A quick question asked of me by non-Trekkie friend.
- Thread starter SilentP
- Start date
Nero tortured Pike to get the access codes for the Earth defense network. Nero probably transmitted said codes, causing the entire SF Earth defense network to shutdown like the Cylons did in the BSG miniseries.
I would say "Deerrrr.... they just sent a fleet of starships with the best weapons they had at their disposal and didn't make a dent. It'd be a waste of time, when everybody should be evacuating, including those who would be shooting those cannons.
'One little Cannon and Boom?'
Yeah, maybe it was a david and goliath situation and all they needed to do was pelt Nero's ship with one little cannon in the right spot and the cannon ball would just go past their sheilds because it wasn't energy based, puncture a hole in their hull, make them lose structural integrity and emplode..... movie over.....
Oh wait, they still had the red matter on the ship at that time, now the earth is getting sucked into this black hole and we all die.... bravo!"
then I'd turn to your friend with a raised hand as if I'm gonna smack the tar out of his mouth, watch him flinch, and then carry on with my day.
So besides your rant fest over something you obviously didn't like, you don't have an answer?
And yet, the drill was easily severed by a few shots from a tiny science ship... come on.
The scarcity of Earth's defences is an utter joke, and an increasingly tiresome and lazy plot device by movie makers.
Yes, Nero had the Earth's defence codes, but are we to beleive that earth had no weapons, ships or aircraft capable of functioning independently? If Earths weapons were all disabled by a single network, then by extension the Enterprise's weapons should also have been disabled, (otherwise the defence codes are useless).
In 'reality', Earth's skies would have been filled with fighters and Starships. It would be like driving into Washington DC with a bulldozer and trying to demolish the Pentagon- and meeting no resistance!
The honest answer is that even in a Trek film, logic gives way to story.
Why is that certain? The fleet was destroyed at Vulcan and and I don´t believe that there are a any fighters on the planet since Earth is a single nation. At least not a lot of them.
Way to completely warp what he said. By admission of JJ, he said he was trying to make Trek more marketable, but he never said anything about lack of substance or thought.
Clearly there was some thought put into it, or else it wouldn't have a Metacritic score of 83 and a Rottentomatoes score of 92%. Y'know, the same critics that often save such scores for more artistic-oriented films.
Poor writing. Not even one little shuttle with a phaser was available? I don't buy the "Nero knew all the codes" thing.
Still, it didn't bother me at all, so much action going on I didn't even think of it until you asked.
That actually kind of bugged me too. I would have liked just one more effects shot to establish that, yes, they did meet at least some resistance before reaching Earth's orbit. It could be an homage to 'Best of Both Words': as the Borg Cube is approaching earth four small defensive space craft zoom out to attack it and are promptly destroyed without the cube even slowing down to fire.
If they had put in the smoking wreckage of just two ships on the viewscreen before Nero says "prepare the drill" I would've been satisfied. Because they didn't this movie is ruined forever (and my childhood has been raped and cannon violation and Chekov is too old and etcetera).
I think the reason is Pike. They didn't want to kill him off, so they gave Nero a reason to keep him alive. "Codes to border protection grids" seemed plausible, though up until that point Nero wasn't really trying to be sneaky. Why bother hopping over the fence when you can just drive through it? Maybe he grew bored with wiping out scores of ships.
Or perhaps they were running low on ammunition. Which actually might work. When Nero says that badass line "Fire everything!" he may in fact be telling the truth. After attacking the Kelvin, 47 Klingon Warbirds, Vulcan's defenses, seven Federation ships, and wounding the Enterprise they may have had just enough torpedoes for one more volley and that was it.
If they had put in the smoking wreckage of just two ships on the viewscreen before Nero says "prepare the drill" I would've been satisfied. Because they didn't this movie is ruined forever (and my childhood has been raped and cannon violation and Chekov is too old and etcetera).
I think the reason is Pike. They didn't want to kill him off, so they gave Nero a reason to keep him alive. "Codes to border protection grids" seemed plausible, though up until that point Nero wasn't really trying to be sneaky. Why bother hopping over the fence when you can just drive through it? Maybe he grew bored with wiping out scores of ships.
Or perhaps they were running low on ammunition. Which actually might work. When Nero says that badass line "Fire everything!" he may in fact be telling the truth. After attacking the Kelvin, 47 Klingon Warbirds, Vulcan's defenses, seven Federation ships, and wounding the Enterprise they may have had just enough torpedoes for one more volley and that was it.
It seems like the defense relies completely on transporter technology, which was down due to the drill/Naradas jamming capabilities. In DS9 when they declare martial law they start beaming in troops/defenses from what I assume are some central bases. Not to mention the defense grid was down ala Cylons/BSG, so any ships that could fly had no idea before it was too late.
You have to remember it was a time of relative peace.
You have to remember it was a time of relative peace.
Well, Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, had a wacky old man deliberately drive his car into the lobby of the building a few years ago.
Where were the fighter jets when a plane crashed into the World Trade Center? And again, when a second one did the same?
Lol, no need to get so defensive.
Two mildly-phrased sentences hardly constitutes a "rant fest". It was just my opinion. Plus I never said I didn't like it. And yes, I had an answer. That was it. And based on his question, I'm guessing the friend came to the same conclusion after watching the movie.I would say there's a difference between a brief, unforseen (and unpreventable) collision, and a sustained attack by a hostile alien vessel that had struck previously.
It just seems to me that -peacetime or not- the Earth should be as well defended with 23rd Century weapons as present day Britain or America are defended by 21st Century weapons. Starfleet is well aware of the threats posed by other races in the galaxy: there's no way they'd leave Earth so poorly defended.
Another point is, Earth would know of the destruction of Vulcan, and starfleet would logically have taken extra steps to bolster Earth security in its wake. For a start, they would have called the fleet home.
Have you seen a Star Trek movie?
My in-universe explanations. Your Canon may vary :P
I am presuming that Earth's defensive measures were disabled and eliminated by the Narada upon arrival, before deploying the drill.
Same true for the Narada at Vulcan.
I am presuming that Earth's defensive measures were disabled and eliminated by the Narada upon arrival, before deploying the drill.
Same true for the Narada at Vulcan.
