Allegory of Holocaust?

[Franklin]

It was about mixing things up again in the story, and not pushing the same old reset button shit that happens all the time in Trek.

I didn't mind that they decided to destroy Vulcan I just didn't care for the way it was treated so cavalierly. It was nothing more than a grand spectacle without any further attention given to it. That is what I thought was its failing.

Remember when Spock sacrificed himself to save his friends, Kirk blew up the Enteprise, and the Klingons murdered Kirk's son? They were huge and unforgettable moments. Movies are made for big things to happen. Yeah... I know the first two things were undone but you have to admit seeing those events were shocking.

In TWOK, Spock died saving the Enterprise. In TSFS, Dr. Marcus was fighting for Spock and Saavik. The "death" of the entire planet of Vulcan served no purpose. It was not heoric. It was no sacrifice. It was more or less random in the timeline in which it existed. Sure, that kind of thing happens in real life. But, this isnt' real life, and in fiction, the death of a major character is usually for something. And, in a sense, Vulcan was a character.
What if Spock had died in a meaningless way in TWOK? Just killed at his station in an attack by Khan. Would that be satisfying? Would we defend his death as necessary anyway for the future growth of Kirk's character? That's the only excuse being used for having an entire planet of six billion people destroyed. Just having Amanda die would've been poignant enough and served the purpose for Spock's future character. What was done instead was literally the definition of overkill if the only purpose was to affect the character of Spock. And, what other purpose did it really serve? Why couldn't Earth and Vulcan have been saved? Or, maybe saving Vulcan would've left no time to stop Nero from destroying Earth. How that would've been handled would've added real depth to the story.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Wouldn't the expulsion of the Jews from Judea and the destruction of the Temple by the Romans be better parallel? They were denied the right to live in their homeland and scattered across the Empire.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

It's just that the plot, the whole series of events that was built on top of these great characterisations, was pretty average/poor.

Much as it was in quite a few TOS episodes, if I do say so myself. The strength of that series is and has always been the chemistry between its characters and their personal struggle to accomplish their missions, no matter how absurd those missions happened to be. Specifically, it usually involved the combined efforts of Kirk and Spock or Kirk and McCoy or Spock and McCoy or Kirk and Spock and McCoy to put their asses on the line to solve the problem of the day. That these problems were often dumb or else incredibly contrived doesn't change the fact that the story is about the CHARACTERS, not the problem itself. If the story is done right, then the personal conflict of those characters creates the interest and the hope that they can solve the problem and live to fight another day.

Without plausible emotional stake in the outcome, the characters are just going through the motions, after all. Consider how lame "For the World is Hollow" would have been if McCoy didn't have a terminal illness; his decision to stay on Yonada would have seemed more like a kind of cheesy "love at first sight" story and harder to take seriously.

 

[Nebula1400]

Not one tiny bit.

Nero killed them for revenge cause he was a crazy mother fucker, pure and simple. Hitler used it as a political play.

Result is the same, however. Vulcans become similar to the "rootless, wandering Jews" of post-WWII Europe. Many of the few which were left ended up in British Mandated Palestine and helped lay the foundation for the State of Israel.

I suspect that Orci, Kurtzman, Lindelof, and JJ are going to do something similar with the Vulcans, as the Federation has to tackle the problem of where to settle the remaining Vulcan refugees, as well as those Vulcans who have settled elsewhere.

This is what I've been thinking - and it could mean a whole different set of conflicts and alliances than existed in the old timeline.

 

[Franklin]

Not one tiny bit.

Nero killed them for revenge cause he was a crazy mother fucker, pure and simple. Hitler used it as a political play.

Result is the same, however. Vulcans become similar to the "rootless, wandering Jews" of post-WWII Europe. Many of the few which were left ended up in British Mandated Palestine and helped lay the foundation for the State of Israel.

I suspect that Orci, Kurtzman, Lindelof, and JJ are going to do something similar with the Vulcans, as the Federation has to tackle the problem of where to settle the remaining Vulcan refugees, as well as those Vulcans who have settled elsewhere.

This is what I've been thinking - and it could mean a whole different set of conflicts and alliances than existed in the old timeline.

I'll bet my paycheck that Orci and Kurtzman weren't thinking in that much detail, or that far ahead. That's the sad thing. Sorry. They destroyed Vulcan. It has no meaning. I bet it's given only passing reference (if at all) in the next movie. It's almost certainly not part of a larger plan for where to take Trek. They did it because they could, and that's about it.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Did it need "meaning"? It was a horific event, does it have to mean more than that? Its purpose is to kill off Amanda and push some buttons in Spock and Sarek.

 

[Perculsor]

Is the wanton destruction of Vulcan intended as a Holocaust allusion? Yes, I think very much so, among other things. Of course some people won't like the comparison and the filmmakers want a larger audience to identify with it too, and they don't have to come out and say it. But Nimoy has said in the past that he feels that Vulcans occupy the same place in Star Trek as Jews do in real life, and it's not a great stretch if you consider the intellectual and spiritual contributions Jews have made to the world. On a more superficial level, he even adapted the priestly blessing as a salute, and the historical Nero was a persecutor of the Jews in antiquity. Of course it's also a 9/11 reference, a plot device/hole, and carte blanche for future writers. Personally I think the decision was over the top. But it may take the character in an interesting direction.

 

[Cdr MacDuff]

The destruction of Vulcan was completely underplayed in this movie. It was only a plot device to get the mother of Spock killed. We don't even get to see much of the Vulcan and how they live prior to the destruction. They seem like people living in a cave which have their planet blown up. Which is a little surprising considering the budget of the movie.

Its one part of the plot that could have received more substance. They way they played it, Nero could have just simply beam down to the planet "meeting chamber" kill everybody in the room with a riffle, especially Spock's mother. And beam back. And it wouldn't have changed anything to the plot or any dialogue. A lost opportunity in my opinion. If you are to destroy Vulcan, a major Star Trek species, make it worthwhile on the drama/social side. But maybe the next movie will deal with the lost and the resettlement and all of it will be redeemed. Its actually an interesting direction for the plot imo.

 

[TEACAKE'S PLEATHER DOME]

Every horrible decimation of a fictional race is not about the Jews.

I know that may seem hard to believe.