhura ordered a Cardassian drink in the bar. Though I guess it's never been established in canon, I had always liked the idea of first contact with the Cardassians taking place in the 24th century.

-Orion makeup could've been better. Perhaps it was an homage to TOS, but ENT did a much better job with the makeup.

I had hoped that Number One and some of the other Cage characters would be featured or at least mentioned. I had been leery about Kirk taking command as a cadet, but the way it was done, I was cool with it. Though I'm surprised that Spock or someone in Command wouldn't want someone else for the position. I think that could be an interesting thing to play up in the next film, or the comic/novel prequel to the next film.

 

[JoeD80]

It really hurt that Nero felt and looked like a disgruntled college dropout.

Some terrorists are like that.

4: The entire escape-the-black-hole sequence at the end did not feel justified, specifically because the only reason there was a close call to begin with was because Kirk decided to volley a few rounds at Nero's already doomed ship. This was a sloppy moment in the screenplay.

No the ship wasn't already doomed. I got the feeling that it would travel through time again if they let it slip through the black hole so they had to fire on it to make sure it was destroyed. That's the impression I got from that scene.

5: Was it ever explained why nobody on Vulcan or Earth possessed any means of attacking the drill? (While Spock was able to shoot it down quickly and easily with a small ambassador's ship.)

The drill and Spock's ship were from the future so Spock's ship could be the only thing with the power to destroy the drill.

For that matter, I think I also missed the exact reasoning behind drilling at all; it seems to me that a singularity would be adequately devestating to a planet, regardless of its point of initiation.

For whatever reason the red matter had to go in to the planet's core to form the black hole, so that's why they needed the drill.

 

[MNM]

Overall I liked it, I thought Quinto did very well, easily the best performance in the film, the visuals were good and overall an enjoyable story. 8-9/10.

That said, I had a couple of negatives, there were a few jaring cuts from one scene to another throughout the movie, which I thought could have been done more smoothly.

And my main complaint I suppose, is that to me, so very rarely in the film did anyone look like any kind of actual organised crew on a ship. Most of the time it seemed like a bunch of people just hanging out in a high tech coffe house.

 

[Brent]

I'm going right now to see it for the 3rd time

 

[pookha]

darKush..
there is a reference to a carrdasian poet on vulcan close to the "enterprise " time period in deep space nine.

 

[JayTheTrekkie]

Been ages I have been here lol


Just saw the movie this afternoon and its awesome!

 

[The Nth Doctor]

Good acting, some great character moments, and it was great to see Leonard Nimoy as Spock again, but otherwise it was a dud for me. If I had to use one word to describe it, that word would be "corny." The story didn't engage me, the Spock/Uhuru relationship came out of nowhere (but I don't really care one way or the other that they were together, so don't jump down my throat), and there far too many silly little moments in the film that made me think "Really? Was that really necessary?"

 

[Jon1701]

I thought it was great.

Only odd bit was the Star Trek theme at the end. Felt really jarring in compared with the rest of the soundtrack for some reason.

I would have let the kid do the "Space, the final frontier" bit too.

Minor concerns though.

Trek is back baby, Trek is back.

 

[Zeppster]

I'm glad that Uhura finally got a canon first name. I had been spoiled about the Spock relationship so it didn't throw me off too much. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, though it does add a new dimension to the character that I enjoy. I also liked her interaction with Kirk. Saldana can't fill out a miniskirt like Nichelle Nichols, but I think her Uhura got to more of a part of the crew than I had expected.

That happened in Star Trek V. Scotty refers to here as Nyota

 

[Maurice]

You can't polish a turd.

Actually, you can...as Mythbusters demonstrated.

 

[DarKush]

darKush..
there is a reference to a carrdasian poet on vulcan close to the "enterprise " time period in deep space nine.

Thanks.

 

[DarKush]

I'm glad that Uhura finally got a canon first name. I had been spoiled about the Spock relationship so it didn't throw me off too much. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, though it does add a new dimension to the character that I enjoy. I also liked her interaction with Kirk. Saldana can't fill out a miniskirt like Nichelle Nichols, but I think her Uhura got to more of a part of the crew than I had expected.

That happened in Star Trek V. Scotty refers to here as Nyota

I didn't remember that. Thanks.

 

[Amaris]

I'm glad that Uhura finally got a canon first name. I had been spoiled about the Spock relationship so it didn't throw me off too much. I'm not quite sure what to make of it, though it does add a new dimension to the character that I enjoy. I also liked her interaction with Kirk. Saldana can't fill out a miniskirt like Nichelle Nichols, but I think her Uhura got to more of a part of the crew than I had expected.

That happened in Star Trek V. Scotty refers to here as Nyota

I didn't remember that. Thanks.

I still don't remember that (and it's my second favorite Trek movie!). What scene did that take place in, if I may ask?

J.

 

[Zeppster]

That happened in Star Trek V. Scotty refers to here as Nyota

I didn't remember that. Thanks.

I still don't remember that (and it's my second favorite Trek movie!). What scene did that take place in, if I may ask?

J.

Near the beginning when they kiss.

 

[Dar70]

Saw it at the press screening, and all I can say is that I'm oh, so glad that I didn't have to pay for it.

Suffice it to say that I was massively underwhelmed. Plot contrivances, shaky camera, even in the CGI stuff, cringe inducing dialogue, a "Look at MEEE!" glory shot of the ship every five minutes, all capped off with a closing credit sequence ripped off from the Lost in Space movie....well, let's just say that just about everything I said before I saw it, stands.

Some of the more minor annoyances:

Pink skinned Vulcans Y'know, JJ, there was a reason they painted Nimoy yellow way back when, and it's because of that green Vulcan blood.

The Kelvin 800 people made it off, after getting the crap kicked out it, which killed how many? And this is supposed to be a pre-TOS ship? Sorry, but that bucket reeked more of TNG, both in capacity and in the crew complement, which apparently included families, another TNG contrivance that didn't make it past "Generations" (the Enterprise-E doesn't have families on board). The interiors also indicated a much more
massive ship, on the order of a Galaxy class starship.

The technology Compared to TOS, most it, quite frankly, sucked. The front window/viewscreen was blurry and distorted, the transporter didn't work half as well as even the NX-01's, and the phasers, both shipboard and handheld, all behaved more like Star Wars blasters and turbolasers than their TOS predecessors. And need I mention Sulu's automatically unfolding katana, which helped him in his dashing impression of Luke Skywalker in the barge scene in "Return of the Jedi"? Or how the ships going to warp bore an uncanny resemblence to SW ships going to hyperspace? Should George Lucas be flattered or should he be calling his lawyers?

Delta Vega As an astute poster over on trekmovie.com pointed out, the name of the neighboring planet that Spock was stranded on really didn't have any bearing on the story, but by invoking the name of Delta Vega, the writers shined a big bright spotlight on this bit, making it quite clear that, deep down, they don't know what they're doing. A big part of "honoring canon" is getting the details right; otherwise, it's just meaningless name dropping and pandering.

Chekov Excuse me, but exactly when did Chekov turn into Wesley Crusher? Also, at age seventeen, he should be starting his first year at the Academy, not already be a commissioned officer. But then, these clowns clearly don't know a thing about military protocol, since they also take a guy who was a cadet facing some serious charges a couple of days earlier and give him command of their biggest and most advanced ship. At the very least, it's clear they wouldn't know the chain of command if someone came up and beat 'em about the head and shoulders with it.

And my complaint about Spock still remains: He knows how to achieve a time warp, and he knows precisely what happened when, why it happened, and how to circumvent those events. So why doesn't he get a ship, do a few time jumps, and fix everything that got screwed up? He could not only restore the timeline, but finally cement a lasting peace between the Romulan Empire and the Federation.

So why doesn't he do this?

Because Spock has to have a sudden attack of the stupids in order for JJ to get his own Star Trek universe to run amok in.

Urban was good as McCoy, Pine was okay as Kirk, can't really grade Greenwood as Pike since we never got that much from Jeffery Hunter to form a basis of comparison, but taken on it's own, he gives a good performance, Yelchin was downright embarrassing as Chekov, Quinto just seemed to be PMSing all the time, and the rest of the cast was just sort of there.

The ship still looks stupid, and the decision to build it on the surface is the singlemost idiotic move in the entire history of the franchise. It didn't help that the "Riverside shipyards" were clearly a present day industrial facility, either an oil refinery or electrical substation. Engineering looking alternately like a water treatment plant and, like it is in real life, a brewery, only adds insult to injury.

The choice of "Crap on a stick" isn't available, so I voted "Poor".

I have to agree with everything you have stated. I was someone who was willing to give this film a chance. I wasnt to concerned about strict continuity adhersion, especially concerning visuals, but this film just felt wrong. I knew the timeline would be altered, but it just didnt work for me. I gave it a chance and was very unimpressed. I went in with the notion that I was going to view this as a standalone movie and not make comparisons, which is hard to do, but it was just MEH for me. Shatner shouldnt feel to bad about not being in the film.

I dont know why we even needed a time altering movie, especially if the altered timeline remains. Why not just start from scratch????? Just a complete reboot without this excuse of a film.

This film just seemed rushed and the visuals were absoulutely to quick and blurry. The new Enterprise is still a bad design for me and has none of the majestic feel the original has.(Yes Im comparing but I didnt like the design to start with)Scotty, Uhura, Chekov, and Young Spock were horribly scripted. All the rest of the Principles were fine in that respect.

So I have to give this an Average. Probably better than it deserves. Im am surprised that many think this is an excellent film. I will definitely not be to quick to see the second installment.