Things you didn't like

[stonester1]

We have Vulcans. Just no Vulcan. That did hurt, but we still have our pointy eared hobgoblins.

For me, this movie worked splendidly, for the most part. But the music score could be stronger. Was rather nondescript for most of the run. And G does better work than that on Alias and Lost.

Also, Trek works best when it has moments to emotionally breathe. This movie was so frenetically paced, even the emotional moments rushed past too quickly to truly absorb them.

The promotion scene at the end. Would have worked with a "a few years later" title fade up/down. Kirk going from cadet to Captain in a few years still would have been extraordinarily fast. To have it seem like he got in RIGHT after the incident just strains cred to the breaking point. Also, to have that would account better for Pike being an Admiral and being in a wheelchair (could be the time in which he had the Talos 4 mission and had his exposure to Delta rays, with him beginning a slow degeneration).

Still loved it, but not flawless.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I didn't like Spock's "Not really. Not this time," response to Kirk's intent to spare Nero.

Now, it has nothing to do with "what Trek stands for" or "Gene's vision" or any of that cant. I just think it undercuts Spock's character, and probably would do so more for a new viewer than for someone who's watched the character for a long time.

It's always kind of fun when Spock, for one reason or another, lets down or is compelled to drop his rational mask and his pacifist stance - and that, IMAO, is because substantial character work and story time have been put into establishing how fundamental these things are to him...and therefore, what the cost of it is.

Also, sometimes it's funny.

In this case, it was only funny.

Because Young Spock hasn't earned it. All we get out of him going "waste 'em" is that this youngster who wears his values on his sleeve and is so haughty toward the likes of Kirk then indulges himself the first time he's under stress.

He comes across, in this moment, as someone not to be taken seriously. When push comes to shove, he's not long on the integrity of his beliefs.

Okay, okay, "his whole planet, his mother /remember him shouting in 'The Cage,' yadda yadda..." but I still think it's too cheap.

 

[Amaris]

I didn't like Spock's "Not really. Not this time," response to Kirk's intent to spare Nero.

Now, it has nothing to do with "what Trek stands for" or "Gene's vision" or any of that cant. I just think it undercuts Spock's character, and probably would do so more for a new viewer than for someone who's watched the character for a long time.

It's always kind of fun when Spock, for one reason or another, lets down or is compelled to drop his rational mask and his pacifist stance - and that, IMAO, is because substantial character work and story time have been put into establishing how fundamental these things are to him...and therefore, what the cost of it is.

Also, it's funny.

In this case, it was just funny.

Because Young Spock hasn't earned it. All we get out of him going "waste 'em" is that this youngster who wears his values on his sleeve and is so haughty toward the likes of Kirk then indulges himself the first time he's under stress.

He comes across, in this moment, as someone not to be taken seriously.

Okay, okay, "his whole planet, his mother, yadda yadda..." but I still think it's too cheap.

To be fair, his mom is dead and his home planet's just been blown up.

Edit: Dah! You edited it right as I posted!

J.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

I loved the movie, but:

1. The look of the Enterprise. Still feels a little awkward to me, what with the erect dog penis and all. (And I don't think they went far enough to establish the Enterprise as a character this time around.)

2. The little red tip on the phaser. (Petty, I know, but it bugged me.)

3. Nimoy's role was neither pivotal nor emotional enough. I loved seeing him again, but the performance/writing could have been stronger.

4. The musical score. I loved it for the first three quarters of the film, but there's a part of the theme that was played so many times that it became predictable by the end.

5. The dumping of a decade's worth of Spock's service under Pike in favor of insta-TOS-crew.

6. Not enough depth.

That's it for now.

Still loved the flick.

 

[miraclefan]

I didn't like the fact we didn't get to see the narada tear thru 47 klingon battlecrusiers as it escaped the prision planet, or the narada wipeing out the starfleet ships that got to vulcan before the enterprise. I wanted THOSE big battle scenes and I didn't get them.

 

[Awesome Possum]

It could have been a little longer. I would have liked a scene showing what the loss of Vulcan actually meant for the Federation. But other than that, I'm happy with the film.

 

[jeff lebowski]

Cadet to Captain in a day.

Pretty ridiculous.

 

[miraclefan]

Cadet to Captain in a day.

Pretty ridiculous.

So was a kid who never piloted a X-wing fighter & blowing up a space station the size of a small moon! just enjoy it for what it is, a M.O.V.I.E.

 

[Claudia]

What "insta-promotion" are you talking about? The one Kirk has spent the last three years of his life specifically training for? That doesn't sound very "instant" to me.

Kirk's "insta-promotion" has a lot in common with most of the "overnight successes" who've been performing their craft for years and years.

Ya know, a friend of mine was a mere grad student one day, and just a few days later, the university "suddenly" gave him the Ph.D. he'd spent years studying for. Is he an insta-Doctor?

I've got the feeling that Kirk was only weeks, perhaps days, from graduating as a full Captain anyway.

Erm, Kirk was a cadet at the academy - in command track, granted, but nonetheless just a cadet - And he wouldn't have graduated as a captain, but as a lieutenant at most. He had no experience on a real starship, so it's plainly ridiculous that he got promoted to captain at the end without a simple "X years later" (as someone here suggested). Academic training isn't everything, you actually need the practical experience as well.

Listen to what Pike's saying at the beginning: 4 years at the academy, then 4 years later your own ship. That's the usual way.

 

[Samuel T. Cogley]

Listen to what Pike's saying at the beginning: 4 years at the academy, then 4 years later your own ship. That's the usual way.

Given the number of cadets graduating from the academy, they are going to have to build a helluva lot more ships.

 

[addik]

Spock mentioning that Romulans and Vulcans shared a common ancestry got to me a bit at first, but I'm guessing that was covered in the beginning of the movie that I missed, or just figured that Starfleet's contact with Nero spurred some sort of communication with Romulus and this was discovered that way. Moron at the door tearing tickets directed the entire 4:15 show audience to the wrong screen! So I came in while George Kirk was discussing a name for the baby with his wife.

Nokia.

Engineering was a wtf moment, but as was posted earlier, it kind of makes sense that this should "realistically" not be the pretty section of the ship as we've seen in previous shows/movies.

The core ejection.

Chekov, funny at first, but he got annoying fast.

That it ended.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Listen to what Pike's saying at the beginning: 4 years at the academy, then 4 years later your own ship. That's the usual way.

Given the number of cadets graduating from the academy, they are going to have to build a helluva lot more ships.

Most of them drop out when they find out the Federation doesn't pay them.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

The only thing I didn't like was Kirk being made Captain so soon. It would have made sense during a conflict like the Dominion war when people advanced in rank very quickly out of necessity (as mentioned many times in the books).

However this is a pretty small quibble and I can put it down to the need to get him in that chair NOW so he can be there for the next film

 

[Chris3123]

I enjoyed the movie. But stuff I would rather they left out/didn't do/did differently:


Nokia

A couple spots where they went overboard with the humor, like the whole Kirk/McCoy/vaccine schtick.

Scotty's little Jar-Jar-esque friend.

The hand phasers. I wish we saw them shoot beams. (Yeah, I know that the TOS ones sometimes shot pulses)

More tricorder use, even if they are rather small.

And then there all the drastic design changes for everything from ship interiors to props to the Enterprise's symbol being the symbol for all of Starfleet even 30+ years before the Enterprise was even built, but I consider this to take place in an alternate universe anway (even despite the changes to the timeline), so I let that stuff go.

 

[Trekker4747]

Along with others here, I didn't like the insta-promotions. And was it me or did it seem like McCoy was older than Kirk? Shouldn't they be about the same age?

They should've ended the movie with a "flash forward" a few years to when an older Kirk and co. take over duties on the Enterprise. Kirk the 20-something who was a cadet just a few days ago being promoted to captain strains "reality" just a bit and just seems silly.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

No, Kelley was older than Shatner or Nimoy and McCoy was often (but not always) assumed to be older as well.

 

[Trekker4747]

No, Kelley was older than Shatner or Nimoy and McCoy was often (but not always) assumed to be older as well.

Ok. Guess I always infered they were about the same age.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

No, Kelley was older than Shatner or Nimoy and McCoy was often (but not always) assumed to be older as well.

Ok. Guess I always infered they were about the same age.

It's nebulous and none of it is quite "canon." Kirk was in his early thirties at the beginning of TOS. Part of McCoy's backstory (on paper only) was that he had an adult daughter, and D.C. Fontana wrote at least a story treatment (possibly a script) featuring the character. Fred Freiberger supposedly rejected the premise that McCoy was so much older than Kirk, however, so there you go - pick the version you like.

 

[Soar_Dude]

I can see the insta promotion as a big chunk of the fleet was wiped out by Nero. But I really really really agree engineering was horrid.

 

[chardman]

Cadet to Captain in a day.

Pretty ridiculous.

Cadet to Captain in 3 years.

Pretty believable.