Why were Khan and all of his followers blonde?
- Thread starter jimoinj
- Start date
Did any of the subsequent novels try to explain those points? I thought they had, but I could be mistaken.
The general assumption seems to be that Chekov was a redshirt security guard at the time. So he probably wouldn't be privy to such information.
While I am under no illusions that those are no plot holes, some of those you mention are kind of nit-picky. Things like that do not pull me out of the movie and some only become clear after repeated viewings. Both films have them, but it's an issue of degree. There's a difference to me between a film not holding up under repeated viewing and not holding up while watching it for the first time. TWOK, like any well written story, establishes a level of reality and sustains it throughout. It doesn't matter how unrealistic that reality is, it is consistent from start to finish. On the other hand, Trek 09 creates a level of reality, then disregards it for the sake of expediency midway through the picture before reigning it back in.
We know the sequence, a lot of people have pointed it out. nuSpock doesn't toss Kirk in the brig and prefer charges. Instead. he sticks the Enterprise's first officer into an escape pod and ejects him from the ship. I realize Spock just lost his mom and homeworld, but this is probably an action the brass would frown upon and Spock was established as being by the book. Luckily, they're passing a planet which just happens to be the place oldSpock is stranded, after which Kirk is chased into the exact cave oldSpock is hiding, when he suddenly remembers there's a Federation outpost nearby. I wonder why he didn't think of that sooner and gone there himself instead of freezing his nuts off in a cave? Their lucky streak continues as this outpost is where Scotty happens to be waiting. This is just lazy storytelling. Scientifc things and astral configurations zip by most people. They accept terms and images at face value as conventions of the genre without concern for accuracy. But they will notice when a well presented story suddenly gets totally unrealistic midway. The writers are asking the audience to accept a lot in that portion of the film, and most do out of goodwill. But that doesn't erase the weakness.
This, and the promotion from Cadet to Captain at the end (another breach of their established reality), are the only two issues I have with the story. I was always more than happy to ignore the other little holes because it's such a fun ride. But there's really nothing that huge in TWOK. Nitpicky stuff can be shrugged off with a few mental connecting of dots. Bad writing is just bad writing, and it sticks out even more because the rest of the film is so well done.
Sorry, I didn't want this to be a old vs new film hijacking, especially since I liked the 09 film a hell of a lot.
Like I said, it's a judgment call. I think there are plenty of things in TWOK that are stupid and lazy and contrived, and I don't find it as satisfying as I find ST'09. It's a matter of opinion, and it's pointless to argue matters of opinion as if they were provable facts. Some people prefer the one, some prefer the other. But they are the two most popular Trek movies ever made, despite their problems. So they both must've done something right, however much they both got wrong.
Can't argue with that. They're both fun and emotionally involving films.
Actually if I understand my genetics right, blonde hair is a recessive trait. Wouldn't brown or black be more likely, were an artificially superior human being created?
Don't say that around Aryans.
The writers of the ST2 script may have fumbled this one, but the movie itself features no fumble. Nobody says, implies or shows that the Genesis device would have worked against its programmed instructions.
The device was detonated within a star system, as established by the fact that neither of the combatant ships had warp drive. The star system featured at least one dead planet. The first time the Genesis planet was glimpsed, it was already a planet in shape, even if with significant orange overcast. So apparently the Genesis device converted a dead planet into a living planet, as it was supposed to do. It was simply detonated at a bit greater distance than originally intended - but dialogue clearly established that the effect would propagate through space.
Another good example of the benefits of ignoring author intent and going with what's "really" there...
Timo Saloniemi
Somebody on this BBS offered a compelling argument that Mutara was actually a sort of unusually dense planetary nebula surrounding a star, perhaps cast-off atmosphere from it, and Regula was a planetoid orbiting that star at a distance, beyond the limits of the nebula. It doesn't fit the visual appearance of the Mutara Nebula (which was modelled on an HII emission nebula like the Orion or Trifid Nebula), but it's the most plausible explanation I've heard.
This scene seems to indicate a star, perhaps a white dwarf, behind Reliant.
No, that's just swamp gas.
Seriously, it could be lightning, a random light emission, or anything else for that matter.
The Mutara Nebula sequence would've made a lot more astrophysical sense if it had been a Jovian planet's atmosphere. Then you could've had clouds of that density and electrostatic interference like what was shown. (Real nebulae are far less dense than Earth's atmosphere, essentially a slightly dirty vacuum.) And the Genesis Planet could've been a terraformed moon.
Or maybe it was just the ILM folks shining a light through the cloud tank because it looked cool.
There's a star somewhere nearby shining light...
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/twok/ch12/twok0888.jpg
http://movies.trekcore.com/gallery/albums/twok/ch12/twok0888.jpg
kkozoriz1
Fleet Captain
Well, that explains all the special effects of all the movies. Case closed. Noting more to discuss here.
It should be a question of timing only. Saturn shouldn't have rings, except for a few million fleeting years - we just happen to catch that planet at her most beautiful thanks to a fluke of timing. The Mutara nebula might be on her way to collapsing into the Regula system, or might even be what the system was born out of, very recently (with the asteroid Regula possibly being a random capture rather than a local product). That'd make the nebula all the more dynamic, which is a plus when we wish to explain her anomalious density and electrical activity.
Timo Saloniemi
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