11 Things About Star Trek That Make You Go WTF?

[Jackson_Roykirk]

I did like them a lot. They are the best Star Trek movies without a doubt, but by inconsistency standards, they don't work. Neither do the rest of them. That's why I don't pay too much attention to inconsistencies.

Exactly. FC was just on TV this weekend (on AMC, I think), and I intentionally watched it looking for inconsistencies, nit-picks, an plot holes. Believe me, there were plenty.

If I were a person who watched FC for the first time, and dutifully made my nit-pick list, I would have probably hated the movie. Luckily, I've seen FC enough without trying to nit-pick it and I find it to be a very enjoyable film.

 

[Carpe Occasio]

I agree. If you nitpick the original The Day The Earth Stood Still you would think it was a terrible movie, but in reality it's a classic of sci-fi filmmaking and one of my all time favorites. The remake on the other hand...

Now that's a good example.

I like the remake. I really do. But, it had as much inconsistencies as the original. Still, it was a very enjoyable ride! And I don't believe it did all that bad in the theaters, so other people seem to like it too.

You need a sombrero!

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

You need a sombrero!

Thank you, the color is spot on!

 

[Thomas Riker]

1. Spock/Uhura made me roll my eyes, but I'll probably have to get used to it.

2. The missing 25 years for nero. These things need explaining.

3. Engineering - nuff said.

4. Phasers - where is the beams that I know and love, this pulse business is Star Warsy, lazy and does nothing for me.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

Why is the pulse thingy fired from the phaser lazy? I get you don't like it, nobody's ordering you to, but lazy? Lazy? Why?

I thought it looked realistic and just fine, not worth pondering about.

 

[DiSiLLUSiON]

Why is the pulse thingy fired from the phaser lazy? I get you don't like it, nobody's ordering you to, but lazy? Lazy? Why?

I thought it looked realistic and just fine, not worth pondering about.

Indeed. Lazy seems to imply that, somehow, the beams are much easier to create in CGI then the pulses. I don't think there's a difference as to how hard it is.

 

[Thomas Riker]

^ I meant its easier to pull off from a Special FX point of view. Doing Phaser Beams surely is more difficult, but I could be wrong.

 

[CommanderRaytas]

I would argue that creating something that doesn't look real is lazy, but that's a matter of both taste and opinion. I just never thought this would make anyone go WTF....no offence there.

 

[Thomas Riker]

Your right though it is a personal preference, I've always been more fascinated by phaser beams and phaser pulses. pulses are too fast to follow, you can't tell who's firing at who. At least with the beams you can.

I liked the phaser pistol itself mind you.

 

[sidious618]

Nero's 25 years was the biggest qualm for me.

 

[Thrawn]

As I've said a couple times already, if I can invent a scene that takes less than 5 lines of dialogue to explain away a plothole, then I just sort of assume it happened off screen and don't worry about it.

And for just about every single plot hole I could think of in this movie, a scene fixing it immediately came to mind. The coincidence of Kirk running into Spock Prime is the only thing I can think of that's just inexplicable, but as has also been pointed out, it's hardly the only time coincidence has been used as a plot point in Trek or anything else.

So, for me, I have no plot problems; everything seems like it was just trimmed to fit so much into a 2 hour movie rather than just ignored because no one cared. Intentionally streamlined rather than sloppy.

Shrug.

 

[sunbari1]

What about seeing one planet clearly plainly from the surface of another? If they had said "Vulcan moon with atmosphere and ice", I maybe could have bought it. But another planet that can see Vulcan? And hadn't the Enterprise already travelled some distance before it jettisoned Kirk?

I agree, Delta Vega was way too close to Vulcan! Two planets as close as our moon is to the Earth? Two M-class planets so close together with radically different climates? Vulcan's destruction having apparently no effect on Delta Vega whatsoever? The singularity that consumed Vulcan disappears after consuming it?

 

[sunbari1]

Why didn't Spock attempt to go back through the blackhole that got him and Nero there to correct the timeline changes? We know it existed for 25 years between the time the Nero came through and when Old Spock came through. Why not go the other way, it should still be there?

 

[sunbari1]

If Nero wanted to destroy the Federation, he could have easily done it during his 25-year hiatus. With a ship that much more powerful and technologically advanced than its rivals, he could have ripped through any Starfleet vessels sent against him (like we saw in orbit of Vulcan) just like Mirror Archer did when he got his hands on the Defiant.

 

[MikeS]

Ah. Okay. What, that line made you go WTF? Talk about nitpicking.

I don't believe that "nit-picking" and enjoyment of a film are mutually exclusive.

I've been a fan of all the series', but I also thoroughly enjoyed Abrams "Star Trek" as a different and refreshing take on "an old friend". I find it interesting to read peoples opinions and thoughts. It is also interesting to come up with explanations to certain plot elements.

In the end it doesn't really matter. It's only a film, not the formula for world peace. (waits for the backlash to the comment that Trek is only a story ).

 

[Tomdidiot]

What really annoyed me was the fact that the Romulan homeworld was engulfed by a supernova that was going to threaten the entire galaxy. The supernova wasn't the Romulan homeworld's sun.

Say WHAT? What kind of a supernova is that? It expands several times faster than the speed of light, it won't collapse in on itself into a neutron star/black hole before searing the entire galaxy, its going to expand to cover the entire galaxy, and be hot enough to cook every planet in it. It'll reach earth and Vulcan in a few weeks. Wait.. Just how MASSIVE is this star?

It violates
1. the Laws of Thermodynamics (First law - energy can't be created or destroyed)
2. Relativity (Faster than light)
3. Conservation of Matter (apparently this supernova has unlimited mass/energy - or is an incredibly huge star)
4. Everything we know about Supernovas.
5. Probably more.

And that's the just off the top of my head. My head hurts.

I also didn't like the destruction of Vulcan.

And probably the worst moment was at the end of the story when I realised ""Oh no... This is going to be Trek where the ONLY canon is Enterprise."
I turned to my friend and said "Kill me now. Please."

 

[MikeS]

If Nero wanted to destroy the Federation, he could have easily done it during his 25-year hiatus. With a ship that much more powerful and technologically advanced than its rivals, he could have ripped through any Starfleet vessels sent against him (like we saw in orbit of Vulcan) just like Mirror Archer did when he got his hands on the Defiant.

Ah, but he had to hang around to find "prime" Spock to make him suffer the same fate he had; let him witness the destruction of all that he knew and loved.

 

[Icarus]

"Punch it" rather than "Engage"

Silly.

Personally, I loved that line - it really set Pike apart and endeared me to the character.

 

[sdayan]

My 2 cents:

1. The drill could be so easily diasbled/destroyed and yet no one really tries. I know Vulcan turned peaceful some time ago (as of Enterprise's Vulcan arc) but they must have had some sort of phaser canon somewhere to destroy this drill that's punching a hole through their planet! And they are punching that hole on Earth, right next to Starfleet!

2. As for Nero's plan, he has the red matter, my guess is he will go destroy the star before it can go SuperNova. Otherwise his plan is simply to allow Romulus to grow without any enemies until it gets destroyed... again.

3. One more pick for me: What was Amanda Grayson doing in the cave with all of the Vulcan High Council? If she was indeed a member, or accepted enough woudl Vulcan kids be calling Sarek a traitor and his wife a whore? Or would the Science Council guy expressly tell Spock that his weakness is his Human Mother?

 

[Admiral Bear]

Might have been mentioned elsewhere, but Uhura ordering a Cardassian Sunrise in the bar stuck out like a sore thumb. The Federation hadn't come within a million light years of discovering the Cardassians in the TOS era, let alone importing their beverages.

And if my DS9 memory serves, it was a Bajoran Sunrise, not a Cardassian one. I remember Quark making one in an episode.