What do you diehard TOS fans think of the new movie?

[Gecko of Gorn]

You must also hate "Nemesis" for not portraying Remus as a more-livable world? And for killing off the entire Senate.

Slightly off topic, although I didn't enjoy Nemesis I totally dug the Romulan Senate look as portrayed. I also immensely enjoyed the anti-Shakespearean way of one person taking out the Senate - something that the anti-Picard would do.

Pity about the rest of the movie.

 

[VulKhan]

I'm a DIE-HARD fan of the original series. The new movie. Well, I like it a lot. I think it's totally different to the series, the "feel" and all, and yet it seems so familiar, you know what I mean? I think that says it all. So, yes, I like it!

 

[Emerald Trekker]

Spoilers Ahead...

I've only watched TOS and TAS...I saw some of Next Gen...but i stopped watching around the time the blonde chick left.

I liked the movie and I'm not easy to please when it comes to these blockbusters...if the masses like it then usually I don't/won't.

Were there things I would of done differently...hell yes but on the whole I really did enjoy it!

I agree w/ many of the gripes in this thread...the spock/uhura thing, the loss of vulcan, Kirk getting promoted right away, i found it odd that spock would jettison kirk to an ice planet where he just so happened to meet old spock....but these things aside it was a great ride...now they really really have to deliver on the sequel -- if they screw that up then thank god for my dvd's!

One thing I would of liked ........why couldn't Shatner recite the space the final frontier lines at the end of the film? I would of been happy with that...I would count that as participation and they are his lines!

Yeah, Bill should have done it. IMO.

Just wanted to say your comment above echo my own. As a loyal and true fan of TOS since 1969 I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this retelling of the series, too. I was particularly impressed with the new Kirk and Bones. In fact, they all get my vote except for Scotty, who I just find hard to take to but more than likely he'll grow on me.

 

[aridas sofia]

Dennis wrote:

By the time we got to the part where everyone turned off the noisemakers and lights on the bridge so as not to alert people on another spaceship somewhere many kilometers off in the vacuum of space as to their whereabouts I knew it was a lost cause. I accepted that I'm predisposed not even to see the incongruities, illogic and silliness of the TOS episodes that I consider good.

It might be the kind of Treknological fudging I'm known for, but in this case I actually thought my reasoning had some scientific basis: In a sub the sound expands until it hits the hull, then sets the hull to vibrating. The water conveys the vibrations from the hull to the opposing ship's sonar, where it is picked up.

On a spacecraft, the sound expands out to the hull, the hull vibrates and... that's the end of it. UNLESS the opposing ship has sensors that are more "tactile" and actually reach out and "feel". That's the assumption here -- sonar is more passive than sensors that reach out and can tell just what is the body temperature of some guy running around on a planet. Or whether he's human or Vulcan or whatever.

I think the makers of the episode are evoking the sub scene, sure. But they aren't willing to make too big a leap to do it -- they're saying the enemy is a highly capable ship with future technology. That's all.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Yeah, but aridas that's really stretching a point in the name of treknology - any bright kid watching a space show is just going to see these people sneaking around and whispering in the dark to avoid tipping off another spaceship and say "that is silly. Sound won't travel like that in space" - and even Joss "Do not ask me science stuff or I will cry" Whedon gets that much right.

Now, though, allowing for and sticking with the treknology explanation - there are four hundred people living as well as god knows how many mechanical, electronic and engineering processes going on continually inside that hull...how quiet can they be?

 

[Rackon]

I saw the first episode of TOS when it aired in 1966 and was thrilled to discover an adult SF series on TV. I was only an occassional watcher of TNG although I liked a few episodes of Enterprise. I tried, but was unable to ever watch a complete episode of Voyager. TOS remains "my" ST. I like movies II-IV very much, especially TWOK, but don't find the others after IV especially interesting or involving.

So...

I LOVED the movie, absolutely loved XI. I could pick nits, but I much prefer to enjoy the gorgeousness up on the big screen.

I thought the young cast was terrific! Quinto was born to play Spock and Pine was wonderful as Kirk. Urban is a gift to trekdom. Bruce Greenwood rocks. All the cast rocks. The effects and design were gorgeous and the new bridge was stunning. Despite all the whizz bang, the filmmakers kept the Spock/Kirk realtionship at the heart of the movie. I loved the way the filmmakers set up the parallel of Kirk and Spock as the two young "rebels" at the beginning.

The design was stunning - the bridge set was amazing, it really looked lke a place you could fly a starship from. I loved the look of Vulcan, especially the sky (so there). The planet dive onto the plasma drill rig is one of the most thrilling action sequences I've ever seen on film, and I don't even like action movies. Uhura and Spock - yeah! I'm on board! Was the smooch on the transporter pad a bit much? Sure, but I'm so happy Spock finally got some. (Spock fangirls all over the known universe were crying out at that point - "I wish it was me, I wish it was me".) I adored all the easter eggs and references to other trek movies/episodes. Did any of you catch how much book stuff also made its way into the movie? Lastly, I thought the alternate time line was a perfect and elegant solution to allow change and new stories.

XI was a fun movie, an entertaining and exciting movie...beautifully crafted...not the intellectual, arty trek movie that would warm my heart (Cuaron to direct XII, Weir to helm XII), but then you probably wouldn't like that verions much either. Did the plot have holes? Could I pick nits? Well...duh. But what was good in XI is so fabulously good I'm willing to put up with a certain amount of imperfection in order to bask in the gloriousness of the whole.

I just hope Abrams and Orci et al use the new 5 year voyage as an opportunity to give us fresh and exciting NEW stories, I don't need anymore Enterprise vs the evil baddy bent on revenge against the captain or rehashing of old episodes. They got the big screen, they got the cast, now they need the scripts to match.

TOS (and films) is all on DVD. It's still there for any of us to watch and enjoy anytime we want. This movie doesn't change that.

A little story. I've seen XI now 4 times, the latest sojourn was yesterday evening.

We went to IMAX for the midnight showing, the only one available now that the exacrable Night At The Museum II has swept into town. Sitting behind us were a couple who'd brought their 7 year old grandson. They were worried he'd be able to stay awake long enough to see it all the way through. We assured them he was unlikely to snooze through this particualr IMAX presentation.

After the movie ended, we were all on our way out of the cineplex. The grandson was not only totally awake, he was energized.

"Did you enjoy the movie?" asked his grandfather.

"Oh, yeah!" he said. "It was great."

"What did you think it was about?" asked grandmother.

"Friendship", he replied.

I turned around..."Live long and prosper, young man" I said.

 

[Gepard]

Now, though, allowing for and sticking with the treknology explanation - there are four hundred people living as well as god knows how many mechanical, electronic and engineering processes going on continually inside that hull...how quiet can they be?

They can't. And it's all stupid anyway--no matter how quiet they are, there's nothing they can to to stop the real giveaway for a spacecraft: bleeding heat into space in the form of infrared. All an enemy ship has to do is wave a heat sensor in their direction and they'll light up like a Christmas tree.

 

[aridas sofia]

Yeah, but aridas that's really stretching a point in the name of treknology - any bright kid watching a space show is just going to see these people sneaking around and whispering in the dark to avoid tipping off another spaceship and say "that is silly. Sound won't travel like that in space" - and even Joss "Do not ask me science stuff or I will cry" Whedon gets that much right.

That's fair. It doesn't allow for the naval analogy to go very far if you set it up that way (and it's obvious that's what they were striving for in this episode and in the series generally) but the criticism is fair. I think however, that among the 1960s viewing audience more would be familiar with the naval analogies than would be familiar with the specifics of sound in space. So in building your tech you might err to the "Enemy Below" side over the "Man in Space" side.

Now, though, allowing for and sticking with the treknology explanation - there are four hundred people living as well as god knows how many mechanical, electronic and engineering processes going on continually inside that hull...how quiet can they be?

How did it happen in a 1945 sub? Engines were shut down and everyone was supposed to keep quiet. In the Hollywood version there was always some lummox that dropped a wrench and the destroyer above heard it and rolled the depth charges. But the real problem with BoT isn't that -- if you can scan a hull for vibrations, you've already found the hull. Fire away. The hull would have to match the background in every way to avoid being detected and have the vibrations make any difference. And if it can do that, it's Enterprise that has the cloaking device.

Really, to make it work at all you have to say the Romulans are blind when they are running that cloak. They are sweeping in all directions with these tactile beams, looking for any and all changes in the background, like a blind man probing with his cane. At the same time, Enterprise cools its hull to make itself blend into the background as much as possible. If a sensor beam happens to hit Enterprise more than once and there is a change, weapons are brought to bear. So they sit silent.

It's a stretch, I know. But it's the best I've got for this one.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Really, to make it work at all you have to say the Romulans are blind when they are running that cloak.

Someone does suggest that early in the episode - it may be Kirk, in fact, in reply to Spock's observation that the alien ship has made a "very leisurely" turn - but I don't think it's followed up on.

 

[Emerald Trekker]

Spoiler Alert!


Now that they have set the scene for alternative beginnings the possibilities are really endless, I am hoping they will go back and allow JK to see his dad and that in some future plot Spock will get to save his mum.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

I hope we never hear anything more about "alternate" anything. Just go forward from here - which I'm pretty sure is their intention.

 

[Brutal Strudel]

Yeah, I agree.

 

[Emerald Trekker]

They went back and changed the beginning of TOS so they now have carteblanche to do what the heck they like with the characters; they have ruined Spock in my eyes, making him a soppy weakling with that romance with an utterly unbelievable Uhura.

But dispite this I enjoyed the movie and will go and see the follow up when it hits our screens again.

 

[Shieldsdown]

Rackon, excellent post, almost exactly how I feel about the new movie. Nice story at the end about the young fella staying awake!! All the trek movies have plenty of nits to pick to varying degrees, this one is no exception, but I walked out of that movie feeling elated and exhilarated by the experience.

 

[ST-One]

They went back and changed the beginning of TOS so they now have carteblanche to do what the heck they like with the characters; they have ruined Spock in my eyes, making him a soppy weakling with that romance with an utterly unbelievable Uhura.

But dispite this I enjoyed the movie and will go and see the follow up when it hits our screens again.

How is Uhura 'unbelievable'?

 

[True Trek Fan]

Anticitizen your post 302 is dead on, a great analysis of JJ's film and the TOS series and films! Bravo!

 

[Anticitizen]

Thanks.

 

[Emerald Trekker]

ABOARD THE USS KELVIN:
GEORGE: Whoa! A thunderstorm in space!
NERO: Hello. I am not Shinzon. But send over your captain, anyway, just like the last movie.
CAPTAIN: You bet.
TRANSPORTER: Zhoooom!
NERO: Hello, again. We are from a future so far advanced beyond your understanding that we keep spears on board.
CAPTAIN: I don’t get your point.
NERO: You do now. Hyah!
BACK ON THE KELVIN:
GEORGE: Where’s Winona?
CREWMAN: She’s not on until a few more scenes.
GEORGE: Not Ryder. I mean my wife.
CREWMAN: She’s about to give birth.
GEORGE: Oh, that’s right. That’s why I didn’t leave her at home, but insisted she come on this dangerous, dangerous mission. Oh well, I am going to ram this ship which is not the Enterprise right into that ship which is not Shinzon’s.
BOOM!
JIM KIRK: Waaah!
ON VULCAN:
BULLY: Hey, Spock. I am going to taunt you so that you beat me up.
SPOCK: Done and done.
POW!
SAREK: Hello, son. You can be whatever you want to be.
SPOCK: Wouldn’t it be more dramatic if, instead, I had to make my own way in the universe alone, without the love and support of my father, until I had so proven my abilities that I found peace within?
SAREK: That’s the old storyline. We’re giving it to Kirk.
SPOCK: Damn! Say, why did you marry mom?
SAREK: Because she’s Winona Freaking Ryder, what do you think?
SPOCK: Ah! Logical!
IOWA:
JIM KIRK: Ha haaaa! Here I am, just like Picard, zooming through Iowa’s famous desert.
POLICE: Pull over!
JIM KIRK: Oh, no, I’m headed right for one of the humongous canyons that Iowa is also so famous for.
BOOM!
JIM KIRK: Oh, no! I am hanging by my fingers on this precipice!
POLICE: What’s your name?
JIM KIRK: Jim Kirk, and you’re supposed to have sympathy for me because I’m an unhappy youth.
LATER IN IOWA:
JIM KIRK: I’m Jim Kirk and now I’m an unhappy 20-year-old.
UHURA: I’m not going to tell you my first name. There is no possible way you can ever find it out, because in the future there is no wiki, facebook, google or myspace.
JIM: Damn! Say, why are all these Starfleet people in this Iowa bar?
UHURA: Because we build Starships in Iowa these days.
JIM: I thought we just grew corn.
UHURA: You still do. Have you read the script?
POW!
PIKE: Kirk, I looked you up. You’re an angry, unbalanced, brooding genius. That’s just what Starfleet is looking for. Starfleet, and the Taliban.
JIM: No way! I will never sign up! NEVER!
NEXT DAY:
JIM: I have changed my mind. Sign me up.
BONES: Hi. My name is McCoy. I just got divorced. Have sympathy for my character.
JIM: Only if you see how angry and brooding I am.
BONE: All right. Say, all I have left are my bones.
JIM: Um . . . Okay.
BONES: Also skin. And some hair. Let’s see -- intestines, spleen-
JIM: Say, I bet you’re a doctor, aren’t you?
LATER:
JIM: Well, I am now graduating. I did it in three years, too! I am a genius. Yet I am still going to cheat. This is yet another positive character trait for an angry, brooding genius.
BONE: Yuh huh.
JIM: Excuse me. I have to go now and "study." By which I mean have strange alien sex.
BONES: What makes it strange? Because she’s green?
JIM: No, because she does it without taking her underwear off. Wow! Look at Uhura’s rib cage!
KOBAYASHI MARU TEST:
JIM: This is one good apple. Mmm! In fact, it might be symbollic of forbidden knowledge. I have discovered that I can win by changing the rules.
SPOCK: I hate you.
JIM: I hate you, too.
STARFLEET: ALERT! ALERT! Vulcan is under attack. We only have five Starships here. We need to send every one of them out, even though Vulcan is now just three minutes away and it might be wise to keep one or two here.
JIM: Wow! Does this mean that all the cadets will have to go, too? Just like in "Wrath of Khan"?
STARFLEET: Yes, but in your case only though a plot contrivance.
UHURA: Don’t send this creep! He’s all hands!
BONES: Not yet, but he will be. Take this shot! Sssssss!
ABOARD THE ENTERPRISE
PIKE: Kirk, you’re not supposed to be here! Get off my ship. Wait -- Kirk, you’re now first officer.
KIRK: What are you, Brett Favre?
PIKE: We’re on our way to Vulcan.
KIRK: No! It’s a trap!
PIKE: For no good reason, I believe you. Well, even if it is the same ship that destroyed your father’s vessel, that antique U.S.S. Kelvin held out and rammed it. There’s no way the intruder can take on FIVE modern Starships.
CHEKOV: Ve are here!
SPOCK: Look! They took out four modern Starships!
PIKE: See? And we’re the fifth and we’re still here. I told you.
NERO: Hello. I am not Shinzon. But send over your captain, anyway, just like before.
PIKE: Hmmm! The last time he did that, he killed the Kelvin’s captain. Therefore, I will go.
TRANSPORTER: ZHHHHOOOOM!
PIKE: You ain’t gonna spear me are you?
NERO: No. Even though we have now completely demolished Starfleet, and even though we have technology at least 100 years more advanced than your own, we are going to keep you alive to, oh, I guess give us some codes or passwords or something.
PIKE: You villain! I sure hope you don’t put a bug in my head.
NERO: Like in "Wrath of Khan"?
PIKE: Say, why don’t you just use the famous Romulan cloaking device and destroy Vulcan and Earth without anyone knowing?
NERO: Um . . . uh . . .
OVER VULCAN:
JIM: Vulcan’s not so bad. In fact, it’s just like Iowa. For example, here I am again, hanging by my fingertips on another precipice.
SULU: Why don’t they just shoot this sucker from orbit instead of lowering it like a fish hook?
JIM: Don’t ask questions! Don’t you want to have a sword fight?
SULU: Oh, no! Vulcan is collapsing! They must have shot red matter into its core!
JIM: Weren’t you watching? It wasn’t red matter. Winona Ryder fell down in there. She’s sucking the entire planet!
SULU: Lucky planet.
ON THE ENTERPRISE:
CHEKOV: I vill now leave my post during this crisis, contrary to all regulations, so dat I ken beam dem oop. Den I vill disappear becuz I only hef three lines and dat is dat.
TRANSPORTER: Zhhhhhoooom!
KIRK: Good work!
SPOCK: Welcome back. Now, goodbye.
ON DELTA VEGA:
KIRK: Holy crap, that bastard Vulcan shot me down here inside a Magic 8-Ball.
GARY MITCHELL: Hello, Jim. Like my contact lenses?
SPOCK: Welcome, old friend. Here, let me touch your mind. I must speak to you of red matter.
KIRK: And I must speak of you of brown matter. In my pants.
SPOCK: Our minds are one.
KIRK: Wow! All these images flashing through my mind. With narration. What a great exposition. Too bad it comes 40 minutes late. So this is really a parallel reality, huh?
SPOCK: Yes. Which means I get to grow a beard and use the Tantalus Field.
KIRK: What?
SPOCK: Never mind. Mr. Scott is marooned here.
KIRK: Like in "Relics"?
SCOTTY: Oot wee yew weall.
KIRK: Wow, and I thought Chekov talked funny. Can we go back to the old accents?
SPOCK: Go, now. I must remain here.
JIM: Why?
SPOCK: You didn’t see the rest of the ice cave. Zarabeth is back in there. Plus meat cubes!
TRANSPORTER: Zhoooom!
JIM: All riiiight! I’m in a brewery! . . . Oh., wait. It’s an engine room. I think. Mr. Scott, why is there so much plumbing on such an advanced ship?
SCOTTY: Aye, blargh, hoot. (Translated: Everyone always complains that they never see a restroom on this ship. Well, here is our sewer plant.)
CHEKOV: Veeveeveewagah. (Translated: Can I use the waterslide next?)
THE BRIDGE:
SPOCK: Wait a minute, here. Nero is incredibly advanced. How do we know that what we see is actually reality? The more I think about it, his fantastic ship just looks like a lot of over-the-top CGI.
SULU: No, Mr. Spock. It’s real. Just look towards the front of the bridge and look out the window.
SPOCK: Ah, yes. Wipers on full.
JIM: Hello, Spock. I am back. Your mom is Winona Ryder and she has a fantastic rack.
SPOCK: You dirty so and so!
POW!
JIM: I’m sorry. But now I am captain! I have taken command through duplicity and betrayal.
SPOCK: Wow, if that’s good captaining then this really is the mirror universe.
JIM: No, it’s just a reboot.
SPOCK: Cool. Then I get the first inter-racial kiss! Uhura?
UHURA: Yummy yum yum! Kirk, are you jealous?
JIM: Nope. But I’ve got bad news. You’re not going to get to second base for seven years.
TRANSPORTER: Zhoooom!
NERO: Kirk! Spock! You have come to my ship to save your captain at the end of the movie, even though I am not Shinzon and you are not Data.
JIM: How come your head is perfectly shaved, but your face is full of stubble?
CHAKOTAY: Nice tatoos, though.
SPOCK: I am taking old Spock’s paddlewheel starship and all of its red matter. Red matter, as everyone knows, is an extremely volatile, dangerous substance. That is why it can only be transported in a special ship that flips around violently.
BANG! ZOOM! POW!
EARTH:
JIM: Well, it all worked out fine.
ADMIRAL PIKE: Except here I am in a wheelchair.
JIM: Like in "The Menagerie"?
ADMIRAL PIKE: Sorta. The last two hours have been a fantasy placed in my mind by the butthead keeper. Next up: Winona Ryder.
BIGSHOT HEAD OF STARFLEET: Ensign James T. Kirk, because you were a stowaway on the Enterprise, disobeyed direct orders and led a mutiny against Commander Spock, we are giving you the Enterprise, our best ship. Congratulations! We’d serve champagne, but you’re not 21 yet.
YOUNG SPOCK: Are you my father?
OLD SPOCK: No, I am old you.
NOMAD: Kirk, are you my father?
JIM: I’m not sure. Reboot and all. Could be.
VADER: Luke, I am your father.
OLD SPOCK: Have fun, young Spock.
YOUNG SPOCK: Nice beard.
THE END.

Simply marvellous and should win sort of literary prize or something shiny.

Great stuff!

 

[Emerald Trekker]

They went back and changed the beginning of TOS so they now have carteblanche to do what the heck they like with the characters; they have ruined Spock in my eyes, making him a soppy weakling with that romance with an utterly unbelievable Uhura.

But dispite this I enjoyed the movie and will go and see the follow up when it hits our screens again.

How is Uhura 'unbelievable'?

In the sense the actress, Zoe Saldana, who portrays her is not in my view beliable as Uhura. I also don't like the actor, Simon Pegg as Scotty. Both of these are miscast in my opinion.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Simply marvellous and should win sort of literary prize...

No.

...or something shiny.

Sure - if you're willing to pony up. I gave at the office.