Some inaccuracies I've noticed in this great movie!

[Truth_Seeker]

Star Trek 2009 is a truly remarkable movie and one of the best space adventures ever made. Nevertheless I've noticed some continuity errors and inconsistencies with the other Trek shows, such as:

1. Young Spock obviously knows, that "Romulans and Vulcans have a common ancestry". That statement contradicts the events in the TOS episode "Balance Of Terror", where the first visual contact between Federation and Romulan starships was ever established. In that episode Spock was genuinely surprised by the appearance of the Romulans and their similarities to Vulcans. How is it possible for younger Spock to know something, that his older version never knew?

2.Spock Prime was shown observing his home planet's destruction from the nearby ice moon. But in one of the first episodes of TOS Spock explained to Uhura, that Vulcan has no moon. So where was he when he was observing the destruction of Vulcan - the only logical conclusion is that the ice planet is located in the same star system. Here comes the biggest problem with that scene. Even if the distances between planets are considerably shorter in the Vulcan star system, it's scientifically impossible for Spock to be able to see any other nearby planet from the surface of the ice planet, especially during daytime. Distances in space are so vast, that even during night time the other planets in our Solar System look no bigger than most of the stars in the sky.

What do you thing about it?

 

[Devon]

Star Trek 2009 is a truly remarkable movie and one of the best space adventures ever made. Nevertheless I've noticed some continuity errors and inconsistencies with the other Trek shows, such as:

1. Young Spock obviously knows, that "Romulans and Vulcans have a common ancestry". That statement contradicts the events in the TOS episode "Balance Of Terror", where the first visual contact between Federation and Romulan starships was ever established. In that episode Spock was genuinely surprised by the appearance of the Romulans and their similarities to Vulcans. How is it possible for younger Spock to know something, that his older version never knew?

In that same episode Spock also postulates that Vulcans and Romulans have a common ancestry. However, the new Spock has 25 years of history in being able to figure out that these guys were Romulan and had the same ancestry.

2.Spock Prime was shown observing his home planet's destruction from the nearby ice moon.

Are we sure it was a moon? I thought the computer told Kirk that he was on "Planet" Delta Vega.

So where was he when he was observing the destruction of Vulcan - the only logical conclusion is that the ice planet is located in the same star system. Here comes the biggest problem with that scene. Even if the distances between planets are considerably shorter in the Vulcan star system, it's scientifically impossible for Spock to be able to see any other nearby planet from the surface of the ice planet, especially during daytime. Distances in space are so vast, that even during night time the other planets in our Solar System look no bigger than most of the stars in the sky.

What do you thing about it?

I think "Okie dokie."

 

[Rush Limborg]

My $0.02:

1) Nero's ship probably had a Romulan registry. The visual records (black box), as well as the testimonies of the bridge crew, could well have led to the discovery in some way.

2) I interpereted it as Nero setting up a holo-projector, or something, showing what was going on on the Narada's viewscreen.

But actually, the last Nero comic has an explanation for this. Something about Delta Vega's wierd orbit....

 

[Nerys Myk]

1. Young Spock obviously knows, that "Romulans and Vulcans have a common ancestry". That statement contradicts the events in the TOS episode "Balance Of Terror", where the first visual contact between Federation and Romulan starships was ever established. In that episode Spock was genuinely surprised by the appearance of the Romulans and their similarities to Vulcans. How is it possible for younger Spock to know something, that his older version never knew?

Once Nero attacked the Kelvin (appearing on their main viewer) that particular cat was out of the bag. Spock Prime is not only older than Spock but also from an alternate reality. They don't share the same memories or histories.

2.Spock Prime was shown observing his home planet's destruction from the nearby ice moon. But in one of the first episodes of TOS Spock explained to Uhura, that Vulcan has no moon. So where was he when he was observing the destruction of Vulcan - the only logical conclusion is that the ice planet is located in the same star system. Here comes the biggest problem with that scene. Even if the distances between planets are considerably shorter in the Vulcan star system, it's scientifically impossible for Spock to be able to see any other nearby planet from the surface of the ice planet, especially during daytime. Distances in space are so vast, that even during night time the other planets in our Solar System look no bigger than most of the stars in the sky.

I doubt we were seeing exacrtly what Spock saw. His "memories" include several elements that Spock could not actually have seen.

 

[Duane]

Yes, once Nero appeared an alternate reality was created. Young Spock can and does know things that Old Spock doesn't/didn't know. They are different people with living in different realities/universes.

The writer's purposely has Kirk abandoned on Delta Vega as an homage since it was the first planet seen in the TOS pilot #2 WNMHGB. The writer's described Spock's ability to see his planet's destruction as a cinematic device and that possibly he was actually looking through a telescope. But I like the comment that during Spock's mind meld with Kirk we were seeing images that Spock could not have seen, so possibly when we witness him watching Vulcan destroyed, this is spock's own cinematic device.

 

[Truth_Seeker]

Yes, once Nero appeared an alternate reality was created. Young Spock can and does know things that Old Spock doesn't/didn't know. They are different people with living in different realities/universes.

Yes, this could be the possible explanation. Spock could have read the reports about the destruction of the USS Kelvin and he could have seen the recordings of its black box, coming to the conclusion that Romulans and Vulcans are related. Of course there's always the possibilty that the writers simply forgot about "Balance Of Terror" and included this line in the script.

 

[Rush Limborg]

^I seem to recall them aknowledging this little "Ballance Of Terror" fact in the pre-release period, so I doubt they forgot it....

 

[Devon]

Not to mention as I said earlier that Spock nearly said the same exact thing in "Balance of Terror." In fact the new Spock's line seemed to be an homage to that line.

 

[Truth_Seeker]

I'm not sure if it's just my computer, but this thread doesn't appear when I enter the Star Trek XI section, yet it appears after I refresh the same section. Probably a bug of some kind!

 

[Nerys Myk]

Yes, once Nero appeared an alternate reality was created. Young Spock can and does know things that Old Spock doesn't/didn't know. They are different people with living in different realities/universes.

Yes, this could be the possible explanation. Spock could have read the reports about the destruction of the USS Kelvin and he could have seen the recordings of its black box, coming to the conclusion that Romulans and Vulcans are related. Of course there's always the possibilty that the writers simply forgot about "Balance Of Terror" and included this line in the script.

The Kelvin's destruction is a pretty big deal since they are placing contruction facilities in the hometown's of crew members as a way to honor it. I'm thinking most people in Starfleet know something about the Kelvin and very few are unaware the Romulans destroyed it.

 

[Cyke101]

Yes, once Nero appeared an alternate reality was created. Young Spock can and does know things that Old Spock doesn't/didn't know. They are different people with living in different realities/universes.

Yes, this could be the possible explanation. Spock could have read the reports about the destruction of the USS Kelvin and he could have seen the recordings of its black box, coming to the conclusion that Romulans and Vulcans are related. Of course there's always the possibilty that the writers simply forgot about "Balance Of Terror" and included this line in the script.

The Kelvin's destruction is a pretty big deal since they are placing contruction facilities in the hometown's of crew members as a way to honor it. I'm thinking most people in Starfleet know something about the Kelvin and very few are unaware the Romulans destroyed it.

I sort of wonder how many podunk towns across Earth now have construction facilities thanks to the Dominion War

 

[Jeyl]

Crewman 1: You should see this! It looks like a lightning storm!
*The Kelvin is so close that the lightning is being reflected off the hull, but....
Crewman 2: Still out of visual range.

Crewman: Warp Drive has been knocked out!
*Several missile barrages later while the crew is preparing to evacuate, the warp engine is still working. Guess JJ didn't get the memo on what the Impulse Engines do.

Crewman: Weapons offline!
*Ship was firing all weapons immediately before and after this announcement.

(DELETED SCENE)
Nero: The wait is over.
*Some scenes later.
Ayel: What are your orders?
Nero: We wait.
* I just find that funny

Enterprise comes out of warp and immediately fires at the missiles that were heading towards Spock. Those must be some kick butt sensors to be able to detect all those missiles so far away. I wonder why they didn't use them when they were heading to Vulcan?

Uhura is totally useless in this movie.

Kirk knows that the attackers of the Kelvin were Romulans despite the fact that nobody at this time has ever seen a Romulan, nobody on the Kelvin identified them as Romulans, and no one on the Narada said they were Romulans.

Reports of a Romulan attack in Klingon Space where one ship destroyed 47 ships is only news worthy to a room mate and not the entire federation. And even if she did report it to someone, the idea that one ship was able to destroy 47 Klingon Ships, a race known for being aggressive and fighting to the last man isn't worth concerning over with anyone? So let me get this straight.
47 Klingon Ships destroyed by one Romulan ship = No concern.
A vague distress call from Vulcan that could be weather related = ALERT EVERYONE! SCRAMBLE ALL JETS!

 

[M'Sharak]

You've got all of those on a keyboard macro now?

 

[Temis the Vorta]

1. Young Spock obviously knows, that "Romulans and Vulcans have a common ancestry". That statement contradicts the events in the TOS episode "Balance Of Terror"

I thought the idea was that Nero's incursion into the new universe at the beginning of the movie had changed the storyline and somehow blew the whistle on the Romulan/Vulcan connection years before it happened in the original universe.

However, how this happened is still a bit of a mystery. Nero's ears were cropped and while his crew's ears were on display, are pointy ears really that distinctive of a feature among all the species of the cosmos? Couldn't Romulans have had pointy ears and been a completely different species from Vulcans? What if it had been a shipload of Vortas, for instance?

The ship's registry wouldn't help, since that would link Pointy Ear People to being Romulan but not to their being Vulcan. I'd liked for there to have been some opportunity for a Romulan's DNA sample to be obtained. That would have sealed the deal.

 

[Yeoman Randi]

<snip>


(DELETED SCENE)
Nero: The wait is over.
*Some scenes later.
Ayel: What are your orders?
Nero: We wait.
* I just find that funny

<snip>

Uhura is totally useless in this movie.

<snip>

Not going to go into all your points because i think at this point, 6 months after the film has been released and we've all gone round and round on the inaccuracies, problems etc, i'm not into debating. I did just want to comment on two things you said:

Nero and the wait: Actually, when you insert the deleted scene like that, it IS funny. But seeing as how we are only supposed to rely on what actually appears onscreen, it is a moot point. But yeah, when you think about the deleted scene, it IS funny!

And I think you should be saying that it is your opinion that "Uhura is totally useless in this movie" because so many of us have argued/debated/stated that we feel otherwise.

Just saying.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Uhura's role is to be a catalyst in Spock's story which in future movies will continue his difficulty at controlling his emotional spiral into madness and prop-throwing, scenery-chewing acting scenes.

Ordinarily, merely being a catalyst in another character's story might be small potatoes but I have a sneaking suspicion that Spock will be the main point of the overall three-movie arc so that's a bigger role than Uhura has ever had before. My bet is that she'll have at least one "I'm the only thing keeping Spock from the outer darkness and [insert cataclysm that will occur because Spock goes squirrely]" type scene in the next movie.

 

[Truth_Seeker]

47 Klingon Ships destroyed by one Romulan ship = No concern.
A vague distress call from Vulcan that could be weather related = ALERT EVERYONE! SCRAMBLE ALL JETS!

Good point. The whole idea that Uhura was the only Starfleet member to detect something as major as this was a little strange. Where were all the border outposts, space stations or intelligence vessels at that time? In addition to that she didn't tell her superior officers about that, but she told her sexy Orion roommate.

Anyway, we can forgive JJ some of those small mistakes, it was his first ST movie and he did pretty good job.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

Now I really like this movie but I do have one minor nitpick that I noticed the third time I watched it.

Remember the big lens flare at the start of the film when Robau enters the bridge well that isn't a lensflare thats the sun the Kelvin is close to coming through the viewscreen. Now why was it that nobody thought to polarize the viewscreen BEFORE Robau came up to the bridge since it looked like it was so bright?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

47 Klingon Ships destroyed by one Romulan ship = No concern.
A vague distress call from Vulcan that could be weather related = ALERT EVERYONE! SCRAMBLE ALL JETS!

Good point. The whole idea that Uhura was the only Starfleet member to detect something as major as this was a little strange. Where were all the border outposts, space stations or intelligence vessels at that time? In addition to that she didn't tell her superior officers about that, but she told her sexy Orion roommate.

Anyway, we can forgive JJ some of those small mistakes, it was his first ST movie and he did pretty good job.

Actually I think the reason Uhura was kicked out of the com lab after getting that was so the Starfleet bigwigs could go over that, its just that nobody thought that Pike would need to know about that.

 

[Truth_Seeker]

Speaking of inaccuracies sometimes it's all subjective. When I watched the movie with a friend, who's not a Star Trek fan, he asked the question "Why is the doctor always on the bridge and not in sickbay" and I was like "That's not just a doctor, that's Bones". How do you explain to someone who hasn't seen TOS or the movies that Bones always plays a major part in every mission.