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Anyone else not like the opening scene?

The opening scene of the movie is great. However, the guy playing George is a bit too unemotional for what he is going through, but that really is only a minor quibble.
 
You know, one consequence of all this new lovin' going on would have likely been a falling away of visible racial differences among humans.

New Humans might have all ended up looking like Halle Berry, or Jessica Alba.

Now would that have been all bad? :)

Thus was the wisdom and vision of Roddenberry.

But he didn't cast that way. Ever.

Meh. He was sleeping with Majel and Nichelle at the same time.
 
I loved it... got goosebumps when they were panning across the Kelvin and I heard the old TOS bridge sound.
 
I thought the opening Kelvin attack was so moving, powerful, emotional, all the cool adjectives. It totally hooks me

My favorite part of the film, one of my favorite parts of any film actually.

But thats just me
 
I liked the opening scene. Had a lot of action and suspense, but it is too bad Kirk's father died. That's one thing I wouldn't of mind seeing not happen.
 
It is bad because of the character assassination of James Kirk's mom compared to Roddenberry's vision for her.

As I have explained elsewhere, Roddenberry wanted her to have no last name and be a "New Human" who had many sexual partners, the first of which was named only James. It was for this love instructor that she named a son she happened to have with a particularly good lay named Kirk. As a New Human, she certainly would not have been a Starfleet officer.

Now Abrams has ruined the character, turning her into a competent Starfleet officer and the loving wife of her husband, George Kirk, yet another Starfleet officer. They went even further as to give her a last name, which no good New Human would ever have.

Kirk's mom should be as Roddenberry envisioned: into free love and telepathically linked to her fellow New Humans.

Abrams had nothing to do with it. or, at least, he joined a looooong line. you're gonna have to talk to people like Diane Carey if you wanna know who was first.
 
I thought the opening scene on the Kelvin was fantastic. It reminded me a lot of the opening scene of DS9's Emissary.
 
It made me cry both times I watched it.
I loved it, personally.

Same here. I was watching the movie in an IMAX theater and when George Kirk died, I felt a tear running down my face. It was obviously foreshadowing events that happened later in the film.:vulcan:

The only other times Trek has made me cry was in the death scene in "The Wrath of Khan" and the DS9 episode "The Visitor." As a result, I came away with the new version of KIrk and why he was so full of rage and recklessness until Bruce Greenwood (Captain Pike) challenged him to join Starfleet. Which by the way was a tremendous performance by Greenwood.:bolian:

In a word, no.:klingon:
 
I think the opening scene worked on a few different levels....

First of all, it was a genuinely well made Action scene.

Second, it was actually very emotional and you managed to care for a character who had only been on screen for a few seconds. It's pure melodrama. Over the top and dramatic, yet effective. So it's well done and generally a good set up for a space Opera.


Third, I couldn't help get some laughs out of it. Because even melodrama like that done well is still melodrama, and henceforth still very cheesey. I turned a few heads in theater as I chuckled at the naming of the baby.
 
Nope--I loved it. Thought it was very powerful, and probably drew an initially skeptical general audience right into the movie and ensuing Star Trek title.

It was about as perfect as can be, IMO.
^Ditto.

I also have to say that George Kirk's lines of "I love you so much..." right before the big boom had me incredibly choked up. Combined with the music, it was just incredible.
 
It is bad because of the character assassination of James Kirk's mom compared to Roddenberry's vision for her.

As I have explained elsewhere, Roddenberry wanted her to have no last name and be a "New Human" who had many sexual partners, the first of which was named only James. It was for this love instructor that she named a son she happened to have with a particularly good lay named Kirk. As a New Human, she certainly would not have been a Starfleet officer.

Now Abrams has ruined the character, turning her into a competent Starfleet officer and the loving wife of her husband, George Kirk, yet another Starfleet officer. They went even further as to give her a last name, which no good New Human would ever have.

Kirk's mom should be as Roddenberry envisioned: into free love and telepathically linked to her fellow New Humans.

Ewww. This would take the "everyman" aspect away from Kirk and turn him into some sort of "hippie/commune" love child. No thanks.

What the hell was Roddenberry smoking when he thought of this odd background story for Kirk's parents?
 
If I had to guess, I think two factors are contributing to inflating opinions around here of the sequence: the whole Robau meme [...]
Nope. I've never looked at that thread. Don't plan to, either.
[...] and the fact that this was the first scene, the long end to the years-long wait for new, good Trek.
Nope. I hadn't been hanging out for new Trek. All I wanted for this movie was for it to not suck / be better than Nemesis. I had no greater expectations than that.

Nope--I loved it. Thought it was very powerful, and probably drew an initially skeptical general audience right into the movie and ensuing Star Trek title.

It was about as perfect as can be, IMO.
This. To each their own, of course, but I agree with Borgminister's take on the scene. I've seen the movie three times and the opening 10 or so minutes teared me up each time.

As for Roddenberry's "vision" of Kirk's parentage and future humans... :guffaw: :guffaw: :guffaw: Reads more like his fantasy life than anything humankind is likely to turn into.
 
It's an overstatement for me to say that I didn't like the opening scene, but I don't think it was anywhere near my favorite part of the movie. I thought the guy playing George Kirk was bad, and the dialogue as a whole felt clunky and awkward.

Keep in mind that Trek XI is now officially one of my favorite movies, my favorite Trek film, and a movie I really, really like - almost love. But that first scene had me dreading that the whole film would be as bad... I'm glad I was wrong.

Did anyone else find that the acting or dialogue of the first 10 minutes was actually one of the weakest parts of the movie? It seems to be a very popular sequence, but I'm not so sure it's really a particularly strong part of the movie. If I had to guess, I think two factors are contributing to inflating opinions around here of the sequence: the whole Robau meme, and the fact that this was the first scene, the long end to the years-long wait for new, good Trek.

You're pretty much alone there. This was the pinnacle of non-Enterprise starship scenes...compare it to scenes from Generations, STIII, STII, and even the previous best from Saratoga, in STIV.

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Is this thread serious?

The first 10 minutes are my favourite bit of the film.

The whole Kelvin scene was near perfect.
 
Maybe I missed something but it seemed to me that George said he couldn't leave because the autopilot was broken. Then a few seconds later he sets a collision course (complete with countdown to impact) with the Narada. How does he set a course with the autopilot out? I was thinking he was going to have to manually steer the ship in. Instead he just sits there and discusses baby names while he floats to his doom.

I know he stayed to try and shoot down the missiles to protect the shuttles, but I don't see why he had to stay after that all the way up until the collision and die (other than to provide some "touching" heroics). More sloppy writing IMO.
 
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